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How To Break 80 Newsletter

May 7, 2008

"The Web's Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter"
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In this issue we'll discuss...

1) Beating Long Bunker Shots
2) Fine-Tune A Draw
3) Question of the Week - Avoiding Toe Hits
4) Article - Sinking Short Putts Cuts Golf Handicap
5) Article - Changes At TPC Sawgrass Dictate Play

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1) Beating Long Bunker Shots
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Your drive plops down in a bunker 30 yards to the green's right. Normally, you'd use your standard bunker shot. But that won't work here. Even if you take a longer backswing, you won't hit the ball much beyond 20 yards, leaves you short. So what do you do?

Below are five keys to executing longer bunker shots:

1. Square your clubface
2. Narrow your stance
3. Use extra body
4. Employ a full finish
5. Keep your heel down

Even if you're a great bunker player, your normal bunker shot won't work here. But making a few adjustments to your normal shot helps.

First, set your clubface slightly open at address. But square it through impact like you do with your normal shot. Now pull your feet in closer and just barely dig them into the sand. This move produces a shallower divot and gets the club and the ball moving faster down the target line.

Also, when you swing, turn through the shot, just like you would with a normal iron shot. You'll need extra body with this shot, so keep everything moving—body, arms, and club—to a full finish. And keep your back heel down. You won't have a solid stance with this shot, so keeping your back heel down helps stability. And don't try pivoting on your back heel, either. You'll lose your balance.

Use your 9-iron instead of your sand wedge on longer bunker shots. Make the adjustments suggested above. And swing away. The adjustments, combined with extra body behind the ball, will land you on the green and leave you in position to complete the up and down.

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2) Fine-Tune A Draw
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Few shots offer the benefits of a draw: It carries more, runs more, and holds its line better in the wind than a fade. But learning to hit a draw if you normally hit a fade or a slice is hard. Since your body is used to making the opposite moves, you must re-train your muscles to hit a draw. That's hard. But adjusting your stance and grip, plus practicing two drills work wonders.

Below are five keys to hitting a draw:

1. Adopt a closed stance
2. Use a stronger left-hand grip
3. Follow an inside track
4. Aim right at the top of the swing
5. Release the club through impact

The key to hitting a draw is shallowing out your swing. If you start your downswing by spinning your shoulders, you create a steep angle of attack, resulting in a slice, pop-up, or pull. To create a shallow angle of attack, quiet your shoulders and let your arms control the swing. Adjusting your stance and grip help.

Take a square stance. Now draw your back foot back a few inches, which closes your stance and clubface. With this stance, your clubface aims directly along the target line, but follows an in-to-out path in to the ball, rather than a fade's out-to-in path. Adopting a slightly stronger left-hand grip also helps. It encourages an active release of the hands and imparts the necessary sidespin on the ball for a draw.

To fine-tune a draw, try this drill:

Tee up a ball. Position it forward in your stance. And drop to your knees. Now swing back and through, knocking the ball of the tee. Don't worry about how far you hit it. Swinging back is easy. But coming forward is not. You'll probably hit the ground a few times before hitting the ball cleanly. That's your shoulders kicking in. You'll make solid contact with the ball once your arms learn to control the shoulders.

In addition to this drill, try hitting a ball off a sidehill—a drill we've discussed in previous golf tips. Use a hill with a 15 percent to 20 percent slope. However, the angle of the slope is less important than the re-training of your muscles, so don't go crazy measuring the slope's angle.

Practicing these two drills fine-tunes your draw. Before long, you'll be hitting one on demand, just like the pros do.

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3) Question of the Week - Avoiding Toe Hits
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Q. Hi, Jack, I recently applied impact tape to the clubfaces of my irons and realized that I consistently hit the ball off the toe. The result is a lower trajectory and lost distance. My hands hang almost directly under my chin at setup, and I take a short backswing to avoid distorting the swing. I just have a hard time hitting it on the club's sweet spot. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dan Foster

A. Thanks for the question, Dan. Toe hits can drive you crazy. But you can eliminate them by keeping these five keys in mind:

* Swing down on the ball
* Keep your arms extended
* Focus on center-face contact
* Swing the club around your body
* Visualize two balls before hitting

Losing arm extension at impact causes toe hits. These often happen when trying to lift the ball off the ground, which retracts the swing path. Instead, focus on swinging down on the ball, keeping your arms extended, and making center-face contact. Also, swing the club around your body. Visualizing two balls on the ground and trying to hit the outside one helps, too.

The Tee drill helps with toe hits:

Stick two tees in the ground about a clubhead length apart. One tee is closer to you than the other. Set up to the tee that's closer to you. But swing at the one that's farther away. Try picking the tee out of the ground.

This drill is simple but effective. It flattens your downswing path, forces you to extend your arms, and makes you swing around your body. Practice it until you can pick the tee out of the ground instinctively. Eliminating toe hits shaves strokes off your scores and may just save your sanity.

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.

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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/newsletter05072008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Sinking Short Putts Cuts Golf Handicap
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/sinking-short-putts-cuts-golf-handicap.html

5) Article - Changes At TPC Sawgrass Dictate Play
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/changes-at-tpc-sawgrass-dictate-play.html

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, send a blank email to break80ezine@aweber.com

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About the Author
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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.