"Everybody can get better on 15 minutes per day."
"You can even get better on 5 minutes per day."
Tom Tucker, Unrenowned Golf Coach 😄
Tom's Featured Tip: Problem: Strong Driver - Weak Irons
Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
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Batavia Country Club
The Divot Board Check out their new turf mats, I think they copied what I did - but in a better way!
Fiberbuilt Golf Flight Deck Practice Station
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SuperSpeedGolf.com
Club Champion
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Problem: Strong Driver - Weak Irons
The Best Training Aid For Indoor or Outdoor Practice
The Divot Board
This is the most useful ball striking development training aid that I own.
Problem: Strong Driver - Weak Irons
For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective.
I received a call Monday from a young senior golfer that I've worked with for years. He told me that he's been practicing on a simulator and has noticed that although his driver swing speed and distance has been fine, his irons aren't carrying as long as usual.
I know his swing like the back of my hand, so it was easy to work out some fixes for him after we talked a little more about his training and frame of mind. In a sense this is premature, because he hasnt worked on these fixes yet, but I'm 100% positive they will work.
As a side note, his swing technique is a weight forward bias swing, with a forward weight shifted rotational power aspect.
Another side note: playing on a simulator mat sometimes causes you to round off your iron swings at impact to avoid crashing your wrists into the mat. Easier on your wrists, but not a good swing habit to develop.
A key to uncovering the problem was that he said his driver swing was great, but impact with his irons was not good.
This student, who plays at a high level, is very conscientious about tempo and works at having a nice smooth looking swing. So much so, that he was envisioning his irons swing circle to be the same as his driver swing circle.
It's true that a driver swing circle can look almost languid in its fluidness, and still create a lot of swing speed when done with good technique.
The problem is that when you think that way for your irons, you may deprive yourself of maximum power at impact.
While it's absolutely true that you can "think" yourself into a good swing, it's also true that if you don't "think" correctly, you won't optimize your results.
My corrections involved developing and releasing more power in his downswing, and a technique thought for his downswing path.
Developing Downswing Power
I gave him two simple exercise band exercises to do three times per week, 3 sets of ten reps each, as follows:
- Affix a band to his front foot with tension, and slowly swing his hands (holding the band) to a 3/4 backswing position, hold at that point for 10 seconds, then repeat.
- Affix a band to an anchor head high and slightly behind him, start the downswing at the 3/4 position with tension in the band, then swing his hands powerfully and fast to the impact position. Hold at that point for 10 seconds, then repeat.
During our conversation, he mentioned that he rarely takes much of a divot with his irons, which, in my mind, reinforced that he was concentrating too much on smooth, and not considering power.
I told him to re-imagine his downswing arc for his irons to be less of a circle, and more of a straight line into the back of the ball, as if he was driving the ball into the ground. And to do so with the thought of power - or even violence 😄 - being applied to the back center of the ball. Note that the path will NOT actually be a straight line, due to proper weight shifting and rotation. But he needs to envision his downswing path as a straight line vectoring into the rear center (not the rear bottom) of the ball to make it work for him.
Here's an easy to make training aid to help visualize your downswing angle, a nail through a golf ball.
Position the training aid ball with the nail angled downward, next to and outside of your ball to visualize the correct impact angle.
He practices his ball striking with a Divot Board . I asked him if it moves much or pops up after his iron strikes, and he said it didn't. To me, that indicates that his vertical attack angle is too shallow, or he's steering the clubhead into the ball without power. I told him to see himself pulling the clubhead down on a straight line into the back center of the ball in his downswing. Then the divot board should pop up a bit after impact. That indicates a much better iron strike.
Last but not least, I told him that after enough technique reps, to swing freely but powerfully with his irons when he plays.
No steering, swing freely.
Try it, you'll like it!
Email Comments: to TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, The Stack and Tilt Swing
Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, and remember that golf is a game of discovery. Don't be afraid to experiment when you practice, it's good for your golfing brain.
Tom
Golf Lessons
I conduct lessons at The Batavia Country Club
Lessons are available for all ages and skill levels, please contact
me - Tom Tucker - at (716) 474 3005 or email me at TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
for more information.
Outdoor Lessons Details and Rates:
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Sponsors and Affiliates
Buying a sponsored product through any of my affiliate links helps support this free newsletter, and I only affiliate with excellent products that I use myself. Thanks, Tom
Batavia Country Club (585) 343-7600 www.bataviacc.com
Great rates, the best greens in WNY.
Golf Digest Four Star rating for public courses to play in New York State.
Tee times online or by phone in season.
Click here to buy your Divot Board to drastically improve your ball-striking. Combine your Divot Board practice and putting practice with the included putting lesson drills, and watch your scoring improve1. And make sure to check out their new turf mats, I think they copied what I did - but in a better way!
Use your club or hand to re-set the board after your strike
Click here to buy now for outstanding Ball-Striking practice feedback
BONUS: when you buy through the newsletter link above, you'll also receive free access to my Putting Lesson Videos ($60 value) which cover: The Elevated Aimline Drill, The Squareness Awareness Drill, The Aimline Accuracy Drill, The Stock Putting Stroke Drill, The Barrier Drill, The Short Putt Channel Drill, and more.
Click here to buy your Fiberbuilt Golf Flight Deck Practice Station. (Editor's note: Order through Amazon Prime instead of through the manufacturer's site and you'll save around $100)
If you are looking for the most robust portable hitting station that money can buy, the Fiberbuilt Golf Flight Deck Practice Station fits the bill.
Click here SuperSpeedGolf.com to buy this swing speed training aid and increase your distance off the tee.
SuperSpeedGolf.com Buy now and get to work on increasing your swing speed now.
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Train with a Rypstick to improve your swing speed and gain more distance off the tee. If the versatility of three different swing weights in one club appeals to you, this is your swing speed training aid of choice.
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Click here Rypstick.com to buy now, and make sure that you enter TOMTUCKERGOLF (case sensitive) in the Discount code box when you check out to receive a 5% discount.
All the best,
Tom Tucker
Teaching Professional, Batavia Country Club
WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher"
USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional
IGPA Certified Golf Psychology Coach
Cell: (716) 474-3005
Email: TomTuckerGolf@gmail.com
http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com
"There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection1"
~ Ben Hogan