What do the tour players do and the average golfer does not when we are talking about impact alignments?

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 !

I want to be more consistent, this is the number one comment I hear from my new students and when they do hit a straight shot it does not not go far enough !

To be more consistent you need to know what you are really doing in your golf swing right now, not what you feel you are doing.

Where is the the ball going and why is it flying there ?

Is it the clubface or path the club travels on, or a combination that is making your ball fly anywhere but at your intended target.

Why is your clubface not correct at impact ?

Could be grip, could be alignment, but I believe more often than not, understandng how the hands and wrists work during the golf swing is the main fault.
Most amateurs do not know how their hands work during the swing, or what they are doing with their hands as they swing.

Your hands need to be educated, to sense and feel where they are in the swing and of course they give you the information and feedback of where that clubface is throughout the swing. A vital component.

The first must have is.

The hands must be educated to have a consistent swing.

 
Why is your path incorrect ?

The path is wrong because the body movements during the swing are wrong , the club is out of a good alignment and the arms and wrists try and recover the shot somehow.

This is what I see the most..

Mainly arms and wrists are not controlled, shoulders are too dominant in the downswing, the hips do not work enough at the start in the downswing, and the sequence the upper and lower halves of the body are used in are incorrect. .

Most handicap golfers do not understand  what the upper body and lower body have to do in the golf swing.

A few key areas  the body needs to achieve to be consistent  are maintenance of posture during the swing, learning to rotate the upper body and lower body in the correct sequence, both back and forwards and maintain balance throughout.

So the second of my must haves is.

You must have a good pivot working in the correct sequence to deliver consistency and that will create more power..

If your body works in the correct sequence and your hands know their job, your club will be on plane, you will have more power, and you will be more accurate and consistent .

Why not become more consistent now ?

Playing quality golf shots with power and consistency is what you are looking for.

Virtually all my students who have lessons with me say they want  two things more than anything.   1. CONSISTENCY  2. MORE DISTANCE.

How do you achieve this ?

Whether you have a so called flat swing , upright swing, strong grip , weak grip, open face, closed face at the top, that is not the key issue.

Look at the best players in the world, all have differences in their technique, regarding , grip, clubface, swing plane, one plane, two plane etc.

The  one thing that all these top golfers share is their SWING SIGNATURE.

What is your swing signature ?

When I talk to experts in  biomechanics there is a definite pattern of movement  that the better golfers all do.

Whether its Jim Furyk or Ernie Els their pattern of movement is the same, they look very different, but they have a definite swing signature.

They start their downswing in the correct order or sequence, Lower body starts first, this starts the sequence, then the torso / core follows, arms, wrists, and finally the club .

Work on your pivot , how you unwind your body from the top of your backswing into your finish.

Most amateurs try and get the clubface at the top of their swing to the ball as early as possible by using their arms and wrists first, they try to speed up the clubhead too early..

Use your pivot correctly, use it first, so your arms and wrists can transfer their power into the ball in the most efficient way , which is in the correct sequence.

So improve your swing signature, your pattern of movement, and you will become consistent and hit the ball further.

One huge reason why golfers are not improving is because they are either trying to work out what is wrong for themselves, or asking friends, or golfing buddies, and its like the blind leading the blind. It will never work, it  just leads to more FRUSTRATION. 

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

I thought I would go through with you the things I see most when I am coaching students for the first time.
If you like the common trends amongst beginners.

Problem Areas.

1.Tension is always apparent, in the hands and wrists, I see so many learners who think that power comes from the hands and wrists, as we know they transfer power when allowed to.

2. Poor placement of hands on the golf club, thumbs straight down the grip, restricting any freedom of movement through the hands and wrists.

3. Posture problems, bent spine, restricting the turn of the body during the swing, you need good alignment and good posture to make a sound swing.

All these problems are pretty simple to fix, good preparation in your set up will help so much with your stability and coordination throughout the swing, which leads to more consistency and less effort.

4. The pivot is a major source of power and consistency, if this is not working effeciently you will have severe problems, usually trying to use the hands to compensate for these errors, and leading to frustration as no two shots are the same!

I give my students drills to do so they can recognise /feel where they need to make the body go, immediately their balance improves and so does their coordination. So Recognise it, Monitor it, Practice it, Groove it ! That is true with every aspect of learning this game.

5. Truly understanding what the hands do throughout the golf swing, golfers get them working in some strange ways, the hands must be educated, you must recognise what they do and how they move, otherwise again inconsistency and more frustration.

Understand that quick fixes never lead to consistent levels of performance, you need a swing map , a direction, a blueprint if you will, so you can start your journey the right way which leads to improvement and more enjoyment of this great and challenging game.

When shall we start on your journey of improvement ?

contact - 07973746872                            david@bowngolf.com

There was a lesson to be  learnt  from watching the best players at the US Masters last week.

Once again the critical area is the short game , we all know it is important and so it proved again on the last day, if you can get down in two when you miss a green, you can score, saving strokes not wasting them. It is so important, it keeps you confident, because you are still maintaining your score, it will help you  relax more on your second shots as well. 

Tiger Woods ball striking gradually got worse each round, more wayward shots appeared, but his amazing ability to see the shot and shape the ball, and not give up, kept him in touch with the leaders. He shot 69 in the last round and was all over the course, anyone else would have probably scored in the mid seventies.

So if your looking to lower your scores and become a more consistent player, you must work on your bunker shots, your chipping and putting.

We all know this but how many golfers actually practice their short game, they would rather hit the driver!

So spend  at least 60% of your  practice time improving your short game, it really will be worth it and watch your scores come down.

Recreational golfers are not improving  because they do not understand what they have to do to change or modify their technique, and also they do not appreciate how much quality repetition is involved in changing an old habit into a reliable new one.

Sticking at changing a old habit to a new one  is very hard, you need huge discipline , it involves several thousand correct repetitions of the one specific move you are working on, and that takes several weeks of intense effort, it is the same as getting fit by going to the gym, you must do it regularly to reap the rewards.

Here is an example, if you can do one hundred correct repetitions every day for one week= 700

Repeat for four weeks = 2,800 reps you will start to really own that movement, not having to think it through. It can take between 3-5 thousand repetitions to OWN the new move 

So you can see that when you go to the range and hit 100 balls with the intention  of improving your swing  the results will be poor, because you are not creating the new pathway in your swing, you might be “thinking the new move” but you cannot make a swing change and hit balls swinging at full speed and do it correctly. 

You cannot change a motor skill that quickly, you have to learn new pathways and build up a new pattern, which takes time, dedication and focus.

I give my students a blueprint of what they need to do technically and give them the required amount of repetitions so they can achieve their goal. Do the new movement at a very slow pace, feel and see that it is correct every time.

Success  Regime

1. Slow motion moves only.
2. Every practice session do at least 100 reps.
3. Continue this routine every day for 4 weeks. 

You have the information, why not start right now  and really IMPROVE?

Make 2010 your year !

There is so much misleading and contradictory information in the golf instruction world. No wonder golfers are not improving as they should.

Anyone who wants to improve their game and get better has to start by taking a very close look at how they swing the club.

See the reality. Usually how your swing feels is not for real, feelings can mislead. How can you analyse and get feedback while you are in the moment of swinging the club ?     

Video analysis is where you must start, look at your swing, see it, picture it .

You now have a reference point, a starting point so you can move forwards.

You don’t have to do everything perfectly to hit good golf shots, just remember that when you are on the range trying to analyse every inch of your swing, no wonder there is a lot of paralysis through analysis out there.

The Master Keys as I call them or the DNA of your golf swing are crucial for your golfing improvement. What are they you might ask, well go to my website and you will get the information you need to lower your scores and enjoy your golf. Golf is meant to be enjoyed ! So take a look.

Your confidence will rise because for the first time you have a plan of improvement.Its just that learning, and mastering a move  like the golf swing is not an instant thing , you have to have control over the four Master Keys.

I call it the Master Keys to good golf, and really its the DNA if you will, once you have learnt it, golf becomes FUN & you become a better striker of the golf ball.

So in the main they do not know what to practice, they haven’t the awareness of what they are doing, they try to swing too hard, there is no blueprint to guide them through and keep them on course.

This sounds really worrying, golfers do want to improve don’t they?

My aim is to help you sort out these issues and get you all playing better golf and having more FUN !

What I do in my coaching is first of all give my students , if they are beginners, is a blueprint of the key things they need to do, keep it simple, not too much information, it is so easy to overload with information, it can become  paralysis through analysis if the coach gives out too much info, especially if the coach is not as experienced and is trying too hard.

Less is more, it will pay off.

If I have a golfer who has played for many years and cannot make long term commitment to rebuilding their swing, guess what I don’t. Be realistic they cannot swing like Tiger Woods, so lets use what they have and work in such a way that we fix the key components and with these changes they will play better. You do not have to have a great looking swing to play better and lower your scores, you must understand what makes your swing work and then it’s maintainance, through correct understanding of your swing you can practice much more constructively.

You are not just hitting balls trying to find a swing, YOU KNOW YOUR SWING !

To view my website. www.bowngolf.com

This is the start of giving you the information you need to really improve your golf .

I will be talking about the things you need to understand and more importantly to execute, which will enable you to lower your scores consistently.

Also you can tell me what you want to know!

I have been a PGA professional since 1975 and in the coaching industry for over thirty years and it still amazes me that people are not getting better !

With all that digital video has to offer, the internet, the books that are written by the best players in the world telling you how to play, how they think or feel they do it, the coverage on tv and seeing the best players play the game.

Why are golfers handicaps not getting any lower ?

Any Ideas?

I have a few here we go.

1. Most golfers do not  know what to practice.
2. They just  want to hit it as hard as they can.
3. They have no awareness of where the club is in relation to their body.
4. They have no plan of action or blueprint.
5. They do not practice enough.
6. What they feel they are doing bears no relationship to what is really happening in their swing.