Warming up: Combine stretching with short-game exercise

Thursday, November 28, 2013

By Karl Fischer,
Contributor

Take a short iron (pitching wedge), and swing the clubhead down the line to the pin. Now put a ball in the way.

 

You will be surprised how effortlessly and accurately the shot comes off. Don't worry about hitting the ball far. Just get solid impact. Get the clubhead on the backside of the ball, and swing through its butt. Every club strikes the ball on its pants, not its head (the top of the ball).

 

Once you strike half a dozen balls off your target shoulder. Work on impact. Now pick a defined quarter-sized target, and start striking the ball to this point. Remember to always think ball to pin, down the line.

 

Always work up to your longer clubs in the warm-up, taking five to 10 swings with each club starting with the wedges. We like to hit the big ball, but the short game is where the money is made. To make short-game practice more fun and challenging, hit your balls at the quarter or another specific ball.

Driving range practice without a target will not get you to par on the course. Don't practice bad shots or poor habits.

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"Pendulum" exercise will help golfers warm up

By Karl Fischer,
Contributor

After you have done your theater-position cradle turns, get a good grip on your 7 iron with your hands and let your long arms hang. Now swing the clubhead gently and smoothly back and forth making sure you touch the mat or grass at the bottom or each "swing arc" ... going forward and backward.

 

Keep doing this rhythmically 10 or 12 times getting the swing gradually bigger, until it is full. Think: pendulum.

 

Swing the clubhead and "feel the steel" through the ball down the line to the pin.

 

Stay relaxed. Breathe smoothly and regularly. Make sure you breathe out during the impact portion of your swing. Empty your lungs during your full finish to the pin.

 

Even in warm-ups, every time your club swings through the touch point, make sure you see an imaginary ball come off the clubface.

 

Always see every ball come off the clubface.

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A limber body can lead to a better golf game

By Karl Fischer,
Contributor

Quick tip: Before teeing off, use your own developed stretching regimen. Oh, right, you don't have one!

 

Develop one. If you want to ruin a good round of golf -- or at best, get off to a poor start -- arrive late and start highway to fairway. We've all done it. We know the results.

 

Start by standing with chin tall. Let your arms hang from your shoulders. Raise your forearms with hands up in front of your shoulders, palms and thumbs facing forward. Cradle your 7 iron across your thumbs, qrip pointing to the pin, shaft parallel to your chest.

 

Now, turn your shoulder and body toward the brace foot until you feel some stretch in your tight hips. Then turn back toward the target foot fully -- belt buckle, chest and chin to the pin. This is finish.

 

Remember at this fully turned position your brace-foot heel will be released and turned pointing "down the line" behind you. Often golfers think they must keep both feet firmly on the ground at all times. No.

 

The right brace foot pushes your body -- including hands and the swinging club -- through the ball at impact point to the pin.

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Want to improve your golf game? Don't forget proper preparation

 

By Karl Fischer,
Contributor
 

Remember that you should devote 70 percent of your time to properly getting ready and 30 percent to execution. Just watch the pros. Don't hurry.
 

Stance: Keep your feet under your armpits or, for your driver, as wide as just outside your shoulders. The longer the club the wider the stance or the bigger the pedestal. Feel the balance and swing in balance.
 

Brace foot (that's the push foot): Keep it square to the target line, which is the straight line center ball to center of the cup.
 

Target foot (that's the one closest to the flag): Point it about 20 percent to 25 percent "pinnish." This will let you open the swinging door easily toward the pin and finish fully tall in comfort.
 

Seniors and golfers with articulation (joint) problems might even turn more to reduce or eliminate what we in the teaching profession call a "foot block," so much tightness in the hip, knee and ankle that you cannot turn all the way to the target and finish.

What are we talking about? Here is one of our very fundamental 3 Cs: comfort! If it does not feel comfortable in golf, it is likely not correct.
 

Alignment: I am a foot fetishist, and you would be well-served to pay attention to your feet. They are the foundation of your good swing. The line through your toes (brace foot to target foot) should point down the middle of the fairway to the pin. Aim your gunsight to the quarter. There are some foot variations, but this is a safe rule.

Aim your feet in balance and comfort. It will work.

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Make It Your Scene

You can make your opponents bigger, smaller, stronger, weaker—it’s all up to you. You can make trouble shrink in your mind’s eye, or it can loom large. The good news is that controlling the “loom” is a learned skill. Dedicate the next five rounds to noting the trouble, then shrinking it so what looms for each swing are your targets.

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Beat The Architect

It’s a favorite strategy of architects to either surround the green with some very large trees—which make the green look closer—or place nothing around it so it looks farther away. This creates confusion in your mind because the “card yardage” and the “eye yardage” don’t match. When this happens, do two things: 1) Find the exact yardage; and 2) Make a commitment to the club you chose based on that distance.

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Law Of The Parallels

When you start to spray the ball, take a practice swing that highlights the Law of the Parallels. Whenever your clubshaft is parallel to the ground, it should be parallel to the target line. Parallel positions: at the end of the takeaway, top of the swing, 3/4 down, and 1/4 into the followthrough.

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Don’t Blank Out On Your Putts

 

An exhaustive read of the putt works well for some, but gathering too much information is as bad as amassing too little. If you’re blanking out and hitting the ball before you’re ready, close your nondominant eye after you’ve made your read. This will reduce the amount of sensory input and allow you to stroke the putt free from information clutter.

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Final Hole Tip

Ben Hogan once commented that the downswing was no place to give yourself a lesson, and if there’s one time when you need to abide by this, it’s the last tee shot of the day. Scientific studies show that once the downswing starts, you can’t stop it—the brain simply doesn’t work that fast. If you try to do something during the downswing, you’ll likely do it at the wrong time and ruin your swing. So stay calm on the 18th tee, take a relaxing breath and stay committed to your plan.

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Are You Listening To The Wrong CD?

 

The putts that lip out and the bad bounces that send your ball from fairway to rough can mount and convince your brain that, no matter how well you play, it isn’t good enough. At this point, a full-blown case of cumulative disreward (CD) can kick in and prevent you from trying any harder. How do you beat CD? The answer is never quit. In the words of the greatest Soprano on CD, when you get a bad break, “Fuhgetaboutit!” Grind on and reap the rewards.

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14th Hole Tips

If you opt to get more aggressive for the final stretch, understand that you’re liable to miss a green you might normally hit, and that the price of aggression is tough recoveries. You have to know how to read the lie and execute the required shot. Here’s an easy way to tackle such situations: If your lie is tight with little grass underneath, think “hands up”; if your lie is buried in the grass, think “hands low.”

A note on putting: The type of putt you hit depends on the conditions. Remember, you’ve been out there three-plus hours. The grass has grown and the greens have slowed (unless the wind and sun has dried them out). Once you figure out the speed of the greens for the final stretch, make a point to jam the up-hillers and die the down-hillers.

A final note: If you’re growing tired as you hit the final third, you should have put in your gym time. All things equal, the strongest machine wins.

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Ruin Yours Or His?

Playing golf with someone who doesn’t know etiquette can ruin your game. Usually, breaches of etiquette aren’t done on purpose, but there are golfers who do it by plan, so if you’ve got a little something on the line, keep an eye out for gamesmanship. If you don’t like this kind of stuff, you have two options: Say nothing and ruin your game, or look him or her right in the eye and say, “Have you seen the USGA’s video on etiquette?” See if the games continue after that.

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Pick Your Putt

Conventional wisdom advises golfers to get their approach putts and chips into a three-foot circle around the cup, but when the pin is on a slope, not all three-footers are equal. Three-footers from above the hole or from a side slope can be score-wreckers. Your goal should be to position your approach directly below the hole so you can ram your next putt straight back up the hill into the cup. Remember, from where you putt is as important as how you putt.

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Alternative Sand Play

If you skull your sand shots using the “standard” bunker technique, try this method. Open your body to the target line more than normal and position the golf ball in the middle of your stance. Now, make sure that the majority of your weight is set and remains on your back foot (the opposite of the normal technique) all the way through the swing. This ensures that you’ll hit the sand first and guard against catching the ball thin.

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Choke In The Sand

In a fairway bunker, be careful when you dig your feet into the sand. Digging your feet two inches into the sand effectively lengthens the club by two inches. The tendency here is to hit the sand first, a no-no when you need to pick it clean. Make sure you choke down the same amount.

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