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TomTuckerGolf.com |
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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: Overactive Hands and Forearms - Tom's Bonus Tip: Commit Means Commit - 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 Click here: INDOOR GOLF LESSONS for details on how to improve your game over the winter. PLUM CREEK DRIVING RANGE IN BATAVIA, NY, IS OPEN ALL YEAR NEW Equipment & Apparel Sale, Simulator Course Play Specials: http://www.plumcreekdrivingrange.com Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve your simulator time! 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. 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: Overactive Hands and Forearms 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! My outdoor lesson season is done until next spring, but that doesn't mean that you can't improve any and all aspects of your swing - including putting - between now and then. You can keep moving forward with indoor lessons. In fact, some players benefit more from indoor lessons than outdoor lessons. They seem to be able to concentrate more on technique when they aren't preoccuppied with ball flight. Every now and then I read well intentioned tips on consciously activating the hands and/or forearms on the downswing sequence to help to "square up" the clubface at impact, and I cringe when I see that advice. For most players, consciously activating your hands or forearms at or near impact is going to produce a low, left screamer. Regardless of your swing method or whether you are a "hitter" or a "swinger", your body sequence in the downswing should accomplish "squaring up" the clubface at impact without consciously activating your hands or forearms. "Squaring up" means striking the ball with a clubface that is square to your swingpath. Curvature is accomplished by ball position in relation to the bottom of your swing arc. You don't need to "over-activate" your hands or forearms to get power or curvature. Your downswing circle, arc, plane or whatever you want to call it - is the most important part of your swing to "own". It needs to be consistent. When correct technique is used, things come together at impact. Nothing needs to be manufactured. Too often I see "rotate your lead forearm" or "rotate your lead hand" until the forearm is pointing to the sky at the early follow through position as default swing advice. In fact, that type of forced rotation should only be done as a corrective drill for players that are actually "opening" the face through impact. It helps them acquire the feeling of "squaring it up" at impact. After they get that feeling, the the conscious over-rotation is slowly worked out of their swing. Other components may also come into play with players that have an inability to get the clubface square at impact, such as incorrect hinging during the backswing, and a grip that's too weak. In fact, most people that have read "Ben Hogan's Five Lessons" book that come to me to correct their slice, have a slice because they've adopted Hogan's grip. They didn't know that Hogan went to his very neutral/weak grip because he was a "serial hooker". He had the problem of "overactive hands and forearms" in his downswing. He had to make the grip change to stop hooking the ball unintentionally, and he did and it served him well. Most average players are served better by a grip that favors a slightly strong position vs. a neutral or weak grip position. After you have your grip nailed down, let your swing happen through impact naturally without any intentional closing of the face by "overactivation" of the hands or forearms. Most of the time in golf, subtle changes tried one at a time - not all together - will yield the best results. Avoid drastic measures and you'll get better faster. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, own your swing, Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Commit Means Commit 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! Does this sound like you: you've calculated the distance, selected your club, visualized your shot, gone through your pre-shot routine, addressed the ball, then said to yourself "this is too much club" or "this is not enough club", then hit a sub-standard shot. If that happens to you more than once per round, you haven't learned to commit, and doubt will creep into your subconscious and alter you swing. The cure is that once you have selected your club, become COMPLETELY COMMITTED to that club, and after that it's all about just putting a good swing on the ball. This sounds too simple to be true, but once you take self doubt out of the equation, great things happen to your game. COMMIT TOTALLY to your club selection and you will have the best chance of executing the shot you visualized. 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! Batavia Country Club Pro Shop at Batavia CC open 9am - 4pm daily for memberships, gift certificates, merchandise, apparel, and equipment. Phone orders accepted as well. www.bataviacc.com 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%. 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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