Heel Shots

Hitting shots in the heel of the club or worse on the shank is caused by only 4 things. 

1.  Standing too close to the ball.
2.  Getting closer to the ball with your body during the swing.
3.  Swinging out too far with the club.
4.  The lie of the club is too upright or the length of the club is too long.

This list will help trouble shoot when you run across this mistake.  There might be characteristics of this mistake but these are the only reasons why you hit shots in the heel of the club.  So by the process of elimination you can isolate the mistake and start working on the correction.

No Place is Safe This Winter

A few weeks ago even Augusta National Golf Club was hit with a snow storm.  Hard to believe the Masters is less than two months away and there's snow on the ground at Augusta.  The amazing thing is that the greens received very little snow coverage.  Augusta National has a built in system below the surface of the greens that controls the moisture and temperature of the greens.
The picture on top is the 12th green and below is what we're used to seeing, from the 12th green, the 2nd week of April. 

FYI... Golf Ball Facts

Virtually everyone has experienced some cold weather this winter.  Many have not played golf in weeks.  Depending on where you have your clubs stored might depend on the distance or lack their of that you get in the next round of golf.
Golf balls that have been stored in temperatures of less than 32 degrees fahrenheit for 10 hours or more will fly noticably shorter than golf balls stored at room temperature.  The cold weather effects the elasticity to the cover of the golf ball.  Therefore, the ball can't compress off the face the way it normally does. 
The good news is that you can reverse the effects of the cold temperatures.  By storing the golf balls at room temperature for at least 24 hours the golf balls will be back to normal playability.
Moral of the story is don't store your golf clubs in the car or the garage when it's freezing outside.

16th hole TPC Scottsdale

Maybe the most exciting hole on the PGA TOUR is played this week when the TOUR settles in at TPC Scottsdale.  The Waste Management Open is dubbed 'the greatest show on grass.'  One of the reasons for the nickname is the par 3 16th hole.   Measuring 162 yards, it's not a daunting hole by today's TOUR standards.  But, when you put 20,000 screaming fans around the hole it takes on a whole new meaning.
Players either love it or hate it.  One week a year the best players in the world get a chance to feel what's it like to play in front of a college basketball type crowd.  Chants start going up for Arizona State University when Phil Mickelson is walking from 15 green to 16 tee.  Phil went to college in Scottsdale and they absolutely love him.
Dean Wilson and Tiger Woods have played the 16th hole the best in the last 20 years.  Each has played 12 rounds on the course and both have played 16 hole in 5 under par.  I'll never forget when Tiger made a hole-in-one there about 10 years ago.  The place went ballistic!!
It's one of my favorite tournaments to watch because there's so much action on the back nine.  You have the par 5 15th hole, the craziness at 16, a short drivable par 4 in 17 and must hit a good tee shot on 18 or you're either in the water or in a difficult fairway bunker.  I can promise you it won't be a dull telecast on Sunday.  Check it out!

Training some Tigers

I spent the last two days teaching two members of the Auburn University Tigers Men's Golf Team.  Their coach Nick Clinard has been a good friend of mine for a long time.  He brought Kyle Kopsick and Dominic Bozzelli to the Four Seasons for some work.  Kyle is a left handed Sophomore who had an excellent 2009 summer and a Top 10 finish last fall.  Dominic is a redshirt Freshman who's from my hometown of Pittsford, New York and attended the same High School I did.
I spent yesterday afternoon and all day today honing their games. Braving the frigid weather Kyle and Dominic worked hard to improve their swing technique and fine tune their short game skills.  Both made some excellent progress.
The best part of the two day session is that both players were open to improvement.  They bought into what I suggested and worked very hard to integrate the changes.  Their tremendous positive attitudes that will take them all long way.
I'm looking forward to following their progress in 2010.

View my New Website

My new personal website is up and running.  The address is: www.timcusickgolf.com.  The site has my professional golf information, articles, videos, pictures, etc...  It's still a work in progress but when you have a chance check it out.

Tiger Spoke

Alright Tiger spoke.  Very scripted.  Took ownership for his mistakes.  Touched a wide number of subjects.  Showed some emotion.  Apologized for a number of different things.  Didn't rule out not playing golf in 2010.  Been in Rehab since late December.
To me, the most impressive thing he said was that tomorrow he's heading back to Rehab.  He's got a tremendous challenge ahead of him.  Hope for all that's involved he's up to the challenge.

What Will He Say?

Tiger Woods is finally speaking.  He's going to make his first public appearance since all hell broke loose last November.  Friday at 10:00AM Dallas time he'll speak from TPC Sawgrass to apologize and outline his immediate future.  Should be interesting.  Stay tuned.

Chasin' that Swing

Worked with 12 year old Chase Fritz this afternoon.  He's a very good junior golfer in the state of Texas and has played in national events as well.  Chase needs to improve his ball/turf contact.  He tends to error on the fat and thin side.  His takeaway has always been his biggest issue.  The club will work inside and this doesn't allow him the proper angle back into the ball.
Today I got the club to sit flush on the ground at address which moved him closer to the ball.  Previously he stood too far from the ball and the toe was sticking up in the air at address.  Getting the shaft taller and him closer to the ball allowed him to swing the club more up and down.
As you can see I improvised and used his bag to indicate the plane.  He practiced hitting some half shots avoiding the bag. It worked very well.  His impact improved and he gained some distance and increased trajectory in the process.
I look for some big things out of this 12 year in 2010.

Keeping up with the kids

Congratulations goes out to one of my junior golfers Matt Gilchrest.  Today he won the TJGT Tour Championship at Horseshoe Bay in the 12-15 age division.  Matt shot 70-73 for a 143 total to win by EIGHT SHOTS!  Way to go Matt.

Another one of my juniors Anthony Paolucci is sitting in a tie 6th place after shooting 76-68 at the HP Boy's Championship being played at Carlton Woods in Houston, Texas.  Anthony's got some work to do being 7 shots back with one round to play.  We'll see what happens tomorrow.

The First of Many

Congratulations to Fred Couples for his win at the ACE Group Classic in Naples, Florida.  It was Freddie's first Champions TOUR  win.  It sure didn't take long.  He shot a final round 8 under 64 to hold off Champions TOUR rookie Tommy Armour III who shot a Champions TOUR record 11 under 61.
The older guys tour is alive and well with so many of the famous names from the recent past now resurfacing.  I always enjoyed watching the PGA TOUR back in the late 80's and early 90's and these are the guys who played in that era.

Let's hope Freddie stays hot and plays often.  He's great for golf.

Listen up!

I'll be on 103.3FM ESPN radio tomorrow morning.  Mira Vista's Courtney Connell has a show from 8-10am called the Golf Connection.  I'll be on at 9am.  Check it out!

Back in Business

After 13 inches of snow over the last two days I was able to get back to teaching today.  Although not the greatest conditions, I was able to teach from under our covered hitting bay.  With the ground still covered in snow and the temperature hovering around freezing I spent the morning helping Bryce Brown.   Bryce is a very good junior golfer in town from Lincoln, Nebraska to work on his game.  He's been somewhat limited in his practice due to the poor weather in the midwest this winter.   Bryce has only been playing golf for 3 years but has drawn the interest from a number of Division 1 colleges to play golf for them next year. 

One of the challenges in teaching Bryce is that he's left handed.  I teach a fair amount of lefties through the course of the year but my number 1 goal anytime I do teach a left handed player is I don't want to confuse my 'left's and right's' when I'm describing the swing to Bryce.  Thankfully I met my goal and he improved throughout the morning. 

Here we go again!

Well, the winter weather in Dallas never ceases to amaze.  This would be our 6th time it's snowed in Dallas this winter.  Even our mats under the hitting bay have 3-4 inches of snow on them.  Hard to believe it's going to be in the mid 50's and sunny this Saturday.  I promise not to complain this August when it's 103!

Preview for the U.S. Open

The Pebble Beach Pro-Am starts today in the most beautiful golf area of the world, the Monterey Peninsula.  Pebble Beach in February is cold, wet and the greens are slow for PGA TOUR standards.  The course you'll see in June for the U.S. Open will be dry, hard and fast if the USGA has anything to say about it.

In recent years this week's tournament has suffered getting a quality field despite the draw of Pebble Beach.  However, this year Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia headline the field getting a look at some of the subtle changes made to the course in anticipation of the Open later this year.  Should be some good watching on TV the next 4 days.

Avid Golfer - Cart Girl of the Month

Avid Golfer has a monthly piece in it's magazine featuring a different beverage cart girl.  As you can guess it's a big hit for most readers.  Well, Four Seasons' own Jenna Gillund was named Cart Girl of the Month for the latest addition of AG.  Have a look.  Avid Golfer - Cart Girl of the Month

Latest addition of Avid Golfer

The lastest addition of Avid Golfer is out on the newstands.  My instruction article is centered around escape shots.  Have a look.
Escape Shots - Avid Golfer

Committment

Improving at golf takes time and some work.  One of the areas I see students struggle with is committment.  They have some success on the range and then go to the course and if they don't instantly see improvement they either doubt or fall back to their old flawed swing. 
What I would like to see more of is a sense of letting go of what the result might be.  If you put your focus on what it takes to hit a good shot that's all you can do.  You can't control the rest.  The focus might be a picture, feeling or thought but if you give 100% to the process then at the end of the day you can't fault outcome.

Mr. Nice Guy

With his win at the Northern Trust Championship today Steve Stricker moves up to #2 in the World Rankings.  His win at Riviera was his 4th on tour in his last 15 starts.  Precision iron play, great chipping and putting is how Steve Stricker gets it done.  Not surprising that he wins on a course nicknamed Hogan's Alley.  Stricker is never going to win a 'bomb and gauge' contest but he will contend on courses that require precision ball striking.  And that's exactly what he did this past week.

Think about it, four years ago he lost his tour card.  Stricker could either dig in or hang it up.  We all know he dug in and now he's currently the the best player playing the game of golf right now.  I would have to think he's setting himself up to contend and win some majors this year. It's great that his type of game can still be very successful on the PGA TOUR.

Never Stop Learning

A very educational day for me today.  The Four Seasons Resort and Club/Dallas hosted a Junior Golf Fitness Seminar for about 75 Dallas junior golfers and their parents.  The Seminar was loaded with talent.  Recent PGA TOUR winner and past Dallas junior golfer Ryan Palmer was a guest speaker along with his golf coach Randy Smith and Physical Therapist Dr. Troy Van Beizen.  I had an opportunity to address the crowd for about 15 minutes.  My talk was centered on the work I've done with two of my talented junior golfers, Anthony Paolucci and Matt Gilchrest.
I also have two of the top junior golfers from the state of Indiana in town for the week-end to work on their game.  Ryan and Kelly Grassel have been students of mine since they were little kids.  Ryan is a Senior getting ready to play college golf and Kelly is a Freshman in High School and probably the best girls junior golfer in the state of Indiana.  Kelly is need of some distance so we were off to see 'The Wizard' this afternoon in search of some distance.  The Wizard is Art Sellinger, the owner of Long Drivers of America and a good friend of mine.  He agreed to spend some time with Kelly in an effort to increase her distance.  We started out in Art's studio with Kelly registering 121 mph in ball speed with her driver.  Within about an hour Art had her ball speed up to 136 mph!  Through some improved technique, prodding and a new shaft in her driver Kelly had increased her driver distance by about 25 yards.  We headed over to a nearby course to see what the ball flight was like.  Kelly's launch on her driver was just incredible. I was really impressed by what Art had isolated to get her more distance.
So a big day for me as far as improving my knowledge.  25 years into teaching and I'm still learning how to be a better teacher for my students.  The moral of the day is never stop learning and don't be afraid to look 'outside of the box' to improve.

Why you Slice

Ever really wonder why you slice.  There's only one reason.  The clubface had to be open or in the process of opening at impact.  There's many characteristics of slicers such as a weak grip, faulty pivot, cupped left wrist, etc... but the clubface being open at impact is the cause for the curvature to the right.
Remember that whenever there's a curvature problem there's a clubface problem.  When you can figure out what's causing the clubface to be open, you're on your way to fixing your slice.

The Man 'Behind the Scenes'

Dallas is blessed with a number of world class professionals in the sports world.  Maybe the top 'behind the scenes' professional for many local athletes is Dr. Troy Van Beizen.  Troy runs the Chirosports Clinic in Dallas.  His clients range from members of the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, PGA TOUR players to everyday local folk like me.

He was named America's Top Chiropractor in 2006, 2007, 2008 by the Consumer Research Council of America. Troy knows his stuff.  One week a month during the Professional Golf Season he's contracted to take care of the world's best golfers in the fitness trailer on either the PGA or Champions Tour.  Two of the last three winners on the PGA TOUR so far this year, Ryan Palmer and Ben Crane are clients of Troy's.  Being a certified TPI specialist, Troy understands how the body needs to work in the golf swing.
My job isn't as athletically demanding but Troy has been able to keep me limber during my long hours of standing on the lesson tee.  I've also seen him work wonders with some of my students who I wasn't able to get into the right positions throughout the swing due to lack of flexibility.  He's made me really understand how important range of motion, flexibility, strength and suppleness are to the golf swing.

http://www.chirosportspecialists.com/

Controlling Head Movement in the Swing

I pay close attention to how someone's head movement is throughout the golf swing.  In a perfect world I would like the head to remain relatively still throughout the swing.  However, most golfers aren't flexible enough to accomplish this.  To me, the head can have some movement in the swing.  I don't mind if the head moves slightly behind the ball in the backswing.  This feeling helps most golfers get behind the ball better.  The head should move once contact is made.  The old adage of 'keep your eye on the ball' is a good one.  But what that means is once the ball is gone, let your eyes start looking for it. 
An important key for head movement throughout the swing is making sure the eyes remain level.  Even if there's some movement of the head, the eyes must remain level.  If they tilt one way or the other it will effect their weight distribution and the direction the club swings. 

A good tip for teachers - If you have a student that swings the club excessively too much to the inside or outside at any point in the swing, there's a good chance their eyes have tilted too much in the swing.  Level their eyes out and you're going to fix the path problem a lot faster.