Hitting a bad drive or a poor approach shot or missing a short putt can get to golfers sometimes, even those with low golf handicaps. Occasionally, golfers take their frustrations out on a club. Putters for whatever reason seem to bear the brunt of golfer frustration. Most players taking golf lessons from me know of someone who’s thrown his putter in the water or otherwise damaged it during the course of play.

It’s not just weekend golfers who wreak havoc on their putters, either. Professionals do it, too. Woody Austin, winner of the 2004 Buick Championship, got so frustrated with his game once that he bent the shaft of his putter on his head after missing a crucial putt. He’s not the only pro who’s done it, either. That raises the question: What do you do when you don’t have a putter to putt with?

The Rule
The rule on clubs is straightforward. If a club is damaged during the course of play, you can replace it. For example, if something happens to a club during the course of normal play—the clubhead falls off, the shaft gets bent while hitting—you can replace the club. Tiger Woods sent a PGA official to the trunk of his Buick during the 2004 Deutsche Bank Tournament to get him another sand wedge after damaging his on some rocks while swinging.

However, if you damage your club through some action other than during the normal course of play, like smashing it on a rock or bending it over your knee, you’re stuck. You can’t replace it. You have to discontinue using it and play without a replacement. In other words, if you intentionally damage your putter, you have to pay the price. Now the question becomes: what do you putt with to finish the round?

You have several options when it comes to using another club. Let’s look at three of them:

A Wedge
One option is a wedge. The advantage to using a wedge is that the shaft lengths of a putter and a wedge are similar. The length allows you to not only take your normal putting stance, but also set up with your eyes directly over the ball. Setting up with your eyes directly over the ball, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips, is essential to good putting.

The disadvantage with using a wedge is that your have to strike the middle of the ball with the thin leading edge of the blade. That’s not easy. It takes a great deal of precision and confidence to hit a golf ball with the leading edge of a club. It may not be something you want to try if you’re already angry or upset over your play. It might just make things worse instead of better, costing your strokes.

A Driver
Some players with low golf handicaps use a driver. The advantage of using a driver to putt with is that it is second only to the putter when it comes to having the least amount of loft. A driver has a face loft of 5 to 10.5 degrees, while the putter has a loft of about 1 degree. The large face also makes it easier to make good contact with the ball.

The driver’s disadvantage is the length of its shaft. It’s hard setting up directly over the ball with a club that has such a long shaft. To get comfortable, you’ll need to stand farther away from the ball. Your eyes won’t be directly over the ball. Also, the ball tends to pop of the driver’s face because of the mass of the clubface.

Using A Hybrid
A third option is a hybrid. It doesn’t quite have the driver’s low degree of loft, but the shaft is a much shorter. That enables you to get a little closer to the target line with your eyes. But the ball pops off a hybrid’s clubface just like it does with the driver. So you need to be careful when using this club. Some players use a hybrid to hit shots just off the green. Why not try it as a putter, if your putter becomes incapacitated?

Any of these three clubs can work. You might want to spend some time practicing with them though. That way you’ll at least have some feel for the clubs as a putter should you ever need to use them. However, if you’re really serious about lowering your golf handicap, you’ll work on keeping your frustrations in check and saving your putter. It’s the best way to improve.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Lagging Big Breaking Putts
2) Chipping From The Fringe
3) Question of the Week – Drills For Drawing Ball
4) Article – Putting Without A Putter
5) Article – Avoid Miscues To Cut Golf Handicap

Jack’s Note: Still struggling with consistent contact? There are a lot of moving parts in the swing that can lead to this inconsistency. That’s why I decided to “groove” my swing and like I said earlier in the week, it’s been extremely helpful. Read more and watch the video.

1) Lagging Big Breaking Putts
A long, big breaking putt is a tough shot. Take the putt Tiger Woods had on the par-3 16th in the final round of the 1997 Masters. It had such a big break that Tiger had to turn his back to the hole and allow for a 90 degree turn halfway there. He settled for lagging the putt and two putting. Like Tiger, your best option on holes like these may be to lag the putt. But making an effective lag putt in this situation isn’t easy.

Here are 5 additional keys to making this lag putt:

* Pick a spot as a point of reference
* Align yourself to the intended line
* Study the last few feet to the hole
* Determine the necessary speed
* Swing the putter at the same pace

Big breaking putts require a good read and the right speed. Use your imagination to figure out how far above the hole to hit the ball and where the breakpoint occurs. Use this as a reference. Align your arms and shoulders to the point, not to the hole, and parallel to the intended target line. The putterhead should be square to this line. Aligning oneself to the hole instead of the break point is among the biggest mistakes golfers make on a putt like this.

Now, calculate the speed required for the putt. Base this calculation on variables like grain and slope. Also, study the last few feet of the shot. That will tell you how the ball is going to behave as it dies toward the hole. Now swing the putter at the same pace as always, which helps you control speed and distance.

A good drill to sharpen your ability to lag big breaking putts is to lay down a tee and putt to it. Pick out a spot that’s within a couple of feet of the tee and aim for it. That sharpens your ability to hit a specific point on the green. When you’ve mastered this, pick out a long, big breaking putt and go for it. Try picking a putt with an extreme break and focus on speed. Working on lagging the ball close to the hole, and don’t be surprised if you sink a couple.

2) Chipping From The Fringe
Chipping the ball from deep grass to a hole cut close to your ball is as difficult a short game shot as there is. Some golfers use a lob wedge to hit this shot, but not everyone has a lob wedge or is confident hitting one. Other golfers use a putter from this distance. But the long grass can knock the ball offline. So what do you do instead? Use a 7-iron.

Here are 6 keys to this shot:

1. Take a putting stance
2. Use a putting grip
3. Stand close to the target line
4. Hold the club in a vertical fashion
5. Position the ball in the center
6. Swing straight back and straight through

The danger with trying a normal chip shot from this distance is that you could send the ball well past the hole, costing you strokes. And putting it out isn’t a sure thing, since the putter doesn’t have the loft to clear the grass. Instead, use your 7-iron. But hold the club in a vertical fashion, with only the club’s toe touching the ground.

Using just the toe deadens the shot a bit. And since you’ve de-lofted the club, the ball rides up the clubface slightly, providing overspin so the ball rides forward once it hits the ground. With this shot, the ball hops out of the grass and rolls softly to the hole.

In addition, take a putting stance with a putting grip, stand close to the target line, and position the ball in the center of your stance or toward the back, which de-lofts the club. Swing straight back and straight through in a pendulum fashion, as if you were putting the ball. Keep the club low to the ground. And swing mostly with your shoulders and arms.

You can use other clubs to hit this shot, but the 7-iron seems to work best. Credit the late Paul Runyan, a two-time PGA Championship winner and a noted short game specialist, with inventing this shot. It’s one alternative when you’re in deep grass and the hole is close to your ball.

3) Question of the Week – Drills For Drawing Ball
Q. Hi Jack, I’ve always been a golfer who draws the ball, but lately I feel like I’m having trouble releasing the club (hanging on with my left hand). Consequently, I’m hitting a fade. I’m having a devil of a time correcting this. Can you suggest any drills that might help?

Thanks,
Mark Termini

A. Thanks for the question, Mark. One way to recover your draw is to find a small hill that slopes toward you. Then, drop a ball on the incline and hit some balls. Just make sure your standing on level ground and that you don’t drop the ball too far up the hill.

Below are two drills that will also help:

Tennis Racket Drill
Hold a tennis racket in your right hand. (If you’re left-handed, hold it in your left hand.) Swing to the halfway back position. Start making a forward transition, imitating the action a tennis player uses when hitting a topspin forehand shot. Once you feel comfortable doing this, hold a club in the same hand and hit some shots, mimicking the proper counterclockwise rotation involving the right forearm. Finally, use two hands to hit the ball

The Arc Drill
This drill teaches you to swing the club from the inside—the key to hitting a draw. Place golf balls on the ground in an arc. The arc should follow the swing path of a draw. Place your intended golf ball on the inside of the arc. Now take your normal set up and swing the club back and through, inside the arc line.

If nothing else, these drills demonstrate clearly how a golf ball must be worked in a solid and proper golf swing.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from

If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter10292008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Putting Without A Putter
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/putting-without-a-putter.html

5) Article – Avoid Miscues To Cut Golf Handicap
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/avoid-miscues-to-cut-golf-handicap.html

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm

About the Author
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

Every golfer has periods of poor putting. When things get really bad, a golfer ends up with a case of the yips—an insidious “disease” that can dramatically boost your golf handicap. Technically, the yips are prevalent from anywhere on the green and in any putting situation. Most often, it attacks golfers on short puts, from about three feet in. Eventually, the golfer can’t sink even the shortest putt.

Having the yips is among a golfer’s worse ailments. It destroys self-confidence. It’s self-fulfilling. It perpetuates itself. And it demoralizes a golfer, affecting his or her whole game. What’s worse, the yips can appear without warning. Examining what causes the yips, however, is instructive. The exercise highlights the common causes of bad putting that all golfers must guard against, if they’re serious about reducing their golf handicaps.

Anxiety
Anxiety is among the most prevalent causes of bad putting. Anxiety occurs when the golfer starts thinking more about what will happen if she misses the putt than about sinking the shot. This creates tension, which in turn causes her to pull or push the putt with her hands. A lack of practice also generates anxiety. Practice breeds confidence. And confidence eliminates the jitters.

Steering
Instead of swinging freely through the swing, as you’re taught in golf lessons, you try to steer the ball into the hole. Steering is often attributable to tension, which can cause you to push the putter head toward the hole and get your wrists and/or legs into the act. Taking a deep breath just before you putt relieves the tension that causes steering and other mechanical flaws.

Alignment
Almost every golf tip on putting highlights the importance of alignment. Yet, some golfers still neglect to ensure proper alignment when putting. If you don’t align yourself correctly, your subconscious may cause you to alter your swing path to correct for the problem in mid-stroke. Mid-stroke corrections are difficult to realize. Read golf tips on alignment methods. Find one that works for you.

Wrist Breakdown
This mechanical flaw sends the putt off-line right from the start. Often, a breakdown of the wrist—the right wrist for right-handers, and the left wrists for left-handers—happens just before impact. Find and practice drills that guard against this problem.

Over-Analysis
Over analysis refers to getting so caught up in the mechanics of putting that you inhibit your natural movements. In other words, you become self-conscious. You start paying attention to all the wrong things—your hands, your body position, your putting stroke, and so on—instead of just letting everything flow. You also find yourself watching the putterhead go back and come though the ball or looking up prematurely to see how the ball rolls.

Lack Of Confidence
Most golf lessons on putting talk about confidence. It’s the single biggest factor in eliminating the yips and improving your putting. Without confidence, you allow negative thoughts to enter your head. Once that happens, you’re done. Your chances of making a putt—long or short—diminish greatly. Lack of confidence also results from a lack of practice. The more you practice, the more you build confidence.

These putting maladies can hurt every golfer. One of the best ways of eliminating them is by following a pre-shot routine. Following a routine—with an emphasis on proper alignment—prepares you mentally and physically to putt. If you don’t have a pre-shot routine, attend a golf instruction session on putting or scan a golf book or magazine for one.

In addition to preparing you to putt, a pre-shot routine allows you to play in your subconscious. And that’s where you want to be when putting. Actually, playing in your subconscious is where you want to be whenever you hit the ball. Playing in your subconscious improves your game. As for putting, following a pre-shot routine—and practicing whenever you can—eliminates the yips, improves your putting, and slashes your golf handicap.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.
Tools To Help Your Game!

Golf is all about making decisions. Making good decisions cuts strokes from your score. Making bad decisions adds strokes to your score. Make enough bad decisions during a round and your score—and maybe your golf handicap—balloons, golf lessons and golf tips notwithstanding.

Among the toughest short game challenges in golf is deciding when to hit go high and when to go low, when to hit a high arching pitch shot that hits the green and sticks and when to hit a low trajectory shot that runs along the ground’s contours and rolls onto the green. For golfers serious about shaving strokes off their golf handicaps, waging a ground campaign has its advantages.

Benefits of Keeping It Low
Admittedly, hitting a high approach shot is fun. It also has its advantages. It builds self -confidence and takes pressure off your putting. Anytime you do that, you win. But few weekend golfers hit a high shot with consistency and accuracy. Difficult to master, a high shot isn’t always practical either, like on a windy day. It’s also risky. You could find yourself in a heap of trouble, if you mis-hit the shot.

Keeping the ball low, on the other had, is an effective approach shot strategy, used by many players with low golf handicaps. It’s an all around safer shot and its ideal for when it’s windy and/or the ground is hard and not conducive to using a lofted club. It’s also easier to learn and master than hitting a high arching approach shot. And it takes much of the risk out of the short game.

When To Use The Ground Game
But to use this strategy to your advantage, you must know when to wage a ground campaign and when not to, as I tell students who attend my golf instruction sessions. Below are some situations that encourage the ground game strategy.

Close To Green
You need to be fairly close to the green to hit a low running shot. You don’t want to try it from 150 yards out unless your have to. There’s just too much ground between yourself and the pin for this strategy to work. Keeping the ball low is an option from about 30 yards and in.

No Impediments
Make sure there are no “major impediments” between you and the green. By impediments we mean bunkers, streams, or thick tuffs of grass. The existence of obstacles between you and the green automatically eliminates this option.

Flag To Back Of Green
Ideally, you want the flag toward the back of the green. The closer the hole is to the back of the green, the better. That gives you some running room for your ball. It’s hard to be precise with this shot when the ball is too close to the front of the green. Many players with low golf handicaps avoid this shot if the flag is too close to the front of the green.

Interference From Trees And Bushes
Keeping it low is wise when under a tree or large bush that doesn’t allow for a full swing, or when the branches of a tree may interfere with your swing. In these cases you may not have any choice. Keeping it low is also wise when you’re behind a tree or bush and you’re not comfortable trying to go over the top

Dealing With Wind
Keeping the ball low is a preferred approach on windy days or when the hole itself has a lot of wind. Some holes because of their placement are windier than others. The wind plays havoc with balls hit too high. The wind can blow your ball to the right or the left, knock it down or carry it forward. Whatever the case, you lose some control of the ball.

Keeping the ball low is a safer, more effective shot in high winds than hitting a high approach shot. A low shot can bore through the wind and hold its line much better than a high arching shot. Keeping it low is also an option from about 30 yards and in, when there are no impediments between you and the green, and when you’re under a tree or bush, preventing you from taking a full swing.

Even if you can’t reach the green with a low running shot, it may still be an option if you’re looking to lay-up for an approach shot over water or just to put the ball back in play on the fairway. Keeping it low takes a great deal of risk out of your short-game strategy. Anything that takes risk out of your short game usually takes pressure off your putting and that can’t help but improve your golf handicap.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.