In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Knowing How To Hit It Low Saves Strokes
2) Playing Offense From Fairway Sand
3) Question of the Week – The Basics Of The Bunker Blast
4) Article – Curing Swing Flaws Helps Reduce Golf Handicaps
5) Article – Increased Power Helps You Attack The Greens

1) Knowing How To Hit It Low Saves Strokes

Controlling ballflight trajectory saves strokes. Knowing how to hit it high or low when you need to enables you to escape from tight spots that could pile up strokes—like when you need to hit out of the woods or go over trees. It also expands shots to your game, like lob pitches, knockdowns, and recovery shots. The more shots you have in your arsenal the better your ability to save par when the chances of making bogey or double-bogey loom large.

Here are six factors to controlling ballflight:

* Ball back
* Weight forward
* Shoulders level
* Hands forward
* Swing slow
* Finish low

To control ballflight trajectory, you need to make changes to your set-up and your swing. To hit it low, for example, position the ball back in your stance, anywhere from dead center to the heel of your rear foot, shift your weight to your front foot, and lean your hands and the club’s shaft forward. Keep your shoulders level as well. If you focus on a spot on the ground, you’ll automatically keep your shoulders level.

These changes to your setup tend de-loft the clubface and ensure a descending swing into the ball. But you also have to change your swing to keep the ball low. Use a slower swing with an even pendulum like rhythm, lowering the ball’s spin rate and preventing it from shooting up. Also, keep your finish low. Try holding the club below your waistline after impact.

Sooner or later you’ll have a lie where you’ll need to keep the ball low, like when you’re in the woods. When you do, knowing how to hit it low will come in handy. Knowing how to control ballflight trajectory increases your chances of making par. It also enables you to get more creative when you have a lie that could cost you stokes.
2) Playing Offense From Fairway Sand

There’s nothing wrong with playing it safe from a fairway bunker. If you’re playing poorly, it’s probably the smart play. Instead of going for the green, take a 7- or 8- iron and punch it out to a safe spot on the fairway and set yourself up for your next shot. Playing defense like this can save you from making a double bogey or worse. But on days you’re playing well, you may have to go for it from the bunker. If you do, you’ll need to adjust your set-up accordingly.

Below are six keys to taking on a fairway bunker:

* Use a half to full club more
* Play the ball toward the middle
* Set up a little closer to the ball
* Dig your feet into the sand
* Choke down a similar amount
* Stay level throughout the shot

The key to playing aggressively from a fairway bunker is to set up a little closer to the ball than normal. Doing so makes you to stand a little taller than usual and helps you clip the ball from its lie without taking much sand. It’s what great bunker players like Jack Nicklaus and Mark O’Meara do with this lie.

In addition, use a half- to a full club more than normal, play the ball toward the middle of your stance, which encourages ball-first contact, and dig your feet into the sand while choking down a similar amount. Stay level throughout the shot. The ball comes out lower than normal because you’re trying to hit it a little thin. If you take too much sand, you won’t hit it well.

There’s nothing wrong with playing defensive from a fairway bunker — especially when you’re playing poorly. But on days you’re playing well, you may decide to go for it. If you do, keep our six keys in mind.
3) Question of the Week – The Basics Of The Bunker Blast

Q. Hi, Jack, I hear so many different ways to hit out of sand. Can you give me a basic set up and routine for sand, middle of stance, etc.

Thanks.
Eddie McKallen

A. Thanks, Eddie. Blasting out of a greenside bunker is easy, if you use the right technique. The key is holding the clubface open through impact. If you close it, you’ll mis-hit the shot, costing you strokes.

Here are five keys to the standard bunker set up:

* Open your clubface
* Position the ball slightly forward
* Keep your body open to the target
* Rotate your palm open (reverse release)
* Swing the club along your bodyline

To escape a greenside bunker, you need to swing the club on an outside-to-in path, with the clubhead held open through impact. This enables the club to slide under the ball and throws it up and out of the sand, settling the ball softly on the green.

To hold the clubface open, rotate your right palm open (left palm for left-handers) as you start to move toward the ball. Continue rotating it open as your club slides through the sand and under the ball. It’s what’s known as a reverse release.

And don’t stop when you hit the sand. Keep accelerating through the swing to a full finish. If you don’t, you won’t get the ball over the bunker’s lip. Decelerating your club at impact is among the most common errors committed by weekend players in greenside bunkers.

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

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Curing Swing Flaws Helps Reduce Golf Handicaps
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/curing-swing-flaws-helps-reduce-golf-handicaps.php

5) Article – Increased Power Helps You Attack The Greens
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/increased-power-helps-you-attack-the-greens.php

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.

By Jack Moorehouse

Gift certificates to a sports store or golf warehouse are great gift ideas. It gives the golfer in your life a chance to buy something useful for his game, like a dozen golf balls. Great golf balls exist in every price range. But you must find a ball that fits your game for it to work—whether you have a high golf handicap or a single digit golf handicap. When it comes to golf balls, the right one can contribute as much to your game as your clubs, as I’ve said in my golf tips newsletter. Below are some tips on choosing the right ball:

Be Realistic and Practical
Golfers often buy Pro V1 or MC Lady balls just because they make them feel like real players. That’s not wise or practical. Your goal when buying balls is to find one that’s compatible with your game, course, and budget. Key factors to consider are distance, feel, and spin. Distance alone is the most expensive. Expect to pay more for combinations of the three. But ball companies are always offering specials. Take ‘em up on these offers. Be realistic. Be practical. Be smart.

Buy For Your Home Course
Golfers should by balls based on which course you play the most. If you need to work the ball, buy a spin ball. If you need to hit it long, buy a distance ball. To decide between distance and control, try this experiment from Bob Toski, the famed golf instructor:

Every time you miss a fairway, move your shot back 15 yards and place it on the fairway. Now compare scores. You will probably find that you did much better than you normally do. The exercise may show you that there’s more to a good golf ball than it’s distance potential.

Trial And Error Is Best
You’ll never really know which ball works best until you actually try them. Here’s a systematic way to do that:

Hit 10 shots each with different balls to determine trajectory, carry, and distance after they land. If possible, ask a pro to help you find a ball you can launch at optimum angle. Now hit five shots with your long and mid irons. Check trajectory and the spin you get on the greens. Now hit a variety of scoring shots from 100 yards in—shots with a lot of spin, bump-and-runs, and pitches. Here you want to check your ability to hit scoring shots with these balls.

Narrow your choices down to two or three balls. Then try each for a few weeks. See which provides the best result. That’s your ball.

Spin Essentials
You don’t have to understand how balls are made. But it helps to know something about what the dimples do. You need dimples on a golf ball to get it airborne. No dimples, no lift. It’s that simple. Dimples add “drag” to a ball. But adding too many dimples to a golf ball doesn’t help either. Diminishing returns come at about 500 dimples. The minimum number of dimples on a golf ball is about 300, with optimum performance at about 350 to 450 dimples per ball. Try golf balls with different dimple designs to find one that gives your shots a good lift.

Take Care Of Your Golf Balls
Some players are diligent about taking care of their clubs, but not so diligent about taking care of their golf balls. While golf balls are more durable than ever, you still must take care of them, as I tell students who take my golf lessons. Leaving balls in your trunk on a scorching hot day is not taking good care of them. Store your ball at normal room temperatures, away from the furnace if possible, is a good way to take care of balls. If you have to err on one side, better to let them get cold than hot,

These golf tips on buying balls will help you narrow down your choice. While you may not want to spend your paycheck on golf balls, you also don’t want to buy “pond” balls or X-outs either. Some are fine. But most aren’t. Instead, buy new golf balls that help chop strokes off your golf handicap and provide value for your money. It’s the only way to roll.

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.

By Jack Moorehouse

Good equipment helps you cut strokes from your golf handicap. Bad equipment helps you add strokes to your golf handicap. This is why smart golfers learn as much as they can about clubs, balls, and other golf equipment before buying. Knowing what your buying helps you choose the right equipment. Unfortunately, many equipment myths exist. These myths cover many areas. More importantly, they can prevent you from buying equipment that can transform your game. Below we debunk five long-standing equipment myths. Debunking them helps you determine fact from fiction when buying golf equipment.

Myth #1: Less Loft Equals Longer Drives
Golfers once used drivers with lower lofts to generate more distance off the tee. These players often opted for drivers with 7-to-8-degree lofts. But with today’s shaft, clubhead, and ball technology, you can buy drivers with higher lofts and still hit the ball a long way. You can find the correct loft by determining how you ascend through the impact zone. If you have a steep swing, a lower loft helps. If you have more of a sweeping swing, a higher loft works best. Drivers with 9 to 11 degree lofts—combined with low spin balls and the right shaft—are sometimes better able to produce the optimal high-lunch ball flight needed for longer drives. Good technique refined through taking golf lessons and reading golf tips also help.

Myth #2: Stiffer Shafts Mean More Distance
Golfers with faster swing tempo may benefit from using more flexible shafts. The key is how you load the shaft. The transition from backswing to downswing loads the shaft, then unloads it at impact. If you have a short, quick backswing and a slow downswing, you may not want a flexible shaft. It may flex too much in the backswing and not unload properly in the downswing. On the other hand, if you have a slow backswing but a quick, powerful downswing, you may want a more flexible shaft. It may help you better load the shaft during the backswing and unload it at impact. So when deciding on shafts think both flex and load, as I’ve often mentioned in my golf instruction sessions.

Myth #3: Premium Balls are Good For All
Golfers appreciate high quality equipment. But not every golfer should use premium golf balls, like the Pro V1 or MC Lady. Often, premium golf balls have firm inner cores. To get the most from these balls, you have to have the kind of clubhead speed that can compress the ball’s hard inner core. In other words, you have to have the kind of clubhead speed that pros, like Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, and Vijay Singh, have. Some lower priced balls may perform better for weekend golfers. These balls feature firm or soft outer layers with softer cores to help slower swingers better compress the ball for longer distance. If you’re a fast swinger, try soft covers with firm cores. If you’re moderate to slow swinger, try a soft-core model.

Myth #4: Larger Heads Have Larger Sweet Spots
Unfortunately for golfers with high golf handicaps, manufacturers can’t expand the sweet spot on a club. That’s because the sweet spot isn’t really an area, but a pinpoint on the clubface where center of gravity is optimized. But club manufacturers can expand the area of forgiveness around the sweet spot by increasing perimeter weighting and back weight and by using variable face thickness—elements made possible by increased head volume. Normally, that’s good. But sometimes it’s not. Since the sweet spot is so small, a smaller headed driver may help you improver your ability to hit the sweet spot more often. In other words, for some increased forgiveness encourages off-center hits.

Myth #5: Forged Clubs Are Hard To Hit
Until recently, forged clubs came only with blade-style designs. Making anything but a blade-style design using the forging process was difficult. Blade-style clubheads are harder to hit than other designs. But today’s high-tech forging methods enable manufacturers to produce designs offering more forgiveness and more feel—just right for golfers with low, medium, or high golf handicaps. Forged metals typically are softer than cast metals, making them better suited for fitting purposes. What’s more, some argue that the forging process also produces a greater consistency in weight and density as opposed to cast metals.

To achieve a low golf handicap on today’s courses, you need to get the most out of your equipment. Hopefully, this article provided some valuable golf tips. So don’t let myths like those examined above keep you from buying equipment that can help your game. Just make sure you get as much information from technical experts as you can before buying. The information will help you separate fact from fiction.

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. Use This Grip On Short Putts
2. Chipping From Thick Greenside Rough
3. Question of the Week – Use This Drill To Improve Your Chipping
4. Article – Five Equipment Myths: Fact Or Fiction
5. Article – Five Golf Tips On Buying Balls

Use This Grip On Short Putts

Bad things happen when we decelerate the clubhead on either a swing or a putt. Acceleration in golf is the increasing speed at which the clubhead moves through the ball. It’s important for both full shots and short putts. So if you’re missing a lot of short putts, you may be failing to accelerate the putter through the stroke. It’s a habit many develop from time to time. Using an alternative putting grip is an option to prevent this habit from hurting your putting.

Key these five tips in mind when using this putting grip:

• Keep your hands ahead of the ball
• Adopt a left-hand low grip
• Minimize excessive wrist movement
• Follow through on the putt
• Hold the finish for a couple of seconds

The left-hand low grip (right hand for left-handed golfers) has helped many golfers accelerate through short putts. Using this grip keeps your hands from releasing too much. It also keeps the putterface facing the hole, even after contact with the ball, and encourages acceleration through the stroke.

Acceleration Drill
Find a hole on the practice green that permits you to set up for a flat straight putt. Place a sand wedge perpendicular to the line of the putt, so the face is down and the thinner part of the shaft lies across the putt’s line. The shaft should lie just on the cup’s edge.

From the distance of three feet, putt the ball to the hole with sufficient speed so that the ball hits the shaft, pops into the air, and falls into the hole. If you decelerate the putterhead through the stroke, you’ll generate insufficient speed to overcome the shaft in front of the hole. But smooth acceleration produces enough speed to hole the putt over the shaft.

Make this drill part of your normal practice routine. It teaches you to accelerate through putts and boosts confidence on short putts critical to good scoring. If you’re really brave, try this drill on short break putts as well.
2) Chipping From Thick Greenside Rough

Some golfers like to hit a normal chip shot from thick greenside rough. That’s a hard shot to pull off, even for veteran golfers. The problem is the grass. It can twist the club’s hosel as the clubhead cuts through it, which makes controlling the shot difficult. On a delicate shot like this, you need optimum control. Otherwise, it can cost you strokes. Here’s another way to play it:

Below are five keys to hitting a shot from really thick greenside rough:

• Use a sand wedge
• Open your stance
• Play the ball back
• Pick a landing spot
• Make a steep swing

Smart golfers know the benefits of being creative around the green. Instead of relying on a single short-game shot, they learn different shots around the green and let the situation dictate the shot. A short chip from greenside rough is one situation where it pays to have mastered different shots around the green.

Start by selecting a more-lofted club than normal. The club of choice is the sand wedge, but you could also use a lob wedge. The key with these clubs is the “bounce” on the clubface’s bottom. The bounce enables the club to cut through the snarled grass without getting entangled. Clubs with less bounce lack this capability.

In addition open your stance slightly to allow your hands to clear and play the ball back in your stance. Before hitting, pick out a landing spot on the green. Now make a steep aggressive swing. The ball pops out of the grass, bounces a couple of times on the green, and rolls to the pin.

Chipping from thick greenside rough is a challenge. But if you master the shot, you can turn three or more shots into two. Just remember that a club with more loft provides more margin for error.

3) Question of the Week – Use This Drill To Improve Your Chipping

Q. Hi, Jack, I somehow developed a case of what I call “chipping yips.”. I’ll be 20 feet (or less) off the green, put my weight to the left, keep my hands ahead of the ball, and wind up scooping my right hand under it, which shank’s the ball right. Any chance I can lose this bad habit?

Tom Wells.

A. Thanks, Tom. Golfers sometimes lose the feel of a good chipping stroke. This leads to bad habits, like trying to scoop the ball instead of hitting down on the ball. Scooping forces you to collapse your left arm and wrist (right arm and wrist for left-handers) at impact. You need a stiff left wrist at impact to hit a good chip. Below is a simple drill that teaches you to make a good chipping stroke by keeping a stiff left wrist at impact:

Start by sticking a pen or pencil under a watchband on your left wrist. This automatically flattens your left wrist at impact. Now practice hitting chip shots. Make sure to brush the grass after hitting the ball with a slight downward stroke. This may be a new feel for you, so stick with the drill even if the initial results aren’t as good as you’d like. Eventually, you’ll ingrain the feel for the stroke. Now take the pencil or pen out and chip some more balls using the same stroke.

This proven drill works. Use it whenever you find yourself trying to scoop the ball on a chip. And remember, a good chip turns three or more strokes into two.

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

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Five Equipment Myths: Fact Or Fiction
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-equiptment-myths-fact-or-fiction.php

5) Article – Five Golf Tips On Buying Balls
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-golf-tips-on-buying-balls.php

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.