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.

As we’d guess it is for you, Facebook is relatively new to GolfTEC. We’re going to be continually looking for creative ways to interact with our fans. If you have any ideas, we’d love to hear them. Just become a fan and leave a comment on our wall.

Not on Facebook? Well neither were we (at least corporately) a few days ago. If you’ve been curious (but perhaps a bit skeptical) about joining, now you have an excuse to give it a shot. We’ve got some exciting things coming soon (hint: birdies and prizes).

So sign up if you haven’t already, become a fan, keep on the lookout for what’s ahead, and help us spread the word by telling your friends.

Click Here to check out GolfTEC’s page.

In golf, there are times when you have to take a step back, forget about the mechanics and look at the big picture. This was the case for GolfTEC Client, Mike Kornmeyer.

Pushing towards his long-term goal of one day playing golf for a living, Mike had steadily improved under the guidance of his Coach, Dan Sniffin. Mike’s mechanics had drastically improved and his handicap had dropped considerably—from shooting around 100 (estimated 24 handicap) to a 2.4 handicap. After each season, Dan and Mike would step back to look at the progress they had made. And more importantly, they would look forward to what needed to happen in the coming season. Because one thing was always clear: to play golf for a living, Mike needed to get even better.

This review process—which Mike calls the “glue that builds my understanding of the swing and the philosophy of the game as a whole”—has played an integral role in the success Dan and Mike have had. From Dan’s perspective, this process is something he’s always believed in, both as a Coach and a player. When asked about this, Dan remarked, “I have always been convinced [that the process is a key to success], as I have done this type of thing for many years in my own game. We did this twice a year when I played in college.”

Now, you can get the same experience that Dan and Mike have benefited from in our newly-released Goal Planning Session (GPS).

What to expect in a Goal Planning Session

Dan and Mike used the 30-minute GPS to achieve four key things:

1. Review goals and progress from the previous season
2. Identify what worked (and what didn’t work)
3. Re-evaluate short- and long-term goals
4. Build a gameplan for the coming season

Guided by those objectives, Dan and Mike started their Goal Planning Session.

The biggest success for Mike was how much he was able to drop his handicap. There were no major shortcomings in the previous season; Mike had steadily improved. However, it was clear that Mike needed to shift his focus in a big way heading into the new season. His putting and lack of tournament experience was holding him back.

Mike’s goal to one day play golf for a living was still front and center. What needed adjusting were his short-term goals, such as playing in a specific number of tournaments in the upcoming golf season. Next was identifying what needed to happen to continue Mike’s success. The verdict:

1. Better practice. Mike needed to bring increased focus and structure to his practice (e.g. complete a designated number putting, pitching and full-swing drills)
2. More putting. Dan and Mike decided to focus more of their lesson time on putting
3. New courses and tournaments. Dan recommended that Mike strengthen his on-course experience by playing a group of new courses and competing in a specific list of tournaments

Ready to take on the new season, Mike walked away from his Goal Planning Session with a “good understanding of the relationship between my goals and the work necessary to achieve those goals.”

The GPS is a great tool that you can now take advantage of. If you’d like to learn more about it or schedule one today, call a GolfTEC Improvement Center near you and talk to a Coach. Click Here to find your nearest Improvement Center.

Thoughts on the Goal Planning Session? Ever used a similar process in your golf improvement? Let us know in the comments.

We certainly received the expected result from the training aids poll. I figured a lot of you would try training aids here and there. The results showed that 79% of you either try every training aid you can get your hands on, or try most of them and use a few. 21% of you said there’s no room for training aids in your bag.

Here is my take on training aids: there are some really good ones and there are some really bad ones. I believe there are three key elements that almost all of the “great” training aids have in common:

1. Simple – they have to be very easy to use — typically the more moving parts or more complex the design the worse they are. If it requires batteries, installing it on a club with epoxy, special lighting to be able to see it, or a remote control it’s probably not worth your time.
2. Portable – you should be able to take it with you in your golf bag, set it up quickly, and use it almost anywhere. A great example is the No 3-Putt Cup Reducers that you can drop into any golf hole to make it smaller. Great to improve focus and precision in putting, small, light and can be set up in 3 seconds.
3. Intuitive – Eyeline Golf, one of our great vendors, comes up with more intuitive training aids than anyone. Their training aids for putting require almost no instruction, yet they promote functional improvement in many ways. They have a great new product coming out soon called the Ball of Steel. It’s a golf ball that weighs 5 times more than a regular ball. You hit it around for 5 minutes, and all of a sudden you don’t decelerate anymore, and you hit the ball solidly every time. No instructions needed to improve your putting!

I am happy to offer advice on some of the more popular training aids out there if you have questions, but I really feel if you keep those three things in mind when analyzing a training aid you’ll find more good ones than bad ones!

Question for Steve? Leave it below.

If you would like to check out a few training aids and receive one-on-one guidance on how to use them, call or stop by your nearest GolfTEC Improvement Center and talk to a Coach.

This is a little different from our normal content, but we have a unique opportunity for Denver-area golfers that we wanted to extend to our readers.

Our own Steve Atherton, GolfTEC VP of Research and Development, is working with The Rose Center for Health & Sport Science on a 30-day golf research study. It’s a cool opportunity to be involved in a golf study, get some golf instruction and fitness guidance, and even get a free GolfTEC Swing Evaluation at the end.

Study details and information

The Rose Center for Health & Sport Science in conjunction with GolfTEC is performing a 30-day research study on the effects of various programs on increasing club head speed and distance.

To be eligible, you need to be:

• Male
• Age 35-65
• No orthopedic, muscular or health issues
• Maximum of 90 minutes per week spent in formal exercise per week (average for the last 3 months)

You will need to be able to commit to pre-study golf testing (approximately 60 minutes), and then will be randomly assigned to groups which include weekly golf lessons with a PGA Master Professional in Instruction or one of three golf-fitness programs. You will need to be able to travel to either the lessons or the fitness interventions at various locations. We endeavor to make locations convenient, yet based upon where you live, you may or may not be close to the intervention location. Testing will occur at GolfTEC in Centennial, and fitness interventions will occur at either 24 Hour fitness locations or Rose Hospital.

The golf lessons will be once per week for 60 minutes, and the fitness interventions will be two, 30-minute sessions per week at regularly scheduled times. All programs will take 4 weeks of training. At the end of the intervention period, you will come back to GolfTEC Headquarters in Centennial for post-study testing. On completing that session, you will receive a certificate good for a free one-hour Swing Evaluation with GolfTEC. Please note, if you do not finish the study or complete all the sessions, you will not receive the free Swing Evaluation.

If you are interested and fit the study requirements, please send your name, contact information (preferred email and phone) and general location of your home and/or work using zip code to:

Neil.wolkodoff@healthonecares.com

If you get to participate, we hope you enjoy it. And even if you aren’t able to, spread the word (the share button below is an easy way to do so) to any golfers you know in the Denver area.