Sling Shot

Monday, November 18, 2013

The older you get, the more you need to make the ball run for you off the tee, to eke out those few extra yards. The key is to shape your tee-shots with a raking draw. Let me show you how I flight the ball with a piercing right-to-left shape with the driver.

The secret is in the set-up

Standing with your feet more or less square to the line of your target is, of course, the way to play the majority of your full shots. But with the driver (and when going for maximum distance, with the fairway woods), I often set up to the ball with my stance slightly closed - i.e. with my feet pointing slightly to the right of my target. I take care to aim the club face down the middle of the fairway, and also try to maintain square alignment with my shoulders, but my feet, as you can see, point to the right of centre.

Turning inside the line

...and here's the proof. As my upper body turns on the target, and my weight flows across on to my right side, notice the way in which the club is drawn inside the ball-to-target line (below). This happens naturally, without you having to think about it. Once you have created a slightly closed stance, all you have to think about is swinging on the line of your toes, and completing a full coil of the upper body.

At the same time, look at how easily (and how comfortably) the left shoulder is turning under the chin as my upper body turns away from the target. This winding up of the upper body over the hips and legs is a terrific source of power. I don't think much about the wrist action; as long as you have a good grip and maintain a light pressure in the fingers, the wrists will hinge correctly in their own good time to set the club on a good back swing plane.

Above all, I find that the slightly closed stance serves to enhance my hip and leg action which, in turn assists the rotary motion of the upper body. I am conscious of the fact that my left heel rises an inch or so as I make my back swing; that little 'lift' enables me to get fully

coiled behind the ball.

Get across the line at the top

As a result of the slightly closed set-up position - and the fact that I have made a full turn into my right side -you will notice that I have swung the club 'across the line' at the top (i.e. the shaft is now pointing to the right of my target, just like the line across my toes). From here I feel that I am on track to attack the ball from the inside, and as a result hit a low, raking draw - so long as I trust the mechanics of my swing and release the club head with total commitment.

Starting down: Let your arms and the club fall into the hitting position

Looking at the swing from this angle highlights the simplicity of the transition, the all-important movement at the start of the downswing. If I am asked to describe the feeling of the transition, I explain it in terms of the arms and the club falling into the slot. As I near the top of my swing (and keep in mind that you don't have to reach parallel to hit the ball a long way), my left heel has risen and my weight is on my right side.

Then, as I reverse my momentum, the left heel is replanted on the ground and my weight shifts back towards the target, which triggers the downswing. The reverse in the momentum invites the arms and the hands to shallow the plane of the swing quite noticeably, and in that split-second the outcome of the shot is decided.

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Hitting the "Stinger"

When the wind blows, the perfect shot off the tee is one that barely gets off the ground. I have always enjoyed Tiger Woods hit what he calls his 'stinger' with a 2-iron, and I hope this interpretation on how to play it will come in useful the next time you are heading to the links.

At the set-up, these are the thoughts you should work around when preparing to play a low shot...

• BALL BACK IN THE STANCE (I.E. SLIGHTLY RIGHT OF CENTRE)
  
  
• A SLIGHTLY NARROWER STANCE PROMOTES A STEEPER ANGLE OF ATTACK
  
  
• FEET ALIGNMENT SLIGHTLY OPEN - THAT HELPS YOU CLEAR THE HIPS ON WAY THROUGH
  
  
• 60% OF YOUR WEIGHT FAVOURS THE LEFT SIDE (AND KEEP IT THERE THROUGHOUT)
  
  
• HANDS FALL JUST INSIDE LEFT KNEE, GIVING THE APPEARANCE OF BEING WELL AHEAD OF THE BALL

Uppermost in your mind when you play in any kind of wind is that the harder you hit the ball the more spin you impart on it and the more the ball spirals up into the wind. So make a pack with yourself: Swing a little shorter and easier. Adopting a slightly open stance will naturally shorten your backswing, and this three-quarter, compact position is ideal.

For a pure strike on the back of the ball, the key is to replicate your set-up position at impact. Hands leading the club-head as the upper body unwinds promotes the low trajectory that you are looking for.

The fact that you are trying to minimize backspin is further reflected in the length of the follow-through. A slightly abbreviated position indicates that you have accelerated evenly through the ball rather than attempt to hit at it. Perfect balance on the left side winds it up nicely.

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A Turn for the Better

Reminding yourself to turn your left shoulder behind the ball is the key to eliminating the reverse-pivot and creating power.

To me , the key to hitting the driver well is getting my left shoulder moving across to the right in the backswing (main image). I like to create a smooth and wide swing arc in the first few feet I move the club away from the ball.

If I achieve this, then my left shoulder moves across and aims to the right of the ball (as I look at it) at the top of my backswing.

This is a position you should try to copy. If you don't create width in the takeaway, it's easy for your left shoulder to drop down instead of turning (see inset).

If your left shoulder points either straight down at, or to the left of, the ball, the chances are you are in the middle of making a reverse-pivot and you will never enjoy creating good power or distance.

Tee it high, let it fly

If you use one of the new breed of titanium drivers, it's important that you tee the ball up high, as the sweet-spot is nearer to the top of the clubface. Use an extra long tee. This enables you to position the sweet-spot next to the ball at address.

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Stay Low After Impact

Extend your right arm for pure contact and better ball flight.

Good ball-strikers tend to "stay with the shot" well after impact. That means they continue to accelerate the club-head and keep it relatively low to the ground, letting it come up only when it can't track close to the ground any longer. This is a sign they've really caught the ball flush and created a strong, piercing ball flight.

This happens for two reasons. First, they extend their right arm completely through impact, maintaining the width of the arc they had throughout the downswing. The right arm does not extend toward the target after the ball is gone; that's a common misconception. It stays in front of your upper body as your body continues to unwind, and moves back inside the target line.

Secondly, good ball-strikers make a full weight transfer to the left as they complete their swing. You can't finish low if you hang back on your right side. Proof of the weight shift is your right heel.

If you've turned your hips aggressively and moved to your left side through impact, your right heel should be off the ground and closer to the target than your right toe.

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Sweep the Long Irons

A golf writer once asked me to pick the best full shot I ever hit, and I didn't have to think twice. It was the 2-iron on the last hole at the 1983 Open Championship.

I faced a 213-yard second shot into the wind on the longest par-four at Royal Birkdale. I needed a par and had a 10-minute wait that seemed like an hour. But I hit it flush - a little draw into a left-to-right wind - and it hung right at the hole.

I knew I'd won my fifth Open, a wonderful feeling. Two putts left me a stroke ahead of Hale Irwin and Andy Bean. All I was thinking on that 2-iron shot was smooth rhythm. And it worked.

I've always tried to sweep my long irons (like Jack Nicklaus and Byron Nelson did) rather than take much of a divot. To do that you must position the ball slightly forward of centre in your stance. Then the swing arc must be shallow, not steep.

Practise this sweeping swing without a ball. Hit the turf just forward of centre at the bottom of your arc. Do it enough times to become consistent.

Remember: sweep, don't dig.

Long irons are the hardest clubs to hit. If you don't swing at least 95 mph, replace your long irons with a hybrid club or two. I still use a 2-iron, but I have more difficulty getting shots to fly high as I get older. The hybrid is next for my set.

Plus...

YOUR 'GO-TO' TROUBLE CLUB A safe carry over trouble for most players is a 5-iron. Especially if the lie is poor, go with your safety club.

BE REALISTIC ON LONG PAR-FOURS Play long par-fours like par-fives. They're three-shot holes for average golfers - and they're stroke holes on the card, so a one-putt par is like a birdie.

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The Utility Wood

When you consider the sheer range of shots a 5- or 7-wood is capable of playing, it's really no wonder that senior players swear by these so-called 'utility' woods. I always carry a 5-wood in my bag, and, depending on course conditions, occasionally a 7-wood.

These clubs are much easier to hit than long irons, and they can get you out of all sorts of trouble. They can also help in the unlikeliest of situations - such as chipping from rough grass.

You may have seen this done on TV, but unless you go out and try chipping with a utility wood, you will never appreciate just how useful the club is in this type of situation.

The small head of the 5- or 7-wood runs through long grass more easily than a wedge, and your margin for error is greater.

Simply grip down the shaft and play the shot like you would a regular chip-and-run. Naturally, you need to practise to familiarise yourself with the feel of the ball off the clubface, and the pace at which it runs out on the green.

But I'd be surprised if after a couple of goes you are not hooked.

Out of the rough? Small head cuts through the long grass and gets the ball airbourne.

Off the fairway? Easier than a 3- or 4-iron, gives a high trajectory and stops on the green 

Out of a divot? Small shallow head gets to the bottom of the ball and gets you out of irritating scrapes 

In the sand? Small head glides across the sand and gives a clean sweeping contact. 

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Vintage Monty -2

Late 'setting' loads the wrists

High hands at the top is one of Monty's trademarks - and one that provides a useful swing cue for those of you who are prone to swinging the arms and hands too flat around the body. Try to visualise swinging your hands up and over the tip of your right shoulder in the backswing. Do that and you will find that your swing is on a better plane, making it easier for you to return the club on a consistent path into the back of the ball.

The second part, or completion of the backswing is very interesting. Having already established the width and the slide [of the hips] behind the ball, he lifts his arms and cocks the wrists. And there's a tremendous amount of wrist cock taking place in the space of the final two frames you see above (the arms have travelled only a short distance while the clubhead has reached the extent of its journey, beyond the horizontal).

It's actually very hard to do this.

There are few players who have Colin's flexibility, and who are able to extend the left arm so fully, the wrists fully hinged to achieve the top-of-the-backswing position. This late setting of the wrists is idiosyncratic to Colin, and not something I would necessarily recommend to all golfers. But for those of you who perhaps cock your wrists very early, narrowing the swing, I would point to this action and suggest using this image of Monty's backswing to help you work on taking the club away from the ball on a wider arc in an attempt to encourage this later hingeing or 'setting' of the wrists.

Looking down the line confirms the two-dimensional nature of Colin's action: from that tall, easy posture, we can see that he takes the club straight back in line with the target (left). It's a wide takeaway, and he makes no attempt to take the club behind him on the inside. Colin doesn't see a third dimension of swinging the club behind his body - to him it's a case of taking the club straight up and then swinging it straight back down and through the ball.

Good footwork, great rhythm

During the Open this year Colin was concerned when he saw a newspaper photo of himself on the 18th tee in exactly the position you see here (above left). He looked at it and asked me if his swing was too flat. The reality is that he has simply shallowed the plane of his swing with a subtle shift in the lower body (as all good players do). Because Monty swings his hands to such a high position at the top, the club is a little higher through the transition than most world-class players would have it. ["Oh, that sounds very technical," said Monty. "You better worry about that, not me."]

The first thing that strikes me about this downswing sequence is that it actually does give you a sense of Colin's wonderful rhythm. It's almost a dance move, the way he swings and accelerates the clubhead from the top of his backswing all the way through the ball. He has a terrific empathy with the clubhead. From the moment he re-plants his left heel to signal the change in direction, it's a smooth sweeping action, and while he is using a driver here, his technique is pretty consistent with every club in the bag.

Over the years Colin has been one of the straightest hitters in the game, and the reason for this is that he is not turning as he hits the ball, he is simply throwing the clubhead towards the target. The pre-impact position down the line (left) shows this perfectly. Players who rotate their body very aggressively through the ball would appear with their hips wide open at this point, while Colin's hips are more or less square to the target line. It's not a powerful body movement, but it's certainly a very reliable arm movement. Colin relies on leverage to create power - he is able to maintain a fairly straight left arm in the backswing and through the ball both arms are superby extended, maximising speed and the width of his arc.

In fact, on the day this sequence was shot (for his shoe sponsors, Ecco) he explained to the group that he carries a 4-wood in favour of a strong 3, because as and when he needs distance off the fairway he simply hits his 10.5 degree Yonex Cyberstar Nanospeed driver off the deck.

Sweep it all the way to a finish

Only once the ball is hurtling its way down the fairway does Colin aggressively rotate his body towards the target to complete the follow-through. With his weight then fully supported on the left side, he maintains balance on the toe of the right shoe - classic.

With wonderful footwork, Monty changes direction from the ground up and demonstrates a classic weight shift towards the target. This really is the key to his downswing. Having moved laterally away from the target on the backswing, the hips now move laterally towards it to prepare the arms and the body for the delivery position - they are sliding, not turning. Only in the final stages of the swing are you aware of a turning action, as Colin emerges through the impact area and comes through to face the target. Then he has a massive turn as he clears his hips and turns his shoulders to the finish.

Another point to note is the way Colin keeps his head behind the ball as he sweeps it off the peg. The ideal combination (with the driver) is weight forward, head back. The quality of the last two frames above is revealing: good ball-strikers have this rotation of the hands and forearms and I am sure that if we looked at images of the likes of Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros we would see a very similar position through the ball. As it happened, Colin popped in to my office at The Wisley as I was putting the finishing touches to thus article and went through the pictures one by one, and we both agreed that these images showed the best shape his swing's been in ever. He was that positive about every single image.

The one thing that has really improved is this sweeping action through the ball - as you see above. He makes a great weight-shift towards the target and maintains terrific balance. Let me tell, you, Monty was just killing his drives on the day we shot this sequence. And I hope there have been some pointers in this article that will help you to go out there and do the same.

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Vintage Monty

You probably don't need me to tell you that Colin Montgomerie's swing is a very personal piece of work. As his coach, I understand why and how it works for him, but it's not a swing that I teach wholesale to any other players. Monty is a unique talent, and, like most great players, he has found a style that works and one he has stuck to it - with fantastic results.

From an instructional point of view, what you have to realise is that the swing you are about to look at is what we term a 'two-dimensional' action - i.e. it goes straight back and it goes straight up. Simple. In contrast, a three-dimensional swing goes back, up and around on a more inclined plane (the blending of the three giving the swing width, height and depth, whereas Colin really only has height and width).

But there are many qualities in the swing of Europe's No.1 that you should definitely copy. If you are losing width in your swing, for example, then you should look closely as Colin's sequence of moves away from the ball, where he establishes a wonderful width and silky rhythm. Anyone prone to swinging the hands and arms a little too flat and around the body can learn from Colin's position at the top, as he swings his hands high above his right shoulder.

Perhaps most valuable of all - especially for those of you who are too impact-oriented - is that you try to get a sense of the way in which Colin sweeps the clubhead through the ball, as opposed to hitting violently at it. This is probably the thing that has impressed me most about the way Colin plays this game; in all the hours we have spent together out on the range, it is absolutely clear to me that from the moment he starts his downswing to the moment he arrives at the finish he has no concious awareness of actually striking the golf ball.

As he says, he starts the 'hit' as he starts down and finishes the hit as he arrives at the followthrough. It's one long sweeping action - not the typical 'wait...wait...wait...fire!'. And this is why he is such a pure and consistent ball striker. The ball simply gets in the way of the accelerating clubhead.

The other point I would like to make is that when you look at a swing sequence it's so easy to look at the parts in isolation that you forget the essential rhythm of the motion. And Colin displays a wonderful 'syrupy' rhythm. And this is a quality you tend to find in players who stand tall at address, who turn the shoulders on a fairly level plane and swing the arms quite high - think of Fred Couples, or the late Payne Stewart.

So let's take a look at one of the most recognisable swings in world golf - one that has earned its owner a record eighth European Order of Merit title.

In anyone's language, that's some endorsement.. . .

Stay relaxed, and create width

From a relaxed set-up position, Colin makes no effort to swing the club back inside the line; he takes it straight back, as the shoulders, arms and hands work pretty much as one to get the clubhead sweeping away on a wide arc. Rather than turning, the hips are in the process of sliding away from the target, enabling Colin to turn his left shoulder behind the ball.

Looking at the backswing sequence, the first thing that strikes me is just how relaxed and comfortable Monty is over the ball. Out on the course you can spot him a mile off - he has this distinct, easy posture. There are no false positions. He stands to the ball with a straight lower spine and a gentle curvature of the shoulders. One of his foibles is to hover the club above the ball and adjust his hold a couple of times before he settles, and in doing that he is simply reaffirming the lightness in his grip - Monty himself reckons he has one of the lightest grips in golf (something I personally recommend to all players with a view to improving the rhythm and flow of the swing generally).

What he is doing here is getting comfortable over the ball. This is not a 'high tension' position. You often here a player talk of being 'athletic', or 'keyed up' at the set-up, but to me that kind of language suggests tension in the body. Which stifles motion. Colin is totally relaxed, ready to create a swing.

The objective as he then starts the club away is to keep it as low and as slow as he can those first few feet back. He makes a wide sweep with the clubhead, and, as he does so, his thoughts are focused on trying to get his left shoulder and his right hip as far behind the ball as possible. He plays the ball relatively far back in his stance for the simple reason he has this lateral slide in the hips that enables him to get behind it. With the wide and the slide he loads up his backswing like a catapult.

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The Way I Play

I have four main thoughts when I'm practising. And I say practising deliberately, because I don't want any technical thoughts when I'm playing. 

The courses that we tend to play on tour are set up in such a way that it's tough enough getting around them without having to think about the swing as well. So I often feel I'm oneup on those pro's who like to have several swing thoughts for different shots, practising as they play.

Very few can do that successfully. 

Nick Faldo is one,Bernhard Langer another who can actually think about what it is they are doing as they do it. But that's not me. I just want to get out there and play. So, taking advantage of the rather unique setting here at Turnberry - and with a little artistic licence - let me demonstrate some of the simple swing thoughts that I rely on to play consistent golf.

I hope they help you. 'soft' on the grip, leaving the arms relaxed,ready to getthe swing,flowing.

Here's the first - and possibly most important - piece of advice I can give you: to get the clubhead truly swinging, you need a light grip pressure, one that leaves the arms relaxed, and one that allows you to feel the weight 

of the clubhead on the end of the shaft. 

It's no secret that most amateurs grip the club too tightly, a basic error that leads to a muscular grid-lock running up through the arms and into the shoulders. No chance from there. 

A noticeable part of my pre-shot routine is the way in which I grip and re-grip as I set up to the ball. 

All the time I am reinforcing this sense of feel in the hands and arms, ready to create swing - a simple reminder that works.

Why you need to have 'soft hands'

It's impossible for me not to repeat myself here, so let me reiterate it is the softness in the hands that allows me to get my swing started smoothly - i.e. over the tee-peg. Then it's a case of building on that momentum to continue all the way to a full backswing, as you see above. I remind myself to complete my backswing, and you should do the same.

If you are tense and grip too tightly, you probably cut your backswing short. The more relaxed you are, the further you can swing your arms (and the club) and the more power you generate. So you can see how this information layers itself one point on top of the next. From a good set-up, with soft hands on the grip, you can take the club back low and slow; relaxed arms and shoulders enable you to fully complete your backswing, whereupon you are in position to unwind freely through the ball to a balanced finish. Focus on the back of the ball and strike through with confidence. Why you absolutely must 'complete'

How do you avoid hitting the ball too high in the wind?

The best advice in any sort of wind is don’t fight it.

What I do is try to hit the ball softer. Some say tee the ball lower, or move it back in the stance, but do that and you’re liable to spray it all over the place. I believe it’s much more effective to stick with your regular set-up and simply swing softer. That creates less spin, the ball flies 10 feet off the ground and it will run on landing, especially on a links course.

For me, that’s a controlled shot, not one that is thrown to the mercy of the wind. So think: soft hands, soft swing. Make your regular backswing, then just let the ball get in the way. Resist the temptation to hit at it and swing smoothly through the shot. Same thing applies with the irons. Deep divots tell me I have swung the club too hard. But swing soft and I get a better strike, less spin, more control.

Always go with your dominant shot

I tend to take the club back fairly straight out. As a result, I hit a fade with every club in the bag. That’s my game and I allow for it. The swing essentially has to go inside - that’s physics. But I don’t exaggerate it because I think that creates too much a margin of error. I aim down the left side and I know it is going to fade back into the fairway. I have the whole fairway to aim into. If I am aiming right down the middle, I only have half of it to play with, because there’s no such thing as a perfectly straight shot. We all have a dominant shot, so use it to your advantage. Increase your target (and thus your margin for error). With a 5- iron, I aim at the middle of the green. I’m happy with that - assuming I hit a solid shot, I have a birdie putt. That ball is never going to go left. Some fly straighter than others, but never left - not if I commit to the shot. If I stop (my body) and quit on it, all sorts of things will happen. Hesitate and you fail. So always commit yourself, turn your stomach all the way through the shot to the finish, and watch the ball home in on your target.

Why a good start is key to it all: the first couple of feet set you on the perfect track 

So, the No. 1 cue is soft hands. That at least gives you a chance to make a nice flowing swing.After that, I believe the most important thing you have to worry about is the first two feet of the swing - in this case from the ball to the tee you see behind, and very slightly inside the line to the target. If this first link in the chain is right, I can hit all of the other links very easily. But if that's wrong, I'm lost. The secret for me is that the arms and hands move together without much in the way of wrist action.

When I get started with this one-piece move, the clubhead glides back low and slow and the rhythm of the swing is established. Let me stress, most of you grip the club too tightly. So focus on those soft hands as you take the club low and slow over this first easy checkpoint. Glide the clubhead away and you set up a chain reaction that will lead you to a good backswing. As long as the hands and arms remain relaxed, you will get the club swinging. For many, that's the first obstacle.

Commit to striking all the way through the ball, and turn to a full finish 

Anxiety ruins more shots that anything else. Typically, golfers are so anxious to find out where the ball has gone, they look up almost before they hit it. They never commit to the shot. That's why most amateurs hit the ball to the right; because they haven't rotated their body fully through they never give the club a chance to square up and swing through on a good line. If you end up with your body pointing right, that's where the ball will go. To remedy this, work on these simple keys: keep your hands soft, glide the clubhead away from the ball, complete your backswing and commit to a full follow through. Focus on your target and work on your rhythm. At my best, my rhythm never changes, but I bet that if you think about your own game, your swing with a driver is faster than your swing with a wedge. You equate distance with swinging harder. Don't. As long as you get the fundamentals right, you will find that you create a momentum that returns the clubface squarely for optimum speed and power.

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Your Swing Map -3

Plane

To simplify the issue of plane, think of the left arm swinging over the turning right shoulder to make your backswing, the right arm then swinging over the turning left shoulder to make the through-swing. In other words, focus on making a continuous and reflective motion, a true mirror-image, back and through. The grip and the wrist action itself determines where the clubface is in relation to the plane of the swing, and I prefer this to be natural to the player. The only thing that matters is that you learn to get the club into a consistent position at the top of the swing, the hands over the turning right shoulder and the clubshaft parallel to your intended target.

Don't worry too much about the exact angle between your left wrist and the clubface. Some of the great golfers of all time have played with a bowed left wrist (Tom Watson for one). Others play from square to slightly closed (e.g. Tiger Woods). Colin Montgomerie has a distinct cupping in the wrists and plays with the toe hanging wide open - and he's one of the finest ball strikers in the game.

Leverage

Rather than worrying about checkpoints along the way, remember this: the wrists must be allowed to hinge in response to the swinging arms and the weight of the clubhead. Don't stand there and think "I must hinge my wrists". Just let it happen.

In these sequences, the left arm and left shoulder swing together to initiate the swing; the wrists pick up on that motion and the momentum is continued as they hinge. The wrists have simply responded to this movement (thanks to a light grip pressure), making their own hinge as they do so. If the wrists are allowed to respond they will hinge in a way that is natural to you as an individual. It doesn't matter if they hinge back a little, or open a fraction, providing you don't try to do anything else in your backswing other than allow the wrists to hinge up as you swing your left arm over your right shoulder. Plane is more important than clubface position. If you aren't hingeing the wrists you are probably gripping too tight.

What does your hinge do?

My feeling is that the details of the backswing position are entirely down to the individual. My map provides the basics and fundamentals (i.e. grip, set-up, balance, plane, leverage and motion etc), and yet different golfers will interpret them differently, and we all arrive at a slightly different position at the top of the backswing.

Unless you want to spend all your time fighting your particular tendency, I think it's best to accept what you do naturally. No two players are ever identical. Look around and you see great ball-strikers displaying any one of the positions identified above - you simply have to understand your own tendency, and hone it.

Developing the "whip" and release

People often ask me: "What's a good player got that a poor player hasn't?", and the answer probably lies right here in the picture immediately after impact -the right hand/forearm release. Take a close look and note the way the right wrist has been allowed to release fully towards the target. This is something good golfers build into their games instinctively by hitting lots of shots, using their minds to picture good swings and trusting the release of the club through the ball to pull it off.

The later you take to this game, the harder it is to develop this trust through impact. If you fall into that category, the exercise above is very useful because it will help you to get the feeling of the arms swinging - both in the backswing and through-swing. Try it as a pre-shot exercise. The key is to make this a practice swing, not a practice position. Make the noise of the swish coincide with the area through impact - "Two turns and a swish", as John Jacobs once memorably described it all.

Its all about motion

I don't like to prescribe a lot of swing drills, but this one (right) can do your game nothing but good. All I am doing here is teeing the ball high and going through the full range of motion, but at different speeds. Take a mid-iron, tee it up quite high, start at what feels like half-speed and gradually build it up. The overall picture here is that the swing is a flowing motion, and not a collection of positions.

For those of you who like to study the golf swing, the recommended reading here would be the classic text Swing the Clubhead by Ernest Jones.

Focus on the right hand

For my money, this 'snap' of the wrist action through the ball has been missed out in modern teaching. We tend to think of this as an automatic reaction, when it is not. For some players it is automatic, and they are aware of hingeing and un-hingeing; others need to remind themselves of this ingredient for solid ball-striking. When you swing freely, the wrists 'snap' on the ball and the full speed potential is delivered.

Using the right hand 'whip' correctly

Some final thoughts on this hand-and-forearm action through the ball.

First, be aware that it's not enough for the right forearm simply to cross over the left. That does not necessarily guarantee a true release. You have to look at what the back of the right wrist is doing. And, as you can see, it goes into a straighter position just after impact. That confirms that both the forearm and the wrist are fully released -one of the sure-fire keys to solid ball striking.

Simply swinging the clubhead backwards and forwards is a terrific way to get a feel for this release in your full swing. Try to feel the crossover in the wrists, and time the thrust of the swish to coincide with the ball. The back of your right wrist should be in a straight line as the club is released - any 'holding off' and you will experience shots that drift to the right, or are blocked, and certainly never experience your full power potential.

A common flaw among good players (who are often afraid of hooking) is this delayed release (left), which usually results in a blocked shot to the right. High-handicappers often suffer a similar fate, but they are simply too afraid to let it all go. Two other faults can often be attributed to a poor body action - the 'flick' of the wrists (centre) and the classic 'crumple' (right), reflecting a lack of real zest in the body motion, and no clubhead speed through the ball.

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Your Swing Map -2

Culprits you need to be aware of

As it directly accounts for your ability to create a flowing motion, it is vital that you check your grip regularly. Here are two of the more serious faults to be aware of:

WEAK = NO RELEASE

Here's a classic example of a grip in which the right hand is turned way too far to the left, smothering the left hand. While this may feel strong, it is actually a very weak right-hand position. And this is absolutely the worse grip fault for better players as it prevents the hands 'releasing' properly through impact. It also tends to put too much loft on the clubface, the result often a weak, glancing blow. If you are losing distance, and hitting a lot of high shots to the right, it may well be that your grip is too weak.

TOTALLY AT ODDS

Any time the hands fight each other like this on the grip, the result is a swing that is totally devoid of a good wrist action. So placed, the hands are unable to hinge correctly in the process of making a backswing, and all motion (and speed) is stifled from the word 'go'. Neither wrist can work properly, and it's impossible for the club to 'set' properly. What ends up happening is the elbows take the break, rather than the wrists, which results in a very short and a very weak backswing. Hold the club like this and you have absolutely no chance of creating a free-flowing swinging motion.

The set up

Guidelines on ball position

Compare these regular set-ups with a 9-iron, 5-iron and driver. See how the ball position moves slightly in relation to the left heel? Of course, this is partly down to the fact that the width of the stance widens as you work your way down to the longer shafted clubs, but it is also a conscious effort made with the nature of the shot itself very much in mind.

Basically, you can categorise it like this.

With the shorter irons (let's say wedge through 7-iron), you are aiming to deliver a slightly descending blow, one that creates backspin. To do that you want your hands a little ahead of the ball - hence moving it back towards the middle of your stance. With the mid-to-long irons, you are looking to take the shallowest of divots, the hand position moderated slightly, white with the driver the aim is to catch the ball as the club bottoms out (even, ideally, as it begins its ascent). That being the case, the ball is placed off the left instep, the hands above or even a fraction behind it, ready to sweep it forward.

Weight distribution? For me this is one of the biggest red herrings in golf - that you think about where your weight will be and move through the swing. To swing in balance, you have to start in balance, and I don't believe that you should ever feel your weight favours one foot more than the other, unless you are playing a shot from an uphill or downhill lie, or a specialist short-game shot. Adjusting your weight more to the right foot for the longer clubs, particularly the driver, is adding too much complexity for me. And it's unnecessary. I don't think I've ever met a professional who thinks: "I must settle 60% of my weight on my right side." You can turn properly from an even position. But if you accentuate one side over the other you threaten a good body movement.

Set-up culprits to be aware of

Let me introduce you to a couple of fellows you may have seen out and about on the course -'Sloppy Sam' and 'Geometric George'.

Now Sloppy Sam (left) has read that you have to be loose and be natural, and he's very much of the idea that the set-up is to keep him nice and easy. Sadly, he's taken it all a bit too far. With that degree of sloppiness, the balance cannot function properly and the motion is sloppy in the swing. Typically, he enjoys no coiling in the backswing, loses his 'levers' and finds himself lifting the club with the arms to reach the top. It's a 'lift' and a 'slap'.

Geometric George is a different animal entirely. He has read that good players create 'dynamic tension' in the swing, and he likes the idea. So he has worked hard on creating what he feels is an 'athletic' set-up (right). The problem is, it's not. Such a tight and angular body posture tends to lead to a tight, jerky swing. And while it may well be technically correct in parts, it almost certainly has no flow of motion about it.

The player who suffers this fault - and it's very common - will inevitably struggle to achieve a full backswing because of the inherent tightness in the set-up position.

Balance

Turning your upper body behind the ball in the backswing is always a good swing key. The feeling I want you to have is that you are simply getting your left shoulder over and above your right thigh. Don't worry about the hips. In the backswing the emphasis is on turning the shoulders (which pull the hips); on the downswing it's all about the hips then turning and clearing.

If you choose to focus on this element of balance, you need to be aware that from the address position, the shoulders turn the hips to the top, and then the hips turn the shoulders through the ball. Your conscious thought is not to move in stuttery checkpoints but on simply turning the shoulders all the way to the top of the swing. The blur of motion here is intentional. I want to convey that sense of continuity. Following the change of direction, the hips move across and around and the shoulders unwind - that's the flow of balance in the swing. Be aware that if you disturb that balance you are liable to end up with an empty backswing (i.e. no real 'coil'). If you unwind your shoulders before you have moved across with your hips you will have a problem coming 'over the top' on the way down - a common cause of the slice.

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Your Swing Map

Following this network of swing 'essentials' is the shortest and most effective route to a better game.

Whether you are a beginner or an accomplished player, if you want to improve you need a route that will allow you to develop your own individual style, at your own pace. And that's the real crux of this article: rather than trying to force upon you 'the swing of the moment', I want you to use the elements of my swing map in a way that best suits you, and change only what is absolutely necessary to play your best golf.

I stress the individuality here. When Nick Faldo was at his peak, he inspired golfers the world over to take lessons and to work on their game, but the potential downside, it seemed to me, was that everyone felt they had to copy his technique. The same thing's happening today with Tiger Woods. I believe it makes more sense to improve the swing you have. You are never going to swing like a Tiger or Nick Faldo. So be yourself- not a cheap imitation.

The history of the swing map you see opposite is quite simple. About 10 years ago I decided to break down the basics.

What do golfers really need to know?

Logic told me you have to hold the club and stand to the ball, so 'GRIP' and 'SET-UP' became the foundation to the map. My technical knowledge told me that within the swing itself there were generally three main issues teachers come back to: how to use the big muscles (shoulders, hips and knees), which I combined under 'BALANCE'; co-ordinating the smaller muscles (wrists, forearms and the clubshaft itself) I group together under 'LEVEARGE'; while the 'PLAN E' of the swing deals with the simple fact that we hold the club above the ground, creating a natural shaft angle.

Finally, I needed a term to convey that pervading quality that allows a player to blend together balance, plane and leverage for a consistent swing and solid ball-striking, bearing in mind individual physique and ability? These key ingredients, I believe, are best thought of collectively as the flow of 'MOTION'.

I cannot think of anything outside this map that you need to be concerned about to find your best game - so let's get started.

The Grip

Your first consideration in the search for a better game

A fairly predictable starting point, but the truth is you cannot begin to play good golf until you appreciate the role of the grip. To achieve the general look you see here, you have to learn how to put your hands on the grip properly (outlined below), and stand to the ball in a manner that facilitates your best swing. As you go about doing this, remember that the grip itself is not a passive thing that has to be taken care of before the swing gets underway but an active instrument that essentially brings a good swing to life.

What's more, keep it in mind that everything in this map is geared towards delivering motion. A good grip enables the wrists to hinge correctly, and thus keeps the club swinging with a fluent rhythm. Grip pressure is key. It has been said many times that the grip should be taken in the fingers and the palm of the left hand, and in the fingers of the right hand, and that's probably the best advice anyone can give. You really want to sense that the fingers on the left hand press the handle of the club into the palm, thus securing the club. But not too tight!

On a matter of detail, you may also have heard discussions about whether it's best to have a 'long' or a 'short' left thumb. My suggestion is that it should be somewhere between the longest you can extend it down the shaft and the shortest you can pull it back up the grip - get it between those two extremes and you will have solved that little problem for life.

Neutral-to-strong left hand grip facilitates your best swing

The right hand has three separate functions. It has to join the grip together with the left hand (which we'll come back to), it has to be secured with the two middle fingers compressing the grip itself, keeping the right palm away from the grip, and it has to offer a great sense of feel through the 'trigger' unit.

Should you overlap, interlock or use a baseball-type grip? It really doesn't matter. The way the hands align on the club is more important than how they form. And it's interesting to note that more and more golfers on the professional tours are tending towards the stronger grip, in which both the left and right hands are turned slightly more clockwise on the grip (below) to the extent that at least three knuckles are visible on the left hand. Not only is this acceptable, I would suggest it is advisable for the club golfer, as it positively assists forearm rotation in the swing.

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10 Essential Short Game Lessons-2

6. Length of swing controls distance

I advise you to work on the principle that the length of your swing controls length of shot. Let's say you hit a sand-iron 90 yards with a fullish (not flat out) swing. What do you do for 75 yards? For me that's a three-quarter swing - i.e. the left arm swings back to about 10 o'clock.

Fifty yards? That would be a half-swing, which I regard as a swing that sees the left arm travel no more than to parallel with the ground, as you see here. Anything less than this and I would either use a more

lofted wedge or swing shorter still. The key is to swing nice and easy for control. Think in terms of the efficiency of your movement, rather than power.

Here's another point to keep in mind. Players with soft hands tend to swing slowly, and with feeling (think of Fred Couples, or Phil Mickelson, magicians in the short game). The only way you really know where the clubhead is is to have soft hands, so grip lightly.

7. For a consistent path and plane,keep your lower body passive

Now I want to stress one of the most important short-game lessons of all: you must keep the legs and lower body as quiet as possible as you make your swing.

Golfers who are prone to shanking the ball, or who get too much 'bounce' into their pitching and bunker shots do so because their lower body moves first in the downswing, rather than upper body. If the lower part of your body moves forward (i.e. towards the target) the upper body will move backwards (away from the target), and you will end up swinging towards the ball too much from the inside.

To correct this, think "hinge, set and turn". Once you have set the angle in your wrists, the key is to work on the rotation of your upper body through impact. (And the only difference between a pitch shot and a sand shot is that with a pitch shot you hit the ball and on a sand shot you hit sand.) When you practise, replicate the drill I used in the sand earlier to check the quality of your strike with a wedge. Score a line on the ground and monitor to see where you strike the ground in relation to the ball. All the people who do this correctly move the upper body through over passive legs; those who don't tend to use their lower body excessively in the downswing.

8. Swing left through the ball for better strike, greater control

Here's a tip that will have you looking like a pro in no time. When you want to play a controlled punch-pitch type shot, focus on the way you finish your swing. Make sure that you control your swing with the rotary motion of your upper body, so that you finish with your elbows tucked in close to your stomach, the club matching the general line of your feet and body (not the line to the target).

If you watch a good player executing this type of shot you will notice that the angle in the wrists is held as the upper body unwinds and the hands and arms pull the clubface across the ball (that's why divots go left). The follow-through is 'held off- i.e. the clubhead never passes the hands. At the finish, the left arm is close to the body. That's a good sign.

9. Downhill - lean your body towards the target

For the average player this would be a nightmare. In fact, I know several good players who find this sort of shot extremely awkward. The problem, almost without exception, is that a player will try to apply normal rules to what is clearly an abnormal situation; he stands straight and sticks his hands forward.

The shoulders are too level, the swing is too wide, and the club gets caught on the bank on the way back. The solution is that you need to work with the slope, and adjust your set-up until your shoulders are parallel with the slope upon which your ball is sitting. Leaning your body in that fashion enables you to hinge your wrists and swing the club back without interference - as you can see, in the correct position it's an effort to reach the bank.

Having settled into a comfortable and balanced position, with my weight clearly on my left side, hingeing the wrists enables me to make a fairly normal swing and splash through the sand just behind the ball. The key is to then 'chase' the clubhead down the slope so that you remove a shallow divot of sand. The follow-through sees my hands and the clubhead finish low to the ground. By no means an easy shot, but one that is made possible with an understanding of the correct set-up.

10. Uphill - lean away from the target, and swing the club up the slope

If you try to stand normally to a ball that is sitting on an upslope in a bunker, your swing will be destined to deliver the clubhead at much too steep an angle in relation to the sand. As a result you drive the clubhead beneath the ball but fail to create the necessary upward momentum that gets it flying towards the target.

Again, you need to adjust your set-up to accommodate for this. The first thing to do is build a stance. The Rules allow you to shuffle your feet into the sand for balance, and, with the ball in the middle of your feet, you should wiggle your stance about until your shoulders are approximately parallel with the slope. Naturally, on the upslope the majority of your weight will be supported on your back foot. (As is the case here, sometimes it is necessary to stand with one foot outside the bunker!).

These adjustments to your set-up .position now make it possible to swing the club up the slope and remove a shallow divot of sand. Naturally, when you do this, you effectively add loft to the club, so bear in mind that the ball will fly on a much higher trajectory than normal.

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