Bobby Eldridge Golf

There are tow huge mistakes that amateur golfers make when they are using their LOB wedge.  One of them is always leaving the ball short of your target.  The reason is easy to understand and simple to fix.

The main reason you consistently come up short when you use your LOB wedge is because you SLOW in the downswing.  For starters let’s admit it, the LOB wedge is  weird little head with a ton of loft.  Sometimes you think the ball might come up and hit you in the head right after it leaves the clubface.  It takes a ton of confidence to not try and scoop the ball in the air.

On the other hand with all of that loft why are we still trying to scoop the ball?  What happens in the downswing is you get a little apprehensive and you try and hit a delicate shot.  The one thing you have to keep in mind is that you have to really excelerate the clubhead to make it work. 

Remember this Bobby-ism-The harder you hit a loft club the HIGHER it goes.  The harder you hit a flat faced club the further it goes.  When you have a LOB wedge in your hands you have to smoke it most of the time.  If you try and hit a delicate little shot or if you slow the clubhead down in the downswing, the golf ball is not going to have enough clubhead speed to get it where you want to go. 

Speed up in the downswing-don’t slow down.

Tags: LOB Wedge, Pitching by admin
No Comments »

There is no way this shot should be in golf.  I don’t think the game was designed to play from hard pan, wet sand or no sand in the bunker.  It seems no matter what you try-you blade it over the green, every time.

Well I have a lesson today that I know is going to help you in the furture.  My only promise is that I can get you to get it out higher and softer than in the past.  Because of the nature of the shot I will not promise that it will stop on a dime.  Let’s get started.

The sand wedge has a bounce on the bottom that acts like a rudder on a boat.  When you make contact with soft sand, the club head GLIDES through the sand.  When you make contact with hard sand the club head BOUNCES off the sand and into the back of the golf ball. 

There are a couple of things we can do to eliminate this result.  #1 You can start using a pitching wedge or LOB wedge.  Neither one of them have a bounce as big as a sand wedge.  #2 If you use a sand wedge, DO NOT OPEN THE FACE at address.  When you open the face that puts the bounce into play more.

#3 No matter which club you decide to use you have to make sure you follow through LOWWWWWW.  Do you get it LLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW.

You must CHOP down behind the golf ball and let the impact (momentum) of the club head create enough force to explode the ball out of the bunker.  You DO NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW THROUGH HIGH.

Tags: Green Side Bunkers by admin
No Comments »

If you can not figure out how to stop chunking your wedge shots to the left and you have tried all of the golf pitching tips in the magazines, I have a lesson for you that will work. 

When you hit a really fat pitch shot off to the left there are a few things that happened before and during the swing.  Today we are going to discuss the things that took place before you even swung the club back. Your problem began with the address position.  When you hit a chunked pitch shot the golf club swung too much from outside to inside in the downswing. 

One of the main reasons the club swung too much from the outside is because the golf ball was too far forward in your stance at address.  When you place the ball too far out in front of you (across from your left foot), the club head has to swing outside the arc to find the ball.  When it swings too far outside the arc the angle is too steep and you wind up swinging the club head straight into the ground. 

For the next couple of weeks I want you to try something a little different, I want you to address the golf ball further back in your stance. Try moving it back to the center of your stance for starters. 

A couple of things are going to happen when you move the ball back.  Number one the clubhead is going to begin to find the correct path, secondly you will begin making ball/turf contact.  The golf ball will fly higher and towards the target.  No more chunks to the left.

Tags: Pitching, Short game by admin
No Comments »

For you to become consist with your chipping you MUST have the golf ball in the center of your stance EVERY TIME.  The club head swings up in the backswing and when it returns in the downswing it has to return to the same spot in order for you to make ball turf contact consistently.

One of the ways for your chipping to become more consistent is to learn how to get the golf ball to fly (1/3 of the way) the exact distance every time.  If it flies the same distance every time then it will roll (2/3 of the way) every time. 

The challenge that many of you face is the ball flies half way to the hole one time, 3/4 of the to the hole the next, 1/3 of the way to the hole the next three times.  You don’t know which one is going to show up next.  When your chip shots are that inconsistent you wind up with no confidence. 

So why the importance of ball position?  After you address the golf ball, move 75% of your weight on to your left foot, then move the handle over to center of your body, you are ready to go.  Wait one minute.  If the ball is too far back in your stance, it will come out very low, won’t fly 1/3 of the way and will wind up running way past the hole.  If you address the golf ball too far forward in your stance, the club head will have too much loft at impact, the ball will fly half way to the hole, with way too much backspin.

There lies the problem with inconsistent impact and distance control with chipping.

Tags: Chipping, Short game by admin
No Comments »

There are four reasons why you come up short on all of your putts.  Today I am going to tell you one of the reasons and the next time you head out to the golf course you will see a dramatic change in your putting. 

You not reading your putts correctly-or not at all.  You can not believe how many times I have seen amateurgolfers roll their 25 foot putt half up to the hole.  Of course when I turn to them and ask them if they mishit the putt or did they not know they were going straight up hill, they usually turn to me and say “I never even thought about that”. 

Whether you love putting or not, it is not going away.  The single best thing you can do is decide right now you are going to become a great putter.  Now I am going to share something with you about reading putts that is NOT rocket science. 

99% of all the putting greens in the world are built LOW in front and HIGH in the back.  There are a couple of reasons.  Drainage is one of them but the number one reason is THE GAME IS TOUGH ENOUGH WITHOUT THE GREEN GOING AWAY FROM YOU.  When the build the green they have to make it fair.  If all of the greens where built HIGH in the front and LOW in the back, most of us would probably quit. 

The next time you are walking up to the first green pay close attention to the design of the green.  It is probably lower in front and higher in the back.  With that being said, most putts from the front of the green to the back of the green are slower than putts from the back of the green to the front.  Start reading them correctly and you won’t leave them short.

Tags: Putting by admin
No Comments »

I know many of you love to use practice drills that will enable you to FEEL the correct way of making a change.  I have used this drill not only for my teaching but I have also used it myself over the years.  

Keep one thing in mind.  When you hit a shot to the right you either hit the ground behind it OR you catch the ball on the upswing and hit it thin or topped.  The reason you hit it thin is because the golf club is traveling too far from the INSIDE and is headed OUTSIDE. 

When you swing the golf club on an arc it travels from INSIDE to SQUARE (at impact) back to the INSIDE on the follow through.  The other thing you have to keep in mind is the flatter the club face the less divot you will have.  When you hit a thin 4 iron (it hurts) you will never see a divot unless you hit the ground behind the ball. 

Now, on to the drill.  Grab a 7 iron and lay two straight edges on the ground, (one for the target and one for your body line).  Lay a towel on the ground about 12 inches behind the ball. When you swing the club back make sure you miss the towel in the backswing and in the downswing. 

Another way to think of it is the golf club has to swing UP in the backswing and DOWN in the downswing.  When you hit it thin you swing to much UP in the downswing.  Start with a 9 iron and progress through your set of clubs.

Tags: Bunker Shots, Chipping, Fairway woods/Hybrids, Full Swing, Golf Instruction, Green Side Bunkers, Hybrids, LOB Wedge, Perfect Golf Swing Drills, Pitching, Short game, Solid Iron Shots, Trouble Shots, Wedges by admin
No Comments »

To many golfers the LOB wedge is not what it is all cracked up to be.  They tell me that all they see is disaster.  Well, I have to right up front with you.  My story behind the LOB wedge is pretty funny.  I will cut to the chase.  I used my LOB wedge for one year before I competed with it in my bag.  I practiced with it, I used it to putt and chip with.  I used it EVERY chance I could whether I needed it or not.

Do you get it?  It looked more like a CLUB than a GOLF CLUB.  As a matter of fact, I bought four of them the first year until I found the one I liked, and I still have it.  Now, let me share something with you that will stop you from topping it to the right.  It is pretty easy to understand. 

If the club head is swinging UP at impact you will top the ball to the right forever.  The easiest way to make sure you are going to hit DOWN on it is to address the golf ball FORWARD in your stance (across from your left foot) and put 75% of your weight on your left leg (LEAVE THE WEIGHT THERE FOR THE ENTIRE SWING).

DO NOT TRANSFER YOUR WEIGHT IN THE BACKSWING.  Finally, follow through LOWWWWW!!!!

Tags: LOB Wedge, Pitching, Short game by admin
No Comments »

I am going to put a really different twist on why you struggle with your long fairway clubs-woods or hybrids.  The club in your bag that imparts the most backspin is highest lofted wedge (LOB, sand or pitching).  The club in your bag that imparts the most side spin is your driver. 

The reason we tee a driver up is to accomodate the loft.  If your driver has 10 degrees of loft and you tee it up, the effective loft on your driver has about 15 degrees of loft.  If you didn’t tee it up the effective loft would be about 5 degrees.

Has the light come on?  When you take a 15-20 degree fairway wood/hybrid and try and hit it off of the fairway it becomes a very difficult shot, even at our level of ability.  On top of that if you are trying to hit it off of a tight lie things can really get ugly.

The most common mistake is to hit tops to the right or ground behind the ball.  The reason is simple-you are swinging the club to SHALLOW…another weird golf word.  When the club head reaches the bottom of the arc the sole is swinging too level to the ground.

You have to have a bit more of a STEEP angle in the downswing.  The best way to practice this shot is to lay a towel 8-10 inches directly behind the ball and practice missing the towel in the backswing and downswing.  If you miss the towel the club head has to swing DOWN into the bottom of the ball and not UP on the ball.

Tags: Fairway woods/Hybrids, Full Swing, Hybrids by admin
No Comments »

I will give you three guesses as to why you continue to hit your iron shots weak, and the first two don’t count.  The face is OPEN at impact.  Over and done with.  Now the 10 million dollar question is WHY is open???

Now, there are 15 reasons why the face might return open but I am going to give you the most common reason why.  Well there are really two reasons why but they work hand in hand.

The face is open and the path is from OUT-TO-IN.  The combination is the thing that is the killer.  It would be one thing to just leave the face open but no, you have to go ahead and swing from out to in and that imparts even more left to right (side/backspin) on the ball.

Now let’s fix it.  The first thing you have to do is make sure your shoulders are square to feet line.  If your shoulders are aimed to the left the club is going to swing OUT-TO-IN.  The second thing you have to do after you square your shoulders is to make sure you can see two or three knuckles of the left hand. 

The reason you have to see two or three knuckles of the left hand is to make sure the club face closes BEFORE impact.  If the club face is closing in the downswing you will begin to see shots that fly straigh with power and not weak to the right.

Tags: Full Swing, Solid Iron Shots by admin
No Comments »

When you stand over a chip shot there is a good chance you often say “I think I can make this”.  You make solid contact only to look up and see the ball five feet left of the hole.  The part that kills you is you had the right touch but the wrong direction.

When you pull your chip shots one of three things happens.  You either addressed the ball with the club face closed, swung the clubhead out to in or rolled the toe closed in the downswing.

Today I am going to share with you how to make sure you start with the club face square at address.  I have never seen an amateur address their chip shots with the club face too open, they either set it down square or closed. 

The easiest way to make sure you are addressing the golf ball with a square face is to lay a straight edge on the ground aiming in the direction you want the ball to start.  Place the ball about 3-4 inches away from the straight edge.  Set the club down and make sure the BOTTOM groove or LEADING edge of the club face is perpendicular to the straight edge.  (DO NOT TOE THE CLUB FACE IN)  

I already know what you are going to say…The club face now looks OPEN…it isn’t…try it out and you just might start holing out your chip shots.

Tags: Chipping by admin
No Comments »