7 Big Problems

8/4/2019 7 Big Problems

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Golfers Seven BiggestProblems & Solutions

Table of Contentstroduction

1. Problem - What should my legs be doing during the swing?

2. Problem - I tend to miss a lot of short putts and I think it's because I look up too early, so what can I doprevent this from happening?

3.Problem - When I'm faced with bunker shots I tend to either leave the ball in the bunker or hit the ball wover the green. Have you got a solution?

4.Problem - I keep 3 putting all the time, what can I do to stop this?

5.Problem - I am a very inconsistent chipper, what can I do to improve this?

6.Problem - I am a very inconsistent pitcher of the ball. My shots either go too far or too short. How can improve?

7.Problem - I'm trying really hard to hit the ball up in the air but no matter how hard I try I seem to just baget the ball above the ground. And often I top the ball. What am I doing wrong?

onclusion


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ntroduction

e seven golfing problems contained in this special report are what I believe the biggest faults found in most gomes (this excludes slicing as Ive got a system which fixes that problem).

you can imagine it was a very hard decision to decide on just seven golfing problems. But after extensive thind remembering of my over 15 year golf career I managed to narrow it down to the seven contained within thiscument.

hink youll find that you can use the suggestions in every solution to improve your golf game. Even if you dont

u have one of these golfing problems try the drills and exercises in the solution anyway. They can only improvur game.

lets get into the seven biggest golfing problems & solutions and good luck.

Problem - What should my legs be doing during the swing?

olution - Answer M-O-V-I-N-G! The amount of golfers that don't use their feet and legs during the swing ismazing. Watching a lot of golfers hit a ball you'd think they had concrete shoes on!

you want to hit the golf ball as far as you can then you must learn to use your feet and legs well. To give you aaphic illustration of how your feet can effect the distance you hit a golf ball I want you to do the following exerc

On the practice range setup to a shot asormal

2. Now I want you to put the club down and pick upthe ball and get ready to throw it.

Once set like above I then want you to throw the ball as far as you can without using your feet or legs. Try to em as still as possible like the pictures show over the page


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kay, excellent. Now I want you to throw another ball but this time use your feet and legs, especially on thelow-through. Look at the example below to see exactly what I mean.

you do this exercise you'll find that your throws go a lot further when you use your feet and legs in combinationur body. So now you know this, how can you use this information to improve your swing?

ell, you need to have a crystal clear image of what your legs should be doing in the swing so that you can get ost power. To show you how to use your legs properly I'm going to give you two examples. One is good the ott.

hen you setup to a shot you should have some flex in your back leg. Now listen carefully because I want you tmember this like you've never remembered anything else before. Your back leg MUST stay in the same positiowas at address during the entire backswing.

o not straighten your back leg at all during the backswing because that will promote a reverse pivot, which baseans the weight is going onto your front foot instead of your back foot.

ver the page is a good setup position and then following that is two backswing positions. One is a good backswsition the other is not. Have a look at both of them and then I'm going to explain what youre seeing.


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Setup

om the good backswing position, what should happen?

ell, I believe the very first move in the downswing should be initiated by the front knee moving towards the targd ideally what you want is for the front knee to move towards the target while the back knee remains where it is knee separation creates lag in the downswing, which creates the late hit that every golfer wants.

ery long hitter in the world does this knee separation and the longest hitters start this knee separation before tckswing has been completed. To get this feeling I suggest you do the following exercise.


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the top of your backswing get to a position where you are fully loaded into your right side, and as I've already elieve that to start your downswing you should do it with your left knee and left hip first.

as you are about to reach the furthest point going back you should be starting your downswing movement wiur left knee first and then your hip. The feeling should be one of moving in two directions at once for a split secis is not the easiest thing to do but with practice it creates tremendous club head speed and you'll notice a big

crease in distance.

ere's a great drill that teaches you the leg movements I'm talking about. Get a beach ball and place it between ees at setup, just as I'm doing below.

en swing back as normal. And to start your downswing separate your knees so that the beach ball falls down,en swing through normally.

you can see from the pictures above, at the very top of my backswing my first move is to separate the knees.

u master this knee separation move you'll hit the ball longer than you ever have before, and you'll be morensistent too. I'm sure you'll love both of those benefits won't you??

ow the follow-through really is a reflection of the backswing. So you must concentrate on getting a good solidckswing before you even look at your follow-through. With that being said it's good that you get a clear picture

hat you want to look like at the end of your swing and where your weight should be and what your feet should bing.

nce again I'm going to show you a good follow-through and a not so good follow-though. OK, OK, it's a badlow-through. So have a look at the pictures on the next page and I'll discuss what you're seeing in a second.


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opefully now you've got a good idea as to how you can best use your feet to get the most power. So I'll nowmmarize the points you should work on

1. During your backswing you should concentrate on keeping your back leg in the same position as it

was at address.

2. At the top of your backswing your back leg should be in the same position as it was at address andyour weight should be concentrated on the inside of your back foot. No weight should be present on theoutside of your back foot.

3. To start your downswing you should do so with your front knee moving towards the target, attemptingto separate the knees.

4. At the finish of your swing you should have the majority of your weight on your front foot, with yourbelt buckle pointing towards the target. Plus your back foot should be up on it's toe so you can see all ofthe spikes as the picture on the next page clearly shows.


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you follow these points your shots will be more powerful and more consistent and consequently you'll have mon. I suggest you concentrate on your backswing first, and then the start of the downswing and then thelow-through last. But when you go to work on your follow-through here's something that will help you.

se your follow-through so that it's perfect, then have a swing and attempt to get into the same follow-throughsition that you just posed.

the end of every shot you should be able to hold your follow-through until the ball has stopped rolling. Au'll only be able to do this if you have swung within yourself. Lastly remember a good finish generally means aod shot so get in the habit of holding your follow-through until your ball has stopped moving.

Problem - I tend to miss a lot of short putts and I think it's because I look up too early, so what can I doevent this from happening?

olution - Looking up too early on a putt is one of the biggest reasons short putts are missed. So what can we dop this? Well, here are a couple of great drills you should do on a regular basis to build up trust and confidenceur stroke so you won't feel the need to look up.

is first drill is very simple.

st set yourself up about 3 feet away from a hole and get ready to putt towards the hole. Now just before you'ready to putt simply close your eyes and then stroke the ball and don't open your eyes until the ball has either goe

hole (and you'll know this because you'll hear the ball go in)or missed.

ep putting like this and you'll build up faith in your stroke and you'll also feel awareness of what your stroke ising.

ow the secret behind this drill is that it makes you concentrate solely on the process and that's exactly what yoant. You can control the stroke but you can't control what happens after the ball has been struck. And you'll plaur best golf when you concentrate on the process of making a stroke rather than the outcome.

ere's another great drill that will help to develop this.

ain set yourself up about 3 feet from the hole and get ready to putt towards the hole. When you're ready simpn your head so you are looking directly at the hole and then putt. Doing this means you won't be so preoccupi


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h looking up to see where the ball has gone because you can clearly see the result. But because of this it will u to make a smooth stroke that is not manipulated by your conscious mind.

ese drills are all well and good but what are you now going to do on the golf course?

ell you can continue putting on the course doing these two things I've just mentioned but here's something lestreme.

tup over your short putts and pick out a spot that your putter head should finish over at the end of your putt. Fample, lets say the spot is 5 inches in front of your ball. So you setup over your putt as normal, now instead ofoking at your ball look at the spot in front of your ball and keep your eyes focused there throughout the stroke. ly look up to see where the ball has gone after the clubhead has passed over this mark in front of the ball.

oing this means that no one will know what you've done and you'll be able to beat your short putting problem. Dese drills consistently because they'll really improve your short putting, and you know how depressing it is to mort putts, so you'll do these drills won't you??

Problem - When I'm faced with bunker shots I tend to either leave the ball in the bunker or hit the ball wer the green. Have you got a solution?

olution - The main reason this happens is because most golfers find it hard to come to terms with the fact that n't have to hit the ball to get it out of the bunker. And this leads to two things happening.

e first one is hitting the ball first, which obviously results in some bad shots. And the second one is deceleratine ball and letting the club contact the sand way behind the ball and because the club is going so slowly the sanes not have enough force to get the ball out.

ow luckily, I've got a great drill for you that with practice will get you used to the feeling you should have througnker shot. And funnily enough you don't even need to do this drill in a bunker and if you have one of those sofactice golf balls, you should be able to do this drill at home.

o what's the drill?

ell, you simply have to tee up a ball very high and setup to it like you would for a bunker shot i.e. clubface opeance open etc. Once you've setup to the shot the next step is to swing back to halfway and then through the shull-finish. And the goal is to hit the tee under the ball so the ball simply falls to the ground. On the next page ame pictures that will help to explain this.


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you can see, the ball is sitting on the ground because I've hit the tee. Also notice how my follow-through is m

nger than my backswing. For 95% of bunker shots you should have a longer follow-through than your backswi

u hardly ever want your follow-through to be the same or shorter than your backswing. The reason is becauseving a longer follow-through automatically creates acceleration.

d you must accelerate through bunker shots to ever be successful at them. Also you must get used to not hittie ball and this drill helps to teach you both of these aspects.

in conclusion, you should practice this a drill a lot. And once again, if you have a practice golf ball (one of tholls that goes about 50 yards with a full shot) then simply use that and do this drill at home.

Problem - I keep 3 putting all the time, what can I do to stop this?

olution On the next page is a table of results from a survey Golf Digest did on the putting of amateur andofessional golfers. They tested a total of 302 golfers with handicaps ranging from 0 to 40, at St Andrews G&CCest Chicago, Illinois; Troon North GC in North Scotsdale, Arizona; and Pinehurst R&CC, North Carolina.

ch golfer tried 12 three-foot putts, 24 six-foot putts and 15 putts of 24 feet, no two putts were from the samecation, so take a close look at this table on the next page and then we'll use these figures to help your 3 puttoblem.

Handicap%3-foot

putts sank

%6-foot

putts sank

%24-foot putts left

within 3 feet

0-5 85% 50% 80%

6-10 87% 50% 75%

11-15 82% 46% 71%

16-20 82% 45% 68%

20+ 76% 39% 52%

Men 83% 45% 68%


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Women 73% 38% 49%

All Participants 81% 44% 65%

PGA Tour pros* 81% 60% 85%

nder tournament conditions at selected PGA Tour events

Reference: Australian Golf D

st of all take a close look at the 24-foot range results. As you see the pro's are the best from this range but whost interesting is that from the 20+ range to the 0-5 handicap the percentages get better and better according tayer's handicap.

n't that interesting?!

ow lets look at the 6-foot range results. You'll notice the same trend from this range as well, with the lowest scoing the 20+ golfers and the highest being the pro's again. But this time the difference between the 20+ to theratch golfers isn't that wide. And certainly not as wide a margin as the 24 footers.

e last range, which is 3 footers, provides us with some of the most important findings of this survey. As you'll ne difference between the highest and lowest scores (excluding gender groups, I'll get to that in a second!) is on%, whereas the difference between the highest and lowest scores in the 24 foot putt range was a huge 33%

argin.

cidentally the difference between the highest and lowest in the 6 foot range was 21%.

hat can we take from these findings that are going to improve your golf game? Well, the range between the shtts was very close and in fact the 6-10 handicapper's beat the pro's but I'm sure this would be different if the

mateur statistics where taken from tournament conditions like the pro's were, but that's another story.

ow, if you're a women reading this article please take a close look at your gender stats. If you're a male then mto the paragraph after the next one because the following comments are just for women.

Women Only

Women, in every category you're behind the men from as little as 10% to as much as 19%. Why?I'm noteither, but I do know that you have a great opportunity. You see if you apply yourself and improve this arethe game so you are equal to if not better than a good man putter then what a huge advantage you will haover your lady opposition. There's no reason why you can't be a better putter than a man and every reasowhy you can be better. So it's now down to you to learn about good putting and then become a good puttNow onward with the rest of today's lesson.

hether you're a man or woman what can you get from these findings to improve your golf game?

ell, it's pretty clear from these findings that for amateurs to improve their score they need to first work on their tting, and second improve the amount of putts they hole from the 4-10 foot range, and lastly work on the 3 foo

ow I know this is a very simplistic view but the stats support me on this one. The only figure that is close to the

all participants is in the 3 foot range which incidentally is the same as the pro's with 81%. But then the figure rticipants for the 6 foot range is 16% away from the pro's and the distance between all participants and the proe 24 foot range is 20%.

now you have a plan to improve your putting which is....

Use drills and techniques to improve your distance control on long putting.1.

Improve the success rate on the 4-10 foot range.2.

Build confidence in the 3 footers and closer putts.3.

ealize this sounds awfully easy but don't make it more complicated than it is and the facts support these findinu can't argue with the fact that if you were to putt as well as a pro from 24 feet you'd improve. And if you were


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tt as well as a pro from 6 feet you'd improve. And the 3 footers were about the same. So doesn't that prove to at the most important thing is distance control first, accuracy second?

ost people get so caught up in getting the right line and maybe that's why the results are so close in the 3 feetnge. But obviously the pro's have seen the light and found through long hours and experience they need to mae distance they hit their putts if they want to improve. Because no one hits it to inside 3 feet all day.

ow the next question is, "how can you improve your distance control?"

ere is a hundred and one ways to do it but the best way I've found to do it is by.....practice. Wow, what avelation, "you mean I have to practice my long putting before my touch will improve?"

u got it in one. But just don't think you can go and hit long putt after long putt and you'll get touch because youon't. You'll get good at hitting a putter into a golf ball but that's not touch.

o what is touch?

uch is assessing the conditions around you, deciding on the weight and line that you need to get the ball closee hole after taking in all the elements that effect the speed of a putt, i.e. the speed of the green, the direction ofain, the time of the day, whether your putt is uphill or downhill, etc., etc...

o you want to know the magic formula for calculating all of these factors so you can putt every putt within a 3 fodius of the hole?....you do....OK, wait for it, it might shock you but here it is anyway....."EXPERIENCE!"

u might be saying, "experience, yeah right I've been playing golf for years and I've hit thousands of putts and ll 3 putting, how much more experience do I need??"

ell I'm here to tell you that what you've been doing is not experiencing putting but merely hitting a ball. If you wtruly experience putting you would be aware of every single putt you hit as to what happened and how you caprove it next time.

ow this is not paralysis by analysis but it is being aware of what happened on the last putt and what you can doferently next time in a similar situation to make sure it doesn't happen again.

ot of people think they do this when they hit a putt too hard and so next time they think they learnt from this shey hit the next putt a fraction easier and we all know the result and that's the key word "result."These golfers

concerned with the outcome that they forget the process.e question they should be asking themselves is, "what did I do that caused the ball to go too far?"

aybe it had nothing to do with how hard you hit the ball, instead it could be that you were down grain with awnward slope to the hole that was steeper than you realized.

after figuring this out to ensure this doesn't happen again and you learn from the mistake the next time in a suation, you'll realize that when the green looks shiny it's down grain. You'll also take a closer look at the slope e green as you're walking to the green, not just when you're on it. Now that's experiencing putting.

you see there's no magic formula apart from learning from your mistakes and mistakes are extremely beneficNLY if you learn from them. Most people keep making the same mistakes over and over again and then wonde

hy they keep getting the same results.u have to change your approach to long putting so you become more aware and it all starts by asking yourselod questions about what just happened. Good questions lead to good answers and good answers lead toprovement and more enjoyment.

ere's a quick drill that you can practice to improve your awareness skills and to learn from experience much fasan normal.

n the practice green put about 5 balls on the green 30 feet away from a hole. Now putt those balls to the hole thole them with your eyes closed.

you putt feel all the movements and hear the ball leave the putter. At the completion of your stroke with your


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l closed, guess as to how close the ball is to hole (e.g. it's 3 feet past on the right side and it's a foot to thght of the hole). Once you've made your informed decisions from feeling your movements then look to see whe ball did in fact end up.

you have to do is keep practicing like this until you can tell by your stroke where the ball has ended up. I wouy about 99.9% of golfers see where the ball has gone and then decide what went wrong.

other great way to improve your long putting touch is by hitting putts to the fringe of the green instead of the his forces you to focus on distance control.

uarantee that if you did these two drills for only 10 minutes a day from different distances not only would yourores dramatically improve but your confidence and enjoyment would as well. Because you will be learning throperience not through results.

u must learn from the process first and the result second not the other way around if you want to improve quic

Problem - I am a very inconsistent chipper, what can I do to improve this?

olution - Chipping is very easy, or at least it should be. Next to putting it's one of the easiest actions you makelf. Now the biggest problem I see when most people chip is that they use their wrists way too much. When youtup for a chip you should form a triangle with your arms and club as is pictured over the page.


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om this setup position you simply have to keep this triangle intact throughout the stroke. Now here's a great drat forces you to do this.

mply setup to a chip shot as normal but get another club and hold it next to the club you are going to chip with e club extends out the top. From this position simply swing back and through attempting to keep the triangle in

make it crystal clear as to what you should be doing, here is a couple of pictures that show you the action, use second club as a guide.

ow, if you're doing this exercise and the second club hits your body on the follow-through that indicates that yoists have collapsed. If you keep the triangle in tact and don't have any wrist action then this won't happen. Andu do this drill consistently you will learn the art of good consistent chipping.

other important point to note when chipping is that you should always follow-through further than you take theck. Always!


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Problem - I am a very inconsistent pitcher of the ball. My shots either go too far or too short. How can prove?

olution - The reason most golfers are inconsistent when it comes to pitching is because, the swing needed to e ball the required distance needs to be shorter than a full swing. Now because most golfers hit full shots theajority of the time, they find it difficult to make these shorter swings. But do you know what will help?

actice!

u've got to practice swinging back shorter than a full swing and then follow-through. And here's the most impoint from these instructions. When pitching you should alwaysfollow-through further than your backswing.ason for this is simple.

following through further than your backswing you are creating a swing that will accelerate through the ball. Ifn't do this, then your results are going to be inconsistent at best and disastrous at worst.

I want you to practice a shorter swing and for consistent pitch shots you must make sure that your ball positioe same time after time. I suggest that you have your ball positioned in the middle of your stance as I'mmonstrating below. Do not have it any further forward than this unless you are playing a flop shot (high shot).

om a setup position similar to this (see picture 1) I want you to take your club back halfway so your arm is parathe ground (see picture 2). Now from this position simply follow-through but DO NOT stop at a position similar

cture 4 but carry on through until you achieve a position similar to picture 5.

to improve your pitching simply keep practicing this back and through motion, with or without a ball. Andmember on all pitch shots to follow-through further than your backswing and you'll dramatically improve yournsistency.

ne last point.

start with really exaggerate the short backswing and the long follow-through. This will help.


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Problem - I'm trying really hard to hit the ball up in the air but no matter how hard I try I seem to just bat the ball above the ground. And often I top the ball. What am I doing wrong?

olution- Golf's a funny game because it's largely a game of opposites. And one of the opposites that you musasp is that if you want the ball to go up you have to hit down. Now for most beginners that's a hard concept to t even for some experienced golfers it's a difficult one to actually do.

get a golf ball up in the air using the loft of the club you need to hit slightly down on the ball with every shot yoay, with the exception of your driver (from a tee) and your putter.

ery other shot will require a slightly downward attack. One of the most common sights I see on the golf courselfers in an impact position similar to what I'm demonstrating below on the left.

Bad Impact Position Good Impact Position

you can clearly see the head is well behind the ball. The weight is mainly on the right side and the club is stargo up. Now compare that picture with the one on the right where I'm about to hit the ball. You'll still notice thatad is slightly behind the ball which is good, but the weight is more balanced between the two feet and the clubming down into the ball.

nfortunately the only result from the impact position on the left is either a low thin at best or at worst the ball wilong the ground. The reason an impact position like this happens is because a golfer who believes they actuallyve to help the ball up leaves a lot of their weight on the back foot in an attempt to get the ball up.

ur golf clubs have loft on them and it's built in so you don't actually have to "try"to get the ball up. But insteadould just swing and let the in built lofts get the ball up. When you hit a crisp well hit iron shot the divot should ser you've hit the ball.

, to get this feeling of hitting the ball first and with a descending blow, I want you to do the drill on the next pag

tup to a shot as normal but just before you start your swing I want you to lift your back heel off the ground. Fros new setup position, simply swing as normal but don't let the back heel down on the backswing. Keep it in exe same position as it was at address.


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oing this drill will force you to move down and through the ball with a descending blow. And your follow-throughould be completely onto your left side to finish. With your spikes completely showing on your back foot.

keep doing this drill over and over again to get the feeling of hitting the ball first and then taking the divot. I caomise you that when you get this move correct your shots will go higher, straighter and with a more solid feel.stly - remember to hit down on the ball to make it go up.


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onclusion

ats what I believe are the 7 biggest problems in most golfers games apart from slicing. So hopefully if youve hat I suggest in the solutions then you wouldve started to improve your game. But dont stop now because thecret to success in anything is in always looking to improve whatever it is you are doing.

you keep trying to improve some aspect of your golf game then you will score better and have more fun. But thke time, so make sure you stick with something youre working on for at least 30 days to make your new movebit.

d if you have a golfing problem that you want solved simply contact me and Ill solve it for you. You can contathe following 4 ways

1. Mail - G.P.C. 65 King Street, Taradale, Napier, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

2. Phone In New Zealand: 06 845 0079, Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm Phone Outside New Zealand:Put in your countries International Access Code for New Zealand followed by - 6 845 0079

3. Fax In New Zealand: 06 845 0079 Fax Outside New Zealand: Put in your countries InternationalAccess Code for New Zealand followed by - 6 845 0079

4. Email [email protected]

I wish you all the success in golf and life and if I can help you in any way I will.

Yours truly,

Nick BayleyAuthor of The "Draw" System

7 Big Problems

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