TomTuckerGolf.com
 
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 373 - Wed. October 28th, 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: A Tale of Two Shafts
Tour Greens: Tour Quality Synthetic Greens
Tom's Bonus Tip: RANT - Reverse Weight Shift - NOT
Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
Sponsors: Plum Creek Driving Range 
Batavia Country Club - REDUCED RATES FOR 2016 SEASON PASS MEMBERSHIP AVAILABLE UNTIL DECEMBER 20TH, 2015 - PLUS PAY NOW PLAY NOW
Tour Greens Western New York 
Genesee Community College Golf Management Program 



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 Plum Creek's 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: A Tale of Two Shafts

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

Stiff to Regular flex shaft change for cold weather.

A couple of issues back I mentioned that in colder weather it might be a good idea to swap out your stiff flex shaft for a regular flex shaft in your driver. This works especially well for seniors that normally play a stiff flex shaft in their driver in warm weather.

My Ping regular flex shaft arrived at the Batavia Country Club last week and I installed it in my driver last weekend. In the two cold weather rounds I've played using the regular flex shaft in my driver, I've kept the ball in play well and have shot two under my handicap in each round. It was also a little easier to turn the ball over in the colder weather, allowing me to get that YAC which I fervently strive for.

Score one for the stiff to regular shaft flex change..

Stiff to Extra Stiff flex change for a flatter, more powerful ball flight.

I work with a young player that won his club championship this year. He has excellent natural instincts for the game, but needs to work on flighting his drive a little flatter. His personal swing mechanics include a very active right hand, which can cause trajectory issues manifested by too much height on his drives.

There's nothing wrong with height on a drive as long as the trajectory is flat.

His was a trajectory that climbed up to the maximum apex of it's flight, then dropped straight down with no forward tumble (no YAC). The overactive right hand was producing too much backspin on the ball, and the result was a loss of maximum overall distance.

He took a Ball Striking lesson from me to learn how to carry a flat left wrist through impact instead of allowing his right hand to flip at impact, and at my suggestion he ordered an extra stiff flex shaft for his driver to help reduce the backspin rate.

These two corrections - a flatter left wrist and a stiffer flex shaft - were necessary to flatten out his trajectory and to reduce the spin rate of his ball coming off the driver.

His driver trajectory has become flatter since he's been working on keeping his wrist flat through impact, and Saturday he installed his Ping extra stiff flex shaft on his Ping G30 driver.

The end result was that he was murdering his drives for the most part. His ball flight was a high but flat trajectory shot with some tumble at the end fairly consistently. It will only get better as he practices and blends his improved technique with his now correct shaft flex.

Score one for the stiff to extra stiff shaft flex change,

Don't be afraid to experiment with a shaft flex change if you feel like you are swinging well but not getting enough out of your drives.

If you're not swinging well in the first place, do something to change that. The game is more enjoyable when you have a (swing) method to your madness.

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 - and they LOVE Western New York weather!

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






Tom's Bonus Tip: RANT - Reverse Weight Shift - NOT

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

It really drives me nuts when I see advice in major golf magazines that is absolutely incorrect.

In a recent Golf Digest email newsletter, a link led to an article where a professional instructor had face-on images of students in various positions at the top of their backswings with an iron in their hands.

He labeled some as correct and some as incorrect, which was wrong in itself because the images depicted players that could very well have been using techniques other than the old traditional "weight on the rear side during the backswing" method, which this instructor obviously favored.

This guy had pure tunnel vision.

But the comment that galled me the most was one that was connected to an image where a student had their weight stacked on their forward foot and was tipped ever so slightly towards the target. He called that position a reverse weight shift, which was absolutely preposterous.

First of all, that position is a very valid position for those that favor a stack and tilt swing method, and the tipping slightly towards the target is also very valid for that method with a short scoring iron in hand.

Second, when that method is executed correctly, there is a lateral bump of the hips to initiate the downswing sequence, which puts more weight on the forward side through impact. There is absolutely no reverse weight shift at all. However the head stays still which produces a flex in the spine which could be construed as the head having moved back through impact, which could indicate a reverse weight shift. A reverse weight shift does not happen with correct execution of the stack and tilt swing method, but this uninformed instructor chose to interpret it as such due to ignorance of the method, and a blind preference for his technique.

I tell all my students to stick to the things we go over at lessons and in the follow up notes I email them, rather than reading some tip in a magazine and thinking that it would be good for them. It may very well sabotage what they've been working on.

Be very discerning about implementing some tip you read about in a golf magazine, unless it fits your concept of your swing. Changing your swing with every issue of a golf magazine is never a good idea.

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. Tee times online or by phone in season. Reduced rates for 2016 Season Pass Memberships available until December 20th, 2015 PLUS pay now and play now on 2016 membership. See website below for rates. www.bataviacc.com  (585) 343-7600

Tour Greens Western New York  Practice with purpose in your own back yard on your own synthetic practice green. Our greens LOVE Western New York weather!

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.

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