Well, it was bound to happen when players had to give up the square grooves in clubs, especially wedges. Phil Mickelson and several others are finding a way to get around the new groove issue.

What has happened is the USGA had ruled out the use of square grooved golf clubs effective Jan.1 on the Tour. Players are freaked out with the thought they actually may have to hit it straighter now that they can’t rely on the extra spin the grooves give them.

Here is the loophole several players are squeezing through. Ping had won a lawsuit back in 1993 that grandfathered wedges made before April 1, 1990 are technically allowed for play on the Tour. Other veterans such as Scott McCarron, Rocco Mediate, have come forward and called out these other players who have been taking advantage of this loop hole and flat out calling them cheaters. Now that may be an over-statement, but it certainly raises concerns of integrity for sure.

I have mixed feelings on this matter. One one hand, Phil and others using these grandfathered clubs, are using them because they were ruled legal by the governing bodies of golf. On the other hand, it is probably not the ’spirit’ of the rule. I guess if every player had access to wedges built before 1990, then I would feel ok about this decision. It may be hard to find many wedges that old that were not totally worn out by now ! I don’t know how Phil and the others did it..talk about a pack rat to keep clubs that old !! I thought I was bad..

What should the Tour do ? In the midst of the Tiger scandal, now the number two in the world is using a questionable golf club. Wow…Phil says and I quote “I feel like the Eye 2 grooves don’t conform, but they’re approved for play.” It may not be conforming, but can another player scream in your backswing? It’s not in the rules, only an unwritten rule. Can I drag my feet across the green in an attempt to sabotage other players line? ( actually this one happens more than you may think ) Or maybe I can use other gamesmanship tricks to get the ‘advantage’, no cheating… it’s all within the rules.

If you were to ask me (in fact I was asked and Phil was my answer) which players would be most effected by this rule change, ole Lefty would have been on my short list. He needs every groove possible to pull off some of those incredible spinners he hits out of the rough.

Very tough to call this one. I can see both sides and understand how arguments can be made supporting either. I hope the Tour comes out and addresses this issue before it get even more out of hand.

One of my new students recently made several comments during our lesson that really drove home the foundation of The Impact Method. He was really struggling to get the golf club to bottom out in front of the ball, and when he tried to hit “down” on the ball he usually chunked ( hit behind ) the golf ball. I can’t tell you how many times I see this same problem with golfers.

One thing this student also could not do was strike his long irons, and fairway woods consistently. I believe golfers should learn to hit 3 and 4 irons correctly because it will teach you to make correct impact alignments, hybrid clubs are great, but often will mask swing issues. Use your hybrids, but take a 3 iron to the range and see how well you can strike the ball. It is a true test of your golf swing.

Upon a comprehensive video analysis my student could easily see why he was struggling. Golfers need to see what they are doing to really understand how to correct their flaws. Correct diagnosis and prescribing drills they can perform are dramatically improved when using a swing analysis system.

If you have not seen your swing on high speed video and have an understanding of your golf swing then you are really wasting practice time. Improvement moves incredibly fast after an evaluation using a tool such as video. If you have a video camera, click my contact on this page and I will upload your swing to my software and send it to you with audio and breakdown of your swing. Turn around time is only one day !

Tom Watson won on the Champions Tour this past week at the age of 60. Tom birdied the last two holes to defeat Champions Tour ‘rookie’ Fred Couples. Time has stood still for Watson. He also lost in a playoff in the British Open last year, and it would not surprise me if he makes another run at other events this season. How do you think he does this? And at 60 years young!!

I believe Watson can stay competitive for as long as he wants. He has stated he wants to play professionally until he is 70 years old.  What will make that possible is an extremely efficient golf swing that actually has gotten better and better over time. He has always had beautiful rhythm to go along with a superb chipping game. He certainly has had battles with the putter, but don’t believe for one minute he thinks that he can’t putt.

There is a lesson we can learn from Tom. If we keep our body in shape with daily routines of flexibility and strength exercises you can maintain your golf game well into your seventies. Golf swings that are very simple will stand the test of time and this is why it is important to develop proper swing mechanics from the beginning.

Take the first step towards maintaining your game for a lifetime. Gathering correct swing information and applying it correctly is critical. The rest is easy !!

Recently I gave a lesson to an upcoming high school golfer. He is a very strong player and shows great potential. One issue we are working on is getting his arm motion to match up with his body movement.

I see many golfers who either start the forward swing with the arms or some who even delay the swinging motion with the arms and they become ’stuck’ behind your body upon impact which then requires a hand flip at impact in an attempt to square the clubface. Each mistake presents problems and introduces inconsistent results.

What happens with most when I see this problem, is the lack of continuity ( or blending ) of arm swing and body rotation during the backswing. Many players snatch the club away from the ball during takeaway and the arms simply will never accidentally regain the position they need for impact. The muscles of the arms and hands are twitchy and fast, allowing them to move quicker than the turn of the body. Given this fact, it is important to establish the arm – body relationship from the beginning of your swing.

A key thought would be for you to check where your hands are in relation to you sternum at waist high during the backswing. Check this while swinging in front of a mirror. Are they in front of your sternum? If they are not, you need to make a takeaway that ‘connects’ the arms and pivot so your hands will remain in front of your chest to this waist high position. I had the good fortune of playing golf with the late Payne Stewart, and when I asked him what he worked on in his swing, he said keeping his arms with his body. Very simple to understand, but difficult to master.

If you check this waist high position and then feel your arms remain in front of your chest during the forward swing, I know you will create much more consistent impact alignments.

How many times have you heard “swing down the line”? What does someone mean when they say that? Should you swing the golf club around your body and then down the line towards the target ? Humm..now that sounds a little unclear to me and probably for you as well. Let’s address this topic.

Think of the golf swing and how your arms and club rotate around a fixed point, which would be your spine, or torso. If we use the analogy of a tetherball pole I believe the point will be very clear. Imagine the pole represents your body, and  rope attaching the pole and ball is your arms. If we rotate the pole and place an object in the path of the ball, it will strike the object as it approaches from AROUND not on a straight line. Upon contact, the ball, assuming the pole maintains constant position, will then travel back AROUND not in a straight line in the direction of where the ball went. You can certainly see how much velocity would be lost if we were to push or pull the golf club out of it’s natural orbit around the body.

The next time you practice, feel as is the golf club moves around your body on both sides of the swing. I believe you will find your impact alignments will become much stronger and consistent.

I recently was asked by one of my students how far should they rotate the shoulders on the backswing. This question comes up often with students, especially when they try hitting the golf ball with drivers.

Ideally you should maximize your turn. What this means is your shoulders will be 90 degrees to the target which places the center of your back towards the target. One thing many golfers do is swing the arms and not move the upper body(shoulders) correctly during the backswing. What you should look for is keeping the hands in front of the chest and not allowing the arms to continue swinging back when backswing rotation stops. This lack of support from the body will lead to the arms working independently throughout the golf swing. Try to imagine the arms will not move back unless the turn engages and I think you will find it much easier to blend the arm swing with the body pivot.

Golfers must understand where to look when searching for “what is wrong with my swing.” I recently read an article from Bobby Eldridge, the self- proclaimed internet golf guru. I am sure he has helped some folks out and maybe even can break 80 himself. I can assure you that when you understand the impact alignments and the swing patttern to produce them time and time again,  all other information you are bombarded with from these guys is irrelevant! It drives me crazy seeing so much fluff going on when teaching golfers.  Any questions feel free to ask!!

I played my first round of golf with the 2010 Titleist CB irons yesterday. The irons were terrific, but really difficult to tell how far they were going compared to my others. Everything, loft,lie, shaft are identical, but given the fact we were playing in cold, wet weather the ball simply did not travel as far in those conditions. I use the 60 degree rule..if the temperature is near or below 60 degrees (give or take 5 degrees) I will always consider taking more club than usual with my irons. You should do the same thing.

I played with one of my students, who is rapidly shooting lower scores with each round and hitting shots he never thought possible. He is a student of the impact method and believes deeply in my system, especially after he had worked with many teachers before, only to see no improvement with his game. We played a nice round at his club and I played well (under par), even though it was a tough day to score given the playing conditions and my focus primarily on my student! I had a lot of ..”is this right?” ,”how does this look?” coming from him !!  However, it was exciting to watch him and the pleasure he got from correct strikes.

While we were enjoying a cold drink after the round, I couldn’t help but glance at a local magazine with Tiger on the cover. It was cover to cover about how Tiger’s escapades will hurt the Tour. Several current players, including Harrison Frazar commented on what they thought would happen. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Harrison said the Tour has wrapped itself around Tiger for the last ten years and they have done everything possible to keep him playing here, short of paying appearance fees. Actually, wouldn’t surprise me if that happens one day soon. Most of the Professionals interviewed agreed the Tour needs to market more than Tiger and basically what they did was put all eggs in one basket…. Tiger mania.

Well, don’t know about you but I totally agree. Their are many golfers who strike the ball as good as Tiger, who hit it longer, and don’t cheat on their wives, or have a total disregard for their family. These are the golfers the Tour needs to seek to restore the image that has been tarnished with Tiger. It will be a long process, but I would be willing to bet the Tour is already taking steps in that direction..no doubt about it. Whatever the case, the golf world needs to move forward with or without Tiger. Like most, I would like to see him come back and play well again.

I recently was looking over several articles in a golf magazine. I was amazed years ago and still am today about how many thoughts and theories are actually right there for you. This game can be as complicated as you will allow it to be, and if you listen to The Golf Channel and read about the golf swing you will definitely fall head first into believing the same.

Every person is different in his or hers ability to move their body during the golf swing. This fact will directly influence how well you can possibly hit the ball. Let’s face it, the ball doesn’t care how old, weak, strong, young, etc. you are. It will only respond to a strike that comes from correct impact alignments. It is frustrating when you here so much information that never even comes close to hitting on this subject. I have seen 70 year olds who have gained more distance and control after years, even decades of struggling to find the answer to their swing.

Ask yourself this question: What I am trying to change in my swing and why? Make sure you have a clear understanding what these changes will do for your game ..make sure you are on the right path.

During one of my lessons today, I had the pleasure of working with a relatively new golfer who is dedicated to working and doing whatever needed to improve. We began the lesson with some conversation about the state of his golf game so I could become more familiar with his golf swing knowledge and where he feels improvement can be made.

After he hit one golf ball it was very easy to see why he felt he was losing distance and hitting behind the ball. Upon filming his swing using a high speed camera and viewing it through swing analysis software, even he could see where the breakdown occurred. This is an important step in making changes with a student – they must be aware and feel the problem so they can make changes.

What was happening with this student is something I see with 90% of players, especially new golfers. Simply stated, they do not make adequate moves with the lower body on the forward swing to create correct impact alignments. When he understood where he needed to be at impact, he then could easily feel his move into the left hip on the forward swing stall and wrists collapsing at impact.

Just a few simple drills for this student and he was able to actually compress the golf ball. He was amazed at how far he could hit the ball with such little effort. I explained to  him what he was feeling was leverage and hitting the golf ball without flipping the clubhead at the golf ball.  45 minutes later he completely understood the path we were going to take to improve his golf swing . The student was so excited and confident. He also certainly had a totally clear picture of where he was going with his golf swing..he was never going to hit another golf ball and wonder how and  if could get better. The picture was crystal clear.

I can’t believe my golf hero turns 70 this month. I grew up watching Jack Nicklaus dominate the PGA Tour much like we see Tiger doing today..assuming he will after he comes back. The ongoing debate of who is better between them will never be completely decided in my opinion. Jack was certainly considered a ‘bomber’ of the golf ball in his hey day, same as Tiger, and was also argueably the best putter, same as Tiger.  Both players intimidated the field in a way that gave them an advantage before the event even started and if they began to climb the leaderboard on Sunday, other players would seem to slip.

Jack holds the major championship record of 18. Tiger is four short of reaching the number. I hope this is one record that Jack will keep !