May 8, 2002

Welcome to The No B. S. Golf Newsletter

Hello again and welcome everyone to the newsletter. For all of our new subscribers guess I need to tell you that these newsletter editions come out when I have time and information that I think you can use. If at any time you have any questions about your game, I would appreciate you sending them to me.

Received this email from Ed today. I would appreciate it if you would forward a copy of this newsletter to your friends and ask them if they would like to receive their own personal copy, just go to www.thinkandreachpar.com and sign up.

Richard,

This was a very good newsletter. First of all, I\'m going to order the TAO golf video and secondly, I\'m telling a few of my close friends and golfing buddies about your site.

Thank you for all the information. Regards,

Ed

Thanks Ed, I appreciate the kind remarks and also you passing the newsletter along.

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Go to www.thinkandreachpar.com/tarp/tao.htm

Today I have an question answer for Sensei Mark Anthony. Also Mark is working on a special report for us, and I am going to try to get it out to you Thursday nite. The article is titled \"Little-Known Secret to Hitting it close and Stopping the ball like the Pros!\" It is good and I am sure you will enjoy it.

But today Marks answer to Ray\'s question:


I am 61 years old, 5\' 6\", and weigh 190 with a big stomach that may get in the
way of my swing. I have been playing golf for 40 years and shanking for 20
years and I have tried everything to quite shanking. This year I really have it
bad, even my chips. I make my ball with a black marker and I notice that I
am even hitting my driver and other woods on the heel and some times on the
shaft.

I REALLY need your help before I quit this wonderful game.

Thanks,

Ray
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ray...
There\'s a lot going on here but I\'ll do the best I can.

First, you\'ve been shanking for 20 years so you\'re continually making some kind of fundamental error in your body movement.

Secondly, whatever this movement is, it probably feels \"normal\" because you\'ve done it so many thousands of times.

What I\'m going to suggest to you is that you start over as if you were just beginning and know absolutely nothing at all. Before you discount what I say, please hear me out. As you may or may not know, I\'m a martial artist as well as a golf instructor.

I learned a long time ago that if you want to keep learning and growing in martial arts study, every time you begin a class, you have to \"empty your cup.\"

What this means is whenever you begin a class, you should open your mind totally and enter into the class with no assumptions and preconceptions about what you\'ll be doing. It\'s a great way to learn and retain new things. So first of all, I need you to empty your cup and trust me.

The first thing I\'d like you to do is check your posture. Are you slouching or is your back straight when you\'re in your setup position? There\'s a great technique on my video Tao of Golf that cures this problem in seconds.

Start like this...
Stand up straight and put a club on your spine.
Lean into your setup posture
Does the club stay where it is or do the points of contact change to the middle of your back?
If the club\'s contact points changed, you\'re most likely slouching.
One hint is that it should feel as if you\'re sticking yourbutt out.

Here\'s another thing to try. Get a little closer to the ball and by all means keep it in the middle of your stance for all of your clubs. If it feels funny, that\'s good. You\'re not a tour player with a swing speed of 100 plus mph. So don\'t try to be.

In addition to getting closer to the ball, shorten your club by about a half-inch. You could be gripping it too high on the grip which will cost you control.

I\'ll give you one more free-be if you\'re shanking the ball. Shanking means that you\'re not \"releasing\" the club. How do you release the club? I\'m not going to tell you because that\'ll confuse you.

I will however, give you an exercise to practice. This drill is the most important drill on my video Tao of Golf and what cured my chronic slice in a matter of minutes over ten years ago.

Begin in a shoulder width stance, your knees soft, your toes pointed out and holding two irons in a baseball type grip.
Start rocking your shoulders in a pendulum type movement.
Build up to a three quarter swing.
Here\'s the most critical point. Keep the movement going without stopping!
It\'ll feel as if you\'re dancing. That\'s what you\'re doing!
This drill will build a foundation of smooth tempo and rhythm.

There\'s a few beginner drills on Tao of Golf that I think would be perfect for you to learn. You can get it on thinkandreachpar.com for only $29.95. It\'s worth every penny if you need to start over and systemize your swing.

Please write back and tell me how that worked out for you.

Good luck and God Bless...
Sensei Mark Anthony


Thank you Sensei Mark and we look forward to your article tomorrow.

Please remember that www.thinkandreachpar.com is the only place you can buy the Tao of Golf video and receive the book free.

Got one more thing for you. I am not big into internet games, but this has been passed along to me, and I think you may enjoy it. It is my understanding that it was developed at Harvard University. Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/flash/miniputt.swf See if you can Par this course.

Until next time. Good golfing.

Richard

www.thinkandreachpar.com