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TomTuckerGolf.com Golf Tips Newsletter Issue 511 - Wed. June 20th, 2018 Website Newsletters Archive |
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USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional
WGTF "Top 100" Teacher IGPA Certified Golf Psychology Coach |
Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now! Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say Sponsors: Plum Creek Driving Range Batavia Country Club Chestnut Hill Country Club Click here: INDOOR GOLF LESSONS for details on how to improve your game over the winter. Plum Creek Driving Range, Batavia, NY, Open All Year Simulator Course Play Specials: BataviaGolf.com Call 585-993-0930 or Email Mark to reserve 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: Just Squish It For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective. Here are a few thoughts about last weekend's US Open before I get to this week's tip. Congrats to Brooks Koepka, he made some clutch swings and some clutch putts coming down the stretch. I would have liked to have seen Tommy Fleetwood make that putt for a record setting 62, he's a gamer for sure. That debacle that Phil Mickelson was involved in on the 13th hole on Saturday was horrible to see. I really like Phil, but regardless of how he felt about the course layout, there's no need to show utter disrespect for our national tournament. I also think his using "knowing the rules" as an excuse for hitting the moving ball on the green that was going to end up in a horrible position was an afterthought. If he really wanted to use the rules to his advantage, he could have declared the ball unplayable after it stopped rolling, and re-putted from the original location with the one stroke penalty. He actually would have saved at least one a stroke by doing that as it turns out. On to this weeks tip. I recently read a book entitled "Attention and Motor Skill Learning" by Gabriele Wulf. The premise of the book is that directing attention to an external part of a body movement rather than an internal aspect of a body movement enhances the outcome significantly. Of course that's a very brief synopsis, but it's the essence of the book's message. As a teacher and coach of golf, I'm always looking for something valid to help my students improve, and I think this approach may have a lot of merit. So I've been working on some ways to implement that into my teaching, and one thing that has been working wonders for me is explained in the following lesson follow up comment to a student last week. Great job yesterday Bill. Before I get into the technical aspects of what we did yesterday I want to emphasize that "Eureka" moment we had towards the end of the lesson. I was telling you to "squish" the ball, meaning to compress it at impact. You asked me if that meant angling or rolling your hands to accomplish it, and I said "no, just swing the face of the club downward into the back of the ball", and then you proceeded to hit seven perfect shots in a row with three different irons. We changed your attentional focus from "internal", which means technique thoughts about how to move your body parts, to "external" which was how to move the clubhead into the ball. The results spoke for themselves. Think "squish the ball" and nothing else just before you start your swing for irons. For your woods and driver, think "drive the clubhead at the target", and you will increase your chances for a good shot by a wide margin. Technique needs to be worked on away from the course, and it needs to be done with sufficient reps so that it becomes second nature. When you are in the rehearsal box, that area where you gather your thoughts before you step in and hit the ball, you can think about your swing keys and rehearse them mentally or physically. When you are in the hitting box, after you have your body aligned correctly and the ball positioned correctly, think only "squish the ball" or "clubhead at the target" depending on the club you have in your hand. Think only two thoughts after you've set up to the ball:
I would say without equivocation, that if you are a player that is thinking about swing keys right up to the moment of impact with the ball, that you are depriving yourself of a better swinging motion. Like I told Bill, "Think "squish the ball" just before you start your backswing for your irons. For your woods and driver, think "drive the clubhead at the target", and you will increase your chances for a good shot by a wide margin." This works profoundly well, try it - you'll like it. 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 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 (585) 343-7600 www.bataviacc.com 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. Chestnut Hill Country Club (585)-547-3613 www.chestnuthillgolf.com THE WESTERN NEW YORK LEADER IN GOLF OUTINGS! Only minutes from Buffalo, open to the public. Tee times online or by phone in season. All the best, Tom Tucker Teaching Pro, Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher" USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional IGPA Certified Golf Psychology Coach Cell: (716) 474-3005 Email: ttucker@rochester.rr.com http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com "There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection!" ~ Ben Hogan |
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