Do you need to practice your golf swing in order to improve? This is an often asked, yet excellent question. So to give you an answer, I’d like to use an analogy to make a point about improving your golf swing. If you decided at 40 years old that you wanted to become a pitcher for a local baseball team, however you hadn’t played baseball for 25 years – would you need to practice throwing pitches before your first game?

If you had to pitch this coming Saturday, the following Saturday and each Saturday after that for the next 10 weeks … how many days would you practice each week before you pitched?

If you practiced 2 times this week for about 1 hour each session – how well do you think you would do in your first game? Then if you practiced 2 times the following week – do you think that you would do better or worse than your first game? And if you practiced 2 times the following week … do you agree that you would be getting better each week?

What would happened if you practiced 1 time each week? Would you improve your pitching as much as if you practiced 2 times a week? After 3 weeks of practicing twice a week – how much farther a long would you be than if you only practiced 1 time a week?

Now imagine if you didn’t practice at all. You just decided to pitch each Saturday – would you do as well as you would if you had practiced 1 time during the week? Would you be anywhere close to being as successful as if you practiced 2 times during the week?

The question isn’t whether you should or should not practice to improve your golf swing. The question should be - how much do you need to practice.

How much is too much? Too much is when you go out to the driving range with 3 or more things to work on in your golf swing. This often leads to Golfers drifting from golf tip to golf tip – trying new things each swing until they find something that works.

Once they find something that works … they usually stick with it until it stops working. Yet, once it’s not working anymore … it’s on to finding something else that helps you to hit the golf ball better.

That is until that next golf tip stops working and the whole process of “Fiddling” with your golf swing starts over again.

As there’s no doubt that it’s better to practice 1 time a week and play 1 time a week rather than playing 1 time with no practice. The former is also probably better for you than to practice 4 times a week and not play at all.

However, you need to find what your perfect ratio of practice to play is. Each person is going to have a different ratio of how much to practice and how much to play. You need to find your ratio.

And although every Golfer will have a ratio that’s perfect for them – we often see many Golfers that practice too much. And these hard working Golfers hardly ever perform well on the golf course. Why?

Because if a Golfer practices their swing too much – they often carry that practice onto the golf course where they aren’t in the right frame of mind to play golf. They become too focused on working on all the things they worked on while on the driving range – and their golf swing, their ball striking and their scores suffer.

Try to find what your ratio of practice to play is. Yes, you need to practice … however, just as importantly – you need to play without thinking about your practice.

Perhaps the worst of all is ‘not knowing what to practice’. Many Golfers hit the practice range – just for the simple fact of … hitting golf balls. Or because they just read about a new tip and they want to see if it works.

However, when a Golfer goes to the driving range just to hit golf balls without a PLAN – they’re setting themselves up for disaster. Do you think a 1 handicap or Tiger Woods or Lorena Ochoa goes to the range just to hit golf balls? Of course not.

They have something specific they’re going to work on.

Do you know any Golfers that say - “I don’t practice anymore because whenever I practice … I get worse.”

Not knowing what to practice turns your golf game into a rollercoaster of highs and lows – that ends just like a rollercoaster ends … in the same place it began. Golfers that go to hit golf balls without knowing what to practice often become inconsistent Golfers.

Learn how to practice. Learn how to develop a Practice PLAN. Discover what your ratio of practice to play should be. If you do these things – you’ll see improvement on the golf course. If not, you’ll continue to do what you’re doing – you’ll continue to see what you’re seeing.

The Monkey either doesn’t practice enough, practices too much or doesn’t know what to practice

The Player knows how to practice, has a Practice PLAN and knows what their practice to play ratio is

Are you a Monkey or a Player?

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

Our 3-Day Program Includes:

• 3-days of 4+ hours of Golf Instruction each day
• 9-holes of On-Course Instruction each day
• Your Class Limited to only 4-Golfers
• A PLAN to take home for continuous On-Course Improvement
• The Instructor for Life Program
• The GMS Player Page on the Golf Made Simple Website
• 3-nights Accommodations
• 9-holes of Golf after class each day
• Lunch in the clubhouse each day
• And most importantly you’ll be hitting the ball really well!

GMS has locations in:

Florida: St. Augustine – Boca Raton – Tampa – Amelia Island
California: Palm Springs/La Quinta – Lake Tahoe
Arizona: Phoenix
Europe: Sotogrande, Spain
Colorado: Denver
Virginia: Washington DC area

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put “World Golf” in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: “World Golf” - and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word “World Golf” in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

Are you on the quest to hit the golf ball better than you ever have before? To some, this is what golf is all about. And as far as I’m concerned – there’s nothing wrong with having the passion, desire and drive to make golf more enjoyable. Because frankly, not hitting the golf ball well on the golf course is like being seasick 45 miles out in the ocean with no land in sight.

Although some who are having a difficult time on the course may try to lighten the moment by saying: “A bad day on the golf course is better than a good day at work” … I often wonder how someone that’s retired, unemployed or on the maintenance crew cutting greens is thinking after they hear a Golfer ponder this infamous quote.

So the question for the Golfer striving for perfection or wanting to become a little more consistent is: ‘What do you need to work on in your golf swing to be able to get that next step closer to consistency? What part of your golf swing needs the most work?’

Is it your grip? Is it your set-up? Is it your back swing? Your weight shift? Your hip turn? Your shoulder turn? Do you need to create lag? Impact? Follow-through?

What is it?

And although one of the most popular answers may be “it’s all of the above”. I’d recommend that you stay away from that answer. That’s the #1 answer that holds more people back from achieving a better golf swing than anything else … well actually, maybe it’s not the #1 reason, it’s probably #2. As I don’t think there could be a worse thing for a Golfer to say than “I think I’m going to try the stack and tilt”.

The answer to becoming more consistent never starts with “I need to work on everything.” Or “I need to completely change my golf swing.”

The answer to improving starts with working on one thing at a time. It’s finding the one issue in your golf swing that’s causing you to become inconsistent. Because we have found that Golfers that feel or have been told that they have multiple swing faults – often, in reality just have One Primary Swing Fault that leads them to create compensations that causes Multiple Swing Faults.

Yet, if diagnosed correctly by a superior Golf Instructor – all those swing faults that you feel you have or have been told you have – would be almost instantly eliminated if the Primary Swing Fault is diagnosed and corrected.

It’s like if the shower on the 2nd floor of your home had a small leak in the tile so that water dripped under the tile and into the floor boards. The longer that leak is left unfixed – the bigger the hole will get – which would mean that every shower you took … a greater amount of water would leak into the floor.

And eventually, the ceiling of the room (perhaps the living room) directly below the shower would start dripping. And as that ceiling starts to saturate as more water flowed, that water would start to drip into another room (the kitchen). If left untreated a little longer, it would drip into another room (the laundry room). Then perhaps into the dining room, etc., etc., etc.

So now you have water leaking into at least four rooms on the 1st floor. What’s the first thing you need to fix?

Unfortunately, many Golfers and many Instructors (if they go about it the same way that they work on the golf swing), would first fix the ceiling in each room to see if that helps stop the dripping. While the smart thing would be to first fix the leak in the shower. Because when that primary problem is fixed … it’s amazing how the other leaks would magically go away. Yes, you might have to do some ceiling work – yet it’s a lot easier when the primary leak is fixed.

It’s truly the same with your golf swing.

Find the Primary Swing Fault, fix it, and the other swing faults (that are most likely compensations caused by the Primary Swing Fault) will slowly dry-up and disappear. However, from what we see with many Golfers that come to our program – these Golfers have been trying to fix all the leaks in the ceiling instead of the primary leak causing these other leaks. And they’ve been repairing and painting year after year after year – and would still be repairing and painting the ceiling if we hadn’t shown them where their primary leak was.

What’s causing you to have a bad back swing? Or a bad weight shift? Or a bad hip turn? Or bad shoulder turn? Or bad whatever?

That should be the question rather than just trying to fix the bad weight shift with yet another golf tip you read in a magazine or another half hour golf lesson that’s focused on a quick tip such as – “I see your problem, you have water leaking from the ceiling”. Because regardless of how many times you replace that ceiling – if there’s a hole in the tile – that drip is going to keep coming back. Just like that ‘over the top move’ that you can’t get rid of or that “slice” that’s always there or that “chunked wedge next to the green” that comes back a few times each round.

The Monkey works on all their swing faults

The Player knows that if they can find and fix their Primary Swing Fault - that all of the other swing faults will start to go away and consistency will be around the corner

Are you starting to divert your disappointment and frustrations earlier and earlier in the round by using the – “A bad round on the golf course is better than a good day at work” quote?

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

Quote Of The Week

“Do You Hate Blow-up Holes On The Golf Course?”

Excerpted from Classic GIW Issue 216 - October 31st, 2007

What’s the percentage of time that you take out your 3 wood for your second shot on a Par 5 hole? If you’re like most Golfers, the answer could be 80% or higher. Though, the Players on the PGA Tour aren’t even close to that high of a percentage.

So why are you using your 3 wood more than the PGA Tour Player? And please don’t say because the PGA Tour Player hits their Driver so much farther than you - because they play a golf course that’s much longer than the course you play – so things balance out.

I feel this is an important question to ask since we’re always working to help Golfers with their personal battles to combat the ‘Blow-up Hole’. I believe that the number one culprit in holding you back from playing more great rounds of Golf maybe the …

Continue reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click Here

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There’s nothing like the expectation of standing on the tee feeling confident that you’re going to make a nice, smooth golf swing that produces a great drive down the middle of the fairway. Being able to watch the golf ball sail through the air as it splits the fairway is worth everything and anything!

That’s what we want every time we step on the tee. It’s what I want, it’s what Tiger wants, it’s what Annika wants – and I’m sure it is what you want.

And I believe the answer of how you’ll be able to hit that golf shot more consistently - goes back to the following four details: 1. your skill level; 2. the use of a PLAN on the golf course; 3. having a Driver that’s fitted to your golf swing; 4. and quite possibly the most important … having the ability to forget about the checklist of mechanics in your golf swing while standing over the golf ball and just letting it go naturally.

And all it takes is the smallest of improvements in any of those four facets – and you’ll see improvement with your tee shots.

Now saying that – I expect the comments of: 1. “That’s easier said than done”; 2. “What does a PLAN matter if I don’t know where I’m going to hit the golf ball”; 3. “How am I supposed to know what Driver I should have”; 4. “Well, I’m not that good – so I need to think about my swing mechanics during my swing if I want to hit the golf ball”.

All seem to be valid responses at first glance – however, if you let those responses get in the way – you’re pretty much blocking yourself of having any chance to see improvement.

1. If you needed to improve your skill level, what can you do? The obvious answer is to learn what you need to improve in your golf swing from a successful Instructor that has helped many Golfers (of your skill level) improve. Then practice those improvements under the watchful eye of that Instructor. If you want to know why that last sentence is so important – click here to read last week’s Golf Improvement Weekly about The 30 Minute Golf Lesson.

2. If you don’t have a PLAN for the golf course – develop one by understanding what your ball flight tendencies are. This PLAN should be developed by first knowing that a huge aspect of your PLAN is that it’ll help you to be prepared for your bad shots. Because the 2nd most important reason for having a PLAN is that it allows you to make sure that bad shots don’t put you in bad places. Once you have developed your PLAN … put it into action ASAP.

3. Having a Driver that’s fitted to your golf swing is something that’s alien to most Golfers. As most Golfers just go to a golf store and buy a Driver because of the brand name. They then select the actual Driver they purchase based on whether the shaft says Ladies, Regular, Firm or Stiff. Yet, a Regular shaft from one company is usually a different flex than a Regular shaft from another company. Thus, most Golfers have a Driver that’s completely wrong for their golf swing.

4. And what may be the most important of all – learning how to give yourself permission to allow yourself to let the swing go. Thinking of your swing mechanics while on the tee is the proverbial “kiss of death”. To improve in this area – you should adopt the habit of only thinking of swing mechanics on the practice tee and only when you need to work on some corrections.

Now, if you started to make the smallest improvement in just one of those four categories – you’ll see pretty good improvements in your Driver. If you made a small improvement in two of those categories – you’ll see bigger improvements in your tee shots. And the amount of improvement will become even greater if you made small improvements in all 4 of the above.

However, I have to implore you not to discount the positives of learning how to stand over the golf ball without the need to think about your golf swing. To be able to learn how to only think about your “Pace of Swing” and the target - means to literally get the Monkey out of your head. And this might be the best thing to happen to any Golfer!

All of the above examples require only the smallest of improvements. The bigger the improvements you make – the bigger and better your tee shots will become. On-the-other-hand, one of the biggest flaws I see with the common Golfer is that they feel they need to make major changes in their golf swing in order to see any improvement.

I know Golfers that have been stuck in that way of thinking for years – and haven’t improved their tee shots for longer than they can remember.

The Monkey tries to make big changes in their golf swing at one time and often ends up not improving

The Player knows that working on small, simple concepts will lead to big, consistent improvements

What strategy have you employed?

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put “Blog” in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: “Blog” - and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word “Blog” in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

I want to give a little nudge to everybody in Canada (where nearly 33% of Golfers attending GMS travel from). Have you seen the exchange rate lately? Although it’s not dollar for dollar on the international exchanges - it is at GMS. However, only for a short period of time.

Obviously we don’t know where the exchange rate is going to go from here – however, this might be a good striking point to lock in an excellent exchange rate. Yes, it might get a little better – yet history has shown that when we get to this level – the chances are pretty good it will go back.

For obvious reasons last year (a big discrepancy in exchange rates) - we couldn’t do this. However, with the exchange rates closer this year - we can. And we feel we need to say “Thank you” for coming to see us using the unfavorable exchange rates of the past. So give us a call by this Sunday, October 25th – and we’ll lock you in for a dollar for dollar exchange rate.

You can schedule your actual dates in a few weeks after you have a chance to look at your schedule, however you need to lock in the rates by this coming Sunday.

Yes, you can wait to see if the rates get better than dollar for dollar – however, why risk it for a few extra Loonies?

$1USD = $1CAD - If you want it, call GMS by Sunday.

Regards,

Alexandria - Director

Toll Free - 1-888-580-3635
International - 001.904.460.8355
Email: IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

You’re looking for improvement - not perfection!

Has anyone ever used a sheet of paper to write down the above practice PLAN or something similar? Or do you do what the typical Monkey does? Which is to just go to the practice range when you get the urge, buy a bucket of golf balls, start with your wedge and move to your 7 iron and then to your 5 iron and then to your Driver (for at least half the bucket of balls).

Or do you wait till the last 30 or 45 minutes before your round to practice hitting golf balls before going to the 1st tee?

Most successful Athletes/Golfers have a PLAN to improve. They know what they need to work on. And they set aside time to do it. For example - do you think that Lance Armstrong just got on his bicycle and started pedaling when he went out to practice? Or did he sit down and figure out what his practice schedule should be for each day of the week?

How about Roger Federer the tennis player? Do you think he just goes to the court to practice a few serves, then volley with another tennis player and then maybe play a set or two? Or does he look back on what he needed to improve on from his last match and then worked exclusively on that until he felt good about it.

And of course Tiger. Do you think he has a PLAN? Well, maybe you could blame Tiger’s early exit from the British Open on his wayward Driver. I guess Tiger did, because when he came back for 3 events in a row (two 1st’ place finishes and a 2nd place) his Driver was much improved. Do you think he came up with a practice PLAN to improve his Driver for those 3 events?

And now that he felt that his putter let him down at his 2nd place finish (the PGA Championship), does anyone want to bet against Tiger’s putting in his next event? Why are we probably going to see improvement in his putting? Because he probably has a practice PLAN all set-up to make sure his stroke is better in his next tournament.

Maybe Tiger doesn’t say exactly word for word what I wrote above (where you fill in the blanks about your game), but I’m sure it’s pretty darn close. How do I know? Because Tiger has a practice PLAN. And that’s how you set one up.

We could get into any sport with just about any of the great ones that have succeeded in that sport and you’ll probably find a common link amongst their practice routines. Meaning:

• The setting up a practice PLAN based on improving their weaknesses
• How they stay focused on that one thing they most need to work without skipping around to other tasks
• That they continue to practice that task until they’re satisfied with their improvement and then determine their next weakness to improve

The concept the majority of Golfers use to improve - “Oh, I’m just going to go hit some golf balls.”

If you set-up a practice PLAN: Do you think that that you would improve more than if you didn’t set up a practice PLAN? If your answer is that you would accomplish more - then why aren’t you doing it?

I do know why many Golfers don’t practice. And I’d love to say it, but I having a feeling many Golfers would be offended if I do. So I’m going to watch my tongue. Yet, if you’re the kind of Golfer that doesn’t want to use the “Oh, I never practice” excuse to brush off your bad shots - then I suggest that you set-up a practice PLAN.

Now before we’re bombarded with emails saying - “Well, how do I set-up a practice PLAN?” I suggest that you go back to the very top of this article. Highlight the 2nd through 5th paragraph, hit Control (Ctrl button) and the letter “c” to copy (or right click your mouse and select copy). Then open Microsoft Word and hit Control and the the letter “v” to paste (or right click your mouse and select paste).

Type your answers in the blanks. Print the document. And then put it in your wallet or purse so that it bugs you every day you don’t practice what you typed in. The first step in a practice PLAN is to determine what you need to work on. The second step is to get your butt out there and do it. 8 out of every 8 Golfers want to improve - however, unfortunately 7 out of every 8 Golfers reading this won’t do what’s suggested. They’ll read this, think that it’s too simple to do - and they won’t do it.

Well, it may be simple, but it works. The old phrase states - “A long journey starts with the first step.” And the old New Jersey lottery used to advertise - “You gotta be in it to win it!” Well, regardless of whichever scripture you follow - the message clearly states that you need to somehow start the process. And that’s what those paragraphs at the top are doing for you. It’s helping you start the process.

The Monkey either goes to the range and hits too many balls without a defined purpose or they just don’t go to the range

The Player has their practice all mapped out for them before they get to the range - that’s why we call it a practice PLAN

Go ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put “Blog” in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: “Blog” - and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word “Blog” in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

There’s so much to talk about, but I only get a limited amount of space to write - so I don’t know how much I can tell you in this issue. But it’s all exciting news, not just for us, but for you also. From the surveys that we have taken - the #1 thing that gets the people that follow GMS the most excited is new locations.

And we have a couple more that we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks. One will be in a similar location as a present GMS location - yet, at an even higher level golf course. I mean - this is a fantastic golf course! What is it? I can’t tell you yet. First we must send out a special email to all our GMS Alumni to announce this location to them. Then we’ll announce it to everyone else.

Please don’t get upset at us for taking care of our Golfers first - we just like doing it the exact opposite of the cell phone companies who care more about new subscribers than the ones who have been with them for years. We take care of our Golfers and if you’re not a GMS Golfer yet - trust me, we’ll take care of you when you become one.

The other new location? Well … let’s just say that this is going to be even bigger than big. We’re finalizing plans - however, once it’s finalized - it’ll just open up the world to our offerings.

GMS Golfers - be on the lookout for an email or two in the next couple of weeks about these new locations as you’ll have first chance at available dates. After which time, we’ll announce these 2 new locations to the world!

For more information on available dates at any of our GMS locations: call me at 1-888-580-3635 or email IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

Regards,

Alex - Director

Toll Free - 1-888-580-3635
International - 001.904.460.8355
Email: IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

So how do you “shift your weight” without “swaying"? And how do you “cock your wrists” without “flipping your wrists”? And how come it was alright for Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson to lift their heel on the backswing – yet you’re not allowed to?

Why are there so many dang rules when swinging the golf club?!!!

One of the best pieces of advice that a Golfer should listen to is that there are no Golden Rules as far as how to swing a golf club. Although, I would say that if there was anything close – it would be: that the direction your club face is pointing when it hits the golf ball is more important than anything else than you have ever heard or will ever hear about – that is … if you want to be in control of the direction the golf ball flies.

See, we get so overwhelmed with all these “Golden Rules” on what we need to do to hit a golf ball – that we bog ourselves down. It’s almost as if you have so many thoughts of what you need to do correctly before hitting the golf ball – that you have very little chance of consistently hitting a good shot.

Yet, the concept of a good golf shot comes down to one important factor when using a Results Based Approach – “The golf ball will go in the direction my club face is pointing when I hit the golf ball.”

And although there are many that will say – “Well yes Marc, that is true. But in order to do that you need to have all these other Golden Rules happen.” To which I believe my response would be – how many of the same exact Golden Rules do Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus share? How many of the same Golden Rules do Stewart Cink and Jim Furyk share? And Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam?

Do these golf swings that are mentioned above look exactly the same? Or lets put it another way – if you were to put a bag over the head of each Golfer (so you couldn’t tell who it was – made Mickelson play right handed or the others play left handed), even the most casual Golf Fan would be able to tell which is Tiger’s swing and which is Jack’s swing. Meaning Tiger doesn’t have the same exact Golden Rules as Nicklaus. And Mickelson doesn’t have the same exact Golden Rules as Cink. Etc., etc., etc.

What Golden Rules are you applying to your golf swing right now? And who told you about those Golden Rules? Did you read about one of Sergio’s Golden Rules in a golf magazine and decided it needs to be one of your Golden Rules? If so, why? How do you know that Sergio’s Golden Rules apply to your golf swing? And what’s worse, maybe you’re already doing that Golden Rule well in your golf swing (but not know it), so now when you apply it to your golf swing – you’re overdoing it. Which could cause even more problems in your golf swing!

Here’s a Drill using a Results Based Approach for you to do:

Take out a wedge and hit a golf ball 10 yards. After the shot – determine if you hit it solid and if it went in the direction you intended.

If you hit it solid, hit a golf ball 30 yards. After the 30 yard shot – determine if you hit it solid and if it went in the direction you intended. If it wasn’t as solid or as straight as the 10 yard shot – go back to the 10 yard shot and try to find out what you did differently (besides making a longer back swing) and hit another good shot from 10 yards.

After you hit another solid 10 yard shot - go back to the 30 yard shot and try to feel what you’re doing different in your swing. When you do hit a good 30 yard shot ….

Then hit a 60 yard shot. After that shot - determine if you hit it solid and if it went in the direction you intended. If not, go back to the 30 yard shot and try to find out what you did differently. If you did hit the 60 yard shot well – go to 90. Then follow this process until you’re taking full swings.

Why will this drill help you?

It’ll help you in many ways. The first is that most Golfers try to determine what’s wrong with their golf swing primarily after taking full swings. Yet, that swing happens so fast and your arms and body are moving at a speed that doesn’t allow many Golfers to feel what they’re doing during the swing. By starting with these small swings – you’re better able to pinpoint what’s happening in your golf swing at different points in your swing.

So now you can narrow down where the problem is in your golf swing instead of just taking one full swing after another and pretty much guessing what’s wrong. And believe it or not – your guesses may be heavily influenced by the Golden Rules you saw on the golf channel last night or in the last issue of a golf magazine. Which probably has nothing to do with your golf swing – yet because you’re looking for answers – they sound like the thing you should try next.

Second – many of the problems that 8 out of every 10 Golfers have in their golf swing happens during the time period when the club head is lower than your shoulders. Yet, 8 out of every 10 Golfers are working on something to fix a perceived problem that’s happening above their shoulders. Remember, the problem you perceive at the top of your golf swing could be caused by something happening when the club is lower than your shoulders.

Which is another way of saying that too many Golfers are working on trying to fix an “effect” vs. what they should be doing – working on fixing the “cause”.

So by starting with small golf swings and working your way up – you’ll be determining (using a Results Based Approach) where your problem is occurring in your golf swing. Unfortunately, it’s been pounded into the heads of many Golfers that improving your golf swing is all about taking full swings. And yes, you need to take many full golf swings on the golf course. Yet, the best way to fix your full swing isn’t just by practicing full swings.

The teaching method I’m introducing to you above is a Results Based Approach of finding out where in your golf swing your swing is breaking down. It shows that if you hit your wedge well with the 10 yard shot and you hit the 30 yard shot well and the 60 yard shot well and then mess up the 90 yard shot (which to many would be between a ¾ and full swing) – it shows that you’re doing something bad in your golf swing somewhere in the area where your body and club passes through 60 yards as you go to a 90 yard backswing. Which you’re also probably doing at that point of your golf swing while hitting your Driver using a full golf swing – yet, you probably won’t detect this happening while hitting full Drivers because it happens too fast for many Golfers.

How do I know this works? Because using this Results Based Approach we’ve been able to display at least 2 testimonials every week in Golf Improvement Weekly for the last 284 Issues and are displaying 100’s more on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. When’s the last time you had the pleasure of telling anyone about how well you’re playing and how good you feel about your golf swing?

The Monkey will continue to work on hitting full shots until they “get it”

The Player finds where their golf swing is breaking down using a Results Based Approach

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

Excerpted from a GMS Classic Golf Improvement Weekly Newsletter - August 15th, 2007

“Would you be happy if you shot what might be your best score ever in an important event or tournament, then shot a disappointing score the next round? Would you celebrate or would you lament?

“This is the story of a Golfer that I’ll call Jim.

“Jim has been playing golf for a number of years and generally has played pretty good, though he always wanted to get better – probably just like you hope to do. Jim enjoyed playing and competing in his county’s Amateur Golf Tournament every year. Yet, there’s been this nagging feeling that he desperately wanted to ….”

Continue reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click Here

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put “Blog” in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: “Blog” – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word “Blog” in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

Who’s thinking about November and December already? Well, apparently many Golfers. Because we have never had so many Golfers sign-up for programs in November and December this far in advance. Though, thinking about it – it is a smart move. Signing up this early insures you get the dates you want – as opposed to having those dates sold-out. Because as you probably already know – we limit our classes to only 4 Golfers. So we frequently sell-out dates.

Like the locals know in areas like Florida and La Quinta/Palm Springs, California and Phoenix, Arizona – some of the best weather of the year is in the middle of October through the beginning of December.

And although there are people saying – “You’re thinking of November already? We haven’t even gotten to Labor Day yet!” Apparently there are more people than you think that are planning November dates because we already have more people signed up to attend our La Quinta location in November as of today – than we had actually attend in November of last year. So if we’re ahead of last year’s pace and its still 3 months away – imagine what it’s going to be like trying to get dates when we’re into October.

For pictures and more information – click here to go to: http://golfmadesimple.com/palm-springs-california-golf-schools.html

Or for more information on available dates at our La Quinta/Palm Springs, California location: call me at 1-888-580-3635 or email me at IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

Regards,

Alex - Director

Toll Free - 1-888-580-3635
International - 001.904.460.8355
Email: IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

one Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put ‘Blog’ in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send an email to TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: ‘Blog’ – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘Blog’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

To continue reading “Why Not A Consistent Golf Swing On The Golf Course” – click here

If you’re looking for more consistency on the golf course - I urge you to continue reading.

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put ‘Blog’ in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: ‘Blog’ – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘Bolg’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

Regardless of what you do in the future with your golf swing – I’ll leave the investment advice to others who are much smarter than I – it maybe a good thing to go back to some important basics once-in-a-while just to make sure you’re allowing yourself to make your best golf swing. And as many eager Golfers are now focused on swing plane, swing path, two lever golf swings, x factors and every other buzz term that has been dreamed up – the question many Golfers should have on the tip of their tongue is “when’s the last time I worked on the foundation of my golf swing?”

Because if those buzz terms are important in order for you to become a good ballstriker – you may have difficulty achieving them if your foundation isn’t stable.

Luckily, in my youth – starting after my Junior Year of High School and continuing for a couple years right after graduation – I was able to spend much of my days doing some construction work. And it didn’t take long to discover one eye opening detail: Roofers really appreciate it when a house has a solid foundation.

Meaning – if the lower part of the house is wobbly – the upper part of the house is even more wobbly. And because many of the roofers I met were still wobbly from the night before – the last thing they wanted was … well nevermind. The point is – think of your golf swing as if it were a house or tall building. If the bottom of your body isn’t secure (or out of balance) – what’s happening with the top half of your body?

So the question I pose to you today is: Is it possible that many of your swing faults are caused by an unsecure foundation?

And as obvious as that is – it isn’t obvious enough to millions of Golfers that struggle round after round, year after year, as they search for a glimmer of consistency. Listen, every Golfer can hit a great golf shot – the key however to playing consistent isn’t the ability to hit one-great-golf-shot-every-once-in-a-while. So yes, even with an unsecure foundation – you can hit a good golf shot. (Just as the stock market is down big time since October 2007 – it has had some good days). Though how many good shots in a row (consistency) can you hit with an unsecure foundation?

As all the smart people in the construction business know – if the foundation of the house isn’t secure – the top of the house is even less secure. And as (hopefully) all the smart people in the golf instruction business know: Your upper body is only as secure as your lower body allows it to be.

So the question that begs to be asked right this second is: How secure is your foundation? And the answer is: It’s probably just as secure as you are consistent. Or to put even more perspective on this, you could say: It’s probably just as unsecure as you are inconsistent.

So, as just about every Golfer that gets in a struggle with their golf swing starts to blame the much over used malady of – “I think I’m coming over the top” – could this “I think I’m coming over the top” problem be triggered by an unsecure foundation? If your bottom isn’t secure – wouldn’t that cause your top to be even more all over the place? And “all over the place” could translate into a “I think I’m coming over the top” golf swing.

This is not to say that all these bad things are caused by an unsecure foundation – it’s just to say: When’s the last time you checked your foundation? This is also not to say that a good solid foundation means not allowing your lower body to move – it has to move – movement is essential in a consistent golf swing.

Now, because I know I’m probably going to get a ration of “Well, instead of telling me what I’m doing wrong – why don’t you tell me what I need to do” emails. First – I’m not telling you what you’re doing wrong because most likely I’ve never seen your golf swing. At this time I personally only work with a handful of special clients - however, I’ve seen enough Golfers to know that many Golfers do have this problem. The other reason I’m bringing this up is that I’m seeing a disturbing trend in the Golf Instruction Kingdom of way too much emphasis being put solely on what’s going on at the top of the golf swing.

And I understand that it just sounds sexier when you’re talking to another Golfer that says: “Yeah, I’m working on bringing my club more from the inside.” Or – “I’m working on a bigger shoulder turn so that I can create more effortless clubhead speed.” I mean there’s not much glamour in saying: “I’m working on having a more secure foundation.” That’s like hearing a friend tell you about their trip last week to the Four Seasons in Maui. And when you’re asked what you did last week, you had to describe your trip to Tallahassee, Florida to help your In-laws paint their house.

Many Golfers are told to work on bringing the golf club down on the inside to prevent from “I think I’m coming over the top”. And regardless of how much a Golfer works on this “move” – many assuredly revert back to the “I think I’m coming over the top” movement. Why? Maybe because that movement that you’re trying to eliminate isn’t being caused by your movement at the top of your golf swing. Maybe it’s being caused by your lack of a stable foundation – which is causing your upper body to compensate, which could be causing you to create a “I think I’m coming over the top” golf swing.

Now Second – I can’t suggest what you need to do to fix this - if you are in fact having a foundation issue - for the same reason: I probably have never seen you swing. Though don’t fret – I think I do have a solution for this.

One of the great, great things a Golfer can do (regardless of if you have a bad foundation or good foundation), is to hit golf balls bare foot. It’s an incredible sensation. First, you quite possibly could discover a lot about your balance even before hitting a golf ball.

Remember, golf shoes are made for comfort. Which means – massive amounts of cushioning. That cushioning for many people doesn’t allow them to feel where their weight is on their feet. Why is that important? That’s part of your foundation!

Second – hitting golf balls without shoes can be an eye opening experience for some people. You may start to feel what exactly you’re doing with your body during your golf swing. Now, I don’t expect many Golfers to try this because I know a lot of Golfers will interpret this is as a stupid thing to do. So, for those Golfers that think its stupid – don’t do it. Though, for the Golfers that are curious – try it – I think you might find out more about your foundation in just a few golf swings than you have in all the years you have been playing.

And just in case you needed a little push – did you know that both Sam Snead and Seve Ballesteros both learned to hit the golf ball (and practiced that way for many years) bare footed? Sam Snead in the hills of Virginia and Seve on the beaches of Santander, Spain.

Or instead of hitting a couple of golf balls bare footed – you could try another method that was floated by me in an email from a Golfer that suggested a way of getting rid of the “I think I’m coming over the top” movement, he said that you could try to improve your swing by: “Slowing you rate of closure so that you wouldn’t be shifting your baseline so much because of your excessive forearm rotation and loss of pressure points – which would help you avoid blocks, hooks, slices and chunks.”

If I were you – I’d choose hitting a couple of golf balls without your shoes.

The Monkey doesn’t think much about their foundation, they’re too concerned with “the important things” in their golf swing

The Player knows that a solid foundation can help with a consistent golf swing

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis

We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill

If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put ‘Blog’ in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square

Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: Blog – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training

To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘Blog’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

So, just a few days ago when I still wasn’t writing – I amazingly became bored and started reading a forum on an internet chat room with the title of something like – “What I Don’t Like About Tiger’s Golf Swing” – where this supposed ‘guru’ that has adopted the title of “ITeachGolf” - listed everything he thinks is wrong with Tiger’s golf swing.

And what’s funny is that I believe he wrote this just as Tiger was winning yet another golf tournament by shooting 13 under par.

His/her contention is that Tiger really doesn’t have a good golf swing – the only reason he wins is that he’s just the best athlete on the PGA Tour. And that my friends is just another reason why you should stay away from Internet chat rooms – unless you want: A) to laugh; B) to cry; C) to be able to say to yourself – “are there really people that think that way?”

This issue with Golfers wanting to improve their golf swing is something that myself and our company works with each day with multiple individuals that travel from around the world to come and see us. So yes, we specialize in golf swings. So when we see people that bring up nonsense like the above – it makes us cringe.

Yet, the scary aspect is that many people might read further into what this ‘closet guru’ has to say about Tiger’s golf swing and even start to use the techniques he suggests Tiger needs to use. And that scares me because I know many Golfers are so desperate to improve – that they’ll try just about anything. Remember when you were young and your Mom said “don’t take candy from a stranger?” Well, many Golfers have forgotten about the dangers of doing that.

‘Don’t Take Golf Tips From A Stranger’

That’s going to be the title of my new book. Yet, as much as you need to continually warn the young about the aforementioned candy from a stranger – It’s my duty to remind you to do the same with golf tips. It can be dangerous for the health of your golf swing.

For example: Last week I was walking through one of the many airports that I walk through each year (this one was LAX) - I really shouldn’t be telling you this because I told everybody in the office and my wife that I was hiking on the Robert Trent Jones Trail. I got to my gate, sat down in a chair to await my plane – and just 2 seats down from me, was a lady that was really into what she was reading – I had to look over to see what magazine she had.

So at closer glance, I could see that she was reading a golf magazine and particularly an article about improving her golf swing. Now, I’m not the kind of person that just walks up to someone else and starts a conversation – yet, I had just finished helping a fantastic gentleman (a pretty famous person) with his golf swing for 3 days at a beautiful golf course – so I was on a natural high and in a really good mood – so I couldn’t resist. I had to ask her what she was reading.

When she looked up at me with this – “Why are you bothering my?” look – I said, ‘I apologize, I’m a Golfer also. And I was just interested in what you’re reading.’

Well, I got more than I was asking for:

She went into a 23 minute briefing of what’s wrong with her golf swing. She then took out a pad of paper and pen and started sketching her swing plane and what her plane needs to look like. She then took the pen and started gripping it like a golf club to show me what her grip looks like and what the proper grip should look like. I was then told about how important it is not to sway on the backswing, why Sergio can’t win a major, and why she would never want to swing like Jim Furyk.

Once she came up for air – she then asked me about my game. I told her I don’t play as much as I’d like (which is true), I’m not as consistent as I’d like (who is) and I’d like to hit my driver 10 more yards (sounds like fun). She then asked me to grip the pen like it was a golf club to see my grip. I then found out that my grip needed to be adjusted. I didn’t have enough knuckles showing. And that I should try interlocking my fingers instead of overlapping. She then apologized because she really couldn’t judge my grip pressure because we were using a pen and not a golf club.

She then suggested that I could become more consistent if I improved my posture – that is even though she never saw me set-up to a golf ball – though that’s something that she read in one of her 3 golf magazine subscriptions and that she has been doing it herself. Although, she hasn’t gained any more yards since working on her posture – she is sure it’ll eventually start working.

I then learned that I could get more distance by turning my shoulders a little more – “have you ever tried the X Factor?” Yet again, it was something she read in a magazine or saw on television.

So what’s the point of this story? The point is that after I said ‘thank you for the advice’ – I asked my “new pro” what her average score was. And although everything she said was very convincing and she said it very eloquently and it really sounded as if she knew what she was talking about – she had yet to ever break 100. Now, there isn’t anything wrong with someone who has never broken 100 – we were all at that point one time or another.

However, when I did ask how long she has been playing and how many lessons she had taken and how many years she has been reading those magazines scanning for tips – all I can say is that I was shocked. Playing golf: 7 years; Lessons: 10 to 15 lessons a year; Subscriptions: 3 different golf magazines for about 6 years.

Now, I’m not shocked that this Golfer hasn’t broken 100 in 7 years – that’s not shocking, everyday we help Golfers who have been in that same situation. What’s shocking is that this Golfer has worked on a hundred million things in her golf swing and she’s still not getting any positive results. Yet, she continues to work on a hundred million things!

So I never said anything about what I do for a living, I just told her that I once heard a really good tip that I’ve used successfully in my game for many years. And that from what she had told me about her game – it might really help her. When she said – “sure, what is it?” I told her about “Tick Tock”. I then told her that if she was going to be successful using “Tick Tock” she had to do it every golf swing she made the next time on the golf course. I then gave her my email address (not my GolfMadeSimple.com email address) so that she could email me her results after the next time she was going to play – which was this past Sunday, July 5th.

She wished me luck with my game and I wished her luck with her game as I reminded her not to forget the “Tick Tock” on every swing. And then I flew home and forgot about the whole conversation - not thinking anything would come of it.

July 5th, 8:07 pm – incoming email: “Marc, thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re not going to believe this!!!! I broke 100 for the first time. I can’t believe it. A 96!!! I have never hit the golf ball so well. It was unbelievable – my friends kept saying to me that they never saw me play that consistent and stay so calm on the golf course. That was the best golf tip ever. Who told you that tip? I need to read more about that person’s methods! Thank you, thank you.”

I then wrote back using my GolfMadeSimple.com email address congratulating her on her accomplishment, explaining why “Tick Tock” was so valuable, why it probably helped her, along with some more encouragement, etc.

Now, why is it that this very nice person that wanted so desperately to break 100 couldn’t do it even with putting her heart and soul into it for 7 years, taking multiple sets of lessons, reading countless magazine articles, thinking she knew what she needed to work on (fancy terms like swing plane and lag and X factor) - yet in one brief, chance meeting she was able to break 100?

The Monkey will get lucky once-in-a-while taking Golf Tips From Strangers, but in the long run it will cause more harm than good

The Player works on simple techniques that create positive results

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put ‘Blog’ in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: ‘Blog’ – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘Blog’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

“Does Poor Balance Cause Poor Golf Swings?”

Would a Golfer with poor balance have a better or worse chance of having a consistent golf swing?

The obvious answer seems to be that the Golfer that doesn’t have good balance would have a more inconsistent golf swing than the Golfer that employs good, solid balance. So if that’s true – why haven’t you worked on your balance? If true – should you be spending your time working on your swing path and swing plane or should you be working on your balance skills? Could poor balance be causing your swing path, swing plane and clubface issues?

We believe that much of the golf instruction (not all, but much) is seriously flawed and backwards in the way Golfers are taught. Meaning, for example: Many Golfers go to get a golf lesson (or read in a magazine or see on television) and are immediately admonished that their backswing is being taken too much to the outside. And that you need to work on taking it more inside.

Now, I’m not saying that your backswing shouldn’t go outside (and I’m not saying it shouldn’t come inside or straight back), however – maybe that flaw could be caused by something else. Maybe taking the club too far outside could be a compensation for another swing flaw.

For example: could poor balance cause you to take the club too far outside?

Unfortunately, many Golfers and Instructors only look at the effect (taking the club too far outside) and then teach you a compensation (taking the club more inside) to compensate for that first compensation (taking the club too far outside). So basically, you’re working on fixing one compensation with another compensation. And then you wonder why you can’t consistently take the club more to the inside while hitting a golf ball. Well maybe, just maybe – the club is going too far outside for a reason – maybe it’s compensating for poor balance?

To use the “taking the club more to the inside” example as an example – could bad balance cause you to take your club too far outside? Absolutely! If you’re not balanced at set-up – if your weight is too much on your heels – it could cause you to take the club too far outside in that Instructor’s eyes. Now, I’m not saying that taking the club too far outside is a bad thing (I’m not saying it’s a good thing either) – it’s just an example of something a lot of Golfers are corrected on.

The basis here is to talk about how bad balance could be affecting many of your so-called golf swing flaws. And how many Golfers are misdiagnosed - causing them to have to learn even more compensations to cover up other compensations. For example – learning to swing more inside to correct the outside swing path – yet never correcting the cause of the outside swing path (which could be bad balance).

If your balance at set-up is off – meaning too much on your heels – it could cause you to compensate by pushing your hands and arms away from your body because if they did come back more naturally – it might cause you to fall backwards. So to counter balance having too much weight on your heels – you push your arms away from your body on the backswing to maintain balance. So now you’re compensating for bad balance (which you need to do to remain standing), by taking the club outside.

Now, because of your bad balance – you’re told to change your swing path. Yet, the problem isn’t your swing path – your “poor” swing path is just an effect of your poor balance. Now a big problem arises when you start trying to bring the club more inside without correcting the bad balance. This will cause you to struggle on the golf course by hitting shanks and pulls and killer slices as you work on taking it more inside – which will cause you to add even more compensations to your swing to counteract those bad shots.

So now, when you go back for more help on your golf swing – you’re told that you’re now bringing the club in a little better – but to stop the shanks and pulls and killer slices, you need to stop coming over the top. You need to drop the club from the top of your golf swing into the slot so that you can bring the club more from the inside as you approach impact.

Yet, this happens even though you still haven’t perfected the more inside takeaway (which you can’t because your balance still hasn’t improved). And now, even though you don’t have the backswing, you have to learn how to bring the club down more on the inside as opposed to over the top. Yet, how can you bring the club more from the inside when you’re still don’t have good balance. With the weight too far back on your heels – you have a choice – throw the club to the outside on the way down (what you’ve been doing) or starting at the top of your backswing, move your weight to your toes for a counter balance so that you could drop the club down behind you (where your Instructor says it “needs” to be).

Regardless of which you subconsciously choose – you’re just adding another compensation on top of the other compensations that’s going to cause more problems in your golf swing. Without good balance, you’re like the people in a 10 story building with a wobbly foundation – when the building starts to lean to the front, you all run to the back of the building to counter the forward motion. And when the building now moves to the back, you all run to the front. Yet, nothing gets done in the office because everything is being affected by the bad foundation.

To give you a simple picture on how balance can affect your body’s movements – picture this: If you’re standing up straight, then lower your left arm down the side of your body to pick-up a heavy briefcase positioned to the outside of your left foot. How would you pull that bag up? Most likely by lifting it as you lean your upper body to the right – counter balancing the weight on your left. Then, as you walk with the heavy briefcase in your left hand (with your Blackberry held against your ear with your right hand), which way is your body leaning? Obviously to the right to counterbalance yourself.

Well, a similar thing could happen if you don’t have good balance in your golf swing. If your weight is too much in one direction – your body will compensate for it by moving in another direction. Yet, when similar balance issues happen with Golfers, they are often told that the compensations that they have created (because of the poor balance) are the problem with their golf swing. When in fact, that so called problem is just a compensation you created because of a far bigger issue. So now you’re taught another compensation to fix the compensation that was created by the cause. Yet, you never fixed the cause. And if you never fix the cause – you’re just going to start creating more and more compensations – so that your golf swing just becomes one big compensation.

And remember that - ‘Compensations equal Inconsistency’.

I can’t tell you how many thousands of Golfers unfortunately have to go through this every year – never getting to the cause of the problem, only being told how to fix the effect. Which is backwards because you should be working to fix the cause – yet most Golfers are only taught how to fix the effect by being given compensation after compensation. And that’s a big reason why so many Golfers never get better and swear never to take another golf lesson again because they only get worse afterwards.

Thank goodness for GMS!

How can you work on your balance? It’s easy. Get set-up like you’re ready to hit a golf shot, then pick-up your left foot so that you’re balanced on your right foot. Now to do this – you’re going to have to move your center of gravity over your right leg. See how long you can stay balanced on your right foot (while in set-up). And as you’re doing this – try to move your weight around your foot to feel where you’re the most balanced. After you can hold your balance for 30 seconds without having to put your left foot down or grab onto something – try it with your left foot.

Please remember, this isn’t as easy as it may sound – so don’t try this next to a glass table or at the top of a staircase – make sure you’re in a safe place. If you can only stay balanced for a few seconds on your first attempts – what is that telling you? It could be telling you that you don’t have great balance and that bad balance could be causing compensations in your golf swing that are causing you to create even more compensations and making you even more inconsistent.

The Monkey will continue to work on the effect by practicing taking the golf club to the inside without fixing the cause

The Player is always interested in fixing the cause because they know that if they fix the cause, they also fix the effect

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Are You As Consistent As A PGA Tour Player?

At the PGA Tour event in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, an interesting thing happened. In round 2, one Tour Pro beat another Tour Pro by 18 strokes in that one round. For the mathematically challenged – that’s 1 stroke per hole. Now that’s about the equivalent and what you might expect to see when a 2 handicap plays with a 20 handicap. Not when 2 PGA Tour Players are playing.

In the second round, JP Hayes scored an impressive 62; while Trevor Dodds endured through an 80. Nonetheless – that’s a 1 stroke per hole difference in score – not something you’d expect to see on that high a level of golf. I guess it just goes to show how consistency is tough for the best Players in the world to grasp day after day and week after week.

What also illustrates this point is that Dodds isn’t a hack. In the first round he shot a very nice 70 – which was one shot better than Hayes’ 71. Which highlights even more inconsistency: Dodds played 10 shots worse on Friday than he did on Thursday. And Hayes played 9 shots worse on Thursday than he did on Friday.

So if the best Players in the world have scores that have 9 or 10 shots swings from Thursday to Friday – I guess for a regular Golfer, it shouldn’t be a big deal if you shot 92 on Saturday and 102 on Sunday! Because these guys have much more consistent golf swings than rest of us – and their scores vary 10 shots from round to round – how can you expect yours to have less of a variance?

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put ‘World Golf’ in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: ‘World Golf’ – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘World Golf’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

There’s so much babble out there about “What’s wrong with Tiger? Why didn’t he win at the Masters or the Players Championship? What’s wrong with his golf swing? Why isn’t he making any putts?”

I gather that all this gibberish is being tossed at you because he’s “only” won one paltry tournament this year. Yet, let’s put things in perspective - there’s not a Player in the world that wouldn’t take his golf game or golf swing or putting stroke right this second. Right now he’s the most consistent Golfer in the world - his results this year prove it: Tiger has played in 5 PGA stroke play tournaments in 2009 - placing in the Top 10 each event. His worst finish was his first stroke play tournament back after surgery on his left leg, where he came in 9th place. And on top of that - he’s a collective 38 under par for those 5 tournaments - which I believe means he’s averaging better than 7 under par for each tournament.

Have I mentioned he’s averaging 69.7 shots per round playing some tough golf courses?

I feel obligated as a Golf Instructor to show how unrealistic (and some might say uninformed or even Monkey) many (certainly not all) in the Golf Media are as it pertains to the sport they’re reporting on. So let’s take a look at Tiger’s results compared to the other top Players on the PGA Tour.

Results from 5 excellent Golfers and 1 incredible Golfer in 2009:

Phil Mickelson - 9 tournaments: 4 times in the top 10; failed to make the cut in 2 tournaments, tied for 55th place in 2 tournaments - meaning he finished worse than 50th place, 44% of the time

Anthony Kim - 8 tournaments: 1 time in the top 10; failed to make the cut in two tournaments, actually in the Top 25 only once in 2009.

Sean O’Hair - 10 tournaments: 6 times in the top 10; failed to make the cut in 2 tournaments

Kenny Perry - 11 tournaments: 6 times in the top 10 - 54% of the time; tied for 59th in 2 tournaments

Padraig Harrington - 9 Tournaments: 0 times in the top 10; in top 20 “only” 2 times, failed to make cut 3 times in 9 tournaments

Tiger Woods - 5 tournaments: 5 times in the top 10 - 100% of the time; worst finish was 9th

Hmmmm, kind of puts Tiger’s “troubles” in perspective doesn’t it? Let’s see - the 2nd best Golfer in the world (Mickelson) has less top 10’s in almost twice as many tournaments as Tiger, has been cut twice before the weekend, in addition to coming in 55th place two times - yet Tiger isn’t playing well? Well, if Tiger isn’t playing like the #1 Player in the World - who is? Maybe the expectations we place on Tiger are out-of-whack?

Or how about the 3rd ranked Player in the world - Sergio Garcia? 6 tournaments and his best finish is 13th. Or the 4th ranked Golfer, Geoff Ogilvy? 9 tournaments with “only” two top 10 finishes. Wow, Number One, Two, Three and Four really stink! These guys are terrible! Or maybe it just shows how good Tiger is. Maybe it shows that what’s truly brilliant about Tiger is not the number of times he wins - but his consistency throughout his game. So that every week, even when he’s not playing his absolute best - he’s as good or almost as good as others when they’re at their … absolute best.

Again - this isn’t to point out the inconsistency of these other Golfers, they’re phenomenal Golfers - this is to show that there isn’t anything wrong with Tiger. It’s just to show how awesome a Golfer he is. We’re talking about the best Golfers in the world besides Tiger - yet look at how far ahead he is compared to them - even coming off a major surgery. This isn’t a put down to Mickelson or Garcia - these guys are phenomenal Golfers - it’s to point out the ‘ridiculousness’ of many individuals (certainly not all) in the Golf Media.

Or to put even more perspective towards how many get it so wrong: besides 2008 and 2009, Tiger has never finished in the Top 10 of each of his first 5 tournaments in any year! And that includes the year 2000 when he won 9 PGA tournaments and came in the Top 3 in 14 of his 20 tournaments!

Do you realize that Tiger’s 8th place finish this year was his best finish at TPC at Sawgrass since way back in 2001 when he was the winner? Yet, he’s not playing well according to the experts. Who hired these people?

Let’s get more in depth when talking about Tiger’s “woes.” Because as every “expert” knows - Tiger’s troubles are starting on the tee with his Driver. However, Mr. and Mrs. Monkey - in 2008 (just an incredible golf year for Tiger before his leg incident) - Tiger hit 57% of his fairways - in 2009 he has hit 56% of his fairways.

So that 1% difference is what’s starting all the talk from the “experts” about what Tiger is doing wrong in his golf swing? Yet, when he was 1% better - they were showing you all the great things he was doing in his golf swing. Is there that much of a difference in that 1% from when he went from the best golf swing in the world to having so many troubles with his swing?

Well …. considering that Tiger had 280 possible fairways he could hit in 2008 and that he’s had the same amount this year - it’s a good place to start to show you how Monkey many (certainly not all) in the Golf Media are when talking about what’s wrong with Tiger’s swing. Why do I say this? Because in 2008 Tiger hit 162 out of 280 fairways. This year Tiger has hit “only” 159 out of 280.

So all these supposed “gurus” that are talking about what Tiger needs to fix in his Driver are talking about this because Tiger has hit 3 less fairways out of 280 attempts than he did in 2008 when he was undisputedly - The Man.

Who are these “experts” and how did they get appointed “experts"?

I need to get out of the golf business - it’s getting too frustrating having these “experts” tell the golf world what’s wrong and having everyone believe them just because they’re on television! Does anyone want to buy a golf company that had record revenue in 2008 and record profit so far in 2009? I need to get as far away from this lunacy of making people golf experts for no reason at all except that they can talk a lot. Maybe I could get into another industry that has fewer “experts” than golf has - something like politics or the stock market.

How about Tiger’s Driving Distance? I mean because the “experts” say he’s not driving the golf ball that great - I guess we should talk about Driving Distance - shouldn’t we? In 2008 he averaged 294 yards a drive. This year he’s “much” shorter at “only” 292 yards.

“In my opinion, it has to be his putting that’s killing him. Tiger is just not making the crucial putts. Where last year he made everything - this year he’s not really making that many putts. Hey, who took my banana?”

In 2008, Tiger averaged 1.7 putts per Green in Regulation. In 2009, Tiger is averaging an “atrocious” 1.7 putts per Green in Regulation.

In 2008, Tiger made a birdie or eagle an incredible 88 times in 360 holes (24% of the time). In 2009, he’s made a birdie or eagle 84 times in 360 holes (a pathetic 23% of the time).

In 2008, Tiger averaged getting up’n'down from the sand for par 48% of the time. In 2009, he’s averaged 54%.

So is Tiger’s game really that terrible? Or have the Monkeys set unrealistic expectations on Tigers game - just like they may have done to their own games?

Yet, if someone is telling you all the things Tiger is doing wrong in his golf swing when compared to the level he played in 2008 - a level that may never have been matched by any Golfer that ever lived - the person isn’t just a Monkey, that person is a(n) _______ well, I’m not even going to say it.

Why was this blog post written? Does Tiger need me to ‘watch his back’? Of course not. Am I such a rabid Tiger fan that’s bordering on stalker that I feel a need to defend my hero? “Mr. Tiger, ahhhh, yeah, um - you know I’m your biggest fan. I have posters of you all around my house. I named my cat after you - Little Tiger.”

This post was written for one reason - to let you know that the Monkeys are everywhere. This doesn’t just apply to speaking about the PGA Tour or LPGA Tour - the same can be said about the so called “gurus” you see on TV speaking about the golf swing. They can be just as far off with the Theories and Assumptions they’re giving you about the golf swing - as they are with the “What’s Wrong With Tiger” schtick they’re throwing at you this week. And will continue to throw at you until he wins again - when they’ll tell you all the improvements he made in his golf swing and putting stroke.

The Monkey watches a show devoted to asking what’s wrong with Tiger as the “experts” breakdown his golf swing and show you what he’s doing wrong. Then after you finish your bowl of ice cream - you stand-up to try to implement the same changes into your golf swing

The Player ignores many (certainly not all) in the media and just plays golf

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Forward “Golf Tips Are For Monkeys” To A Friend

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put World Golf in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: World Golf - and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘World Golf’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

The question is why would a person start trying to use a golf swing such as something called a Stack and Tilt? Which, if you haven’t already heard - is just another invented golf swing that was dreamed up by a couple of snake oil salesman preying on desperate Golfers - that somehow became the latest “hot” thing to do for all of about 5 minutes.

However, thankfully it has now been officially thrown in the overflowing dumpster with all the other golf fads that have passed. This new swing sensation was supposedly being used by a bunch of PGA Tour Players - when in fact, how many of these Tour Players are using this concept today? Probably the same amount that are using another once hot fad that’s in the overflowing dumpster of new golf swings - something called Natural Golf.

Thankfully as we scan the golf internet chat rooms - there is little talk of this Stack and Tilt thing - unlike 5 months ago when it was the latest and greatest. And just like much of America was in a real estate frenzy just a couple of years ago where you had to be in real estate or you were missing something big - the gurus of the golf internet chat rooms had desperate Golfers worked up into a similar sort of maniacal frenzy about having to try this new golf swing.

“I heard that Tiger is going to start using the Stack and Tilt!” ‘My cousin has a friend that knows a guy whose wife is friends with someone that lives next to Mickelson’s accountant and she says that Mickelson is also trying it!’ “I usually score around 95 and I shot a 62 my very first round using it!”

And blessedly, as GMS announced many months ago (in the December 12th, 2007 issue of Golf Improvement Weekly) that this new swing should be labeled as the Stack and Shank - it is now (18 months later) being referred to by that moniker by the same gurus who were proclaiming it as the greatest thing since interchangeable shafts for your Driver. All those poor Golfers that got caught up with another golf swing fad - that wasted the last 18 months not improving, but most likely learning to shank the golf ball and lose distance on their tee shots.

Yet, just like all other fads - it seems that there still might be some Golfers that are now just starting to try out the Stack and Shank - kind of like the little kid that arrived at his friends birthday party at 4:00 pm when it really started at 1:00 pm - saying: “Hey guys, where are you going? Why are you leaving the party already?” ‘Jimmy, we ate the cake and opened the presents - the party is over. There is some leftover birthday cake on the table, but it wasn’t very good - too much frosting and sprinkles - not enough cake.’ “Oh, I’m hungry - I’ll eat anything!”

How is it that people that are so smart that they could build businesses or be key personal in a business - people that have to deal with snake oil salesman everyday as part of their career - get hornsnaggled by a couple of golf pro’s touting their revolutionary golf swing?

I was very lucky at the start of my life in golf - as I was able to train under a very smart Golf Professional that said to me: “Marky, the golf swing is like a box of Kellogg Corn Flakes.” To which I answered probably like you are right now - ‘huh?’

He continued - “The golf swing is like a box of Kellogg Corn Flakes. What’s inside the box never changes - the only thing that changes is the packaging.”

And what he meant was: the golf swing is the golf swing like corn flakes are corn flakes - the ingredients of a good golf swing don’t change, just like the ingredients of corn flakes do not change. There are no new golf swings that will make you better. However, the packaging or in golf terms, the way of explaining the golf swing so that a Golfer can improve - can always improve.

The packaging equates (but isn’t limited) to: being able to continually help Golfers using improved concepts such as better, more effective drills that will help you to feel your golf swing. Developing training methods so that Golfers can better understand their golf swing, without having to think about too many things on every swing, along with understanding how to fix it quickly after a bad shot. And then training Golfers to practice their golf swing more efficiently using a PLAN based on their Strengths and Weaknesses as opposed to just beating golf balls like the Monkeys on the range.

There will never be a new golf swing that will be invented that will help Golfers to improve their ball striking (the actual corn flake doesn’t change). However, Golf Instructors can improve their communication skills and knowledge of the golf swing so that we can teach the golf swing in a simpler manner. Yes, there are varying degrees of talent amongst Instructors - yet, there are no new golf swings.

Yes, there are many movements in the golf swing using all the different parts of your body. Most Golf Instructors will teach you all those movements. And unfortunately many Golfers think that just because an Instructor talks about all those movements - that must mean this Instructor is a good Instructor. On the contrary - an Instructor that needs to talk about all those movements is a weak and ineffective Instructor who probably doesn’t have many Golfers that improve. Yet, they maybe held in high esteem just because they talk like they know what they’re doing.

For years (and still today), many less informed Golf Instructors will teach a Golfer to turn their shoulders and turn your hips and to shift your weight. Three things that most Golfers have been taught and try to do on every golf swing - yet, more times than not; fail to accomplish doing it effectively - thus resulting in an errant golf shot.

On the other hand, a talented Golf Instructor can have you doing all three things without you having to think about doing all three things every golf swing. We help you to do all of the above without thinking about it. Talented Golf Instructors help you by formulating drills that will have you doing all those things naturally - meaning without consciously thinking about it.

Creating good habits in your golf swing without you having to think about it is the first step to a consistent golf swing. And when you can do that - you’ll swing smoother and you’ll hit the golf ball better and more consistent.

The Golf Instructor that feels the need to teach you everything about the golf swing is like the sports hero being interviewed on TV that uses big, fancy words to hide the fact that he graduated high school only because he was a star athlete. So he’ll use fancy words to make him appear smarter and/or more talented - although many times he won’t even use these words correctly.

“You have to make sure that you use a one piece takeaway so that your swing path starts slightly to the inside while making sure you maintain the proper posture. As you’re doing this, your club will be starting on plane as your shoulders turn 90 degrees to the target, hips 45 degrees and that you have 55% of your weight on your right foot and 45% of your weight on your left foot. Then you must ….”

‘Oh, that guy sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. I need to listen to what he’s teaching!”

The skill of a fabulous Instructor is to take all those movements and find a way to wrap them up for the Golfer into one movement. For example: If you ever see a Golfer that’s struggling with their game - do they have more or less swing thoughts than someone that’s playing well? Of course - they have way too many swing thoughts. “Oh, this is terrible - I have so much I’m thinking about on every swing.”

And then this Golfer will go take a golf lesson to improve their golf swing and lo and behold, what might that Golf Instructor do? If it’s like most golf lessons - the Golf Instructor gives this already confused Golfer even more to think about. Why? Because many Instructors want to prove to you how much they know about the golf swing. And they’re going to prove it to you that they know a lot - if you like it or not.

And more times than not - that Golfer walks away more confused, playing worse and swearing to never take another golf lesson again. Which is unfortunate because there are some really excellent Golf Instructors available.

On the other hand - when you speak to a Golfer that’s hitting the golf ball great and ask them what they were thinking about on that last shot, it often is: “I don’t know, I was just trying to make a smooth golf swing.”

So if that’s the case - it’s no wonder why most people get worse after the typical golf lesson. Because the typical Golf Instructor talks about all these little movements and you try to do as your Instructor says and then you struggle on the golf course. Yet, the talented Instructor knows how to take all those movements and have you make all those movements without you having to think about it.

A truly great and talented Golf Instructor doesn’t care about being perceived as intelligent - all we care about is that our Golfers are improving.

The Monkey grabs the new, latest and greatest vine that all the other Monkeys are grabbing just because the other Monkeys are grabbing it

The Player understands the golf swing is like Corn Flakes and finds the Instructor that knows how to package specifically for their golf game

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

You do have a practice schedule – don’t you?

You know, a couple of weeks ago, our Stat of the Week in Golf Improvement Weekly was entitled – “If He Putts Well – He Might Win The Masters.” It was about Vijay Singh and how well he has been hitting the golf ball, yet how “poorly” compared to the other top PGA Tour Players he has been putting. If you missed that Stat – we reused it as the The Stat of the Week in this issue of GIW for you to read it.

The point of the Stat was to show that regardless of how good your golf swing is and how well you strike the golf ball – 35 to 40% of those total strokes can be attributed to your putting. And then if you’d like to get deeper into it (and you should get deeper into it if you want to improve your score), at least another 10 to 20% of your strokes are with clubs you use from 1 yard to 35 yards off the green.

So why do I bring this up? I’m not going to try to bore you with another “Short Game, Short Game, Short Game” rant. I mean what’s the point - from what I’ve seen – that advice just falls onto deaf ears.

However, being a stubborn Golf Pro that is attracted to controversy and debate – along with always wanting to be correct about my predictions – I must say – Vijay Singh hit the golf ball just as well as anyone in the Masters. And actually hit the golf ball better than the Champion – Angel Cabrera. And if Vijay did putt as well as the average Player in the Tournament – he probably would’ve won.

Is this the start of the Vijay Fan Club?

No, don’t take what I’m writing as the official fan site for Vijay Singh – it’s not. However, Vijay could be the official poster child for an organization entitled “If I Could Putt As Well As I Can Hit A Golf Ball – I Would Be One Of The Best Who Ever Played”.

And this isn’t a rant on Vijay or Professional Golf. This is a rant about your golf game. Please continue reading to see how this ties into your golf and improvement.

Vijay hit 52 out of 72 Greens in Regulation – Cabrera hit 50 out of 72. Now as far as ball striking statistics – Greens in Regulation is King. There’s not another stat (that I know of) that tells you how well you’re hitting the golf ball. Meaning, if you’re hitting your tee shots into the trees – you’re not hitting Greens on your second shot on Par 4’s. If you’re not swinging your irons well – you’re not hitting Greens from anywhere on the golf course. If you don’t hit your Driver far enough – well … nobody hits many Greens when they’re always hitting hybrids and fairway woods to the green.

So the number of Greens in Regulation you hit basically tells you where you stand as far as your ball striking skills. Or another way of saying it - it tells you how good (or not good) your golf swing is.

And tournament after tournament – Vijay is near the top, along with Tiger as far as Greens in Regulation.

However, Vijay had 122 putts for the four rounds at Augusta National. While Cabrera only had 112. Which, almost coincidentally aligns with the fact that Vijay ended up 11 strokes behind Cabrera. And although this doesn’t perfectly align with the margin of victory by Cabrera over Vijay – it’s pretty darn close and it does show that even though you might have one of the best golf swings in the world – the best golf swing doesn’t guarantee the best score.

As a side note – Tiger also hit 2 more Greens than Cabrera, but he also had 122 putts – the same as Vijay.

Now this isn’t to say that putting is more important than ball striking. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. It all depends on what your Strengths and Weaknesses are. If you have a very good golf swing like Vijay – putting is more important at this point. If you had only 109 putts like Sandy Lyle (2 under par for the tournament and 1 stroke ahead of Vijay) – your golf swing is more important at this point.

The funny thing is that if Vijay and Sandy Lyle had a child – that kid would be sporting a Green Jacket.

So how do you know which is your Strength and which is your Weakness? I ask this even though I know that 7 out of every 8 Golfers believe that their wedges and putting is their Strength. And with me going back to the statement that I don’t mind debate and controversy – Trust me – for most of you – your wedges and putting aren’t even close to being a Strength of your golf game.

And as I know – most of you are probably saying something like – “That Solomon, he’s an idiot – he has no idea how good a putter I am. And how bad my Driver is.” I say to these Golfers – then prove it by doing the test below.

Prove it by finding your ‘Putts Per Missed Green In Regulation Stat’. Meaning most Golfers hit between 0 and 6 Greens in Regulation per 18 holes. So even though it would be great to see you raise your Greens in Regulation to 10 or 12 – which is comparable to a PGA Tour Player – you’re not a PGA Tour Player and you don’t have their skills. So it would be more beneficial for you to focus on Reality.

Reality says that you’re going to miss more Greens than you’re going to hit – so don’t fight Reality. Turn Reality into a Strength. Here’s how:

For every Green you miss – keep count of how many putts it takes you to get the ball into the hole. For example: You’re on a Par 4. Your second or third shot stops 15 yards from the green. You hit your next shot onto the green and 2 putt. That would mean that your ‘Putts Per Missed Green’ (PPMG) stat is 2. If on the next hole, a Par 3, your tee shot lands 5 yards from the green. Then you hit your next shot on the green and 3 putt – your ‘PPMG’ is now 5 (for the 2 holes) or 2.5 per hole. Which isn’t very good.

How should you follow this stat? Every time you play. How do you know if you’re doing well? Let me put it this way – averaging 2 PPMG is not good. If you want to score better – you need to be below 2 PPMG. If you’re above 2 PPMG – you need to spend more time on your wedges and putting. Because as much as you work on your Driver and your irons – 7 out of 8 Golfer won’t hit more than 6 Greens in Regulation. And even if you hit 6 Greens – you still have missed 12 Greens.

And I’ll tell you something else that you might not have ever thought of – The Golfer that hits 0 Greens in a round of 18 holes, yet averages 1.5 PPMG will have a lower score than a Golfer that hits 6 Greens in Regulation, yet has an average of 2.5 PPMG. And that includes if you1 putted each Green you hit and had 6 Birdies!

Here’s an example of the above scenario for the mathematically challenged –

1.5 PPMG: 1 wedge shot per hole + 1.5 Putts per hole multiplied by 18 holes = 45 strokes.

2.5 PPMG: 1 wedge shot per hole + 2.5 Putts per hole multiplied by 12 holes = 42 strokes + 6 putts (the 6 Birdie putts) = 48 strokes.

The 1.5 PPMG Golfer would still beat you by 3 strokes. And that’s if you 1 putted each Green in Regulation (no 2 putts or 3 putts on the greens you hit). And to further show how powerful this statement is - when’s the last time you had 6 Greens in Regulation and one putted each one for 6 Birdies?

Now – don’t take your PPMG lightly. And don’t think of it as being a 100% putting stat. Because a big percentage of your PPMG is based on how skilled you are with your wedges around the green. Obviously – the more skilled you are with your wedges – the closer your first putting attempt will be from the hole.

Also – don’t start to think that your PPMG is 100% based on your putting and wedges. A lot of this stat has to do with your PLAN. Meaning – when you were hitting your approach shot to the green – were you cognizant on where you shouldn’t miss the green. Did you fail to PLAN a ‘what if’ – meaning what if you did mis-hit the golf ball – would it leave you with a tough wedge shot that would be difficult to get close to the hole?

Track your PPMG and see if your average is 2 putts or above. Then if so, figure out why. Was it your putting? Was it your wedges around the green? Was it your PLAN that left you in tough positions around the green? Was it a combination of all three? My prediction is that it’s a combination.

Nobody except GMS is talking about how much better Vijay hit the golf ball than Cabrera. Why? Because Cabrera outplayed Vijay. Would you rather be a one dimensional Player like Vijay was in this past Masters or a multi dimensional Player like the 2009 Masters Champ from Argentina?

You want to score better? Find your PPMG. You want to keep scoring how you’ve been scoring? Keep doing what you’ve been doing. It’s your choice.

The Monkey is still spending hours at the driving range fiddling with their golf swing and hitting golf balls even though their PPMG is over 2

The Player is tracking their PPMG, finding why it’s so high and then working to improve it

Go ahead, be a Player!

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com

GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis
- We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill
- If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put World Golf in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square
- Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: World Golf – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training
- To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘World Golf’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - ‘How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors’

Contact us:
1-888-580-3635 (US & Canada)
001-904-460-8355 (International)
IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

However, after much practice and experimentation – I was able to figure some things out. And some of what I figured out was that many of the golf techniques I was taught and read about - actually made it more difficult to get out of the sand than it needed to be.

First – One of the worst things that you can try to do is to intentionally try to hit or blast the sand. Yes, you do need to hit the sand before you hit the golf ball. Though, it was beaten into my thick head - that you need to hit the sand. “Hit the sand.” “Make sure you hit the sand.” “Feel like you’re throwing the sand onto the green.” “Make The Sand Explode.” “Blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Again, yes, you do need to have your club hit the sand – but the tip of “you need to hit the sand” and the way it’s often described has caused many Golfers to end up digging too deep. Which would cause you to hit a shot that doesn’t get out of the sand and that will possibly roll back to your feet. Which means that your next shot is going to be a line drive over the green. So the question you might have is – “well, then how much sand should I hit?”

That’s a great question.

In the GMS Survey we send to all Golfers that come to see us – it’s almost unanimous amongst our Golfers as far as if they improved and simplified their sand shots. Why is that? What do we do that makes it so much simpler?

Instead of thinking of all the Sand Shot Junk that has been pumped up to become the “How To Get Out Of The Sand Gospel” – we just have you make a golf swing like any other golf swing. Though, you do need to move your ball position slightly. But the good news is that there’s no opening up your clubface. There’s no having to open up your stance. There’s none of that swinging outside the line on your back swing mumbo jumbo. There’s none of that or any of the other stuff that’s often involved with making getting out of the sand more difficult than it needs to be.

All you need to do is make your golf swing – the golf swing that you would make on any iron shot. But, because you’re moving the golf ball more forward in your stance (as opposed to when it’s on the grass), you’ll end up automatically hitting the sand first – and allowing the sand to knock the ball out. As opposed to deliberately trying to hit the sand or blast it out or blah, blah, blah, blah.

Just make sure you move your body like you would on any other golf shot. Don’t be the Golfer that’s just all arms and doesn’t move their body. Why do these Golfers become all arms? Because they’re told to hit the sand. So what do they do? They lift the club up with their arms and then throw their arms down towards the sand because they want to hit it. And boy, they do hit the sand. Which has an influence on how you swing on your next shot. Because you don’t want to take too much sand on this next shot – you compensate somewhere in your golf swing (to avoid hitting too much sand) and hit the golf ball first.

“Fore, over the green!”

Trust me – in 1994 I was the worst Sand Bunker Player on the Planet. So I know how many of you feel about the sand. I hated the sand. Yet, now it’s not a big deal. It’s just like hitting an iron from the grass just off the green.

Next week – we may continue with the story of how to become a much better Sand Bunker Player by getting into the 4 Levels Of Bunker Players. You won’t believe how much more effective you can become out of the sand once you understand your Level and then learning to play to that Level. I have seen Golfers that have practiced sand shots for years that are still Level 1 Sand Players. However, I have met and worked with some Golfers that were almost as bad as I was in 1994 that quickly became Level 2 Sand Bunker Players by using the GMS way out of the sand while combining the concept of understanding their Level of Sand Play.

The Monkey is trying to hit the sand

The Player hits the sand using their normal golf swing

Go ahead, be a Player!
Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put ‘World Golf’ in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: ‘World Golf’ – and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘World Golf’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

The Mantra of the Golf Instructor? When all else fails, tell the Golfer they need to swing more from the the inside out (Compensation #8). Or in other words for anybody that has never heard that phrase before - it’s the feeling of swinging to the right. This maybe the most abused Golf Tip ever created - and if you’ve ever had a typical golf lesson - I’d bet every dollar in my pocket that you have been told to do Compensation #8 at least once.

Though, what often follows after learning and then spending hours upon hours practicing to swing more from the inside - is that you start to push the golf ball out to the right even more. Then, because you’re hitting the golf ball too far to the right - you’re now told that you need to start turning over your wrists and/or forearms at impact so that you can close the clubface to make the golf ball go straighter (Compensation #9).

Yet, because of Compensation #9 - you start to develop an annoying pull/snap hook every once in a while. So you’re told that your wrists are flipping through and that you need to start holding the angle of the club by setting your wrists at the top of your swing and holding them through impact (lag the club by holding your wrists); which turns out to be Compensation #10.

Which now officially means you’ve turned into that cartoon of the Golfer trying to hit the golf ball with way too many thoughts in their head. Meaning - you now might be going through your Checklist of things you need to do on every golf swing before and during every golf swing - starting from Compensation #1 and running through Compensation #10.

And then because you start losing power because you’re holding your wrists for too long - you’re told that you need to snap your wrists at impact at just the right time (Compensation #11).

However, what’s scary is that all these compensations have become bad habits in your golf swing, regardless of whether you’re thinking about them or not on every golf swing. And what becomes even more frightening is that the next time you play - you’ll consciously and/or subconsciously end up adding more compensations to those compensations because you’re on a quest to find a way to hit the golf ball better.

And pretty soon, you have a golf swing that’s built on one compensation compensating for another compensation that’s compensating for another compensation that’s …. well, I’ll spare you the repetition.

Now, where did your Compensation Overload begin?

Your very first compensation probably started the second time you swung a golf club. Why the second time? Well, after you swung at the golf ball the very first time - you watched the result of your shot - then based on how close you were able to produce a perfect shot- you came up (consciously or unconsciously) with a compensation that you felt would bring you closer to that shot.

Now, we can go on and on and on - because the majority of Golfers reading this have more compensation in their golf swing then listed above. Some might have the exact compensations listed above - others may have other compensations that weren’t listed. Though, everyone does have compensations - from Tiger Woods all the way down the line.

The key to remember is - Compensations Equal Inconsistency

Meaning the less compensation you have in your golf swing - the better and more consistent you are. For example: Tiger Woods has less compensation in his swing versus the Golfer that’s ranked #125. A 3 handicap probably has less compensations than a 10 handicap; and a 10 probably has less than a 20 handicap; and so on.

However, whenever all your compensations align, regardless of your skill level - you hit a great shot. And even for the higher handicaps - it is possible for those compensations to align for a few swings or more. For example: a 25 handicap may have those compensations align for their drive and their second shot on a Par 4 and have a 3 foot putt for birdie. And then on the next hole; hit the biggest, ugliest slice you ever saw and make triple bogey.

On the other hand - the 10 handicap doesn’t have as many compensations to align on every swing; so of course those compensations will align much more frequently and allow for those 2 great shots that set-up a Birdie to happen more often. Additionally, because they don’t have to align as many compensations on their next drive, instead of hitting a huge slice; they may hit a power fade that stays in play and allows them the opportunity to make Par or better.

The more compensations in your golf swing - the harder it is to become consistent. The less compensations in your golf swing - the easier it is to become more consistent.

So what’s the simple answer in the question of how to improve your golf swing? Eliminate compensations.

How do you do that? First you find the Strengths of your golf swing. Then you find the Weaknesses. And it’s amazing how simple it is to get rid of these Weaknesses when you use a Results Based Approach. As opposed to the Theories and Assumptions Approach that so many frustrated Golfers use that is similar to what we have described this week and last week of just piling compensations on top of compensations in order to fix simple faults.

Eliminate your compensations and you’ll be amazed at how consistent you can become. The question many ask is: How is it possible for GMS to have all those Testimonials on our Website and display 2 Testimonials in each GIW? Because these Golfers have started the process of eliminating compensations from their golf swing. Now, you’re never going to eliminate every compensation - but the sooner you start reducing your compensations one at a time - the sooner you’ll have a Testimonial on the GMS website about how well you’re playing.

As opposed to the traditional approach that most Golfers use of trying to fix swing faults by adding compensations. And we have found that that’s why some Golfers never improve and GMS Golfers are constantly improving!

The Monkey tries to fix a bad habit by adding compensation

The Player is more focused on finding the cause of the bad shot and then eliminating the compensations that were created because of that cause

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

• For Anyone Considering Video Analysis -

  We have added our report: “Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing” to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view. Just click here to be taken to the download page on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It’s free and it’s a pretty extensive report on our findings.

• Indoor Putting Drill -

  If you’d like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put the words ‘World Golf’ in the subject line.

• Tour Putting Square -

  Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: ‘World Golf’ and we’ll email you how to use this game changing drill.

• Swing Drills & Core Training -

  To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words ‘World Golf’ in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.