This past Tuesday Sergio Garcia was asked a question on whether he will invite Tiger Woods over to dinner during the U.S. Open.

Sergio responded to the question by saying “We will have him ’round every night. We will serve fried chicken.”

Yikes!

Sergio later tried to say that he responded to a silly question with a silly answer. But this was not a silly answer, it was disrespectful. And even though Sergio has made several statements now apologizing and calling the statement inappropriate, the damage has been done.

Tiger responded by saying the comment was hurtful and inappropriate, but he took the high road stating that he feels Sergio’s apologies were sincere and that it was time to get back to golf and let bygones be bygones.

I first have to applaud Tiger in this situation. Sergio was out of line and if Tiger really wanted, he could push the situation and draw even greater attention to Sergio’s ignorant statement.

I personally have always liked Sergio for his honesty and candidness, but he has really crossed a line here. Sergio has an endorsement contract with Taylor Made and they have said that his comments were inappropriate, wrong, and that they will be deliberating on how to proceed.

If I had to guess, and I think it would be the correct move, Taylor Made will drop Sergio from their staff, and other companies will likely follow. This will certainly have a financial impact on Sergio.

This situation between Tiger and Sergio started out as a simple disagreement. In case any of you aren’t aware, Tiger pulled out a club while Sergio was about to hit, and it turned into a media frenzy that will now likely cost Sergio about ten million a year in potential endorsement contracts.

Sergio as well as other stars are in the spotlight. Kids and adults alike look up to these guys and although they are human, they are not paid to make boneheaded mistakes.

Share your thoughts with me in the comments section below.

The post Open Mouth, Insert Foot appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

My students are filled with both passion and frustration for the sport, and for avid players like many of you, the learning never ends.

Having said that, I want to share an email I got the other day and then discuss how we can learn from it and continue to improve.

Frank wrote this…

“CJ, i played 18 today, normally 85 to 90,today was an even 80 no three putts,
hit all the fairways or the first cut of rough. Toes in and stand tall on the green worked great. thanks loads. Now if I could just hit my long irons I have the full package.”

First let me congratulate Frank on a well played round of golf.

But for all of my students, I want us to concentrate on two things he wrote.

First, he did not waste shots on the green (no three putts). This is BIG!

Second, Frank wants to hit his long irons better. Who doesn’t right? We all want to hit our long irons better, but we need to be reasonable in our expectations.

The number one player in the world, had an average of 30 feet from the hole from 200 yards.

Before deciding you need to hit better, first decide if you are choosing appropriate targets when hitting long irons or hybrids.

If you are aiming at the hole the answer is no.

You need to be aiming away from pins and trying to hit the edge of the green that is farthest away from the pin. In other words, don’t short side yourself.

Neither you, nor me, or even the best players in the world hit these shots close, so the main focus should be where is the easiest up and down position if I miss the green.

Change your focus to having a good miss rather than good long iron shots. That one simple change will have you shooting in the 70′s on a consistent basis.

I try to break down a golf course as follows…

How many holes do I have 8 iron or less into including par 5’s? These are the holes I can try to take an advantage. If I am hitting a club longer than an 8 iron, then I try to play more conservative and aim for the center of the green or even miss the green depending on which club I am using.

I want you to try this the next time your out on the course and let me know if you start shooting better scores.

Keep me informed and let me know if you agree below.

Did you know that nearly half of your shots in every round are putts? That’s right — almost HALF! Don’t you think it’s time to get better!
Click Here —>Improve Your Putting

The post My Students Are Never Happy appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

His reaction…. a lawsuit.

Yup… Vijay is suing the PGA for, “public humiliation and ridicule.”

I wrote last week when the PGA Tour dropped the charges, with a strong opinion that they shouldn’t have let Singh get away “scott” free.

Vijay used the banned substance, and even though the product has now been taken off the banned substance list, he broke the rules and should have been penalized. The PGA Tour basically bent over backwards to help Singh in my opinion.

The Tour doesn’t pick and choose the items that appear on the list, they simply follow the World Anti-Doping Agencies guidelines. Vijay said the tour should have tested the product before penalizing him, but why would they? That is not their job.

They have a set of rules that they enforce and every tour player is made aware of them. The players have discussed this hundreds, if not thousands of times before, and Vijay broke the rules. Could every person that has been punished for speeding suddenly sue the government when they changed the speed limit to a higher speed on that same road?

This is a big old… C’mon now!

Frankly, I think the Tour brought this on themselves by not suspending Vijay in the first place. But for Vijay to do this, he has really just brought more trouble and ridicule on himself.

Seriously… who advised him that this was a good idea!

Many fans heckled Vijay in his first round at TPC Sawgrass, including one fan that was wearing deer antlers on the course. I don’t like fans heckling players at the course and feel that we do not need any part of that in golf, but we do have to expect some level of banter when Tour players are out of line.

Vijay is suing the PGA Tour for defaming his character. This lawsuit will do more damage to Vijay’s character than what the tour did. Remember, this lawsuit is coming from a golfer that has been banned by the Asian Tour for life for cheating on several instances and pencil whipping his scorecard.

So I’ll say it one last time and ask for your thoughts…

C’mon Vijay!

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ Goecks

The post Vijay Sues the PGA Tour appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

In a Sports Illustrated interview in January, Singh admitted using a banned substance that contained IGF-1. This is a growth hormone and is a prohibited in all major sports including the PGA Tour. The confusion arises however when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took the banned substance off the list this week.

The timeline goes as follows:

* January: Singh admits using the banned substance

* February: PGA Tour to ban Vijay

* March: Vijay files an appeal within 7 days

* April: WADA officially takes Deer Antler Spray off banned substance list

* May: PGA Tour officially drops charges against Vijay

Vijay claims he was unaware that use of the spray was prohibited, however the PGA Tour specifically sent out a letter telling players that Deer Antler spray was a banned substance. Vijay stated he did not know and I believe him. I am sure that many players do not read the green sheet that the Tour sends out each week.

My main issue is that ignorance does not allow for a free pass. Although the Tour and WADA cannot officially test for IGF-1, I think that a suspension of at least a week for player conduct would have been a good start and would have saved face for the PGA Tour. Vijay isn’t even playing in this week’s tournament, so he could have easily been suspended without much “drama”, and at least the world would have seen the Tour taking action. I’m worried about the precedent that the Tour has set with this.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments section below.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ Goecks

If you’re struggling with “staying connected” throughout your swing, I’ve got the perfect solution for you…
it is THE BEST training aid.

Let’s get started —> Best Training Aid

The post Vijay Singh’s Ruling appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

In order to improve, they each had to make significant changes!

On day 1, we spent the bulk of the day on the range making swing changes. I could see immediate results in each of the students. During the second day, we headed out to the course and put our new swing to work, while also tackling course management. In dealing with both swing changes and course management I could see some of my students reverting back to their old swings. Working on two areas of the game, course management and swing adjustments, it was a difficult task. You see, each of the students swings were better on the range, but when we went to the course they subconsciously reverted back to some of their old habits.

And this is normal!

So today, I want to talk about the process of change.

What I want everyone to learn is when you are making adjustments you must over emphasize them to generate the complete opposite feel of what you are doing. Even though it feels uncomfortable the club may only change an inch at most. It takes time to change and that is a good thing. If you could make adjustments that quickly then it would just as easy to change back as quickly.

You must work hard without worrying about the result at first. Practice swings are great, as well as super slow swings. And you need to record and review them! This is the best way to make sure your changes are taking hold. I encourage you to video your swing frequently while making changes.

*For you Insiders Club members you can video your swing and send it to me for analysis free of charge each month. So take advantage of this service EVERY MONTH as I am here to help you.

Remember, when making changes to your swing you must forget about ball flight initially. You need to create a feeling that is dramatically opposite of what you are currently doing to make even the slightest adjustment. And recording your swing is a necessary tool for monitoring your progress.

If you want my help with your swing I encourage you to join my Insiders Club. What are you waiting for? Let’s get started. Click here to learn how: Perfect Connection Insider’s Club

…from the first tee to the 18th pin! (Once you get to the 19th hole, though, you’re on your own.) It’s the unbeaten CJ Goecks “360-Degree Golf” coaching program, and it can be yours today at a FANTASTIC NEW PRICE since it is now available in digital format.

The post Change is Never Easy appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

We have another great installment of the Perfect…POWER…Golf Show for you today? Bobby and I recap the Masters including our thoughts on Adam Scott and the “shot” of the tournament.

You at least owe it to yourself to see what pants Bobby is wearing.

Watch the video below and be sure to leave your Masters comments below.

The post Perfect Power Golf Show – Masters Recap appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

Now that spring is upon us and the warm weather will be returning, it is time to dust off the clubs, get back onto the practice area, improve that golf swing and rehearse those fundamentals. Fundamentals are perhaps the most important part of the golf swing for beginners and even more important for the tour pros. Remember the word GAP. Grip, Alignment, and Posture.

There are many golf grip tips, but the most important factor when it comes to grip is that the left hand is holding the club in the fingers. Too often I see amateurs with their grip too much in the palm of the left hand. This will rob the player of distance and control.

To get the proper left hand grip, place the club off your left foot with the grip behind your body. When you let your hand hold the club from this position, you will notice that you will be holding the grip in the fingers of your left hand. Now you can bring the club in front of you and place your right hand on the club. Make sure that the life line of your right hand sits comfortably over your left thumb. You should also notice that the V’s formed by your thumb and forefinger are pointing at your right shoulder. Now that you know how to grip the club correctly, your posture will be extremely important for allowing your body to turn correctly and to produce a lot of power.

To set up with the proper posture follow these four steps:

1. Stand straight up with your arms and club extended in front of you.

2. Look down between your arms and bend your knees until you can’t see your shoelaces.

3. Drop your arms to your chest. The club should be a foot or so off the ground.

4. Keeping your back straight, bend from the hips until the club touches the ground.

You have now set your body up in the proper position to allow it to turn correctly in the swing.

Finally, it is important to set up so that your body is aimed at the target. Rarely do I see our tour players practice without a club laying on the ground to aid in their alignment. Amateurs do not seem to use this drill to aid them in their practice.

First, lay a club aimed directly at our target. Next place a club parallel to that club but more along your feet line. Set up in this position and double check that your hips and shoulders are parallel with the club on the ground. You can now remove the first club and be confident that your alignment will be aimed square to the target.

Fundamentals are the most important areas of the golf swing and setup is crucial to being consistent. Do not forget about GAP and use it on the practice tee. Starting with the proper fundamentals will help you to improve your golf swing and for you to execute it more naturally.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ Goecks

The post 4 Online Golf Instruction Tips appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

Saturday morning I woke up and heard the news about the possibility of Tiger being disqualified for an illegal drop on the fifteenth hole….

And I have to admit, I was FIRED up!

Brandel Chamblee and Nick Faldo were passionately reporting from the Golf Channel, both in agreement, that Tiger should DQ himself for dropping two yards behind his original shot. I turned to Facebook in agreement posting the integrity of the game is more important than Tiger winning the tournament. I now want to apologize for my comments, as I did not have the entire story.

Did Tiger play the ball from the wrong place? Yes. Did Tiger intentionally try to break the rules? Absolutely not!

The rules committee botched a review of the drop during Tiger’s round. If they confirmed the infraction during the round then he would have been assessed a two-stroke penalty at that time. They did not and when they discovered their error they did not feel disqualification was warranted and issued the two-stroke penalty.

The committee has the right to do so under rule 33-7 – Disqualification Penalty; Committee Discretion.

I jumped the gun with my belief that Tiger should disqualify himself from the tournament, but that was before the knowledge of the committee rulings. The rules of golf are there to protect the player and they worked perfectly. I apologize to Tiger and to others that may have disagreed with my comments on Facebook.

What’s your take on Tiger’s penalty?

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ Goecks

The post Tiger’s Ruling at the Masters appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

This week we have been talking about the most common shots we will see at the upcoming Masters this weekend. We will see some amazing shots on this beautiful golf course.

Today, I’m covering the big one… The Draw!

And giving you two quick tips on how to easily hit this golf shot in your next tournament.

Staying connected throughout your swing is CRITICAL…and I’ve got the perfect solution for you…
it is THE BEST training aid.

Let’s get started —> Best Training Aid

The post “Masters” Mini Clinic – Driving appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.

Welcome back to this weeks “Masters” mini-clinic where I’m sharing tips and techniques to overcome golf related challenges the field will be facing this week in Augusta.

In today’s golf lesson I’ve missed the green short side and am left with a very fast downhill slope to the hole. This shot comes with a high degree of difficulty, but I have simple tip on how to manage this situation.

Check out the video below.

The post “Masters” Mini Clinic – Short Side Chipping appeared first on Perfect Connection Golf Swing.