"15 Minutes of Body Action Drills Are More
Important Than Hitting 200 Balls"
Tom's Featured Tip: Utilize Feedback For Optimal Practice Sessions
Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
Sponsors & Affiliates:
Batavia Country Club
The Divot Board
The Impact Snap
The Rypstick
SuperSpeedGolf.com
Club Champion
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
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Outdoor Golf lessons are available at The Batavia Country Club. Please call me (Tom Tucker) at 716 474 3005, email me at TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com, or visit my website at http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html for details.
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For photos and stories from the 2021 Junior Golf Camp at BCC, click here:
2021 BCC Junior Golf Camp
For details on the 2022 Junior Golf Camp at BCC, click here:
2022 BCC Junior Golf Camp The Junior Golf Camp sold out quickly in 2021, so get your junior golfer registered soon. Call BCC at (585) 343-7600
Utilize Feedback For Optimal Practice Sessions
For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.
Two Great Training Aids For Indoor or Outdoor Practice
The Divot Board
This is the most useful ball striking development training aid that I own.
Click here ImpactSnap.com to buy now. Start using the ImpactSnap training aid indoors or outdoors to make you instantly aware of proper hand and wrist action, which is second only to low point awareness for great ball striking.
Utilize Feedback For Optimal Practice Sessions
I see a lot of players at the range practicing without any sort of feedback mechanism in place.
I won't say that's total waste of time, but it's certainly not an optimal way to train.
If you are like me, you want to get the most bang for your practice time buck.
Here are some practice feedback thoughts for three critical areas of your game:
- Low Point Control
- Consistent Curvature
- Being Able To Hit The Ball Far Enough To Play The Course
Low Point Control
If you have been reading my newsletter long enough, you know that I place a lot of emphasis on low point control. That's the area where contact is made with the ground after a ball first - ground second strike (driver excluded).
When done correctly, you strike the ball on a descending portion of your natural downswing arc, and the proof is in the divot. Many players feel that the bottom (low point) of their swing should be right at the ball, when actually it should be forward (on the target side) of the ball.
Your feedback is your divot location, and here are a few ways to train for that.
- I use a Divot Board for my own
personal training (indoor and outdoor), as well as with my lessons.
This is the most useful ball striking development training aid that I own.
- If you don't want to spend money on a training aid, you can always scratch a line in the ground when you practice outdoors
and hit balls off of that line, paying close attention to where the divot pattern falls. It should always be on the
target side of the line.
- If you are practicing off a mat - either indoors or outdoors - you should lay a handkerchief, a thin towel, or even a piece of string flat on the mat about 5 inches behind the ball. If you hit the handkerchief or piece of string on your downswing, you would have struck the ground behind the ball (fat hit) if you had been practicing on real grass.
Consistent Curvature
- When you hit balls at the range, you should pay particular attention to the direction where the ball starts and how it curves.
The direction in which a ball starts (about 95% of the time) is where the clubface was pointing when contact was made.
Curvature is caused by the angle of the clubface in relation to swing path at impact.
- Regardless of direction:
- If the face is closed to the path at impact, the ball will curve right to left. The degree of curvature depends on the degree to which the face is closed.
- If the face is open to the path at impact, the ball will curve left to right. The degree of curvature depends on the degree to which the face is open.
- If the face is square to the path at impact, the ball will stay straight
Being Able To Hit The Ball Far Enough To Play The Course
There's a positive correlation between distance and the top money earners on tour. For the average golfer, more distance means shorter approach shots into greens, which should translate into a lower handicap.
- Get as much distance as you can muster up by working some swing speed training into your practice schedule. Here's a
link to a newsletter I wrote on that subject about
a year and a half ago:
Issue 661 - May 26, 2021 - Phil's Victory Keys: Commitment and Distance
Either of the two swing speed training aids promoted in my newsletters - The Rypstick or the SuperSpeed "C" club (you really don't need a set of three speedsticks) from SuperSpeed Golf.com will work well for your training.
- You'll need feedback to track your progress. If you have access to a simulator you can see your swing
speed numbers. If not, there are several inexpensive swing speed radar devices available. Google "swing speed radar" for
some reasonably priced units.
- The other component to distance is the squareness of the face strike. You can monitor that by spraying Dr. Scholl's foot powder
on the face of the club and noting where the ball imprint lies after the strike.
- My personal preferred method for my own practice is drawing a medium sized dot on the ball with a dry erase marker, then positioning the ball so that the face of the club will impact the dot when you hit the ball. That leaves a nice clean dot on the face of the club where contact was made, and the dry erase mark washes off when the ball goes through the ball washer - no harm done.
The overall takeaway here is: always practice with feedback to define your progress.
Try it, you'll like it.
Email Comments: to TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, The Stack and Tilt Swing
Love your practice, own your swing, own your health,
Tom
Golf Lessons
I am now conducting lessons at The Batavia Country Club
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:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html
Testimonials:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/testimonials.html
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
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
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.
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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 improve1.
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.
Train with the Impact Snap training aid to improve your hand and wrist coordination for a powerful strike. A Golf Digest 2021 Editors Choice Training Aid
Click here ImpactSnap.com to buy now and start using a great training aid that can be used indoors or outdoors.
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 today1 Mention my name and you'll get special attention.
All the best,
Tom Tucker
Teaching Professional, Batavia Country Club
WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher"
USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional
IGPA Certified Golf Psychology Coach
Cell: (716) 474-3005
Email: TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com
"There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection1"
~ Ben Hogan