If you don't take action, you'll never improve.
Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now!
Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
Sponsors: Plum Creek Driving Range Open
Batavia Country Club Open For Play
Chestnut Hill Country Club Open For Play
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 (Tom Tucker) 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: Lessons; Driver Angle Of Attack; Augusta Greens - Are They Really That Tough?
For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.
Lessons
The Plum Creek Driving Range is now open for business, so I'm now available for outdoor lessons.
I don't schedule lessons when the weather is bad or when it's under 50 degrees, and I leave for vacation on Wednesday April 17th, and I return on Tuesday May 7th.
Unfortunately, the weather projections that I'm looking at don't show any day that is over 50 with good weather before I leave, so anyone wanting lessons will have to wait until after I return to get started.
I realize that a few of you are chomping at the bit, and so am I. Please keep in mind that learning to golf well is more like a marathon than a sprint. We want to develop a golf swing and game that will withstand the test of time, and we're all in it for the long haul.
Thanks for your patience, Tom
Driver Angle of Attack
At the 2019 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play Tournament March 27-31st at Austin Texas, there was a great image on TV comparing the vertical angle of attack of Tiger and Rory's tee shots on one of the holes.
Rory's upward strike on the left, Tiger's downward strike on the right.
The wind was blowing at around 10mph from right to left.
Rory caught the ball on the ascending part of his vertical swing arc with a clubface that was slightly open, rotating to square at impact. The result was a soaring, high 300+ yard draw that started right, then drew back to the left and landed in the middle of the fairway. This ball flight tells me that his horizontal swing path was attacking from the inside at impact.
Tiger was trying to hit a stinger draw, a low boring drive that is hit on the downward part of the swing arc with a slightly open clubface closing to square at impact. He did catch it on the downward part of his swing arc. If you look closely, you can see that unfortunately the face was almost square approaching impact, rotating to closed at impact. The result was a drive that started straight but then hooked rapidly to the left. This ball flight tells me that his horizontal swing path was a little too much down the line at impact.
He was saved from landing in a hazard because the ball hit a spectator, and he rescued a great par - but the drive was horrendous.
For Your Driver - Hit Up On The Ball
I teach my students to position their ball at a spot where they can strike the ball on their upswing, teed up at a height that allows them to do that easily. You can practice this technique by swinging your driver at a tall tee that's positioned well forward in your stance (no ball), making sure that you do not hit the tee and that you are swinging upward when your clubhead passes over the tee.
The next step is to actually hit balls, making sure that you are attacking the ball from the inside, with an inside to inside swing path.
Not outside to inside, not down the line.
Inside to inside.
Your ball flight should be a high draw if you are doing everything correctly.
The stinger is also a good shot to have in your arsenal of shots, but I consider that to be a very advanced technique that requires a lot of swing speed to be useful.
Instead, just stick with the upward angle of attack swing (hitting up on the ball) for the driver, regardless of the wind conditions. Your ball will cut through the wind due to a low spin rate on the ball, and the draw will give you a good amount of rollout.
Try this, you'll really like it.
Augusta Greens - Are They Really That Tough?
The Masters starts Thursday, and with Augusta's fast, undulating putting complexes, you might suspect that players will miss more six-footers there than they would on a typical PGA Tour course. You'll be surprised to learn that they actually sink two percent more putts at Augusta.
Why?
Augusta National's Golf Club's greens are so expertly manicured that putts simply roll truer. So true that players sink more putts inside of 10 feet at Augusta than anywhere else!
The main difficulty is keeping missed putts close enough to the hole to avoid three-putting.
Over the past four years, Augusta has the highest three-putt rate of any Tour stop. Players three-putt 5.4 percent of Augusta National's greens, compared to the Tour average rate of 3 percent, and that's a massive difference.
From any distance, you'll see about 80 percent more three-putts at Augusta, so watch for some nervous strokes starting Thursday.
I can't wait, it's one of my two favorite majors, the other being the British Open.
And of course, I like Tiger to win it!
Enjoy.
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.
FISH FRYS AT BCC and other delicious dinner specials with soup and salad bar - Fridays, 4pm - 9pm
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