The TOUR STRIKER  is a superb training aid because it is designed to work when your hands and clubshaft are forward of the ball at impact, and it gives you the feel of striking a downward blow and encourages you to take a divot after the ball.

If you flick your wrists or scoop trying to lift the ball the club is designed in such a way that you will hit the ball sole of the club, and the ball will not get airbourne.

All the great ball strikers have the shaft of their club leaning forward at impact to varying degrees.

So if you lack power in your shots, hit thin or fat shots and lack consistency the TOUR STRIKER is for you, which means EVERYONE can benefit from using one.

I got my supply recently and have personally tried the 56 deg wedge, the eight iron and the seven iron and immediately the club makes you more aware of keeping your hands leading through impact, and I have hit shots and demonstrated this to my students and they work, the shot flies normally and it swings like a regular iron.

A great addition to my teaching armoury and  they are now in my teaching bag and my students really like them, I can highly recommend the club.

If you would like to try the TOUR STRIKER and buy one, I have ladies clubs, wedges, seven irons and eight irons, please contact me as I do have them in stock.

Contact me on.

david@bowngolf

tel 07973 746872

I ask all my higher handicap golfers and my beginners this question.

Where do you want the club & your hands to be when you strike the ball ?

Answer they give is ” I want to return the club to my address alignment at contact or impact ”

Well if that is what you believe then you are certainly achieving your goal !

But it is totally wrong! No wonder golfers are not improving, they do not understand the alignments required  at impact for a powerful shot .

To hit longer,crisper & more consistant iron shots you need your hands leading the clubhead into the ball , with the shaft leaning forward at impact, not hands inline, & certainly not behind the ball at impact !

There is a new training aid sweeping America its called the Tour Striker, and this club gives you the hands forward impact, because if you do not do this you cannot strike the ball at all ! Here is the link to the video.My students are eagerly awaiting delivery of their clubs! I will be writing a review on the Tour Striker soon !

He told me he had played for one year, and had a few golf lessons, his average scores are around the one hundred mark.

I asked him what he wanted out of his golf lesson, he told me he wanted to fix his slice and hit the ball further.

Not an unusual request down on the driving range!

He hit a few golf shots and yes, they all sliced a long way, very high, losing a lot of distance.

The Cause

Derek  had put so much effort into moving, to try and get more clubhead speed, he moved his whole upper body way too much, both going back and through.

The reason this was happening was because he thought incorrectly that he had to use the strength from his arms and shoulders, to generate more distance, so he then gripped the club to tightly and made his upper body dominate his downswing, making the club wipe across the ball from out to in.

Derek was so keen to work with me and improve we had six sessions in five days working on full swing, chipping, putting, and bunker shots.

He was very focused and asked many questions. He was a great student to work with, and he got great results.

The Correction

I worked on getting him to hold the club in a more relaxed way, getting the tension out of his shoulders, forearms and wrists, he was so tight!

A key thought for Derek was to feel softer in his wrists, this took some getting used too as before he had no wrist hinge to speak of, because he was so tight, just a massive turn of his upper body on his backswing, and a corresponding twist on his downswing.

Also, having a feeling of letting his arms just fall down at the start of his downswing, this helped him keep the club on the desired  plane into the impact zone, and helped him resist pushing with his upper body, creating that twist.

During our last session Derek was hitting his eight iron, six iron and his 17 deg hybrid either straight or with a slight draw, his ball flight was lower.  He had increased his distance considerably and was not exhausted after hitting sixty balls! 

I was very impressed with his results, his striking of the ball was much crisper, and a good twenty five yards longer, and there was more to come. 

As Derek left I congratulated him on what he had achieved and asked him when he was going to play next & try his new swing?

He replied I am playing tomorrow at St Georges Hill, and playing Walton Heath a few days later!

Great stuff Derek.  Enjoy your golf!                                                                                                           

   email david@bowngolf.com

  tel       07973746872

A few of my coaching drills from www.bowngolf.com are now featured on the new app from Gasp Systems, its the GASP Golf Swing Mobile app.

Its a great way to work on your game when you are out and about on the range, you can have your coach right there with you, so you never forget, what you need to do !

Technology is amazing now, so much new innovation and development all the time, and things change so fast!

Lesson to learn

One thing to remember though is that we humans take a bit longer to change and evolve, so when you are working on improving your game be patient, work to your intended plan , stay focused, keep working on the basic keys, not quick fixes and you will improve your golf

If my students have played golf before I always like them to arrive at least twenty minutes early, so they can calm down from their journey and start thinking about their golf game.

Its a good idea to check in at the pro shop first, just to let the staff know you have arrived and also to make sure there are no delays for your lesson due to unforseen circumstances.

Make sure you do a few gentle stretches and generally loosen up, before you swing.

Make a few swings on the range if possible, start with some chip shots, then a few pitch shots with a wedge or sand iron, hit around ten to fifteen if you have time.

Before your professional arrives make sure you really know what you want out of your lesson, is it a particular  part of your game that needs attention, is it short game, or long game.

Also think back to your last round or last time you hit some balls on the range, where did the ball go, any pattern to your shots ?

Bring a notebook just to make sure you have key points written down and reminders because next time you visit the range you may have forgotten or mistaken what was said during your lesson.

A selection of questions I may ask my students. So be prepared !

What are you doing at the moment to improve your golf ?

How long have you played ?

Have you had golf lessons before?

How often do you practice and play ?

Do you have a handicap?        

Where is the ball going ?

How is your physical condition, any back problems etc ?

What do you want to achieve with your golf, short term / long term ?

A key point to getting the most out of your lessons is, ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND SOMETHING. 

I love my pupils asking me questions, it shows me they want to learn. 

If you spend a little time preparing before your lesson, you will gain great benefit during and after your lesson.

Happy golfing 

A great example here.

For someone 5ft 10 in & 11st 6 lb/160 lbs to hit the ball 300 yds with a 3 metal on one tee shot! is incredible and to also hit many drives over 300 yds and play with that control is amazing.

His performance in winning the US Open will be talked about for some time, he was two strokes a round better than his nearest rival, he led from start to finish, all his so called weaknesses as repeated over and over by the golf analysts dissappeared, his putting would not hold up, could he scramble, his course management was poor, no what we all saw was a young man unleashing his pure golfing talent on the golfing world, he was focused, he had something to prove, his swing a thing of beauty was under full control, the crowd loved him, he destroyed his Augusta woes, & he is the youngest US Open champion for over eighty years ! WOW !

His whole game seemed to click, the putting looked good, his control of distance and holing out was exceptional, his short game was on song, his irons were like lasers, especially the first three rounds, all you saw were irons right on the flags, his driving was immense, long and high with draw, which suited the course, he looked fearless, and he had control over his mind, which was a huge factor in this incredible performance.

The stats for the tournament , in greens in regulation and driving accuracy and distance were brilliant.

So Rory had the whole package this week, and I sincerely hope we see him have many more major wins in the coming years.

Rory we all knew you had the talent and the game, and now you have that inner belief and strength that all winners possess , Congratulations to you & as the americans say you were AWESOME !

No, we all know it takes work, commitment  and dedication to improve, but you also need the right information to improve, you could spend hours, months , years, doing completely the wrong thing !

When a golfer comes to me to have a lesson, they usually will want to improve their ball striking, they want more consistency and they want more distance.  

When I see them  there is a definite pattern of misconception of where they should be at impact.

They all believe that if they return the golf club to their address position at impact they will hit good shots !

How wrong can they be.

I video their swing and when they swing down, the club head is virtually at the same point at the 9 o clock position on the downswing as it is at the 9 o clock position on the upswing ! 

If you imagine looking at a circle face on, their club almost traces the same line, has the same width up and down!  They are doing what they believe to be correct, but it is totally wrong. You will not see this on a good player.

What they get when they do this is hit fat shots, that is hitting the ground before the ball or thin shots which is hitting the ball on the upswing.They are so inconsistent, they are frustrated.

When they hit the thin shot they believe this happens because the have lifted their head !  Another misconception !

How do I change this belief ?

Easy , I just show them the impact alignments first, show them how to get there and get them to feel it.

So here are the key points. 

Hands ahead of the ball, around 4 to 6 inches.

Shaft will be leaning forwards.

Weight on the left side, head does not move forward at impact.  

Hips are open to target, shoulders less, more parallel to target. 

Right side lower than address.

Right elbow still bent at impact.

They get it straight away, a light seems to go on, they understand that you strike down on the ball, to achieve a better compression of the ball, get a better flight on the ball, and retain more energy into impact.

They were throwing the energy away so early, they wanted to get the club head to the ball so fast , they did not use their body, their pivot to transport their arms down into the release area, so now they will have energy stored , to release into the ball and the turf after impact.   

They will not be manipulating the club with their hands, they will be more consistent, they will be using their body in the correct sequence, the club will be accelerating into the ball, they will get more distance, and of course they can now strike down on the ball and achieve better contact.

All of this achieved by explaining  a misconception and the golfer getting the facts behind a good swing.

I say to my clients, you are successful at what you do, what if you were at work and you had a strategy for your business and it kept failing, would you keep repeating it over and over hoping that one day things will improve ?  Of course not, you would be sacked, fired or go bankrupt !    YOU WOULD MAKE CHANGES.

So why do golfers keep making the same mistakes over and over and over?  Please let me know!

Your SWING MAP improvement guide will help you get focused on what you really need to do.

Which is to learn what is important to your golf swing, what makes it really work, not what looks pretty, or is the latest fad or trend in the golf industry, do not waste your precious time and energies on something that will not get you the results you want. 

Let me say that there is no one method that will suit every golfer on this planet, trust me if there was I would be telling you!

We are all unique individuals, some are tall, short, thin, fat, stiff, flexible, balanced, unbalanced, coordinated, uncoordinated, some have great body awareness and control, some do not.

So here are crucial key points you need to get right. You can all do this, which means you can all change and improve.

1. Good Posture.
   What is good posture? You need balance, good angles and good alignments. straight back, not curved, chest out, arms hanging relaxed. Very few people I see come to me with good posture.                             
2. Correct Pivot.
   How your body moves back and through and in the correct sequence.You must understand that how you start your swing, and how the downswing starts and in what sequence.  It is the key move, the most important thing in your swing. Hardly anyone gets this right, hence the struggle begins.
3. The Hands.
   They must be trained to behave and work correctly, most golfers overuse them to make up for pivot deficiencies.
   Simply put, they hinge up and down, they turn and roll, keeping the left wrist flat and right wrist bent.
   Again most golfers have no idea of what they should do with their hands during the swing.
4. Be On Plane
   Understand what it is and how to find your swing plane. Most golfers have heard of this but do not stick to the basic rules.

Most golfers do not improve because of lack of knowledge, once they grasp the key components they make swift progress, they get more confident, they play better, they enjoy the game.

He was asked how are his swing changes going, and his reply was  that he needs to be patient, keep doing the correct drills and  enough repetitions so he can master his new movement.

So that information is nothing new to me , but for you that might be a surprise, a surprise that even Tiger needs to work consistently on his swing changes, the need to be patient, or you will become become frustrated if those changes are not on auto after a few buckets of balls, the need to have a PLAN , so you know exactly what you want, and how to get there.

To become better at anything you need to work out what is wrong, why is my ball curving away from the target, why are my divots on the wrong line, why am I topping it, why do I hit some shots really well, then hit it all over the golf course, etc etc.

Get rid of FRUSTRATION  and DOUBT  and plan to make some changes to your game in 2011, follow TIGER,  if its not working CHANGE IT !  Hire yourself a PGA Professional .

So how to make yourself better in 2011. What you need to do for improvement.

1. Go to a Golf Professional.

2. Get your swing filmed on Hi- speed video .

3. Practice what you need to work on Regularly, start slowly, remember my R.M.P.G. Recognise it, Monitor it, Practice it, Groove it.

4. Start  working on your Mobility, develop a stretching routine , get that stiffness out and swing more freely. 

4. Work on your Putting  stroke indoors with a putting plane board.

If you do this and the KEY is Keep doing the Correct practice, you will get better and enjoy your golf even more in 2011 !!

David Bown  PGA AA Professional  Authorized Golfing Machine Instructor

contact 07973 746872          david@bowngolf.com

When a student of mine hits a thin shot or tops it, at the beginning they say, “I lifted my head” or “I wasn`t watching the ball”

Now I have never seen that happen myself, but that is such a typical reaction of so many, their friends told them “you looked up”  other advice is “keep your head down” etc etc. They soon learn the TRUTH ! 

They commit the cardinal sin of working on wrong information, its well meaning but wrong ! 

So what am I saying here, well its simple YOU MUST GET A DIAGNOSIS FROM A GOLF PROFESSIONAL, someone who has spent years, studying the golf swing, and knows how to impart the neccesary information, I did say neccesary, not just lots of information, because that will cause the ”Paralysis by Analysis” syndrome and the student will just freeze.

So how do you change your game, or learn the game? R. M. P. G.

You must RECOGNISE your errors or RECOGNISE what you have to learn.

MONITOR what you are changing thoroughly, don`t just rely on your FEEL, look at precisely what you are REALLY doing.

Do it slowly and get it right, developing  a new swing pattern takes time, it takes CORRECT  PRACTICE.

Do enough CORRECT repetitions and you will GROOVE IT in. 

If you carry out these straightforward steps you will IMPROVE your golf and you will get much more satisfaction out of this great game.

ARE YOU READY TO FINALLY IMPROVE YOUR GAME ?

contact  -   07973 746872    david@bowngolf.com