What a week at the John Deere classic, just a week before the British Open Championship at St.Andrews. In case you didn’t hear, Steve Stricker set a new 54 hole PGA Tour record of 25 under par. Oh, I forgot to mention Paul Goydos shot the elusive 59 the first round of the tournament. He shot 59, 68, 67 and is 6 shots off the lead. How would you like to shoot those scores and be in second place! Welcome to the PGA Tour !

What has come over Stricker the last two years? Well I am going to tell you. If you compare his golf swing from today and three years ago you will notice a striking difference (no pun intended !). In the past he swung the golf club well, but not nearly as efficient as he does now. The golf club pointed slightly right of  target at the top of his backswing and was definitely longer, or what I would call extensive arm travel. What this promotes is potential loose shots. Whenever the body pivot and arm swing do not match, I can guarantee your wild shots will happen more often.

What Stricker did with his instructor is exactly what I teach all my students. He shortened the travel of his arms which made it easier to get the golf club on plane throughout the entire swing and certainly allowed matching his pivot and arms. Sounds easy? Well, not as easy as you may think. Simply swinging shorter is not the total answer. Most golfers when they try shortening the arm swing will feel they lose all their power. If this happens to you, then your pivot is not working effectively in your golf swing  which makes it necessary for arm momentum to become the leading source of power. Results will be inconsistent not to mention you actually lose power because leverage you need from the pivot will not be gained.

Work on matching your arms and pivot if you want efficient and consistent ball striking. That is what  Tour players have all mastered. For help with this move contact me on this site or check my book The Art of Compression where I discuss this in detail. I have also posted a video clip which will help. Check it out below !