Does ball position really matter? It does if you want to improve your score…

Golf is a great game…of course winning makes it even better.

Most golfers don’t play a perfect round every time they’re on the course. You’ll have days that you play great and other’s not so great. Some days may be bad enough that you question giving up entirely.

Consistently playing a great round isn’t easy. Not even the pro’s do this …There’s many factors that must be taken into consideration.

If you learn nothing else from this today, please remember this one thing, all right? Most golfers miss the boat on this one.

It just happens that ball position is one of the most important aspects to improving your game.

Ball position is responsible for the direction the ball starts. Golf is all about direction and I don’t need to tell you that.

It’s easy to learn, and the best way to cut strokes almost instantly.

Common mistakes most golfers make with ball position:

1. You place the ball too far forward…the end result…you need to lunge forward and lose balance over the shot.
2. Another big mistake is putting the ball too far back in your stance.

This isn’t sound advice.

Learning correct ball positions for the club you’re using should be something that you are aware of every time you tee it up.

Here’s some helpful tips for a few of the clubs you’ll be using,

1. With wedge in hand place your feet two club heads apart…with the ball about 15 inches from your toes. This is the optimal ball position.
2. When using the 9 Iron you want them further apart than the wedge stance. The ball will be one-club head length from the inside of your front heel. The distance between the ball and your toes should be 16.5 inches. Try this and you’ll be amazed by the outcome.

As you can see…there’s no set stance… It’s gonna change and you must be willing to change with it for maximum improvement.

Listen the next time you’re on the course practicing, try it for yourself. You’re gonna feel the difference in the control and see a change in the quality of your ball striking.

Power Balance

The Natural Shoulder Turn that Prevents Injury

Finally You Can Use Your Natural Swing To Hit The Ball

Longer Tee Shots = ?

Fairway Bunkers

I see too often that players will make a mistake off of the tee and compound that mistake by making another, and another, which leads to double bogey or worse. To be a good fairway bunker player it is important to remember what got you into the bunker in the first place. It was either a mental error that caused your ball to end up there or a mechanical error.

Now that you are in the bunker, you can salvage par or bogey at worst, but do not let another mental or mechanical error cause your score to rise. By understanding some basic principles about bunkers, you can minimize your chance of making a bad number. The basic principles are:

1. Get the ball out of the bunker
2. Get the ball on the green
3. Get the ball close

Understand the first rule is to get the ball out of the bunker. Ask yourself, what club do I need to get over the lip of the bunker? What is the distance to the hole and can I get that club to the hole? I also suggest the following rule for fairway bunkers. On par 4’s take one club less, so the ball does not come close to the lip. For example, if you think you can get six iron over the lip, hit a seven. If it’s a par 5, take two extra clubs and hit an eight iron. Do not compound your mistake of being in the bunker by leaving the ball in the bunker. Getting the ball out of the bunker and short of the green allows an easy chance to salvage your par. The worst thing you can do in this situation is to make your situation worse. Evaluate your lie and the conditions and be conservative about your options.

Next, you need to improve your chances of success by improving your mechanics to the shot. Obviously, you need to make good contact out of fairway bunkers and make sure you hit the ball first. How is this accomplished? First, set up with the ball a little bit back of normal. Second, do not dig your feet in and choke down on the club a half inch. This will ensure you do not catch the ball “fat” on the downswing. Pinch your knees in to stabilize your lower body. This will make you feel as if you are making an all arms swing, but that’s ok. The worst thing you can do in this situation is to have too active of a lower body which will cause the bottom of the swing arc to change and be inconsistent.

Finally, hit a 3/4 length shot. The shorter swing helps ensure that the hands lead through the shot to create a solid impact. If the situation allows it, take one club more than normal due to the shorter swing and arm swing.

Remember what your goals are. Get the ball out of the bunker and as close as possible without taking too much risk. You are in a damage control situation and you want to minimize your chances of making a big number. It is ok to end up short of the green and give yourself a chance at making par. Do not add to mistakes and cause yourself to make a big number. Understand the mental and mechanical rules to the fairway bunker shot and I guarantee you will see your success from fairway bunkers improve.

Check out my Full Swing Secrets to take your swing to the next level by clicking here. The best part…you can learn it with just a bucket of balls. No fancy “tweaks”…just tapping into the raw power of the human body. It’s that simple.

Slide Your Way to the Perfect Shot

The most common question I hear from students about golf shots is, “How do you hit the high flop shot?” My response is usually, “Why do you want to hit that shot?”

We have all watched Tiger and Phil hit this shot on TV. We need to remember that the pros do not have this shot that often and they have different conditions on the PGA Tour than we play. I recommend hitting that flop shot about once every 100 rounds for three reasons:

1. The shot is extremely difficult
2. You (most likely) do not have the talent or the time required to practice that shot
3. You do not need to hit that shot

Even playing at TPC Craig Ranch where the course conditions are perfect and the greens are really fast, the conditions are still not the same as during a PGA TOUR tournament week. It took months and months of preparation to get the greens very hard and fast like they played during the Nationwide Tour Championship.

There is a much easier flop shot that is less risky, easier to hit, and perfect for the typical player. It’s called the slide.

To play the slide, set up very similar to a bunker shot with a wide stance, face open, weight 50/50, and hands level with or slightly behind the ball. You can vary your heights of the flop based on your setup. The higher you want to hit the ball, the wider your stance will get; the further away you get, and obviously the more you open your clubface at address. From this position, reduce all wrist hinge on the backswing and basically lock your triceps to your chest. Simply turn back and through with your chest, keeping your arms straight and locked all the way through the shot. The faster you turn your chest, the farther the ball will go.

There are some limitations to this shot. For example, you can’t use it from long distances and you will not be able to use it to go over trees. However, because you are controlling this shot only with your chest, it is very easy to control the proper distance you hit, which is key when playing delicate finesse shots.

The slide flop shot is one of my favorite shots to teach students because of the smiles that come across their faces when they hit it properly. This shot is like riding a bike. It may take a few practice shots but once you hit it properly, you will have it forever. Using this shot instead of the wristy flop you see on TV, will increase the chances of pulling off a flop and will therefore drop your scores.

Check out my Full Swing Secrets to take your swing to the next level by clicking here. The best part…you can learn it with just a bucket of balls. No fancy “tweaks”…just tapping into the raw power of the human body. It’s that simple.

Footwork Your Way to Great Shots

If you want to hit the golf ball farther, look at your golf shoes.

What am I talking about, you ask? Let me explain…

I have given hundreds of lessons to people about the proper grip being in the fingers which allows you to hinge and unhinge your wrists for power. Another huge source of power is your lower body.

If your lower body action is correct, you should wear out a spot on the toe of your right shoe. If you don’t have this spot on the toe of your right shoe then you might need to ask yourself why not. Try to imagine this scenario – If you were going to punch a wall, you would wind up away from the wall and then explode with your body, primarily pushing off of your right foot, and into the wall with your fist.

Please don’t try this at home! You may need six weeks for your fist to heal and I don’t want to reply to all the messages from your wives saying it was my fault you punched a hole in the wall!

Back to my point… imagine this – If you were going to punch that wall and you were extremely close to it, you would fire your hips and back away from the wall to try to generate extra amounts of power.

On the first attempt, you were putting your whole body into the shot. Notice how your right foot responds. The heel of your right foot actually leads the toes of your foot. In the second scenario, your right foot spins out thus causing your right heel to work backwards away from the wall. This is a similar move to those golfers that come over-the-top and hit weak shots to the right. The goal is to get your right heel to lead into the shot so that your body responds the proper way to a golf shot.

Watch Tiger’s footwork next time he is on TV. Watch how his right heel leads into the shot. In fact, if you look back a few years ago when Tiger wasn’t hitting it well, you will see that his right heel was working up, not into the shot. This caused the club to get too much from the inside for Tiger which caused him to hit the ball well right or flip hook it left.

To get the proper foot work, I give my students two drills.

First, practice with a water bottle outside the heel of your right foot. Start with practice swings and then into full swings without hitting the bottle with your foot. If you do this properly, you will notice that your right heel will not even come close to the bottle throughout your swing and will work farther away from the bottle when you transfer your weight to your left side.

Second, remove your shoes and hit balls barefooted. Focus on how your right foot finishes when you are done with your swing. If you spin out of the shot, you will finish with weight on the ball of your right foot and the bottom of your toes on the ground. The proper way to finish is with all your weight left and to have the tops of your toes on the ground. This may hurt a little at first, so be careful! I try to get my students to feel as though they are going to crack their toes like you would crack the knuckles in your hand.

Any golfer who has worked with me for awhile has definitely heard me say that spinning the right foot out is my “pet peeve” in the golf swing. Having proper body motion in essence creates proper footwork and is so vital to good shots that it kills me when I see someone not doing this correctly. I actually watched long drive hitter, Nyle “Nyleator” Pruitt, do physical training exercises and drills where he moves each toe independently to increase awareness and to improve his foot work so that he can hit the ball farther. To learn more about Nyle’s exercises, check him out in our free HD Training Videos PerformaxGolf.com.

Try these drills and see your footwork and golf shots improve. Don’t forget to check out your shoes!

Check out my Full Swing Secrets to take your swing to the next level by clicking here. The best part…you can learn it with just a bucket of balls. No fancy “tweaks”…just tapping into the raw power of the human body. It’s that simple.

Learning the proper footwork is a must to creating powerful drives. This is how the out of shape golfers on the PGA tour hit the ball so far. If you want to consistently hit the ball 20-30 yards further and discover the proper footwork…click here.

Is this British Open Style?

With the British Open starting this week, you will see a lot of different shots than you are used to seeing here in the States. The most common shot you will notice is the
bump-n-run chip shot. This is a shot that is very useful on hard ground with firm fast greens. To correctly play this shot, you need not only the proper setup and technique, but also the proper course management to pull it off.

Technique
The bump-n-run is perhaps the easiest shot to hit in the short game area because the ball stays close to the ground and the risk is not that great. First, set up with your feet about one club head width apart with the ball in the middle of your stance. Next, bring your left foot back about ½ an inch and finally, turn your toes a little towards the target so that your right big toe is pointing at the ball. From this position, place about 80% of your weight on your left side and push your hands forward to the middle of your left thigh. You are now in the proper set up position.

When you swing the club back, do not be afraid to use a little wrist hinge on the backswing, but focus on a low driving finish. The main idea is to drive the ball low and get it to hop through the fairway and fringe. Don’t be afraid to try different things when attempting this shot. I like to grip the club a little more firmly with my left hand because the firm grip reduces backspin and ensures that the ball will run a little more.

Course Management
The key to short game course management is determining whether you have a flat shot, a hill, or a depression in between you and the hole. Most of my students guess that a flat shot is the easiest shot; however, the depression is the easiest shot. Pick the club that will land your shot at the bottom of the depression and run it to the hole. This way, if you happen to hit the shot too hard or too soft, it will get the proper bounce off the slope and still finish at the hole.

The hill is the hardest and will require more of the bump-n-run shot in most cases. With the hill, try to pick the proper club that will bounce the ball twice before it gets to the hill and then runs over it to the hole. In this case, if you plan your shot accordingly, you will have some leeway if you hit the shot too hard, because it will bounce once and then into the hill taking some of the pace off of the ball. It still finishes near the hole.

The bump-n-run shot is one of the easiest shots in golf and with proper technique and a little course management it could be very useful here in Texas. During our summer months with hard fairways or during our winter months with dormant Bermuda grass, the bump-n-run could save you many shots during your round.

Check out my Full Swing Secrets to take your swing to the next level by clicking here. The best part… you can learn it with just a bucket of balls. No fancy “tweaks”… just tapping into the raw power of the human body. It’s that simple.

Spring Warm-Up

Now that spring is upon us and the warm weather will be returning to our area it is time to dust off the clubs and get back onto the practice area and rehearse those fundamentals. Fundamentals are perhaps the most important area of the golf swing for beginners and are even more important for the tour pro’s.

Remember the word GAP. Those are our fundamentals. It stands for Grip, Alignment, and Posture.

Grip
The most important factor when it comes to grip is that the left hand is holding the club in the fingers. Too often I see amateurs that have their grip too much in the palm of the left hand. This will rob the player of distance and control. To get the proper left hand grip place the club off your left foot with the grip behind your body. When you let your hand hold the club from this position you will notice that you will be holding the grip in the fingers of your left hand. Now you can bring the club in front of you and place your right hand on the club. Make sure that the life line of your right hand sits comfortably over your left thumb. You should also notice that the v’s formed by your thumb and forefinger are pointing at your right shoulder.

Posture
Now that you know how to grip the club correctly your posture will be extremely important for allowing your body to turn correctly and produce a lot of power. To set up with the proper posture follow these steps:

1. Stand straight up with your arms and club extended in front of you
2. Look down between your arms and bend your knees until you can’t see your shoelaces
3. Drop your arms to your chest. The club should be a foot or so off the ground
4. Keeping your back straight, bend from the hips until the club touches the ground.

You have now set your body up in the proper position to allow it to turn correctly in the swing.

Alignment
Finally, it is important to set up your body aimed at the target. Not very often do I see our tour players practice without a club laying on the ground to aid in their alignment. Very rarely in fact do I see amateurs use this drill to aid them in their practice. First, understand that we will lay a club aimed directly at our target. Next place a club parallel to that club but more along your feet line. Set up in this position and double check that your hips and shoulders are parallel with the club on the ground. You can now remove the first club and be confident that your alignment will be aimed square to the target.

Fundamentals are the most important areas of the golf swing and setup is crucial to being consistent. Do not forget about the word GAP and use it on the practice tee. Starting with the proper fundamentals will allow your swing to happen more naturally and will allow you to be ahead of your playing partners on the weekend.