Ideas for Better Golf

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POOR CONTACT

Notice the bottom of the club did not hit the ground.

GOOD CONTACT

The club brushes the grass at the same time it hits the ball.

v Do you know what you're practicing?

I find that many, if not most, people spend time on the practice range with good intentions but aren't making the most of their time. Newer golfers need to spend time on the range to get a feeling for how their bodies move. All swings for a new golfer are good, even if they don't hit the ball at all. In the beginning, every swing is contributing to learning to have a feel for it. Hopefully they have some structure to what they are doing. As golfers add experience to swinging and playing, they tend to have more grooved swings. This is about the time that they ought to start to be careful about what they are repeating. It's very hard to undo a motor pattern that happens without thinking about it. Just this week I had a student who was told by a good player friend that he ought to make a particular change with his release. Diligent as he is, the following three months was spent grinding this move into his swing so it was 'natural' and he didn't have to think about it. Unfortunately, he was working on something that he really should not have been doing and now is regretting it.

So my message to you is: be sure you know what you are trying to repeat before you spend several hours a week teaching your body to do it.

v Address vs. Impact

Golf swings come in all different shapes, sizes, and qualities. There are usually more differences than similarities, even among the top players in the world. Different body types, motor patterns, habits and other factors account for that. In general, all players have their own personal characteristics that will affect the “look” of their swing.

However, there are indeed certain positions that all the same. Let’s look at just one of them:

In all great ball strikers, the address position never looks exactly the same as the impact position.

At impact

-Hips have out turned the shoulders

-Hands are even or ahead of the club head

-Weight has shifted to the front side

-Back knee has kicked in slightly

Make a trough

I like to tell a story (especially to my newer players) about a lesson that I learned from my father when I first started to swing a club...

I was only about 8 years old and we would often go to the public practice range together. Golf balls were sold by the basket (i.e. limited in number), so he would direct me to an area where there was longer rough, away from the hitting area and tell me to make a few dozen swings - or as many as it took - brushing the grass until it was evident that my clubhead had bottomed out in the same spot over and over. Until I could prove that I knew where my club was hitting the ground (and hitting the ground in the same place every time) I simply wasn't ready to hit a ball. So off I'd go making swings wildly until I indeed, had made a trough. He would say, "OK, you're ready."

I was lucky to have someone watching out for me at an important time. All too often I see people hitting ball after ball not knowing where their club ought to make contact. The reason this drill is so important is because good, solid contact with the ball means hitting it in the middle of the clubface. The only way to hit the middle of the clubface is to allow the bottom of the club to hit the ground.

So before you keep machine gun hitting ball after ball because they are limitless, and there are no consequences on the practice tee, make sure you rehearse the swing and take note of where you bottom out.

v Be Brilliant at the Basics

My mentor, Jim McLean, always says this and it makes a lot of sense. If you don't have the grip right, why move onto the full swing. If you don't have the full swing down, then why try to hit a ball? If you don't feel right hitting a ball, why go out on the golf course?

Having said that, there are certain exceptions (for very new players it can be important for them to have a context in which to put the new information. So I often like to take new players out onto the golf course even before they know so that they can understand the overall picture.)

The basics can be different depending on varying skill and experience levels. However, even the great golfing legend, Jack Nicklaus, said in his autobiography that during the "slump" in his career, he overlooked getting back to the basics saying, " I recognize now that the effect of my unwillingness during those years to go back to square one with my game was to make me weakest where once I had been strongest."

How to hit a basic chip shot

In golf there are many holes where your approach shot could end up just short of the green. Most of the time you may be able to putt it but let’s consider the lie where you are either too far away or there is too much grass in the way to slow the ball down. This is when you gear up for the classic chip shot!

Chip Shot: A low running approach shot with more roll than carry, also known as a ‘bump and run’. It is mostly played from just off the edge of the green. (The difference between a chip shot and a pitch shot is that a chip rolls a longer distance then it flies.) It can be performed with nearly any short iron, however I recommend choosing just one club and get to know it very well. I suggest a pitching wedge or 9 iron.

Basics for hitting the never fail chip:

Ball position slightly back in a narrow stance (more toward the center if you have a good lie)

Weight favors the front foot (about 60/40) and never changes- even in the backswing!

Hands ahead of the club head and keep them moving ahead (never break your wrists). This would be one of the few times that I allow a firm grip pressure

Be certain to let the sole of the club (or bounce) hit the ground with a thump right under the ball

Finish with your upper body rotated toward the target and right knee kicked forward