Golfers Shouldn’t Look At Target Study Says

I want to share something I was reading that may make a good difference to your ball striking and something new to try. And this relates to accuracy with your long shots.

Now most golfers, when they aim at their target, either do so by just aiming up by looking at their target, or do that AND get an intermediary target and use that to help aim to a target a long way away.

There’s arguments about which is better, but a new study was conducted that found that neither of these ways was the best.

A study was done to get golfers of all different abilities aiming the following 3 ways:

• Looking only at a distant target.
• Looking only at an intermediary target.
• Then the traditional method of looking at both the distant and intermediate target.

This study found (I’ll have a link to the article below) that the group of golfers tested hit the ball more accurately when they only lined up with an intermediary target and DID NOT look at the final target.

Interesting results aren’t they?

The thing with studies like this is that you can’t say that everyone is going to get better results. But this is something you can and should experiment with.

To do that find an intermediate target on the ground about 2 feet in front of your ball that is on a direct line to your target. Then setup to your ball by using the target 2 feet in front of your ball and then swing. Don’t look at your final target.

This might be hard to do at first so try it on the driving range first, and then go and play a few quiet nine holes to see how it goes.

Who knows, it could be a big breakthrough for you. Give it a try.

Here’s a link to the article that talks about this study.

How Long Before A Golf Ball Is No Good?

How long should you use a golf ball before it’s no good?

Well, in 2019 there was an interesting story about a pro called Alex Chiarella.

And in a golf tournament in Canada, he used the same golf ball all four rounds to win the tournament. Here’s a picture of  Alex Chiarella’s golf ball after he used it for 72 holes.

Normally pros use a new ball every few holes. But what Alex did shows most “normal” golfers don’t need to follow that que. And another example is Gary Woodland.

In the 2019 U.S. Open which he won he only used 5 golf balls the entire tournament.

These guys are using Titleist golf balls and Titleist was asked to comment on this, and a Titleist rep said:

“Our normal rule of thumb for regular golfers is as long as paint loss, a scuff or defacement of the golf ball is less than the size of a dime, it should be good to go.”

See how the word Titleist is not clear anymore on the picture of the ball above?

I guess the moral of the story is that we can use golf balls a lot longer than we thought. They may not look as shiny and nice as a  new ball, but will probably perform pretty much the same.

Every golfer should be able to do this Mobility Move

A warm up period is a necessary and important part of every golf fitness workout. It is something that every golfer should do whether you are a weekend warrior or professional golfer.

The objective is to prepare both your body and mind for the work ahead while establishing a precedent for a safe and effective workout.

Taking just a few extra minutes each workout creates an environment for increased productivity and physical and psychological awareness.  The warm up increases the blood flow to the active muscle tissue, increases your cardiovascular system’s ability to perform work,  increases your metabolic rate and soft tissue flexibility.

Your body performs better when your core temperature is warmer and your body is more relaxed and ready for action. A proper warm up can last anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes.

While many trainers still suggest a brief cardio warm up like 5 or 10 minutes on a treadmill or bike, you will see today’s top golf trainers suggesting something quite different.

It’s called Mobility Training.

You will see the majority of golf pros doing simple mobility moves just before their main workout.

Here’s a quick sample.

Side to Side leg Swings: Stand facing a wall for support. Extend one leg to the side as far inward as possible, then back out as far as possible.  Switch to the opposite leg and continue swinging side to side trying to increase your range of motion over time.

Try 10 swings inward and 10 swings outward on each leg. Remember to start slow and see where your natural range of motion is, then try to improve it with each swing without straining or pushing yourself too far. It should be an easy natural rhythmic movement that slowly increases with more repetitions.

10 simple mobility moves for golf

 

The Best Golf Swing Balance Drill

Good balance in the golf swing is so important to hitting the ball consistently well.

Recently I was reading about an oldie but a goodie drill for improving your balance.

The drill is to simply hit balls with your feet together.

Research has found that when golfers do this they lose about 10% of their potential distance. So it’s not a big loss in distance.

But I want you to take this balance drill to the next level. To do this I want you to hit balls with your feet together to start with. Then once you’re used to doing that, add in holding your finish for 15 seconds.

You may need to build up to doing that, but it’s a good goal to have. Because in my experience, when you watch a golfer who hits it consistently straight they all finish in perfect balance and can hold their finish for a long time.

So if you want straighter, more consistent shots, hitting shots with your feet together and then holding your finish is a great way to practice consistently.

The Key To Putting Distance Control

When you look at what it takes to be a great putter (from a basic point of view) there’s only 3 things you need to focus on…

1. Starting line

2. Distance control

3. Green reading

Now I believe that there’s a big carry over from putting to the rest of the game and vice versa. And here’s an example of this…

It’s very well known that a big difference between tour pros and the rest of golfers is how consistently a tour pro hits the middle of the clubface compared to other golfers.

Here’s a graphical example of this from Ping…

And here’s another graphical example of this from Callaway…

So what does that have to do with putting distance control I hear you ask?

Well, if you’re an average golfer on say a handicap between 10-20, then one big reason is because you miss the middle of the clubface more than you hit it with long shots. This same pattern will carry over to putting and consequently to distance control.

So if you have too many 3 putts because you hit putts too short or too long…. you can do as many drills as you want on the practice green to help with this problem, BUT… you need to address the root of the problem first. And that root cause is a lack of hitting the center of the putter face.

So, if you’re not a very good putter then you should work on hitting the middle of the putter face. There’s a number of different ways to do this, but there’s one popular way that a pretty good golfer has practiced for a long time. And that’s Tiger Woods practicing his drill of putting through a gate of tees.

Something else you can get is sweet spot putting clips. Or you can make something like that with rubber bands.

The point of this article is to get you focusing on hitting the middle of the putter face first. Then you can work on doing drills to improve your distance control. Many golfers only ever do distance control drills on the putting green and never improve. And the reason they never improve is because they never improve hitting it out of the middle of the clubface.

So go to it, and work on hitting the ball out of the center of the putter face and your putting will improve. Then use that same principle with chipping, then pitching etc. etc.

 

Pitching Consistency Tip

There’s almost nothing worse than “flubbing” a pitch shot. And often when we practice our pitching we are trying to hit one good shot after another.

We’re searching for consistency in other words.

But so much of golf improvement is counter-intuitive, and this new tip today definitely is… However, ironically, if you do it you will become a better and more consistent pitcher.
So here goes…

The next time you go and practice your pitching I don’t want you to try to hit one good shot after another with the same trajectory. Instead, every shot I want you to alter something to get a different trajectory on the shot.

So let’s say you’re practicing a 50 yard pitch shot. I want you to play the shot with 4 different trajectories.

The first one is super low.

The low pro spinner.

When you play this shot right the ball flies low, bounces a couple of times and spins to a stop. To play that shot play the ball back in your stance, have your hands forward at address and then keep the follow-through short so you hit a punch pitch.

After you’ve played that shot then play another ball and hit your “normal” pitch shot trajectory. So move the ball forward so it’s in the middle of your stance. Have the clubshaft more straight
up and down at address. Then make a similar swing back and through.

Next up, get another ball and play a high pitch shot. To play this shot position the ball further up in your stance, have the clubshaft at address leaning back a fraction. Once setup then swing a bit
longer and smoother to get the ball up in the air more than normal.

Finally, I want you to play a super high pitch shot. To do this position the ball a long way up in your stance. Open the clubface up. Have your clubshaft leaning back away from the target and then
make a big, fast swing.

So there you go. That’s 4 shots to practice that will improve your pitching consistency.

You may think that this is too difficult because you can’t even master one basic pitch shot.

That’s where the counter-intuitive part of golf improvement comes in.

Because golf is all about golf club control. The better you control the golf club to get the ball to do what you want, the lower you’ll score. And a great way to learn how to control the club better is
to do random things with it.

If you try and do the same swing over and over again you’ll often won’t get any better and often will get worse.

So the next time you practice your pitching go out there and mix up your shots. Try and do a different trajectory for each shot and watch your control of the club improve and your scores will go down the more you do this.

Anyway, that’s my new, fresh tip for you today. Enjoy trying that out and let me know how you get on.

Do This To Hole More Putts

There’s little things you can do that over the long term will drop shots from your scores. Today I’m going to share one of those little things with you and I bet you’ve never done it before.

You see, it’s well known for golfers to stand behind their ball on the putting green and visualize their ball rolling into the hole.

But I have a unique twist on doing this that will help you to hole more putts. HOWEVER, you will need to practice this on the putting green to get used to it, because you would have never done it before.

To do this, here’s what I want you to do.

On the practice putting green putt a ball in the hole or place the ball in the hole. Doesn’t matter what you do. Just the ball needs to be in the hole.

Once the ball is in a hole then study it. Take a real good mental image of that ball in the hole. Next I want you to pick the ball out of the hole and place it 3 feet from the hole.

Then go through the same putting routine you’d use on the golf course for this length of putt. But on the last look at the hole I want you to imagine the ball already at the bottom of the hole. Then I want you to visualize the ball coming out of the hole and rolling perfectly along the line to your putterface. Right where the ball is. As soon as your eyes come back to the ball then putt and send the ball on the line you’ve just seen.

This might seem odd at first, but give it a try and I’m sure you’ll find you hole more putts incorporating this little mental change into your putting routine.

Your Golf Scores Are Determined By This

I want you to think back to your last 10 games of golf. Were they mainly in the 90’s?  Were they in the 80’s or 70’s?

Whatever the average was, I’m sure you’d like to score lower.

But there’s one thing that if you don’t understand can stop that, no matter what you try to do technically to improve your golf game.

You see…

Your brain loves to keep things the same.

That’s why golfers have one good nine followed by one bad nine… TO KEEP THEM AT THEIR LEVEL!

That’s also why golfers have one bad nine followed by a great one.

That’s why golfers will often have a great round going and blow up the last 4 or 5 holes.

See, your mind loves familiarity.

If you see yourself as a 90’s shooter then that’s what you’ll always be… UNLESS you do something different.

Everyone knows that.

That’s why golfers buy new golf clubs. That’s why golfers try to improve their swings. That’s why golfers practice more.

While a lot of those things can certainly help golfers to lower their scores… they won’t make a big difference until the golfer starts to see themselves as an improved golfer.

I’m talking about long term improvement progress here. Any golfer can have a hot day and burn the course up. But over 10 games you’ll see an average and that will determine your level of play.

So how can you change it?

How can you move into a different scoring bracket?

Well, obviously this is a mental issue.

It’s a mental issue that’s causing you to play great one nineand crap the next.

Now what I’m about to give you is a long term solution. It’s things that you need to do day after day to program your mind for your new “normal”.

I’ll break this up into 3 tips for you…

Tip 1 – Spend 5 minutes relaxing and with your eyes closed imagining yourself playing a game of golf and playing very well. After each hole, see yourself writing down a good score.
Your good round should put you into a new scoring bracket by about 5 shots. So if you normally score low 90’s then visualize scoring high 80’s. You’ll need to do this daily. It will take time for you to change your scoring belief.

Tip 2 – Get a scorecard from your course and every day, write down a good score for you on each hole, then total it up. Do this with pencil so you can rub it out and do it every day.
After you write down your score get excited about the good score.  Really feel happy about your great score.

Tip 3 – Write down what sort of level of golfer you want to be.So again, if you’re a 90’s shooter then write down...

“I am a golfer that generally shoots in the high 80’s”

Write this down every day 20-30 times.

There you go, that’s 3 tips to help you start to break your mind familiarity trait. You will need to do this consistently for agood month or two. Don’t do this once, play a game, notice nodifference and give up.

What I’m talking about is your average score.

Everyone has a bad game. Everyone has a good game.

Your average score determines your handicap and level of play.

And to change that you need to change your perception of yourself as a golfer.

Brooks Koepka Golf Swing Analysis

Wasn’t that an awesome final round of the 2018 PGA Championship?

Best major of the year in my opinion. Of course, it helped with Tiger Woods surging up the leaderboard on the final day. But how rock solid was Brooks Koepka under the pressure?!

Hitting long and straight drives, sticking his irons and holing pressure putts.  Let’s take a look at how Brooks did that…

Brooks Koepka – Golf Swing Analysis

First we’ll start by looking at how Brooks sets up to the golf ball.

What an athlete!

Just by his setup it looks like he’s going to crush it. Brooks has a very athletic, ready to explode setup. There’s a few things I just want to point out.

1. He has quite a lot of knee flex at setup.

2. He has quite a strong grip, and I’ll show you how that affects his swing later in this analysis.

3. Brooks is a long hitter and one thing long hitters do is tee up the ball very high and have the ball positioned a long way forward in their stance. Plus, they have wide stances to give a solid platform to explode. Brooks does all of these things, as you can see.

One thing I want you to notice at this point in the analysis is the distance between his knees at setup. There’s a lot of space between his knees.

Ok, let’s look and see how Brooks takes the club away. I’ll draw a few important lines on the swing images so we can track his head movement, swing plane and tush line…

Brooks has a nice wide take away as you can see above left. He takes the club away on plane with his hands but the club head is outside. I have heard him talk about how he does that on purpose to help him hit a power fade.

Notice how closed the clubface is and how much outside the clubhead is from the hands. Again, he is doing this on purpose to hit a power fade. It seems counterintuitive to have a closed clubface in the backswing to hit a power fade but a lot of the golf swing is counterintuitive. Now let’s look at the half way point in his swing to see how his shaft plane is.

The clubshaft is quite vertical at this point in the backswing but if you err on one side or the other in the backswing, you should have the club shaft more vertical in the backswing. This is the opposite of what most amateur golfers do.

Most amateurs take the club back too flat and then come down too steep.

At the top of the backswing Brooks has a very closed clubface. It’s a great top of the backswing position though and one thing to note is the distance between his knees has largely stayed the same from setup to the top of the backswing. His knees have moved very little. You need to be very flexible to be able to do that and still make a full turn. Speaking of that… his turn with his shoulders is not massive. If he let his knees go a bit more he could turn further, but there’s no point in doing that with his length.

Remember I mentioned how his backswing plane was quite steep?

Well, unless he shallows the plane a lot in the downswing he would be a terrible ball striker. Of course he’s not, so check this shallowing out….

That’s some serious shallowing of the club shaft. Check out the blue line compared to the yellow line. If he came down on the same plane as he went back you would have never heard of Brooks Koepka.

When the club is parallel with the ground (left pic above) you can see that he is back on plane with his hands and club. The clubface is closed which it should be to hit a power fade. He wants the ball to start to the left. You can see in the pre-impact picture that he is leading with the hands and his head is slightly behind where it was at address.

Look at the image above of impact. You can tell the ball is starting left. He has maintained his tush line. Then in the picture of post impact you can see there is very little forearm rotation. The clubface is not flipping over, which will lead to consistent power fades.

Look at how he is still maintaining his tush line and how he is keeping down with his head. This is allowing him to swing more down the line rather than around.

Even at this stage in his swing he has his head down and he’s still maintaining his tush line. You have to be very athletic and flexible to do that!

What a great finish. He has maintained his tush line right the way through the swing until the end. Simply awesome.

I really like Brooks’ swing. He has proved it holds up well to major pressure. I believe he will win more majors. He seems to get himself up a notch for them. Not a bad trait to have!

So what’s the big take-aways for you when looking at Brooks Koepka’s swing?

Well, there’s a couple of important things.

1st. Work on maintaining your tush line throughout the swing and you’ll hit more consistent golf shots.

2nd. If your swing plane is too flat on the backswing and then too steep on the downswing like this….

…then you need to change it so it’s at the very least similar on the way back as it is on the way down, like Tiger Woods…

If you don’t do that then you’ll always struggle with your ball striking.

To help you do this, I have 3 Easy Steps you can complete to get a Professional Swing Plane.  So if you suffer from any of these shots often:

• Hooks and/or Slices
  
• Fat Shots
  
• Thin Shots
  
• Shanks
  
• Tops
  
• Duffs
  
• Whiffs
  You name it…

Then your poor swing plane is probably the major reason why. But you can fix it. And when you do you’ll hit the ball so much more consistently than ever. If you don’t fix it you’ll always struggle with your ball striking. Don’t let that happen. Go here and get the 3 Easy Steps To A Pro Swing plane program.

Are You Guilty Of This Golfing Sin?

With distance measuring devices being common place now you’d think golfers would not be short of the pin as much as they are.

Think back to your last game of golf and add up how often you were short of the pin.

Imagine how many shots you could save if you got the ball to the hole more often.

Some people will tell you that you’re under clubbing and that’s why you’re hitting it short. If you don’t know your distances very well there could be some truth to that, but I think there’s a bigger reason why most golfers end up short of the pin.

I think for most golfers, they have a fear of hitting the ball past the pin. Like there’s some sort of monster past the pin. 🙂 Which is odd because most golf course architects put most of the trouble in front of the green.

Generally, I DON’T think the solution to this “coming up short” problem is selecting one more club. Because often when I see golfers do that they are still often short of the pin with the longer club.

Instead, I think there should be a mind game you play to help you hit shots up to the pin more often.

To help you do this, the next time you play golf I want you to stand behind your iron shots and imagine your ball flying over the flag by 20 – 30 feet. Make a conscious effort to do this on every shot where you have a good chance of getting to the pin. Be very detailed with your visualization and see the ball flying further than the pin. Then when you’re over the ball and looking at your target look beyond the target by 20-30 feet, like you did when you were standing behind the ball.

Then make an aggressive swing.

Try this out the next time you play golf and I’m sure you’ll be shocked at how many more times you’re pin high. This will help you score no end because, like I said in the beginning of this email, most trouble is short of the hole.