Welcome to Finding the Tips!

I’ve been playing golf for more than 50 years. When I examine that statement, I can’t help but wonder why I don’t play a helluva lot better.

About 10 years ago, I was playing alone late one afternoon, when I was ambushed by an attack of the dreaded shanks. I laughed off the first one as an aberration. Then hit 12 more in succession, using my sand wedge.

I remember someone once saying that a shank is very close to a perfect shot — just a small distance from the sweet spot to the hosel. For me, that distance might as well have been lightyears. I was infected and had no answer.

Every round was an adventure. I dreaded having to hit a 9 iron or less.

I adjusted my swing, trying to hit the ball off the middle or even the toe of the clubface.

Shank!

I adjusted my hand path to the inside on the downswing.

Shank!

I took Cheech Marin’s advice to Kevin Costner in Tin Cup — I turned my hat backwards and moved all my change and tees from my right pants pocket to the left.

Shank!

I even went so far as to put a ladies 9-wood in my bag. And while I didn’t shank that, it’s not much use from a greenside bunker.

I sought professional help and that got me short term relief, but I still needed to understand why the shanks happened.

I found the answer (for me) on YouTube. I was early extending my hips on the downswing.

In finding that answer, I found drills to Fix Your Shank for good, courtesy of Rick Shiels, a UK golf teaching professional. He posted that lesson on the Golf Monthly YouTube channel. Because it was so successful for me, I found Rick’s channel on YouTube and subscribed immediately. (I’ve also subscribed to the Golf Monthly channel and visit it regularly.)

As it turns out, Rick Shiels Golf is the largest golf channel on YouTube with more that 2.7 million subscribers and a library of more than 2,200 videos. All free! He creates golf videos to entertain, inform and educate golfers around world.

Rick’s channel was a great starting point for me, and I recommend you start there, too. Just search “Rick Shiels Golf” on YouTube or go to rickshiels.com. Hit the big red subscribe button and click the bell icon so you can be notified every time he loads a new video.

I’m subscribed to more than 300 YouTube channels. The vast majority are golf related. And my list of golf subscriptions continues to grow.

My aim with this newsletter is to help you find the channels and the golf instruction tips and drills that will help you. You could find them yourself, but unless you’re a retired guy like me, who has the time?

Every Friday, I’ll bring you at least one tip that has worked for me. I’m not a pro, so I’ll just give you the link and you can see if it works for you.

I’m also working on curated lists of videos dealing with common issues in our golf games. This will include fixes for slices, hooks, those freaking shanks, topped shots, fat shots, pushes, pulls and more.

It will also include tips and drill videos dealing with putting, short game, sand shots and on-course strategy. And more!

None of these lists will be exhaustive. but I’ll do my best to bring you links to instructional videos that are well done.

So welcome to Finding the Tips. Please let your golfing partners and friends know about the newsletter. Forward it to them and ask them to subscribe. It’s absolutely free you can unsubscribe at any time.

Yes, I’ll be hurt, but we’ll still be golf buddies! grin

See you next Friday!