Hey, Doc here again with another free golf lesson for you…
“Keep your head down.”
We’ve all heard this classic piece of bad advice from a well meaning friend or misguided pro. The problem is, this advice is so general and non-specific that its meaning is completely dependent on your unique interpretation. This makes it totally worthless, and more apt to screw your swing up than fix any problem it was intended to.
In the video above 3 time RE/MAX long drive champ Mike Gorton explains why he thinks “keep your head down” is such bad advice, and what you should be doing with your head instead.
As you saw in the video, its normal to move your head in the golf swing, after all it’s an athletic movement and you are not a machine. Any attempt to keep your head in one spot will result in all sorts of mishits.
Instead try focusing on keeping your swing below your head. You don’t want your head getting in the way of your torso and shoulder rotation in the golf swing, as if its some immovable object. No, you want your swing to be natural and comfortable. Lifting your head a bit to keep it out of the way of your shoulder rotation allows a natural swing and improves your mobility.
As explained in the video, you want to feel like your swing is happening below your head. Focus on that feeling instead of keeping your head still. This will result in better swing mechanics and fewer mishits.
For more tips on longer and straighter drives from 3 Time RE/MAX long drive champ Mike Gorton click here.
Hey it’s Doc again with another free golf tip for you…this one’s about hitting the ball longer and straighter so listen up.
Many golfers have a hard time developing the kind of raw power from their lower body that would help them hit the long drives they dream about. For most of them the problem has nothing to do with any lack of ability, instead the problem is in their head.
As you saw Darrell explain in the video the subconscious mind can play tricks on us in the golf swing. We put so much focus into the little white golf ball at our feet that we unknowingly slow or halt our pivoting action once we reach the object of our focus, the golf ball. As you can imagine this has devastating consequences not only for the distance of your golf shots, but their accuracy as well.
How can you fix this distance robbing problem? As you saw in the video it’s pretty darn simple. It’s time to turn the tables on your subconscious mind. Instead of it playing tricks on you, you are going to fool it into focusing on something beyond the golf ball. That’s where the cardboard box comes in.
Having an object to focus on that is well beyond the golf ball will teach you to accelerate beyond the golf ball. This in turn will prevent you from decelerating at impact or stopping your rotation too early. All you need to do is place an old empty cardboard box 18 to 24 inches in front of where your golf ball would normally be. The box should now be the focus of your swing. Put all your energy into smashing it to pieces. Keep in mind you’ll be hitting the box with the toe of your club, don’t try to hit it with a square club face.
The best part is, this golf club head speed boosting trick is easy as pie. There are no tricky concepts, no tedious techniques; all you need to do is spend 20 or 30 minutes beating an empty cardboard box to pieces. Do this once a month or so, just to remind yourself how it feels. If you want to you can buy a special bag that’s made for this purpose.
The result will be longer drives without a whole lot of effort. Just remember to use an old club with a steel shaft for this drill. You don’t want to accidentally snap an expensive club.
For more no nonsense golf tips that’ll boost your drives and slash your scores check out Darrell’s Signature Package. You’ll be glad you did.
For Better Golf,
Doc O’Leary, Head Golf Nut at OHP
Doc O’Leary here with another free golf tip for you. This week its all about hitting longer drives.
It’s practically impossible to hit long consistent golf drives without having a setup routine you follow each time you walk up to a tee shot. Even more important, you’re routine should be simple, quick, and get you in the optimum position to fire off long drives time after time. In the clip above, Bobby Schaeffer showed you how his simple routine prevents several common mistakes and prevents you from over-thinking the shot.
Proper Alignment is the first goal of any setup routine for you golf shots. Setting up too close or too far from the ball is a guaranteed way to send a tee shot into the trees. The best way to prevent this is to align the club to the ball and the target, then setup your stance based on where the handle of the club is.
One important thing to remember is that the higher you tee up any golf shot, the more you have to align the golf ball toward the toe of the club, when the club is resting on the ground.
Aligning the ball off center, toward the toe of the club, allows for the extra inch or two of arm extension at impact. Making this small adjustment ensures that you are striking the ball on the sweet spot instead of the heel of the club face.
Okay now that the golf club is lined up properly to the ball it’s time to get your feet set up.
As Bobby shows in the video above, using a few clubs to create a line perpendicular to the target is a great way to help you visualize your setup when practicing. Use this perpendicular line as a guide when you step into the shot. It will ensure that you are placing your left foot in the right spot, then you can choose a placement for your right foot based on comfort.
It’s the alignment of your left foot that needs to be precise. Many golfers walk up to a tee shot and then take some shimmy steps to get comfortable.
This may work sometimes, but it often leads to shifting your left foot out of position, all for the sake of getting comfortable. Using Bobby’s method you can still get comfortable, while maintaining proper alignment.
The final aspect of a good tee shot routine is pace. It shouldn’t be rushed, but it should be brief and to the point.
Don’t waste time standing over the golf ball. It will only get you thinking too much and throw your mental game off. As Bobby said in the video it’s best to think of it like riding a bike, you know what to do, there is very little to think about after the setup.
Now that you have proper alignment nailed down your tee shots will wind up in the fairway a lot more often. All that’s left is adding some serious “umph” to your swing, so you can start nailing those monster tee shots, you know…the kind that make you smile from ear to ear.
I personally can’t think of a better Christmas present for any golfer to give to himself than the gift of ridiculously long and accurate tee shots.
That’s why I’m running a killer deal on one of my hottest “long drive” packages, Bobby Schaeffer’s Beyond Long. Just use coupon code [XMAS2015] without the brackets at checkout to get 20% off the Beyond Long DVD Package.
Not only does this drill look really cool it can actually help improve your golf game in a big way. This golf drill allows you to train both sides of your body and your hand eye coordination at the same time.
It is similar to the one handed chip shot. The one handed chip shot forces you to use both sides of your body properly if you want to make a clean shot. It exposes weakness in your swing that your strong side may be compensating for.
The drill in the video above also exposes weaknesses in one side of your body or the other. Mastering this drill will not only amaze your buddies, it will also sharpen your golf skill tremendously. Your hands will be forced to get into the right position for impact every time you swing the golf club. Training with this drill will make proper wrist conditions (flat left wrist, bent right wrist) second nature.
This golf drill will also improve your hand eye coordination. Luckily the ball doesn’t move when we address it on the course, but your body is constantly moving during the golf swing. Although we don’t often think about this it requires a lot of hand eye coordination.
Developing good enough hand eye coordination to be able to hit the golf ball after turning and twisting our bodies in the back swing is something that we learn very quickly. However, developing the razor sharp hand eye coordination that will allow you to hit the right spot on the golf ball every swing, regardless of course conditions, is something that many golfers never achieve.
This is exactly the kind of drill that fine tunes your hand eye coordination taking your golf game to the next level, and like I said above it educates your hands at the same time.
So go out there and try this drill. If you can get half as good as Bill McKinney at this drill I guarantee that your ball striking skills will improve and your golf scores will start dropping.
P.S. Don’t forget to leave a reply in the comment section below. I’d love to hear what you guys think of the video and take any requests for future videos.
As you saw in the video waiting as long as you can to release your lag angle (delayed release) will enable you to put much more power into your golf swing.
The key is where and how you release this lag angle. By waiting till the last minute you prevent yourself from “casting” and wasting that power. The other key is that you must release that energy down into the ball, not forward down the fairway.
If you try to release your lag angle forward you will end up with improper wrist conditions at impact (and lose all your power).
Pay close attention to Marc’s wrists in the video. Although he is dumping that lag angle right at impact he still maintains a flat left wrist and bent right wrist at impact. This is the most crucial part of the swing.
If you are not able to keep your left wrist flat at impact all that energy you stored by keeping that lag angle will be worthless.
The other thing to note is how you get the club face square when you maintain this lag angle until impact. All it takes is a simple turning of your left wrist.
Getting the club face square does not require you to roll your arms over one another. This is one of the most common mistakes that results in a bent left wrist at impact. Instead you simply rotate or twist your left wrist right before impact.
This little twist motion is so quick that it allows you to square the golf club face at the last moment, enabling you to keep that powerful lag angle until you deliver that power into the golf ball (the moment of truth).
Just remember to keep that lag angle till the last moment then dump all that energy down into the back of the ball.
Doc here with one of the simplest ways to see if you are swinging “on plane.”
Swinging on plane will make all your shots more powerful and consistent. It will make your pitch shots deadly accurate and your drives long and straight.
On the other hand, swinging off plane will make your golf shots erratic and weak. You will be forced to play the kind of “army golf” that you swear is just for those other duffers on the course.
Often times the biggest difficulty amateur golfers have is simply knowing whether or not they are swinging on plane (and if they aren’t how to fix it). The golf swing happens so fast that it can be nearly impossible for anyone but a professional golfer to recognize the slightest of mistakes that are robbing power and accuracy.
This is where PGA Pro Bill McKinney’s “disappearing hands” trick comes into play.
In the following video Bill McKinney is going to show you how to make sure your hands are “disappearing” after contact with the golf ball. Your hand position, during and after impact with the ball, is a great indicator of whether your swing is on plane or not.
Okay I know this sounds a little strange but if you watch the video I promise it will make perfect sense.
The best part about this trick is that you don’t need a pro watching your swing to see what you are doing wrong. You can have one of your golfing buddies or even some guy at the range (he’ll be delighted to learn this trick too) simply stand behind you and watch.
It’s so simple a 5 year old could do it. Check out the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snn4sMMFWOs
It’s really that simple. This is a great way to fix your golf swing quickly and easily.
Stay tuned to my blog for more simple tips on how to start hitting longer and straighter golf shots.
Doc here with a short video showing you a simple drill, originally designed by the great Ben Hogan now recreated by golf Pro Bill McKinney, that will put massive power behind your golf swing.
Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers ever…but…he did make one big mistake in the way he taught people how to play better golf.
Mr. Hogan created a training drill using a heavy ‘medicine ball’ (the kind you see in the gym). In this drill he compared using your pivot to throw the ball down the fairway to a golf swing.
PGA Pro Bill McKinney has taken that drill to the next level. See he understands that, YES, your core is the source of your power…but…you should be delivering that power ‘down plane’ into the ball not in a sweeping motion down the fairway. In the video above you can see that McKinney is using his core pivot to drive the medicine ball down into the golf ball on the tee.
This is much more like a golf swing, where you transfer your power and energy into the ball not down the fairway with a horizontal tossing motion like Mr. Hogan’s original drill.
Why am I telling you about this? Well many high handicap golfers suffer from something pro’s call ‘false speed,’ which is essentially a misunderstanding about where power is developed and where it should be delivered.
‘False Speed’ is the speed you develop by mainly swing with your arms, or speed you never actually put into the ball. For example some guys seem to have a wicked fast swing but can’t figure out why their drives are still lacking. The real problem is that they are developing much of this false speed from their arms that is wasted in their follow-through after impact. It’s kind of like the difference between slapping a guy in the face and stepping into him with a punch. Only one is going to knock the guy back. Just like the slap ‘false speed in your golf swing looks fast but doesn’t pack the punch.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not what Mr. Hogan was doing. He put the power into the golf ball (if he didn’t we wouldn’t still be talking about his incredible ball striking abilities 40 years after he retired). But… many guys have misunderstood him.
Allow me to straighten this out. Power is created by using your core, stored in your lag, and then delivered ‘down plane’ to the ball at impact. This power must be created and stored before contact. And remember swinging fast with your arms simply doesn’t send the ball anywhere. Learning how to do this is the REAL secret to putting power into your golf shots.
Go try this drill and let me know what you think. When you get a club in your hands after doing this a couple of times, I think you will be impressed with the results.
For more from PGA Golf Pro Bill McKinney Click Here.
