By Jack Moorehouse

Occasionally, you hear of a PGA player hiring a new swing coach to help the player change his swing, like Tiger Woods did a few years ago. Or, you hear of a little known player suddenly winning tournaments thanks to a major swing change orchestrated by his swing coach. Making major swing changes takes hours and hours of practice. But when you’re playing for big money like today’s pros, it’s worth it.

Most weekend golfers don’t have that kind of time. Taking a couple of golf lessons a month, hitting the practice range now and then, and playing once a week is all they can muster. That doesn’t mean that weekend players can’t whittle some strokes off their golf handicap. Below are five simple golf tips for making tricky shots. Perfecting them may not make players the best in town, but they’ll help reduce golf handicaps.

1. Making A Wedge Back Up
Getting a wedge shot to back up is harder than ever. Manufacturers do a great job of combining trajectory and spin characteristics in golf balls, but today’s balls just don’t spin the way they used to. But you can make the shot if you execute it right. Use a wedge with extra loft and then hit the ball with a descending blow. Since you must hit the ball first, play the ball back in your stance. Also, swing hard but stay under control. You’ll need clubhead speed to make the ball spin, but if you swing too hard, you’ll lose control.

2.  Playing Out Of A Divot
Don’t try and scoop the ball. Scooping exposes a club’s leading edge, producing sculls and worm-burners. Instead, play the ball back slightly in your stance and lean toward the target. This sets up a steeper swing plane and a downward blow. The ball comes out lower with some run. You can also take an extra club, play the ball forward, and open your stance and clubface slightly. Then, swing across the club, as if you were hitting a bunker shot. This approach lets you hit the ball higher and stop it faster. But it’s harder to execute.

3.  Chipping Off Hardpan
This shot crops up more than you think. So for novice players, mastering this shot can help you whittle a stroke or two off your golf handicaps. Mastering this shot will also help veteran players. Play the ball back in your stance, set the club’s heel off the ground, and make sure the shaft is vertical. To do this, you must stand closer to the ball. Keep the clubface square to the target when you swing, and use a putting type stroke by rocking your shoulders up and down. Focus on ball first contact.

4. How To Hit It Over A Tree
If you find yourself playing a course filled with trees, knowing how to hit the ball high may come in handy. To hit it high, hit the ball from a shallow angle, drive with your legs, keep your head and upper body behind the ball, and create clubhead speed. Also, position the ball farther forward at address, open the clubface, and allow for a fade. Then, hit hard with your right hand. Make sure you’re working “under” the left through impact. Left-handed golfers need to work “under” the right.

5. A Soft Pitch To A Tight Spin
If you’re in light rough, play this ball like a bunker shot. Open your face, cock your wrists early in the backswing, and hit the grass behind the ball with some speed.  The harder you swing, the higher the ball goes. But from a tight lie, you’ve got to make perfect contact and nip the ball off the grass. To do this, keep your grip pressure relaxed and your head positioned constant. Don’t raise or dip it through impact.

There you have it. Five golf tips that can help chop strokes off your scores and golf handicap. You don’t have to attend golf instruction sessions to learn how to hit them. But you’ll be surprised how many strokes they’ll chop from your golf handicap.

In this issue we'll discuss...

1) Hitting Longer Clubs From Fairway Sand
2) Simple Drill Cures Slice, Adds Power
3) Question of the Week: Achieving Consistency Off The Tee
4) Article - Five Golf Tips That Will Improve Your Game
5) Article - Knowing Wedges Can Lower Golf Handicaps

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1) Hitting Longer Clubs From Fairway Sand

Playing from a fairway bunker can be tough for people who are not long hitters. These players need to play long par 5s and par 4s carefully. A weak shot from fairway sand can take you right out of the hole and cost you strokes in the process. But developing the ability to hit longer clubs and long-iron hybrids from the sand can keep you in these holes.

Below are seven keys to hitting longer clubs from fairway sand:

* Dig your feet into the sand
* Tilt your front foot inward as a brace
* Choke down on the club half an inch
* Play the ball just inside your left heel
* Stand slightly straighter at the knees
* Take the club back three-quarters length
* Try to pick the ball clean from the sand

You need a good lie and a low front lip before trying this shot. If you have both, follow these steps:

Dig your feet into the ground just enough to create stability, and tilt the sole of your front foot inward to brace yourself and prevent swaying. Don’t dig in as much as you would with a greenside bunker. You just need to go down enough to make sure you don’t slip when you swing.

Choke down on the club half an inch and play the ball about an inch inside your front heel. Stand slightly straighter at the knees and waist to make it easier to pick the ball cleanly from the sand.

Keep your takeaway low and your back-swing three-quarter length. Sweep the clubhead through the ball while keeping your head and your spine angle still until well into your follow-through.

Above all, don’t overswing. You don’t need a miracle shot here, just something that provides some distance, hits the fairway, and keeps you in the hole.
2) Simple Drill Cures Slice, Adds Power

Many golfers hit weak slices off the tee because they turn their upper and lower bodies in unison during the downswing. That’s not good. Your downswing isn’t a single movement but a chain of events: You move your lower body first, and then you move your upper body. Your arms and clubhead bring up the rear. It’s the same movement you use to throw a ball. The drill below teaches you the right sequence of movements.

Below are the key steps to the drill:

1. Use a 9-iron for the drill
2. Put your feet together in your stance
3. Lift your front leg when taking the club away
4. Step toward the target and plant your front leg
5. Complete your swing

This drill helps you feel when your backswing ends and when your downswing begins, key points many golfers ignore when swinging. Here’s the drill:

Use a 9-iron tee and up a ball. Then, place your feet together with the ball in the middle of your stance and the club about two feet in front of the ball and off the ground. As you take the club back, lift your front leg off the grown. When your left arm is parallel, step toward the target and complete the swing.

As you lift your front leg, you’ll feel your back tilting away from the target. When you finally plant your foot, your upper boy will be back as your lower body starts to shift forward to complete the swing. This is a powerful position that helps create straighter shots and more torque in your swing. More torque means more power.

Try this drill several times. Once you’ve ingrained the right sequence of movements in your downswing, take your normal 9-iron address position and hit balls. It may take some practice, but you’ll get the feel for it and be a little closer to eliminating your slice.
3) Question of the Week: Achieving Consistency Off The Tee

Q.

Hello, Jack:

I have trouble being consistent with my driver. Sometimes the ball swings right at the end of the flight. So I change my stance and the hook comes into affect. I just can’t get it right. Can you help me with this?

Regards,
Trevor Coote
Brisbane, Australia

A.

Thanks for the question, Trevor. It’s hard to tell from your description exactly what you’re doing wrong. But one thing is clear. Your clubface isn’t square to the ball at impact, resulting in pulls, slices, and other bad shots. Failing to square your clubface often stems from a faulty takeaway. Below is a drill that can help.

Take your stance. Set the clubface behind the ball. Take the club back and stop halfway through your backswing. As you start your takeaway, think about working the clubface into a toe-up position. After stopping, turn your body to face the club. Then drop the clubhead straight down. If you executed your takeaway correctly, the clubface will be dead square. Just knowing what this feels like helps you employ the right physical movements to make this happen in your swing.

When all else fails, consider hitting other clubs off the tee. The 3-wood and 5-wood are shorter and easier to hit straight than the driver. They won’t give you the same distance as the driver, but they’ll help keep you out of trouble.

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 Golf Tips That Will Improve Your Game
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-golf-tips-that-will-improve-your-game.php

5) Article - Knowing Wedges Can Lower Golf Handicaps
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/knowing-wedges-can-lower-golf-handicaps.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

Over the years we’ve talked a lot about swing plane and its impact on golf handicaps. Swinging a club on plane greatly influences—if not controls— depth of divot, centeredness of contact, starting direction, and curvature of ball flight. In other words, It greatly influences you’re ballstriking. The better you’re ballstriking, the longer and straighter your shots and the less trouble you’ll get into. Needless to say, if you want to lower your golf handicap, you must learn to swing on plane.

Nobody, of course, swings on plane every time. Usually, we swing on a “reasonable” plane as it approaches the ball. The closer you are to being perfectly on plane—all things being equal—the better off you are. So you don’t have to swing perfectly on plane. Two golfers may have very different backswings, but if they’re good ballstrikers, their swings will look similar as they approach impact. Swinging on plane is so important some instructors spend a great deal of time on it in golf lessons.

An On-Plane Swing
So what do we mean by an on-plane swing? Simply put, it means swinging the club on the same angle as it rests on the ground. A 6-iron at rest leans on a natural angle to the ground of about 45 degrees. To swing on plane, you must swing the 6-iron either right on, or closely parallel to that angle, throughout the swing.

If you watch golfers hit balls during golf instruction sessions, you’ll see that some players have a one-plane swing. Others have a two-plane swing. In a one-plane swing, the arms stay on the same axis as the shoulders. If you look in a mirror and your shaft and left arm are aligned, you’re a one-plane swinger. To be a one-plane swinger, simply crush the logo on your golf shirt with your front arm. With a one-plane swing a golfer can unwind without much concern for timing. One-plane swingers usually stand a little farther from the ball.

In a two-plane swing the arms swing on an axis that’s different from the shoulders. Taller players, like Jim Furyk, tend to have two-plane swings. Two plane swings, as I’ve said in my golf tips newsletter, have downswing planes flatter than their backswing planes. So their planes match up with someone who has a one-plane swing as they approach the ball. Two-plane swingers must start their swings with their lower bodies and unwind their hips to the left so the club drops to the inside of the their target line. Two-plane swingers usually stand close to the ball.

Training Your Backswing
The Stand Bag Drill helps teach you to swing on plane. An “at rest” stand bag has the same angle as a 6-iron when it’s grounded. You can use the bag to gauge whether your swing is on plane. First, stand a bag on the ground with the club heads pointing away from the target line. The bag’s base should rest on the target line. Take your address position along side the bag with a 6-iron and make a backswing. Stop about half way through the backswing. Your shoulders, arms, and clubface should match the bag’s angle at rest.

Now move the bag in front of you, with the base resting on the target line and the clubheads pointing away from the target line. Swing the club. The club’s angle at the finish should be the same as the bag’s angle. You’re on plane if your eyes, right arm, shaft, and shoulders are parallel to the bag. If they are, you’ve made a good swing and stayed on plane throughout the swing.

Practice Anywhere Anytime
You can practice swinging on plane anywhere anytime using a drill we teach to students who take my golf lessons. Take your address position with a club. Now make your backswing. Stop when you get about halfway back in your backswing and check your hands. Your “open hand” (right hand) should be parallel to the clubface. If it is, you’re on plane.

Swinging on plane boosts ballstriking. That’s because swing n plane greatly influences key factors in your swing, like depth of divot. Better ballstriking leads to longer and straighter shots, not just from the tee but from the fairway as well. Hitting longer and straighter shots helps you avoid trouble, which in turn, will help you lower your golf handicap.