Golfers need patience and discipline to thrive during tournament play

Saturday, November 30, 2013

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

Playing golf with your Sunday group is a completely different animal then playing and preparing for golf tournaments.

First, there is no pressure when playing with your group of regulars. You all generally shoot the same scores, have the same handicap and get out to enjoy the surroundings. If you miss a putt it may cost you some "skin" money or a beverage of choice but you will see these guys again next week.

Tournament play on the other hand is much different. Instead of three players trying to beat you, like your regular group, there are 154 players all trying to do the same thing -- win the tournament.

Winning a golf tournament is a combination of skill and luck. You could hit a great shot, have it hit a sprinkler head and then kick out of bounds. Or you could hit your tee shot into the trees and have it kick back in the fairway.

Preparing for a tournament takes time, if done properly, gives you an edge when the bell rings.

Practice rounds are just that -- practice. In preparation for your tournament you need to know exact yardages to the front, center and back of the greens. How far is the trouble off the tee? What club would you hit off the tee to leave the ball short of the trouble?

Have you considered charting the greens? Divide the green into quadrants then chart the breaks, grain, and any slopes. The pin will be in one of these quadrants during the tournament, so wouldn't it be great to know beforehand where to hit your approach shot and then know how the putts break?

Players need to develop a strategy and then stick to their game plan. You develop that game plan during your practice rounds. For instance, if you decide to hit an iron off the tee on a par 4 or par 5 then keep to that strategy, don't fall victim to what other players are doing.

In fact, during the practice round hit a couple of different clubs off the tee to see which one gives you the best opportunities and plays to your strengths.

I have seen many major championships lost because of the ball over-curving. Yes, the player hits a draw normally and then under pressure hits duck hook resulting in either a shot that now cannot reach the green or even worse: a penalty shot of some kind.

Take your time and chart the course, find yardages from every possible location - you may not hit the fairway on every hole so what it the yardage to the green from these locations and what shot options are you going to have.

Take these tips and apply them and you will see a difference the next time the "bell" rings.

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Controlling the golf club can help lead players to golfing nirvana

By Chuck Evans,
Special Contributor

As players we need to understand that we must control the three parts of the golf club in order to strike quality golf shots. These three parts are:

1. The clubface

2. The clubhead

3. The clubshaft

These three parts must be controlled through three stations - from address, to the top, and to the finish. You'll notice that Impact is not included in these locations.

Impact does not have the rank of a station simply because it happens if you have controlled the club through the three stations.

The three stations

1. The left hand controls the clubface and its job is to impart "Hinge Action" to the face supplying direction, trajectory, and curvature. These three "Hinge Actions" are known as (1) Vertical: a wall, (2) Horizontal: a floor, and (3) Angled: somewhere in between.

In a geometrically correct golf stroke (ideal application) the Horizontal Hinge Action is used. This action works just like a door that is opening and closing. While on a Horizontal Plane it is clear to see that there is no turning or rolling in either direction. But on an Inclined Plane of motion there is a turn to the right and a roll to the left.

2. The right hand - more specifically the first joint of the right index finger - controls the clubhead, its job is to sense where the clubhead is at all times and to direct the action of the clubhead. Using what is known as the "Aiming Point Concept" the direction and point of location in the downstroke varies according to hand speed, and the club being used. The shorter the club the more in front of the golf ball the "Aiming Point" is.

For example, when hitting a greenside bunker shot the player should be looking at a spot behind the golf ball. This is because that's where we want the club to strike the sand.

The same principle applies here. A wedge for example would be in front of the ball. A 5 iron would be at the ball, and a driver may be behind the ball.

3. Finally, the clubshaft controls the plane. The Plane is the angle that the club moves back and down on. It can stay on the same inclined plane back and down, shift to another angle, or even have several shifts during the stroke. The simplest is to not shift at all. The next easiest is to only shift this plane angle once, then two shifts, then three shifts, etc.

Annika Sorenstam, Tiger (when he's on), Adam Scott, Michelle Wie, and host of others use either a "single" shift in their procedures. Nick Price, Nick Faldo and others use a "double" shift while Jim Furyk uses a "customized" plane and multiple shifts.

You can use any of these and obviously play great golf, but remember - Any plane shift is dangerous! Learn to control these three parts of the golf club and you will be on your way to golfing "Nirvana."

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Pausing your golf swing can help it

By Karl Fischer
Contributor

This is an often-used instruction with some merit, but let's look at it for a moment.

Any time there is a "direction change on a single plane" (such as a pendulum changing direction at the top of its swing), the clubhead speed is zero. It is stopped at the top. Stopped is certainly a pause.

We think that the discipline sought here is not to pause but to "recognize the top of the swing" so that we actually get there and make a "full swing" as opposed to the often ineffective "abbreviated" version.

Teachers at the IRGO Golf Academy have often observed swing's being critiqued as "too fast" ... "slow it down." I do not agree with this generally as such guidance has the real tendency to cause clubhead deceleration, which can be worse than what is already in use. Even swing balance can be compromised.

An abbreviated swing naturally appears to be "too fast" but primarily because the "duration" is short ... the swing does not take very long. Why? Because it did not swing to a comfortable top. When we make "half a trip," it usually takes half as long. Certainly it's fast!

A directly beneficial "duration" improvement is to simply say "and" when you feel the comfortable top of your personal swing. Make sure you get to the top in all "full swings."

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Knowing what your clubs can do will help lower your scores

By Karl Fischer
Contributor

If you have not "calibrated your bag," you'll need to do it one day soon.

Get your swing smooth and consistent (remember the three Cs). Take your clubs to the driving range. Warm up properly. Hit five balls to a specific measured target with each club, starting with your wedge, working through the irons to the woods. Record the results.

Next, do it in reverse: woods down through your irons. Record the results. Now, average the yardages. You will then know how far your clubs go using range balls.

 

Generally, quality tournament balls will fly approximately 10 yards farther. If you calculate on-course yardages, you will soon need to make real-world adjustments.

Now that you have your bag calibrated, use it well. Do not force your shots. If your 7 iron goes 150 yards, you can squeeze it five yards or back off five yards. If you need to reach 158 yards, use a smooth 6 iron.

Better clubs hit better shots. When your clubs are consistent (what we call "bracketed"), your swing does the rest.

Let your custom-fitted clubs do the work. That's why you bought them!

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Changing your 'swing thought' will help your game

By Karl Fischer
Contributor

Remembering your "trigger word sequence," the words that help you make your smooth swinging-the-clubhead moves right to the target:

3 o'clock ... sweep ... and ... see it ... pin.

Well, the slicing rotation that we put on the golf ball generally comes from a clubhead path that travels from outside the target line behind the ball to inside this line after impact. In other words, the clubface cuts the ball and spins it clockwise, making it work off line to the right (for right handers). The ball curves to the right ... sometimes the "banana" right?

Try this simple alteration. lnstead of saying 3 o 'clock, looking and hitting the ball right on the butt, say "4 o'clock" so that you look inside and under the ball -- more at its hip.

With your eye on this point, your hand-eye coordination will work the clubhead inside and through. You will have less tendency slicing or fading from here.

Hope this helps and makes your game more fun.

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A swing thought will help your focus on the golf course

By Karl Fischer
Contributor

All great golfers have some swing thoughts or thought that they use to start and influence their motion. We all should. Choose the words carefully, and make them simple and clear.

IRGO Golf Academy uses successfully: "3 o'clock ... sweep ... and ... see it ... pin."

What does this mean?

 

At address. Standing tall with longish arms hanging comfortably from your armpits, breathing rhythmically and looking at the backside of the ball (where you strike it), say the "trigger words."

Sweep back swinging the clubhead to your top of swing where you say the tiny word.

And then, drop the hands down to under the armpits when you say the "see it," which help with a smooth, powerful impact through the ball.

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Golfers, are we swingers or hitters?

By Karl Fischer
Contributor

It's a good question and there is a difference in these two golf moves.

However, one should always swing the clubhead up and down through the golf ball along the target line to the pin.

In reality, I think all good ball strikers are swinging hitters.

For right-handers, comfortably using a golf club, the sensation should be swinging the clubhead from the left target shoulder (the pivot point) which will contribute to traveling down the line. So the longish left arm swings the club while, approaching the bottom of the swing arc, the right hand put on the hit.

Each hands job is different. The target left hand controls the clubface. The brace-side right hand takes the lag out of the club shaft or clubhead. It makes the bottom hit.

We hear about body parts in golf. Which does what and when? What leads and what follows? What rests and what works? I think golf is a cooperative balance of everything from the toe-nails to the finger-nails. It is a progressive muscular action from the brace foot or ground up through the body and club shaft to the ball resulting in holing it!

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