|
TomTuckerGolf.com |
|
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 229 - January 30, 2013
|
Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now! In This Issue - Tom's Featured Tip: Two Swings For Hitting It Straight - Tom's Bonus Tip: Range Balls - Product Review: The Little One - Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say - Sponsors: Batavia Country Club, Chestnut Hill Country Club Plum Creek Driving Range and PGA AboutGolf.com Golf Simulator GCC Golf Management Program, Provoto Putting Systems PLUM CREEK IS OPEN ALL WINTER Come on down to play or practice. Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve your simulator time! Great money saving monthly specials, check them out here: http://www.plumcreekdrivingrange.com Buy Gift Certificates for Lessons Sample Gift Certificate Indoor lessons are available at Plum Creek, please call me at 716 474 3005, email me at ttucker@rochester.rr.com, or visit my website at http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html for rates and details. Indoor or Outdoor Driver Fitting Get the most bang for your buck when you buy a new driver by getting professionally fitted first. http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html To comment or respond to this newsletter, please click here ttucker@rochester.rr.com Subscribe - http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/signup.html If you like this newsletter, please do me a favor and forward it to your friends so that they may subscribe, thanks! The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. Tom's Featured Tip: Two Swings For Hitting It Straight For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties .... well, you know what to do! Here are a few facts about driver swings on the PGA Tour, the LPGA, and Long Drive Pro's.
Why PGA Tour pros strike - on average - with a 1.5 degreee downward strike (almost flat) with their driver is open to conjecture. They absolutely know that strike angle doesn't yield the longest carry, but perhaps they feel that they have better control with a flatter strike or they just want to generally stick with the same swing for all their clubs. I say that because hitting the driver on the upswing, and hitting the irons with a descending angle of attack requires setup aiming adjustments as well as slight swingpath adjustments to get the same directional and curvature result for each club. If you have been following previous issues on hitting draws or fades, you know that because you ideally make contact before the club reaches the bottom of its arc when swinging an iron, the clubhead path is still pointing to the right. And you know that because you ideally make contact after the club reaches the bottom of its arc or even past the bottom of the arc when swinging your driver, the clubhead path is pointing to the left. Most amateur golfers should develop two swings that strike the ball differently at impact to hit the ball straight.
Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Range Ball Distance For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties .... well, you know what to do! Do range balls fly the same distance as normal balls? The answer is yes, to the tune of about 10 yards per club due to differences in construction. There are also some manufacturers who make balls specifically for ranges with length limitations, and these balls may fly as much as 20 to 30 yards shorter than a standard ball. I tell all of my students to practice for consistency on the range, and to try to gauge distance when they play practice rounds on the course. If you get a chance to play alone when no one is rushing you, don't be afraid to hit several balls from exactly 150 yards with your 150 club to see if it's really your 150 club. Playing the same brand and model ball will also help with consistency. Don't be that player, who when asked "what kind of ball are you playing?" responds with "whatever I pull out of my bag!" Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Product Review: The Little One For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties .... well, you know what to do ! This winter, I decided to concentrate on getting more precision with my ball to clubface contact. One way to do that is to monitor contact with impact tape, powder, or sprays that I mentioned in last week's newsletter. Another way is to use a good training aid, and I found one. I came across The Little One available through PSP Golf at http://www.tlogolf.com It's a very small headed club with the loft and length of a seven iron. The manufacturer claims that the smaller head helps you concentrate on solid contact, because by having a more specific (smaller) target our awareness becomes more focused on achieving our goal, and that the result is more consistent, solid, repetitive shots no matter what club you have in your hand. So I got one, and guess what - they are correct. I tested it personally for 4 hours and with students for 12 hours, using The Little One in conjunction with an AboutGolf.com simulator. For my students who had poor contact, after hitting The Little One for thirty reps or so, their contact improved dramatically with their own clubs. We did need to adjust their setup - usually the address position of the clubface to the ball, and then we made a few swingpath tweaks. It worked with every student, every one of them increased their smash factor after using The Little One and making a few changes. Smash factor indicates how solidly you are hitting the ball. I spoke with the company, and they have agreed to offer anyone seeing this in my newsletter a 20% discount on The Little Club. To take advantage, go here: http://www.tlogolf.com/store/index.html and go through the ordering process. Enter this code tlo20tt in the coupon section during checkout and you'll receive a 20% discount. As always, I make nothing on the deal, all the savings have been passed on to my readers, enjoy. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Golf Lessons I conduct lessons at The Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility there's a link for Plum Creek info here: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/ Lessons are available for all ages and skill levels, please contact me - Tom Tucker - at (716) 474 3005 or email me at ttucker@rochester.rr.com for more information. Outdoor Lessons Details and Rates: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html Indoor Lessons Details and Rates: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html Driver Fitting Rates: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html Testimonials: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/testimonials.html Sponsors Plum Creek Driving Range and Simulator Play indoor golf on any of our 40 Simulator Courses. Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve time for play or practice! Provoto Putting Systems readers get a 30% discount on putting greens. Click on their catalog link, and select the green you want to purchase. After you decide on features, add it to your cart. You'll find the field for "Discount Coupon" near the bottom of the page. Enter PGApro in that field and your product cost will be discounted 30%. GCC Golf Management Program click for information on GCC's degreed program for anyone interested in a career in the golf industry or teaching golf. Batavia Country Club Course closed for the season, but the Lodge is open with live bands peforming on Fridays. Chestnut Hill CC Course closed for the season. All the best, Tom Tucker Teaching Pro, Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher" USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional Cell: (716) 474-3005 Email: ttucker@rochester.rr.com http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com http://www.usgtf.com/top_100_wgtf.html "There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection!" ~ Ben Hogan |