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We now have the archived newsletters on the website now, and you
do not have to download them to read them. They are up by date
and easy to access. Not quite all of them are up, but I will
have them available in a couple weeks. We are also adding a
special section for our golf pro, Joe DeLorenzo. It will include
some special work by Joe, and will be available soon.

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Amazing new 3-video, golf
school-in-a-box instantly gives you pro-level power &
accuracy...without Years of practice finally - learn what the
big-bux equipment companies don't want you to know about power,
distance, accuracy and .instantly Vaporizing a chronic slice
with two, simple 'no-brainier' exercises that will destroy your
slice forever - no matter what brand clubs you play
http://www.thinkandreachpar.com/tarp/special.html

Special notice

If you have a topic you would like to have discussed or would
like more information on a certain subject, just send me an email
and let me know. It may take me a while to get to it, but we
will. Your comments are welcome and appreciated. The only
requirement is you put your name in each email.
Richard@thinkandreachpar.com

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If you like this newsletter, I would appreciate it if you would
forward a copy to your friends and ask them to subscribe. It's a
free gift!!
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Special announcement

Joe DeLorenzo is Think And Reach Par's resident golf pro. If you
are having a Problem with your game, send me your email and Joe
will answer all that he can. I just ask that you put your name
in each email.

This is an excellent price for a swing analysis!! Swing analysis
is now up and running. If you would like your swing analyzed, the
cost for a limited time is $24.95. Just email me a copy of the
digital file in jpeg. If you don't have a digital camera, you
can a vhs or mini dv video. Check it out here:
www.thinkandreachpar.com/tarp/swinganalysis.html

Or you can go to the products page on the website and look for
the link on the bottom of the page.

Quote of the week:
In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently."

Anthony Robbins
Author and Speaker

Golf quote of the week:
I may be the only golfer never to have broken a single putter, if you don’t count the one I twisted into a loop and threw in the woods.
unknown
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Tired of your friends laughing at you?? The Body Golf Full
Swing video will teach you the pro's secrets. Eliminate your
swing flaws, learn the secret to accuracy and ball control.
Increase flexibility, strength, health, and perfect your
swing...all in one video!!! Eliminate your slice for good, Just
3 minutes per day!! Go to www.thinkandreachpar.com
==============================================
Other Comments:

Dear Richard
I want to thank you for the great tips and newsletters that you have provided over the internet and email. As a 65 year-old duffer, with an aspiration to be a decent golfer, I have been trying some of your suggestions and they really help.

What I want to ask you is why should I pay you $150 for your golf instructional videos. Would I not be better off taking golf lessons?

Respectfully yours:
Harry A. Pickens
Retired

Dear Harry
Thank you for your honest and candid email and question. I will give you my best and honest opinion.

The Body Golf videos were made by Mark Anthony. Mark is not only a very good golfer, but one of the best golf teachers I have ever known. His practices and techniques are very simple and he is easy to understand. That is the difference in the Body Golf videos and all the other videos out there. Most videos, articles, and books are so complicated the average person cannot understand them. The testimonials on my website are real, by real people, not made up. I get calls and emails from individuals that have purchased this program and people just like you tell me how much the video’s have helped them.

You may be concerned about the price, but have you priced a golf pro lately? At my club they charge $85 and hour. For $150 your are getting 6 videos that you can study over and over. I am sure at some stage you will want to take a few lesson from a pro, but first you need to get the fundamentals and your handicapp down.

These videos are not made to watch only once and go out and take 20 strokes off your game. That is not going to happen. The best think to do is watch them several times with your clubs in hand and do just what Mark tells you to do. Then go to the course or range and practice, then go back and watch them again.

The Body golf videos are not magic, but I promise if you will follow the instructions, they will lower your golf score.

Thank you and if I can help you, let me know.

Richard

Dear Richard

I purchased your golf videos a few months ago and I wanted to let you know they have helped me take 16 strokes off my game. I am now in the 80’s and have pretty much eliminated my slice. But the biggest difference has been in my short game. I am still working on it, but it is getting better. Thank you for making my game enjoyable. Tell Mark he is a great teacher.
Best Wishes,
Marvin Brown
St Louis, Mo

Thanks Marvin, I appreciate your kind words. Keep up the good work!!
Richard


I think it would be a lot of fun to watch tour players play one of those off-season "junk golf" events (like the Skins game) where the premise is that they play old technology. How old of a ball style could they play? Say gutta-percha? How about wooden shafts? Maybe go to a certain era, say, Old Tom Morris' or Ben Hogan's era and use what was the state of the art THEN, in balls and clubs and courses. Let's see how they score then with brassies, spoons, mashies and niblicks instead of 4-wedge systems! I think that would be a hoot!



Richard

Your golf newsletter is always a bright spot in otherwise trying days of
frustrating e-mails. Love the articles - enjoy the thought provoking
comments from other hackers like me - and appreciate the words of wisdom
from Joe. I am speaking for me and all the other Bubba's in the office who
I have brought into the "Myers Club". In the "for what its worth"
department; in my 40 years of batting a golf ball around I have ranged from
a single digit handicap with an escalation up to 15 as I put on the years
and pounds. In recent years, I have lost confidence in my golf swing and
trust me - when negative thoughts come into your mind as you begin dragging
the stick back - irons and woods - ugly things often happen when the trigger
is pulled. I have read all the instructional articles in countless golf
magazines on what the golf swing should look like and key points to making
it happen - all to no avail. Golf "buddies" and a pro I paid say things
like "you are swinging inside" - "you are swinging outside" - "your swing is
too abbreviated" - "your swing looks like John Daly" - "bad grip - too
tight; too loose", etc., etc. You get the point! They were probably right
many times but I could not force the ole bod to swing the club as it should
be. Being a sucker for all the golfing toys that are guaranteed to make me
play like an old Tiger Woods - I ended up a few months ago buying a training
golf club called a "Groovie" from MasterGrip designed by Pat Simmons (cost
$30). It is a weighted club that when you swing it (not designed for
hitting balls) it is impossible to make a bad swing. Practiced in my back
yard for 5 mins every night for two months and I am now swinging and
spanking that little white ball better than I have for ages. I suppose
through the practice sessions I managed to build up the proper muscles that
now give me a consistent swing that not only works but according to my
playing friends also looks damn good. Please believe me, I am not
marketing this "Groovie" club in any way; I have no association or know
anyone who works for MasterGrip, nor do I have a clue who Pat Simmons is -
I'm sure there are many training aids that are designed to do the same
thing. In my case it worked - very sorry it took me so many words to pass
this on - but that $30 investment prevented me from permanently storing all
my golfing equipment in Goose Creek Lake.

Thanks again for the articles - keep em coming.

Lew Andersen




Q & A from our Golf Pro Joe DeLorenzo:



Even since I took up golf, I've battled the shanks when hitting my irons....even from the tee. If I understand correctly, a shank is when you hit the ball near the hosel of the club. I only seem to have this problem with my irons, but not my driver or fairway woods.

A buddy of mine who played collegiate golf looked at my swing today at the driving range and told me to step closer to the ball. It made my hands almost touch the fly on my pants! The first few hacks felt rather odd. I had to grip down a bit further on the club because I started hitting it fat. After about 10 hacks, I started striking the ball pretty well with some consistency. The 7-iron started going on average about 150 yards with an occasional shot of about 170.

Whenever I got the shanks prior to this, I always adjusted by stepping further away from the ball. This never did seem to help.

My question is this: Why would stepping closer to the ball help me with my case of the shanks?

Sincerely,
Darren Meyers
Silver Lake, KS



Hello Darren,
I also have experienced the shanks, and I found a
couple of ways to cure them. I my case, I was
standing with too much weight on my toes. When I put
a little more weight on my heels, the shanks
disappeared. In your case, standing closer to the
ball forced you to put your weight on your heels. So
now you can try standing a little further away as long
as your weight does not go to your toes.

Another possible reason for those who have a rather
flat swing plane is that the harder you swing, the
more the clubhead extends further from your body, so
there is a better chance of striking the ball on the
hosel. If you like swinging hard, try a more upright
swing plane, and let me know the results.

One more thing, since you apparently are not striking
the ball on the heel of your woods, maybe your irons
are not fitted properly to your body build, better
visit your local pro shop and check this. Good luck!
Joe

Joe :
> I have a problem when I go to the driving range I
> can hit all my woods
> fairly well . Most shots are straight with good
> distance but once on the course I
> have great difficulty getting off the tee > I top
> the ball.slice or hook .
> There is no consistent pattern. My second shot with
> a 3 wood (off the ground is
> usually fine ) any suggestions ? It seems the harder
> I try to relax on the tee
> the worse the shot ?
>
> Ernie Laurich

Reply to Ernie:

Hello Ernie,
You are not alone. Many people, myself included, hit
great on the range and then get much different results
on the course. I can think of 4 possible reasons for
this.

First, maybe you are hitting off the synthetic mats
instead of the natural grass. The tees on the
synthetic mats are a constant height. When you hit
off the grass and tee it yourself, maybe you are not
being careful enough how high you tee the ball. The
standard rule of thumb is to tee the ball so that half
the ball is above the top of the driver. Also,
although nobody has ever proven this, I have a sneaky
suspicion that the fat rubber tees on the synthetic
mats may be taking away some of the side spin that
causes slices or hooks (you heard it here first). So
the first solution is to use the natural grass at the
range whenever possible, and tee the ball higher and
higher until you start hitting popups, then lower it a
little and take careful note of your optimum tee
height.

Second, check your ball position. Whenever the ball
is on a tee, you may get better results by playing the
ball off your front toe. If you are already doing
that, try halfway between the toe and center of your
stance. Experiment.

Third, there is no pressure on the range, if you mess
up a shot, it does not affect your score. On the
course, you are aware that the shot counts, and the
nerves start twitching. On the range, put some
pressure on yourself by picking a target and betting
yourself (or your friends) that you can get reasonably
close to it.

Fourth, on the range, you are hitting a ball every few
seconds, so you can easily get into a good rhythm. On
the course, it may be several minutes between shots,
and each shot is with a far different club. That is
why on the range you should take your time between
shots, and vary the clubs the same way you would on
the course. If you take too many consecutive swings
with the same club, you might lose your swing with the
other clubs. Good luck, and let me know if this
helped.
Joe DeLorenzo
====================================================

Tired of your friends laughing at you?? The Body Golf Full
Swing video will teach you the pro's secrets. Eliminate your
swing flaws, learn the secret to accuracy and ball control.
Increase flexibility, strength, health, and perfect your
swing...all in one video!!! Eliminate your slice for good, Just
3 minutes per day!! Go to www.thinkandreachpar.com
=============================================
Maintain a Golf Diary
by
Mac Stevenson
Keeping a personal golf diary will help you play better golf and be enjoyable and entertaining. And it requires very little time and effort to maintain a good record of swing thoughts that you don’t want to lose.

Your diary should be a detailed record of what you’re doing when things are going well, and it should also be a history of nagging problems during slumps that seem insolvable at the time.

The most important details you need to record are fundamental or technique changes that result in improvement on shots that you’re having trouble with. As an example, suppose you’ve been pulling your full iron shots and discover that you haven’t been keeping the clubhead going down the line of flight long enough. The change solves the problem. Your entry should read something like this: “I’ve been pulling my irons for some time, but today I concentrated on keeping the clubhead going at the target on my follow through, and it worked. I’ve been letting my left side collapse.”

The most common problems that golfers of all skill levels encounter from time to time include: (1) hooked drives (2) slices or pushes off the tee (3) hitting irons fat or thin (4) problems with chip- and pitch shots (5) putting slumps caused by pushing or pulling putts.

As individual golfers, we solve--or improve for a short time--these above-mentioned flaws with some slight adjustment in our grip, stance, alignment, or some other remedy that is unique to our game. What’s important is to be sure and record the change that cures the problem in your diary; if you don’t, the thought will disappear like a puff of smoke and you won’t be able to recall it when the problem reoccurs.

You don’t need a fancy and expensive diary, although it’s perfectly okay if that’s what you decide to use. Just a plain spiral notebook will do just as well. Be sure you record several items before every entry:

* Insert the date before each diary note (day, month, and year).

• Make a simple heading before each entry--such as “Driving” or “Putting”--so you’ll have easy reference to that facet of your game if you run into trouble with a particular shot in the future.
•
When you’re practicing and playing frequently, you “think golf.” This means that swing thoughts you had forgotten reemerge while you’re playing or practicing. These seemingly insignificant swing thoughts can lead to improvement on certain shots. And the reason a diary is invaluable is that you’ll forget a swing thought that helped you on a particular shot if you don’t record it when you get home.

This isn’t something you need to do on a daily basis as the word “diary” suggests; you might make an entry just once or twice a month. The key is to be sure and record it when you have a swing thought that really helps during a round of golf. You’ll be amazed at how the entries will mount up in a short period of time. And after two or three years, your diary will be a valuable tool for your individual game.

Variations in your putting grip, stance, or alignment that bring you out of a slump are important to record in your diary. Putting is such an individual skill that your personal idiosyncrasies must be recorded in your diary as they occur. And you’ll forget what worked if you don’t make an entry in your diary.

On rainy days when you can’t play and have a few extra minutes, it’s fun and beneficial to browse through your diary and see how you corrected a problem with your game in the past. And it will help you in the future.

Richard’s Quick Tips:
Practice Swings
In one of the most popular hustles on the golf course, a good golfer offers to let a poor golfer hit five balls with each shot and choose the best one each time. By the time the poor fellow is on the back nine, he has played so much golf that he can barely lift he club-and of course, never wins the bet!!

The message is the same with practice swings. Apart from wasting time, they also tire you out. If you take more than one practice swing, you run the risk of finishing the round poorly.
Give it a try. It may improve your game.


Until next week, good golfing!

Richard Myers www.thinkandreachpar.com

New South Media, LLC 100 Gilderbrook Rd Greenville, SC 29615

864-675-0038

Email: Richard@thinkandreachpar.com

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