How To Break 80 Newsletter

April 28th, 2011

"The Web's Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter"
===================================================

In this issue we'll discuss...

1) Stick It Close On An Elevated Green
2) Hitting It Low Into A Stiff Head Wind
3) Drill of the Week: Stop Hitting Fat And Thin Shots
4) Article: Tapping Your Power Potential
5) Article: Three Golf Tips On Making Impact

Jack's Note: Just FYI folks...Larry Jacob's Thin for Life weight loss program is nearly sold out. But he is offering us Break 80 peeps 50% off his normal price. Check it here. It's the same program a lot of Champions Tour players use.

Trouble viewing links? Your browser may be the issue. We recommend using the Firefox browser. Click Here To Download. Some email clients also distort links: try to copy and paste web urls directly in your browser, or turn on images for emails.

===================================================
1) Stick It Close On An Elevated Green
===================================================
Playing to an elevated green sloping from front to back, with bunkers on both sides protecting the pin, can be a challenge. If you've ever played to a green like this, you know how hard it is to play from the sides. Make a mistake with your wedge and you could easily be penciling in a triple bogey (or more) on your card. The problem, of course, is the combination of elevation and slope, which make it hard to stick it close. Your best hope is spinning the shot enough to stop it fast on the green.

Below are five keys to making this shot:

* Add five yards to the shot.
* Shift your weight to your front foot.
* Lean your shaft toward your target.
* Keep your wrist arched.
* Use a descending blow.

A good shot here could set the tone for the rest of your round. First, add five yards to the shot. That compensates for the elevation. You may be tempted to just get the ball over the bunker, but resist the temptation. A key goal here is getting the ball over the sand. If you roll off the back, you'll have an easy chip uphill.

Next, focus on spinning the ball: Shift your weight forward at address, lean the shaft toward the target, and keep your left wrist (right, if you're left-handed) arched throughout the shot. Now make a hard descending blow. This technique adds maximum spin to the shot.

Avoid leaning back on the shot to try and lift the ball—the most common mistake with this shot. All that does is produce a hard-to-control shot with little spin on it.

Pitching to an elevated green is hard enough without adding the slope and the bunkers. But adding enough spin to the ball will help you stick it close for an easily makeable putt.

===================================================
2) Hitting It Low Into A Stiff Head Wind
===================================================
Now that spring is here, more and more people will be getting out to play. Unfortunately, spring isn't always conducive to playing good golf. A not unusual scenario in the spring is to be in the fairway, mid-iron distance from the pin with a stiff head wind in your face. Making a normal swing with an extra club or two isn't your best shot, since it could balloon into the wind leaving you short. You need to hit a low-boring bullet to make the green.

Below are six keys to making this shot:

* Take two extra clubs
* Play the ball in your stance
* Forward press your hands
* Make a shorter backswing
* Keep your left arm firm
* Abbreviate your finish

Good golfers use a knockdown shot in this situation. Start by taking two extra clubs in this situation. If you would normally hit an 8-iron from this spot, hit a 6-iron.

Play the ball back in your stance—directly off the toes of your back foot—and forward press your hands so that the shaft leans toward your target. Now, make a shorter, more compact backswing. You should feel like your left arm is connected to your chest as you take the club back.

Concentrate on making an aggressive move down from the top of your backswing. Try to keep your forward arm as stiff as you can. Use your body to move your straight arm from a horizontal position to a vertical position at impact.

Abbreviate your finish, like you did for your backswing. But make sure your head, chest, hips, and arms end up facing the target. The key thing is not to go soft on the downswing. The ball will come out low and hot with a little rise to it.

The good thing about this shot is that you can also use it when the wind is at your back, so the breeze doesn't carry the ball too far.

=====================================================
3) Drill of the Week: Stop Hitting Fat And Thin Shots
=====================================================
Even the best golfers occasionally hit a shot fat or thin. But hitting too many fat and thin shots can cost you. Not turning your hips properly causes you to hit fat and thin shots. If you hit more than your fair share of fat and thin shots, try the exercise described below:

Take a hula hoop and drop it on the ground. (You can also use a coiled garden hose.) Now step inside the hoop and address an imaginary ball.

If you tend to hit fat shots, focus on your backswing hip turn. Try to keep your back hip inside the back of the hoop as you turn. If it strays outside the hoop, you've moved too far off the ball. When you turn your back hip, you should feel your weight work onto your back foot. Your upper body should be "stacked" above your back knee.

If you hit thin shots, focus on your downswing hip turn. Try to turn your front hip along the front side of the hoop. When your front hip slides outside the hoop, you'll tend to hit down on the top of the ball, topping it. If you do the exercise correctly, you should feel your weight move onto the heel of your front foot.

Practice these exercises until they become second nature. Swinging inside the hoop reminds you to make a full hip turn both back and through the shot. A good hip turn lessens the chances of catching the ball fat or thin.

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

Click here to view this newsletter on the web

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article: Tapping Your Power Potential
... Body type, age, golf handicap—none of these disqualify you from driving the ball farther. The key to longer shots is tapping your power potential. To do that, you must improve the way your hands and arms swing and your body rotates. It's called body sequencing. Improve your sequencing and you'll find yourself hitting the ball longer, straighter, and more accurately....

5) Article: Three Golf Tips On Making Impact
... Flick refers to one approach as the "from the ground up approach." You see it in players like Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, and Vijay Singh. He calls the other approach the "from the center down approach." You see it in people like Anthony Kim and Michelle Wei. The Ground Up approach is the more traditional approach....

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 yearns to hit the ball longer and straighter. Every golfer can. Body type, age, golf handicap—none of these disqualify you from driving the ball farther. The key to longer shots is tapping your power potential. To do that, you must improve the way your hands and arms swing and your body rotates. It’s called body sequencing. Improve your sequencing and you’ll find yourself hitting the ball longer, straighter, and more accurately. Use the three golf tips discussed below to improve body sequencing.

Start on Plane
We see it in our golf lessons: Players giving away power potential in the first few feet of their swings. These golfers bend their right arms too much and pull their clubs behind them as they start their backswings. This creates a chain reaction that robs their swings of clubhead speed. The result: a weak, arms-only swing that doesn’t leverage the rest of their bodies. Start your swing on plane—with more extension or width in your arms—and you’ll drive the ball further. Here’s a drill to ingrain this fundamental:

Make a backswing and have a friend stick a shaft with a headcover on top in the ground so your hands just reach the head cover with your left arm fully extended. The shaft should be inline with the shoelaces on your back shoe. Make slow practice backswings. Try to brush the headcover with you’re knuckles as you go back. If you pull the club inside too much, you’ll hit the shaft with your club.

We use this drill a lot in our golf instructions sessions. It trains you to fully extend your arms during takeaway. You can also try touching an imaginary person standing behind you with your clubhead as you go back.

Make An Effective Turn
If you’ve taken golf lessons, you may remember being told to stay behind the ball when you swing. It’s good advice. You must turn behind the ball to generate power. But you have to turn correctly. Unfortunately, golfers mix up this fundamental with another fundamental: keeping your head steady. The mix-up results in a lower body slide, which in turn causes your upper body to become over active, sapping power from your swing. Here’s a drill with a visual cue to help ingrain the feeling of staying behind the ball.

Find a spot on the range where the sun produces a shadow straight in front of you. Angle two reference clubs so they outline the shadow of your legs at address. The grips should be pointing at a ball on a tee in the ground. As you turn your body to the top, keep your lower body shadow within the clubs. Let your head move slightly.

We don’t use this drill too much in our golf instruction sessions. But it’s tried and true. It will teach you to stay behind the ball when you swing.

Plant Your Heel
Golfers rarely think about footwork. But good footwork contributes to power. In the quest to generate more power, golfers often lift their front heels during their backswings. That’s okay. But the heel must come down in the right spot. Otherwise, you lose power. Unfortunately, golfers don’t always do this. Many slide away from the target or lunge forward at the target. Both ruin a good body turn on the downswing, sacrificing clubhead speed and power. To learn good footwork, practice this drill:

Stick a tee in the ground just outside your front heel. Now set up with the driver. When you start your downswing, nudge the tee forward with your heel—re-centering your weight—before you rotate to the finish.

This drill teaches good footwork. Good footwork, in turn, leads to better body sequencing.

These three golf tips—start your swing on plane, stay behind the ball, and plant your heel—all do one thing—encourage proper sequencing. That in turn ignites the power potential in your body. Instead of producing a weak, arms-only swipe at the ball, you generate a power-laden swing. If you’re serious about chopping strokes off your golf handicap, you must develop a more power-laden swing.

Impact is the moment of truth in golf. Impact is where the rubber meets the road—no matter what your golf handicap. Jim Flick, noted teacher and author, provides golf lessons to Tour professionals for a living. He points out two ways to swing the club into and through impact. Each way comes with a set of compatible positions and moves. Neither way is right. Neither way is wrong. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Flick refers to one approach as the “from the ground up approach.” You see it in players like Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, and Vijay Singh. He calls the other approach the “from the center down approach.” You see it in people like Anthony Kim and Michelle Wei. The Ground Up approach is the more traditional approach. The Center Down approach is up and coming approach on the Tour. Both approaches work for golfers with all kinds of golf handicaps.

The Ground Up approach, which provides more shotmaking potential, works better with the driver, fairway woods, and long irons. It’s better for taller players and gentler on the body. It features a neutral grip, a flexing front knee through impact, a more upright backswing, with the back arm away from the body, and a slower transition. This approach also features active forearm rotation to square the clubface at impact. We see this approach often in golf instructions sessions.

Here’s how to tell if you’re using this approach:

Set up to a tee with your driver and the sun at your back. Note the position of the shadow of your head. Place another tee or golf ball in the center of that spot. Now swing in slow motion, noting the shadow of your front knee and thigh just past impact. While keeping your head shadow in place, the shadow of your left knee should clearly be bent.

Repeat the drill, clipping the tee with your club until you feel your front foot is stable on the ground, your left knee bent and leaning toward the target through impact, and your left thigh and hip rotating through the hitting area. When this happens, you achieved the impact position of Flick’s Ground Up approach.

From The Center Down Approach
The “from the center down” approach is somewhat new. We don’t see it as much in our golf instruction sessions as we see the Ground Up approach, but it’s getting more and more popular on the Tour. This approach is more repeatable, requires less practice, is better with short irons and wedges, and is less reliant on tempo. It’s also generally better for shorter players.

The Center Down approach features a strong grip, with the hands turned to the right (left, if you’re left-handed), less active arm rotation, a straightening left knee, and very open hips. With your upper body centered over a fixed axis at address and through impact, your hips must turn not slide. You start this downswing by rotating your hips and shoulders. Strong players spin their hips as fast as possible to achieve power and a reliable shape to their shots.

Set up to a tee with your driver and the sun at your back. Mark your head’s shadow with another tee or ball on the ground. As you swing in slow motion turn your hips and chest through so you can see your left knee straightening at “impact.” Note if you are swinging around a fixed axis (the ball within your head’s shadow). Repeat this drill until you get the feel of your left hip turning—not sliding—as your swing through.

The Takeaway
Good swings feature an efficient shallow angle of attack. Both of Jim Flick’s approaches accomplish this, but in different ways. The key, as we said before, is not mixing the two approaches. Longer courses, more forgiving clubs, and low-spinning balls make the Center Down approach more popular among today’s Tour players. But the Ground Up approach still thrives with the pros.

What’s the next step? Try both approaches. Determine which works best for you. After nailing down the best approach, refine that approach by going to the practice range, taking golf lessons, and reading golf tips in magazines. Creating an efficient angle of attack will help you hit longer, straighter shots and chip strokes off your golf handicap.

When you're standing over a shot and about to pull the trigger, what goes through your head?

You can conger up a variety of things such as:

-Smooth takeaway (low and slow)
-Full turn back
-Clean contact
-Full Follow through
-Etc, etc., etc.!

After working with thousands of students and applying these techniques myself, let me walk you through a very successful way to manage the "voices in your head" so you can hit the best shots possible. Remember, the key to this technique is the way you approach it.

#1- Picture the shot you want to hit. Think of the result and work backwards from there. What shape? what trajectory? For example, let's say you had a 150 yards into the green. You might think "I need to hit a high draw to avoid the water on the left and attack the pin in the back left side. I also need a relatively high ball flight because I have to carry a greenside bunker."

#2- Designate time for practice swing and thoughts. Before you hit the actual shot, when taking practice swing(s), this is the time for "positional" or technical thoughts such as where you arms or shoulders should be or what the shot should feel like to your body.

#3- Cardinal rule- no swing thoughts at all during your swing. I want you thinking of the target and nothing else. Let your body do what you just rehearsed and visualized. An easy way to implement this is to create a "trigger". This trigger should tell you definitively when to stop thinking and start swinging. For example, my trigger is when I sole the club behind the ball. Once that clubhead touches the ground, my mind goes blank and I start the backswing.

Sound weird? Don't judge it til you've at least given it a shot. And I'm talking about a shot when you are playing a real round, not on the range. Do it when you're under some pressure. See if it works for you.

Let me know what you think! Leave a comment.

Best-

Jack

P.S. We had some technical issues when taking our Masters 50% Off Sale down recently. Remember, it's 50% off our entire product line...17 DVD titles and our award-winning book. So, for what it's worth, we are still offering the 50% discount probably til the end of the day when Justin can fix it. But don't complain if he
has already taken it down;) Oh yeah, use coupon code "FIFTY" to get the 50% off.