MISCELLANEOUS
(195).."HOOKER"
A Cure For Hooks
This week's tip is aimed specifically at those players who struggle with hooking the golf ball. If your normal shot is a hook, then your club face must be closed at impact. Of course, the next step is find out why the face is closed, and although some swing errors will cause the hook for most players the root cause of the problem is a faulty grip.
Specifically, many players have a grip that is so strong (both hands turned too far to the right) that it is virtually impossible for them to make a swing without the club face returning to the ball in a closed position. In order to correct your hook, you must first change this strong grip to a weaker position. I should noted that many golfers do this (strong grip)in self defense, because they grip the club so tight the fore arm muscles are energized and this will at times open the face at impact. So, remember---grip the club just enough to not to cause the fore arm muscles to tighten, but still hold on to the club during the swing.
A word of caution though. Do not change your grip and then head out to the course and play a match! It is imperative that you spend some time on the practice tee getting used to the new feeling in order for your new grip to become an asset instead of a liability.
Try this Drill:
The best "anti-hook" grip to practice with is a baseball-style grip. By this I mean that you should grip the club without overlapping or interlocking your fingers. A true baseball grip will also have your thumbs wrapped around the club, not placed down the shaft. By wrapping your thumbs around the grip you will find it almost impossible to keep the club face from rotating into a more square position at impact.
I want to stress that for most this is only a practice grip, and you should use it to learn the feeling of different hand positions and tension free fore arm muscles. Once you have learned to hit the ball straight with this grip, you are ready to return to your regular golf grip.
Back to Menu
(196).."TO THE FINISH"
A smart way to fix problems in your backswing, downswing, and follow-through is by working on the finish. That's right, the finish. Many of my students stop their golf swings and do not finish. This causes deacceleration through impact (lose of distance) and can cause blocked shots to the right. Make it your goal to reach the proper finish position: Weight fully transferred onto the left side, right foot on its toe, belt buckle, shoulders, face are pointing at the target, and hands just left of the left ear and the club is lying across your back. Practicing this perfect finish will help iron out problems happening earlier in the swing.
Try this:
Take your normal set-up with a mid-iron. Without swinging, move into the perfect finish position described above. In one motion, swing the club back down, past the ball and to the top of the swing, then swing down and through and actually hit the ball, striving to duplicate the finish you practiced. You may not make solid contact the first time, but stick with it. Your swing will become smoother with fewer flaws.
Take a couple seconds at the finish of the swing and pose. This allows you to be sure you have finished the swing.
Back to Menu
(197).."HOW MANY SWINGS SHOULD YOU HAVE ?"
From a pure teaching/mechanical standpoint you might be surprised at the answer, which is .....TWO.
The two swings are:
1) The FULL SWING ...where we go from the bottom (address position) to the TOP of our comfortable range and back to the bottom where we make IMPACT. Solid , magical results always...RIGHT?
2) The LESS THAN FULL SWING...where we do not get to our comfortable top of the swing. This is an abbreviated swing and we use them, sometimes, to often.
So TWO swings with fourteen or more clubs. This includes your putter which makes less than a full swing.
To ensure consistency, once your bag is calibrated (In other words, we know exactly how far each club goes), we should make all full swings until the yardage is shorter than our full swing pitching or sand wedge. From this distance in we then adjust with less than full swings.
If you are in between clubs...take the longer one and choke down to hit the yardage.
How many of you have totally screwed up a shot trying to swing easy to hit a shorter yardage.
If you wish to be dead on in distance, take the time to see what the distances are for each iron when you choke down a half inch with a full swing and watch your game improve.
Back to Menu
(198).."MENTAL GAME"
These five components will help your mental game:
1. Concentration and Focus. This is the ability to focus on what's necessary to successfully execute the shot. Contrary to what many golfers believe, this focus cannot be on your swing mechanics. This only gets you into the mode of "playing swing" rather than playing golf. When you can't concentrate, your focus widens and you can become distracted by other players, adverse course conditions and even your own thoughts.
2. Thought Control. Regulating your thoughts between shots and before the round is a critical skill to master. Thinking the wrong thoughts can stimulate your emotions, which makes it even more difficult to concentrate and focus. This explains what happens to the golfer who plays well on the front nine but totally loses it after the turn.
3. Managing Tension. Your mental game will suffer unless you can stay relaxed throughout the round. And it isn't just the negative emotions! Even getting excited about a great shot can make it difficult to concentrate and can cause you to lose focus. Deep breathing is one of the best things you can do to regulate your tension level.
4. Confidence. A strong mental game requires both personal and performance confidence. You have to feel comfortable with your physical skills in practice before you even take your game out on the course. Keeping records will help you recognize areas that need improvement. Then you can work on increasing your performance confidence through goal oriented practice.
5. Mental Preparation, Imagery and Attitude. Many golfers will prepare for a round by warming up and practicing the mechanics. Very few will prepare mentally for the round. Make sure to take a short mental break before you start the round. This allows you to let go of any tensions and concerns you brought to the course with you. Without this mental break, it will be difficult to concentrate and stay focused as you begin the round.
Back to Menu
(199).."SPINE ANGLE"
When you have trouble keeping your spine angle and sometimes raise up a little bit during the swing, Here's a little drill that will help and you can do it in the den if you wish.
Get your self a piece of rope about 6-8 foot long. Take one end and tie it around your neck. No we're not going to string ourselves up. Tie the other end to something close to the floor. Now just back up and get into your address posture at the point were a little tension is on the rope. See the picture.
By swinging through the impact position and making a good extension of the arms through impact. you will notice that the club face angle indicates a good "release" through the impact area. This is facilitated by keeping a good spine angle.
By doing this drill at home, you body will receive the necessary feedback to help you maintain a good spine angle during the golf swing. After some practice, those shots to the right on the course will be a thing of the past.
Back to Menu
(200).."ATTAINING GOALS"
There are efficient and effective means to reach most goals, and then there are ways to make your goal achievement down right difficult. In fact, you can sabotage your efforts without even realizing it.
When most golfers resolve to "work" on their game this often involves wading through a large bucket of balls at the range by scraping over one ball after the other hitting our favorite club to the middle of the range.
This practice approach lacks purpose and does little to transfer learning to the golf course. In fact, you may tinker so much with your swing during sessions like this that you may take a few steps back instead of forward.
In order to improve your scores, you need to know your strengths and weaknesses and "WHERE" strokes are being wasted during your rounds. This information can help you develop some specific goals for game improvement. To pinpoint trouble spots, keep some simple accurate statistics on a few rounds of golf. The following statistics can be recorded on your scorecard and should let you know where you need to focus your practice time:
1. Number of fairways hit
2. Number of greens in regulation
3. Number of putts
4. Note directional misses - whether right or left
5. Extra shots around the green - double chips, flubbed pitches, shots left in the bunker, etc.
Now analize what part of your game is costing you the strokes. Use common sense..if you are averaging 2.2 putts per round (39.6 strokes) why on earth would you go to the driving range and even think about pulling out the driver.
Sharing this information with a good local teaching golf professional can be extremely helpful for both of you to come up with a practice program that will help you reach realalistic goals and start knocking some strokes off that part of your game were the problems really exists.
We all have the tendency to forget allot of bad shots we make, especially the real dumb ones. So be accurate and honest with your record keeping. It will result in a better golf game.
Back to Menu
(201).."HOOKING HELP"
A hook occurs when the club face is closed in relation to the golfers swing path, causing counterclockwise side spin and resulting in a hook to the left or right depending if you are left or right handed
Here are some things to check if you are having hooking problems:
Grip Position
Many golfers have a strong grip that feels too uncomfortable if they try to neutralize it. The problem could be the positioning of the grip is too much in the fingers. Try laying the club across the hand pads where the fingers meet the hands and grip the club. You should have a much easier time getting the grip neutralized.
It could be a simple repositioning of the "hands" on the club,when you hold your club your non dominant hand should show the thumb and index knuckles, if you start seeing the back hand and itīs not pointing at the target,but it is angling up,and/or you see the fingers of your dominant hand, your grip is too strong, this promotes a hook. You need to roll the hands forward to wards the target so that the backhand faces the hole. A strong grip has the thumb knuckle joints pointing behind you.
Here is one to check for: the over-closed stance. The lead foot is on the target line but the rear foot is behind the line to some degree. This puts them parallel to left of the target. To fix this, lay a club at the target and butt BOTH feet to the club; now your feet are square.
You must also make sure your hips are turning properly through the down swing. At impact, your belt buckle should be just about pointing at your target, and your weight should have shifted almost entirely to your front foot. A way of making sure your hips are turning properly and that your weight is being transferred to your left foot, is to have your swing videotaped.
Back to Menu
(202).."BUNKER PLAY"
Ball Position For Fairway Bunker Shots
To successfully hit a fairway bunker shot, begin by playing the ball back in your stance. By setting up with the ball slightly right of your zipper, you will help your club face to strike the ball before the sand.
Bunker Drill
To develop a consistent entry point in the sand in correct relation to the ball position: Draw a straight line 10 feet long in the sand with the butt end of the club or rake handle. Straddle the line so it is slightly left of center in the stance. Make swings so you splash sand forward with the entry point starting on the line. Travel down the line repeating the drill until the entry point is consistent. Then add a ball some two to three inches ahead of the line and repeat.
Fairway Bunker Footing
While in a fairway trap, dig your feet in by twisting them into the sand. Then, let your knees pinch toward each other so the majority of your weight is over the inside of your feet. Your foot impressions after the shot should be deeper on the inside half of each foot.
To promote more solid and controlled contact from the fairway bunker, your lower body should remain quiet with very little motion in the feet and legs.
Make Your Trip To The Beach A Short One
The sand trap (aka beach) shot should not be feared. Just open your stance a little, play the ball in the center, and hit about 2 inches behind the ball in a smooth continuous swing. The club will glide thru the sand and the ball will ride up and out on a column
of moving sand. It is like throwing a shovel of dirt with a ball on top. The ball moves yet the club
or shovel never actually touches it.
Reduced Back Swing For Fairway Bunker Shot
For successful fairway bunker contact, limit your back swing to 3/4 of its normal length, and then mirror it on the follow through. Because you are using such an abbreviated swing, take two more clubs for the distance you are approaching. If you have a good lie, choose that 5 instead of the 7 iron.
Tight Near Lip of Trap
If you need to get the ball up fast out of a trap, try
starting the back swing by cocking your wrists upward
followed by the normal back swing. The down swing is the same but you release the wrists (uncock them) before impact. The result is a steep cut thru the sand popping up the ball quickly and softly on the green.
Back to Menu
(203).."MORE POWER UH, UH, UH"
Ask most golfers and they will tell you they would like to generate more power in their golf swing. One of the most common problems I observe is golfers trying to swing the club harder in an effort to generate more power. Wrong thing to do. This only leads to tension in the swing and......
The Reverse Weight Shift
The most common problem I see is the dreaded reverse weight shift, which causes a tremendous loss of power. This is where the golfer makes too big of a turn, where their shoulders and hips turn the same distance, the arms collapse close to their body and the back leg straightens. The left shoulder drops and the weight is shifted back to the front foot. From here, the tendency is to hit behind the ball, weakly. You should always let your weight go in the same direction as the club.
Drill for a Reverse Weight Shift
To make sure you make a full turn with a proper weight shift, take your regular stance, then turn and point your right toe to the left.
This will restrict your hip-turn and allow your arms to stay wider at the top of your back swing
Another way to fix a reverse weight shift is to practice with a ball under your right heel. This, too, will restrict you from turning too much.
Back to Menu
(204).."MORE POWER #2"
Another fatal power flaw is the fake shoulder turn. The golfer just lifts the club straight up never turning the leading shoulder behind the ball. The weight stays on the front leg causing the arms to get too close to the body (bending the elbows).
On the downswing, they keep moving ahead of the ball, never shifting their weight off of their front side......and the weight continues to stay forward the whole time.
Drill for a Fake Shoulder Turn
This is the opposite of a reverse weight shift. Take your stance and toe your back foot out significantly and take a couple swings.. This will allow you to make a bigger turn and get the feeling of a good shoulder turn and weight transfer to the back foot. After you get the feeling of the good shoulder turn move your toe a little toward the front and take a couple more swings maitaining the shoulder turn feel. Move the back toe a little more and repeat. When you get the toe to the straight position and if you are still making a good turn you will notice a tight feeling at the hips,,that's good , becuase now you have created a good X factor and more power uuh, uuh, uuh.
Also try to be very wide with your takeaway...when you allow the distance from your shoulder to the club head to shorten you have slowed your club head speed. Keep it wide, keep it fast.
Back to Menu
(205).."MORE POWER #3"
The Sway
Another common power robbing problem is a sway. In an effort to get behind the golf ball, the golfer shifts his weight outside of his back leg to the outside of the back foot. They slide their hips back and do not rotate.
If you sway back, you must sway forward to have any chance of hitting the ball. This will shift all your weight to the outside of your front foot. That will normally produce a weak shot to the right.
Drill for a Sway
To promote a good turn with proper balance, take an old shaft and stick it in the ground just outside (about 2" away) and parallel to your back leg.
Then make your swing. If your leg touches the shaft, you are swaying. Remember you want to rotate and not slide back and have your back leg touch the shaft that is in the ground. When you stop the slide and start to rotate your consistency and power will increase.
Swing Deceleration
The final problem discussed is decelerating on the downswing. Deceleration on the downswing is usually accomplished when golfers stop their swings and end the swing with the club pointing up in the air instead of pointing down toward the ground across their back. If you stop the club early, you had to start slowing down some were back in the downswing and usually this slowing down starts before impact. This can also cause some blocked shots (hits to the right). You can not just stop the club....The secret is to start slowing down after impact.
Drill for Swing Deceleration
Hit some balls and concentrate on the finish. Pose for a couple seconds at the finish of each swing. Belt buckle, shoulders and head pointing down the fairway. Both arms bent at the elbows with the club shaft lying across your back. If you finish the swing, you will have been accelerating through impact, result UH! UH! UH! more power.
Back to Menu
(206).."BREAKDOWN"
If we slowed down the swings of golfers that have power problems or have a tendency to hit the ball high, this is what you would probably see:
The left wrist and arm breakdown allowing the release the club to early by letting the club head pass their hands at impact. A total breakdown like this at impact causes a tremendous loss of power, direction and consistency problems and higher than normal trajectory. The picture is an extreme example, however even as small as a 5 degree head leading hands at impact will change the club loft by one club. So you guys out there who would like to get your trajectory down..PAY ATTENTION..
A better way to swing is to let your hands lead the club head through impact. What they call "hitting down on the ball".
Drill
Grab an iron and lean the club into the ground. Just put a little pressure on the club by using your body and open your hips up a little bit. Push forward so you can really feel that the back of your left hand is nice and flat. You should also feel that the back of your right wrist is angled as shown. This is to give you the feel at impact..NOT at address.
You can practice this position by leaning a club up against the corner of a wall or golf cart tire. This little exercise will help you feel and sense this impact position much easier.
Back to Menu
(207).."CROOKED PUTTS"
It seems every year I get more and more golfers in my shop complaining about consistently pushing or pulling putts. They just spent mega bucks on the latest "wiz bang", "sink every putt", putter and blaming evcerything but the putter. What amazes me is that allot of these expensive putters have one thing in common...the grips have been put on crooked. I think it might be a good idea to check your putter and see just how straight your grip is on the shaft. Here's a couple ways to do the check.
Hold the putter up and look down the shaft from the grip end, while lining the face of the putter on a vertical edge of a window pane. When it is parallel look to see if the flat edge of the putter grip is parallel with the bottom (horizontal) window pane. A more accurate way is in a vice. Rap a rag around the shaft and clamp the putter horizontally in the vice (gently, just enough to hold it), face straight up and down, Place a level on the face and turn the putter back and forth until the face is perfectly vertical. Now just place the level "across" the flat of the putter grip and if the bubbles not centered the grips on crooked. You would not believe how much even a couple degrees off will srew up your putts and it gets worse the longer the putt is.
Back to Menu
(208).."GOLF LESSONS"
Frequently, golfers tell me that they would like to take a golf lesson, but they want me to work with the golf swing they have-that is, they don't want me to make any major changes to their golf swing. Basically, these golfers fear that the golf instruction won't be tailored to their individual needs.
First, let me address the fear of change topic. If you ask me to make you a better golfer, but won't let me change your golf swing, just what is it that am I supposed to do to make you better? I am not a magician! The quality of your golf swing is the major component determining the level your of play. The best I can do is treat the symptoms. ie. If you are hitting to the right - aim left.
Here is a simple rule to help you decide if you should be willing to change your swing-if you shoot 95 and you're happy shooting 95, then obviously your swing is good enough. If you shoot 95 but you want to be shooting 85, then your swing is not good enough-you have to change something. Either work on your short game, which will possibly shave a few strokes off of your score, but not ten strokes, or improve you golf swing. It's really that simple.
There are a lot of golfers out there who shoot 95 but think they have a swing that should be producing scores of 85. This isn't an accurate view of the situation. The sooner these golfers realize that their golf swings need work, the sooner they can begin to improve, if they really have the desire.
The teaching of golf swing fundamentals follow some very basic natural laws of human motion and even the best golfers in the world do not have the ability to see if they are obeying these laws. That is why they have coaches. To tell them when they break the law.
You may be comforted to know that good instructors who teach fundamentals do tailor their teaching to the individual. Consider that if I were to give the same instruction to 10 different people, I would see 10 variations when I met with the students a month later. Obviously since the goal is the same, the feedback that I give to each will have to be different in order to get each of them heading in the right direction. While golf swing fundamentals apply to every golfer, the path to learning those fundamentals depends on how each individual reacts to the instruction.
If you think you can improve your golf game by swinging in a contrary manner to the natural laws of human motion, around which golf swing fundamentals have developed, going to the range and band-aid fix your swing your self without really knowing the true fault of your swing, then all I can say is good luck, you're going to need it-and some magic too. If you are truly interested in lowering your handicap find a instructor that will find your fundamental swing faults so "you" can correct them and not an instructor that just treats the symptoms.
Back to Menu
(209).."PATIENCE"
Patience goes hand in hand with remaining focused. If you can be patient as you work to improve or make a change in your swing, then you have a chance of maintaining your focus. The two together are critical for golf swing improvement.
If you are working to improve or change your swing, you will hit the ball badly, period! No exceptions! If you don't hit badly, you aren't making improvements to your swing. Obviously, it's frustrating to hit the ball badly, which is where patience becomes a crucial factor in your golf improvement quest.
Many golfers think they're ready to begin a golf improvement program, but a week or two of poor ball striking often puts an end to the initial excitement created by the prospect of becoming a better golfer. It amazes me that even though I thoroughly warn everyone of what to expect, there are still many golfers who come to me for instruction thinking that my warnings don't apply to them. Let me make it clear, my warnings apply to everyone. If you make a change to your golf swing, you will loose some coordination for awhile and hit some bad shots. If you can't accept that, don't even begin to think that you can become a better golfer! When Butch changed Tigers' swing, he had the "patience" to hang in there, bad shots and all, and as a result even became a better golfer then he was already. So if you have taken a lesson and it requires you to change your swing and you hit bad shots, be patient, hang in there, you will become a better golfer.
Back to Menu
(210).."PRACTICE SWING"
Why is it so difficult for golfers to take their practice swings to the golf course?
The longest walk in golf seems to be from the practice tee to the first tee. Somehow we forget everything when we get in the heat of a round. On the range there are fewer obstacles to overcome. Nobody is watching,no negative thoughts, you are just relaxed and hitting some balls. If you hit a bad one..no big deal I'm not in a big match. Sound familiar?
NOTE: Always practice on the range aiming at something. Do not just hit shots off into oblivion. Practice just like you need to hit each shot a specific distance and line.
Your alignment, tempo, and many other fundamentals seem to change once we walk off the practice tee. You might first look a professional to give you a playing lesson and make sure you are making the proper fundamental swing. While you are on the practice tee, try to ingrain the feeling of your swing and make the same swing on the first tee.
Did you ever notice how, even on the course, when you take a couple practice swings just before you hit the ball and say to your self "Oh Yah-that's the one", you step up to the ball and after you have swung you wonder were that swing went.
"TENSION" Tension is probably the biggest difference between your practice swing and course swing and tension is the swing killer. How many of you get on the first tee and your only swing thought is "please don't go in the woods with all my buds watching" or a dozen other negative thoughts.
Don't do it...just relax on the course and think of your practice swing. The best preshot routine sometimes is to just clear your brain and take a deep breath before swinging. You're not tense on the practice tee, don't tense up on the course either.
A tension free swing will produce more consistant and longer shots.."you can take that to the bank".