A Better Downswing to Reduce Blocks and Hooks

As we all know most golfers tend to struggle with fading and slicing the ball, but there is a large portion of the golf population, typically lower handicap players, that struggle with hooks and the occasional block. This article is for you!

There's a huge correlation between between a golfer's club speed and their handicap. The higher the speed, typically, the lower the handicap. The key is being able to manage the golf club while generating higher club speeds and that can only happen with a proper pivot and more specifically, a proper downswing pivot. Here's how...

As you begin your downswing you want to feel the following:

• The weight remaining on the trail foot for longer
• Cast your net! More rotational and less lateral
• The legs separating slightly
• The handle of the club working out or in front of you while the clubhead stays behind you

The objective here is to get the clubhead traveling less outward and along a more neutral path through impact. Getting your body to rotate on the way down in more of a 'merry-go-round' fashion and less of a 'ferris wheel' fashion will deter the clubhead from getting too far to the inside.  

Try this feel slowly and with soft shots before working up to full swings. You'll be amazed at how challenging it is to actually stay back and rotate versus driving forward. Stick with it and realize that in order to improve the quality of your shots you're going to have to improve how the clubhead communicates with your golf ball.

Thanks for reading and if you have a friend who you feel might benefit from this information please share! 

How About this Golf Shot?!

It's not easy to make a golf ball do this!  The question is - are you mad at the result or happy with the result? Do you snap the flag or celebrate a near miss? I would love to hear how you would feel about this outcome. If you are doing this on a regular basis then you must be doing something  right through the impact zone.

(Thanks to one of my students, Steve Southern for this little gem)

A few things to Ponder:

• The golf ball spend 1/2000 of a second on the clubface during impact! So if you're a single figure handicap golfer and you play 250 rounds a year, the ball spent 1 second on your clubface.
• Val Skinner interviewed Michelle Wie on the Golf Channel yesterday and asked her what her plan is for the weekend. Her response - "Well, I'm gonna hit lots of fairways, I'm gonna hit lots of greens and make lots of putts"....................followed by a long pause as Val waited for something deeper than that. Thanks for that insight into the mind of a tour golfer Michelle.
• Alexis Thompson at 14 years old is in a tie for the lead at the LPGA event going into the weekend! She does not seem to be afraid of too much.
• Is there a PGA Tour event this week or is the season over?

Slow the Golf Ball Down - It Goes Way Too Far!

I watched the broadcast from Quail Hollow yesterday and was shocked at what I saw; these golfers were playing some of the hardest holes I have ever seen with 9-irons and wedges for their approaches.  I have been to this event and the 'Green Mile' holes are as they have been promoted - BRUTAL!  The leaders made them look a little silly (even though none of them managed to hit the 17th green!):

• O'Hair had 154 yds. left in to the 480 yard 16th and the hole played slightly into the wind! Nine iron!
• Number 17 played 225 yds. to the back pin and into a light wind.  Now I comprehend that the green was rock hard and with water lurking over the green and a back pin the optimal spot was to leave the ball a little short, but Lucas Glover hit a 5-iron!  That is ridiculous!
• The uphill closing hole measures 478 yds. and played slightly down breeze.  Tiger Woods hit 3-wood, 9-iron to pin high! (Tiger also drove the 14th green (345yds.) with his 3-wood)  Bubba Watson had a flip wedge in from 135 yds. after hitting what looked like an easy cut driver!  Number 18 is the hardest hole I think I have ever seen and to play it with a fairway metal and a short iron is just wrong.
• Bubba Watson hit a tournament long drive of 374 yards!  I know the guy is long but that is obscene.

I firmly believe that the USGA and RnA has dropped the ball (pun intended) on this matter and something needs to be done soon.  Gone are the days of upper echelon golfers hitting a 3-iron into a par four unless weather conditions exist.  Without changing the ball the only way that could be done would be to have par fours of over 530 yards and golf courses that measure 8,000 yards!  Whether it means changing the size of the ball, it's dimples, materials or construction, something needs to be done.

For more detailed quotes and information on this topic please link to http://www.geoffshackelford.com/the-list/

Things to ponder:

• Zach Johnson looked like a regular weekend warrior out there on the 2nd hole; a little cart path, a little pine, a three putt, hello triple!
• Sean O'Hair's mental toughness will carry him far.  Even though he finished bogey, bogey I never thought he looked afraid.
• Well done to Bubba Watson!  He is more of what the PGA Tour needs and no that new hair-do is not a mullet.
• Tiger needs to lose the driver and hit 3-wood on every hole.  The driver and 3-wood swings look so different.
• How about David Feherty calling Tiger a loser!?  Tiger smiled, but I don't think we'll be seeing Feherty do the Tiger post-round interviews any longer.
• Brandel Chamblee made the one of the dumbest statement of the year following the broadcast on the Golf Channel. In referring to Tiger's position at the top of his backswing;  "He needs to do something, because you cannot play golf from there!"  I'd like to not play like that.
• The so-called 5th major is at TPC Sawgrass this week and it is my opinion that any golf course where every player in the field can hit 9 iron or less into more than half the holes cannot possibly be a major. (#1,2,4,6,9,10,11,12,16 and 17)