Keep smiling!

When I started Finding the Tips, I let a bunch of college friends know what I was doing. Many of them signed up to receive the newsletter. One of them didn’t even play golf any more, but he was always there with his camera when the group got together to play.

Last week, we lost him suddenly and I know that everyone who knew him was crushed by the news. Some people are so obviously good, and so good to be around, that they put a positive spin on your life. Gary was one of those people.

After college, I moved away and life went ahead. I met up with the college guys again about 40 years later. When I saw Gary, he greeted me as if no time at all had passed. After all that time, he was the same guy with the same laugh.

Gary was someone whose mere presence made you feel better.

Now that he’s gone, I can still hear him laugh (particularly at his own jokes 😀.) And when I want to feel better, I’ll think of him again. And again. And again.

In this issue

• Lengthen arms, hit irons solid!

• Fix the top 5 alignment mistakes

• Chip and slide to lower scores

• Finding the Tips shorts

  • Get out of the boat

  • One for Gary

• This week’s playlist

Lengthen arms, hit irons solid!

Many golfers find themselves hitting thin shots with their irons because their lead arm contracts on the downswing.

Eric Cogorno Golf shows us how to train our golf swing to lengthen and fully extend the arms just after impact. If we combine that extension with the intent to make contact with the ground after impact, we have a recipe for solid contact and shots that are longer and more on target.

In the video, Eric talks about an app called Shot Scope. If you have some specific rangefinders or GPS devices, the app will track your shots on the golf course and give you “shots gained” information so you can measure your performance against players with specific handicaps.

If you don’t have Shot Scope, don’t worry about it. The instruction in this video will still show you how to hit your irons more crisply and accurately. Ingrain this instruction into your swing and your scores will drop.

One item you might want to get, though, is a golf impact bag. If you have an old duffle bag or old cushions, you can create one for yourself. When you watch the video, you’ll understand how. If you want to buy an impact bag, Amazon has them for $25-$35 Cdn plus tax.

Eric gives us great drills and also explains the importance of the body turn on the downswing through impact and to the end of the follow through. You’ll not only hit the ball better, you’ll do so more athletically.

Fix the top 5 alignment mistakes

During every round, on every hole, with every shot, the goal is to get the ball into the hole. To do that we have to aim our shots correctly.

Chris Ryan Golf shows us the five worst alignment mistakes golfers make and shows us how to easily fix them.

The list of those mistakes is:

1. Approaching the ball incorrectly

2. Not having an intermediate target

3. Lifting your head to check alignment

4. Mismatching alignment of feet, knees, forearms and shoulders

5. Adjusting aim by just moving your feet

For most players, improved alignment virtually guarantees better scores.  Chris Ryan gives clear instruction to help us build better alignment into our pre-shot routine.

Chip and slide to lower scores

In the course of a typical round of golf, all of us face more chips for birdie or par than putts.

We are forced to depend on our short game skills to help up us chip it close and then one-putt.

Mr. Short Game shows us how we can take advantage of the construction of our wedges to hit a shot that is super easy.

He wants us to set up with the face of our wedge very slightly open. Then he wants us to contact the ground short of the ball with the sole plate, or bounce, of our wedge. The bounce will slide over the grass. If we turn our body through the shot, the ball will connect with the face of the wedge, fly onto the green and roll out towards the hole.

This is a simple shot and it can even be used in a bunker.

Just slide the slightly open the face of your wedge and slide it into the back on the ball, while you continue to rotate your body around your lead leg.  

Master that contact and then you can work on pace. Master pace and your scores will plummet!

Finding the Tips shorts

Get out of the boat

Looking for some extra distance with any of your clubs? Michael Breed shows you how to do it with your lead hip and shoulder.

One for Gary

Here’s one from JJ Harp Golf. Keep smiling down on us, Gary!

This week’s playlist

Here’s a playlist of videos I reviewed for inclusion in this week’s edition of Finding the Tips.

The playlist includes all the videos that appear in the newsletter and those that didn’t make the cut.

Let me know if you disagree with my selections or if you saw another video not on the playlist that you thought was worthy of inclusion.