In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Stop Shanking Short Chips
2) Stopping It Dead In Its Tracks
3) Drill – Fixing A High Weak Slice
4) Article – Golf Tips On Sand Strategies
5) Article – Set Up For Solid Ballstriking
1) Stop Shanking Short Chips

Is there anything more maddening than shank a short chip shot? Doing so adds an extra stroke to your score and turns a potential par into a bogey or double bogey. Even when you grip down, you still seem to shank the chip. Weight shift is one reason why you do it. Gripping down the wrong way is another. Together, they create the perfect conditions for a shank.

Here are five keys to the shot:

*Grip down on the club
*Settle into your address posture
*Shift your weight to your arches
*Keep your right knee from creeping
*Move the knee forward when swinging

Many weekend golfers take their posture then choke down on the club. That’s asking for trouble. Because of the chipping club’s short shaft—made shorter by choking down—your weight shifts to your toes. This forces you to hang over the ball, creating the conditions for a shank. Your weight is drawn even more toward when you open your shoulders.

Instead, grip down the club first, and then move into your address posture. Make sure you shift your weight over your arches. Once you set your hands, bend from your hips with just a slight knee flex. You should feel like your butt is sticking out, with your arms settling under your shoulders.

When you go to make your swing keep your right knee from creeping out toward the ball. Move it toward the target through impact, not in front of you. When you practice this shot, lay a club on the ground along your toe line. Use the shaft to guide your leg action.

Stop shanking those short chip shots like some weekend golfers do and you’ll save yourself both strokes and frustration.

2) Stopping It Dead In Its Tracks

Short-siding yourself can cost you strokes. If you have to carry a water hazard or a bunker to a tight pin, your ordinary run-of-the-mill lob shot won’t do. It will probably leave you with a long putt for par. What you need is to hit a high lob shot that stops dead in its tracks. But every time you try to hit a high lob, you skull it, sending it across the green. Getting a high lob to stop in its tracks is all in how you set up.

Below are five keys to this shot:

*Position the ball forward in your stance
*Tilt the shaft away from the target
*Maintain the cupped wrist throughout
*Make a long smooth swing
*Make a three-quarter finish

This shot requires practice. But once you’ve ingrained it, it will save you a ton of strokes. The key to the shot is cupping your left wrist (right for left-handers) and maintaining it cupped throughout the swing.

*Use your lob wedge. Address the ball as you normally would for a lob shot. Position the ball half way between the center of your stance and your front foot.

*Tilt the shaft away from the target. When you lean the shaft back, your left wrist cups or leans backward. Maintain the cup from start through impact and all the way into your follow-through.

*Use a long smooth swing. Keep your hands behind the ball at impact, allowing the sole of the club to slide underneath the ball. Follow through to a three-quarter finish.

The aggressive shaft lean at setup adds loft to the club without forcing you to open the clubface. Opening the face reduces its hitting area, making for a risky shot.

Practice the shot until you’ve ingrained it. It’s a good option when you’ve short-sided yourself and need to stop the ball dead in its tracks.
3) Drill – Fixing A High Weak Slice

This drill is for players that hit high weak slices. The problem stems from a swing fault called “crossing the line.” It starts when you try to increase power by taking an extra long backswing. This causes your arms to swing way past their natural stopping point. When that happens, you cross the line (the clubhead pointed right of the target at the top of your swing). This fault causes inconsistent contact and misses that go high and wide to the right.

Many players would benefit from stopping at what would be their three quarters position. If that doesn’t work try using a Nerf football when your practice your backswing. Wedge the football between your elbows. Try stopping it from falling out by keeping your elbows together as you make your backswing. Make sure you complete your backswing with a full wrist cock. That’s what gets you parallel at the top, not your arms.

If you lift your right elbow while the football is wedged in there, it will fall out and you’ll lose power. You need to keep your elbows together at the top and pointed parallel to the target line for a powerful top position.

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 – Golf Tips On Sand Strategies
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/Golf-Tips-On-Sand-Strategies.php

5) Article – Set Up For Solid Ballstriking
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/Set-Up-For-Solid-Ballstriking.php

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

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Ahh, golf’s toughest test is now upon us.  The U.S. Open, Pebble Beach 2010.

The last time the Open was here, in 2000, Tiger was the only player to break par in the tournament; he finished at 12-under par, and Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez tied for second place at 3 over.

But not sure I would expect that kind of a romp this year considering Tiger is still rusty.

Pebble is set up to run firm and fast.  Couple that with a links course with insane winds and ocean looming everywhere, it’s gonna be  a struggle to stay at even par for most of even the best pros.

Now I haven’t even made a pick yet for my favorite because there’s one thing that scares me more than all the other conditions.  THE ROUGH.  Sorry Phil and Tiger and all you long bombers…gotta hit the fairways, gents…or you can start to look silly.

Because of the extreme difficulty of this event, anything can happen and anyone can win….but I’d like to hear from YOU. Who do YOU think will win this week and be crowned the reigning U.S. Open champ? Just post your answer here in the comments. Answer correctly and we’ll put you into a drawing on Monday June 21st for selection my products. If your name is drawn, you get to pick any three of our award-winning DVD’s or instructional books (we have thirteen to choose from)…on the house. And yes, we pay for the shipping too

There’s only one rule….only those posts submitted by end of day Thursday will count. Those who vote after that won’t be counted toward the contest because by then you will have an unfair advantage. You’re more than welcome to post at any time though! Good luck and I hope you choose wisely and get some instructional products for free!

By Jack Moorehouse

Today’s professional golfers are better than ever. They’re also fitter than ever. Look at players like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. They’re in great shape. Annika Sorenstam also was in great shape when she played. Good players know that as their fitness level increases, their play improves—all things being equal. They also know that improvements in strength, flexibility, and endurance are often the difference in lowering your golf handicap two, three, or even four strokes.

Unfortunately, many weekend golfers can’t hit the gym as often as they’d like. They’re too pressed for time. If they’re not ferrying the kids around, they’re doing home improvement projects. Or, they’re completing a work report a colleague needed yesterday. These activities place a huge demand on their time, making it hard to find the time to exercise. But even if you’re short on time you can improve your strength, flexibility, and endurance with a little forethought and good planning.

Limber Up and Loosen Up
New golfers realize very quickly that the golf swing requires movements that they don’t normally make. Ingraining these motions is among the biggest problems weekend golfers face, especially if they have sedentary jobs. Golf lessons and golf tips don’t do much good if a golfer’s body isn’t pliable. Stretching is a good way to make you pliable. It doesn’t take a lot of time and it can be built into your daily routine. You can do simple stretches at work or before you start a round. The key is using the time you have wisely.

For example, if you’re taking a golf cart during your round, loosen your shoulders and back with this exercise: Stand next to the canopy post, your feet shoulder-width apart. Grab the post with both hands, keeping your arms fully extended. And pull away from the post. Hold that position for one long breadth, and then repeat facing the opposite direction. Do this exercise while your playing partners hit their drives. Stretch also while changing in the clubhouse as well.

Strength And Flexibility
To lower your golf handicap, it helps to improve both your strength and flexibility. Improving these two things can help greatly in your quest to go low. But you don’t have to start pumping iron for two or three hours a day to increase your strength. Instead, buy some basic fitness equipment to use at home. Then when you’re home, look for opportunities to use them, like between commercials of a basketball game or your favorite TV show.

For example, an inflatable stretch ball ($20 to $60 in most sporting goods stores) is a good low-tech piece of exercise equipment. The stretch ball provides you the added benefit of maintaining your balance while performing different exercises. Also, you can grab a five-pound dumbbell or whatever is handy, and do sit-ups using the ball. Extended your arms with the weight while doing the sit up. This exercise improves the strength and flexibility of your shoulders, arms, and abdomen.

Develop A Plan
If you’ve read my golf tips newsletter, you know I recommend using a pre-shot routine to insure consistency. Consistency should also be a key component of your fitness regimen. If you really want to start chopping strokes off your game, develop a fitness routine with help from either a trainer or your own research and stick to it religiously. It will work wonders for your game.

One final tip: Try to incorporate compound exercises in your program. They work on two or more parts of your body at the same time. Here’s an example of one: Lie flat on the floor, grab one arm, and pull it across your body. Now rotate your hips so your belly button is pointing in the opposite direction of the extended arm. Bend your legs at the same time so your knees are touching the ground. Hold this position without lifting your shoulders for several seconds. Relax and repeat. You can even do this exercise in bed before getting up.

The key to benefiting from any exercise program is consistency. But you must exercise regularly. If you can get to a health club, that’s great. Do it. If you can’t get to a club regularly, develop an exercise program that you can do at home when the opportunity occurs. It can be yoga, Pilates, or whatever, just as long as it focuses on increasing your strength and flexibility. The better shape you’re in, the easier it is to chop strokes off your golf handicap.

By Jack Moorehouse

If you’re serious about getting more yards from your drives—and shaving strokes from your golf handicap—work on launching the ball. It’s a golf tip not always covered in golf lessons. The higher you hit the ball, with the right amount of spin, the father it goes. Take Hank Kuehne. He’s among the PGA’s longest hitters. He uses a driver with nine degrees of loft. Most PGA players use seven or eight degrees. Weekend players couldn’t hit a driver with these lofts. For them, a good loft for a driver is 10.5 degrees or above.

Keep in mind that golf has no uniform equipment standards. So determining driver loft accurately is tricky. When measured the same way, most drivers come within a degree of the loft printed on the club. Driver loft performance stems from several factors. Only ball flight can tell you a club’s true dynamic loft—a function of measured loft, center of gravity, moment of inertia, and face roll. An adjustment to your stance and swing will helps generate more loft and more yards off the tee.

Below are four golf tips on generating more lofts:

Flare Your Forward Foot
In golf instruction sessions you’re taught to flare your left foot (right foot for left-handers) about 45 degrees on your drives. It’s a good golf tip. It increases the speed at which the hips unwind during the swing. Kuehne, however, turns his toes in. That’s because his hips unwind too quickly. Turning his toes in restricts hip movement during his downswing. Weekend golfers usually need to speed their hips up, so they need to flare the front foot. This in turn lets them swing the club faster.

Hit A Fade, Not A Draw
You may have told during a golf lessons to hit a draw off the tee. A draw often generates more yards because of the roll. But you can also hit a fade for distance. Jack Nicklaus did. Hitting a fade let’s you swing the club hard without having to worry about hooking it out of bounds. Weakening your grip helps when hitting a fade. To do that lay the thumb of your gloved hand on the shaft so that the thumb and forefinger points more toward your chin rather than your right shoulder (left shoulder for left-handed golfers.)

Sweep The Ball Off The Tee
The easiest way to get more distance off the tee is to change your angle of approach into the ball. In other words, hit up on the ball, not down. If you have an over-sized driver use longer tees. This gives you the optimum angle to launch the ball. For weekend golfers, optimum launch angle is anywhere from 10.5 to 14 degrees. To sweep the ball off the tee, set your spine angle at address so your front shoulder is higher than your back shoulder.

Pause At The Top
Pausing at the top is the last of the four golf tips. Start by taking the club all the way back. Then, pause at the top for a split second before committing to the downswing. Many weekend golfers get out of sync by making a sloppy transition to the downswing. Some golfers start their downswing before they’ve even completed their backswing. That’s not good. Also, if you pause at the top, you can swing as hard as you want on the downswing and still stay in rhythm.

To generate more power, golfers often try to swing the club harder than normal. That doesn’t always work. If you really want to get more distance off the tee, use loft to launch the ball. To help do that, flare your forward foot, sweep the ball off the tee, and pause at the top of your swing. Also, hitting a power fade can get you more distance, if hit correctly. Incorporating these golf tips into your swing will help you get more yards off the tee and, hopefully, help whittle down your golf handicap.