If you’ve watched Phil Mickelson the past several years on the PGA tour, you’ve probably noticed that he has a very unique pre-shot routine to his short putts. Frequently, Phil will line up to the left or right of his ball and take one or two practice putts facing the hole.

So why does he do this?

It all goes back to a practice routine that he started to incorporate into his short game a few years ago via golf great Jackie Burke.

Phil will line up about 10 balls around the hole each about three feet from the hole. He proceeds to work his way around the circle sinking every ball in the hole. And if he misses a putt, he will frequently start over again until he sinks 100 in a row.

While you might not have the time or patience to sink 100 putts in a row yourself, there a two key benefits of this drill:

• It keeps you from falling into the common trap of trying to steer the ball to the hole on short putts and
• Helps you build confidence by developing a natural reflex on short putts

Even if your goal is to sink 20 putts in a row, you’ll find that these knee-knockers can be turned around to strengths in your game and will help your drop strokes off your game.

Learn how to flawlessly sink putts with these backwards golf putting tips.

This is one problem that I have certainly struggled with over the years. It goes something like this…

You take too long of a backswing with your putter on a short putt, realize that you have made a mistake mid swing and try to correct it by decelerating your putter through the ball.

Sound familiar?

Here’s a golf swing tip that you can take to the practice green that will help you accelerate through the ball on short putts.

Place a tee a few inches behind where you address the golf ball. With the tee in place, it will limit your backswing and force you to accelerate through the ball to get it to the hole.

This drill will help promote greater rhythm in your putting stroke and alignment on your follow-through.

Good luck, Michael

Learn how to putt like pro with these backwards golf swing tips.

We’ve all been there…hitting the ball or chunking it. Here’s one simple golf swing tip that you can take out to the course the next time you play to keep from chunking it.

One of the main reasons that golfers hit behind the ball is that they don’t trust the loft of the club to get the golf ball into air. And a lot of things will break down quickly in your swing when you try to loft the ball with your swing.

The most common mistake golfers make is that they leave their weight on the back foot and tilt their spine backwards thinking that it will help launch the ball. When your body is in this position during the downswing, you are almost always guaranteed to release your wrists too early causing the club to hit the ground before the ball.

If you haven’t already figured out the swing tip here, the first step is to trust the loft of the club.

• The first move of your downswing is to shift your weight forward;
• Think about swinging to a finish which means hitting through the ball and ending with your weigth forward and to the left (if you’r right-handed).

 Discover the developing a golf swing technique that promotes consistency and adds distance to your game today!   

We’ve all been there. We arrive early at the golf course and hit the range with a buckets of balls to warm-up. If all goes well, we go through our warm-up and work out any kinks in our swing before we hit the course.

And on many days, we’re able to carry over the work from the practice range and get similar results with our golf swing.

But what do you do on those days when you develop a new swing problem on the course that you weren’t expecting?

Maybe it’s a slice or even a hook. There are several reasons why this could be happening and today I want to offer up some golf swing tips which can reduce the frustration and bad results that can easily occur in these situations.

In short, I propose that you go with the hand your dealt that day. While some of you may be able to diagnose the breakdown in your swing immediately, I propose that you embrace your new problem and use alignment to improve the results of your ball striking. This is much easier to implement on the fly and will likely cause you much less frustration during the round.

• Hooking the ball from the fairway - Set-up to the left side of the green (right if you’re a lefty)
• Slicing the ball from the fairway - Set-up to the right of the green (left if you’re a lefty)
• Hooking the ball off the tee - Place your tee in the middle of the tee box and use an open stance at set-up (placing your back foot further away from your body in relation to your front foot)
• Slicing the ball off the tee - Place your tee in the middle of the tee box and use a closed stance at set-up (stepping away from the ball with your back foot so that your toes are parallel to the middle of your front foot)

These tips aren’t meant as long term solutions to your golf swing, but are valuable golf swing tips to have in your toolbox when you need them on the course. To learn more about creating a golf swing sequence with more consistency and better results, take a look at the Simple Golf Swing today.

Good luck, Michael

I don’t know any golfer who wouldn’t be interested in adding some distance to their golf swing on the tee or from the fairway. Today we’ll cover an easy way to add distance from the tee which you can expect will add another 10-15 yards to your shot. This tip comes courtesy of PurePoint Golf Head teaching Pro Bobby Eldridge.

This first step is to review what actually generates generates power in the golf swing. Some of these items will be good common sense but the last few will shed light on the areas that are commonly misunderstood by most golfers.

1. Solid ball contact on the sweet zone of your club, not the toe or heel;
2. Making sure that you hands rotate through impact;
3. Using proper weight in concert with your hands through impact; and
4. Understanding that a club face that is down at your follow through will equal more power. Conversely, a club face that is open through your follow-through will equal less power.

With that in mind, let’s add another 10-15 yards off the tee.

1. Use your normal pre-shot routine making sure that you bend at the hips;
2. Use a closed stance, which will mean placing your back foot so that your toes are parallel to the middle of your front foot (it will feel like you’re stepping away from the ball with you back foot);
3. Shift your weight forward a bit, placing 60% on your front foot; and
4. Keep your knee bend at set-up the same as your normal swing.

From there, take your normal swing concentrating on shifting your weight and hands through the ball as mentioned above.

If you’d like to learn more about how long distance golf drivers actually do it, we have a DVD that focuses exactly on this point. Check it out today and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Best of luck, Michael

Add to Onlywire

It’s hard to believe, but even the pros struggle with their distance control. In fact, I remember hearing over and over again a few years ago that one of reasons Tiger Woods was in a slump was because he was struggling with his distance control.

I don’t know about you, but only if I had Tiger’s problems….

I’ve always thought of myself as a feel player, especially when I am inside 100 yards to the pin. As I’ve learned over time, being a feel player can have its share of problems.

The key to any part of your golf game is to develop a routine and/or swing that is repeatable and the same can be said for your short game. Here’s a tip that I incorporated into my game which has dramatically changed the way I score inside 10o yards.

For starters, different distances require different lengths of backswings. So, your backswing shouldn’t be the same for a 95 yard shot vs. a 45 shot. Seems like good common sense, but how many times have you tried to control your distance by the changing the speed of your swing?

Start by thinking of your backswing as a clock. For shorter distances, you might only need to bring the club back so that it’s at 9 o’clock or parallel to the ground. Intermediate distances might only require a 3/4 swing or 10-11 o’clock. You get the picture…

And it’s important to apply the same principle to your follow-through. If you’re taking a 9 o’clock shot your follow-through should stop when it’s parallel to the ground or at 3 pm.

You’ll need to figure out which distances work for you during each “click of the clock” but you’ll quickly develop a consistent and reliable approach to distance control within 100 yards.

Talk to you soon,

Michael Kosmala

If you’ve spent any time watching golf on TV you’ve likely heard countless commentators talk about “releasing the ball to the hole.” So what does this mean and how can you achieve this in your golf game.

The first step to getting the ball to release to the hole is understanding that minimum air time equals maximum roll.

Assuming that you’re using the proper set-up (placing the ball in the middle of the stance, shifting 75% of your weight to the front foot and placing your hands and the shaft slightly forward towards the target), it’s the follow-through that will help you the most with this type of shot.

Keeping your club low and short on your follow-through during pitch shots will ensure that the ball takes a lower flight and releases to the hole.

As for distance control, think of the distance you have to the hole in thirds. You want to hit the ball about 1/3 of the way to the hole allowing it to roll and release for the final 2/3s of the distance.

Give this a try the next time you hit the course!

Take care, Michael Kosmala

Unlock the short game method that will slash 7 strokes off your score in 2 rounds!

Yesterday we focused on developing consistency with your pitch shots. Today we’ll move to another area of the short game which gives a lot of golfers fits - the bunker.

I can think of few shots that can intimidate the amateur golfer more than hitting out the bunker (okay, maybe whiffing on the first tee would rank higher). And like the pitching tips from yesterday, much of what I’ll share today will seem a bit counter-intuitive.

But stay with me, there’s a method to the madness…

The most common results of a poor bunker shot are a line drive over the green or having the ball move just a few inches forward in the sand. The last result usually happens because the golfer is afraid of hitting it over the green.

Let’s start with the set-up.

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