Tag: guru tv

The Bob Hope and Farmers Championship Recap

February 1, 2010

I am back in town and managed to catch the last round of the Farmers Championship. I did not have a chance to blog about last weeks Bob Hope but it can all be summed up in a few sentences. Congratulations to Billy Haas for his first victory. He played great but the big story were the guys chasing him. In my opinion, the defining moment was when the longest hitter on tour, Bubba Watson has a chance to go for the par 5 14th and chooses to lay-up. This was a long par 5 that nobody but the longest hitters could even take a shot. The lesson to be learned is this: Continue reading “The Bob Hope and Farmers Championship Recap”

GURU TV – Lack of Trunk rotation: fitness episode 2

January 25, 2010

When evaluating your game and setting goals for the upcoming year, there are four components that are involved; 1)Long Game 2)Short Game/Putting 3)Mental Game and 4)Physical Fitness. Most people don’t put the time into their body and this can keep you from reaching your golfing potential. I hope you enjoy my second installment of Guru TV – fitness.

See you on the lesson tee,

Guru

Meaningful Rehearsals Are Only Second To Exagerrated Ones

January 18, 2010

Ryan Palmer outdueled Aussie Veteran Robert Allenby down the stretch at the P.G.A. Tour’s first full field event. The Sony Open was a very entertaining and interesting tournament chalked full of top players and veterans hitting great shots and holing big putts. We had the likes of Steve Stricker, Davis Love, Retief Goosen and Carl Petterson all trying to track down maybe the hottest golfer on the planet (Allenby), playing with a bad ankle believe it or not, and Ryan Palmer who is not a household name and finished 150th on last years money list. So what can we learn from watching this weeks event, other than the fact that it does pay to keep the flag stick in while pitching (true). In my continued journey to make all of you educated viewers of golf, not just entertainment, but as a venue to dissect and learn something that will help you with your own game. One of the most frequent questions that I get asked from my students is,”During a round of Golf, how do I keep my swing together for the entire round?”. We have all had rounds that begin great and the wheels fall off or vice-versa, you start poorly and suddenly turn it around. So how do we hold it together and make strings of great swings under pressure. The answer to the question is Continue reading “Meaningful Rehearsals Are Only Second To Exagerrated Ones”

The Moment Of Truth

January 17, 2010

The Hands At Impact

Do your hands look like this at impact or does your lead wrist bend or break down? The most important alignment in the golf swing is when the shaft of the club lines up with your lead arm. This should happen just past impact. Many of you that release the club early, this happens way before you strike the ball. Without a flat lead wrist and a bent right wrist at the moment of separation, you can’t possibly compress the ball and get the most out of your shots.

Continue reading “The Moment Of Truth”

Bunker Myths Exposed

January 14, 2010

As I watch the first round of the Sony Open, I can’t help but think of the beach. It couldn’t be that it was a high of 30 degrees here in Charlotte in the last month, right. So I thought I would bring back an archve from one of my first vlogs on bunker shots. Bunker shots are one of the most feared shots in golf. Even though we may only hit a few of these type of shots during a round, if played poorly, they can be very costly to a golfers score. As in most shots in golf, there are different philosophies to use which means that there are myths and misconceptions. I want to cover a few of the myths that I didn’t talk about in my video.

1) The bunker swing is not a cut across move- the video is filmed entirely from a face on view (I didn’t know how to edit shots together at the time) so you can’t see the shape of the swing. Fact: The ball flies  the direction that the swing goes, due to fact that you don’t actually make contact with the ball. The direction the swing goes, moves the sand in that direction.  Make your normal, on plane swing in the bunker. Adjust your weight forward to move the divot forward if you need to . Which brings me to myth #2

2) The ball will not fly the direction that the club face points. If this was the case, you couldn’t open the face and still hit the ball at the flag.

3) You must open your stance to play great bunker shots. No,No,No,No! Did I mention No? I do advocate a slightly open stance (purely for body rotation purposes) but you can play great bunker shots from a square stance as well. If your full swing pattern is already outside to in, I would be very careful opening your stance too much. This will make you cut across the ball even more and cause you to lose power and distance on your shots (not to mention direction).

A Simple Approach To Bunker Shots:

For those of you who have been struggling in the bunker (to get out), here is a simple approach. Claude Harmon Sr. (Butch’s Daddy) taught this style

1. set up with a square club face and a square stance

2.  place 60 percent of your weight on your forward foot

3.  lean the handle backwards slightly where the shaft leans away from target

3a. This increases the bounce of the wedge at set-up

4. Take a full swing and make sure you follow through, facing the target

I hope this helps your bunker play and dispels some myths that you might have had. Check out the video or dig into the archives of Golf Illustrated (12 bunker beating tips), June 2008.

Thanks,

Guru

Golf Illustrated Column and Matching Components

January 5, 2010

As we move into the first event on the P.G.A. Tour, I want to help you to become a more educated golf viewer. I want you to notice how many different ways there are to swing the club and play at a highest level. Top instructor Jim McLean always said, “If you take the top 5 players on the tour money list, you will see 5 different top of swing positions. He is right, try it sometime.  You must have the different components together in the swing that match up in order to create a playable ball flight. For example: an outside to in swing path coupled with a closed club face doesn’t work! You get nothing but low pulls and hooks along with deep divots. Now I am not going to go into every single combination out there but I just want you to understand how two main components work together in various ways to hit straighter shots: Club face angle and swing plane. The swing can be deceiving on television mainly because you don’t always get good camera angles. If  the camera is shooting from one side or the other, it skews the look of the swing plane and makes the club look like it is doing something different. So be careful.  In the February Issue of Golf Illustrated (hit newsstands today), I wrote a column entitled the 1-2-3 backswing. I have included the video (from my archives) that illustrates the message: There are many ways to get it done. Get a reputable teacher/coach to help you figure out which one works for you. This way you don’t go through your golfing career trying to swing like someone else. Be yourself and find your best swing.  Enjoy the video and Go get the magazine and let me know what you think. I look forward to your comments. Look for the next episode of Guru TV on The Importance of Mirror Work and Indoor Practice. Stay Tuned and thanks for checking out my blog

Guru

The Right Knee and my Upcoming Article

January 2, 2010

I have an article that comes out in the next couple of weeks in Golf Illustrated. The title of the article is “Post and Rotate.” The main focus of the article is the role of the lower body and the importance of clearing the hips and maintaining your spine angle. One of the most frequent errors that I see is called early extension. This occurs when the hips move towards the ball in your downswing and creates a change in spine angle through impact (see past episode of guru tv on fitness). I work on this move frequently with my students when they have too much hip and leg slide in their downswing which tends to crowd the arms into impact. We often call this getting trapped.  Recently, I was working with a student (we will call him Allen) on this very move and I noticed that his rear leg was straightening in his backswing. I have seen this before in golfers and this error can cause a number of swing errors like reverse pivoting, or can cause you to top the ball or hit it thin. Often I will try to create a swing error with my own body to help me to feel what the student is feeling which allows me to explain why a particular problem is occurring.  As I made a backswing and straightened my right leg, as my student did, I noticed that I had no way of pushing off my back side to move my hips through. Allen had no way of rotating his left hip backwards because he couldn’t push-off his right side. I hope you are in your living room or den recreating the top of swing with a straight right leg and you clearly understand what I mean. As soon as I got the student to maintain the flex in the right leg, he made a huge change in the amount of hip turn that we were able to create in his downswing. This improved his impact position dramatically. The shaft of the club leaned forward about 15 degrees more than when we started.  I need to do a video on this subject but I wanted to go ahead and share this with you while it was fresh. Here are the two things that I did to help Allen to feel this change. One is a  feel and the other a drill.

1. Remember when making a change that you need to feel as if you do the opposite. When you make your backswing, feel as if you flex or squat a little in order to keep your knee bent to the top of your swing.

2. Baseball Pitcher Drill – Take the club to the top of your swing. As you finish your backswing, lift your front leg off the ground as a baseball pitcher would and swing your leg across your back leg and balance your weight entirely on your back leg (this makes you keep your leg flexed). As you move forward, plant your left leg and then swing your arms down and through to your finish. This drill will also help you with your timing and transition. If you swing your arms down before you plant your left foot, your timing will suffer. 

To reiterate. Keeping the right leg stable and flexed at the top of your backswing, gives you the power to push and drive your right knee and hip toward the target which in turn will clear the left hip as you will see in my article. So go out and get the upcoming edition of “Golf Illustrated Jan/Feb.”

I look forward to your comments as you work on your right knee at the top of your golf swing.

Guru

A Time to Reflect and a Time to Look Ahead

December 30, 2009

As we come to the end of another year, I think it is beneficial to do two things. 1)reflect on the past year (what you did well and what mistakes can we learn from) 2. Set goals and look ahead to 2010 (what do you want to accomplish and more importantly do different and improve on). I enjoy looking at my goals that I had set to see which ones I accomplished and which ones that I didn’t and may want to carry over to next year. I encourage you all to do these things as well. Break them down into different categories (golf, spiritual, career, fitness etc.). I am not going to bore you with all my goals and aspirations but I will share with you a few things that I think might spark some interest in your growth as a golfer and as a person. One of the traits that we live by at the Dana Rader Golf School is being a continuous learner in all aspects of life. I work with a group of go getters that will not let you rest on your success and that keeps me on my toes when it comes to growth as a teacher/coach and as an individual which I like. We all enjoy sharing our knowledge gained from the books we read in our book club sessions or on our own and our best practice trips from other golf schools or facilities. I am a veracious reader and always have 3 to 4 books going at one time. If someone recommends a book I usually find a way to get it and read it. I often get the question from students or people that I meet. “What are you reading?” or “what are your favorite golf books”.  I would guess that I have read hundreds of golf books and you might be surprised that I do read about other things that I find interesting and might help me in life or my career.  So I made a list of the books that I read in 2009 (the ones that I could remember) and also a short list of my favorite golf books that I would recommend having in your library. Although I do think it is difficult to learn everything about golf from a book, it is a great place to start.  One of my idols, Mr. Jim Rohn said,”There is no coincidence why there is always a library in houses of $250,000 or more.” So here is some food for thought or bread for the head. I encourage you all to take some time to write down your goals for the upcoming year and reflect (good or bad) on the past year.  I hope you enjoy my list and would love to hear about some books that inspired you in your life.

Guru’s 2009 Book List :

1.The Power of Nice by Kaplan, Koval

2.Your 15th Club The Inner Secret to Golf by Rotella

3. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

4. The Power of Who by Bob Beudine

5. Take your performance to the next level, 50/50, secrets I learned from running 50 marathons in 50 days  by Dean Karnazes

6.Going  The Extra Mile by Pam Reed

7. Mind Over Golf by Dick Coop

8. Instinct Putting by Alpenfels

9. The Seven Principles of Golf  by Darrin Gee

10. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

11. Influencer- the power to change anything by Patterson

12. The impact Zone by Bobby Clampett

13. 25 ways to win with people by John Maxwell

14. Breaking the Slump by Jimmy Roberts

15. What happy people know by Dan Baker

Some of my favorite golf books:

1. Rock Solid Golf by Dana Rader

2. Swing Secrets and Lies by Mike Hebron

3. Perfectly Balanced Golf by Chuck Cook

4. Ben Hogan’s 5 lessons

5. the 30 second golf swing by T.J. Tomassi

6. Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus

7 Flick on Golf by Jim Flick

8. On learning Golf by Percy Boomer

9. The Golfing Machine by Homer Kelly

10.Golfs Sacred Journey- seven days at  the links of utopia by David L. Cook

 

What I am currently reading:

Homer Kelleys Golfing Machine, the curious quest that solved golf by Scott Gummer

Sole Purpose- shoes of hope from the feet of a samariatan by Manny Ohonme.

Let me know of  some of your goals and I hope it includes the help from the GURU and the Dana Rader Golf School.

Happy New Year  and God Bless,

Guru