The Golf Machiner Blog

Posture

2008-01-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

I gave two hours tuition to some juniors at the club yesterday and I was reminded of how important posture is in how well you play golf.
You must be balanced when taking your posture. Your weight cannot be too much on the heels and not too much on the toes. A great exercise for helping you to get into the correct posture position is as follows;

Take your normal grip on the club with your feet hip width apart for an iron shot.

Hold the shaft of the club parallel to the ground with the butt of the club pointing approximately at your belt buckle. Let your arms hang out from your body.

From there bend forward keeping your legs straight until the club head touches the ground. When you do it be sure to let your bottom go backwards. Your weight will go on to your heels.

Now flex your legs and your weight should move to the balls of your feet.

There is a great way for you to check you are in a fairly good position and that is to hang your golf club down from the centre of your shoulder. It should brush your knees when just left hanging straight down. See below. The picture is taken from David Leadbetter's book "The Golf Swing".

Work on your posture. Different shapes and sizes of people will look different, but if you use this exercise you will have a great chance of being in a good position.

Cheers

Maurice

Perfecting pitches

2008-01-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

There's a difference between the finish and follow-through positions, and understanding that will make you hit better pitch shots. A pitch swing should end at the follow-through position, defined as the point past impact before either the left elbow or both elbows bend. The finish occurs when the club's through-swing momentum ends naturally.
On most pitches, you shouldn't swing to a finish position because the ball will fly too far. You also cannot decelerate to reduce the distance, because you'll likely hit it fat or thin. But by swinging to the follow-through position, you can still accelerate through impact and regulate distance.

Another great little article by Bobby Clampet. Click here to go to the article.

Have fun working on it.

Cheers

Maurice

Basic Ball Flight Laws

2008-01-11T05:04:00.000-08:00

When I teach I concentrate on helping people control the ball. I have a video for you to watch that will help educate you about controlling the ball. The video is with Martin Hall who is rated as one of the world's best instructors. He is also a Golf Machine Authorised Instructor.

There are two major factors you need to be aware of when attempting to control the ball. They are your swing plane or the direction your club travels through the shot and what your club face is doing when you strike the ball. In my experience and you will see on the video that the most destructive problem in the golf swing is the inability to control the club face at impact.

The link will take you to a site where Martin Hall makes contributions. To watch the video you will need to click on the fourth link down from the top of his site. It is called Learn the Ball Flight Laws.

Click here to watch a great little video.

Cheers
Maurice

Making It Too Important

2008-01-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

Why do we treat a game as though it is a life or death situation. We get nervous when we do not have anyone's life in our hands. We are just playing a game. You must keep golf in perspective. Realise that when you stand on the first tee that there are more important things if life than that one golf shot you are about to play.

If you are a nervous person then you must focus on your breathing. Learn to belly breathe, think about some good shots you have played in the past and stand up and hit the ball. If it goes down the middle, it goes down the middle. If it goes in the trees, then you find it and hit it again. You won't be struck down then and there for hitting a bad shot. If you hit a great shot, be sure to celebrate the fact. Don't do what a lot of people do after they hit a good shot and say "about time I hit one like that". Say to yourself, "how good was that, that felt great", be sure to feel those emotions of a great shot. If you hit a poor shot always ask yourself. What can I learn from that? Don't do what most people do after a bad and say "you useless git, why did you hit that". If you ask yourself the question about what you have learned, you stand a greater chance of improving. If you talk in a destructive manner all you do is succeed in destroying your enjoyment and your confidence.

Keep the game in perspective, there are more important things than golf in life.
Learn to belly breathe.
Celebrate the good.
Learn from the bad.

Cheers
Maurice

Narrow Your Focus

2008-01-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

Something that I would encourage all golfers to do when playing is to narrow down their target area when taking aim. What I mean by this is to not just aim for the fairway or the green. Pick a spot in the distance. For example when standing on the tee, pick out a branch in the distance to aim for. When going for the green, don't just aim at the green, pick a spot behind the green. For example a branch or the corner of a building. If you can go at the pin, aim for the top of the pin or the bottom. Make that target area as small as possible. If you do this you will hit more fairways and more greens.

I don't know about you but, when I am playing well all I see is what I want to do. When I am playing badly all I can see is the trouble. If you get into the habit of only seeing what you want to do you will have more chance of achieving it.

I remember a story about one of my hero's Ben Hogan. It goes something like this. Hogan played a new course and did not know where to go. On this particular tee he asked his caddie, "where do I hit it here". The caddie replied, "at that tree down there". Hogan replied "what part of the tree", the caddie said, "that small branch on the left side of the tree" and Hogan said "what part of the branch".

Narrow that target area down. It works..

Cheers
Maurice

Swing Plane Practice

2008-01-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

If you want to be able to produce a great take away in your back swing, then buy yourself a red laser pen. They are fairly cheap being priced at about £5. The exercise I will tell about now will guarantee an on plane start to your golf swing.

Go into a slightly darkened room.
Facing the wall take your posture standing about a club length away from the wall.
Hold the pen as though you are holding it like a club.
Point the red laser where the wall meets the floor.
Slowly start your backswing making sure the laser light moves along where the floor meets the wall.
Only do this for about 3 or 4 feet.
Keep practicing this and you will have a perfect start to your backswing.
You will be on plane.

Cheers

Maurice

Swing Plane

2008-01-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

We hear so many things about the swing plane. I will attempt to do my best and explain what swing plane is. There are a lot of versions of swing plane. As a Golfing Machine Authorised Instructor I work with geometry.

The definition of being on plane is:

Whichever end of your clubshaft is pointing at the ground it must point at the plane line (target line), when the shaft is parallel to the ground it must be parallel to the plane line (target line). The full length of the clubshaft must be on the plane.

If you are confused by that, do not worry.

Below are some pictures that will make the definition clearer for you.

The dowel in my hand is the clubshaft and the dowel on the ground is the plane line (target line).

The picture above left is me at set up with the base of the shaft pointing at the dowel on the ground which is the plane line (target line).The picture above right shows my clubshaft parallel to the ground and parallel to the dowel on the ground (target line).

In the picture above it is half way back. Again you can see the clubshaft pointing at the plane line (target line). This is on an angled or inclined plane.

Again the picture on the left has the clubshaft parallel to the plane line (target line) and the picture on the right shows the clubshaft pointing at the plane line (target line).

You must have the correct information to improve your golf!

This information I have given you concerning plane is not anyone's opinion. It is the law of geometry!

Please be aware there are some companies advertising very expensive swing plane machines. In my view these machine are geometrically flawed and they do not adhere to the principles above. BEWARE!

Hole More Putts and Three Putt Less

2007-12-31T08:39:00.000-08:00

Here is an exercise that if you practice it, you will improve your putting!! It is all up to you.

This exercise was devised by Dave Pelz who is one of the world's leading short game instructors. It is called the safety draw back game. It is very simple to play and I urge you to do so.

When putting to the hole your ball must either finish in the hole or within 1 club length past the hole. If your ball finishes within a club length past the hole, you may continue playing and hole out from where the ball lies.
If your ball finishes short of the hole you must move the ball 1 club length further away from the hole and then attempt to either hole the putt or get the ball to finish within 1 club length past the hole and hole out from there.
If your ball finishes past the hole, but outside a club length past the hole you must move the ball 1 club length further away from the hole. Then attempt to either hole the putt or get the ball to finish within 1 club length past the hole and hole out from there.
When doing this exercise please perform your routine as though you are playing in a competition. It will make your practice more valuable.

Good luck and work hard.

Cheers

Maurice

Clubhead Lag

2007-12-28T04:40:00.000-08:00

Club head lag is the club head trailing behind the hands during the swing. Having the club head lagging behind your hands during the swing is essential if you want to succeed in golf. A lagging club head helps you hit the ball further and more consistently .

The place to feel the lag in your swing is on the index finger of your right hand. This is one of the most overlooked fundamentals is the pressure created by the club resting against the middle joint of the index finger in the right hand (for right handed golfers). This pressure point plays a large role in the lagging of the club on the down swing.
Where the grip falls across the index finger is where we feel the lag of the club. To use this effectively, lay the handle diagonally across the joint of the index finger. During the swing, you want to feel the club's weight in that spot the entire time.

Picture taken from www.golfdigest.com

Cheers
Maurice

Left Arm Straight Exercise Blog

2007-12-27T02:18:00.000-08:00

Here is the exercise I was talking about yesterday;

Here I am at address with a dog collar around my left shoulder and I am holding a dog lead that is stretched down and is acting as my left arm.

In the picture below I am at the top of my swing. You can see here the dog lead is stretched tight. I am stretching it with my right arm.

In the picture below I am at the top of my swing with my right arm bent too much, you can see my hand is closer to my head than the picture above. You can also see the lead has gone slack, which is exactly what happens with your left arm.

In the picture below you can see I am just past impact. Again you can see the right arm is stretching the lead (your left arm). This means you can strike the ball better and become a more consistent golfer. It also means you have a better chance of hitting down on the ball. If your right arm is too bent here you will either thin, top or miss the ball.

Improvement Warning!
Only work on this if you want to get better at golf. If you want to stay the same, just keep doing what you are already doing or if you think just by reading this you will improve I am afraid you will be disappointed!

Cheers

Maurice

The Keep Your Left Arm Straight Blog

2007-12-26T03:04:00.001-08:00

Do you know how to keep your left arm straight? Do you know how to help shorten your swing? Do you know how to help strike the ball consistently?

In this blog on a wonderful sunny boxing day I will discuss with you how you can keep your left arm straight and help your golf.

You keep your left arm straight by trying to straighten your right arm throughout the swing. You do not try to straighten your left arm by itself, it does not work! You must attempt to push your right arm away from from your body all the way through the back swing and the down swing. The job of the right arm is to continually attempt to straighten throughout the swing. The cause of the left arm bending too much is the right arm collapsing. One of the causes of over swinging is the right arm collapsing. One of the causes of inconsistent ball striking is the right arm not straightening throughout the swing.

I hear you say, "no one's right arm straightens on tour". That is true, but this is only the case because their left arm is attached to the club. If there was no left arm the right arm would be very straight during the swing.

To demonstrate my point here is an exercise you can do.(I have discussed this exercise for right handers, simply reverse the procedure for left handers):

Get a belt and get into your golf posture.
Hold one end of the belt against the left side of your chest with your left hand.
Hold the other end of the belt with your right hand.
Keep the belt stretched tight, the belt represents your left arm.
Take a slow swing and keep the belt tight all the way through the swing. What do you feel? What do you have to do to keep the belt tight? You should feel that you have to stretch your right hand away from your body to keep the belt tight.
Now move your right hand closer to your body. What happens? Does the belt slacken? Now stretch your right arm away again. What happens? Does the belt tighten again?

There is an exercise you can use to keep your left arm straight. It will help your golf!

Cheers

Maurice

Drill To Improve Your Impact Alignment

2007-12-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

This following drill will help you to achieve the ideal impact alignment. I first learnt this drill at the British Teaching conference a couple of years ago from one of the best instructors in the world, Martin Hall. He is coach to Morgan Pressel. She is the youngest woman to win a major championship on the LPGA Tour. She won the 2007 ladies US Open.

Here it is.

Step 1.

Put something behind the ball, approximately four inches behind it. Only use an 8 iron or lower for this drill. Use preferably some wood the same size as the item I am using or a plastic chopping board. Maximum thickness you should use is 1 inch. If you use anything thicker you must move it further back from the ball. I am using an old teaching diary for demonstration purposes. Whatever you use needs to be durable. The reason for this is that you will more than likely hit whatever you use. Hover the club slightly so as not to strike whatever you are using on the back swing. Practice this exercise with small swings and without a ball first. When practicing without the ball drive the clubhead into the ground.

Step 2.

Take your swing, remember you are hovering the club at address so you should miss the item on the back swing. Your goal on the down swing is to hit the down on the ball without hitting the item that is behind the ball. This will help you to get into a better impact alignment. To miss the item your hands must be ahead of the club head at impact with the shaft leaning forward. This drill will help move your divot so it is after the ball as well. See my simulated impact below and Ben Hogan's. We both have a forward leaning shaft with a flat left wrist. I practice this exercise and I would encourage all of you to do the same. Below are some links to video's featuring Martin Hall.

Good luck with the practice and Merry Christmas.

Cheers

Maurice

P.S. Click here to watch a great video with Marting Hall talking about this exercise. Click here to find out what Martin Hall learnt from Jack Nicklaus.

Divot Information

2007-12-23T11:54:00.000-08:00

Remember I mentioned the divot happens after the ball, well here is a link to some information that you might be interested in. It will help improve your golf! Bobby Clampett has written a book called "The Impact Zone" and it is one of the best golf instruction books ever written. I would encourage everyone to own a copy! Click here to buy a copy of the book.

"The swing of the average PGA Tour player bottoms out four inches in front of the ball. The average swing bottom of a high-handicapper is an inch or so behind the ball. Considering the difference, it's no wonder there are so many golfers who can't meet their scoring goals.
I wouldn't even want to play if I couldn't hit the ball solidly. I believe a high-handicap golfer would reduce his or her average score by four strokes for every forward inch of improvement made on the swing bottom. In other words, if you want to break a scoring barrier, focus on improving your club's position through the impact zone. This also applies to the short game." Bobby Clampett.

What you see above is what has been discovered in research. The better the player the further after impact the swing bottoms out. So where the divot happens matters!! It has a direct correlation to a golfer improving their scores. The text and picture above have been taken from the golf digest website. Click here to go to the article and other great articles to help your game.

Cheers

Maurice

Pick Your Spot

2007-12-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

I just gave a playing lesson and we worked on some chipping. When chipping distance judging is absolutey essential. Apart from that you must know where you want to land the ball. You need to pick a spot where you want it to land and then go for it. If you land on that spot, you have done all you can do. After that the ball will react according to the ground conditions, the flight of the shot, what kind of ball you are using, what kind of lie you had and the pace of the shot. Your main priority is to always ask yourself some questions. What is my lie like, this will decide what shot you can play and what club you can use . Where do I want to land it? You must walk up to the green and see what the ground is like. It could be soft or hard. Once you know what the ground conditions are like you will have an idea of how the ball may react when it lands. You must not be afraid to make a mistake, just pick a spot and go for it. You will learn from your mistakes. Your mistakes will make you a better player.

The other factor that will greatly determine your success is your practice. You cannot expect to learn how a ball will react unless you practice. You need to know how it reacts off the clubface and how it reacts when it lands. You will then have a better chance of judging distance. So, go and spend some time using the practice ground.

Click here to see Annika Sorrenstam talk about a simple way to chip.

Cheers

Maurice

Hit Down On The Ball Not Up

2007-12-21T02:09:00.000-08:00

One of the problems I consistently see is people continually hitting up when they hit the ball. Great ball strikers hit down on the ball! They literally drive the club head through the ball and hit the ground after the ball. In a previous post I mentioned, to hit the ball well you must have a flat left wrist, a forward leaning shaft and a bent right wrist at impact. If you hit down it can help you achieve those impact alignments. You cannot hit down if your shaft leans back away from the target at impact. It must lean forward!
One point that does not help is that people just do not know where the bottom of their swing should be. It is quite common for people to say to me that they believe the divot is made either before the ball or at the ball. No, it is made AFTER the ball. I saw some fantastic footage taken by one of my colleagues. It showed a player hitting the ball, the ball flying away and the club head still going down with the ball flying in the air. The camera was filming at 500 frames per second so we could see what was going on. I wish everyone could see it, as it shows exactly what happens in a good effective golf swing.

Here I am showing an exercise I give to some of my golfers to help them feel what it is like to hit down.

1) Take your normal set up with a golf ball in your right hand.

2) Take your backswing with your right hand.

3) Throw the ball down at the ball on the ground. You are

trying to hit the ball that is on the ground.

4) Do this a few times and feel what is happening. You might feel your arm is going down. That is what I feel when I do this exercise and this is how your right arm should perform during the golf swing.

The job of your right arm is to continually straighten during the swing. This is a great exercise for your game.

Have fun working on your game.

Cheers

Maurice

Sorry I can't get the pictures to line up correctly.

The Head Turner

2007-12-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

A very long time ago I used to go and have lessons of a golf coach called Mal Tongue. He was and still is a great golf coach. He used to coach Michael Campbell (2005 US Open winner), in fact he was the guy that totally revamped Michael's golf swing for him so he was able to start to compete at the highest level. He was knowledgeable, intelligent and a hard task master, which is what most people need.

The reason I mention him is because what he taught us in the years way back and beyond was to rotate our head towards the target before impact. He said it helped to turn through the shot better and I totally agree with him. Coincidentally I am not the only one who agrees with him. That golf coaching legend Jim McLean agrees with him as well and Mr McLean is talking about that very thing in the January 2008 edition of golf digest. He says in the golf digest that, "Most tour pros rotate their heads toward the target before impact, yet the single swing thought for most amateurs is to keep their head down".

This is controversial, but you will find that some great ball strikers that rotate their head towards the target. Players such as Jim Furyk , Annika Sorenstam, Joe Durrant, Hal Sutton, Robert Allenby and Carl Petterson to name a few.

Keeping your head down too long can contribute to a bad back, poor weight transfer and lack of body turn through to the target. All of those are bad for your golf, but if you want to listen to your playing partners who keep telling you that you are lifting your head, well that is up to you as it is your golf game after all. But one thing I can tell you is that you will inhibit your progress by trying to keep your head down too long.

Golf Biodynamics inc performed research on 75 tour pros and 150 amateurs. The tour tour pros rotated their head towards the target an average of 19.4 degrees and the amateurs rotated their head towards the target an average of 4.4 degrees. (page 73 January 2008 Golf Digest).

If you want to be like the best you must do what the best do.

Click here to visit the page where you will see Jim McLean talking about the head swivel and also giving you a drill to work on it.

Cheers
Maurice

Hit The Golf Ball Further

2007-12-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

I subscribe to a magazine called golf digest. You can find it at www.golfdigest.com and in my opinion it is the best golf instruction magazine on the market. If you want to improve your golf I would recommend everyone to have a subscription. A perfect Christmas or birthday present. No, I don't get a commission for recommending it. Here is an article to help you hit the golf ball further than ever before.

I came across a great article from one of the best golf coaches in the world, Jim McLean. I have read several of his books and followed his principles all my golf instruction career. He is a legend. He has performed a huge amount of research on what he has termed "The X Factor". The X is a line drawn across the shoulders and a line drawn across the hips. When the golfer is at the top of their back swing their shoulders may turn 90 degrees and the hips may turn 45 degrees. This forms an X when looking down from above the golfer. What Jim McLean found was that if the shoulders and and hips had a big difference in turn between them then the golfer had a greater X Factor and therefore had the potential to hit the ball further. He also found that golfers who turn their shoulders and hips a similar amount had a poor X Factor and therefore hit the ball a shorter distance.

So if you want to have a better chance of hitting the ball further then you must separate your upper body and lower body turn or in other words you must turn your shoulders more and turn your hips less (be careful with your back if you have back problems). You need to do some flexibility exercises so that you are able to turn your shoulders without turning your hips too far. Unfortunately some people will never be able to do this for various reasons. Bad back, overweight, lack of flexibility in the muscles are just a few reasons that people will not be able to do this.

For those who can increase their range of movement please get some help to improve your body fitness and flexibility because I learned long ago that if your body can't do it, you have no chance of doing it in the golf swing.

Here is a link to watch a video of Jim McLean giving you a great drill to help increase your X Factor and your upper body turn. www.golfdigest.com/instruction/video/mcleanpwrcoil

Have a look to help your golf. Please be careful if you have back problems whilst performing a greater body turn. You perform this drill at your own risk.

Thank you to Mr Jim McLean for providing us with a simple video via Golf Digest showing us how to have a greater X Factor and body coil.

Cheers
Maurice

Improve Your Golf

2007-12-18T03:25:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a look at the video I posted as it describes how to attain a flat left wrist (flw). I will help you to improve your golf and to reduce your handicap. The problem us that you will have to do some work yourself.
I often hear comments like "I am a bad putter" or "I can't putt". I normally come back with, do you practice your putting? The answer is normally no. So if you you don't work on it yourself how do you expect to get any better.

Putting is all about distance judging. So you need to practice distance judging to get better at this wonderful golfing skill.

Practice the longest putt you can have on your putting green. If you can judge this you can judge anything.
Work on rhythm when you practice all putts. That means one speed back, same speed through. Smooth does not mean slow!
When you practice your putting please ensure you do your routine. This will help you perform under pressure. There is a ton of research documenting the fact that practicing your routine is essential.
Patience is vital, getting better takes time. When I was competing on a regular basis I hit at least 100 putts per day. Now I realise this is not practical for most working men or women. You must do something!
Have fun, becoming a great putter is the best fun in the world.

Cheers
Maurice

Golf Machiner Is Here!

2007-12-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here you will learn how to improve your golf. I am a PGA Golf Professional of some 13 years experience. I hold a G.S.E.B qualification which means Golf Swing Engineer Bachelor. I also hold a PGA Professional qualification which I attained in 1998 where I was runner up in the trainee of the year awards and received a national assistants scoholarship.

I love teaching and passing on information to help golfers improve. Please post on this blog any questions you have or opinions and I will attempt to answer them for you.

My idols in golf are Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to name a few. All of which had something I am going to mention to you now.

A flat left wrist at impact (flw).
A forward leaning shaft at impact.
A downward strike at impact.

These are three things every golfer should strive to attain, but 99% fail to do so. Why? Well, poor teaching and education is one cause. Also their understanding on how to get the ball in the air is another cause. I remember attending the European Teaching Conference in Spain some years ago now with a friend of mine who now teaches in Turkey for David Leadbetter Golf, another top draw Kiwi I might add. Anyway in this conference a well known instructor said, listen, you hit down to make the ball go up and you hit up to make the ball go down, it is that simple!! Wow! If it were only that simple you say, but it is I assure you. One of the MAJOR things that stops your progress is what you feel and what you do are different. You don't think they are, but honestly they are and I will prove it time and time again. You must practice the correct actions to get better results just like the people I have mentioned.

Stand in front of a mirror with a club and practice the impact alignment. Flat left wrist, forward leaning shaft and push down!
Practice small swings hitting down, just SMALL swings without a ball at first. Remember that shaft MUST be leaning forward!
Click through on this link and watch this video. This is watch I teach, this guy knows what he is talking about. WATCH IT!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm8nXn34yUU

As I said, post questions and comments. I look forward to receiving them. Look here tomorrow for more information.

Maurice