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TomTuckerGolf.com |
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Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 250 - June 19th, 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: Putting - Trust Your Read - Tom's Bonus Tip: Q&A: Which Ball Should I use - Equipment Review: The CS2 Putting Aid - 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: Putting - Trust Your Read 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! One of the great uses for an elevated aimline or a laser that projects a straight line on the green, is to use these devices to develop a stroke that keeps your putterface square to your aimline through and past impact. That starts your ball where you are aiming it. There's an even better use for these training aids, but first - the problem. An issue that better players have from time to time is that subconsciously they don't trust their read 100% for breaking putts. For some players that applies some of the time, for some players that applies all of the time. They stalk the putt, calculate speed, pick out a specific aimpoint, then do their pre shot routine and get ready to putt. That's the point where this phenomenon occurs. They take their last focused look at their aimpoint, stroke the putt, then miss it on the high side. And this happens all day long - missing breaking putts on the high side. The problem isn't in their stroke mechanics or lag distance calculations; it's in a chronic lack of confidence in their ability read breaking putts. If you are not 100% confident in your read, your mind will subconsciously make you push or pull a putt to allow for more break, and you'll miss it on the high side. If this describes you, here are the solutions:
Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Q&A Which Ball Should I use 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 have been giving lessons to a married couple who work hard at improving their game, and the husband - Rich B. emailed me this question: Q: "Hi Tom, I've been using Slazinger X-out balls, Titlists nxts and Pro Vs. What golf ball would you recommend, and is there rule of thumb when purchasing balls. Also, are there markings on balls indicate low/high compressions?" A: Hi Rich, thanks for the question, I think I'll use it in my newsletter. On most modern balls, there are no compression number markings due to the multi layers that are involved in the makeup of the ball. If you are very tenacious, you might be able to dig out compression ratings on the manufacturer's website, but there's generally enough information on the packaging to help you decide on the ball that's right for you. Balls that are advertised as spin balls or balls that give you good touch around the greens, would correlate with low compression type balls; distance balls would correlate with higher compression type balls. Having said that, there are several manufacturers that state that their ball gives you the best of both worlds. To be frank, that's hard for me to grasp, there's always some give and take - there has to be. If you need distance off the tee, a distance ball would be appropriate, but you will lose spin and feel on pitch and chip shots. Premium balls are expensive - ProV1's etc - but they are the best, which is why they cost more. A good alternative is high grade used balls. You can get into a premium ball for about half the price, and as long as they are not nicked there's no downside as far as performance goes. I bought used ProV1's and "practice" ProV1's for my putting and chipping lessons, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them in actual play. I'm affiliated with the best used golf ball site that I've found, it's here: UsedGolfBallDeals.com If you prefer a brand new ball, one of my brothers swears by a ball MasterGrip produces called The Tour C4. The Maxfli noodle is also great ball for the money. I just bought another brother in Florida 12 boxes as a gift. He goes through a lot of balls down there. The bottom line is you need to try them out, settle on a brand and model that fits your game, and stick to it. If you want to test out premium balls, buy high grade used ones here: UsedGolfBallDeals.com The savings are significant, and they will cause no negative effect on your game at all. People talk all the time about the touring pros changing equipment, but it's very rare that they change balls. That should tell you something. Many years ago, Titelist produced a Tour Distance 90 ball, which used to fit my swing to a tee. When I found out that they were discontinuing that ball, I bought 24 boxes to last me until I found a ball that had the same characteristics for distance, spin, and feel. Eventually I settled on the ProV1, and that's all I play. The carry distance feel with my irons is consistent with these balls, and I like the way it reacts around the greens and on putts. If you are serious about your game, find a ball that suits your swing and stick with it. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Product Review: The CS2 Putting Aid When I conduct a putting lesson, I use several different training aids to help me teach my students stroke mechanics, a core puting stroke, starting their putt on their intended aimline, and stroking short putts. I also throw in several touch and feel drills. I saw the CS2 Putting Aid, and contacted the company to get one in my hands. Actually, I have two because I do a lot of couples lessons. The reason that I wanted to test this training aid was that I immediately saw that I could use one training aid to accomplish what I now need three training aids for. If it worked, it would make my lessons more efficient, and students would also experience a training aid with multiple uses. I have only had to use this for a couple of weeks to be able to tell you that it's a wonderful tool for me, which also means that it would be a wonderful training aid for you. Using this training aid allows you to work on aim, alignment, putterface control, and aimpoint checking all in one nice little package. It also allows me to set up a template for my students to make failsafe strokes to hole short putts consistently. In my main tip for this issue I talked about maintaining your intended aimline when you stroke a breaking putt, and the CS2 also gets that job done when you set up the gate feature at the end of the runway. Here's a great youtube video of how this product can be used: The CS2 Putting Aid Last but not least, when you practice personally with this training aid you can start removing the "training wheels" so to speak, which is a great way to see if you are actually improving. I give this product an enthusiastic two thumbs up, it's available here: cs2Putting.com The company is offering my newsletter subscribers a 10% discount expiring July 18th, just enter this discount code when ordering: 1985 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%. Batavia Country Club Best greens in WNY, great rates. Back by popular demand: Friday Night Golf and Dinner at BCC 18 holes of golf, cart, dinner, tax and gratuity - $35. 9 hole package - $27. Choose from 4 entrees' with side and salad bar. Dinner served from 4:30 pm - 9:15 pm. Dinner available for non-golfers also. Menu and band schedule posted 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 . 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. 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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