TomTuckerGolf.com
 
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 343 - Wed. April 1st, 2015
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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: The Long Pole Turning Drill
- Tour Greens: - Tour Quality Synthetic Greens
- Health, Wellness, Fitness: Non-Exhaustive Activity For Fat Loss
- Nutrition: Get Your Daily Essentials
- Tom's Bonus Tip: Head Movement
- Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
- Sponsors: Plum Creek Driving Range 
Batavia Country Club  
Genesee Community College Golf Management Program 
Chestnut Hill Country Club 



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.

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Tom's Featured Tip: The Long Pole Turning Drill

For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.

In the last issue I spoke about keeping your side tilted towards the ground in your backswing and through swing, and I received quite a few emails asking for a more detailed drill on maintaining tilt.

Lessons are gearing up now, and I'm noticing this "side tilt" deficiency more and more in my students. Most of them turn back with a fair amount of side tilt, but then lose the tilt in the forward swing due to a flat shoulder turn.

Necessity being the mother of invention, I developed this simple drill to build the feeling of maintaining side tilt in your swing. It's an original as far as my thinking is concerned, but I'm sure variations exist.

What I like about the drill is that it gives multiple bang for the buck so to speak. It helps develop an on plane swing (maintaining your side tilt), it helps you feel the correct elbow position in your trail arm, and it also helps you feel the correct sequence in your downswing transition.

The Long Pole Turning Drill

For this drill you will need a long pole or dowel, one that measures about six feet long minimum. At home I use a six foot piece of aluminum pipe. Outdoors I use an extension pole that was designed to fit on a paint roller to extend your reach.

Indoors you may be restricted by ceiling height, so use the shorter pole. Outdoors use a longer pole. I extend it to a length that almost touches the ground when I turn. That way I can really see the angle of the plane in my turn.

If you have access to a full length mirror, use it the first few times to check your angles at the top of your swing and at the finish of your swing.
  • Position the pole behind your neck across your shoulders, and pressure it lightly forward. Keep your elbows pointing towards the ground.

  • Bend forward from the hips until your body is in posture for a golf swing.

  • When you turn, your shoulders and the pole should turn at a ninety degree angle to your spine.

  • Rotate the pole and your shoulders gently into your backswing and either shift or do not shift your weight according to your swing method. Turn back as far as you can comfortably, then try for just a little bit more shoulder turn each time you do this drill. I want most of my students to let their hips turn also, because I want them to generate speed through centrifugal force. Other swing styles promote turning the shoulders against the hips to develop torque in the core. It's your choice on whether to let the hips turn or to restrict them on the backswing, but if you are an older golfer, let your hips turn.

    • A key point here is to make sure that your left shoulder travels downward as your right shoulder travels upward in your backswing.

  • Just as you are reaching the top of your swing, pressure weight onto your flat forward foot.

  • Pause the top of the backswing for ten seconds.

  • Next, initiate your downswing sequence. Bump your hips forward slightly (in the direction that your target line is aiming), followed by your core rotation, followed by your shoulder turn into your forward swing.

    • A key point here is to make sure that your right shoulder travels downward as your left shoulder travels upward in your forward and through swing.

  • Hold your follow through in your finish position for ten seconds.

  • Do ten repetitions of this drill then ten additional reps of full swings with no pause at the top. Do this drill five times per week.
Do this drill slowly and with precision. Don't try to do the full swings very fast. Keep it smooth and slow so that you don't pull anything.

If you have access to a full length mirror, use it the first few times to check your angles at the top of your swing and at the finish of your swing as follows:
  • Position yourself so that the mirror is to your rear along your target line.

  • Do ten reps of the backswing only and pause at the top of your backswing for ten seconds. Check your position in the mirror to make sure the pole is pointing at an angle (on plane) towards the ground, not level to the ground.

  • Next, switch your position so that the mirror is to the front, along your target line.

  • Do ten reps of the forward swing only and hold at the finish of your swing for ten seconds. Check your position in the mirror to make sure that the pole is pointing downward towards the ground at the same angle that your backswing did, not level to the ground.

  • Do ten reps of each partial swing then ten smooth full swings, five times per week. When you are confident that your turning angles are consistent, you can practice this drill without the mirror.
Do this drill slowly and with precision. Don't try to do the full swings very fast. Keep it smooth and slow so that you don't pull anything.

Try gently for a tiny bit of additional turn every time you do this drill and you will build up more length in your backswing, which translates to a faster swing speed and more distance. You can gauge the amount of turn you are getting by putting the full length mirror in a face on view to observe how far your shoulders are turning.

I really encourage everyone to make this drill a habit, it's quick and easy and pays tremendous dividends.

Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com

Love your practice, own your swing, own your health,

Tom






Tour Greens: Tour Quality Synthetic Greens For Superb Short Game Practice

Would you like to be able to practice with purpose in your own back yard?

Would you like your short game to progress from bad to good, or from good to great?

Would you like to get the ball up & down with more frequency?

Would you like to have a short game practice area in the privacy of your yard for practice and for friendly competition with your kids, your wife, and your friends?

Click here TourGreensWNY.com  for photo galleries and more information.

If the thought of having a beautiful tour quality practice green in your yard appeals to you, you're in luck.

In addition to my golf instruction business, I am also the exclusive Western New York sales associate for Tour Greens Western New York.

With Tour Greens you can experience the ultimate home short game practice solution.

Click here to read what Tour Pro's Fred Couples, Rich Beem, Boo Weekly, Blake Adams, and Chris DiMarco  have to say about their Tour Greens.

You all know me well enough to know that I don't affiliate with any product that I don't have a passionate belief in. These greens are the real deal. They are extremely durable - they can even withstand our challenging WNY winters.

For more information please click here: TourGreensWNY.com, or feel free to call, text, or email me to discuss your needs.

Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com

Love your practice, own your swing, own your health,

Tom






Health, Wellness, Fitness: Non-Exhaustive Activity For Fat Loss

Disclaimer: DO NOT PERFORM ANY STRENUOUS PHYSICAL EXERCISE LIKE THE ONE LISTED BELOW, WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR.

It Doesn't Have to be an Exhaustive Workout - Increasing Physical Activity Just as Effective as Strength, Endurance or Combined Exercise to Lose Fat and Build Muscle

Why do exercise efforts fail? They are too ambitious. The all-or-nothing approach combined with the expectation that the belly they've build over decades will fade away in weeks is a combination that programs obese people to fail.

In a recent study from the Technical University of Madrid, scientists were able to show that a mere increase in daily physical activity is as effective in boosting obese subjects weight loss efforts as "serious" exercise.

To read more about the study, click here: Physical Activity and Fat Loss

Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com

Love your practice, own your swing, own your health,

Tom






Nutrition:  Get Your Daily Essentials

Do you lack energy, sleep poorly, or feel generally lousy a lot of the time?

If that describes you, maybe it's time to try the Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit supplements that I personally use daily.

If you haven't tried them yet, why the heck not?

Buy Now

Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit Customer Reviews

Note that they are called Daily Essentials - not Daily Optionals - for a reason! Simply said - if our body doesn't make it, we need to take it. These all-natural supplements have made a profound difference in my health. I used to take high blood pressure and cholesterol medication, and I now have normal blood pressure and normal cholesterol levels and take none of those medications anymore.

In fact, all of my blood work is perfect.

The only change I made to get off these medications was taking my Daily Essentials, and that's not even why I started taking them, it was a side benefit. I started taking it to increase my energy, and it did that too!

Why the heck not give it a try?  Buy Now

How to take your Isotonix Daily Essentials

Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit Customer Reviews

For more information or to buy your Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit, click here.


Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com

Love your practice, own your swing, own your health,

Tom






Tom's Bonus Tip: Head Movement

For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.


Lateral head movement should be non-existent in putting, and extremely minimal or non-existent in the full swing.

I'm referring to lateral head movement, not rotation, which is permitted in the full swing but not for putting.

I usually find myself teaching more of a centered or forward sided pivot to most of my students, but once in awhile I find a student that fits more comfortably into a more traditional rear sided pivot type of swing.

For a centered pivot or front sided pivot swing method, we strive for no lateral head movement at all.

For a traditional rear sided pivot swing style, there may be some lateral movement of the head during the weight shift to the right side in the backswing. Many of the great older players had this type of movement in their swing. Greg Norman comes to mind here, and he was no slouch!

But here's the one thing that is in common for all swing types - after the head has returned laterally to the position it held at setup, there is no more lateral head movement prior to impact. It stops there for all good players.

This is pretty much an absolute in golf, so practice swings in front of a full length mirror, face on view, and make sure that your head doesn't move laterally forward of your setup position at the bottom of your swing.


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, Golf Digest Four Star rating for public courses to play in New York State. Make tee times online in season. Easter Brunch at the Batavia Country Club - please call for reservations, I made mine last Monday! More info and prices at www.bataviacc.com   (585) 343-7600

Genesee Community College Golf Management Program   Click on link for more information if you or anyone you know is interested in a dynamic career in the golf industry, or in teaching golf.

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