Tales From The Bunker

When your ball is greenside with the cup 30 feet away from the fringe do you try to be a PGA Professional? You pick up a sand wedge or a pitching wedge and try to fly the ball to the hole. When I try the ball occasionally flies very nicely to the hole. But often it goes everywhere but where I want it to go. We all know the line drive over the green or the flubbed shot that goes three feet.   There is a better way.

Learn the bump and run. It is not sexy but it is effective. The idea is to try to fly the ball 20% of the way and have it roll 80%. Use a seven or a six iron or even a five if necessary. Place the ball back in your stance with a majority of your weight on your front foot. Have the shaft leaning ahead of the golf ball. Then just make a putting motion. It’s amazing! With a little practice your ball starts ending up consistently near the hole.

Remember it is easier to hat a ball shorter and gain consistency. Forget about sexy, look for results.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway!

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Today I am going to go for crass commercialization on our blog and promote a specific video we offer at all of our sites. I rarely do this put this is such a useful tool that I thought it was time to promote it. No cute cleverly written blog today. I will save my “brilliant” writing skills for another day. (If I had any).

The Eight Step Swing has been a big seller for us which translates to mean people find it a useful tool to improve their golf technique.  Please sit back and watch the You Tube video by Jim Mclean briefly explaining the eight step swing and see what you think.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway.

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Raise your hand if you can hit a wood great but feel weak in the knees if you have an iron in your hand.(My hand is raised)  Everyone who did not raise their hands probably has the opposite problem.

For me the problem is all about swing plane. My natural swing path is relatively flat and works well with woods. Put an eight iron in my hand and I feel unnatural and feel that I need a more upright plane. The result had been an inability to find the correct swing, usually resulting in either too steep a plane or I start the club outside the correct plane and never recover. Welcome to shots off of the toe and divots the size of a football field.

For me the key to finding the correct swing plane was a drill very similar to the “9 O’clock drill” below. I found that when I took an eight ion to the nine o’clock it was not even close to being in the correct position. If I did the same thing with a five wood, I was spot on.
It is not easy to break old habits but by looking in the mirror at my 9 o’clock position with irons I was able to slowly change my muscle memory.

The following drill basically takes the same drill to the driving range and allows you to execute the correct swing plane. Although the instructor considers the drill for people who have problems starting their swing, to me it is about getting your club on the correct plane. (Note that when you see him hit the second shot he pulls it left. They might have considered a retake on that shot)

Hank Haney preaches swing plane, swing plane and more swing plane. Since he probably knows what he is doing, try the drill and see if it helps you get all your clubs on the correct plane.

Until next time, keep ‘em in the fairway.

Tags: Tips by admin
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Since family should always come first we have been remiss is not congratulating our daughter Katie on her engagement on Christmas Eve. She is planning to marry a man (Ryan) we completely approve of and could not be happier about the turn of events. (Wedding plans to be based on our pocketbook)

Back to golf! This blog is about getting in the best golf shape you can possibly obtain.  But first we would like to tell you a story.

Last winter we went to the annual winter golf show here is Chicago. Being tired of walking we sat down to listen to an hour presentation by a local teaching PGA professional. His first remarks were about golf fitness. He said that the golf swing uses almost every single muscle in the body so a complete body workout is very important.

Then he said something that made us both look at each other. He said every spring people come up to him and say they have working out all winter and they can now squat x amount of pounds, bench press y pounds, etc. so they should be able to pound the ball out of sight. They would then show the professional their swing and he saw the same flaws they had the previous fall and unless they were corrected the ball was not going to go any farther (or straighter).   

His real point was that while being in poor condition can definitely limit your golf achievements, only with proper golf technique can you achieve the results your desire.  You may look better and feel better (both very important) but your golf ball still will not go where you want. But with both a golf appropriate workout and correct technique you can take you game to the next level!

We still did not get to a review of some of the golf conditioning materials we offer in our stores, hopefully next time.

Remember to keep them in the fairway!

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