In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Back To Basics: Escaping Deep Rough
2) Regaining “Flow” On The Greens
3) Question of the Week – Conquering A Sidehill Downhill Lie
4) Article – Attacking Wide Holes Can Cost You
5) Article – Beating The Top Five Swing Flaws

1) Back To Basics: Escaping Deep Rough
Sooner or later everyone lands in the rough. If it’s close to the green, you need a good chip shot to save par. The problem is the grass. It wraps itself around the club’s hosel and twists it, delofting the clubface at impact. Meanwhile, the grass trapped between the clubface and the ball reduces spin. That makes it harder to stop the ball on the green. But if you can chip it close, you can save yourself a lot of strokes.

Below are 6 keys to this shot:

* Choke down on the club
* Play the ball up in your stance
* Shift your weight forward
* Open up the clubface
* Maintain the clubface open
* Rotate your chest through the shot

The keys to this shot are (1) swinging down on a steep angle and (2) maintaining an open clubface through impact. First, choke down on the club for a firmer grip. Play the ball up in your stance. And shift your weight forward. Making these changes will encourage you to swing down at a steep angle.

To maintain an open clubface, rotate your chest through impact and try not to turn over your forearms. If the grass is really thick, play the shot like a greenside bunker shot. Open your stance and your clubface even more, creating loft. You’ll come out high and soft, and stop quicker than usual.

For practice, place a ball outside the first cut of rough on the green’s fringe. Make sure the grass is about one and one-half inches long. Instead of hitting the ball, sweep the grass tips. Use a low sweeping motion, employing your arms, shoulders, and chest. After 10 sweeps, move quickly to the ball and chip it, using the same motion. Move the ball back to higher grass and repeat the sequence.

Master this shot and you’ll save par more often while cutting strokes from your golf handicap.

2) Regaining “Flow” On The Greens
Ever played a round where you couldn’t miss a putt? Everything just seemed to go right. We’ve all had these rounds. That’s because most of us are streaky putters. One day everything goes in. The next, nothing drops. When that happens, it’s called losing your sense of “flow.” Flow is the feeling you get when everything is working perfectly. When that disappears, putts rim the cup. Confidence wanes. And strokes accumulate. If you want to be a consistently good putter, it’s good to know how to regain “flow” when it disappears?

Below are five keys to regaining “flow” during a round:

1. Follow your pre-shot routine
2. Take your time putting
3. Dispel negative thoughts
4. Close out all distractions
5. Eliminate self-consciousness

The key to recovering “flow” is to regain tempo. Start by slowing things down and executing your pre-shot routine. It prepares you physically and psychologically for putting. Also, work on eliminating distractions and negative thoughts. In addition, rid yourself of any self-consciousness. Concentrate strictly on making the putt and only on making the putt.

You also need to eliminate negative thoughts. A good way to banish bad thoughts is to replace them with other thoughts, like Nick Price did a few years ago. Winner of 17 PGA Tour events and 24 international titles, Price is a streaky putter. His quick abrupt tempo serves him well in his long game, but not so well in his short game. His quick aggressive “rap”-type putting stroke hampers his consistency.

To achieve flow, he worked hard on maintaining the tempo of his stroke—slowing it down, smoothing it out, and keeping the putter low to the ground. To banish negative thoughts, he constantly reminded himself to make a longer, slower stroke and keep the putter low to the ground. This approach worked.

Achieving flow in putting increases consistency. If you lose it, slow everything down. (But don’t hold up the group.) Execute your pre-shot routine. And banish negative thoughts. Instead, think lower, slower, and smoother. Before long, you’ll regain your flow, your confidence, and your putting stroke.

3) Question of the Week – Conquering A Sidehill Downhill Lie

Q. Dear Jack, Thank you for the opportunity to see that others have the same problems. Your answers are clear, concise, and extremely helpful.

At our course we have several holes where you end up with a sidehill lie that is also a downhill lie. It is understood that the shot will generally hook/draw from this situation. But what’s the best way to play this shot? My feet can be anywhere from 6 inches to a foot below the ball and generally hitting into an elevated green. Please help!

Larry Turi

A. Thanks for the question, Larry. Gravity is the culprit here. It pulls you down the slope, causing you to fall forward. As a result, your swing becomes too vertical and prevents the club from rotating properly at impact. To hit this shot successfully, you must maintain your balance.

To do that, you must battle gravity and prevent yourself from falling forward. Start by adopting a normal stance, but squat down a little more than normal. Spread your feet slightly wider than usually. And put your weight back on your heels. In other words, “sit back” to counteract gravity’s pull.

Try to retain that position during your swing. Don’t let your weight move you onto your toes, causing you to fall forward. If you focus also on keeping your knees flexed, you’ll be less likely to fall forward.

With a severe slope, take an extra club and use a three-quarter swing. Don’t try to do too much with this shot. You can’t. And, plan for the ball to slice.

Sidehill/downhill lies are tough. But if you follow these golf tips and practice the shot, you can master it.

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/newsletter01212009.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Attacking Wide Holes Can Cost You
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/attacking-wide-holes-can-cost-you.html

5) Article – Beating The Top Five Swing Flaws
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/beating-the-top-five-swing-flaws.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.

It happens all the time. A weekend golfer decides to improve her game. Determined to trim her golf handicap, she dedicates herself to the effort. She focuses on a major swing flaw and works hard to correct it. She practices daily, takes golf lessons, and studies golf tips in sports magazines. Eventually, she eliminates the flaw. Yet, she fails to cut her golf handicap. Eventually, she gets frustrated and stops.

If you want to take your game to the next level, you must do more than just correct a swing flaw. Just ask Ernie Els. In 2002 season, he decided to take his game to the next level. Among the PGA’s best, Els started strong that year, winning three times on the European and U.S. tours. Yet he felt like he was playing poorly. To get ready for the British Open, he and David Ledbetter worked on fixing his game. Below is what Els did to get his groove back.

Creating A Plan
Els and Ledbetter developed a comprehensive plan. Instead of concentrating just on the technical side of the player’s swing, they focused on solidifying the basics, improving his short game, and eliminating swing thoughts. The plan worked. In November 2002 Els entered the British Open at Muirfield, England, feeling a little uncomfortable. But by Wednesday he felt great. Eventually, he won the tournament.

What did Els work on in Ledbetter’s golf instruction sessions? He worked on making solid contact—the result of good fundamentals. Poor swing fundamentals lead to all sorts of problems. It’s like a chain reaction. In his case, his main concern was coming over the top. To correct that, he focused on ball position, alignment, grip, and posture. Maintaining good fundamentals helps Els stay square to the target longer through impact, producing consistent solid contact.

Power And Accuracy
Els also worked on achieving power and accuracy. In his case, they come from staying behind the ball during the downswing. That means hitting into a firm left side and maintaining the backward tilt at impact that he had at address. Staying behind the ball allows him to swing the club with his right arm and hand more “underneath” the clubshaft. It also encourages him to make contact with the club traveling inside the target line.

To improve bunker play, Els worked on maintaining balance—the key to every bunker shot. Sometimes golfers dig into the sand too far. This off-balance set-up encourages them to swing the club behind their backs. From there, they either bury the club’s heel into the sand or hit a shank. A balanced set-up enables one to swing the club back on a more upright plane and then forward, with hands and club moving along the foot-line.

Feel Is Everything
To increase feel, Ernie worked on uphill and downhill putts. On uphill putts, he focused on accelerating through the ball without rushing into the stroke. On downhill putts, he concentrated on using a slightly different stroke, one that’s slower and smoother, like a truck climbing a steep upgrade. He also worked on matching the length of his stroke to the length of the putt.

In addition, Els worked on eliminating unnecessary swing thoughts. He focused on trusting his instincts and playing in the subconscious. He also focused on staying in the moment. Instead focusing on the shot he just made, he forced himself to concentrate on the upcoming shot. And he replaced all other swing thoughts at the start of his takeaway by the words “low and slow” to himself.

The Takeaway
If you want to boost your game to the next level, don’t just blindly copy Els. He’s taller than most weekend golfers, so he has different issues than they do. And don’t just take a golf lesson or two, or read a few golf tips and let it go at that. If you really want to take your game to the next level, develop a comprehensive plan that focuses on your weaknesses. It should also strengthen the basics, add power and accuracy off the tee, hone your short game, and help you play in the subconscious. The effort will definitely help you trim 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.

Not every PGA pro hits every green in regulation. But all are adept at saving par. Otherwise they wouldn’t be professionals. Weekend golfers, on the other hand, struggle to save par—and it costs them. It adds strokes to their scores and boosts their golf handicaps. If this is you, don’t be embarrassed. You’re not alone. Plenty of golfers have the same problem. But you can change that. By learning to hit par saving shots, you can dramatically cut your golf handicap.

One good way to learn to hit a par saving shot is to watch the pros in action. By studying how they do it, you can learn golf tips that can help you get up and down more often. Previously, watching golf tournaments on television was the only way to see the pros in action. But thanks to the Internet, gleaning golf tips from pro golfers is easier than ever. When it comes to saving par, keep an eye on Luke Donald, Ben Crane, Jose Marie Olazabal, and Tiger Woods. They provide great golf instruction sessions.

Make More Sand Saves
Luke Donald is among the best young players on the Tour. He’s also among the best at sand saves—with a save percentage of nearly 80 percent. That’s impressive. Obviously, he has sand saves down to a science. For him, the key to making sand saves is adjusting his technique to his lie. He’s learned to hit all kinds of shots from a bunker, like the “fried egg.” To hit a high soft shot with this lie, he stands square to the target line, places more weight on his front foot, and opens up the clubface. These adjustments create a higher, softer shot that rolls toward the hole when it lands.

Sink More Putts
Ben Crane is always among the Tour’s putting leaders. He averages about 27 putts per 18 holes. His edge lies in his solid fundamentals. A strong point is his ability to keep his putter underneath his eye line during the stroke. This symmetry—eyes over the line and putter under the eyes—is critical to sinking putts. It promotes consistency because your eyes help determine how your muscles move. In other words, you putt where you look. And where you look affects perception. Maintaining the eyes over the target line keeps the club moving along the line and directing the ball along this path.

Chip Like A Pro
Jose Maria Olazabal is among the premier short game players in the world. He’s always among the Tour leaders in Scrambling—saving par after missing a green in regulation—with a 69 percent average. Like Ben Crane whose putting technique is solid, Olazabal features a flawless chipping technique. Normally, he uses a piston like pitching approach. In it, the right elbow straightens as it applies force at impact. This increases accuracy because it produces an accelerated stroke and keeps the clubface on line—two keys to great chipping.

Escaping From The Rough
When we think of Tiger Woods, we often think of his booming drives or his deadly approach shots. But Tiger also has an uncanny ability to escape from the heavy rough. It requires both strength and technique—and Tiger has both. You can learn a lot from watching Tiger play shots in the heavy rough. For him the key to clearing heavy rough is rotating his chest and hips, preventing the grass from grabbing the club’s hosel and closing the face. In addition, he holds the clubface open by preventing his forearms from rotating.

If your golf handicap never seems to drop no matter how much you visit the range, focus on learning to save par. Do whatever it takes. Read golf tips on how to chip and putt. Take golf lessons on putting and tackling the rough. And watch how the pros do it. You’ll be surprised just how much you can reduce your golf handicap just by learning to save par.

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) Hole More With This Long Putter Technique
2) Making Spin Work For You
3) Question of the Week – Adding More “Pop” To Your Woods
4) Article – Saving Par Cuts Golf Handicaps
5) Article – Taking Your Game To The Next Level

Jack’s Note: Woohoo! PGA Tour is underway again for 2009. Football’s great but got to have that golf to see on Sundays. Also, did you know you can get one of my DVD’s for free? Check it out.

1) Hole More With This Long Putter Technique
You won’t win many tournaments on the PGA Tour—or at your local country club, for that matter—if you can’t put well consistently. Consistency is a key reason why professionals, like Scott Maccarron, switch to a long putter. It requires a compact stroke with fewer moving parts, which drives consistency. Let’s examine Scott’s putting technique.

Below are the 6 keys to his technique:

* Stand close to the ball
* Use the back arm as an engine
* Keep the front arm fixed
* Keep the front elbow pointed at hole
* Hold the body still during stroke
* Maintain a square putterface

The technique needed with long putters is different than that required by traditional sticks or belly clubs. It takes time for most golfers to get used to it. But the more you use a long putter, the more comfortable it becomes.

Start by standing close to the ball with a narrow stance—ideal for the type of pendulum-like stroke needed for the long putter. Standing close lets the club swing freely when putting.

The back arm powers the putter. Acting like a piston, it directs the putter straight back and straight through to the target. Whatever you do, don’t extend this arm completely. Otherwise, you’ll shoot the ball past the hole.

The front arm and hand act as a hinge. Fix them in place. Keep the front elbow pointed at the hole at all times. And hold the body still, which helps maintain a square clubface. Maintaining a square putterface throughout the stroke is critical to sinking a more putts.

If you’re looking for more consistency in your putting, try a long putter. Its compact stroke means fewer moving parts. And fewer moving parts mean more consistency when putting.

2) Making Spin Work For You
Golfers put spin on the ball all the time. In fact, it’s hard not to put spin on it. But many weekend golfers don’t know how to take advantage of spin—like helping stop a shot within a few feet of the hole. Learning to control spin is critical if you want to cut your golf handicap down to size. Among other things, it helps position you perfectly on the green and saves you strokes.

Here are five keys to spin:

* Strike the ball cleanly
* Hit on a downward angle
* Make sure the grass is dry
* Stay on the fairway
* Use the right ball

It’s not the clubface’s grooves that generate spin. Grooves help, but only in the rough, where they provide friction. In fact, research shows that in the right situation, a sand blasted clubface does as well as a grooved clubface, when it comes to applying spin. And sharpening the leading edge of your clubfaces doesn’t help, either.

To control spin, you must strike the ball on a downward angle and make clean, crisp contact. You also must be on a fairway with a good lie and dry grass. Using a ball designed to optimize spin also helps. If all these conditions are met, you’re in an optimum position to take advantage of spin’s benefits.

Of course, you won’t be able to put as much spin on the ball as the pros do. They can deliver as many as 8000 revolutions per minute to a ball with a 9-iron and 2,500 revolutions per minute with a driver.

But they play on well-manicured courses. The greens and fairways on these courses are cut tight and play firm. That enhances a player’s ability to put action on the ball. The greens and fairways weekend golfers play aren’t quite the same. Nevertheless, in the right circumstances and under the right conditions, a golfer who knows what he’s doing can still make spin work for him.

3) Question of the Week – Adding More “Pop” To Your Woods
Q. Dear Jack, I have been playing for 3 years. I play 4-5 times a week. I also take lessons. My handicap index is 21.7. I hit all my clubs fairly well EXCEPT my 3 and 5 woods. I hit my driver well most of the time. But when I hit a 3 or 5 wood, I slice the ball, hit it off the heel, or worm burn it. I can’t feel any power in my swing. Even if I hit it solid, the ball doesn’t go any farther than when I hit a 6 iron or a hybrid 4-iron. It might go about 100 yards. Any advice how to hit a wood at least 150 yards? My instructors gave me some exercises to do using short swings and I can do those, but when I try a swing that goes back to about 11 o’clock, I can’t hit the ball. I’m getting desperate.

Thanks,
Carol Cotten
Cedar Park, Texas

A. Thanks for the question, Carol. You may be swinging the club too hard or taking it too far back, throwing your swing off. You don’t need to swing as hard as Tiger Woods or take the club back as far as John Daly to add distance. You just need to eliminate your power leaks.

You may be leaking power because of a narrow swing arc. The wider your arc, the more distance you generate. To widen your arc, extend your left-arm (right-arm, if you’re left-handed) as much as possible, from the takeaway to top of the backswing. Visualize a friend standing a few feet behind you and try touching her with your club as you take it back. That extends your left-arm arm and keeps it extended.

You may also be losing power because of poor wrist action. To increase it, cock your wrists as you take the club back, uncock them as you swing the club down and through impact, and then re-cock them as you move up and through to the follow-through. Good wrist action, in conjunction with the proper body movement, generates more power.

Finally, check your front side. On the tee, Greg Norman creates a wider swing arc and more power by pointing his front foot toward the hole slightly. This encourages his left side to clear out more easily through impact. He also hovers the club above the ball, building rhythm and promoting a smooth one-piece takeaway. These adjustments will add more “pop” to your woods, helping you compete with your friends.

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/newsletter01142009.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Saving Par Cuts Golf Handicaps
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/saving-par-cuts-golf-handicaps.html

5) Article – Taking Your Game To The Next Level
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/taking-your-game-to-the-next-level.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.