When it comes to drivers, bigger isn't always better

Sunday, December 1, 2013

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

In the past few years we have seen driver head sizes increasing dramatically. The "theory" is that if the clubhead is bigger then the club will be easier to hit. Great theory - alas, there's only one problem with it. Anytime you increase the size of something, in this case a clubhead, whenever you miss the sweetspot then there is twisting - and any twisting cuts down on distance and control of the golf ball.

If you have a clubhead size that is four inches on either side of the middle, then you will have up to four inches of twisting. But if you have two inches on either side of the sweet spot, then there can only be up to two inches of twisting! This reduces the amount of twisting and tightens up the shot dispersion - and that means more distance and ball control.

Golf club manufacturers are finally realizing this and most are offering smaller heads now.

I personally believe that in the next couple of years we will see driver heads under the 400 cc size. In fact, Katsuhiro Miura, designer and owner of Muira Golf, has done extensive testing and has found that any head size larger than 400 cc actually produces shorter distances.

Miura, long known for his craftsmenship and quality, makes clubs for several PGA Tour players under the brand name of their equipment sponsor and rumor has it that there is a top-10 player in the world rankings that is one of those.

Before you jump out and buy the next "greatest" and biggest driver available on the market today, step back and take a look at what else is being offered. Do yourself a favor and get a smaller head for better control

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Five things you can do to play better in the wind

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

For the past few days I have been watching golfers play in extremely windy conditions. Now these players are not PGA Tour caliber but they do have something in common: they must learn how to control their golf ball in the wind.

Here are a few things you'll need to know about playing in the wind.

1. Take more club - Your normal "150" club probably isn't going to go that far when hitting into the wind. But down wind you could take a smaller club and get the same distance.

 

2. Swing easier - The harder you try and hit the golf ball the more spin you put on it. The more spin the more the wind affects the shot.

3. Take a wider stance - The wind can move you around and affect your balance. To counteract that, widen your stance. This lowers your center of gravity and helps to maintain a solid base into the ground.

4. Shorten your stroke - The longer your backstroke the more chance you have of over swinging and having balance problems. By keeping the backstroke shorter you'll have more control.

5. Let the golf ball "ride the wind" - This one is a source of controversy. Some players like to try and "work" the ball into the wind, which straightens out the flight. But almost all great wind players let the ball ride the wind. If it's blowing right to left then they will hit a shot that goes in the direction of the wind.

You'll also notice that the European players use a much wider stance for putting then do their US counterparts. This wider stance does help make the players foundation much more solid and since the Europeans usually play in these conditions we should take a page out of their notebook.

The next time you're playing in windy conditions use these tips and have a more solid ball striking round.

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Practice like you play

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

A lot of players seem to have trouble taking their "driving range" game to the course. We hit it so pure on the range but yet when the bell rings and we go to the golf course there is a complete change of personality.

A perfectly logical, smooth swinger transforms into the "Hulk" and everything that they have been working on to get their games in shape suddenly disappears.

Most players have a range game and an on-course game, but can't seem to fit them together. The key is to practice like you play.

If you are quick and aggressive on the course then you need to practice the same way. There is no use practicing something that you're not going to use and put into play, so stop beating yourself up and get in the game!

Golf practice time is just for that - practice.

If you are extremely quick on the course then practice that way and if you are a slow smooth swinger of the club then practice that. Whatever your "style" and tempo, are spend time rehearsing them and quit wasting time trying to do something that is different then normal.

I have seen players over and over again spend time working on their swings and it looks great on the practice tee. But when it's time to tee it up their games change completely. It's really not the players fault - they don't know any better but what if you practiced like you play. You will see definite changes in scoring and ball striking, you'll hit more fairways and greens and make fewer putts.

Players that hit it far, but not straight, should continue to work on becoming straighter but that doesn't mean they should gear down to do so. It just means that they need to have a different set of components to match what they are doing.

An example would be a player that is extremely long but try as they may they cannot play by swinging at a smoother tempo. And even if they do the very time someone hits it by them they will arch their backs, give a quick snort, rare back and blast it! This usually results in missed fairways and two-way misses or they try to make up every stroke they have lost when the par-5's come up. Both of these cases are score breakers.

I don't care how good your short game is you need to put the ball in play. Short game experts will tell you that the short game is the most critical part of the game. But if you cannot hit a fairway what good is making that 35 footer for bogey!

I do agree that short game is where you will lower the most shots, but the driver, wedge, and putter make up approximately 78 percent of all of the shots! Note that driver sets up the approach shot and it's always better to hit approachs from the short grass then the long stuff.

If you're having trouble keeping the ball in play from the tee go find the tightest driving hole you can, stay there all day and hit drivers until you find a way to keep it between the trees.

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Add power, accuracy to your golf game in a few short steps

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

The two major priorities of most golfers are more power and accuracy.

For optimal learning, these priorities must be addressed both academically and physically. Knowledge should be conveyed to the student through lecture, scientific demonstration, swing-training aids and video analysis. When done properly, players will come to fully understand their swings.

Power

There are four separate sources of power in the golf swing, definable and distinguishable:

1. Proper uncocking of the left wrist.
2. Blasting of the left arm off the chest with the body pivot.
3. Synchronized roll of the left wrist through impact.
4. The driving power of the right forearm.

When the player learns the proper utilization, application and synchronization of these power sources, he or she will solve the mysteries of power!

 

Accuracy

Two factors that determine the accuracy of all golf shots:
1. Control of the flat left wrist through impact, for clubface alignment.
2. Consistent orbit of the clubhead on the proper plane.

The player must learn to swing the clubhead, shaft and hands up and back then down and out on the same inclined plane time after time. He or she must also learn to control the clubface with the flat left wrist, thereby adding to the precision of all shots.

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The primacy of the perfect pivot

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

This week I'm in Pennsylvania working with a couple of our players on the Hooters Tour. While this certainly isn't as glamorous as the PGA Tour, these players are nonetheless playing for money, living their dream and pursuing the PGA Tour.

While there is certainly a world filled with these tours and players, they all have the same goals in mind: to be the best they can be.

They all work diligently on their short game, ball striking, mental game, and getting their set make-up just right as well as keeping their bodies in shape for what is a long season. Strength and flexibility can mean the difference in making the "big show" (Read: PGA Tour) or staying in the "minor leagues." With this in mind these players all have something that is inherent to all golfers: the search for perfection!

While having perfect mechanics isn't a guarantee that one will make it on Tour, perfect mechanics do produce perfect shots.

One thing that I see a lot are players that really don't understand how the body, arms, and hands really work in a golf swing. If the body out races the arms then a push shot is likely and if the arms and hands out race the body then shots that are pulled will be the norm. The hands can make up for a faulty pivot motion to a certain extent but why make that adjustment if you don't have to. There is a proper sequence that is based upon physics that you can rely on.

The golf stroke is a series of events that take place which produces a "lagging" of components. Let me explain. Think of the golf stroke as a gear train that starts from the ground up. In the start down, the hips rotate back toward the target while the hands and arms remain at the top of the backstroke. This applies pressure from the upper left arm to the chest - sort of gluing it to the chest. The trunk now follows with the right shoulder moving down plane and the arms going along for the ride.

So now you have the gear train effect, hips pull the trunk, trunk pulls the arms, arms pull the hands and club. This continues until the ball is struck and the player gets to what we refer to as follow through - the place in the swing that both arms are straight. From there all of the components are basically released and have come into alignment with each other.

At our Medicus Golf Institute Golf schools we train players on the physics of rotation and the geometry of the circle. Now that may sound complicated but it really isn't once we put into lay terms and actions.

To really store up power try using this procedure above and you will see an increase not only in power but in accuracy!

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There isn't a universal golf swing

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

Currently there is a lot of publicity about a "new" golf swing of the future. This swing is being touted as the "fix-all" for every golfer.

Golfers will buy into anything that they think may improve their game no matter how ludicrous it may be. We are all looking to play better golf, hit more consistent shots, make more putts, and the search for this elusive "Holy Grail" will never end. But to think and promote that one golf swing will work with everyone is simply insanity!

For example, do you really think that someone like Craig Stadler can move his body and club like someone as flexible as Camilo Villegas, absolutely NOT! Yet the golfing public so desperately wants to find the "secret" that they will buy into this.

I personally feel sorry for the golfing world. We, at the Medicus Golf Institute, have spent our entire careers helping golfers play better and without trying to stick every player into some type of mold. We take what their tendencies are, show them options, and then let them decide which variation is the easiest for them to replicate.

I can remember growing up as a young player when we all wanted to swing like Ben Hogan. The truth is that to duplicate anyone else, you would need several factors.

1. Be built like the player
2. Have the same flexibility as the player
3. Have the same mindset as the player

Without all of the above characteristics you will never be able to duplicate their swing. Sure, to the untrained eye it may appear to look a alike - or close - but the pure mechanics would not match up.

Several years ago I approached IBM and MIT with an idea. I wanted to develop a "Virtual Reality" that would place sensors on the body. These sensors would not only provide data about the flexibility of the player but would also send stimuli to the body for movement.

In the "helmet" there would be a viewing visor - or screen - that the player would see whomever they were trying to emulate. As the "model" moved the body sensors would activate and move the player along with the model.

IBM and MIT both told me that my idea was way beyond the available technology. Here we are years later and we still do not have the ability to build such a machine.

Humans are not perfect, so to try and build a perfect golf stroke is unattainable. The only way to actually build a perfect model is to use mechanical devices such as Iron Byron. But even with this machine it has limitations. Remember it was based on Byron Nelson's swing and not perfect swing mechanics.

Do yourself a favor and find an instructor that will help you attain your goals while using what you are capable of impact separation, a straight plane line, and can monitor/feel the sweetspot against your forefinger you can do virtually anything else you want to do.

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Ball alignment is just as important as set-up!

 

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

In a recent article I shared with you something that Jack Nicklaus had said about setting up properly.

Set-up is only part of the equation however. Most players think that set-up is how to position yourself to the ball - and it is - but we must also realize the importance of ball placement, weight and balance, and the right forearm alignment to the clubshaft.

Set-up alignments are really the most critical part since they determine what is going to happen during the stroke and ball positioning can effect those alignments.

 

I'll give you an example. A player is having trouble and is hitting the ball fat. So we need to look at some of the more common elements that can cause this "laying the sod over it" shot.

1. Ball position too far forward
2. Weight leaning backward at impact
3. Head over the right foot at impact
4. The right arm straightening too soon.
5. The swing plane is too far from the inside.

Numbers 2-5 all effect ball position. By leaning too far back you have effectively moved the ball position forward, same with keeping the head over the right foot and swinging too much from the inside. The straightening of the right arm is a conscious/sub-conscious effort to take the clubface to the ball and it changes the clubshaft/forearm alignment.

Anytime you lean back you move the low point of the golf stroke back which, in effect, moves the ball position forward.

Ultimately, however, fat or thin shots are a changing of the radius that was established at address. Fat shots mean the radius is getting longer and thin shots...it's getting shorter.

It takes no athletic ability at all to look as good as any PGA Tour player at address. It's what happens next that tells the tale!

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