Newsletter – July 2013
Upcoming special events: First Tee of Clearwater Jr. golf camps will run every week from Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to Noon, through the week of August 12th. Total cost for a week is only $105. Go to chichi.org for more info or to sign up. I will have a one-hour clinic about Driving for More Distance on Friday, July 19 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. You can just show up that night and cost is only $20. The next Get Golf Ready Ladies Boot Camp will be on August 1st through August 4th. There will be 4 hours of instruction at the range, Thursday 8/1 and Friday 8/2 with times from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday 8/3 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and the final day on Sunday 8/4 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the golf course at the Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club! Cost is only $99 total and includes everything. Perfect for new or newly dedicated golfers. Call me at (727) 692-4679 or email jh@johnhayesgolf.com to sign up for these events.
Private lessons are always the fastest way to improve and our rates are a great value at $60 for a one-hour lesson and $40 for 30 minutes. Junior lesson rates are only $40 for an hour and $25 for 30 minutes! Series price breaks include 4 adult one-hour lessons for $210 and 5 Junior 30-minute lessons for only $110. You also get a lesson range club card when you sign up for a series that gives you a large $10 bucket of balls for only $5.
I want you to go practice and look carefully at you club as you align the clubface on target. When you place the clubhead behind the ball look at the leading edge of the iron’s clubface and see that it is on the same line as the shaft of the club. Many people have these two lines cross at the address position by putting the butt end of the grip leaning either too far forward or too far backward. If you lean the butt end of the grip too far forward then what have you done to the loft of the club? You have decreased the loft. Also, if you have your hands and the grip end pushed forward to your left leg then what happens to the alignment of your shoulders? The shoulder line will tend to open up to the left for a right-handed golfer. The opposite will happen if you push the grip end back toward your right leg at address.
The only place you can be in perfect balance is with the club in the center of your stance and, having the leading edge of the clubface and the shaft of the club on the same line and perpendicular to the target line, it will become unnecessary to make any compensating movements during the swing to send the ball to the target. If you are swinging well and making good impact but your shots are curving away from the target then the cause may be that you do not have the club aligned correctly at address. As Manuel de la Torre has said, “you have to practice the alignment procedure to help train your right-angle perception at address.” Many times we feel we are aligned correctly but a closer look reveals that we are not. Lay clubs on the ground parallel to the target line and see that both the leading edge of the clubface and the shaft are at a right angle to the target line.
As always, please call with your questions or comments and I hope to see you soon at the Chi Chi Golf Range & Family Sports Complex in beautiful Clearwater, FL.