3 Keys to Increasing Your Short Game Spin and Distance Control

March 19, 2010

March Momentum Newsletter Performance Secret by Rob Randall, Coach, Store Manager and Director of Instruction at GolfTEC Country Club Village in Des Moines, IA.

The most common challenge golfers face in their short game is an inability to control spin and distance. This is primarily due to an unstable lower body, which leads to poor and inconsistent contact (i.e. heavy or thin shots). Proper contact is what provides the ability to control the spin of the ball, and ultimately, the distance it travels.

Here are three keys that will help you control spin and distance:

  1. Stabilize your lower body. Practice hitting chip shots with only the toes of your right foot touching the ground. This will put all of your weight on your left foot, forcing you to rely on hip turn through the entire shot, as opposed to relying on hip tilt. The key is turning your hips through contact, not tilting them.
  2. Level your shoulders. Once you can hit chip shots with a stable lower body, focus on setting up with level shoulders. Keeping your hands, wrists and forearms quiet, use your shoulders to take the club back. As you take the club back and through the ball, your shoulders will naturally tilt, resulting in crisp contact every time.
  3. Accurately read different lies. As you increase your spin and distance control, it will become increasingly important to accurately read different lies. For example, when the ball is in the fairway or a tight lie, you can easily create backspin. When hitting out of tight lies, expect the ball to spin and stop quickly. Conversely, when the ball is sitting down in the rough, your ability to create clean contact and backspin is more difficult. When hitting out of the rough, expect the ball to release and roll out much farther. From the rough, play a club with more loft and utilize the bounce by firmly “thumping” the ground under the golf ball.

Practice these three aspects of your short game and you’ll improve your spin and distance control, leading to more scoring opportunities and lower overall scores.

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Club Fitting: The Importance of Shaft Flex and Kick Point

March 2, 2010

February Momentum Newsletter Performance Secret by Johnny Lee, GolfTEC Coach and Fitting Specialist — GolfTEC Upper Kirby, Houston, TX.

A question I am often asked is, “How do I know what shaft I need for my clubs?” Most golfers remain very confused with the options available today. Do they need steel or graphite, heavier or lighter weight? What about regular or stiff flex?  And after all of these choices, what brand? A golfer’s swing is as unique as their fingerprint, so dialing the shaft in properly is crucial to the overall performance of the club. That’s why it’s so important to come in for a Personal Club Fitting; with GolfTEC’s technology we can narrow down the many options to find the match that best suits your needs.

Shaft flex

One of the most important elements of the fitting process is determining the club’s proper shaft flex. Getting a golfer into the right shaft ensures the most distance and the most accurate results. If a player’s shaft is too stiff for his/her swing, it will generally lead to a low trajectory and a shot pattern that misses to the right. If a player’s shaft is too soft, the ball will tend to be launched too high with an excess amount of spin, resulting in a loss of distance.

Kick point

Another important characteristic of a shaft is the kick point. Kick point directly affects the initial launch of the golf ball.  A low kick point is designed to produce a high launch, while a high kick point is designed to produce a lower launch angle.  Most shafts are also offered in a mid kick point, which is designed for a medium launch angle.  It is important for each golfer to have the right kick point because it establishes the right launch angle, leading to more overall distance.

At GolfTEC, we analyze the above characteristics through the use of our Vector Launch Monitor and Swing Labs technology. This helps us determine the ideal shaft and clubhead combinations from the different club manufacturers on the market. After dynamic testing of these recommended shafts, the software will determine the best choice based on the flight characteristics discussed above.

When you find the perfect combination of shaft flex and kick point, the results can have you playing from spots you never thought were possible. After a Personal Club Fitting, you will leave with the confidence that your clubs are custom tailored to fit you and your game.

If you’re interested in custom fit clubs, visit FitMyClubs.com to learn about our Personal Club Fitting.

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How to Get More Out of Your Golf Practice

January 19, 2010

Performance Secret by Kendal Putman – GolfTEC Coach and Assistant Store Manager, Houston, TX — from the January Momentum Newsletter.

How many hours have you spent on the range hitting hundreds or even thousands of golf balls, only to find that during your next lesson you have made little to no progress with your swing? This is not only frustrating, but a waste of time and money. Here are a few steps you can take to increase the effectiveness of both your lessons and practice sessions.

During your lesson

Every successful lesson includes a key thought that is stressed repeatedly. You and your Coach should strive to find that key feeling or thought that will help you achieve your goal. This feeling is very important and different for everyone. Be sure that you understand what the swing is supposed to look like and make sure to ask questions if you are unsure of what your Coach is looking for!

During your practice session

The main thing to remember: practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent. If you are practicing the wrong things, it will do no good. Below are three key points to focus on during your practice:

  1. Stay on track – A lot of clients get into their practice sessions and spread themselves too thin. If you are able to dedicate a half-hour to practice, make sure you focus on one swing thought. Avoid spending ten minutes on three different things. If you are on the range, use the one feeling that helps you achieve your goal. That feeling is the only thing you should rely on outside.
  2. Practice with video – This is extremely important if you want to improve mechanics. Many people struggle to identify the difference between “feel and real.” Most of the time what people feel they are doing in the swing is not what they are actually doing. Using video will help develop a better awareness and understanding for what you are actually doing. This understanding is key to your ability to “bring the swing to the course.”
  3. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better – A lot of clients work on a particular swing flaw and abandon it when they don’t see immediate results. This can only hurt your progress! More often than not there is more than one thing wrong in your golf swing. When you change one flaw, the compensations you were using due to that flaw may no longer work. The best thing to do is to maintain a consistent thought when practicing no matter what the result. Consult your Coach during your next lesson to get back on track.

By using these simple practicing habits you will be able to make better use of your time, and not only get a lot more out of your practice sessions, but more out of your lessons as well!

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Performance Secret: Preparation For Your Next Round of Golf

December 7, 2009

The Performance Secret from Tim Day – GolfTEC Coach and Store Manager, Santa Monica, CA — featured in the November 2009 GolfTEC Momentum Newsletter.

How to Take Your Practice Game to the Course

You arrive at the course an hour before your tee time. You stretch out, hit some balls, putt and head out on to the course. As you begin to play, you start slicing the ball. Naturally, you think back to your last GolfTEC lesson on holding the hinge during the downswing, and try to apply that. Now your slice is going twice as far and sending your frustration level sky high.

On the range

All of this could have been prevented by properly preparing for your round. Next time you play, try taking these steps to help take your practice game to the course:

  1. Begin by stretching out and hitting balls as you normally would.
  2. Once you’re warm, start to play holes in your mind:
    1. Hit a driver as if you’re teeing off—use range flags to simulate the fairway edges
    2. Hit an iron to a specific target—simulating an approach shot
    3. Hit a wedge to simulate getting up and down
    4. Repeat this process changing the clubs, distances and targets
  3. While hitting your shots, pay attention to your shot dispersion. Many tour players when warming up will see if they are fading or drawing the ball. Then when going out to the course they will play to that shot. Most amateurs try to fix the shot or fight hitting their natural shot—causing them to struggle and grind out the round. The time to work on your swing is after the round and with your Coach during your next lesson.
  4. Go to the putting green and roll some putts from varying distances getting a feel for the speed of the green.

On the course

Once you step up to the first tee, visualize the shot you hit on the range during your pre-shot routine and play to your dispersion pattern. If you were fading the ball, aim to ensure that a fade will not get you in trouble. Or as another Pro once told me, “Dance with the date you brought.”

There is one very important rule to this tip: Never aim yourself into trouble—just in case you happen to hit that dreaded straight shot!

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Refine Your Golf Swing with Tape and a Mirror

October 15, 2009

By Greg Killingsworth, GolfTEC Coach, Reno, NV

A great time to practice essentials in the setup and swing is during the off-season.   Practicing in front of a mirror is one of the simplest things you can do.

You can never get enough practice on the basics of a good grip, setup and takeaway.  A mirror or large window can give you valuable feedback on weight transfer, right-hip pivot and head movement during the backswing.  Use a piece of tape on the floor or mirror as a point of reference.  If you’ve had a GolfTEC lesson, think of the tape as the lines that your Coach draws on the computer screen.

Put the tape on the floor and mirror to mark the address position of your right hip and head.  During your takeaway, watch both to see how much they sway from your address position.  Too much movement from your head or hips during your takeaway will cause problems for your full swing.

A mirror is also a great way to practice specific-distance wedge swings by measuring the length of your swing.  Try taking the club back to the 7:30, 9:00, and 10:30 positions on the dial of a clock.  This provides practice for your muscle memory and visual feedback for those off-season layoffs.  Next, try swinging to those positions with your eyes closed.  This will test your muscle memory.

A word of CAUTION: move the furniture and avoid overhead fans and lights.  Have fun.

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