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How To Break 80 Newsletter
November 19, 2008
"The Web's Most Popular Golf Improvement
Newsletter"
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In this issue we'll discuss...
1) Senior Golfer: Turning Back The Clock
2) Good Balance Equals Good Ball Striking
3) Question of the Week - Hitting it Fat
4) Article -
Practice Routines Lower Golf Handicaps
5) Article -
Regrouping Salvages Scores And Golf Handicaps
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1) Senior Golfer: Turning Back The Clock
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Senior golfers can't stop aging, but they can turn back the clock. Well, sort of. As golfers grow older, they lose flexibility and strength, shortening their swings and reducing clubhead speed. As a result, they lose power and distance. That takes the fun out of the game for many. But modifying their swings helps seniors compensate for a loss of flexibility and strength, and puts the fun back in the game.
Below are five keys to modifying a senior swing:
1. Put your feet closer together
2. Pull your back foot and hip back
3. Position the ball back in your stance
4. Raise your front heel a little
5. Allow your arms to bend at the top
Senior golfers need to work on two things to compensate for a loss of power and distance. They need to learn to (1) complete their backswings and (2) accelerate on an inside path to the ball. If you're a senior gofer, do the following:
First, pull your feet a little closer together at address. Then, pull your right foot and hip back a little until you are in a closed position relative to your target line. (Left-handers need to pull their left hip and foot back.) These changes enable you to turn your right side out of the way of your backswing.
With the ball positioned back in your modified stance, make a swing. Don't be afraid to raise your left heel slightly off the ground or allow your left arm to bend slightly at the top of the swing. In fact, we encourage it.
This more relaxed position allows you to move your arms freely through the ball and snap the clubhead through impact, striking the ball solidly and driving it forward. The modified stance and swing produces a draw, which means the ball will run when it hits the ground. That in turn increases the shot's distance.
Senior golfers can stop aging, but they can compensate for a loss of flexibility and strength. In addition learning to hit a draw, seniors should do exercises designed to increase their flexibility. Working on these things faithfully will put the fun back in the game.
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2) Good Balance Equals Good Ball Striking
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We all want to be good ballstrikers. They hit longer, straighter shots consistently. But being a good ballstriker requires good balance. That means keeping your lower bodystill while you swing, which stabilizes and supports the rotation of your trunk and the swinging of your arms. Bad shots occur when your lower moves.
Below are five keys in a drill that improves balance:
1. Address a ball as you normally would
2. Turn your knees in at address
3. Maintain the gap between your knees
4. Close your knees quickly
5. Fire the lower body toward the target
This drill encourages you to appreciate the role of the lower body in striking a golf ball—in terms of both incorporating balance in the swing and injecting a little "oomph" into the ball at impact.
Address the ball as you normally would, but turn both knees inward slightly. Sense the gap between them. As you make your swing, maintain that gap until just before impact, closing it as quickly as you can as you fire your front hip, knee, and foot through towards the swing. The resistance you feel in your lower body improves your sense of balance.
Another way of improving balance is hitting full shots from a fairway bunker—but without digging your feet into the sand. Digging your feet in stabilizes you. If you don't dig your feet in the only way to stay in balance and hit good shots is to quiet your leg action. If you have to lift your front foot a little, do so.
Both drills improve balance and ballstriking. Both come from David Ledbetter, one of the game's most respected golf teachers. Try both when you have a chance. The results may surprise you.
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3) Question of the Week - Hitting it Fat
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Q. Good afternoon, Jack. I've got a question about the pitch or chip shot that bounces twice and then spins to a stop. How do you play the shot? I can't seem to get the ball to stop, when I try this shot, the ball continues to run out.
Thanks for your answer,
Kevin Cavan
A. Thanks for the question, Kevin. Getting the ball to sit on the green will save you a ton of strokes. To get a ball to sit, you need to put backspin on the ball, the action of which is a lot like putting backspin on a cue ball.
To put backspin on a cue ball, you hit downward on the ball's bottom half with significant force, striking it at a steep angle. Increasing the velocity of the cue stick as it moves toward impact also helps.
To put backspin on a golf ball, you do the same thing. But here, you want to “pinch’ the ball between the club and the fairway. To do this, you to hit downward on the ball with a fair amount of force, and you must make clean contact on the lower portion of the ball.
Combining these factors—angle of attack, significant force, clean contact—in a single swing puts backspin on the ball. That keeps the ball from rolling off the green.
Adding backspin works best when you have a clean club—with some grip left on the clubface—and a new ball. You also have to have the right conditions. Ideally, you want to be on the fairway with a good lie and dry grass. The green should be in good shape to hold the ball when it hits. A softer green is the best.
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
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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.
