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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: Smash Factor and Indoor Lessons - Health, Wellness, Fitness: Exercise For People Over 60 - Tom's Bonus Tip: Putting Ryhthm Drill - 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 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 Check out the Equipment & Apparel and 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: Smash Factor and Indoor Lessons 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! Before I get into the relationship between "smash factor" and indoor lessons, let me first say that I'm now booking indoor lessons, My availability for indoor lessons, which are by appointment, is on Tuesdays all day, and on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from noon to 3pm. For early risers, early morning lessons are available upon facility availability. More information on indoor lessons may be viewed here: Indoor Lessons What do "smash factor" and indoor lessons have in common? When I use the Plum Creek Simulator (an aboutGolf PGA Tour Indoor Golf Simulator) for an indoor lesson, "smash factor" is measured and expressed in numerical form. Why does that matter? One fundamental aspect of my teaching is that I teach the impact positions in golf first and foremost. That's why the first lesson in any package plan is ball striking. Ball striking is all about impact, and impact is all about striking the ball solidly and compressing the ball. "Smash factor" measures the solidness of the strike. The advantage to taking a ball striking lesson outdoors is that you gets to see where your divot starts in relation to your ball position. The advantage to taking a ball striking lesson indoors is that you gets to see the "smash factor" number, which indicates how solidly you are striking the ball. Indoors or outdoors, you feel it when you compress a shot - but indoors you get a gauge on exactly how solidly you are striking it. Here's a little more on "smash factor" For driving the ball, one of the measurements we need to maximize for the biggest drives is "smash factor". The longest hitters in the world record "smash factors" of 1.50 and above. The highest "smash factor" recorded at the 2010 World Long Drive Championship was 1.53 by Ryan Louw. It obviously isn't everything, as he finished tied for 3rd, but it is important. "Smash factor" is the ratio between ball speed and club head speed. It's an indication of the player’s ability to generate ball speed based on a given club speed, but it also includes centeredness of contact - solid contact - in the equation. I feel that it's an important teaching tool for amateurs and intermediate level players that try to swing too hard at the ball. By trying to achieve a high club speed, they lose control and don't obtain solid, centered impact, resulting in a less than optimal "smash factor" number. It's a significant swing parameter to pay attention to for swing improvement. I saw a great example of this as follows: With a club speed of 100 mph and a smash factor of 1.40, the ball speed is 140 mph. But if the golfer could obtain a smash factor of 1.48 with a more controlled swing having a lower club speed of 98 mph, the ball speed would be increased to 145 mph., i.e. an additional 5 mph ball speed by swinging slower. Since 1 more mph ball speed (all other things equal) will generate 2 more yards carry, an extra 10 yards is added to the drive in this case by swinging with more control! Plus the more controlled swing will most likely have a very positive effect on dispersion. What is the highest smash factor you can obtain? The laws of physics do put some limitations on what is possible. Even though you may impact the ball dead-center on the club face, so the ball departs on a line that goes directly through the Center of Gravity (CoG) of the club head, there are 3 more factors that determine the maximum obtainable smash factor:
This depends highly on what club you are looking at and what ball type you are playing. For a driver with a premium ball, as an amateur, your smash factor should be above 1.42 and if you have elite ambitions, you should not be below 1.47. Tour pros should aim for nothing less than 1.48 as a minimum. Here are a few more "smash factor" tidbits:
Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Health, Wellness, Fitness: Exercise For People Over 60 Disclaimer: DO NOT PERFORM ANY STRENUOUS PHYSICAL EXERCISE LIKE THE ONE LISTED BELOW, WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR. Exercise For People Over 60 - Requires No Special Equipment!
If not, why not? Note that they are called Daily Essentials,not Daily Optionals! Simply said - if our body doesn't make it, we need to take it. They have made a profound difference in my health, why not give it a try? For more information or to buy your Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit, click here. And when you check out, make sure to enter 10OFFMA in the discount code box to get the 10% discount that I offer to family, friends, and newsletter subscribers. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Putting Rhythm Drill 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 feel like you've lost the rhythm in your putting stroke, just try making 20 practice strokes one-handed with each hand before you take your normal pre-round putting practice. Make sure the power is supplied by your shoulders and keep your head perfectly still. It will do wonders to restore rhythm to your stroke. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, 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 Great Rates & The Best Greens in WNY- bar none! Buy next years membership now, get the balance of this season free. Fall rates in effect, plugging greens so call for conditions. Outside covered patio open for Sunday football; food and drinks available. www.bataviacc.com 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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