Be Positive You Can Break 80 in 2009

2009-02-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

A Golf Lesson On Beating Tiger Woods

Ben Hogan scoffed at the idea. Jack Nicklaus spurned it. Gary player scorned it.

Among the game’s most respected legends, they disdained the idea of using a sports psychologist or a mental coach to help them win. Instead, these players preferred to retain the stubborn independence that drove them to succeed. They provided their own mental golf tips. They didn’t need a sports psychologist or mental coach. For a long time, this approach dominated on the Tour.

Then Tiger Woods burst onto the scene. He won time and time again. In fact, he won so much that other players began to ask how. Eventually, they realized what made Tiger win. It was his attitude. He thought he was supposed to win every time he played. And therefore he won. This realization transformed things radically. Now more of golf’s top pros work with mental coaches who provide a different kind of golf instruction session.

An Avalanche Of Change

Tiger’s rise to the top brought an avalanche of change. As Davis Love III points out, Tiger taught professionals that the winning edge in the pro game was mental, not physical. Tiger gets to a better mental place more consistently than the rest of the players, who get to it only occasionally. That’s why he wins. Tiger’s approach also taught the pros that the mental realm is where the greatest improvement can be made more rapidly.

While Tiger’s success was the driving force behind the change, the tipping point may have been Ernie Els’ victory in the British Open in 2002. Helped by Jos Vanstiphout, Els cruised to victory at Muirfield, St. Andrews. That spurred changes. Today, more and more sports psychologists are advising golfers about golf’s mental side. They’re also writing books about it. One noteworthy book is Tim Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Golf, fashioned after his breakthrough book, The Inner Game of Tennis.

In addition, more and more researchers are studying the game’s mental side. Some are using the latest technological advances to do it. Dr. Deborah Graham, a sports psychologist, has clients practice with a special monitor. It measures factors like heart rate and tension. The readings determine the player’s optimum performance rate. Meanwhile, Dr. Debbie Crews, a researcher at Arizona State, has found that the best predictor of successful performance is brain function milliseconds before and at impact.

Still A Ways To Go

Despite these advances, research in to the mental approach has a ways to go. So does the players’ regard for it as a legitimate weapon on tour. At a recent World Scientific Congress of Golf, a poll revealed that while elite players believe that mental skills are 50 percent of the game, the majority say they spend less than 10 percent of their practice time on them.

The research on the game’s mental side, however, has produced two key golf tips for the weekend golfer. First, before the mental skills can make a difference, a player must develop swing and course management skills. Knowing how and where to make shots is a must. Having learned this, golfers can then take their game to the next level by focusing on its mental aspects.

Second, the most successful golfers play not for glory or even to win, but for the challenge and satisfaction gained from the improvement process. It’s what Gio Valiante, a sports psychologist from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, calls the Mastery Approach.

According to this theory, elite golfers, like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, are more concerned with learning and improving than winning. This drive for mastery gets then fully involved in the shot at hand. They don’t worry about who they’re playing, how much money they’ll win, or what people will say if they lose. It’s how they attain superior focus, concentration, and achievement.

The formula for improving your game is clear. Work first on developing your swing skills and course management skills through golf lessons, practice sessions, golf tips, and/or playing a lot. Once proficient at them, work on the game’s mental side. Combining both will not only boost your game to the next level, it will also help you whittle down your golf handicap.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.
To find out more about breaking 80 click on the link below
http://www.howtobreak80.com/

Improve Your Golfswing Break 80 in 2009

2009-02-04T03:14:00.000-08:00

Beating The Top Five Swing Flaws

A good first step to achieving a low golf handicap is perfecting your swing. A flawless swing exudes power and rhythm. That’s why smart golfers take golf lessons and read golf tips—to root out their swing flaws. If your swing is flawless—or close to it—you’ll hit the fairway more often. You’ll also set yourself up for hitting good approach shots and making more pars and birdies. But if your swing has flaws, you’ll hit into trouble more often than not, racking up big numbers on your scorecard. More importantly, you’ll never achieve that low golf handicap.
Below are descriptions of the five most common swing flaws among weekend golfers. Actually, they’re probably the five most common swing flaws period. If you have one of them in your swing, stamp it out. But even if you don’t have one, you should be aware of them. Even good golfers can form bad habits because of one of these flaws, so it’s good to know how to correct them. When evidence of one appears, root it out quickly. Otherwise, you’ll ingrain it and have a hard time eliminating it. More importantly, you’ll have a hard time achieving that single digit golf handicap you’ve always wanted.

1. Inside Takeaway

This flaw ruins your swing before it begins. Typically, a golfer’s swing is “up and around.” Most golfers don’t have a problem with the “up” part. But they do have a problem with the “around” part, whipping the club too far to the inside. That ruins ruin their swing. If golfers come too far inside on the takeaway, they’ll probably come from the outside on the downswing, producing a slice. To eliminate this flaw, take the club straight back with the face pointing at the ball, not toward the sky or feet.

2. Over The Top

Coming over the top traps you into making a false turn. Your shoulder turns 90 degrees, but the rotation doesn’t really position you behind the ball. That in turn forces your weight over to your left side (right side for lefties), leading to numerous mistakes. Only a level shoulder turn produces a powerful backswing coil. It also creates a flatter swing and keeps your elbows and wrists from breaking down. Focus on turning your front shoulder over your back knee and you’ll eliminate this flaw.

3. The Pull

Some golfers are more prone to this flaw than others. But we probably all commit it at one time or another. Often, the golfer’s first move down is a rapid turn of the shoulders. That moves the clubshaft above the downswing space, resulting in a pull. If the clubface is left open, it turns into a slice. In a fundamentally sound downswing, the hips reach their peak speed before the shoulders do, with the hands and clubhead bringing up the rear. This sequence creates the whip-like motion that defines a powerful swing. If you find yourself coming across the ball, think sequence—hips, shoulders, hands, and club.

4. Slice/Hook

Even good drivers slice and hook occasionally. Either can occur if a golfer’s lower and upper bodies are not in sync. When a golfer slices, her legs usually outrun her body on the downswing. This causes the golfer to swing too much from the inside with an open clubface. Conversely, when you hook the ball, your arms are too far in front of you and your lower body hasn’t turned. To fix synching problems, remind yourself that on any given day, one’s body is rarely in the same state. You’ll need to adjust to how your lower and upper bodies feel on any given day.

5. Poor Coil

Ever heard someone say, “keep your head down” after a bad shot? That’s not something you’d hear in a golf lesson or read in a golf tip. Stuffing your head between your shoulders limits your ability to turn. It also causes you to lose your spine angle, resulting in all sorts of trouble. Instead, think “keep your chin up.” That allows your front shoulder to pass underneath and generates a strong backswing coil. When you head is low, you can’t turn. When your head is up, your neck aligns with your spine. It becomes easier to make a strong full turn. If you find yourself hitting weak shots, keep your chin up and your neck straight.
Chances are good you have one of these five common flaws in your swing. If you’re serious about achieving a low golf handicap, a good first step is eliminating them. A flawless swing encourages power and accuracy. So take golf lessons, read golf tips, and practice as often as you can. Do everything you can to iron out these flaws and you’ll be on the road to becoming a scratch golfer.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

To find out more about braking 80 click on the link below

http://www.howtobreak80.com/

Golf Improvement Techniques

Be Positive You Can Break 80 in 2009

Improve Your Golfswing Break 80 in 2009