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FUNDAMENTALS

Tempo/Synchronization

"It's all about tempo. Every part of the body working together in synchronization."

Six Finger Grip

"I think the grip is one of the most important fundamentals because the right grip is going to help you have the right swing."

Sunscreen

"Make sure you have the proper sleep, proper diet, and that you hydrate on the golf course. Last but not least, make sure you protect yourself from the sun. "

Between Two Clubs

"When you're in between clubs, figure out the hole location, if it's in the front or back of the green and where you want the ball to be."

Keeping Your Head Down

"I've never kept my head down because I want to transfer my weight from the right side to the left side in my downswing."

Grip Pressure

"It's hard to measure grip pressure. You want to make sure you don't grip the club too strong that you see veins, but you also don't want to grip it too loose."

Full Swing Tip

"First, take the golf club and grip it normally. When you set up to the ball, put your feet together so they’re almost touching. From there, just swing the club back and forth, and what you’ll see is you’re working your upper body, rotating it back and forth, and finishing with your belt buckle to the target. Your club will brush the grass and you’ll truly feel which body parts are working to make the club move. After doing a few swings like that, try it with a golf ball. The only difference is you are going to widen your stance to normal shoulder width and then just feel the club move the same way you were doing before. Accelerating the club is important to playing good golf. However, a faster, stronger swing must be based on using the right parts of the body to optimize speed while avoiding injury."

Pre-Shot Routine

"Pick a target after choosing a club. I walk a few steps behind the ball to spot my target line. Visualize the shot. While staring at the target, I take a few practice swings, visualizing the type of shot I want to hit. I use my senses, see it, feel it and hear it. It’s important to feel good about the upcoming shot and be 100 % committed. Aim the face. I finalize my target line and once I am ready, I step up to the ball, point the clubface to the target, use an intermediate target if needed (leaf, grass or divot in front of you). Take the stance. Plant your feet, build your stance, align your shoulders, forearms, hips, and knees parallel with the target and perpendicular to the clubface. Rip it! Take a few waggles to remove the tension. Trust your decision, commit and execute!”

Power

"The basic fundamental theory in a golf swing to generate power is to shift the weight over to your right side if you’re a right-handed golfer or rotate around the right leg in your back swing, but a lot of the time people move sideways, they move laterally, which makes it harder to come into the ball consistently. A great drill for you to make sure you rotate around the leg is to take a spare club, put it down on the ground under your back leg, and stand on the club head. That helps you brace the knee, brace your hip; and then take a swing. This should help you rotate around the leg, shift your weight, and then move the power forward."

Posture

"One of the things that I always focus on is the fundamentals. I get the question a lot about how far away should I be from the ball? How much should I tilt? Grab any club that you have. Take the club with your golf grip, stretch out your arms, look at a spot way out in the horizon, and then slowly tilt from your hips, let the body fall down and wherever the club hits the ground is where you need to be. Arms are relaxed from the shoulders, you can see a bit of a flex in the knees, my back should be pretty straight, but most of all I have a nice comfortable setup and I have a good distance from the ball. This is something you can do at the range, at home, or even in Lake Tahoe where it is very snowy."

Takeaway

"I always emphasize the importance of the fundamentals, whether it’s the grip, the alignment, ball position, aim, posture, etc. Today we’re going to focus on the takeaway. It’s really important to have a good takeaway because you want to make sure it is one seamless piece. I’d also say stay low and slow. I have a really easy drill to make sure you get off to a good start in your swing. Set up a ball a foot behind the ball you are hitting, then on your back swing, try to push the ball back by brushing it with your club."

Balance/Weight Distribution

"Let’s focus on one of the fundamentals, which is balance and weight distribution. You can do this anywhere. So, what I think is important is to make sure you have weight on the balls of your feet, not on your toes and not on your heels. Here’s a really good drill you can do. First, go up on your toes and then slowly place your heels down and once you hit the ground, you will most likely have good balance. You will feel very solid and like you have good weight distribution."

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