"It is not the will to win that matters, everyone has that.
It is the will to prepare to win that matters." - Paul "Bear" Bryant
Tom's Featured Tip: 3 Keys To A Lower Handicap
Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
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Use your club or hand to re-set the board after your strike
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3 Keys To A Lower Handicap
For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.
The Divot Board
This is the most useful ball striking development training aid that I own.
3 Keys To A Lower Handicap
A while ago I read an article by Jacob Bowden on a few swing keys that took him from a 14 handicap to a pro level golfer. I tweaked them a little and concentrated on them today (Monday 7/5/21) and missed shooting my age (74) by one blow at the Batavia Country Club. Not a great score, but better than the 3 times I've played previously this year, and these keys have me feeling like my game is back on track.
For me, the three keys below are keepers - give them a try if your game is sub par at the moment.
- A STILL HEAD This is the most important key for me personally.
Oh so simple - yet why do we sometimes neglect to do it? Probably because we are often trying to squeeze more distance out of a club than is there for us.
My swing now is a forward side weighted, centered turn swing. When I had more of a traditional swing, I had quite a bit of lateral head movement during my swing. I suppose that was born out of some tip I had heard about getting my front shoulder turned back over my rear foot in the back swing. My head drifted away from the target and then laterally back towards it.
This creates a complication in that the bottom of your swing arc - your swing low point - is constantly changing.
When I changed my swing and concentrated on keeping my head relatively still (laterally speaking), my ball striking improved tremendously. Some head rotation is okay, but letting the head slide laterally past where it was at address is an impact killer.
A STILL HEAD will stabilize the low point in your swing and your ball striking will improve as a result.
I should clarify that I'm not necessarily advocating for your head to be perfectly still or saying that you still can't hit good shots with some head movement. But you do need to minimize or eliminate dramatic vertical and horizontal head movement until after the ball is struck if you are struggling with your ball striking.
- Control Clubface Rotation
I prefer to let "the release" happen naturally in my swing, but if I'm not drawing the ball after my first few swings, I either double down on my "down and through" form, or I activate my hands so that I feel like I'm "covering the ball" with my right palm at impact. That's adding clubface rotation, which I don't normally like to do - but if it's not happening naturally on any given day, you need to do something.
If you are hooking the heck out of your shots, you might try to slow down your clubface rotation through impact.
If you are struggling with hitting the ball with any kind of predictable shot shape and don't want as high maintenance of a swing, I would definitely recommend controlling the amount of wrist rolling you are doing through the hitting zone.
- Less Tension
Aside from utilizing the correct amount of clubface rotation and keeping a still head, the thing that I personally need to work on more is reducing tension in my body overall to produce a more fluid swing.
The difference between a well-struck shot on target and one that gives up distance and goes off line isn't much. Introducing tension in to your swing can really complicate getting the club consistently and solidly back on the ball.
You might also equate tension to a rusty door hinge. It takes a lot more energy to close a door with rusty hinges than it does one that's well lubricated. Plus, the one that's oily will move faster and with less effort.
I think this is a little easier said than done, especially for us guys, because it requires a bit of ego management to not want to smash every shot as far as humanly possible. The self control to manage the tension is an important discipline to manage.
The great Canadian player George Knudson was a strong advocate of never swinging beyond a point of sacrificing balance. Harry Hilary Von Frankenberg, who has shot in the 50s three times in competition, stressed that a golfer should be relaxed and graceful and cannot ever be too boneless or too loose nor too muscleless. Mike Austin, the man that hit the 515-yard drive in the U.S. National Senior Open, spoke of supple quickness, which I think is a good way of describing it because swinging without tension doesn't necessarily mean swinging slow. You can still swing fast - just be soft and supple.
This is one of Jason's drills that I haven't tried yet, but by the time you read this I'll have many reps in.
One of his favorite tension-relieving drills is to hit a bucket of balls while blowing a subtle amount of air through his nose or mouth while hitting each ball. If there's a big disruption to the flow of air during the swing, he'll know he had some tension in his swing. Sometimes while he's doing this, he'll also focus on keeping his face relaxed and not gritting his teeth while he swings. Or he'll visualize himself swinging with the grace and balance of Ernie Els or Fred Couples. By the end of the bucket, his shots are usually much better.
- keep a relatively relaxed steadiness to your head until the ball is gone,
- control clubhead rotation through impact,
- and take care not to tighten up during all of your shots
from full swings, to pitches, and chips.
Comments: TomTuckerGolf@gmail.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 TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
for more information.
Outdoor Lessons Details and Rates:
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Sponsors and Affiliates
Buying a sponsored product through any of my affiliate links helps support this free newsletter, and I only affiliate with excellent products that I use myself. Thanks, Tom
Train with a Rypstick to improve your swing speed and gain more distance off the tee. If the versatility of three different swing weights in one club appeals to you, this is your swing speed training aid of choice.
Click here Rypstick.com to buy now, and make sure that you enter TOMTUCKERGOLF (case sensitive) in the Discount code box when you check out to receive a 5% discount.
Click here to buy your Divot Board to drastically improve your ball-striking. Combine your Divot Board practice and putting practice with the included putting lesson drills, and watch your scoring improve!.
Use your club or hand to re-set the board after your strike
Click here to buy now for outstanding Ball-Striking practice feedback
BONUS: when you buy through the newsletter link above, you'll also receive free access to my Putting Lesson Videos ($50 value) which cover: The Elevated Aimline Drill, The Squareness Awareness Drill, The Aimline Accuracy Drill, The Stock Putting Stroke Drill, The Barrier Drill, The Short Putt Channel Drill, and more.
Click here SuperSpeedGolf.com to buy this swing speed training aid and increase your distance off the tee.
SuperSpeedGolf.com Buy now and get to work on increasing your swing speed now.
Club Champion Don't waste another dollar on clubs until you've gone through a fitting at Club Champion, 1669 Pittsford Victor Rd., Suite 400, Victor NY 14564. Call Master Fitter & Builder Jeff St. John. PGA work: (585) 978-8513, cell: (585) 831-2292 to schedule your fitting today! Mention my name and you'll get special attention.
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All the best,
Tom Tucker
Teaching Pro, Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility
WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher"
USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional
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Cell: (716) 474-3005
Email: TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
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"There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection!"
~ Ben Hogan