Low point control

I don’t know about you, but I’m still buzzing after watching Rory McIlroy’s unbelievable win at the Masters last Sunday.

After the first day of the tournament, commentators told us that no player had ever made two double bogeys in the Masters and gone on to win. Rory had two on Thursday.

He added another two on Sunday, including a spectacularly awful approach to the par-five 13th that led to a seven.

But Rory recovered, regained the lead and limped into a playoff with Justin Rose. Playing the tight and tough 18th, both players hit the fairway. Rose hit a good approach to about 20 feet. Rory was much longer and had just a wedge, that he hit crisply and precisely, finishing some four to five feet from the pin.

Rose’s attempt at birdie failed, but Rory drained his and let the emotion of his achievement out, sobbing his way to the Butler Cabin.

It took Rory 11 years to win the Masters after he had captured the other three majors. With the weight of that quest lifted from his shoulders, will Rory contend in and win more majors?

I think he will. He’s too good a player and still young at 35. My money is on at least 10 majors by the time he is 40.

What do you think? Reply to this email and let me know.

As you can see, there is no list of the tips offered in this week’s Finding the Tips. Instead, I have created a playlist that is a lot of work to get through, but if you persevere, your ball striking will improve monumentally.

Let’s get to it.

Low point master class

Trevor Salzman of TS Golf is one of the golf instruction world’s young stars. He’s been featured in Finding the Tips several times.

This week, though, he finished the delivery of a seven-video series on what may be the most important skill in golf — controlling the low point in your golf swing.

With irons, we need the low point of the swing — the spot where the club contacts the ground — to be two to four inches after the ball. In other words, a well struck iron hits the ball first and the turf second.

With driver, the low point is behind the ball (with no turf contact) and we strike the teed up ball with an upward blow.

I’ve created a playlist called Low Point from which you can view this seven-part series. In my mind, the ability to control the low point in your swing is what separates good players from the great and amateurs from the professionals.

The videos in this series deal with:

1. Trail Shoulder Up & Back vs Lead Shoulder Down

2. Pelvis Forward

3. Pressure Forward

4. Maintaining Upper Body Centered

5. Managing the Wrist

6. These Two Lines Change Everything

7. Managing the Depth

These videos give you great swing thoughts and drills that will help you compress the ball better, hit it farther and have better control over direction and curve (fade or draw).

You don’t need any equipment or swing aids. If you don’t have alignment sticks, use clubs. Instead of a yoga wedge, put a golf ball under the outside of your trail foot. He also references the Hack Motion device, but it’s not necessary. Just do the drills and follow his instructions.

These seven videos range in length from less than 10 minutes up to nearly13 minutes, so this is not something you can take on in one day. I recommend you review the videos at 1.5 speed. You can do that by changing the playback speed found inside video’s settings (the gear icon). On your phone, just tap inside the video and it will come up. On a computer, hover your mouse over the video and the gear icon will appear.

Once you’ve viewed the videos, go to a range and work on the drills. For me, I find it most beneficial to play the video on my phone while I’m doing the drills or practice.

Low point control is the holy grail if we want to play better golf.

The newsletter will return to its normal format when it returns on Friday, April 25.