TomTuckerGolf.com
 
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 266 - October 9, 2013
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Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now!

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In This Issue  

- Tom's Featured Tip: Shoulder Turn Angles
- Tom's Bonus Tip: Baby Boomer Tip
- 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.

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Tom's Featured Tip:
Shoulder Turn Angles

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!

Serendipidty was at work with last Wednesday's tip about maintaining shoulders that are square to your body alignments.

Last Wednesday afternoon, I was conducting a lesson with one of my single digit handicap students who was hitting the ball squarely but not getting the shape or distance he usually gets from his swing. He had been setting up with open shoulders just as described in the tip, and as soon as he made the adjustment to square shoulders he started hitting lasers. I love it when a plan comes together.

This week"s tip deals with shoulders on a different level, or more correctly said - on a different plane.

The other common mistake I see being made with shoulders is that they get turned into the backswing on too flat of a plane.

Keep in mind that the swing method I favor is a swing with a centered to forward sided pivot, weight forward bias, and no weight shift to the rear foot during any point in the swing.

Having said that, when I do teach a more traditional swing method to students who prefer to swing that way, they make this mistake too.

Most players turn their shoulders back way too flat in their backswing, especially so for those players that use a swing method that promotes shifting weight to the rear side during the backswing. It feels powerful to do that, but it's fools gold because this type of turn also promotes a shoulder turn initiated downswing, which causes poor contact, slow swing speed, and usually a fade or slice to boot.

I want my students to set up with enough forward bend from the waist, then to feel the left shoulder turning down as they turn back and pressure weight into their left leg.

Then I want them to initiate their downswing with a lateral hip slide towards the target, then to swing (rotate) naturally through and past impact as they continue to rotate to the left. At Impact their left leg is straightening. The result of this swing method is a swing that catapults the clubhead through impact with speed and good path for a solid, powerful strike and predictable curvature.

A very simple drill for this as follows:
  • In golf posture, hold an exension pole or other long pole - by long I mean at least seven feet long - across the front of your shoulders with crossed arms and adequate forward bending of your spine.

  • Then rotate into your backswing, making sure that the pole points down at the ground - not parallel to the ground.

  • As you turn back, sink weight into your forward leg and allow your back knee to straighten, which also allows your hips to open and prevents weight from shifting onto your right leg.

  • To start your downswing, slide your hips laterally forward first, then let your swing unfold naturally on the same shoulder plane defined by your backswing. Take care to slide your hips laterally forward without rotating them open to initiate your down swing.
Here are some swing pattern images showing exactly what's described above: swing images.

Love your practice, enjoy your golf, own your swing,
,
Tom


Tom's Bonus Tip:
Baby Boomer Tip


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!

If you are a baby boomer or older, you'll appreciate this tip, which has nothing at all to do with golf.

So ... if you fall into the baby boomer or older age category, go out to movies, and have trouble holding your water - have no more fear, help is now here.

My buddy Jan W. showed me an app on his iPhone called "RunPee" - no joke - that's the name. It's functionality is that you enter the name of the movie that you are watching and it gives you the run time when you can take a lavatory break without missing anything critical. ie: at the 45th minute, 53rd minute, etc.

Who the heck thinks of this stuff anyway?

As I said before, this tip wasn't golf related, but it was too cool not to share, enjoy!

Love your practice, enjoy your golf, own your swing,

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. Fall Rates begin September 23rd - 18 Holes with cart, $15 Weekdays, $20 Weekends . Annual memberships - pay for 2014 now and get the rest of 2013 for free. Details at www.bataviacc.com

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