The Normal Bunker Shot

The normal bunker shot is one that many people struggle with. The main objective with bunkers is to learn how to take a shallow cut of sand. I wrote an article discussing the sure out method for bunkers and if you have not read that I encourage you to read that article first (you can read the bunker method article here) and take that method to the course and practice with it for about ten minutes. The sure out method is the base for all bunker shots and is needed to be a great bunker player.

The normal bunker shot is played the way most people know how to hit bunkers, open clubface, open body. I want you to first draw an arrow in the sand with the arrow pointing away from the target. This arrow represents the standard way of playing a bunker shot. While looking at the arrow, notice how one line points to the right of the target. This line represents the clubface position when hitting bunker shots. We want our clubface open or aimed to the right slightly. The line on the arrow that is pointing to the left of the target represents our bodyline. We want our body aimed slightly to the left and the same degrees that the clubface is open. When we take our normal golf swing with this setup, the ball will fly out of the bunker along the line of the arrow that is pointed at the target. In regards to our swing, the most important fundamental with bunkers is tempo. We want a nice, long flowing backswing and follow through. A great image for those players that struggle to get the ball out of the bunker is to imagine Fred Couples’ golf swing. Imagine his long flowing swing before you hit your bunker shot and you will be much more successful from the bunker. Now that you have a long flowing swing I want the ball to be played forward in your stance about 2-3 inches forward of center. Your focus will be on hitting a spot in the center of your stance and that sand will throw the ball onto the green.

After you have practiced this flowing backswing and full flowing follow through I want you to focus on distance control. The main idea when controlling distance with the normal bunker shot is to control the distance by the follow through. We still want to maintain a nice flowing backswing, but now we need to be a bit more precise with our distance control. I like to divide every bunker into three shots…Short, Medium, and long. For a short bunker shot I want a flowing backswing but with a follow through that is very short. For a medium bunker shot I still want to maintain that flowing backswing, but want a medium finish, and finally a long finish, similar to a full swing for a long bunker shot. After you have practiced hitting three distances with your bunker shot, it will be up to practice and feel to get even more tour like precision, but I am sure that each of you will have improved tremendously in the bunker just based on these simple images and drills.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

P.S. Want to learn more about the Perfect connection golf swing? I will be releasing the Perfect Connection Golf Swing Signature Series next week. So keep an out eye out for it.

Transferring Power

The key to creating power is a major fundamental in the Perfect Connection Golf Swing. I took my knowledge of working with two of the top three golf instructors in the world and then with the help of kinesiologists and doctors applied the human anatomy and principles of kinesiology to the perfect connection golf swing. One of the main fundamentals in the Perfect Connection Golf Swing is the lateral hip bump to your left side during the transition so as to stack your joints of your left leg to create power and reduce the risk of injury. I recently was studying a book called Golf Anatomy by Craig Davies and Vince DiSaia, and one of their main points described the transfer in a way that sounded familiar. They described this transfer, which is literally the lateral hip bump, in a way that I wanted to praise them and let each of my students listen to their findings about the golf swing.

“When a right-handed golfer initiates the downswing, he shifts his body weight onto his target side (left side) by positioning his target-side knee (left knee) over his target-side foot (left foot). This places the golfer’s lower body into an ideal force-generating position. With the knee over the foot, the quadriceps can function to straighten the knee, and the gluteus maximus and hamstring muscles can contract to create extension of the hip and pelvis. This combined extension movement drives the target foot into the ground. The ground creates a resultant force back into the golfer that can be passed effortlessly through the legs and into the golfer’s pelvis and core…This force can be transferred into the arms and, finally, into compression of the golf ball.”

The study of the human body of how it is supposed to work and create power without injury is the source behind the perfect connection golf swing. Stacking the joints, setting the spine and the body in the proper position at address, creating a powerful ¾ length backswing, all of these principles are addressed in my golf swing and are many of the reasons why the Perfect Connection Golf Swing is the best swing out there. Understanding this paragraph from the book Golf Anatomy already eliminates such swing theories as the one plane golf swing and the stack and tilt method. Using these swings as well as many traditional golf swing theories will certainly have you ending up in the chiropractors office and lead to many disappointing rounds of golf and lots of frustration in the future. Best wishes to all my students.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

P.S. Want to learn more about the Perfect connection golf swing? I will be releasing the Perfect Connection Golf Swing Signature Series next week. So keep an out eye out for it.

Improve driver with 1 hand

A great way to improve your driver is to practice swinging with just your right hand only. Many people struggle with the driver because their golf swing does not support the club properly and they lose width or come over the top.

I have seen many of my students improve just by practice swinging with one hand. This drill forces you to support the club properly at the top with the right elbow and right hand underneath the shaft. This is the position that we want to achieve with both hands on the club, but many do not. Another great reason for practicing with one hand is the width that it creates in your downswing. If you are a player that has the club come down from over the top then the one hand swing will be good because of the extra weight that the club will feel like. In order to swing one handed your body must transition properly or you will stick the club in the ground. The lack of support with two hands will force the body to shift to the left to help the right arm start the club down. You will also notice that as you do this you will maintain width in the right arm and this will allow the face to be square through the impact area longer, causing straighter shots. Once you can do this drill with practice swings I encourage you to hit some balls with an eight iron. Try it slow at first, but as you practice this shot you will notice that you will be able to hit your eight iron over 100 yards in the air. After some success with this drill place both hands on the club but feel like your grip pressure with your left hand is a zero and try to sense the feeling that you had with only one hand.

One handed swings are a great way to improve your driver because it forces the club to fall on plane and it creates the proper feeling of width that you need to hit long straight drives.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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High Right Shot

Cj,

I keep hitting block shots dead right and high. It’s costing me from breaking 80 for the first time any suggestions?

Rick

This is a question I received from Rick and I am pleased to tell him that he is in good company. The dreaded high and right shot is a typical miss of good players. Getting the club “stuck” behind him on the way down causes this miss. In other words basically as Rick transitions into the downswing his club will drop too much to the inside and his hips will spin out causing the club to come too much from behind him. This is the cause of the high right shot and if Rick gets a bit too quick with his hands, he will hit a snap hook. This is the same problem that Tiger faces when we see him start to spray his driver all over the lot. . There may be several reasons for this stuck shot and maybe that the club is too flat at the top of his swing or his hips are too fast on the way down.

The key to fixing this miss is to get the club coming more in front of him on the downswing or for him to feel like he is coming from over-the-top. Another way to fix this shot and to get the club more in front of him is to do what Tiger does in tournaments and that is to hit knockdown shots. The great aspect of knockdown shots is that in order to finish low, which is the key to hitting knockdown shots; the body and club must work in sync together. Not even Tiger is strong enough to have the club come from inside and finish low. Centrifugal force would force the club to flip through and therefore would require a high finish.

The club coming from the inside too much is one that most slicers would love to experience, however there is not a worse feel in golf for good players than that of being stuck through the shot. This is certain death for good players, since they must overly use their hands to hit shots, which will kill your ball control. To fix this shot on the course I recommend the knockdown shot until you can get to the range and work a bit on your technique to figure out the cause of the stuck club.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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Speed Control

I can’t seem to consistently make putts from 5 feet and in. My speed control is bad leaving me tough putts for come backers. Can you help?

Tom

I want to sincerely thank all my students for writing in questions like Tom did.

I truly enjoy helping each of you with your game and will from time to time, instead of answering on the blog, take your questions and write an article to help them and each of you.

Tom expresses concern on his short putts and the main reason for this problem according to him is his distance control. I break putting down into three areas and you will learn this soon when I release my putting DVD, but the key to making putts boils down to speed, roll, and break. In its simplest form speed is a result of practice and a great drill to help Tom with his speed control is my front, middle, back drill.

1. First find a straight putt from about 4 feet.
2. Hit the first putt where the ball barely drops in over the front edge.
3. Hit the second putt where it falls in the middle of the hole.
4. Hit the third putt where it hits off the dirt in the back of the cup before falling in.
5. Spend about 5 minutes varying up your objective from front, middle, and back.
6. Now practice this drill from about 15 feet with a big breaker and choose your speed and break accordingly. I am not concerned with makes and misses, but most importantly your distance control.

Most people struggle with distance control because they do not practice the proper way. Speed in its simplest form boils down to practice and I promise you that most people do not practice their speed control on short putts. In order to improve your short putts it is essential that you practice your speed control on these putts. Working on the front, middle, back drill is a great way to improve your control on these short putts and lower your scores as a result.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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Why not making putts will make you a great putter

Too often I see players struggle on the putting green and get extremely upset and curse under their breath and say things that are negative to themselves. I often hear statements like “I can’t buy a putt today”, or “I’m terrible at putting.” Making putts is an outcome and that cannot be your main focus when you putt. This is as simple to understand as me taking you to the first tee and telling you I want you to shoot even par. This is an outcome as well and the process to shooting par is to hit the first fairway and first green and so on and so on. Making putts comes down to three areas. That is speed, roll, and break.

Speed in its simplest form is related to practice. If you were struggling with speed then I would encourage you to practice while working on speed related drills. Roll is related to technique and that is the area where an instructor can really help you by improving the path and face of your putter. To determine if your roll is good you should take a sharpie and draw a straight line on your golf ball. Titleist already places a line on their golf balls, however I encourage you to trace over that line with a sharpie to make it easier to see the ball roll. Now line up the ball at your intended line (obviously playing break if need be) and then to hit the putt. If your technique is good the line will roll end over end perfectly and will look like a solid straight line while the ball rolls. If your technique is not good then the line will wobble slightly and or you may not see it at all. If the line does not roll perfectly end over end then this is a clear indication that you need to work on the technique of your putting stroke. The final factor that goes into making putts is the break. Break is related to experience and this is one area that even tour players struggle with. I will guarantee that if you do not have proper speed control or proper roll of the ball then the break is the least of your concern. There are two areas of the putt that you can control and that is the speed and the roll. The next time you hit a putt I want you to evaluate the putt versus judging the outcome of the putt. Everyone needs to evaluate the putt based on the speed and the roll. If you hit the ball with the correct speed that you wanted and the ball rolled end-over-end then you hit a great putt regardless of the outcome. Too many factors can cause a putt to miss and living your life by makes and misses will provide you with a very frustrating life. The key to making more putts is to control what you can control and that is the speed and the roll.

I promise you, if you can roll the ball end-over-end properly and your speed is correct the outcome will be more favorable than not and your scores will fall dramatically.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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Left Hand Perfect Connection Grip

The left hand grip for the Perfect connection grip is Tailor made to what your body’s build and structure determine. This is the main problem with peoples golf grip in that they read and article or try to put their hands on the club they way they have been taught by some article or local pro. The problem with that is that this information is simply regurgitated information and has no understanding of the human body in it. The closest information that is correct is that I have seen that the left hand should be in the fingers of the left hand. This is correct, however I challenge those instructors to take that information further and to tailor that grip to your body’s natural build.

Any time you swing the club at some speed your arms and joints will want to come into natural alignment. If your grip does not meet that natural alignment than you will have to compensate or create some other flaw in your golf swing that will cause inconsistency and loss of speed, power, and control. This is the reason why people have a tendency to come over the top and hit the ball left and right. Basically as humans we have figured out how to swing the club regardless of what our body is telling us and we can get the job done, even though it may not be correct. Any time we do these compensations we will lose the repeatability factor and will put our body at risk for injury and pain.

The Perfect Connection Grip in regards to the left hand will utilize your body’s natural alignment of joints and muscles. In order to achieve this grip you will need and assistant to help you. First place the grip of the club running from the middle joint of your index finger running to the top base pad of your pinky finger. This is the proper placement of the club “being in your fingers” of your left hand. The key component from here is to find what is “neutral” for you. Most golf instruction you read will tell you that the v formed by your left hand thumb and your forefinger should point towards your right ear. That may be correct for some but not for you. The best way to determine what your proper placement should be is to have your assistant hold the clubhead as you hold the grip and lean back. Make sure your assistant holds the club firmly, but as you lean back your left arm shoulder, elbow and wrist will want to move to their natural alignment. Make sure your assistant allows the clubface to either open or close. If your grip is on too strong than the clubface will naturally close when the load of your weight is placed on it. If the grip is too weak then the clubface will naturally open. Determining where your hand should be is the secret to creating consistency and speed in your golf swing. If you can achieve this natural position than you will also reduce the chance of injury to your left arm.

So many injuries and inconsistencies in the golf swing are formed before you ever take the club back. Focus on getting the correct grip for you and you will be on your way to playing better golf without pain and injury.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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Manage your scores and (anger) on the course

Too often I see players scores range in strokes of 10 or more shots per round from a good round to a bad round. If this happens to you then you can be assured that you are not managing your round to the best of your ability. In regards to managing your rounds, this will be a first in a series or articles that we will discuss the key ingredients to managing your round. These ingredients range from course management, Chipping course management, distance control, wedge distance control, fixing your swing mid round, Go to shots for the Driver, Go to shots for the irons, and many more.

I have a student that I currently work with and we try to play at least once a week during the summer and it has been amazing to see the difference in this player’s game this year. He now refers to me as his bobble head sitting on his shoulder when he is planning a shot. This player has shot under par several times, but maintains about a 5 handicap and would often shoot in the low 80’s when things didn’t go his way. I understand many readers would love to play bad and shoot in the low 80’s on a bad round, but it’s all relative. This player played baseball at a high level in college and was a pitcher. I needed to relate his golf game to his pitching skills and once we were able to find the connection between the two he has been playing much better and does not shoot in the 80’s anymore. Golf is similar to a lot of other areas in your life, whether it’s sports, business, or your personal relationship. The key is taking what you learned in those areas and applying them to your game. I’m sure all of us have had a fight with our spouse. Sometimes it can be something stupid and small that sets us off, and after an hour of arguing we settle down, listen to our partner, understand where their coming from and resolve the issue. If we did this immediately then the argument may not have happened and we would have saved a lot of harsh words or stress in our live. This is similar to golf. When we hit a bad shot we get upset and lose control and 4 or 5 holes later when we calm down we start to play better golf, but the damage to our score has already been done. The student that I play with every week took this to an extreme. Three years ago he would get so angry and throw clubs that on one occasion he banged his club on a tree and it snapped and came back and went through his right bicep. This is a funny story now, but that is how upset he would get when he hit a poor shot. We played last week and he hit a bad shot and instead of trying the miracle recovery shot he played safe (because of my bobble head he told me) and ended up hitting a 50 yard wedge to 6 feet and made the putt for par. I was really proud of the steps he has taken to control his anger and control his game, even though he beat me on the hole and it cost me 50 bucks, but that’s another story. This player is not perfect yet, but is learning how to play the game the proper way. High scores on holes come from a bad shot that is followed by a bad mental mistake. Next time you hit a bad shot, take your medicine and don’t try to make up for a bad shot with one swing. A bogey will not kill you and I am sure many of you would love to trade the triple you just made for a bogey. This will change your mental outlook of the hole and you will walk of positive sometimes after a bogey and it won’t take you 4 holes to calm down.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

P.S. Are you frustrated with your golf game?

Click here to discover a scientifically proven “body friendly golf swing”, that is so darn powerful yet simple to repeat. Check it out here.

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Two Club Drill

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The CJ Roll

Many times in golf you have to be imaginative. When I am teaching chipping I explain my 5% rules which really gives people a different view of green design and really gives them a great understanding of course management in regards to chipping and pitching. One of the shots that I teach my students is the CJ Roll. This is a great shot when the pin is sitting on top of a razorback, or the top of a hill.

The CJ Roll is performed basically the same way a draw in golf is hit. You will start with a lob wedge or sand wedge for this shot and at address you want to close or hood the face a bit. This is the same technique you would use to hit a draw with your irons in the full swing. This is great with a lofted club because you can still hit it hard enough to fly the ball a good distance, but it takes the spin off the shot and keeps the ball from checking, but rather the ball will run up the hill and stop on top of the hill close to the flag. From this position you want to swing the club a bit to the inside and as you swing through you want to release the face to the ground. This feeling is that your left hand knuckles will release, or roll through the shot and will face the ground just after impact. This will again take the spin off the shot and the ball will fly a tiny bit from right to left in the air and then will softly release towards the hole.

Being imaginative in golf is a must. If you understand the basics of ball flight, you will be able to apply those principles to other areas of the game, including short game. The CJ Roll is a great simple shot for a difficult pin location. Practice this shot first and you will have another shot in your bag to save par from a difficult situation.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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Are you frustrated with your golf game?

Click here to discover a scientifically proven “body friendly golf swing”, that is so darn powerful yet simple to repeat. Check it out here.

Discover it here – – – Body Friendly Golf Swing.

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