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	<description>If you are looking for the perfect golf swing you have come to the right place!</description>
	<pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:32:23 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Golf Practice Swings - Why You Should Be Doing Them?</title>
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		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/golf-practice-swings.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:32:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Full Swing Tips]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[golf pracitce swings]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[practice swings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the main things that sets Swing Machine Golf apart from other methods is that I want you to make lots of practice swings while working on the positions I teach.  Why?  The whole idea is simple &#8230;

What I&#8217;m trying to get you to do is outweigh the old with the new.  What I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the main things that sets <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a> apart from other methods is that I want you to make lots of practice swings while working on the positions I teach.  Why?  The whole idea is simple &#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-218" title="full-swing450" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/full-swing450.jpg" alt="full-swing450" width="450" height="352" /></p>
<p>What I&#8217;m trying to get you to do is outweigh the old with the new.  What I mean is if you do a minimum of 3 perfect practice swings (working on 1 position I teach) for every 1 ball you hit you are doing the position right versus wrong at a 3:1 ratio.  If you can create this 3:1 right versus wrong ratio you will finally make the necessary changes and you will improve your golf swing way faster and easier than ever before.</p>
<p>I say this because the alternative is to hit ball after ball when you practice and not do a significant amount of practice swings.  The problem is, if you just hit ball after ball you will not make the changes you are trying to make.  This is no fault of your own.  You may very well have good intentions of changing your swing but when you go to practice human nature is telling you to be comfortable when you hit balls. This means you will go right back to doing what you have always done when you practice because your old swing is comfortable.  Unfortunately, if you take this approach, you will continue to spin your wheels forever because you will never make the necessary changes.</p>
<h2>Advantages of Doing Practice Swings</h2>
<p><strong>Doing practice swings to work on your swing has its advantages.  Take a look: </strong></p>
<p>1.  You can practice every night at home instead of waiting to hit balls 1-3 times per week.</p>
<p>2.  You are not hitting a ball therefore your swing will feel less uncomfortable.</p>
<p>3.  You will be able to focus solely on the change you are making because you are not concerned about where the ball is going.</p>
<p>4.  It takes less time.  To make the changes I only need you to do 25 - 50 practice swings per night for approx. 5 nights per week until you master them.</p>
<p>5.  It&#8217;s easier on your body to do practice swings as opposed to hitting a lot of golf balls.</p>
<p>6.  You can do them almost anywhere.  If you travel take a 31&#8243; club with you.  If you go to your relatives house bring a club with you and swing their backyard.  You can do them on the course when you are playing etc.</p>
<p>7.  No one is watching you so you don&#8217;t have to be embarrassed if you hit bad shots.</p>
<p>8.  You will not be trying to swing as hard as you can therefore your body will be looser which will allow you to do the positions better.</p>
<h2>What Kind of Practice Swings Do I Want You To Do?</h2>
<p>I want to be perfectly clear about what I mean by doing practice swings and what I mean by doing them at a 3:1 ratio.</p>
<p>There are 3 different ways you can do practice swings to learn a great swing:</p>
<p>1. You can do the practice swings at home hitting no practice balls at all.<br />
2. You can do them at the practice range while you are hitting balls.<br />
3. You can do them while you are hitting balls at the range and you can do practice swings at home.</p>
<p>Next, the practice swings I&#8217;m talking about are <strong>perfect, or as close to perfect as possible,</strong> to the positions that I teach in <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a>.  To know if you are doing them perfectly or not you can:</p>
<p>1.) Video your swing<br />
2.) Watch yourself do them in a mirror<br />
3.) Have someone else watch you or video you<br />
4.) Recognize the feedback I teach for each position as you swing<br />
5.) Send me a video or picture and I will check it for you</p>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve determined that you&#8217;re doing the correct position(s), keep doing them that way until you have them mastered.</p>
<p><strong>Practice Swings at Home</strong></p>
<p>This means you can still play and practice your short game but hit <strong>NO</strong> practice balls out at the range.  This method is highly effective because what little time you do have for practicing it can be spent working on your short game which is going to reduce your scores.  You still get to play.  And you&#8217;re not stressing out about the swing changes you are making.</p>
<p><strong>Practice Swings at the Range</strong></p>
<p>Doing practice swings at a 3:1 ratio could mean hitting one ball then backing up and doing 3 perfect practice swings working on specific position before you hit your next ball.  It could also mean that you hit a few balls in a row then back up and do 3 times as many practice swings as the number of balls you just hit.  The choice is yours.  Whichever way you choose, it&#8217;s all about doing a minimum of 3 practice swings to the number of balls you hit.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-224" title="practice-range" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/practice-range.jpg" alt="practice-range" width="590" height="315" /></p>
<p><strong>Time</strong></p>
<p>Finally, I get people telling me that they don&#8217;t have time to practice.  To them I say, this is no excuse!  All I need you to do to learn my method is 25 - 50 practice swings per night 5 nights a week at home.  This small amount of practice swings will take all of 10 minutes (a small price to pay if you ask me).  Ideally, I would like you to do these practice swings while you&#8217;re watching yourself in a mirror so you can check them as opposed to just swinging without a purpose.</p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t have a place indoors to swing, take it outside into the backyard or garage.  When you do your practice swings outside this DOES NOT mean you&#8217;re hitting whiffle balls.  It DOES NOT mean you&#8217;re trying to hit a specific blade of grass, leaf or twig that is on the ground.  You should not be conscious of impact or hitting anything at all.  All I want you to do are the practice swings.  In my method there are only 6 main positions plus your grip, set up and takeaway.  Just focus on mastering one thing at a time.  If you do you will develop a great swing in record time.</p>
<h2>Common Problems I See</h2>
<p>There are a few common problems I see people do even if they understand that they&#8217;re supposed to doing practice swings.  So let&#8217;s put an end to them right now:</p>
<p><strong>1.  Swinging Too Fast</strong></p>
<p>I can&#8217;t count how many times I&#8217;ve watched people do practice swings and they zip through them without a care in the world.  It&#8217;s almost like they&#8217;re saying &#8220;hey I did my 3 swing can I hit a real ball now?&#8221;  This is exactly what NOT to do.  Each swing you make is very important.  Remember, you are trying to memorize new movements.  The more you can do them right, the faster you will learn them.  This means you should be taking your time and make every practice swing count.</p>
<p><strong>2.  Thinking the Position is Right When it Is Not</strong></p>
<p>Again, when I watch people do practice swings they think they&#8217;re doing the position(s) right but they&#8217;re not.  This is like replacing one bad habit with another.  To learn the correct positions, you need to see what you&#8217;re doing or have an experience person to watch you and tell you what you&#8217;re doing.  So if you haven&#8217;t got a full length mirror that will allow you to watch your own swing go and get one. If you can&#8217;t swing inside go and buy a 31&#8243; training club.  Then you will be able to swing without fear of hitting the ceiling.</p>
<p>If for some reason you don&#8217;t want to watch your swing in a mirror simply use your sliding glass patio doors (if you have them).  Just open the curtains and turn off the lights and you will be able to see your reflection perfectly.  Don&#8217;t want to do that?  Well you can video your swing.  Oh you don&#8217;t have a camera?  Well, have someone video your swing on their cell phone and play it back to you so you can see if you are doing the position you&#8217;re working on correctly or not.  In today&#8217;s day and age there is no excuse for not knowing if you&#8217;re doing the positions properly.</p>
<p><strong>3.  Distractions</strong></p>
<p>Distractions can come in many forms.  Someone could be distracting you while you are swinging,  you could be trying too many things at once, your mind could be wandering, you could be watching TV while you are trying to swing etc.  If you want to learn a great swing it takes total concentration.  From now on, try to eliminate all distractions when you are practicing.  This is serious stuff so start taking it seriously.</p>
<p><strong>4.  Training Aids</strong></p>
<p>Quit looking for the magical answer.  All you need to develop a great swing is a club (or 31&#8243; half club if you cannot swing a full length club) and a mirror.  As I have explained in this tip, you need to commit to doing 25 - 50 practice swings 5 nights per week to working on the positions until you have them mastered.  You may be able to master some positions in a day, few days or a week.  Others may take you longer but if you start now you are on your way.  If you start tomorrow you are a day behind.</p>
<p><strong>5.  People Stop Doing It</strong></p>
<p>Mastering something does not mean you stop doing it.  Mastering something means you can do it perfectly at will.  So, as you go into the future keep re-enforcing your positions from time to time.  This way they will never fall apart.</p>
<h2><strong>Good News Bad News</strong></h2>
<p>If someone told you that you that there is an amazing new training aid out there that can increase your distance, accuracy and give you a great swing and potentially get you shooting in the 70&#8217;s within a few months.  The thing is it costs $1000.00 would you buy it?  I bet a great majority of you are nodding your head right now &#8220;yes.&#8221;  Well, I have some good news and bad news.  The bad news is there isn&#8217;t such a device.  The good news is you don&#8217;t need it anyway. For a the sake of a little hard work doing perfect practice swings you can develop a great swing and play the best golf of your life.  And the best part is, it doesn&#8217;t cost $1000.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t take my word for it.  Listen to what 75 year old Dudley has to say:</p>
<p><strong><img class="size-full wp-image-71 alignleft" title="email" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/email.jpg" alt="email" width="81" height="75" /></strong></p>
<p>Paul!</p>
<p>Before I commenced my studies and practice etc I had a pronounced In/out/in swing with a from the  shoulder lung at the ball as hard as I could hit it - result a 90degree fade, little distance and invariably ending up in the roughest of roughs to be found. Can&#8217;t tell you the number of times I have been going to give the game up, very frustrated.</p>
<p>I was actually on the internet as I wanted to find out about this &#8220;Iron Byron&#8221; machine I had heard about and came upon your website. I sent for the DVD’s, then I got told off by you for being too quick and rushing things. So after that I stopped going to the course, practice range and in general stopped hitting golf balls and just concentrated on the lessons in my back garden, lounge and where ever else I had planted a club for a quick practice swing.</p>
<p>Pleased to report I am hitting 214 Metre Drives straight up the fairway and 180 Metre three woods<br />
and the rest of the clubs correspondingly. I never went near a golf course for over three months.</p>
<p>So Thanks Paul you have really rectified my game and made it so much more enjoyable and so much less physical I personally can&#8217;t get over it - I am 75 years old by the way and really keeping up with some of these young guns. In the lesson &#8220;Putting it all together&#8221;  you  keep  repeating  &#8220;Coil at the top  and  uncoil  at  the  bottom&#8221;.  I find  repeating  this  to  myself as  I swing makes  me  have a very  rhythmical swing and also curbs my natural instinct of swinging from the shoulders. Another thing I like about the system is you can practice anywhere as you don&#8217;t need a ball.</p>
<p>Anyway I am very pleased with my results Paul and Thank You very very much.  Best of Luck for the Future mate with You new venture.</p>
<p>Regards</p>
<p>Dudley B.</p>
<p><strong>Still don&#8217;t believe it.  Okay here&#8217;s what Martin M. has to say:</strong></p>
<p><strong><img class="size-full wp-image-71 alignleft" title="email" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/email.jpg" alt="email" width="81" height="75" /></strong></p>
<p>Paul,<br />
i&#8217;m hitting some beautiful drives and although i&#8217;m not 1 for bullshitting about distance but i hit 3&#215;300+ drives on tuesday in a comp which i won (38 points). my woods have increased in distance and direction but irons are so so.  i&#8217;m sticking to the gameplan by not hitting balls on the range at all and just playing whether its a practice round or comp but no hitting balls!!!!!</p>
<p>before a comp or round i&#8217;m practicing shortgame with a few fullswing 60* wedge shots thrown in just to loosen out more.  during my warm-up ill do my SMG drills as you thought me but no hitting balls at all.   i step onto the first tee everytime and hit really straight and crisp shots.i&#8217;m going to stick with this routine as its working for me and i&#8217;m confident.i do my drills every night but during my rounds i&#8217;m still not getting full backswing but this will take time i know but anyway my golf is ok at the moment but not great.hitting mid 80s easily with alot of mistakes</p>
<p>thanks paul</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>The time is now to get serious about doing practice swings.  Winter is here for some of you.  So instead of not doing any practice at all this winter make the commitment to do your practice swings perfectly working on 1 position at a time until you have them mastered.  By the time spring comes around you will have that great swing you have been searching for.</p>
<p>For those of you who are just about to start your winter season in a warmer climate, you can still play and hit balls make sure you are sticking to a 3:1 ratio when on the range and do the practice swings at home as well.  If you do, you will also finally develop a great swing and make this winter better than ever.</p>
<p>All the best,</p>
<p>Paul Wilson<br />
Creator - <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>How to Maintain Your Golf Swing Tempo When You Play</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/zIlBTzR_z8o/golf-swing-tempo.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/golf-swing-tempo.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:50:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Full Swing Tips]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[golf swing tempo]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[golf tempo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=208</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The other day I received an email from a gentleman who was having trouble with his swing tempo at 170+ yards out when he played.  His email got me on a roll so I wrote a tip about it.  Here it is:
As far as your golf swing tempo is concerned, it is maintained by basing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The other day I received an email from a gentleman who was having trouble with his swing tempo at 170+ yards out when he played.  His email got me on a roll so I wrote a tip about it.  Here it is:</p>
<p>As far as your golf swing tempo is concerned, it is maintained by basing your swing on your rotation as opposed to hitting with your arms.</p>
<p>Think of it like this … In a good golf swing the body (torso) doesn’t even rotate at 3 mph.  If your arms are completely turned off and you allow your body to move your arms as you swing, they would move very slowly because they only extend a short distance from your body.  In other words, the swing speed of your arms is determined by how fast you can turn your body not how hard you are hitting.  If your body rotates slowly in your swing, there is no way you would have a fast looking tempo.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are trying to hit the ball hard with your arms, you can move them a lot faster than your body.  Therefore, your tempo will vary a lot more because it will be extremely difficult for you to judge exactly how hard your arms should be swinging at the ball every time.</p>
<p>So the idea is to turn your arms off and use your body rotation to determine your arm speed.  This is what <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a> teaches you to do.  If you don’t have <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a>, here are 9 things you can start doing right away to develop a consistent swing tempo:</p>
<p><strong>1.  You have to understand Iron Byron and relate it to your own golf swing. </strong></p>
<p>The arm of Iron Byron only moves when it’s motor turns its driveshaft.  When you hit your shots you should be imagining you are the Iron Byron.  If you do, your body will determine how fast your arms would be swinging which will stop you from trying to hit the ball as hard as you can and give you a better tempo.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-209" title="paul-byron" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/paul-byron.jpg" alt="paul-byron" width="381" height="268" /></p>
<p><strong>2.  When you hit driver, DO NOT think about how far down the fairway you are going to hit the ball. </strong></p>
<p>Think ONLY of getting the ball in the fairway when you are hitting driver.  For example, if you are playing a hole and you see 2 fairway bunkers (1 at each side of the fairway) at 280 yards out, DO NOT think about getting the ball up to those bunkers.  I want to you to look out and find a spot (let’s say 200 yards out) that is in the middle of the fairway.  This is the ONLY spot you should be thinking about.  This way you are not thinking about DISTANCE and DIRECTION.  You are only thinking DIRECTION.  After you do this for a while you will become more consistent.  This will make you more confident which will allow you to gain more distance without trying to hit the ball too hard.</p>
<p><strong>3.  Take an extra club when hitting into greens for a while.</strong></p>
<p>Taking an extra club on approach shots will take the sense of hitting hard out of the equation because if you really nail your shot, it will fly over the green.  Doing this for a while will allow you to stop trying to hit every shot so hard and give you better tempo.  If this doesn’t work take 2 extra clubs on your approach shots.  Then you really will have to swing easier.</p>
<p><strong>4.  Change what you are thinking about in the backswing.</strong></p>
<p>In the backswing, most people are thinking about either hitting the ball itself as hard as they can or they are thinking about something related to their arms in the backswing.  What you should do is change what you are thinking about.  You should be thinking about how your body is coiling as you go back.  This coiling tells you that you have created the necessary torque in the backswing.  Torque repeats in life 100% of the time.  So feeling this coil tells you that you are basing your swing on something that is going to repeat which will allow you to develop a consistent tempo.  If you don’t sense a coiled up feeling in your backswing, you have not created the necessary torque.   This means you will try to hit the ball with your arms because that is your only other power source you have to hit the ball with.</p>
<p><strong>5.  Do practice swings before you hit the shot. </strong></p>
<p>As you do your practice swings, feel the stretch as I just explained in the previous point.  After you are feeling the stretch in the backswing, focus on swinging through to the perfect follow through position each and every time.  The logic is this, if you are thinking about trying to do the very same follow through position when you are done, you are not thinking about hitting the ball which is killing your tempo.</p>
<p><strong>6.  Tell yourself that you are not Tiger Woods.</strong></p>
<p>If you are not Tiger Woods why are you trying to hit it like him?  This just doesn’t make sense.  Be yourself and try to swing at a level where you are not failing off balance, out of control or hurting yourself.   Remember, your body rotates very slowly in a golf swing.   If you are basing your swing on this rotational speed there is no way your tempo would be too fast.</p>
<p><strong>7.  Focus on making great swings not hitting great shots. </strong></p>
<p>Great swings = great shots.  Great shots = great scores.  In other words, re-think your priorities.   Focus on making great swings and the great shots will come.  Right now you are trying to hit great shots without a great swing.  Sure, you may get lucky and hit a few great shots thinking this way but to hit consistently great shots you need a great swing.</p>
<p><strong>8.  Keep doing tons of practice swings at home working and at the range working on perfecting your swing positions. </strong></p>
<p>The swing positions I teach are vital to creating a great golf swing.  With each of these positions, I give you specific feedback to make sure you are doing them perfectly.  So &#8230; focus on this feedback instead of focusing on hitting the ball.  This will make the positions more important to you than where the ball is going.  Once this occurs, you will make the changes to your swing which will allow you to hit great shots.</p>
<p>When you are at home use a mirror or watch your reflection in a window as you do about 25 - 50 practice swings every night.  When you do the position(s) make sure you are trying to feel the feedback for each one.  When you are at the practice range, hit a few balls then back up and do 3 times more practice swings than balls you just hit (feeling the feedback).  The whole idea is to switch the numbers around.  If you just hit ball after ball with your old swing you will NEVER make the changes.  You need to do the new positions 3 times more than the old.  Once you flip the numbers around like this, you will finally make the changes and play great golf.</p>
<p><strong>9.  Realize that what you are doing is not working. </strong></p>
<p>If you have a fast tempo you are trying to hit the ball too hard with your arms.  If this is the case, you have to snap out of it and come to the realization that this is not working.  The longer you continue to hit, the longer it is going to take you to play great golf.  The epiphany I had was when I saw Iron Byron hit a ball.  After seeing It, I realized that its arm of Iron Byron is not moving independently of its driveshaft and motor.  This meant its arm was powerless.  Understanding this concept made me realize my swing was not working so I turned my own arms off and make them powerless as well.  As soon as I did, my whole world changed.   Yes, it was a different feeling but it worked and still does to this day.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion </strong></p>
<p>The whole idea here is to turn your arms off and allow the rotation of your body to make your arms swing.  Your body cannot turn all that fast in a golf swing.  This means that if your body is telling your arms how fast to swing you would never have a fast tempo.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I had to figure this out on my own because no one ever told me to not hit the ball with my arms.  If you can take the advice I have given you in this tip and stop hitting with your arms, you too will develop a consistent swing tempo.</p>
<p>Until next time,</p>
<p>Paul Wilson<br />
Creator – <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a></p>
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		<title>The Role of the Hips in the Golf Swing</title>
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		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/hips-in-the-golf-swing.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:30:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Full Swing Tips]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[golf swing hips]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[hips in backswing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[hips in golf swing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This weeks tip is about the hips and the coiling of the body in the backswing.  Why?  Well, I was talking to a fellow teaching pro a couple of weeks ago about Swing Machine Golf (he saw my method online and was really excited about the 3 elements of Iron Byron and how I incorporate [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This weeks tip is about the hips and the coiling of the body in the backswing.  Why?  Well, I was talking to a fellow teaching pro a couple of weeks ago about <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a> (he saw my method online and was really excited about the 3 elements of Iron Byron and how I incorporate them into my teaching).  One of the main things he got out of it was how I teach the circular rotation of the body throughout the swing.  Knowing this, he figured he would start the backswing by rotating his right hip going back even though this is NOT what I teach.</p>
<p>Then, I had another gentleman send me some video of his swing a while back.  After checking it out, I mentioned to him to slow down the rotation of his hips in the backswing.  After working on it, he sent me more video last week.  Unfortunately, there was absolutely no change in his hip rotation.</p>
<p>Because of these 2 gentleman and the thousands of other people I have taught who overdo this movement, I figured I would write a tip about it.  So here we go &#8230;</p>
<p><strong>The Right Ratio</strong></p>
<p>As you make it to the top of the backswing, you have to create the correct ratio between the shoulders, hips, knees and feet.  This correct ratio is what is going to allow you to be incredibly consistent as you hit your shots.  With a 90 degree shoulder rotation the ratio will  be: shoulders 90 degrees, hips 45 degrees, knees 22.5 degrees and feet zero.  If you&#8217;re a tight person and can only turn back 80 degrees your ratio would be: shoulders 80 degrees, hips 40 degrees, knees 20 degrees and feet zero.  Although the shoulder rotation in both of these examples is different, the ratio is the same.  Therefore, each of these examples will create torque which will create a consistent golf swing.</p>
<p><strong>The Wrong Ratio</strong></p>
<p>Why I&#8217;m so concerned about starting the golf swing with the hips as opposed to the shoulders is that the hips DO NOT move the most in the backswing.  They only move 45 degrees which is half the amount of the shoulders.  Why would you move something that does not move the most?  If you think about it logically, the hips will move into position if you move the shoulders.  To see what I mean, stand up and place a club on the back of your neck and hold on to both ends.  Now, WITHOUT MOVING HIPS AT ALL turn back ONLY the club in a circular motion.  As you do, you will find that the club will only make it to approx. 45 degrees rotation with absolutely NO hip rotation.  This means that you cannot get the club to 80 or 90 degrees rotation without the hips moving.  So, continuing the rotation of the club will move the shoulders and hips into position.</p>
<p>Now, try the same thing but this time do so by only turning the hips.  To do this, place the club on the back of your neck again and turn your hips back to 45 degrees.  As you do, you will see that your shoulders did not move into the fully coiled 90 degree position.  This means that turning the hips to start the backswing will not allow you to create the necessary torque in the swing.</p>
<p><strong>Torque</strong></p>
<p>The creation of torque is vital to a great golf swing.  I say this because torque is something that repeats 100% of the time in life.  If you coil something up, it will uncoil 100% of the time. It&#8217;s this consistency that we want in our swings.  With no torque, it&#8217;s going to be up to you to bring the club back down and try to square it each and every time.  Basically, you will be only using hand eye co-ordination.  With only a few degrees room for error through impact I don&#8217;t see how this is possible.</p>
<p><strong>The Pros</strong></p>
<p>When you look at the pros do you see them with an overactive lower body or do you see them with their lower body fairly still?  Pro after pro has a quiet lower body while their shoulders are fully turned.  This gives them the coiled up position that I described above.  To see what I mean, flip to any golf magazine and take a look at any pro at the top of the backswing.  As you do, you will see their shirt has creases in it indicating this coiled up position (look for them).  This is the tell-tale sign that they are using torque in the backswing.  If their hips were to turn along with their shoulders, there is no way those creases would appear as they do.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-200 aligncenter" title="top-of-backswing" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/top-of-backswing.jpg" alt="top-of-backswing" width="374" height="278" /></p>
<p><strong>What does it feel like?</strong></p>
<p>As I say throughout my book and DVDs, the backswing should feel very tightly coiled in your left side and shoulder area (lat muscle).  This is not to say that it hurts and it&#8217;s not to say that you are going to feel it for longer than a split second.  This is because the golf swing only lasts a very short time and the time you&#8217;re actually at the very top of only a fraction of a second.  So, look for this tightness as you coil back and use it to your advantage as opposed to avoiding it.<br />
<strong><br />
How to Work on It</strong></p>
<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve received a few emails from people asking how they work on stabilizing the lower body in the backswing.  Of the 10&#8217;s of thousands of people I have taught, very few people  have the lower body stable enough to in their backswing to create the torque I&#8217;m describing.   This means that you should probably work on it especially if you are unsure as to whether you develop torque in your backswing or not.<br />
<strong><br />
</strong>Here&#8217;s how to work on it:</p>
<p>1.  You have to understand why you are to be tightly coiled in the backswing (I describe this above and in all my products)  HINT: You should be basing your swing on the creation of torque because it repeats in life 100% of the time.</p>
<p>2.  You have to understand how much the hips are actually moving.  To do this, stand up.  Look down at your belt buckle.  Once you see it, turn it to the right about 3 inches.  As you do you will see that you hips just moved about 45 degrees.  The purpose of doing this is to show you how little the hips actually move in the backswing.  If you are purposely trying to move them or not trying to resist their movement, they will move too much.  Keep this in mind when you do swings until you have this mastered.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-201" title="hip-turn" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/hip-turn.jpg" alt="hip-turn" width="550" height="446" /></p>
<p>3.  Do the drill I mentioned above where you place the club on your shoulders.  Then, WITHOUT MOVING LOWER BODY AT ALL, turn back ONLY the club/shoulders in a circular motion. The best way to do this would be to set up towards a mirror.  Once in position, turn back while watching your belt buckle.  As you are watching it, make sure you try to keep it pointing at the mirror as long as you can.  If done correctly, you will be able to turn the club on your shoulders back about 45 degrees with NO movement of your belt buckle.  Once the club keeps turning, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">your hips will be pulled to 45 degrees automatically</span>.</p>
<p>4.  Start off with baby steps.  What I mean is, do practice swings and hit shots thinking only of keep your feet solidly planted in the backswing.  This means the soles of your shoes are not wiggling or twisting AT ALL in the backswing.  Once you get them stable,  focus only on your knees.  Remember, with a 90 degree shoulder rotation they will only turn 22.5 degrees.  You can get this be watching them from the down the line view in a mirror making sure you right knee does not move.  Finally, work on not moving the hips (especially in the early stages of the backswing).  Work the club to the top feeling the tightness in the left shoulder area from the torque you are creating and make sure the hips are not turning back more than 45 degrees.</p>
<p>5.  The thought that I used when I played golf and hitting balls was to to think about my belt buckle facing the ball all the way to the top of the backswing. In doing so, I knew my belt buckle would move but to me it felt like it was still pointing at the ball as I made it to the top of the backswing.  This makes sense after you understand point #2 above and how little the hips actually move to get to 45 degrees.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>Why did I write this tip?  I guess I&#8217;m just sick of people being inconsistent.  By basing your swing on the on the creation of torque, you will finally be basing your swing on something in life that repeats instead of trying to manually bring the club back to the ball with your hands and arms each time.</p>
<p>Until next time,</p>
<p>Paul Wilson<br />
Creator - <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a></p>
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		<title>How to Hit Fairway Woods and Hybrid Clubs Solidly</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/ml6ZC2epzBk/how-to-hit-fairway-woods.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/how-to-hit-fairway-woods.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 15:01:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Cure Fairway Woods]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[How to Hit Fairway Woods]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[How to Hit Hybrid Clubs]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Topping Fairway Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=181</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the toughest shots to hit solidly in golf is the fairway wood off the ground (especially a 3 wood).  This tip will explain why you have trouble hitting your fairway woods and what you can do to make consistent contact (this can also be applied to hitting hybrids club off the ground as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the toughest shots to hit solidly in golf is the fairway wood off the ground (especially a 3 wood).  This tip will explain why you have trouble hitting your fairway woods and what you can do to make consistent contact (this can also be applied to hitting hybrids club off the ground as well).</p>
<h2>Typical Shots</h2>
<p>The typical mishit with fairways woods or hybrid clubs off the ground is a topped shot or a low and thin shot that spins out to the right.  Obviously, these shots can be extremely frustrating because they either end up far short of your intended target or they get you into some pretty serious trouble.</p>
<h2>When Do You Hit Fairway Woods?</h2>
<p>Before I teach you how to fix these these shots, it&#8217;s important to understand a little more about them.  Think about when you actually hit a fairway wood or a hybrid off the ground.  You usually hit these shots when you are:</p>
<p>1. Trying to hit a par 5 in 2 shots.</p>
<p>2. Trying to get it close to the green from the fairway on a Par 5.</p>
<p>3. You&#8217;ve hit a poor drive and now you&#8217;re trying to make up for for it.</p>
<p>In these instances, you&#8217;re either trying to do something you probably shouldn&#8217;t be doing or you&#8217;re trying to make up for a mistake.  The problem is, if you&#8217;re not certain you&#8217;re going to hit a half decent fairway wood or hybrid club off the ground, you shouldn&#8217;t be trying to hit it at all.  Also, hitting a fairway wood or hybrid may actually be the wrong club because it will get you too close to the green leaving you with a tricky pitch shot.</p>
<p>Now I&#8217;m not saying I want you to stop hitting your fairway woods altogether.  All I&#8217;m saying is, you should be picking your opportunities to hit these clubs wisely and you should learn how to hit your them more consistently so they&#8217;re more dependable in pressure situations.</p>
<h2>Why You Don&#8217;t Make Solid Contact</h2>
<p>There are 3 main reasons you&#8217;re not making solid contact with your fairway woods.  They<br />
are:</p>
<p><strong>1.  Buckling Arms (Chicken Wing)</strong></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re trying to hit your shots too hard, your forearm muscles will contract which causes them to buckle or chicken wing through impact.   This buckling of the arms makes the shaft of the club not only fall behind the clubface but  it can also lift the club off the ground.  The picture below shows what happens if the shaft leans backwards a mere 10 degrees.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-182 aligncenter" title="fw1" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fw1.jpg" alt="fw1" width="400" height="123" /></p>
<p><strong>2.  Raising Up</strong></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re trying to hit the ball too hard, you will probably look early to see the result.  This is because human nature is saying, “the harder you hit, the more you will look.”  This hitting raises your body up which lifts the club off the ground. If you couple this lifting with the buckling of your arms, you&#8217;re certain to hit topped fairway wood shots.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-183 aligncenter" title="fw2" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fw2.jpg" alt="fw2" width="400" height="137" /></p>
<p><strong>3.  Hanging Back on Right Side</strong></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re hitting the ball solely with your arms it means you&#8217;re not using your lower body. This causes you to hang back too much on you right foot (flat footed) through impact which makes the clubshaft lean backwards even more and creates a severely ascending path as the club approaches the ball.  This hanging back coupled with any of the above flaws, will also guarantee a severely topped shot.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-185 aligncenter" title="fw31" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fw31.jpg" alt="fw31" width="400" height="146" /></p>
<p>As you can see in all of the pictures above, the leading edge of the club will make contact higher up on the ball thus causing the thin or topped shots. In order to make clean contact, you have to allow the club to come through with the sole more level to the ground.  Here is the what it looks like:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-186 aligncenter" title="fw4" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fw4.jpg" alt="fw4" width="400" height="114" /></p>
<p>If the club comes through flush, the ball will ride up the face and get airborne instead of hitting it with the leading edge of the club.</p>
<h2>How to Fix It</h2>
<p>All you have to do to make great contact with your fairway woods is to allow your arms to stretch out as you hit the shot.  As the arms get longer, the club will make a wider arc plus the shaft will not lean severely behind the ball at impact.  These 2 things will lead to much better contact.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-188 aligncenter" title="fairway-woods1" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/fairway-woods1.jpg" alt="fairway-woods1" width="550" height="245" /></p>
<h2>How to Work On It</h2>
<p>Before you even get to the course, do some practice swings at home in the backyard.  As you do them, allow your arms to loosen up and try to make a wide arc when you swing the club down and through.  This will allow your arms to stretch out so you get used to this new feeling.  <strong>HINT:</strong> If your arms are relaxed enough, the club will start to feel heavy.</p>
<p>Once you get to the course and are about to hit a fairway wood or hybrid off the ground, make sure you do 2 -3 easy practice swings feeling your arms and wrists relax and the club making a wide arc (especially through and past impact).  Once you have this feeling in practice swings, apply it to your actual shot.  If you do it right, it will feel different.  In actual fact, it will feel like you are barely hitting the ball at all yet when you look for the result it will be longer and more solidly than ever before.</p>
<p>After you start making better contact, I know you will want to hit the ball even farther.  If you get to this point DO NOT hit harder with the arms.  Simply keep them relaxed and turn your body a little faster and the club will whip faster.  Just read this tip to learn how to use the lower body to hit you shots:  <strong><a title="What starts the golf downswing?" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/what-starts-the-downswing.html" target="_blank">What Starts the Downswing?</a> </strong></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Hitting solid fairway woods is easier than you think.  You just have to understand that trying to swing out of your shoes is not going to allow the club to sole itself properly and get the ball airborne.   So the next time you  are faced with one of these shots, do a few easy practice swings feeling a wider arc.  This will  stop the shaft from leaning backwards and create the solid contact you&#8217;re after.</p>
<p>All the best,</p>
<p>Paul Wilson<br />
Creator – <a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/store" style=""  rel="nofollow" onmouseover="self.status='http://swingmachineblog.com/store';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Swing Machine Golf</a></p>
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		<title>How to Hit the Driver</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/eA_f_rkb6sQ/how-to-hit-the-driver.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/how-to-hit-the-driver.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 17:17:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Golf Driver Swing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Golf Driving]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[How to Hit the Driver]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Over the past few weeks, I&#8217;ve received numerous of e-mails from people wanting more information on how to hit the driver.  I could go on forever about each one of the topics I&#8217;ve listed below but for now I&#8217;ve kept it short and sweet.   Click on a link below to cure your problem:
1.  How [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-169" title="driver" src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/driver.jpg" alt="driver" width="579" height="334" /></p>
<p>Over the past few weeks, I&#8217;ve received numerous of e-mails from people wanting more information on how to hit the driver.  I could go on forever about each one of the topics I&#8217;ve listed below but for now I&#8217;ve kept it short and sweet.   Click on a link below to cure your problem:</p>
<p>1.  <strong><a title="How to Cure Your Slice" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/how-to-cure-your-slice.html" target="_self">How to Cure Your Slice</a></strong></p>
<p>2.  <strong><a title="Cure Pull or Pull Hooking" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/cure-pulling-pull-hooking.html" target="_self">How to Cure Pulling or Pull Hooking</a></strong></p>
<p>3.  <strong><a title="How to Cure Push and Push Fade" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/cure-push-or-push-fade.html">How to Cure the Push or Push Fade</a></strong></p>
<p>4.  <strong><a title="How To Get More Distance" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/how-to-get-more-distance-with-your-driver.html">How to Get More Distance With Your Driver</a></strong></p>
<p>5.  <strong><a title="Stop Hitting Driver Too Low" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/stop-hitting-the-driver-too-low.html">Stop Hitting Driver Too Low</a></strong></p>
<p>6.  <strong><a title="Stop Hitting Driver Too High" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/stop-hitting-your-driver-too-high.html">Stop Hitting Driver Too High</a></strong></p>
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		<title>How to Cure Your Slice</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/xe3lF2kNCJs/how-to-cure-your-slice.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/how-to-cure-your-slice.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 17:16:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Cure Golf Slice]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Golf Slice]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[How to Cure Your Slice]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re slicing the ball you&#8217;re actually swinging to the left.  As the club hits the ball, it does so with an open face which causes it to spin to the right.  This means you&#8217;re doing 2 things wrong:  1.)  you&#8217;re starting the ball on the wrong direction, and 2.) you&#8217;re hitting the ball with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re slicing the ball you&#8217;re actually swinging to the left.  As the club hits the ball, it does so with an open face which causes it to spin to the right.  This means you&#8217;re doing 2 things wrong:  1.)  you&#8217;re starting the ball on the wrong direction, and 2.) you&#8217;re hitting the ball with the wrong spin.  So, how do you fix it?</p>
<p>The first thing you have to do is stop trying to hit the ball so hard.  The harder you hit, the tighter your wrists, the more open the club face through impact and the more over the top you will swing.</p>
<p>Next, out of the 2 things you&#8217;re doing wrong, you&#8217;re going to fix the SPIN first. Why? Simple &#8230; if you stop spinning the ball to the right you&#8217;re no longer a slicer!</p>
<p>To to fix the spin, you should be trying to loosen up your wrists and allow your right-hand to cross over your left earlier through the impact zone.  By crossing your hands over one another earlier, it DOES NOT mean you&#8217;re trying to hit perfect shots.  If you pull it or pull hook it that&#8217;s great!  Why?  Well … it&#8217;s like I said before, if you&#8217;re hitting pulls or pull hooks you&#8217;re no longer a slicer!</p>
<p>So how do you roll your wrists over one another?   Well &#8230; an easy way to understand what to do is to stand up, take your set up and put your palms together. With your palms together, they represent your clubface in a square position.</p>
<p>Now, take the club into the backswing and come down to impact looking at the top of your left hand. This is a representation of the face being wide open at impact (this is what you&#8217;re currently doing). Do it again but this time come down with your hands even.  This is like the clubface being square.  Finally, come down and see the back of your right hand.  This is like the clubface being closed.</p>
<p>What I want you to do is to come to impact looking at the back of your right-hand.  DO NOT try to get both hands even.  Yes, I realize this is overdoing it but if you&#8217;re trying to bring the club face back to square there&#8217;s no way you&#8217;re going to do this perfectly every time.  So within no time, you&#8217;re going to come through with the face wide open again.  The idea is to overdo it by rolling them over more than what&#8217;s necessary.</p>
<p>Now that you see how the right-hand crosses over the left, do this with the club in a few practice swings. Just take it to the top and come down to the impact looking for the back of your right-hand. If you do it right, you will see the clubface really closed.  Remember, this is a good thing because you&#8217;re trying to overdo the wrists rolling over one another for a while.   In order to master this, keep doing it over and over again every day, every night, every time you play and practice. In order to stop spinning the ball out to the right, it&#8217;s going to take some work on your part. So … get to work!</p>
<p>Once you&#8217;re able to cross the right-hand over the left and eliminate the spin to the right,  it&#8217;s time to straighten out your pulls and pull hooks.  All you have to do is forget about the hands and arms and focus ONLY on starting the downswing by turning your hips. If your hips start before your hands and arms start to come down, you will hit the ball on target. I&#8217;ve proven this time and time again. The idea is simple &#8230; if you move your body before the club, the club will want to swing at 90° to your body. This means the shaft angle will flatten on the way down as opposed to steepening which occurs when you swing over the top.</p>
<p>To get the feeling of using your body, do this drill:</p>
<p>Simply hold the club off the ground at approximately knee high.  Then, do practice swings up in the air.  By holding the club in the air, there&#8217;s no ball to hit. This means you will be able to feel your body making the club swing as opposed to your hands and arms. Once you get the feeling of using your body, apply it to your shots.</p>
<h2>Watch Your Ball</h2>
<p><strong>If you pull or pull hook it</strong> – you&#8217;re not starting the legs and hips soon enough</p>
<p><strong>If you push or push fade it</strong> – slow down you&#8217;re driving the lower body too hard</p>
<div style="padding:5px 0 5px 0; text-align:center; ;"><a href="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/plugins/max-banner-ads/max-banner-ads-lib/include/redirect.php?id=2"  rel="nofollow"><img src="http://swingmachineblog.com/wp-content/mbp-banner/sample-lessons_20090501153855.jpg"   /></a><br>&nbsp;<font size="1">Powered by <a style="color:#0000ff;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" href="http://www.maxblogpress.com/go.php?offer=niceart&pid=12" target="_blank" onmouseover="self.status='MaxBlogPress.com';return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''">Max Banner Ads</a></font>&nbsp;</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~4/xe3lF2kNCJs" height="1" width="1"/>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>How to Cure Pulling or Pull Hooking With Driver</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/1NqX0LNMduo/cure-pulling-pull-hooking.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/cure-pulling-pull-hooking.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 17:15:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Cure Pull Hooking]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Cure Pulling]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=149</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re pulling or pull hooking the ball to the left you&#8217;re doing one thing wrong. That one thing is that you&#8217;re hitting the ball on the wrong direction.   I know &#8230; I know &#8230; the ball is hooking too much to the left. This isn&#8217;t actually a problem because if you can fix the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re pulling or pull hooking the ball to the left you&#8217;re doing one thing wrong. That one thing is that you&#8217;re hitting the ball on the wrong direction.   I know &#8230; I know &#8230; the ball is hooking too much to the left. This isn&#8217;t actually a problem because if you can fix the direction, the hook will straighten out and you will hit the ball either dead straight or you will hit the ball with a slight draw.</p>
<p>All you have to do to fix the direction is to get your hips starting first in the downswing. This doesn&#8217;t mean you&#8217;re bumping them or sliding them laterally to start the downswing. You should be turning them in a circular motion. To get the feeling, just pick up a ball and throw it over and out in front of you. If you do, you will see that you didn&#8217;t slide slide or bump your hips. You turned them. This is the same move you want to do in your golf swing.</p>
<p>To get the feeling, hold the club up in the air at approximately knee high. Then, do practice swings while still elevating the club in the air.  As you do them, feel your legs and hips making the club swing. Once you get the feeling of using your body, apply it to your shots.  In doing so, it means you&#8217;re not thinking about your hands and arms at all.  You&#8217;re ONLY thinking about applying this feeling of using your lower body as you start the downswing.</p>
<h2>Watch Your Ball</h2>
<p><strong>If you still pull or pull hook the ball to the left </strong>- start your hips sooner.<br />
<strong><br />
If you push the ball or push fade the ball out to the right</strong> - you&#8217;re driving the hips too hard or you&#8217;re sliding laterally so slow down and turn.</p>
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		<title>Cure the Push or Push Fade With Driver</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/1vzXwQegBV0/cure-push-or-push-fade.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/cure-push-or-push-fade.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 17:14:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Cure Driver Push]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Cure Push Fade]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=151</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re pushing or push fading the ball you&#8217;re are doing 1 or possibly 2 things wrong.  The first thing is that the ball is starting out to the right of the target so you&#8217;re on the wrong direction.  Next, if you&#8217;re push fading, the ball is not only starting to the right but it&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re pushing or push fading the ball you&#8217;re are doing 1 or possibly 2 things wrong.  The first thing is that the ball is starting out to the right of the target so you&#8217;re on the wrong direction.  Next, if you&#8217;re push fading, the ball is not only starting to the right but it&#8217;s also spinning to the right so you have a spin problem as well.</p>
<p>Typically, these shots are hit by better players.  If you&#8217;re an average player and think you&#8217;re hitting these shots, you&#8217;re most likely hitting a slice and you don&#8217;t realize it because you alignment is too far out to the right (check your alignment to see if you are, in fact, pushing or push fading).</p>
<p>Better players hits pushes and push fades because they&#8217;re sliding laterally to start the downswing and they&#8217;re trying to hit the ball too hard.  Here&#8217;s how it works.  The lateral slide causes the upper body to tilt a little too much to the right in the downswing.  Titlt to the right too much and you will hit the ball right.  Hitting the ball too hard causes the writsts to tighten and it makes the player want to look to see the result.  The more they look, the titghter the wrists so the ball ends up tailing off to the right.</p>
<p>The first thing you have to do is loosen the wrists.  To do this, just do some ¾ practice swings allowing the right hand to cross the left earlier.  Basically, you want to overdo the release a little to get the wrists loosened up.</p>
<p>Next, slow down and quit trying to hit the ball so hard.</p>
<p>Finally, to cure the direction, you need to turn better as opposed to sliding.  The best way to work on this is to put an object like a broken shaft, pointed end of an umbrella, back of a chair etc. 3 inches off your left hip. Then, do practice swings trying to miss the object off of your hip.  The only way you can miss the object is to turn therefore, eliminating the slide.  Once you get used to turning, try it in a real swing.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t think that you&#8217;re going to do this drill and in 5 minutes cure your slide forever.   Eliminating the slide takes time and effort.  The best thing to do would be nightly practice swings at home or do them at the range as much as you can.  Keep a broken shaft or umbrella in your golf bag and bring it to the range with you so you can use it when you practice.</p>
<h2>Watch Your Ball</h2>
<p><strong>If you still push it</strong> – turn more</p>
<p><strong>If  you push fade it</strong> – your wrists are still too tight and you are not turning enough</p>
<p><strong>If you pull it</strong> – turn the arms off and start the body first in the downswing.</p>
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		<title>How to Get More Distance With Your Driver</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/9FldvFctyYw/how-to-get-more-distance-with-your-driver.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/how-to-get-more-distance-with-your-driver.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 17:13:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[drive the ball longer]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[more distance driver]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=153</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re not hitting the ball as far as you think you should, your hands and arms are too tight. Think about it, the tighter something is, the slower it will swing.  So, what would make you tight?  Well, trying to hit something really hard would probably tighten your arms and wrists wouldn&#8217;t it? The [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re not hitting the ball as far as you think you should, your hands and arms are too tight. Think about it, the tighter something is, the slower it will swing.  So, what would make you tight?  Well, trying to hit something really hard would probably tighten your arms and wrists wouldn&#8217;t it? The harder you hit, the tighter you get.</p>
<p>I realize that you want to hit the ball 300 yards but you&#8217;ve tried hitting the ball as hard as you can and it only seems to go to 250 with a huge slice.  At what point do you recognize that this DOES NOT work? From now on, think to yourself, “something that is looser will swing faster than something that is tighter.”</p>
<p>In order to increase your power, you just have to loosen up your wrists. This DOES NOT mean you&#8217;re letting go of the club. To get the feeling, hold onto your club securely and do three quarter swings feeling your wrists loosen up as you swing the club back and forth.  Once you feel them loosen up, try hitting a few easy shots.</p>
<p>If you do this right, you will see that with very little effort you can hit the ball pretty much as far as you can when you try to rip it. This is because your wrists are looser which allows the club to swing faster with less effort. Once you get used to this loose feeling, DO NOT try to swing harder! All you have to do is turn faster! If you turn faster with looser wrists, you will hit the ball farther than ever before.</p>
<p><strong>Here&#8217;s a drill to get your body moving:</strong></p>
<p>For this drill I want you to do practice swings up in the air at knee high.  As you do, I want you to listen to the “whooshing” sound of your club as it swings.  The first practice swing you do is slow.  Then, you use your body to swing the club a little faster.  Finally, you use your body to make the club &#8220;whoosh&#8221; even faster.  By doing this, you will see the relationship between the effort you are using with your body and the sound of the club.  This is proof that using your body will make the club swing faster.  Knowing this should tell you that you no longer have to keep hitting hard with your arms.  Keep them loose and use the body.</p>
<h2>Watch Your Ball</h2>
<p><strong>If you do not gain distance</strong> – you are using your arms again.</p>
<p><strong>If you push or push fade the ball</strong> – you are driving the body too hard</p>
<p><strong>If you pull or pull hook </strong>– you are starting down with your arms</p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><a title="How To Get More Distance" href="http://swingmachineblog.com/more-distance-part-1.html" target="_self">Go Here For Another 2 Part Tip on How To Get More Distance</a></h1>
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		<title>Stop Hitting The Driver Too Low</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/swingmachineblog/~3/vS5GLgnZrYM/stop-hitting-the-driver-too-low.html</link>
		<comments>http://swingmachineblog.com/stop-hitting-the-driver-too-low.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 17:12:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Wilson</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Faults and Fixes]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Hitting Driver Too Low]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Low Drives]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swingmachineblog.com/?p=155</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People that hit the ball too low are always dumbfounded as to what the cause could be. Well, think about it logically. If you&#8217;re hitting the ball too low you&#8217;re taking loft off of the club. Instead of hitting an 8.5 or 9.5° driver you&#8217;re hitting a 4° or 5° driver.  So, what could be [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>People that hit the ball too low are always dumbfounded as to what the cause could be. Well, think about it logically. If you&#8217;re hitting the ball too low you&#8217;re taking loft off of the club. Instead of hitting an 8.5 or 9.5° driver you&#8217;re hitting a 4° or 5° driver.  So, what could be causing this? Well, there could be a few things.</p>
<p>The first thing is that you may be setting up with your hands too far ahead of the golf ball. In doing so, the back end of the club is elevated off the ground a little which is reducing the loft on the club. If this is the case, let the club sit flush on the ground behind the ball. Then, gently place your grip on the club making sure you don&#8217;t move it in any way.  Now carefully take the club back and hit your shot.  This takes immense focus because it&#8217;s so easy to go back to what&#8217;s comfortable.  I would suggest video taping your set up and takeaway or have a friend watch to see if you&#8217;re not longer moving your hands too far ahead of the ball.</p>
<p>The next thing could be that you have a strong grip.  If you have a strong grip you will tend to be in a closed position at the top of the backswing and you will will most likely cross the hands over one another through impact.  Both of these things are going to de-loft your club.  Typically, a person who is releasing the club with a strong grip would hook the ball.  In your case, your hands are coming into impact in a strong position but you&#8217;ve added a lateral slide with your body in the downswing to counteract the ball hooking too far left.  So not only are you going to have to fix your grip but you will have to stop sliding as well.  Here&#8217;s what to do:</p>
<p>When you look down at your left hand you should only see two knuckles as opposed to three. Also, the letter “V” on your right hand created between your thumb and index finger should be pointing between your right ear and shoulder.  Neutralizing the grip like this will make you hit the ball higher but keep in mind if you&#8217;re still sliding you will hit the ball to the right. So not only do you have to fix the grip, you also have to turn better as opposed to sliding laterally (read the push fade tip to cure your shots going right)</p>
<p>Another thing that may be causing your low shots is a shifting of too much weight onto your left foot either as you go back or as you start the downswing.  By shifting to the left too much, you will end up angling your body to the left on the way down.  This means that the club will be severely descneding as it comes down which will put your hands too far ahead of the ball thus de-lofting the club.</p>
<p>If you feel that you&#8217;re shifting to the left in the downswing to early, do some practice swings facing a mirror and watch your head to see if it&#8217;s moving left in the initial stages of the downswing.  Also, watch yourself load your weight better into the right inste/heel as you hit the top of the backswing.</p>
<p>Another thing you can do is take you ball and as you tee it up, turn the label so it faces to the right.  Now, as you go to hit your shots, watch the label.  If you shift too much left, you will loose sight of it.  The only way to see the label is if you stay behind the ball as the club swings through impact.</p>
<p>A final thing you can do are practice swings “feeling” more weight on your right foot as the club swings through.  By feeling more weight on your right, it will stop you from shifting to drastically to the left.  Once you get the feeling in practice swings, apply it to your shots.</p>
<p>NOTE: It&#8217;s not that I want to weight on the right foot at impact, it&#8217;s just a drill to stop the weight from shifting to the left too soon. So, do a bunch of practice swings feeling more weight on your right side into the downswing. Then, apply this new feeling to your shots. After you start hitting your shots higher forget favoring the right leg like this.</p>
<h2>Watch Your Ball</h2>
<p><strong>If your ball flies too high</strong> – don&#8217;t feel as much weight on the right foot</p>
<p><strong>If it flies too low</strong> – check your grip to make sure it&#8217;s neutral and feel more weight on your right foot when you swing.</p>
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