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TomTuckerGolf.com |
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Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 246 - May 22, 2013
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Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now! To comment or respond to this newsletter, please click here ttucker@rochester.rr.com In This Issue - Tom's Featured Tip: Feel Your Swing - Tom's Bonus Tip: Rule 14 - 1B - Equipment Review: The Impact Zone Training System - 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 DRIVING RANGE IN BATAVIA, NY, IS OPEN ALL YEAR Outdoors in season; Indoors - simulator available for 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 Golf lessons - Outdoor and Indoor - 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/lessonrates.html for details. Indoor or Outdoor Driver Fitting Get the most bang for your buck when you buy a new driver by getting professionally fitted first. Click for details: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html 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: Feel Your Swing 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! These days, many players are diligently working on speed drills to enable them to hit the ball longer, that's what most players consider to be the Holy Grail of golf. I could argue that point a little, but I won't. Hitting it longer involves swing speed, strength, and coordination - an often ignored concept. Everything done during practice is designed to improve the ability to execute technique in order to positively influence the result of your swing. A golfer's inability to execute a practiced swing technique can often boil down to a lack of specific strength and muscular coordination. I'm not talking swing sequence, I'm talking muscular and neural coordination. It's a combination of technique, strength, and how it feels when you execute your swing - kinesthetic awareness. The first step involved in being able to feel your swing is developing enough strength in your body to support your swing. Whole body strength training, with emphasis on core strength, should be worked into your life. If you're not reasonably strong, it becomes harder to feel your swing. The good news is that it's pretty easy to get stronger, even at an older age. The next part is developing your own swing style and owning it. Owning it means having the ability to execute a repeatable angled downswing arc on the proper angle for each club in your bag. I'm not saying that the backswing isn't important, but delivering the club correctly into the impact area is more important than your backswing. Impact is the only non-negotiable fundamental in golf. The final part is separating your swing into small segments, practicing each segment separately for lots of reps, then piecing everything together for the final product. A great book on the number of reps that it takes to build a neural pathway for a golf swing is "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle. As you move forward with your practice reps, your swing will start ingraining itself into a neural pathway, the more you practice, the more that happens. Next time you go to the practice tee, work on some slow paced drills - if not static, to really feel muscle engagement at each stage of your swing. Then work on medium paced swing drills, then full paced swing drills, trying to feel muscle engagement during each swing. Actually practice feeling the swing motion. If you have trouble feeling your movement, or if you are always off balance at the end of your swing, try making swings with your eyes closed. Without balls at first, then with a teed up ball in a place where you can do it safely. This will heighten your kinesthetic awareness of movement and balance. When you actually play, use your swing keys to prime your swing during your pre shot routine; then when you execute your swing, let it rip with no thought other than target awareness. I'm tempted to say "it don't mean a thing if you can't feel that swing" but that would be way too corny. Feel the swing motion and reap the benefits. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Rule 14 - 1B 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! I'm sure a lot of you may disagree with my point of view on this subject, but this is my gut feeling on this issue. I saw the press conference today (Tuesday morning) where effective January 1, 2016 The USGA and R&A adopted the rule against anchoring the putter. They said that they adopted the rule to protect the integrity of the swinging motion used in playing the game of golf. They went through their list of justification, including listening to feedback from players, media, etc. I don't think they listened too closely because there was a huge undercurrent of opinion from US PGA Tour players against adopting the rule, which was first exposed to the public several months ago. There were no meaningful statistics to back up the contention that any advantage is gained by putting this way, and this style has been around for over 30 years. They also stated that they did this to avoid dissonance among the tour players; but by implementing this rule, the USGA and R&A may well be responsible for more dissonance than the anchored stroke ever created. Since they asked for and received feedback, they should consider it - not just ask as a formality. This appears to me to have been a done deal when it was announced months ago. It reminds me of when I was a County Legislator and NYS would send out emissaries to elicit feedback for proposed fee based programs, when it was apparent that the program or fee was going to be implemented regardless of the feedback. Done deals at the get go. I think it actually would have been better for the USGA and R&A to not ask for feedback, they opened up a Pandora's box. The question that I would like the real answer to is this: what prompted the governing bodies to even consider making this change in the first place? To deny that it was due to recent successes by players using this stroke would be a bit disingenuous, even though that reason has been denied. I think the USGA and R&A ultimately adopted this rule simply because they could, and that's a bad reason. Implementation of Rule 14 - 1B makes a sham of the feedback process. They opened a can of worms, expecting all pro tours to simply accept their will, now they may have a bit of trouble getting the lid back on. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Product Review: DVD's The Impact Zone Training System I recently reviewed Bobby Clampett's DVD program - The Impact Zone Training System. This title interested me because, like Bobby Clampett, I teach an impact based swing learning system. I was not disappointed. I really liked the focus of this DVD set because it dealt exclusively with impact and swing elements that influence where the ball strike occurs in your swing. In fact, I'm going to use some of his terminology in some of my own lesson plans because it resonated well with me. The essence ot teaching golf is imparting knowledge, and the words used to communicate ideas is a critical part of that process. Some of Bobby's words gave me great images, so I'll add them to my lessons. I have a lot of students that give me credit for their game improvement, but all I do is supply the knowledge. The student has to understand and implement. In addition to lessons, good books and DVD's are also a great resource for knowledge. This DVD program qualifies as a good resource; if impact is a mystery to you, try this DVD program, you'll like it. You can order it here, Impact Zone Golf don't bother with the book - the DVD is far superior (I have both). 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 Outdoor range and 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 simulator 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 degree program for anyone interested in a career in the golf industry or teaching golf. Batavia Country Club Best greens in WNY, great rates. Back by popular demand: Friday Night Dining at BCC in their beautiful, newly remodeled downstairs restaurant and bar. Golf and dinner packages also available. Live entertainment from 8:30 - 11 pm Check it all out at: www.bataviacc.com Huge PUMA Apparel Sale at the BCC Pro Shop. Mens, womens, kids clothing, mostly smaller sizes. Stop by our Pro Shop and take advantage of some great deals! Chestnut Hill CC Great rates, 20 minutes East of Buffalo, NY . 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 |
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