MISCELLANEOUS
(29).."CHIP STROKE SAVER"
This little shot has done more to take
strokes off my game than any other.
Referred to often as the "bump and run"
used properly you will become deadly
from 20 yards in and instead of twenty
foot putts, they'll be telling you
"that's good pick it up".
The object of a chip shot is for the
ball to travel fairly low to the ground,
staying in the air long enough to get
over the fringe and land on the putting
green. Once on the green the ball
travels the rest of it's journey in much
the same fashion as a putt. i.e. rolling
along the surface.
Here are 5 easy steps to help you
develop the correct "Bump N Run"
technique.
Take a 7 iron and set up as if you
were to make a regular shot.
1....Move your feet forward until the
ball is on the back side of your right
foot.
2...Move closer to the ball and at the
same time tilt the club shaft toward the
target ( About 45 degrees ) and slide
your hands down to the bottom of the
grip.
3...Imagine the club face is pointing at
12 o'clock and your belt buckle is
pointing at 3 o'clock. Now turn your
whole body until your belt buckle is
pointing at 2 o'clock (open stance).
4...Most of your body weight should be
positioned on your left foot. Try to do
this by tilting your upper body to your
left. Try standing with your right foot
on a brick. This forces you to get your
weight forward. Keep your weight on this
foot all of the way through the swing.
Don't transfer your weight to the back
foot and then forward again as you would
in a normal swing.
5...As opposed to a normal swing, your
wrists should "REMAIN STIFF"
during the
entire chipping swing. This keeps your
hands ahead of the ball, taking loft of
the club, allowing you to keep the ball
low and make the ball to roll when it
lands. Grip the club a little firmer
than normal to assure that your wrists
do not bend. Your stroke is very
similar to the putting stroke, no body
turn, just a pendulum from the shoulders
down.
Practice....With a 7 iron..Just make a
stroke of 1 foot back and 1 foot past
impact.Pretend you are putting a 5
footer. You will be surprised how far the
ball flies off the club face. Do this in
the back yard until you get the feel of
the shot, then try it around the
practice green to see how the ball rolls
once it gets to the green. Believe me
this is a major stroke saver.
The best clubs to use when chipping are
the 7, 9, and PW. If you use
the same swing and land the ball on the
same spot, you should notice a
difference of about 10 feet between each
of these clubs. i.e. the 7 iron will
roll 10 feet further than your 9 iron
etc.
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(30).."USING WEDGES"
Your wedge game can be improved. Here's
some secrets:
You're never going to be able to hit the
ball perfectly every time. When using a
wedge, we know that a green in reg or an
up and down is our goal--not holing out.
With this goal, we can be much more
forgiving of our stroke imperfections.
Within the limitations of normal
imperfections however, there's a lot you
can do to tailor a shot.
Setup... Set up is one of those parts of
a wedge shot that does not waver.
Gripping down about one or two inches
and standing closer to the ball a couple
of inches will add control. Slightly
open your stance and have your weight
equally distributed. Keep your grip
tight but allow for an easy touch and
feel of the shot.
Swing... This is an attenuated
manifestation of your normal full swing.
Your wrist break should be none for
number one below and limited to numbers
two and three. Remember that your upper
body's movements are the leader of the
lower body's motion. Use a descending
blow.
With these basics, you're ready for
shot making. There's three standard wedge
scenarios.
One... A bump and run. When you have a
lot of green to work with or you're
shooting uphill, have the ball
positioned even or behind your right
foot. Have your hands in front of the
ball with club face squared to the line
to the target opened stance. You keep
your wrists and arms stiff and make a
putting stroke. On impact, your hands
should be ahead of the club head. This
yields a low shot that gets up quick and
rolls.
two..
If you have not so much green available,
you need a higher flying shot that flies
as much as it rolls. To make this shot,
have the ball in the center of your
stance with your hands right in the
middle. Open the face a bit during
address. Now you want your hands and
club to reach the ball at the same time.
This gives you a softer shot that
doesn't roll so much--about as much as
it flies.
three...
If you have to really get the ball high
and stop quickly with little roll. Then
move the ball forward, almost opposite
your left heel. Your clubhead should
reach the ball before your hands.This
shot will stop the ball were it hits
with very little or no forward movement.
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(31).."READING GREENS (1)"
Preparation plays an important role in
the success or failure or every putt.
On
the greens, you must first study (read)
your putt to determine the amount of
break, the slope and how much speed
you'll need.
Always make your initial read from behind
the hole looking back down the target
line to your ball. From here you will
see the general direction of the break.
Give special attention to the area
around the hole because the effect of
the break is more pronounced as your
ball slows down.
Also check your line
for ball marks, pebbles and anything
else that might knock your ball off
line.
Once you have established the dominant
break, move to the low side of the putt
to determine the amount of slope and its
inclination.
When you stand on top of a
mountain and look down at the valley, it
looks flat but when you stand at the
base and look up, you can see the slope
and inclination. Take care to stand
equidistant from the ball, target line
and the cup in order to maintain your
perspective. This triangulation gives
you a much truer reading.
Your final read is from behind the ball.
Here, determine your line and select the
spot (as in bowling) to roll your ball
over. Also, in lining up behind the
ball, stand on the line on which you
want your ball to start. For straight
putts, this is the target line, but to
give you the proper perspective for a
putt that curves, stand on a curved line
or arc of the putt - not on the target
line.
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(32).."READING GREENS (2)"
Good putting also requires reading the
grain. The direction in which the grass
grows, or what is commonly referred to as
the grain, affects the distance and
direction of your putt.
When you are practicing, you can test
the grain by lightly dragging your
putter across the grass. If the grass
stands up, you've scraped your putter
against the grain; if it stays down, you
are with the grain. When you're playing,
the rules of golf don't permit you to
test the greens in this manner, but you
can test the collar or apron without
penalty. Just make sure it's the same
kind of grass as the putting surface
before you include the information in
your reading.
Grain effects both the curve and speed
of your putt. Putting directly against
the grain slows your putt down; putting
with the grain adds speed. If the grain
runs across the line of your putt in the
same direction as the slope of the
green, it increases the break as the
ball slows down.
Note that side-grain slows down your
putt almost as much as putting straight
into the grain.
Tropical climate grasses, such as
Bermuda, grow westward toward the
setting sun. The characteristically
thick, coarse Bermuda grows in an upward
swirl and its grain is strong and
influential on the speed and direction
of your putts. The finer-leafed grasses,
such as Bent, lie down and grain is not
a major factor. This type of grass is
common in cooler climates and what
little grain it has often grows toward
the natural water supply.
When the sun shines on a green you can
judge the direction of the grain by the
appearance of the grass. If the grass
looks dark and dull, the grain is
growing toward you. If the grass looks
shiny, the grain is growing away from
you.
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(33).."BALL BELOW YOUR FEET"
...When the ball is below your feet,
your
swing is more upright so your club face
tends to point to the right of the
target at impact, curving your shot from
left to right. Absent corrections, you
can expect a shot that flies low and
right.
Prior to arranging your feet, sole your
club flush with the slope, so that is
more upright than normal. This
establishes your swing plane and your
posture at address. The upright position
puts the club on its toe and aims the
club face right.
Since the ball is
farther from you, the bottom of your arc
occurs later in your swing, so to catch
the ball solidly and give your club face
time to square up, move the ball forward
in your stance. This points your
shoulders left, offsetting the tendency
for the ball to start right of your
target.
When the ball is below your feet, it is
actually farther away from you, so stand
closer, with a wider stance and more
knee flex to lower your self to the
ball. Pinch your knees in and turn your
feet in to minimize side-to-side motion.
Settle your weight onto your heels and
into the hillside to further anchor your
lower body.
Because the hill pulls you
forward onto your toes as you swing back
to the ball, you need to stay on your
heels from start to finish.
1...Sole the club to establish your
swing plane and posture.
2...Stand closer to the ball.
3...Move the ball forward in your stance
from where you would normally position
it for a level lie.
4...Widen your stance, pigeon toe your
feet and flex your knees into the hill.
5...Make a three-quarter motion
concentrating on keeping your balance
throughout the swing.
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(34).."ABOUT THE GOLF SWING"
...The swing plane is key element in
creating a powerful swing. An ideal
plane for a golf swing falls between
perfectly flat and perfectly upright.
To a great extent the distance the
person
stands from the ball dictates the plane
of your swing on which a golfer swings.
The farther away the ball is from the
golfer's feet, the flatter-more
horizontal- will be his or her swing
plane.
When driving, the golfer stands
relatively far from the ball because
they are is using the longest club in
the bag. On short-iron shots you stand
closer to the ball simply because you
are using a shorter club. Thus the
plane of a swing with a driver is
flatter than the with, say, a 9-iron.
Unusually tall golfers tend to address
shots with the ball closer to their feet
than do relatively short golfers.
Thus tall golfers naturally swing on a
more upright plane than do short
players. The amount that a golfer bends
forward at the waist also influences his
or her swing plane. The more you bend
forward - so long as your back remains
relatively straight - the more upright
will be your swing plane.
To take two extremes, if a golfer did
not bend at
all from the waist - stood perfectly
upright - to turn your body at all you
would have to turn your shoulders and
move the club on a more-or-less
perfectly horizontal plane. A golfer who
bent so much at the waist that his or
her back was parallel to the ground
would necessarily swing on practically a
perfectly upright or vertical plane.
The recommended swing plane tends to be
more vertical than horizontal. A more
upright plane keeps the clubhead moving
along the target line for a relatively
longer duration than would a flatter
swing plane. To achieve an ideal
swing
plane the ball, shoulders, and hands are
on the same line at the top of the
swing. If your swing is below this ideal
plane line then your swing is too flat,
conversely, if it is above the line it
is too vertical.
Any golfer who gains a clear
understanding of the fundamentals of
the golf swing plane and who will then
devote time to
practice is well on their way to
developing a sound, powerful, and
consistent golf game.
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(35).."DIFFICULT LIES: HARD PAN
.... When the ball comes to rest on a
patch of rock-hard ground with no grass
to prop it up, the last thing you want
is your club head bouncing into the
center of the ball causing a skulled
shot that runs out of control.
To play this type of lie correctly,
select a sand or pitching wedge and
position the ball according to the
trajectory you need:
1..Forward for a high soft shot.
2..Center for a standard pitch.
3..Back for a low, running pitch.
As with the thin lie, move close enough
to the ball so the club head is standing
on its toe with the club shaft as
vertical as possible. Thus you eliminate
any angle in your left wrist, making
sure that your club head won't drop any
lower through impact than it was at
address.
Set your feet according to the length of
the shot you intend to play: wide and
square for a long shot, and progressively
more open and narrow the shorter you
want to hit the ball. To shorten the
distance your shot flies, open your
stance by dropping your left foot back
from the target line with your club face
slightly to the right of the target.
For the swing use your pitching action.
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(36).."DIFFICULT LIES: BURIED IN THE SAND
... When your ball is
buried in grass, your club should rest
on its heel, with the toe of the club
off the ground, just opposite of the
hard pan set up. By setting the club on
the heel, the bounce of the club is
increased along with the potential
hitting surface. This increased surface
area helps your club head plow through
the grass, helping you make solid
contact.
When you stand farther from the ball
your hands hang lower, presetting your
wrists, and creating a steeper angle of
attack so that the grass behind the ball
has less effect on the shot. Also by
lowering your hands, your shoulders tilt
more as they swing, producing a more
upright back swing that adds to the
cutting action of your swing - just what
you need to carve your ball out of the
grass.
When your club is on its heel, be
sure to position the ball in the middle
of the club face to avoid the possibility
of a shank.
The deep grass tends to grab the neck of
your club, twisting your club face to a
closed position at impact. This causes a
pulled shot left of the target so aim to
the right to compensate for the pull.
And of course you have to swing harder
than you normally would with a firmer
grip pressure that helps you retain
control of your club, as it encounters
the resistance of the grass.
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(37).."THE COLLAR SHOT
....Every once and a while your ball stops
against the first cut of rough just off the
green. It's hard to judge this shot because
using a normal chip or pitch, you're denied
clean contact with the ball due to the
intervening grass.
A three wood adapted like a chipping iron
is an excellent choice in this situation.
The weight and mass of your three wood head
insures that the club slides through the
grass to contact the ball crisply. As in
chipping, raise your three wood on its toe,
close the face and grip down on it with your
putting grip. Assume a narrow, open stance
and stroke the ball as you would a putt of
equal distance. Expect your ball to hop a
little and then roll to the hole like a putt.
Another solution is to choose a putter and
address the ball so that the toe of your
putter aims at the top of the ball. The key
to this shot is to strike the ball squarely
with a firm tapping stroke, keeping the toe
going at the hole during the follow through.
You can also play this shot by striking the
middle of the ball with the leading edge of
your sand wedge. This way your club face
never touches the ball so you don't have to
worry about the grass getting between your
club face and the ball. To "belly" the ball
so that it rolls with a good deal of top
spin, use your putting motion with absolutely
no wrist action. Just set your weight on your
left side and hover the edge of your sand
wedge behind the equator of the ball, then
make a smooth stroke.
When your ball is just off the green, ignore
the markings on your clubs and play the shot
with the club that gets the job done. Your
goal is to keep the ball on the ground
whenever you can so you might choose a
fairway wood, a five iron, a sand wedge or a
putter to get the ball close to the hole.
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