Bobby Eldridge Golf

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I’m excited to announce my new Golf Video Download site over at igolffixes.com. I recommend you take a look at my new High Trouble Shot Over Trees Module in the new Trouble Shots section of the site.

YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO!!!

The lesson today is going to pay off before you know it. When your tee shot winds up in the rough and you have to hit the next shot over some trees, there are two reasons why you struggle.

You have a shot of 220 yards left to the green. You see an opening in a tree that is just big enough to squeeze a golf ball through it, you pull out your three wood (never checking the lie first) thinking you can hit it straight up in the air 70 feet high, through the opening, slicing it around the lake in front of the green and land it next to the pin. THAT IS THE FIRST REASON YOU STRUGGLE. Thinking like that is what probably got you here in the first place.

Problem number two is proper technique. If you have the proper technique you can get more out of your shots when you are in trouble. Two secrets you have to remember when you want the golf ball to go up. You have to use a lofted club and number two you have to hit down on the ball for it to go up. Three woods from deep rough do not go up over trees-not even for Tiger Woods.

Here we go with today’s lesson for hitting high shots over trees. First things first. You must analyze your situation and see if there is another way out. Going up has its risks. If you can pitch out sideways with a clear shot to the green or down the fairway, you have to give it some serious thought.

Once you have decided to go over the trees, you have to make sure you take MORE than enough loft. Trouble first, distance second. Do you get it? You have to make sure you can EASILY clear the trees or other obstacles in the way and then worry about how far you can hit the shot.

Let there be no misunderstanding. You CAN hit a high 7 iron, you can even hit a high 6 or 5 iron, the lie has to perfect and the technique has to be flawless.

#1 Take more than enough loft for the shot

#2 Place the golf ball slightly forward of your normal ball position for the club you are using

#3 Place 60% of your weight on your left side, and stay there during the swing

#4 Swing the arms UP and DOWN

#5 Follow through low

#6 This is not a pretty swing it is a functional one

#7 The tendency for ALL golfers is to LIFT the shot in the air. You will hit the middle of the trees EVERY TIME

#8 Lastly, don’t be greedy. Make sure you get OVER the trees first

Join me tomorrow for a continuation of backspin.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Full Swing, Solid Iron Shots, Trouble Shots by admin
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Secrets to Backspin

Secret #10-#11 

Were beginning to close in on this backspin thing.  Can you feel it?  Number 10 and 11 are so closely related that I put them together so you can see the big picture.  The angle of impact, length of swing and speed of swing are so important you cannot believe the role they play.

Let’s talk about angle first.  The golf club can enter the back of the golf ball on three different angles, shallow, steep or neutral.  You can impart backspin with all three angles.  What is important for you to understand is that the angle that creates the most backspin is the one that matches the club face with the ball the cleanest.  The most natural thing to think is the angle that is the steepest will impart the most backspin.  That could not be the furthest from the truth.  If you make contact with a steep angle and catch a little bit of turf between you and the ball, the ball will not have any backspin on it at all.  One last thought on a steep angle, if the club head arrives too steep it takes the loft off of the clubface and the golf ball will probably have topspin instead of backspin.

On the other hand.  You can impart a lot of backspin on a ball with a shallow swing.  There are two major problems.  If the fairway is mowed really low it is very difficult to get the club head underneath the golf ball without sculling the ball.  If there is room for a club head the golf ball will have backspin on it. 

Let’s continue on with the speed and length of the swing.   The golf club has to be moving at a high rate of speed for maximum backspin.  The slower the club head speed the less amount of friction will be created when the ball contacts the clubface.  As far as the length of the swing is concerned it is a shorter backswing and longer follow through that will create more backspin than a longer and often times SLOWER downswing. 

In a nutshell you have to work on a shorter and faster swing that makes a clean impact.

Join me tomorrow with a lesson on high shots over trouble.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby 

Tags: Short game, Solid Iron Shots, Wedges by admin
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Stop hitting the ground behind your iron shots.

When it comes to hitting iron shots off of the ground there is one mishit that is a killer.  Hitting the ground behind the golf ball is one of the most no-nothing shot in golf.   They are painful physically and emotionally.  The sting you get when you clunk the ground with a five can be felt three days later.  I know… enough already let’s get on with the lesson on how to correct the mishit.

First I want to explain why you do it and then I am going to tell you how to correct it.  When you swing a golf club away from the golf ball you have to swing it back and up on an arc.  If you swing the golf club too much outside in the backswing it will return too steep in the downswing.  When the golf club arrives too steep in the downswing you will contact the top of the ball or hit a fat shot to the left.  THIS IS NOT YOUR MISTAKE. 

Your mistake is quite the opposite.  You swing the golf club too much from the inside in the downswing.  Your club is what we refer to as being inside the path heading to the outside.  The golf club is swinging too close to you in the downswing and after it makes contact with the ground it swings too much away from you.  That is where the term in-to-out comes from.

Now it’s time for the correction. 

#1 Check your ball position.  Often times when golfers hit the ground behind the golf ball they address the ball too far back in there stance.  One of the ways to make contact is to swing the club from the inside too much.  It is kind of a double edge sword. 

#2 Make sure your shoulders are not aimed miles to the right.  The club has a tendency to swing along your shoulder line.

#3 This is the best kept secret in the world.  The golf club not only swings back on an arc behind the ball it also must swing around on an arc after contact.  After the club makes contact it can either swing too much to the right (your mistake), too straight towards the hole or left of the hole on an arc around you.

#4 The next time out I have a great remedy for you.  As you address the golf ball, aim it at the target.  The next time you look up-look left of the target (bunker left of the green).  Your aimed at the target but you are looking left of the target and THINKING left.  After impact make sure the clubhead swings around on an arc and not out to the right.

Join me tomorrow with some more backspin secrets.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Full Swing, Golf Instruction, Solid Iron Shots by admin
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GET A GRIP ON YOUR TEE SHOTS…

When you are hooking your driver the one thing you have to keep in mind is the clubface is CLOSED at impact.  That is what a hook is, a golf ball with right to left spin on it.  During this lesson you can not loose focus of what we are trying to accomplish.  There are at least 10 reasons why you hook a tee shot.  Today we are going to focus on two of them and yes they are related.  GRIP and GRIP PRESSURE.

You have heard me say this before “the grip is the steering wheel of the golf swing”.  It is the only part of your body that touches the club and it plays a hugh roll in what the clubface does throughout the entire swing.  Not degress but let’s spend some time talking about how to grip the club correctly.

#1.  The grip should feel like you have the club more in the fingers/palm of the left hand.  The club rests against the bottom of the thumb.  As you grip the club with the right hand it will naturally feel as thou you grip it more with the fingers and less with the palm.  The bottom of the right thumb should cover the left thumb. 

#2.  Now let’s move on to what the grip should look like when you look down at it.  When Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods look down they see the top of one knuckle of the left hand.  The reason for this grip is to make sure the clubface is square at impact.  The speed of their swing has the club head arriving at the golf ball quicker than you and I.  However, if you are hooking your tee shots your grip should look more like theirs.  There is one huge problem.  When I teach slicers most of the time I have them move their grip further to the right.  They fall in love with me in three swings.  When you take a slicer and move their grip, it is usually the first time in their life that the clubface returns square.  On the other hand: when I teach golfers who hook the golf ball I have to move their grip to the LEFT and they DO NOT fallen in love with me immediately.  For that matter it might take a few months.  The reason is simple, comfort.  When you move your grip from the right to the left it feels as thou you can’t even swing the golf club back away from the golf ball.

 #2.  With that being said then next step is vitally important.  The palms MUST face each other.  You can not have the left hand over to the left and the right hand over to the right.  When you look down you have to see no more than one knuckle of the left hand and then you have to place the right hand on the golf club matching the palm of the left.  This is VERY uncomfortable for some time.  It will work, I guarantee it.

#3.  I have a theory, if it works I don’t care how uncomfortable I am, as long as it works.  Let’s get right into the second reason.  Grip pressure.  For those of you that hook the golf ball keep this in mind.  You are probably gripping the club in your left hand to LIGHLTY.  I want you to grip the left hand twice as tight as you normally do.  When you grip the club tighter in the left hand you will slow the toe down in the downswing and the golf ball will fly straighter. 

There you have it.  Weaken your grip and hold on tighter with the left.  As soon as you stop the hook you start drawing the golf ball. 

Join me tomorrow with a lesson on fat iron shots.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Driver, Full Swing, Hooking by admin
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FOUR SECRETS TO HITTING SOLID CHIP SHOTS…

The correction is simple.  Below are the four secrets.

Secret #1-The golf ball has to be in the center of your stance at address. 

Secret #2-Your weight has to be 75% on your left foot and it must stay there during the backswing. 

Secret #3-The handle of the golf club must be across from your belt buckle at address.

Secret #4-The downswing is more of a chop with a VERY LOW FOLLOW THROUGH.  Make sure after impact that the leading edge stays close to the ground.

Join me tomorrow when I do a lesson on how to stop hooking your driver. 

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Chipping by admin
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DISTANCE CONTROL FROM THREE FEET IS ESENTIAL

The final two are dedicated to distance control.  A good putter does not mind having a 30-foot putt uphill on the first hole and then a 15-foot putt straight downhill on the second hole.  We can constantly make adjustments throughout the round for our distance control.  Let me share with you the two secrets why.  #1.  It does not matter whether we have a three foot putt or a 30 foot putt, our stroke is ALWAYS the same.  Our stroke is 1/3 back and 2/3 through.  Of course it is always relavent to the distance we have to roll the golf ball.  Shorter in the backswing and longer in the through swing.  The second reason is we make contact with the sweet spot of the putter.  The combination of a shorter backswing + longer follow through + solid impact=consistent distance control.

This is exactly where you begin to struggle.  Most amateur golfers have a longer backswing+shorter follow through+off center impact=inconsistent distance control.  I will take it a step further.  Great putters develop distance control in putting with a short backswing and a longer follow through.  The reason they do this is to maintain a smoother stroke through impact. 

If the putter head is moving faster in the downswing it is easier to control impact on the face of the putter.  On the other hand if the putter head is slowing down as it arrives at the golf ball there is potential for off center hits. There is yet another challenge with a putter head that is loosing speed at impact.  It is nearly impossible to develop consistent distance control when the putter is striking the golf ball as it is slowing down instead of speeding up.

The number one problem amateurs face with 3-foot putts is inconsistent impact.  Not all 3-foot putts are straight however you have to hit them with authority.  When you hit a short putt you have to be committed to the line and strike it with conviction.  If at any moment you slow the putter down the putt will not stay on line.  Lastly, it is nearly impossible to have consistent touch with a putter that is slowing down.  You will strike one putt to firm and the next one to soft. 

STRAIGHT BACK + STRAIGHT THROUGH + EXCELERATING CLUB HEAD + SOLID IMPACT=1 PUTT INSIDE 3 FEET…

Join me tomorrow for a lesson on how to stop hitting your chip shots thin-topped-and to the right.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Putting, Short game by admin
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STOP PUSHING THE SHORT ONES

Today we are going to have a lesson on how to stop pushing your putts.  The putter has to swing straight back and straight through during the stroke.  Many amateur golfers swing the putter back too much INSIDE the correct path in the backswing and then they swing the putter outside the correct path in the downswing.  When you return the putter face too much from the inside at impact the face is aiming to the right of your target.  When that happens you will push your puttts.  This is a very difficult mistake to correct because you can’t feel when you do it incorrectly.  On short putts there is no room for even the slightest mistake.  Correction: Stand next to a baseboard at home or in the office and check out your backswing.  You can also lay a club down on the ground on the putting green and see if your swinging the putter straight back and straight through.  No more pushing putts.

Join me tomorrow with the distance control part of making 3-footers.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Putting, Short game by admin
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STOP PULLING THE SHORT ONES

It never seems to fail.  You drive it right down the middle of the fairway on the first hole, hit a beautiful second 25 feet past the hole and then you roll your first putt three feet past the hole.  It NEVER fails.  You seem to always have those dreaded three footers staring you in the eyes in the first hole or two.  Or, the match is all square on the 18th green and again, here comes yet another three footer.

Let me give you a piece of advice my mother gave me 100 years ago.  Hun-”those little guys are not going away”.  She used to say to me “I had to make them, the golfers before me had to make them, your going to have to make them and long after your gone, golfers are still going to have to make them”.

Many years ago I decided I was going to figure out a way to not only make more of those three footers myself, I was going to figure out how you can make them also.  Of course my dad thought he had the best answer on three footers “hit it closer to the hole so you never have one”.  Of course he never broke 100 a day in his life.

Let’s take a minute and figure out the different ways you can miss a short putt.  Left, right, long or short.  Period.  That is it, there is no other way to miss a short putt.  If you come up with one that I have missed, please let me know.  Over the next three days I am going to cover one miss at a time.  Today we are going to work on eliminating the pull.

The most common three-foot miss in putting is a pull.  The most common reason golfers pull their short putts is the shoulder alignment at address.  If your shoulders are aimed left at address the putter head has a tendency to follow your shoulder line in the backswing (outside the correct path) and follow your shoulders in the downswing (inside the correct path).  At impact the clubface will arrive left of the hole and you will pull the putt.  Correction:  Your feet, knees, hips and SHOULDERS must aim parallel to your target line.  Have a friend aim your shoulders for you (make sure it is a friend and make sure they aim them parallel to your feet line.  You have just cured pulling your putts.

Join me tomorrow for the lesson on pushing your putts.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Putting, Short game by admin
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YOU WILL NEVER DOUBLE HIT YOUR WEDGE SHOTS AGAIN…

It happens when you least expect it.  You can have an open pitch into the green and bam, it happens.  THE DREADED DOUBLE HIT.  For those of you that don’t know what we are talking about I suggest you stop reading this blog and come back tomorrow when I give a lesson on HOW TO MAKE MORE THREE FOOT PUTTS.

If you want to stick around I have to explain to you what a double hit wedge shot is.  After you make contact with the golf ball you hit it again while it is in the air.

I am going to explain exactly what happens, why and how to fix it. 

The reason you double hit a wedge shot is because the club head slides to shallow along the ground underneath the golf ball.  While the club head is sliding underneath the golf ball there is a second problem going on.  The club head is moving to slow.  Upon impact the golf ball rolls across the face of the golf club and the club head continues to glide along the ground (slowly).  At this exact moment the golf ball leaves the clubface (slowly) and begins to arc in the air.  Unfortunately at this instant the club head catches up with the golf ball and strikes the golf ball again. 

The main reason you double hit your wedge shots is the angle of the swing is too shallow at impact.  The club head has to enter into the back of the golf ball on more vertical angle.  When it arrives at the bottom of the golf ball on a steep angle the golf ball jumps off club face.  The jumping versus sliding propels the golf ball away from the face.  The clubface cannot catch up with the ball at this moment and you will never double hit the ball.

The combination of the shallow angle and the clubface moving too slowly is setting you up for a double hit every time.  I am going to give you your lesson right now and you will never ever, ever, double hit another wedge shot.

#1.        Place the golf ball in the center of your stance.

#2.        Place 75% of your weight on your left foot.

#3.        Make sure the grip of the golf club is across from your belt buckle.

#4.        When you swing the club back: DO NOT SLIDE YOUR WEIGHT BACK TO THE RIGHT. 

#5.        Keep 75% of your weight on your left side during the entire swing.         

#6.        Swing the leading edge of the golf club into the ground. CHOP in the downswing.

#7.        The number one pitching secret in golf:  FOLLOW THROUGH LOW…CHOP IN THE DOWNSWING.

As a side note if you double hit a shot you have to count one stroke for the first hit, one stroke for the second hit and yet another stroke for hitting a moving ball.  One shot equals three strokes.  You don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Come back tomorrow for a lesson on you can start making more THREE FOOT PUTTS…

Don’t hesitate to contact me by hitting the CONTACT BOBBY tab above.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Pitching, Short game, Wedges by admin
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Secrets to Backspin

Secret #9 

Today I am going to spend some time on course management and how that relates to backspin.  The pin placement plays a huge roll in whether or not you want to hit a spinning shot or not.

You have to be sure there is plenty of room in front of the pin as well as behind the pin.  If you are attempting a spinning shot that takes two hops stops and either stops or backs up 10 feet, you have to make sure you have room on both sides of the pin for error.

If you a shot that you think is spinning and it doesn’t, you can wind up over the back of the green in a bunker, water or poor lie.  On the other hand if you hit a spinner and it spins too much you can wind up in a pond in front of the green.  Some of the greens today have false fronts and it does not take much for a ball to back up and roll all the way off of the front of the green.

Another thing to keep in mind is how you stand in the match you are playing.  Maybe you don’t have to risk a spinning shot.  A shot that lands in the center of the green softly and rolls a few feet might get the job done.  You can take a high risk backspin shot out of the equation. 

I want to touch on one more idea.  How you are hitting the ball on that particular day is paramount.  If you are making solid contact, then go for it.  See if you can pull it off.  However if you are not making solid contact the backspin shot becomes a very risky shot. 

These are a couple of things to think about when you are trying to decide if you want to hit a shot that has some backspin on it.  As you know by now there are some other factors that come into play from time to time when you are trying to decide what shot to hit.  Make sure you consider the ones in today’s blog.

Feel free to join my tomorrow for a lesson on how to stop double hitting your wedge shots.  If you want to contact me just hit the Contact Bobby tab above.

Golfingly yours,

Bobby

Tags: Full Swing, Golf Instruction, Pitching, Solid Iron Shots, Wedges by admin
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