Go Lean On The Fats

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

On short-iron shots, many golfers fail to shift their weight and execute a weak, arms-only swing. However, in order to hit crisp short irons, you’ve got to make a weight shift just as you do for full shots. Most high-handicappers leave about 40% of their weight on their back leg through impact, whereas Tour players leave only about 10%. The solution to prevent fat short irons: Shift your weight onto your front foot very early in the downswing.

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At The Turn Tips

The turn is a good place to ask yourself if you’ve been a victim of the “spider syndrome.” When a spider is threatened, it curls up into a ball because, for the spider, motion is error. Many golfers under stress do the same thing—driven by the idea that “motion is error,” they cut back on their swing and steer the ball to minimize off-line shots. This robs them of distance and accuracy, so they tinker, and by the 14th hole, they’ve lost it completely. Resolve on the back nine to freewheel it.

A loss of distance can also be fueled by a “single shoulder turn,” where you turn your front shoulder, but shrug your back one. For longer, straighter shots, you need to turn both shoulders—the left under your chin and the right behind your neck.

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Sand Matchups

In the bunker, you can save some strokes by matching your sand wedge system to the texture of the sand. When the sand on the course you’re playing is soft and fluffy, use a wedge with a large flange and a lot of bounce. When the sand is hard, wet or crusty, select a wedge with minimal flange and bounce.

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Sand Matchups

In the bunker, you can save some strokes by matching your sand wedge system to the texture of the sand. When the sand on the course you’re playing is soft and fluffy, use a wedge with a large flange and a lot of bounce. When the sand is hard, wet or crusty, select a wedge with minimal flange and bounce.

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Assess, Then Address

If a pin is protected by two conditions, such as a bunker or a strong sidewind that will steer your ball into the bunker, it’s a red (don’t attack) pin. Aim away from the flag by selecting a different part of the green as your target.

If the pin is protected by only one condition, such as a bunker with no wind, then you can aim closer to the flag, but proceed with caution by giving yourself about a 10-yard margin of error on the safe side of the pin. When there’s no trouble surrounding the pin, and you have a club in your hand in which you have confidence, go for it.

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Shoot At The Pin Only If You Have A Rifle

Try this experiment the next time you play a round of golf. Aim for the center of every green with every full shot and forget about the pin. This will take some will power, but I’ll bet you’ll shoot one of your lowest rounds ever. How? You’ll miss less greens.

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Don’t Play It Too Safe

        Sometimes when you play too safe with one shot, you set yourself up for an extremely difficult and dangerous next shot. For example, if you’re too cautious off the tee with a 2-iron when you should have used a 3-wood, you effectively change the next shot’s degree of difficulty. Along those same lines, if you’re aggressive on the front end of your plan, make sure you’re aggressive on the back end (unless circumstances suddenly change). It’s foolish to play safe and then, on a whim, go for broke.

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Make Up Your Mind

         
At the ’03 Masters, Tiger Woods was about to hit an iron for position off the third tee when his caddie suggested he take a chance and hit driver. Tiger had already made up his mind, so the suggestion to hit another club literally “un-made” it. Woods, lacking permission from himself to carry out his plan, drove his ball into the woods, made a double-bogey and kissed his chance for a Masters three-peat goodbye. What can you learn from Tiger’s mistake? Play the shot you have permission to play.

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Seventh Hole Tips

Your round is one-third complete. It’s time for a tension check. You should feel what I call Selective Tension, where some of your muscles (your lower back, the insides of your thighs, ankles and the inside of each foot) are tense and ready for action, and others (like your jaw, neck and shoulders) are relaxed.

At the 7th is also a good time to check in on your Time IQ (how you handle time during your round). At the first sign of bad shotmaking, you need to do everything in slow motion. Drive the cart slowly, walk slowly, stop at the water cooler, be the last one on the tee, etc. In other words, fake it until you make it.

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Stop The Nega-Talk

You’re bound to miss some putts you should make, so it’s important to eliminate “nega-talk,” the kind of self-talk where you berate yourself and destroy your self-confidence. If negative autosuggestion works, so must positive autosuggestion. Tell yourself you’re great on the greens.

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Triangulate Your Putts

 

You should read all your putts from three vantage points—from behind the hole, from midway between the hole and your ball, and from behind the ball. Using this process of triangulation maps out the putting surface perfectly for your brain to interpret. Anything more is overkill; anything less is not enough.

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Lag With A Purpose

Not wanting to be too aggressive on the first hole, you left your iron shot 40 feet from the cup, and the first hole isn’t the place for a three-putt. Here’s the tip: Most good lag putters don’t ascribe to the “three-foot circle” theory. Good putters try to hit the ball in the hole, not three feet from it. Think about this: From a long distance, it’s easy to leave your putt three feet short of where you want it to stop and, if you miss the three-foot circle by that much, you’re six feet from the hole.

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First Green Tips

On the practice green, check 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’re with the grain. When you’re playing, the Rules of Golf don’t permit you to test the green in this manner, but you can test the collar or apron of the green without penalty. Just make sure it’s the same kind of grass as the putting surface before you factor the information into your read.

In addition to grain direction, learn how the greens drain. A well-designed putting surface has drainage patterns that draw water off to the sides and away from the center of the green. In general, you can expect swales to channel the water away from the bunkers and toward ponds and lakes. Therefore, if you have a putt with a bunker directly behind, the putt probably breaks away from the bunker. Changes in grass color surrounding the green as well as damage from past accumulations of water also are clues to how the drainage flows. The ability to read the drainage patterns is a key to good putting.

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Go Toe-To-Toe

Web Tip: Develop A Stroke For All Distances
Before every round, calibrate the length of your stroke by widening and narrowing your foot width. For short putts, use a very narrow stance, position the ball in the center, and then stroke the putt by taking the putter back to your back foot (big toe) and through to your front foot. Do this for different stance widths until you develop a feel for how long a backstroke you need for each length of putt. Once on the course, simply match the distance of your putt to your foot width and putt toe-to-toe.

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Look Where You’re Going

If you leave yourself a lot of long putts, here’s a simple tip that will help prevent three-jacks: Always take your practice strokes looking at the target. This gives your brain the information that links feel to force, so you can hit the ball the right distance.

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Angle Your Putting

There’s a key angle created when you place your trail hand on the putter: Your wrist bends backward slightly toward your forearm. Many successful putters keep this angle intact through impact to prevent overuse of their hands.

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1, 2, 3 Chip

Web Tip: The Easy Basics For Expert Chipping 
If you’re having problems with your chipping, try this: Set your feet in position and look down the line to the hole counting one; then bring your eyes back to the ball on two; draw the club back on three; and hit the ball on the count of four. Your goal using the count of one-two-three-four is to eliminate any need to think about chipping mechanics. Once you ingrain this routine, your move will be automatic.

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Come Prepared

Don’t be in a hurry to leave the course the next time your round of golf is interrupted by rain. Instead, put on your rain gear and tough it out for a few holes. You certainly don’t want to experience playing in bad weather for the first time in a tournament.

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Read Your Lie

When the grass is against you in the rough (growing away from the target), put a firmer grip on the club, swing harder on pitches, and add at least one club for long shots. When the grass is growing toward the target (a flyer), swing easier around the greens and take at least one less club for full shots using your normal grip pressure.

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Treat Every Par-5 As A Par-3

Suppose I told you we were going to play a course with four par-3s only 100 yards long. You’d be anticipating shooting one of your lowest rounds ever. Well, here’s a way to turn every course you play into a course like this. Instead of automatically blasting your driver and fairway wood on every par-5, figure a two-shot combination that will position you 100 yards from the green. Once there, you can think of the hole as an easy, 100-yard par-3.

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Get Your Body In Balance

Hit a few balls left-handed during every warm-up session by turning over your 7-iron. In so doing, you’ll accomplish two things: 1) You’ll practice an awkward shot that could save strokes in an emergency and; 2) Since your golf swing is two-sided, you’ll strengthen the golf muscles on both sides of your body equally to keep your body in balance.

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Over Look The Ball

 

Web Tip: The Correct Head Movement Every Swing Needs 

 During a good golf swing, your head makes its own mini-swing. Certainly, it doesn’t remain rigid.

Your head should rotate in the same manner as your front shoulder—away from the ball during the backswing and toward it during the downswing. This rotation shouldn’t be confused with moving the head forward. Moving the head forward, or up or down during the downswing, can cause a myriad of problems. The head should rotate in its place until the power of your swing pulls your body forward and up into the finish.

Think of it this way: During the downswing, your head should release. When you release your head correctly, you’ll look “over” the ball as it flies away and track its path immediately from the point of contact. If you hold your head rigid, you’ll look “under” the ball and hinder your weight shift.

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Obey The “C” Line

To think like a champion golfer, draw an imaginary line between you and your ball on every shot. Call it the “C” line for the commitment you’re going to make to the shot before you cross it and step to your ball. Once you’ve made your shot selection and it’s clear in your mind, cross the line and take your address position. If you lose your commitment, step back behind the “C” line and start the process all over again.

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Calm The Savage Beast

When you have your best swing, anchor it to a piece of music by using your Walkman while you practice. Once the link between your music and your best swing is established, then everywhere the one goes, the other follows. Put on the music when you game slips and your best swing will reappear.

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Make The Right Choice

your fairway wood swing in combination with pitching wedge shots, so you’ll be ready to link them for your second and third shots on a par-5. When was the last time you saw a golfer on the driving range alternating a 3-wood with a pitch to the flag? Other packages: sand wedge/putter; driver/short iron; driver/3-wood.

 One thing you have complete control of on the golf course is deciding which 14 clubs you’ll use for the round. While you have a core set composition that doesn’t vary much, there should be room for specialty clubs in your gameday set, depending on the course and the conditions. For example, if you’re playing a course with large greens, you might carry two putters—a chest-anchored one for short putts and a regular-length model for lags. Other choices include wedges with varying degrees of bounce and loft for varying sand textures, utility woods, a four-degree closed and a four-degree open driver for doglegs, a long-shafted driver for long courses and a rescue club for courses with high rough.

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Get Some Skills

All great golfers develop “skills packages”—shots that are often hit back-to-back during the course of play. Practice your fairway wood swing in combination with pitching wedge shots, so you’ll be ready to link them for your second and third shots on a par-5. When was the last time you saw a golfer on the driving range alternating a 3-wood with a pitch to the flag? Other packages: sand wedge/putter; driver/short iron; driver/3-wood.

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First Tee Tips

When you arrive at the first tee, take a moment to identify the shape of the hole and what the architect had in mind. The word “fairway” comes from a nautical term that describes a safe passageway through potentially dangerous waters. If you keep the ball on the short grass, it stays out of harm’s way. Most of the danger in golf lies to the sides of your route, so make it part of your plan to start each hole by hitting the fairway, even if you have to sacrifice some distance. In other words, don’t immediately opt for driver.

If you’ve got the first-tee jitters, here’s how to calm down: Look straight ahead, then close your eyes and, without moving your head, angle them so they look up at the sky. As soon as you feel your eyes begin to flutter, take a deep breath and hold it for a count; then expel the air and open your eyes.

Once you’re calm, it’s target time. Most of your clubs have a distance and a landing area built in, but your driver distance is open-ended, and this can lead to mindlessly overpowering the ball. Therefore, anytime you have a driver in hand, choose both a direction and a destination—a specific landing area for your tee ball. For the direction, aim at something on the line on which you want your ball to fly. It might be a mound, a tree in the background or even a cloud in the sky. For the destination, pick a tire track or a discolored patch of grass in the section of the fairway from which you want to play your next shot.

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Go Inside

     For crisper shots, aim for the inside-back quadrant of the golf ball. Doing so allows the club to make contact with the ball in a slightly open position (from which it correctly rotates to square, then to closed). As a reminder, position your ball on the tee so that the logo sits in the lower-left quadrant.

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Beat The Tweeners

 

     If your “tweeners” (odd distances between clubs) have a history of being pulled and pushed, here’s the solution. If you’re a fast-swinging power hitter, take one less club and hit it harder.

If you’re a smooth swinger with a syrupy action, take one club more and hit it easy.

 

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Predict Trajectory

You’re under a tree and must keep it low, but you’re not sure how fast the ball will get up. One way to learn how is to lay down the club you’re planning to use with the butt end facing the target, then step on the clubface. The shaft will rise to the shot’s initial launch angle, allowing you to decide if the club is the correct choice to keep it under the obstacle.

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Line ’Em Up

Your left-hand grip (for right-handers) has a lot to do with the accuracy of your golf shots. A good checkpoint is the positioning of the small depression at the base of your wrist formed by the tendons of your left thumb when you flex your wrist. At address, it should be directly over the center of the club handle. Why? Because when centrifugal force pulls your arms straight through impact, your wrist joint, elbow joint and shoulder joint will seek alignment. Pre-align them at address for a squarer clubface at the point of contact and, as a result, straighter golf shots.

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