1) Perfect Your Posture For Better Swings
2) Putting Up A Tier
3) Question of the Week – Playing Soft Shots
4) Article – Simplifying Your Sand Play Saves Strokes
5) Article – Dial In Your Short Irons Now

Jack’s Note: Tired of hitting bad chips? Watch the free video on the foolproof chipping method here.
1) Perfect Your Posture For Better Swings
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It gets harder to change bad habits the longer you have them. So you need to correct them as soon as you discover them. Otherwise, they’ll become ingrained and you’ll never root them out. If bad habits plaque your swing and you’re looking to make a change, the best place to start is with your posture. Good posture increases the chances of striking the ball solidly.

Below are five keys to good posture:

1. Keep your spine straight through the swing
2. Bend forward from your waist
3. Keep your knees flexed but not too much
4. Place your kneecaps over your insteps
5. Point your fingertips outside your shoes

You address position greatly impacts your swing. If your looking to perfect your swing or get rid of bad habits, a good place to start is with your posture. Good posture increases your changes of hitting the ball on the sweet spot.

To check your posture, set up to an imaginary ball. Relax your body and let your arms hang straight down. Your posture is good if your kneecaps are over the insteps of your feet and your fingertips point to the tips of your shoes. If your fingertips point inside the tips of your shoes, you’re too upright. If the point outside the tips of your shoes, you’re bent over too far and your too flat.

Also, keep an eye on your knees. Many golfers don’t flex their knees enough. In addition, make sure your spine is straight and that you’re bending forward from the waist to avoid slumping your shoulders.

If you’re unhappy with your swing or you’ve developed bad habits and you’re looking to make a change, start with your posture. If you’re set up with good posture, your chances of hitting balls crisply greatly increase.
2) Putting Up A Tier

A long putt of about 40 feet up a tier is tricky. We tend to leave the putt short on the first tier well below the hole. If the slope is high enough, the ball may even roll back to you. Either way, you’ll probably three-putt or four-putt. If you play on a course with numerous tiered greens, leaving these types of putts short can really cost you. But staying true to your stroke fundamentals provides the solid contact you need to get the ball to the hole.

Below are five keys to putting up a tier:

1. Add the pace of the two putts together
2. Set your eyes over the ball
3. Set your hands under your shoulders
4. Keep everything still at impact
5. Imagine yourself bowling up a hill

The problem here is that you’re really dealing with two putts: The one that gets the ball up the first tier and the one that gets the ball from the edge of the tier to the hole. To determine the ideal stroke length for this putt, add the stroke lengths for those two putts together.

Next, take your normal putting stance. Then set your eyes over the ball and your hands below your shoulders.. This sets you up to make solid contact, enough to get you up and over the first tier and to the hole

As you make your practice strokes visualize yourself “bowling” the ball up the hill. Get the feel in your right hand (left hand for lefties) for giving the ball sufficient force to get it up and over the tier’s crest. Try re-creating the feeling when you putt. Keep your sternum still at impact

If you’re putting from the left side of the hole (the cup is to your right), the slope tends to bend the ball the right. The opposite is also true.

Long putts up a tier can cost you a ton of strokes. Golfers often leave these putts short. Sometimes, we’re so short the ball rolls back. The secret to sinking tiered putts is making solid contact. Follow the golf tips given above and you’ll do it.
3) Question of the Week – Playing Soft Shots

Q. Hi, Jack. How do I play a soft landing approach shot from 50 yards and less or from the bunker? My shorts normally run six feet after pitching.

Thanks,
Charles Pitara

A. Thanks for the question, Charles. You’ve actually asked two questions here. One questions is about soft approach shots. The other is about soft landing shots from a bunker. Let’s address them one at time:

Soft Approach Shot
The key to the super soft pitch shot is the left arm action (right arm action for right-handers) given to the ball on the shot. You must swing the club and the left arm to the left of the target after impact on nice soft pitches from 30-50 yards out.

To start, use a sand wedge for this shot. Open your stance and the clubface a bit. Then, make an upright swing. These adjustments encourage the clubface to cut across the ball slightly, imparting sidespin, which helps the ball stop. The key is holding the club firmly with your left hand after impact. Don’t let the clubface’s toe pass its heel the way it does normally. To see if you’re making the shot correctly, check your divots. They should be small and should point to the left of your target. If they do, you’ve hit the shot correctly.

Soft Sand Shot
Your sand wedge is the club of choice for this shot as well. Position the ball forward in your stance and open the face of your sand wedge, adding loft to the club. As you swing back and through, keep most of your weight on your back leg. By keeping your weight on your back leg, your sand wedge maintains its original loft at impact. The ball pops out high and settles quickly on the green.

Many weekend golfers slide forward on this shot, shifting their weight to their front side dramatically on the forward swing. The shift takes loft off the club and causes it to dig into the sand, making the ball come out low and hot.

These shots are somewhat advanced. So if you’re a poor pitcher, work on the basics before trying it. But if you’re a good pitcher and you want to improve accuracy, this shot may be just the thing. Practice it to master it.

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

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Simplifying Your Sand Play Saves Strokes
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/simplifying-your-sand-play-saves-strokes.php

5) Article – Dial In Your Short Irons Now
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/dial-in-your-short-irons-now.php

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.

But playing smart isn’t always the first thing on your mind when in trouble. Many golfers try “miracle shots” to salvage the situation when in trouble. Often, it’s a shot they’ve never hit before. Save miracle shots for when you must try one. The rest of the time, play smart. It may not seem like the best strategy, but it can save you strokes later on. In my golf lessons I emphasize three situations when playing smart works well. Below I describe these situations and provide golf tips on how to play them.

Ball In High Grass
When we say high grass, we mean high grass—the no man’s land of rough. You know the kind—where you could be standing over the ball and not know it. The problem with this rough is that it’s much thicker than regular rough. It’s so thick it can catch your club and turn the hosel before the clubface is even close to the ball. Thus, it may take multiple shots to get out. It’s that thick.

The only remedy for this lie is to take your wedge and attack the ball with a hard descending blow. But first you need to adjust your set up using these golf tips: Use an open stance but close the clubface a bit. Next, take a firm grip, aim just behind the ball, and swing down hard. These adjustments make it easier for the clubface to cut through the grass. Make sure, you also swing through—because if your club gets stuck, the ball will, too.

Ball In Bunker
While a ball buried deep in the sand requires a shot like the one described above, a regular lie in the sand—one where the ball is sitting on top of the sand—needs just the opposite approach. The goal here is to “shave” the ball out, not shovel it. Here, you need to take a smooth controlled swing with an open stance and clubface. Aim to make contact two inches behind the ball. It will fly out softly with minimal sand, saving you strokes and landing the ball close to the pin.

Playing The Punch Shot
The punch shot is a third play smart situation. The object of the punch shot is to keep the ball low, straight, and precise. It makes for a great approach shot in the wind. But it also makes for a great shot to salvage par from the trees. Many players use a longer iron to make this shot, but a hybrid works just as well, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips newsletter. Here’s how to make a punch shot work for you:

Play the ball just back of the middle of your stance, which takes some loft off your club and enables the ball to fly lower with backspin. Take a three-quarter swing, mostly with your arms, and keep your wrists firm and hands quiet on the downswing. Make a smooth controlled swing, with out decelerating or hurrying through the shot, and keep your follow through short and low. The punch shot is a great weapon to have when in trouble or when playing in a stiff wind.

These three common “play smart” situations are often discussed in golf instruction session and golf articles. There are more not so common play smart shots. Look for them and then store them in your mind so you’ll remember them. In these situations, forget the “miracle shot” you’ve never hit before unless you’ve no other choice. Playing smart helps keep a lid on scores and stops golf handicaps from ballooning.

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.

1) Hitting Crisp, Clean Irons From Soggy Lies
2) Drop It Close From Every Bunker Lie
3) Question of the Week – Adjusting To “Real” Fairways
4) Article – Hybrids To The Rescue
5) Article – Playing Smart Saves Strokes
1) Hitting Crisp, Clean Irons From Soggy Lies

Few things in golf beat playing when the conditions are perfect. But you can’t always do that. Sometimes, you have to play when things are less than perfect. In fact, most times you play things will probably be less than perfect. Often, it’s nature’s fault, like when it rains heavily the night before. Heavy rains can leave fairways soft and soggy the next day, making it hard to hit crisp, clean iron shots and costing you strokes. But you can hit good irons from soggy lies by adjusting your stance and swing.

Here are seven keys to hitting irons from soggy lies:

1. Take a bunker set up
2. Choke down on the club an inch
3. Position the ball in the center
4. Stand taller over the ball
5. Hover the club above the ground
6. Line up the leading edge
7. Hit the back of the ball

You need to treat shots off wet turf as if you were hitting from a fairway bunker. That means you must make ball first contact. It also means you must compensate for you feet sinking into the soft ground, lowering your swing arc.

To do that, take a bunker stance, grip down an inch on the club, and position the ball in the center of your stance (or slightly forward for longer irons and hybrids). In addition, stand taller to the ball by bending less at the hips. Standing taller lets you hover your club above the ball and line up the leading edge with the ball’s equator.

As you swing, aim for a spot an inch in front of the ball. You want to hit the back of the ball and drive your club down and into it at that spot. A good swing thought to keep in mind is to picture your clubhead and back knee reaching the ball at the same time.

Making ball first contact and offsetting a lower swing arc produces crisp, clean irons on soft, soggy turf. But remember, you can take relief without penalty from casual water (outside a hazard), but the water must be visible before or after taking your stance.
2) Drop It Close From Every Bunker Lie

Your feet are the key to blasting it close from every bunker lie. Since you can’t ground your club in a bunker, it’s not always easy to tell what kind of sand you’re in by sight. But your feet can tell you what kind of sand you’re dealing by how far you sink in the sand. Is it fluffy, hard, or something in between? Knowing the type of sand you’re dealing with can help you hit it close.

Below are six keys to making bunker shots:

1. Play the ball just inside your front heel
2. Keep your hands directly above the ball
3. Dig your feet in for balance
4. Distribute your weight evenly
5. Choke down on the club to compensate
6. Match your swing to the depth of the sand

If you use the wrong swing in the wrong sand, you’ll either leave it in the bunker or blast it over the other side of the green. Either way, it costs you strokes. Instead, let your feet tell you the type of sand you’re dealing with, use your normal bunker shot setup, and adjust your swing accordingly.

If you’re sitting on top of thin sand, there’s less sand your club can extract, so the ball comes out “hotter” than normal. Swing from hip-high to hip-high in your finish. This gives you about 10 yards in the air with 2 yards of roll with your sand wedge.

If you’re sitting in fluffy sand, there’s more sand to extract. Your club tends to stick in this type of sand. Hitting a good explosion shot here means taking a large divot using a fast swing. Swing three-quarters back and make a complete follow through. This gives you about 10 yards in the air and 2 yards of roll with your sand wedge.

Ultimately, you want to get out of the bunker in one. But to blast it close use your feet to tell the type of sand you’re in. Once you know that, lengthen or shorten your swing to match its speed to the sand’s depth.
3) Question of the Week – Adjusting To “Real” Fairways

Q. Hi, Jack. I started playing golf on a very hard surface, where the “fairway” was a few tufts of grass on some rock-hard ground! Bottom line, there was no chance of taking a divot, so I learned to pick-up (scoop?) the ball off the hard surface. Years later, I can afford to play on real fairways. However, I still pick up the ball. How can I change my swing to hitting down on the ball and taking a divot?

Thanks,

Gregg de Wet

A. Thanks for the question, Gregg. You’re right in likening your swing to scooping because that’s essentially what you’re doing. Scoopers are trying to help the ball in the air. They set up with their weight on their back foot, their front shoulder very low, and their back arm bent to an extreme on middle- and long-iron shots. To hit the ball, scoopers must then spin out and fall backward, hitting up on the ball rather than down.

To cure scooping, move the ball back a bit toward the middle of your stance. Lower your front-shoulder just enough to allow you to turn it under your chin and aim it parallel to the target line. Distribute your weight evenly. And make a smooth transition from the top of the backswing to the forward swing. Make a full, balanced finish. These changes encourage a descending blow.

To groove these adjustments, stick a tee in the ground where you would normally place the ball. In this case it would be slightly back a bit from your front heel. Now place a second tee in the ground a few inches in front of the first tee where you would create a divot if you were to swing down on the ball. When you swing, try to pick the tee from the ground. To do that, you’re going to have to use a descending blow, not a scoop motion. Done often, this drill helps eliminate a scooping motion.

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 – Hybrids To The Rescue
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/hybrids-to-the-rescue.php

5) Article – Playing Smart Saves Strokes
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/playing-smart-save-strokes.php

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.

When you find yourself playing poorly, you should make every effort to salvage the day. It can be frustrating but you can turn a bad round into a good if you try. A good way to do that is to get back to the basics. Start by working on your driving, it sets you up for good approach shots and creates the right “tone” for the hole. It can also help turn around your game that day. The key is driving it straight and that, as I’ve said in many times in my golf tips, is correct alignment.

Align Yourself Properly At Address
If you’re not aligned at address, bad things happen. You’ll have to make swing difficult adjustments mid-stream to compensate. For example, if you’re right-handed and you’re aimed too far left, you’ll have to swing across the ball at the bottom to correct for the mis-alignment. That’s not an easy adjustment to make. It takes a highly skilled player to make adjustments and still hit the fairway consistently. There may also be clubface issues to address as well.

If you align yourself at address, you’ll dramatically increase your fairways hit per round. That in turn will impact your scores and your golf handicap. Good drives leave you in position for easy second shots and eliminate wasted shots designed to get you out of trouble. But there’s more to hitting straight drives than just aligning yourself correctly. You also have to swing along the target line while the clubhead is in the hitting zone. The longer you can keep the clubhead on the target line the straighter your shot. Below is a drill that teaches you to do that.

Target Line Drill Helps
This drill trains you to keep your swing along the target line. Tee up a ball. Place two dowels in the ground spaced a foot apart three yards in front of your ball. Your goal is to practice hitting your drives through the window formed by the dowels. With a narrow yet close target like the dowels, you’ll be less likely to come over the top with your swing. On the course, use imaginary dowels to remind you to swing down the line through the hitting zone.

As for aligning yourself correctly, below is a six-step alignment routine that can serve as a model for yours:

1. Stand behind the ball. Pick out a target.

2. Take your stance where you’re standing. Draw an imaginary line from your target back through the ball. Square your clubface to this line.

3. Make a full practice swing from there. Sense the clubhead moving down the target line through impact. Visualize the ball flight you want to use.

4. Focus on the target line in front of the ball. Walk into your stance from the left (if you’re right-handed), keeping your eye on the target line.

5. Set your clubhead behind the ball. Point the face down the line. Maintain your focus on the line in front of the ball.

6. Set your feet perpendicular to the line. Look at the target one last time. Turn your eyes to the ball and pull your trigger.

Once you set your feet set, take a slight step back with your back foot. It’s a trick Tiger Woods uses. It keeps you behind the ball when swinging, increases stability, and provides a firm foundation for a powerful drive.

Making sure you’re correctly aligned and staying on the swing path are two keys to hitting straight drives. Use an alignment routine on every driver swing, as I tell students in my golf lessons. It helps you find the target line and align your body and clubface to it. Practicing the target line drill improves your ability to keep your clubhead on the right swing path. Going back to basics starts in the tee box. It’s a great way to salvage a bad round and keep your golf handicap from increasing.

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.

One way to do that is to develop “go-to” shots for difficult situations, like hitting from behind a tree. We’ve talked about how go-to shots can help golfers in my golf tips newsletter. Using them in key situations harnesses your ability and takes advantage of your on the course strengths. More important, it lets you control the situation rather than letting the situation control you. To capitalize on this approach, you must develop an arsenal of shots you can use in the clutch. Below we discuss go-to shots in three key situations.

On A Tight Fairway
Hitting a good drive to a tight fairway, as I’ve said in my golf tips newsletter, is a great way to a comeback. A good drive here is at least 200 yards in the fairway. Candidates for a go-to shot are the full swing driver, the 3-wood, and the hybrid fade. You must be able to hit the fairway with this shot about 80 percent of the time. Pulling off the full swing driver leaves a short iron to the green, but the average golfer misses this shot 50 percent of the time. The 3-wood offers less distance but finds the fairway 15 percent more often than the driver. The hybrid fade finds the fairway more than the 3-wood, but requires a longer second shot to the green. Choose wisely.

Short Shots To The Green
Another critical situation where you need a go-to shot is about 100 yards out. Having a go-to shot is here key if “disaster” areas guard the green. You need a go-to shot that avoids all the trouble around the green. Candidates are the one-third 5-iron swing, otherwise known as the bump-and-run, and the full swing wedge. The full wedge shot puts your close to the hole, but if you miss it, you’re toast. The bump-and run won’t get your as close as the wedge, but, it’s easier to hit than the full wedge, With good contact, this shot will give you 60 yards of carry and 30 yards of roll.

Pitches To The Green Over Water
You need this shot when you’re about 30 yards to the green and there’s water (or another obstacle) between you and the pin. You need to be ale to hit the shot successfully 90 percent of the time for it to be considered a go-to shot. The idea is to land the shot on the green and leave it within 2-putt range nine out of 10 times you hit the shot, as I tell students in golf instruction sessions. Candidates are the lob wedge pitch, the standard pitch, and the chip with a putter. A well-executed lob wedge pitch leaves you with a tap-in, but mis-hitting it lands you in the water. The standard pitch to either side takes the water out of play. It’s easier to hit, but probably won’t leave you close to the hole. The chip with a putter is just what the name says: a chip shot using your putter. This shot isn’t taught in golf lessons much, but it’s safe and can put you within two-putt range.

Continue this approach for all the critical areas of your game. Then, work on developing go-to shots for the areas. Determine the shot candidates, see which one you hit best, and work on perfecting it. Once you’ve done that for the critical areas of your game, you can attack courses with aggressiveness and confidence. Remember, your go-to shot is always your safest. It’s the shot you hit best in a given situation, so it could be the riskiest. You’ll be surprised at the impact on 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.

1) Draining Breaking Downhill Putts
2) Gas Up Your Swings
3) Question of the Week – Cutting Fairway Bunkers Down To Size
4) Article – Think Your Way To A Lower Golf Handicap
5) Article – How To Drive More Fairways Starting Now
1) Draining Breaking Downhill Putts

Has this ever happened to you: You blew past the pin on a breaking downhill putt on one hole, then on the next breaking downhill putt, you leave it short. That’s because you probably were focusing on the hole, which can get you in trouble. Breaking downhill putts can intimidate you. But they don’t have to. You can conquer them if you make a slight re-adjustment in your thinking and make some adjustments.

Below are six keys to sinking slick downhill putts:

1. Forget about the hole
2. Read the slope carefully
3. Try envisioning the break
4. Identify the speed spot
5. Make a commitment
6. Use a nice rhythmic stroke

The key to draining slick downhill putts that break is to forget about the hole. Aiming for it increases your chances of blowing past the hole. Instead follow these steps:

Start by walking halfway between the ball and the hole to get a sense of the green’s slope. Try envisioning how the ball will behave. Where it will break? How far will you need to hit the ball before the slope can carry it the rest of the way?

Once you’re determined how the ball will behave, identify your “speed spot,” the spot you need to reach before the slope will carry the ball the rest of the way. Think of that spot as the hole. If you’ve determined that this putt will break, move your spot to the side to allow for how you think the putt will curve.

Also, make a mental commitment to the spot. Don’t waffle. If you do, you have no chance of sinking the putt. Having made a commitment, make your putt to the spot and let the slope do the rest. Use a rhythmic, pendulum-like stroke.

Don’t let breaking downhill putts scare you. Walk the target line, identify the speed spot, move it to the side for the break, commit to the shot, and make a nice easy stroke. Do that and you’ll either sink the putt or leave close.
2) Gas Up Your Swings

There’s nothing wrong with sacrificing distance for accuracy. It’s better to be in the fairway with a 250-yard drive, than the woods with a 265-yard drive. But sacrificing too much distance off the tee can cost you—especially when you’re playing a very long hole. To generate 10 to 15 extra yards off the tee, you must focus on three areas of your swing. Fine-tuning the areas increases clubhead speed.

Here are three tips to help generate more clubhead speed:
1. Turn your back
2. Soften your wrists
3. Rotate your hips

Three easy moves give your drives more oomph. First, turn your back to the target. How do you know when you’ve made a complete turn? When you feel your left (right for left-handers) shoulder turn underneath your chin and your back directly at the target, you’ve made a complete turn.

Second, soften your wrists. Weekend golfers often stiffen their wrists during their downswing, sapping power from their swings. Instead, let your wrists go soft. This increases clubhead lag. The longer your hands lag the clubhead, the more speed you generate at the bottom of your swing when you release the club.

Third, turn your hips fast. As you approach impact, make sure your turning your hips to the left strongly. This move in combination with soft wrists allows your left arm to lead the clubhead into the ball. This is a key power move. Do it correctly and the clubhead whips threw the impact zone at high speed.

You can sacrifice a little distance for more accuracy. But be careful. You don’t want to sacrifice too much. It can hurt you on long holes. Instead, focus on executing the three tips describe above and you’ll add yardage to your drives without forfeiting accuracy.
3) Question of the Week – Cutting Fairway Bunkers Down To Size

Q. Hi, Jack. Brilliant website. Magnificent tips. One area of the game I struggle with is playing irons out of fairway bunkers. I tend to take too much sand and only get 10 to 20 meters on the shot. I’d really appreciate any tips on how to hit short, mid, and long irons in the bunker.

Thanks,
Paul P.
Dublin, Ireland

A. Thanks, Paul. The keys to iron play from a fairway bunker are minimizing the use of your lower body and picking the ball cleanly from the sand. Recreational golfers tend to drive down on the ball, like their hitting a normal iron. This lowers their centers of gravity, which in turn cause you to hit behind the ball and take so much sand on the shot. To avoid this, make the following adjustments:

* Stand a little taller at address
* Move closer to the ball
* Dig your feet into the ground
* Choke down on the club,
* Play the ball toward middle

Also, don’t try to take a big divot. Instead, pick the ball cleanly from the sand using your arms, leaving little or no divot. In addition, use a half to a full club more than normal from that distance and stay within yourself. Don’t try to do too much with your swing. Hitting the ball in the fairway or anywhere on the green beats being in the bunker.

Try this drill to master this shot. Go to a fairway bunker and drop several balls in the dirt. Address a ball. Get a friend to hold a club butt under your chin. When you start your downswing, he or she removes the club. Continue your swing. Try hitting the ball 10 to 20 yards at first. Extend the distance until you’re hitting the ball on the green. Holding the butt under your chin: (1) forces you to stand tall at address, (2) straightens the spine angle, and (3) helps quiet your lower body.

Don’t try to hit down in a fairway bunker. It causes you to hit behind the ball. Instead, set-up as described above, maintain a quiet lower body, and pick the ball cleanly from the sand.

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 – Think Your Way To A Lower Golf Handicap
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/think-your-way-to-a-lower-golf-handicap.php

5) Article – How To Drive More Fairways Starting Now
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/how-to-drive-more-fairways-starting-now.php

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.

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

1) How To Squat For Power
2) Make The Second Shot Count
3) Question of the Week – Handling Loose Sand Over A Hard Surface
4) Article – Sorting Out The Spin On Golf Balls
5) Article – Crush It Off The Tee
1) How To Squat For Power

There are certain techniques that pro golfers weekend golfers you shouldn’t use. The reason: Weekend golfers lack the athleticism to use them. On the other hand, there are certain techniques that pro golfers make that weekend golfers can—and should—copy. Squatting for power is one. Many pro golfers make this move to add yards to their drives. It’s Tiger Woods signature move and a key reason he’s able to drive the ball a ton.

Here are seven keys to making an effective power squat:

1. Squeeze your shoulder blades
2. Keep your arms near your body
3. Drop your hands straight down
4. Turn your hips to the left
5. Flex the knees slightly
6. Throw your arms past the ball
7. Point your right shoulder at the target

Once your set up, flex your knees slightly and move your weight over the balls of your feet. Then, squeeze your shoulder blades together and relax your neck muscles, encouraging your arms to extend naturally. Keep your arms close to your body as you go into your backswing and rotate your left arm as you near the top.

At the top, keep your torso turned by the same amount as you start to pivot your hips toward the target. This sends your torque sky-high. Flex your knees downward ever so slightly, as if you were going to sit down. Don’t just bend your torso. Now drop your hands straight down like their being pulled by your hips.

As you approach impact, slow down your lower body so your arms can release properly. After impact, “throw” your arms past the ball. This improves your extension and eliminates the instinct to steer the shot. Finish by getting your back shoulder to point at the target, which encourages you to release the club and increases your clubhead speed.

Next time you see your favorite pro on the tee, watch him or her closely. See if he or she makes a power squat to generate those extra yards on their drives. If he or she does, feel free to copy it. It’s one technique you can—and should—copy from the pros.
2) Make The Second Shot Count

Your drive lands in the fairway on a long par 5. You’re in good position, but you need a good second shot to capitalize on your drive. You know you can’t reach the green in two even with your best 3-wood shot; however, your tempted to hit your 3-wood anyway hoping to get as close to the hole as possible. But hitting the 3-wood—an easy club to hit off line—can get you in trouble.

Consider these three questions before hitting it:

1. Is the pin clear?
2. Is the pin protected?
3. What’s your favorite approach club?

Before hitting the 3-wood, check out the pin’s placement. Is it in the center of the green unprotected? If it is, use your 3-wood, but make a controlled swing to a target. Don’t use a wild swing and get yourself in trouble. If you pick a good landing spot and hit it, you’ll have an unobstructed chip to the hole.

If the pin is protected, rethink your strategy. If there’s a bunker or other obstruction between you and the pin, you don’t want to be 20 to 30 yards away. You won’t be far enough away to put backspin on the ball and stop it. So even if you hit a good shot, you’re out of position. Instead, select a shot that leaves you with a full pitching or sand wedge to the green.

If you don’t hit your pitching wedge well, but you’re lights out with another club, like a 9-iron better, pick a landing spot with your second that’s about 120 yards away—a good distance to hit your 9-iron. Focus on that spot when you hit your second shot like it’s the green. You want to hit that shot. If you do, you’ll be hitting your best approach club into the green.

Second shots on long part 5s can present a dilemma. But they don’t have to trouble you. If you lay-up wisely, you can make par or birdie and save yourself strokes.
3) Question of the Week – Handling Loose Sand Over A Hard Surface

Q. Hi, Jack. Is your chipping technique good for sand traps that have no sand only fluff on top, even one close to green? Or, will there be problems getting over the lips? My home course has rocky sand traps. The club just bounces off top of the sand. It’s very hard to get a layer of sand to send the ball out on blast shots.

Thanks,

Norm

A. Thanks, Norm. Hitting from loose sand over a hard surface is tricky. If you dig down too deeply with the clubface, you’ll hit the hard underbelly. That slows the clubhead down and causes you to leave the ball in the bunker.

Here how to approach this shot systematically:

* Determine the sand’s hardness by testing it with your shoes. This tells you if the sand is hard-packed, just firm, soft with a thin crust, or soft with a hard underbelly.

* If the sand is firm, replace the sand wedge with a pitching wedge. It digs in and under the ball better than a sand wedge, preventing skulling. Also, set up a little wider than normal. Make a low sweeping takeaway. And hit down briskly an inch behind the ball

* If the sand is hard-packed, like Norm’s, play the ball as you would from hard dirt. Square the blade of pitching wedge, position the ball back in your stance, and set the hands ahead of the ball. Pick it cleanly from the surface.

* If the sand has a thin crust, play the shot as a typical bunker shot. Use a sand wedge, especially if the sand is deep and powdery.

Don’t let bunker shots get to you. Most have a slight margin for error. Attack them confidently. Getting out of them in one regularly will shave strokes from your scores and golf handicap.

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 – Sorting Out The Spin On Golf Balls
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/sorting-out-the-spin-on-golf-balls.php

5) Article – Crush It Off The Tee
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/crushing-it-off-the-tee.php

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.

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.

1) How To Drain 15-Footers
2) Knock It Close From Ultra-Short Range
3) Question of the Week – Dropping It Close From A Long Distance Bunker
4) Article – Use Forward-Shaft Lean To Hit Crisp, Clean Shots
5) Article – Curing Your Putting Woes

===================================================
1) How To Drain 15-Footers
===================================================
Alignment is a precursor to your shot. If you’re not aligned properly in the box or on the fairway, you’ll be away with your shot. The same holds true in putting—especially when it comes to mid-range putts. If your putterface points open just a degree left or right of your intended target on a 15-footer, you’ll miss the hole by three inches. If you want to drain more 15-footers, aligning yourself to the hole is key.

Below are six keys to a dead on alignment method:

1. Hold your putter with your dominant hand
2. Stand behind the ball with your putter
3. Walk to the ball holding your putter in one hand
4. Set the putter behind the ball
5. Keep your eyes on your line the entire time
6. Turn your eyes down to the ball

If your read is right, you have a good chance of draining mid-range putts. The best way to make sure your read is right is by aligning yourself with the hole.

Start by taking the putter in your dominant hand. Then walk behind the ball to determine your line. Make sure you’re directly behind the ball. Now walk to the hole, holding the putter in your hand. Keep your eyes on your line. Set your putter behind the ball and point the face at the target.

Keeping your eyes on your line, take your stance and place your other hand on the grip. Once you’re settled in, turn your eyes down. Look at the hole to identify distance and pull the trigger. Once you set the putter down, don’t re-aim it. You’re already aligned it dead straight.

Practice this method a few times to you nail it down. Once you do, it will help you drain more 15-footers.

===================================================
2) Knock It Close From Ultra-Short Range
===================================================
Normally, you shouldn’t break the game’s basics. But sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you must—such as when you have a decent lie in a greenside bunker and the hole is up close. If you can’t hit the ball high from the bunker, it will be hard to drop it close using your standard bunker shot. Instead, try this alternative.

Below are 7 keys to this shot:

1. Set up square to your target
2. Play the ball forward in your stance
3. Tilt your upper body away from target
4. Aim for an inch behind the ball
5. Keep your weight back at impact
6. Allow the club to pass under your hands

In this situation your standard bunker shot calls for you to hit a cut shot. This won’t work here. Instead, grab your lob wedge from the bag and set up square to the target, with the clubface pointing to your landing spot. Position the ball off your front heel and tilt your body away from the target.

In addition, aim for a spot an inch behind the ball and keep your weight back as the club enters the sand. You should feel like you’re slapping the club against the sand under the ball.

As you swing the clubhead past your hands, don’t slap it to the left (right, if your left-handed). Your right hand should flip under your left, so that the club points straight up in your follow-through, not back behind you. The ball should come out high, like a flop shot, and drop near the hole.

Normally, you shouldn’t disregard the fundamentals. But sometimes, you must. Hitting a flop shot from a bunker is one of those times. This shot is worth trying if your bunker shots barely clear the bunker’s front lip, or you take too much sand when using a sand wedge and leave the ball in the bunker.

=====================================================
3) Question of the Week – Dropping It Close From A Long Distance Bunker
=====================================================
Q. Hi, there. I’m have so many problems hitting out of the sand from about 50 to 80 yards out. They never seem to stick for me on the green. But as soon as I get up close, you’d think I was I pro. Please help it’s driving me crazy.

Thanks again
Dan Borse

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

A. Thanks for the question, Dan. Don’t feel too bad about not being good at this shot. It isn’t easy. But there is a technique that should give you a better chance of hitting the green and sticking.

First, use your 9-iron on this shot. It gives you the extra distance you need to hit the green.

Take your normal stance. Set your clubface slightly open at address, but square it like you usually do. Pull your feet in closer together, but don’t dig them into the sand too much, just a little. This will produces a shallower divot when you swing and gets the club and the ball moving faster down the target line.

When you swing, turn through the shot, just like you do 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 heel down helps stability. And don’t try pivoting on your back heel. You’ll lose your balance.

These adjustments, combined with extra body behind the ball, should land you on the green and leave you in position to complete the up and down.

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 – Use Forward-Shaft Lean To Hit Crisp, Clean Shots
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/use-forward-shaft-lean-to-hit-crisp-clean-shots.php

5) Article – Curing Your Putting Woes
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/curing-your-putting-woes.php

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.

When weekend golfers have a bad day, the cause is often found either in their set-up, their take away, or at the top of their swing. For example, weekend golfers often flex their knees too much when setting up to hit the ball. This can play havoc with your swing. Fixing set up flaws on-course can turn what could become a bad day into a not so bad day. The key is finding the flaw first, as I say in my golf instructions sessions. Once you’ve done that, you can then make the proper adjustments.

Below are the key checkpoints to review on bad days:

Shoulders And Hips
To increase the chance of a solid, on-line shot, you must set up with feet, knees, and shoulder parallel to the target line. It’s easy to allow the shoulders to rotate open at address when you’re having a bad day. Take one of your long irons from your bag and line up the shaft at a target, with the butt end positioned where you would normally place a ball. Align your body parallel to the club. If this position doesn’t feel right, then you may need to work on aim and alignment.

Posture
Posture errors are not only uncomfortable, they are disastrous to your swing. Check your posture to make sure you’re in a balanced and athletic position. Set up to the ball with your feet together and you legs straight. Tilt from your hips allowing your arms to hang naturally from your side, and set the club behind the ball. Next, set your feet apart (about 6 inches) and flex your knees slightly. You should feel balanced. Repeat the drill and make a few swings. Do the same but hit some balls. If you make solid contact this way, this is your drill for the day.

The Takeaway
On bad days there’s a good chance your backswing’s is a little too far inside, forcing an over-the-top, outside-in swing. That’s not good. To regain the sense of what a good take away feels like, set up with the butt of a long iron in your stomach and choke down on the shaft. While maintaining your spine tilt, turn your hips and swing the club back until it reaches about eight o’clock. From there hinge the wrists, so that the club points down the target line. Do this a few times, then hit some balls. If your ball striking improves, do a few of these stomach drills before each shot.

Top Of The Swing
If your swing feels out of control at the top, you may be reverse pivoting or losing control at the top. Neither flaw is good. The fix: Grab two irons and make some swings holding the club together. During these swings make sure your front shoulder turns behind the ball and over your back thigh. If this is hard to do, you may be sliding your hips instead of turning them. Next, assume your set up, take one of the clubs and place it across your chest, and make some mock backswing. If this feels odd, then your pivot was your problem. Continue making mock swings with your eye toward turning your left shoulder behind the ball.

No one wants to have a bad day on the course. But it happens. The key to overcoming bad days—and maintaining a low golf handicap—is determining what needs adjusting and then applying quick on-course fixes. Weekend golfers, as I’ve learned in my golf lessons, tend to form flaws in their postures and backswing a lot. These are the most logical places to start when finding and fixing flaws. If you still can’t get back on track after doing this, then play simple high percentage shots. Afterwards, seek out your teaching pro as soon as possible. He or she will help you correct your swing flaws with some quick golf tips.

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.

1) Pitch It Close Every Time
2) Punch It Out From The Trees
3) Question of the Week – Lag Putting Is Your Best Option On Long Putts
4) Article – Four Quick Fixes To Salvage A Bad Round
5) Article – Five Golf Tips That Help You Set Up For Power

1) Pitch It Close Every Time

Forget about those booming drives. If you can’t pitch it close, you’ll never go low. Ask any pro. But some weekend golfers hit short pitches because they don’t know how to control the distance of their shots. So from 30 yards, they’re vulnerable. If your pitch shots fall short or fly too long, you maybe using the same swing for every pitch or you consider the pitch swing the same as a small full swing. Neither method works.

Below is an alternative to these methods:

1. Set the club early in the backswing
2. Then turn all the way through
3. Hold your finish at backswing height
4. Open the face for high pitches
5. Close the face for lower pitches

The set and hold method encourages consistent contact and consistent distance control—exactly what you need to pitch it close. Follow these steps:

Take the club back as you normally do, but hinge your wrists early in the process. For a 30-yard pitch, that’s about hip high. Once you’ve done that, commit to accelerating through the ball. Not accelerating through the ball is a common pitching mistake. Keep the angle between the clubshaft and your front forearm. Then, use your body to do the rest.

For a high pitch shot, play the ball forward in your stance and open the clubface the appropriate distance. Aim a few feet to the left of your target (right for left-handers).For a lower pitch shot, play the ball toward your back foot and close the clubface down a few degrees. Aim a few feet to the right of your target.

The set and hold technique gives you a consistent, predictable shot. You don’t need to release or use a lot of arms. Practice the shot from about 30 yards out and before you know it, you’ll be pitching it close almost every time.

2) Punch It Out From The Trees

Here’s the situation: You’ve just shanked one deep into the trees. There’s a gap on a line with the green, with just enough room to squeeze through without too much risk. But you’ll need to hit a shot that flies low to avoid the overhanging branches, doesn’t spin so it won’t rise, and releases once it hits the fairway.

Here are five keys to hitting this shot:

1. Select a club you have confidence in
2. Play the ball just back of center
3. Take a short flat backswing
4. Make sure your left wrist faces the ground
5. Finish with the club pointing left of target

Keep one thing in mind when sizing up this shot. The farther the gap is from you, the wider it must be. Otherwise, you won’t make it through. Every yard the ball moves it will go offline.

Select a club you have confidence in. Some players use a long iron. Others, use a hybrid. Use whichever club you can control the best, since you’ll need to stay beneath the overhang. Playing the ball just back of center in your stance will help keep the ball low.

To reduce spin, make a short flat backswing. Keep the shaft below your right shoulder (left for left-handers) when you go back. And try to swing the club a little behind you. To make it run once it hits the fairway, make an aggressive release. The back of your left wrist should face the ground, with the club pointing left of your target (right for right-handers).

Actually, you can use this shot whenever you need to keep the ball low and you want to run it to your target. It’s also an option when you slice everything you hit. It will keep the ball straight and low.

3) Question of the Week – Lag Putting Is Your Best Option On Long Putts

Q. Hi Jack. My question is on controlling long putts. I always seem to leave it way too short and go far too long on these putts, sometimes right over the hole. My normal putt is pretty compact and works out ok for most putts within 10 feet. But I was recently putting for eagle on a par 5, and ended up barely making par. I’m constantly 3-putting or more when I’m over 10 feet. It’s truly frustrating.

Thanks for you input!
Eddie Rosario
Dominican Republic

A. Thanks for the question, Eddie. With a 20- to 40-foot putt, lag putting is your best option. It reduces the chances of three-putting and eliminates the pressure of trying to sink the putt.

Start by stepping off the distance to the hole to get a good idea of how long the putt really is. Then, follow your normal putting routine. When taking your practice strokes, face the target. It gives you a feel for the type of stroke you’ll need for the putt. Standing taller in your stance encourages a long, smooth stroke.

Also, visualize a three-foot ring around the hole. Aim for the ring and take a nice easy stroke. Make sure your follow-through equals your takeaway. Your goal is to get the ball within the three-foot circle, which is easier than trying to sink the putt. This leaves you with a highly makeable putt, if you’re successful.

Speed and distance control are also keys to long putting. Your stroke’s tempo is usually the culprit when speed is off. That’s because the stroke’s pace controls the ball’s speed. Practicing with a metronome helps evens out your stroke in terms of beat and length, which in turn improves pace.

To improve distance control, practice fringe putting. Start at the fringe on one side of the green. Try putting the ball as close to the opposite fringe as possible with out touching it. Also, try putting with your eyes closed. Blind putting forces you to visualize the stroke needed to sink the putt. It also helps speed and distance control. Finally, putt with confidence. It’s the single biggest factor in putting.

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 – Four Quick Fixes To Salvage A Bad Round
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/four-quick-fixes-to-salvage-a-bad-round.php

5) Article – Five Golf Tips That Help You Set Up For Power
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-golf-tips-that-help-you-set-up-for-power.php

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.

Ever wonder what’s the toughest shot in golf? Candidates abound. There’s the restricted swing, the controlled fade, and the feet inside/ball outside fairway bunker shot, as well as the ball in the rough on an upslope, the double breaking putt, and the traditional flop shot. Truth is, every one has his or her own set of tough shots. You may have covered them in golf lessons or read about them in golf tips, but you still can’t hit them. They intimidate you and add strokes to your golf handicap. Below are my candidates for the five toughest shots in golf. See if you agree.

Some players consider driver off the deck the toughest shot in golf. Many golfers never use this shot. The just read about it in golf tips. But in the right situation, it can help. The problem is your driver has the least amount of loft, so it’s hard getting the ball in the air. If you hit up on the ball, you’ll probably mis-hit. The only way to get the ball in the air is to cut the shot. Play the ball off your front heel and aim 15 yards left of your target (right for left-handers). Then swing across the ball, instead of down on it. Feel like you’re pulling your right hand toward you’re left hip on the way down.

The Plugged Bunker Lie
Other players consider the plugged bunker lie the toughest shot in golf. It’s certainly a candidate. Since you’re ball is buried in the sand, you can’t hit the typical sand blast you learned in golf lessons. There’s too much sand. Instead, come down hard into the impact zone. You should feel like you’re jamming the heel of the club into the bunker with the toe pointed at the sky. If you keep your hands low to the ground through impact, you’ll create an explosion big enough to unplug the ball and escape the bunker.

Then there’s the severe downslope from the rough. The hill’s slope moves the bottom of your swing arc back, making it easy to catch the ball fat or thin. The rough compounds any errors you make. Set your body level with the lie by tilting your torso to the left (right for left-handers) until your front shoulder sits lower than your back shoulder. Now swing. Don’t hang back to fight the pull of gravity. Doing that moves your swing arc back even farther and makes missing the ball a real possibility. This shot isn’t always addressed in golf instruction sessions, but it’s so tough maybe it should be.

One of Two Bunker Shots
For my money, the toughest shot in golf comes down to one of two shots. The bunker blast from a downhill lie is one. You have to hit the ball high to get it out of the bunker, which is difficult because the slope negates the club’s loft. The secret to hitting this shot is to take a wider stance than normal for balance and then align your shoulders with the slope. Now open your clubface and make your normal bunker swing. Don’t try to swing too hard or get under the ball too much. The ball will come out lower and with extra roll.

My other candidate for the toughest shot in golf is the feet outside, ball inside bunker shot. This is one tough shot, not only for weekend golfers but also for pro players. Almost anything can happen. Spread your feet wider than shoulder width and position the ball just inside your front foot. Also, bend your knees and rear end down more, so you can get down to the ball. Hinge your wrists quickly when you swing and keep your body quiet for balance. The steeper the slope the more the ball will go right (left for left-handers).

What matters here isn’t which shot is the toughest, but how you handle a tough shot. Don’t let it intimidate you. When it does, you tense up and forget the keys to hitting the shot correctly. Next time you face a tough shot, relax. Run through the keys you learned in golf lessons or read about in golf tips, and then swing away. And remember, you don’t always have to put the ball a foot from the cup. Be realistic with your expectations. You’ll conquer more tough shots that way and knock strokes off your golf handicap in the process.

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 instructi

Most of us bring our A games to the course about 10 percent of the time. The rest of the time we bring our B, C, or D games. Sometimes, we even bring our F games. This variation in games is based on inconsistency. We’re inconsistent because most of us learn our swings through trial and error, not by taking private golf lessons or attending group golf instruction sessions. As a result, our swings are a hodgepodge of adjustments that make consistency elusive and kill our golf handicaps.

But what if you could design the perfect golf swing—one that encourages consistency. What would it look like? Of course, it would have to be flexible, so it could be adjusted to your body type and to your other attributes, like flexibility and height. But the swing would still contain certain key elements that would promote consistency. Not long ago I read an article by a noted golf instructor who addressed this issue. Her are the elements of his perfect swing.

Fade Over Draw
The ideal shot shape is the fade. We’re not talking slice. A fade curves just at the end of its flight, falling softly to the right only a few feet. A slice has a much more violent curve to it. It starts curving much earlier because it has so much sidespin. The advantage here, according to the instructor, is that a fade is easier to hit under pressure. You can hold onto your release a little longer and still get a decent shot. That compensates for our natural tendency to hold onto the club a little longer under pressure.

Low To High
The average golfer plays the swing from high to low. In other words, before the golfer’s hands drop down into the slot of the swing, his shoulder and chest spin out toward the ball. This early upper body rotation forces a steep, cut-across path. Other golfers do the opposite. They go from low to high, keeping their backs to the rotation while the hands drop toward the back foot. It’s not until the hands drop to waist high that the majority of rotation takes place. It’s this “late” turn that carries the hands into a good position.

Passive Over Active
Timing, as I tell students in my golf lessons, is a poor foundation on which to build your swing. But that’s what happens when your hands are active instead of passive in the swing. Active hands try to open or close the clubface. Passive hands don’t try to manipulate the club at all. With a passive release, the hands are responders, not initiators. It’s the lower body that sets up the release of the angles of power, removing the need for conscious timing. Thus, there’s no need to time the release because the move is timed for you by the correct use of your lower body—a much easier process under pressure.

Right Before Left
There are three “miss patterns” in golf: (1) You know exactly where the ball is going; (2) you know where the ball isn’t going (Jack Nicklaus used this pattern); and (3) you’re unsure where the ball is going (majority of golfers). The first two you can count on. The third has a variable miss pattern—both right and left. So you don’t know where the ball is going. Right misses (left for left-handed golfers) are soft. They hang in the air. When you’re not playing well, you can go all day missing to the right.

Thin Before Fat
You can miss a ball either fat or thin. With a thin shot, the club contacts the ball at its equator. This is a better miss pattern because the ball goes almost as far as a normal shot, while the side spin provides a sliver of control when it lands. Fat shots, where the club hits the ground, are to be avoided at all costs. They not only cause major distance loss, but they also mess with your confidence. The pro’s thinking makes sense. Personally, I still favor the draw over the fade, if the draw is your natural shot. If the fade is your natural shot, then go with that. You’re more likely to revert to your natural shot under pressure anyway. But overall the approach is conducive to creating consistency in your swing. Once you have a consistent swing, you’re sure to knock 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.

1. Add Ten Yards To Your Irons
2. How To Make A Restricted Swing Shot
3. Question of the Week – Eliminating The Reverse Pivot
4. Article – Designing The Perfect Golf Swing
5. Article – The Toughest Shot In Golf

1) Add Ten Yards To Your Irons

How well do you hit your irons? If you rarely take a good divot, chunk the longer clubs or hit them thin, and/or leave your approach shots short, you’re leaking power. Swinging harder only drains more power from your swing. That’s because your arms outrace your body, the true seat of power in a golf swing. You must plug those power leaks in your iron swing to add yards to your swing:

Here are six keys to plugging those power leaks:

1. Maintain your head behind the ball
2. Assume a powerful back arm position
3. Keep the shaft is ahead club at impact
4. Keep hips and arms are in the same place
5. Make sure the back of your front hand faces the target
6. Transfer your weight to your forward foot

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The key to hitting power irons is to arrive at impact with a descending blow. Unfortunately, some golfers swings are so flat, they can’t return the iron squarely to the ball at impact.

Here’s a drill that teaches you to generate good clubface-to-ball contact with your irons:

Stick an umbrella in the ground. Next, place a ball on the ground so that when you take your stance the heel of your back foot is about two feet from the umbrella. Swing back. If the club hits the umbrella, your swing is too flat. Take numerous practice swings until you’re sure you’ll miss the umbrella on the way up. Before you hit balls, move the umbrella back six to ten inches, so you won’t hit it on the way back down. But use it as a reminder. Move it back to its original position when practicing.

If your backswing path is flat, you can’t return the club squarely to the ball. You’ll hit weak irons no matter how fast or hard you swing. Work on the drills like the one described above to ingrained its fundamentals and plug the power leaks. Making solid contact consistently adds yards to your irons and cuts strokes from your scores.

2) How To Make A Restricted Swing Shot

You can hit a shot in the woods even on the best of days. When that happens, chances are good you’ve lost your ball, but not always. If you do find your ball, it may be lodged tightly up against the base of a tree. While you can make a full backswing, you can’t follow-through without slamming into the trunk. Knowing how to make a restricted swing can save you and your club.

Below are five keys to this shot:

• Take a shoulder-width stance
• Play the ball toward the middle
• Hinge your wrist quickly
• Power the club down with your arms
• Pull back at impact

The secret to making this shot is not to slow your swing down, but to maintain your normal speed and take a smaller swing. That way you can pull your club back at impact.

Select a mid- or short iron for the shot. (A shorter club is easier to control and doesn’t travel as fast as a long iron.) Take a shoulder width stance, play the ball as close to the middle of your stance as possible. But if you must play the ball forward, that’s okay. Just place more weight on your front foot.

Take the club back by hinging your wrists quickly. Swing your hands back to hip height, then power the club down with your arms. Pull the club back the moment you make contact with the ball, almost as if the club were rebounding from the ball. Try to take a steep divot.

Many golfers slow their swings with this lie. That leads to mis-hits. Maintain your swing speed, take a shorter swing, and pull the club back at impact. This will save your hands and your club. If all goes well, you’ll find yourself back on the fairway in good position.

3) Question of the Week – Eliminating The Reverse Pivot

Q. Hi, Jack, Lately, I can’t seem to hit the ball with a lot of power. My friends tell me I’m making a reverse pivot when I swing. Can you tell me what that is and how to correct?

Marion Luig
Charlotte, NC

A. Thanks for the question, Marion. A reverse pivot results from poor weight transfer. Normally, you transfer weight to your back foot when swinging, then onto your front foot during the follow-through. With a reverse pivot, you do the opposite. This flaw constricts the proper turning of your body, costing you power and accuracy.

The reverse pivot stems from many things, including an obsession with keeping your head down and/or your left arm (right for left-handers) rigidly straight. Allowing your head to turn to the right (left for left-handers) slightly as you turn back helps. It encourages your spine to rotate and gets your weight moving in the right direction. Allowing your arm to bend slightly is okay, too.

This simple drill helps eliminate a reverse pivot: Adopt your address position. Place the club across the back of your shoulders. Make a slow turn, as if you were going to hit the ball. Set up and do it again. The club encourages you to move your head and spine a little as you turn. It also encourages better balance.

Do this drill as often as you can until you’ve ingrained the feeling. Try to remember the feeling when you go to the range or to the course. With practice, you’ll make solid contact and drive the ball.

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

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Designing The Perfect Golf Swing
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/designing-the-perfect-golf-swing.php

5) Article – The Toughest Shot In Golf
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/the-toughest-shot-in-golf.php

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.

1) Hit It Sweet From The Start

If you’re like many golfers, you can’t always get to the range before playing. Your schedule just doesn’t permit it. So you tend to feel stiff at the start of a round. And even when you do make the range, you may still feel tight on the first hole. Nonetheless, you hit a good first drive. You’re about 170 yards from the hole and in the fairway. Now what? Will you be able to hit an iron to the green? Below is an exercise that will prep you for the iron shot.

Here are the five keys to this exercise:

The exercise warms up your wrist hinge. If you hinge your wrists properly during your takeaway, chances are good you’ll start your swing smoothly.

Take your regular address position with your iron of choice. Cock the clubhead straight up and down until the shaft is just short of horizontal. Take the club back by bending your right wrist and bowing your left until the shaft is parrellel left of your target line (right for right-handers). (You should see wrinkles across the back of your right wrist.) Go back to your address position and hit the ball. Try to get your wrists in the same position as you did above.

The exercise takes only a few seconds, so you should be able execute it quickly before swinging. You can probably run through it while the other guys are hitting. If it’s done correctly, the exercise improves your rhythm and helps you hit it sweet from the start.

2) Recovering From Trouble

If you’re like some weekend golfers, you’re struggling to get rid of a slice. So why would you want to know how to hit one on-demand? That’s easy. It can save you strokes and help you make more pars. Let’s say you drive one off the right into the woods. Instead of punching out like you normally do, leaving you miles from the green, slicing it hard right gets your ball rolling on the fairway and puts you back in business.

Below are five keys to hitting a hard right-to-left slice:

1. Aim your body about 20 yards left of target
2. Point your club about 10 yards right of toe line
3. Turn your hands well to the left on the grip
4. Make your normal swing
5. Hold the clubface open through impact

To hit a hard slice when in trouble, you must make adjustments. At address, aim your body 20 yards left of target, point the clubface 10 yards to the right of your toe line, and turn your hands well to the left on your grip (right for left-handers). These adjustments add loft to your shot. To hit the ball your normal 7-iron distance, use your 4-iron.

Make your normal swing, but hold the clubface open through impact. When you block the clubface’s rotation like this, you create a glancing blow that puts sidespin on the ball. You know you’ve done it right if your clubface points to the sky in your follow-through.

This shot can get you out of trouble, but you must keep two things in mind. First, check your stance. The ball jumps hard right on contact, so you have to be angled correctly. Second, check the trees. This shot takes off much higher than your usual punch out, so look for overhanging branches.

Slicing off the tee is bad. But slicing from the trees can help you get back on track after a bad shot and save more pars.

3) Question of the Week – Controlling Your Short-Game Backswing

Q. Hi, Jack, I have a major problem controlling my backswing when I’m chipping or pitching. I can’t stop going back. When I do keep it short, I hit the ball so soft it just goes a little forward and in the wrong direction. Is there practice drill I can do to stop going back too far?

Marie Holleran

A. Thanks, Marie. Dave Peltz is a short game guru. He has worked with many Tour players. and written several books on the short game. When it comes to pitching, he has his students do this: Visualize a clock in your heads, with 12:00 at the top. Take the club back to 7:30 for a short pitch. Take the club back to9:00 for a medium pitch. And take the club back to10:30 on a full pitch. Work on this in practice until you’ve ingrained the three swings.

Here’s a recommendation for chips: Put a ball where you normally position it for a chip shot. Put your golf bag (or something else) about a foot or so behind the ball. Practice your chipping. Take the club back almost as far as the bag, and then come forward. If you hit your bag on the way back, you’ve gone back too far.

When you chip, use this swing for all your shots. For distance, change clubs depending on the chip’s length. Use longer irons for longer chips and shorter irons for shorter chips. This approach simplifies your chipping decision.

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 – Hit It Longer And Straighter
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/hit-it-longer-and-straighter.php

5) Article – Take The Guess Work Out Of Pitching
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/take-the-guess-work-out-of-pitching.php

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.

The key to hitting accurate approach shots is executing the fundamentals during your iron swing—setup, takeaway, backswing/downswing, impact, and finish. How you execute the fundamentals during these phases determine how well you hit an iron. Some professionals that give golf instruction sessions include the transition from backswing to downswing as a separate phase. Making a smooth transition from your backswing to your downswing is critical. But in the interest of space, we’ve included it as part of the backswing.

Setup
There’s no reason not to start with a good setup. Flex at the knees, stand firmly on the balls of your feet, bend from your hips not your back, adopt a straight (but not rigid) back, and balance your weight evenly over both feet. Think “rock and roll” to remind you that feet serve as a rock through your backswing and roll through your downswing. And don’t overlook ball position. It’s never farther back than your sternum or farther forward than your left armpit.

Takeaway
It’s critical that you make a good takeaway. Watch golfers who have low golf handicaps. Most will have good takeaways. Some teachers use the 2-8-12-rule in their golf lessons. During the first two inches of your takeaway, take the club straight back. From the second inch to the eighth inch, take the club back some more, but don’t break your wrists. This is a natural continuation of your takeaway. From the eighth inch to the twelfth inch, start breaking your wrist. At this point, the club should be parallel to the ground and the target line. In the rough, you’ll need a slightly steeper takeaway.

Backswing
Shifting your weight to your back foot is crucial in your backswing. It enables you to make a good coil and prevents you from making a reverse pivot. So keep until your weight shifts to your back foot. Keep your hands away from your body. At the top of the swing, a straight left arm is ideal but a slightly bent elbow is also acceptable. Your head should be behind the ball.

Make a smooth transition to the downswing. From this position, you’re ready to turn toward the target. Allow your hands to drop underneath your head as you begin shifting toward your front foot. The club should be directly over your rear shoulder. You should be approaching the ball with a descending blow.

Impact
This is the moment of truth—as I tell students who attend my golf lessons. Good golfers know that at impact they need to achieve a “stacked” position to make solid contact. This position includes a full release of the wrists, a straight left arm (right for left-handers), most of your weight transferred to the front foot, and your hips open. Contrary to popular belief, the impact position isn’t the same as the setup position. With longer irons, allow for a slower wrist cock. This widens your swing and provides the flatter arc these clubs require.

Finish
Your finish tells you a lot about what’s going on during your swing. The correct finish ends with the bodyweight primarily on the front foot, the club behind you, and your head, chest, and belt buckle facing the target. You also should be balanced and able to hold that position indefinitely. From your finish position, you can tell two things: (1) if the majority of your weight has successfully shifted to your front foot, and (2) if your body has fully rotated without excessive sliding through the downswing, which will produce mis-hits.

Driving the ball is indeed sexy. But it’s only one phase of golf. If you’re serious about improving, you must master your irons, too. A 300-yard drive is worthless if you don’t follow up with an accurate approach shot. Use the golf tips we’ve provided above to hone your iron swing. It will help you hit more greens in regulation and chop 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.

Weight management, as I’ve explained in my golf tips, is the science of how you transfer weight from one foot to the other when swinging a club. Technically, it’s how you transfer your center of gravity in relation to the toe and heel of each foot as well as where your weight is at impact. When it comes to swing, proper weight management is critical. It enables you to hit the ball farther and straighter more consistently. It also is a key to chopping strokes off your golf handicap.

Cutting Edge Designs Featured
Today’s golf shoes feature cutting edge designs—the kind of designs once reserved for hiking boots, climbing shoes, and running and walking shoes. Golf manufacturers have spent countless hours applying technological advancements, like dual-pod soles, variable-flex shoe shanks, and multi-density blends of thermoplastic urethane, to designs to create golf shoes that help you transfer weight to the correct regions of your foot during the swing.

For example, many of today’s top shoe models feature two-pod soles. It’s one reason why they are more expensive than other models. Why are two-pod soles important—because the soles are bridged together by a cradle that cups the foot’s arch for better weight displacement toward the ball and heel of each foot. For golfers, this means improved weight movement, leading to a balanced, more powerful swing.

Spikes Have Gone High-Tech
Spikes are another area where manufacturers have made great strides. Once, metal spikes were all the rage, but alternative spikes quickly replaced them. Alternative spikes didn’t last long, since they did little more than prevent you from slipping and sliding on dry grass. Today, spikes have gone high-tech. They not only provide superior traction and comfort, they also allow you to aim where you need traction the most.

Then, there are spikeless golf shoes. Spikeless shoes, which resemble track and running shoes more than ever, provide traction-integrated soles. Thanks to this innovation, these shoes are more practical and comfortable than spiked shoes for a lot of golfers. Spikeless shoes offer several advantages in addition to good weight management. Their spikes don’t have to be replaced and they don’t need to be removed right after the round. Nevertheless, they give the same traction as with spiked shoes.

Ventilation is just as important to playing well as good traction. Manufacturers have made significant improvements here also. Many offer golf shoes with advanced designs that let the foot breathe while keeping the toe, heel, and bottom of the foot dry. Some shoes use a high-tech metal mesh to keep feet cool and comfortable as well as dry and clean.

For golfers that love hot weather, there are shoes that breathe from not only the top but also the bottom. These shoes afford the utmost in ventilation and comfort while still retaining structure, stability, and gripping action. These shoes aren’t your best bet on rainy days. But if you play on a day when it’s blistering hot, these shoes keep your feet cool and dry.

Great Strides In Insoles
Insoles are a fourth area where manufacturers have made great strides. Today’s insoles are not only removable, they’re also designed to levy superior support, comfort, durability, and ventilation using a series of perforations, canals, and mixed materials. Some insoles vary in thickness, allowing golfers to customize the way each shoe feels. Other insoles mold and conform to the foot’s shape.

Golf shoes are vital to playing well. They provide traction, comfort, protection, and leverage. More importantly, they enable you to transfer your weight properly during your swing. Proper weight management is one secret to hitting the ball farther and straighter more consistently. Doing that can help you slice 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.

But weekend golfers often try to create power the wrong way—by either swinging their arms faster or firing their hands at the ball. This approach sacrifices accuracy for distance. If you swing your arms faster or fire your hands at the ball, you may get more distance but you’ll probably miss the fairway. So how do you increase distance off the tee without sacrificing accuracy? That’s easy—engage the four key elements of power that weekend golfers too often ignore—tempo, stability, torque, and a dynamic lower body.

Maintain Tempo
Everything starts with tempo. Sometimes a tight fairway or menacing bunker tempts you to change your swing. Resist that temptation. Abandoning the basics seldom works. That’s why golf lessons emphasize them. The basics are the key to hitting the ball longer and straighter because they produce solid contact. If you want make solid contact you must maintain good tempo. Unfortunately, weekend golfers abandon tempo when trying to hit bombs. The result is a lot of fast, jerky swings that deliver poor contact. Savvy golfers keep tempo in mind whenever they’re on the tee.

Good golfers also concentrate on maintaining a solid base. Keeping your rear knee flexed as you take the club to the top is the secret to achieving accuracy and power off the tee. This move helps you shift your body weight to the right side so that it rests on the inside of your right foot (left foot for left-handed golfers) during the backswing. It also helps prevent you from executing a reverse pivot and allows you to make a powerful move back to the front side in the downswing. Without a solid base from which to hit, you’ll leak power and curb accuracy.

Create A Wide Arc
In addition to maintaining good tempo and a solid base, you’ll need a wide arc width on the tee. It creates the torque you need to hit it longer. If you want more distance off the tee, you must create a wider backswing than normal without disrupting your tempo. You can do this by maintaining a solid—but not locked— rear arm. This move creates maximum arc width. Folding both elbows at the top, which you see golfers do a lot in golf lessons, creates a narrower arc width and a significant loss of power. That’s because it forces you to pull the club too far inside on the takeaway, robbing the backswing of the arc width needed to generate more power.

Drive Your Weight
The last of the four basics for generating distance and accuracy—and perhaps the most important—is an active lower body. You must drive your weight toward the target on the downswing, if you want to hit longer, straighter drives. You want to feel like your throwing your legs at the target, while actually staying steady. This move is also known as making a power shift. Failing to do this short-circuits your power, resulting in a weak tee shot.

To check your weight shift, take your address with a driver. Then, tee a second ball just inside your back ankle. Make your normal swing, moving your weight away from the target going back and toward it coming down. If you transfer your weight correctly, your back angle will roll inward on the downswing, knocking the second ball off the tee. If you leave the ball on the tee, you know you haven’t made a good power shift, leaving yards on the table.

Using your lower body to generate more distance is a forgotten power fundamental. It’s one of those golf tips that really pay off if executed properly. When combined with the other three power elements—tempo, stability, and torque—you can add an extra 20 to 30 yards to your drives. That enables you to power the ball over menacing fairway bunkers or cut corners on doglegs and still find the fairway. In addition, it increases your chances of hitting more greens in regulation. Hitting more greens in regulation will result in making more pars and birdies and lowering 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.

1) One-Handed Drill Improves Chipping
2) Set Up On Top To Hit Crisp Pitches
3) Question of the Week – Overswinging Can Cause You To Slice
4) Article – Manufacturers Make Strides In Golf Shoes
5) Article – Golf Tips On The Iron Swing

Jack’s Note: Looking to get more distance from your shots? A sound fitness and stretching routine can make all the difference as I said earlier this week via email.

Also, totally off-topic here folks but I’m a bit of a movie buff and am a member at a movie review site called AllTopMovies.com. This week they are giving away a free Sony Blu Ray player, no strings attached. They do this a few times per year so if you want to get your hands on a fancy new Blu Ray player for zilch, check them out.

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1) One-Handed Drill Improves Chipping
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Many golfers play chip shots all wrong. Instead of executing a nice rhythmic swing, they stiff-arm the shot. That results in cupping the left wrist (for right-handed players) and scooping at the ball—the most common chipping mistake among weekend golfers. But the one-handed drill used by many PGA and LPGA pros improves your motion back and through.

Six keys to chipping it close:

* Grip down on club
* Aim for a spot on green
* Hinge your wrist at takeaway
* Have your hands lead in the hitting zone
* Keep wrists firm through impact
* Follow through on the shot

The key to a good chip shot is to hinge your wrists slightly during your takeaway and strike down on the ball crisply in the downswing. To ensure ball-then-turf contact, return your hands and arms to where they were at address, keep the wrists firm through impact, and maintain them that way during follow-through. Stay relaxed and loose throughout the shot.

The one-handed drill hones your chipping stroke. And it’s easy to do. Take several balls with you and spread them around the green. Pick out as many different lies as you can. Try to create realistic scenarios. Now, hit the balls one-handed with your right hand (left hand for left-handers). Make sure you pick out a spot on the green before swinging. You want the ball to hit that spot and roll to the hole like a putt.

The one-handed drill teaches you to execute a smooth takeaway and a rhythmic backswing. Keep the right elbow pointed at your right hip throughout. And add a little knee action to create an accelerating forward swing.

Hone your chipping stroke with this drill, then practice using two hands. Improve your chipping and you’ll become a force on the course.

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2) Set Up On Top To Hit Crisp Pitches
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Weekend golfers tend to hit pitch shots fat or thin. These golfers believe pitches are hit on the upswing. So they play the ball forward in their stances and place their weight on their back feet. This promotes a sweeping motion. That’s wrong. If you want to hit crisp pitches, you must hit the ball with a descending blow. That gets the ball rolling up the clubface, creating backspin. Setting up correctly encourages a descending blow.

Below are five keys to setting up for a pitch shot:

1. Narrow your feet in your stance
2. Play the ball in the middle or the back
3. Lean the hands toward the target
4. Shift your weight to your front foot
5. Aim for ball-first, turf-second contact

Hitting a good pitch begins with the setup. Narrow your feet, position the ball in the middle or back of your stance, and lean toward the front leg. Lean your hands toward the target as well. This position places your head on top of the ball at address. It also promotes a downward angle of attack, facilitating ball-first, turf-second contact.

To assure a proper setup when playing, assume your normal stance. Then remove your left hand (right for left-handers) from the grip and place the hand behind your front knee. This forces you to lean toward your front leg and helps get your head on top of the ball. You should feel as if 70 percent of your weight is on your front foot. Return your left hand to the grip, but keep the position intact otherwise. Now you’re set up to hit down on the ball.

To hit a high pitch that lands softly, play the ball towards the middle of your stance. To hit a low running pitch, play the ball opposite your back foot. Whatever pitch shot you decide to hit, always remember that the key to hitting a good crisp pitch shot is in the setup.

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3) Question of the Week – Overswinging Can Cause You To Slice
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Q. Hi, Jack, Why can’t I control where my ball goes when I attempt a full swing. I send it off on a slice every time.

When I swing at three-quarters, I ht the ball down the centre of the fairway and achieve reasonable distances (200metres). But as soon as I wind up for a full swing “whammo.” I’m all over the place.

Any idea on what causes me to slice and how to correct it?

Cheers,
Norm Beddis
New Zealand

A. Thanks for the question, Norm. It sounds like you’re trying to hit the ball too hard, in which case you’re either losing control of your swing or losing the natural width radius of your backswing arc—in which case your right arm (left arm for left-handers) isn’t working correctly.

Many PGA pros swing the club 75 percent to 80 percent as hard as they can. That way they’re not losing the natural radius of their backswing arcs. Never try to do more than you can do. It usually ends badly.

The split-grip drill is useful in training your backswing. Split your hands a few inches apart on the grip, then swing the club back and push your right arm away to form a 90 percent angle at the elbow. This move determines the natural radius of your backswing arc.

Once you’re familiar with the sensation of a shorter backswing, go back to your normal grip. Try to recapture the same feeling as when you hit balls with the split grip. That’s a good formula for achieving swing consistency.

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

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Manufacturers Make Strides In Golf Shoes
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/manufacturers-make-strides-in-golf-shoes.php

5) Article – Golf Tips On The Iron Swing
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/golf-tips-on-the-iron-swing.php

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

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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.