I just put together another video for you on swing plane.

With the right swing plane you’ll make solid contact more consistently and hit it further.  With the wrong plane you will continue to struggle.

Today’s video is all about knowing what YOUR own swing plane is.  Specifically, how to determine it for your own swing and how to get back on track when you start mishitting the ball.

The best part of this 5 minute video is that we go over the proper swing planes for both tall and short players (yes, we all have different planes.)

I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one and will learn a lot.  Give it a gander.

http://www.break80today.com/swingplane/findyourswingplane.html
Enjoy,
Jack

All golfers want to improve. Those serious about doing so take golf lessons from professionals or study golf tips offered in books, magazines, and newsletters, like mine. Usually, the golf lessons and golf tips focus on swing flaws. Refining your swing to eliminate flaws is a great way to improve ballstriking. Understanding how club design dictates the quality of impact is also a great way to improve ballstriking. In fact, it may be just as good, if not better than, working at eliminating swing flaws.

When we discuss club design, we usually talk clubhead size or shaft materials. These can affect your ballstriking and shot distance. But here we want to discuss a different aspect of club design. A club has three key design features:

* shaft lean toward target,
* significant lie (or shaft lean toward body),
* center of gravity

These features exist in every club, even your putter. They contain secrets on how to swing your drivers, wedges, and irons to improve your ballstriking, if we interpret them correctly. In other words, if we look at the features closely, we’ll see how they dictate proper golf swing mechanics.

Shaft Lean Toward Target
Shaft lean is the first, and possibly the most important, club design feature to consider. If you sole a club properly in your normal address position, you’ll see that the club sits on an angle where the handle leans slightly toward the target. The angle is important. It represents the angle at which the club must be delivered to the ball at impact to create optimal pressure. This pressure compresses a ball to a portion of its original size when hit, just like a racquet does with a tennis ball does when it’s hit or a wall does when rubber is thrown against it.

Effective ball compression causes the ball to spring off a clubface at maximum velocity. The only way to effectively compress the golf ball—and produce crisp, clean shots—is to deliver a forward leaning shaft at impact, whether you’re swinging a driver, iron, or wedge. This leads to maximum distance. A backward leaning shaft, on the other hand, doesn’t achieve maximum distance because it lacks the pressure needed to compress the ball enough to maximize impact.

Using A Backward Leaning Shaft
Most golfers present a backward leaning shaft at impact, where the club’s handle leans away from the target instead of toward it. A backward leaning shaft reduces the compression being delivered to the ball, leading to poor contact, poor direction, and a serious loss of distance. But you can learn to deliver a forward-leaning shaft with few simple chipping and pitching drills:

Begin by using a sand wedge. Place the ball well back in your stance to play a chip shot. The shaft should lean forward so that the handle is positioned in front of the clubhead, with your hands in front of your left pant pleat. Using your arms and shoulders only, swing the club back and through. Make sure you lead the handle of the club through the impact area. Hold the finish. The shaft should line up with your left arm and the ball should pop in the air. You’ve just hit a chip.

Next, widen your stance. Place the ball in the center of your feet. Make the same swing as before, but add some wrist hinge on your backswing. This will carry the ball a little further. Make sure to lead with the handle through impact as before. Continue to the same follow through position as the chip. You’ve just hit a pitch and run.

Keep Impact Attitude in Mind
Finally, hit some shots with your full swing, while keeping the same “impact attitude” in mind, as you have for the previous shots. You should notice a big difference in the quality of contact you get from this swing.

Forward-shaft lean is one of three key club design features. These features point the way to efficient swings when examined closely. Forward-shaft lean encourages you to swing the ball with a forward-leaning shaft at impact just like you’re taught in golf instruction sessions and like how the clubmakers designed the club to be swung. If you want improved ballstriking, you must strike the ball with the impact attitude designed into the club. If you do, you’ll hit longer, straighter shots that will help take strokes off 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.

We all know that hitting the ball properly and as far as possible are very important if we want to score as low as possible.

But did you know that there is one part of the golf swing that can REALLY RUIN your game if not done correctly? See, there’s one thing that can ROB your swing of precious distance and proper ball contact and it can be really frustrating trying to figure it out.

So, I’ve made a short five minute video that shows you exactly what this miscue is and how to avoid it.

Yes, this is part of our latest Seniors DVD but in fairness to those who are not seniors, this same concept and instruction applies so it would be beneficial to see this eye-opening video. It’s just that this issue is more prevalent in seniors but trust me, there are still a great majority of us who commit this mistake, regardless of age.

Make sure to watch the entire video because some of the best drills and explanations are toward the end.

Enjoy!

Jack

P.S. This video tip is part of the brand new Seniors DVD which we recently launched. Learn how to play the best golf of your life with this unique and proven system.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

Save Strokes from Hillside Lies
Hitting the 3-Wood High Or Low
Question of the Week – Conquering Those Long Bunker Shots
Article – Four Keys To A Perfect Swing
Article – Become A Lights Out Putter With A Practice Routine

Save Strokes from Hillside Lies

Golfers botch hillside lies for two reasons: They either fail to make solid contact on or lose their balance during the shot. The reason: With sidehill and downhill lies, you tend to lean into the hill as you swing. The result: an inconsistent array of fat and thin shots. But if you make clean contact on hillside lies, you’ll hit it straighter and save strokes.

Below are four keys to making clean contact with hillside lies:

• Adjust your club selection
• Adjust your ball position
• Flare your downhill foot
• Make your normal shot

The key to this shot is making sure your shoulders match the hill’s slope, which you can do with a simple adjustment of your front foot.

Start by choosing your club. An uphill lie adds loft to your club. Use a less lofted club. A downhill lie subtracts loft from your club. Use a more lofted club.

Adjust your ball position as well. For an uphill lie, play the ball forward an inch or two. For a downhill lie, play the ball in the middle of your stance or slightly back.

Finally, match your shoulders to the slope without losing your balance. Do this by flaring your front foot about 45 degrees. Then swing normally.

Your flared foot evens out your stance and puts the ball at the bottom of your swing. This keeps you from slamming your clubhead into the hill or the center of your ball. A flared foot also gives you more freedom of movement in your backswing and makes you feel balanced while swinging.

Don’t let hillside lies throw you. Make solid contact by (1) adjusting your club selection and ball position, and (2) matching your shoulders to the slope by flaring your front foot. Learn to make clean contact on hillside lies and odds are you’ll eliminate those extra shots that pad your scores.

Hitting the 3-Wood High Or Low

One course I play has two different types of par 5s. Both greens are reachable from the fairway in two with a 3-wood. But on one you must go over a small pond to reach the green. On the other you have nothing but fairway between you and the green. On the first you want to hit a high shot that falls softly on the green. On the second you want to hit a low shot that runs to the green.

Here are five keys to hitting the 3-wood from a tight fairway lie:

• Play the ball back in your stance
• Sweep the ball off the turf
• Hit with a descending blow
• Shift your weight to the front side
• Swing through the ball

The key to hitting different shots with the 3-wood is to adjust your stance, not your swing, to achieve the lofts you need. In fact, it’s almost always better adjust your stance than change your swing.

For the high shot over the water, play the ball a little more forward in your stance and drop your hands slightly at address. Also place a bit more weight over your back foot by tilting your spine away from your target. These adjustments position you perfectly to sweep the ball off the turf while adding loft to your clubface.

To play a shot with a lower, more piercing trajectory, do the opposite. Position the ball where you’d play a mid-iron and set more weight on your forward leg. These adjustments de-loft the club at impact and produce the lower ball flight you need to run the ball to the green.

Adjusting your stance to achieve a different shot with the 3-wood is the preferred option when you need different ball flights from the same club. It’s both safer and easier to execute this move than changing your swing.

Question of the Week – Conquering Those Long Bunker Shots

Q. Hi Jack, I get out of greenside bunkers fairly easily, but the longer bunker shots are a problem. What do you suggest for a 25- to 50-foot bunker shot?

Robert K Mokros
Spring Hill, Florida

A. Thanks for the question, Robert. The goal with a long bunker shot is to hit the ball high and drop it softly on the green.

Using a normal set-up, position the ball just inside your front heel, open your stance slightly, and grip down on the club, applying light to moderate pressure. Point the clubface at the target and the shaft’s butt at your stomach.

As you start back, cup the back of your left wrist (right wrist for lefties). This adds loft to the clubface. On the way down, maintain the cup of the left for a long as possible. Feel as if you’re pulling down with the left arm. Then lock the back of the left wrist, allowing the clubface to slide through sand without it closing.

Finally, let your hands and wrist fall together as the body weight shifts to the outside of the front foot. Keep your head behind the ball by trying to peek under it at impact.

You’ll need a lot of backspin with this shot. So use a wide arc during your backswing by keeping your hands as far from your shoulders as possible. Also, use an inside-to-square-to-inside swing path.

Execute the golf tips explained above and you’ll hit a long bunker shot that drops softly on the green.

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/newsletter09232009.php

Here are some of my recent articles:
Article – Four Keys To A Perfect Swing

Article – Become A Lights Out Putter With A Practice Routine

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.