Be a stepper: The three responsibilities of a golfer's set-up footwork

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

By Kellie Stenzel, PGA
Special Contributor

After you set your golf club behind your golf ball and your hands onto the grip of the club, you should be a stepper. Your feet have three responsibilities and in order to accomplish each of these it can and should take as many steps to do so:

1. Ball position
2. Proper distance from your golf ball and club
3. Alignment

Ball position

When stepping your feet, it is important that you accomplish proper ball position for the club and the situation at hand.

If you are hitting an iron, hybrid or fairway wood, with your golf ball on the ground in a relatively flat lie, you should step your feet equidistantly apart as you widen them so that the club is centered in your body at the completion of your stepping.

The ball position should be more in line with the forward instep, the left step should be smaller and the right, widening step should be wider.

The proper foot work will accomplish the right ball position, making proper contact possible.

Proper distance from your golf ball and club

When stepping your feet, you must also adjust your distance from your club and ball so that you are in the proper posture (bowing forward from your hips) and adjusting your feet to the point where you feel your hands hanging directly below your shoulders.

With each club, you should consistently be the same distance from the end of the grip of the club to your body. This is the measuring point, rather than to the ball, which should change as the length of each club changes.

Alignment

When stepping your feet, after you've properly aimed your clubface to the target, you need to stand so that the line through your toes is parallel to the target line, thus left of the target. This line through your toes should be "parallel left." This line is parallel to the target line but left of the target, much like railroad tracks.

As you can see, your feet have many responsibilities during your set up routine. Therefore, I like to see a minimum of four steps to adjust and prefer six to eight steps. The first couple of steps may be larger to get you in the rough vicinity of the right distance, and the remaining make the smaller adjustments necessary to be particular about ball position, proper distance from the golf club and proper alignment.

You will also tend to see better players taking more steps. Besides accomplishing each of these responsibilities, it can also serve to relax the body and help with rhythm.

So, mimic the good golfers and become a stepper.

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Drive like Lorena Ochoa with a proper set-up

By Karen Palacios-Jansen
Special to WorldGolf.com

Although not the longest driver on the LPGA Tour, at 5 feet 5 inches tall and 125 pounds, Lorena Ochoa can belt it out with the best of them. Lorena's 270.6 yard average driving distance ranks third on the LPGA Tour.

So how does an average size woman hit it so far? With a lot of practice and a rock solid set-up that promotes power. If you are looking to increase distance off the tee try this power set-up.

The Correct Angle of Attack at Impact

Angle of attack is the way the clubhead approaches the ball at impact.

To hit the ball correctly in the sweet spot you must understand how the clubhead should approach the ball.

When you hit a driver, the angle of attack is shallow. The clubhead should arrive to the ball at the same level.

This sweeping motion assures that you will hit the ball in the sweet spot.

Set-up Correctly for Power and Distance

In order to achieve the correct angle, you must set-up "behind the ball at address." To do this, play the ball off the inside of the left foot and tilt slightly into your right side so that the head starts behind the driver. You want to have the ball in line with your left ear. This position will help you turn and sweep the ball off the tee at impact.

The most common fault I see with high handicappers is that they have the wrong angle of attack with their drivers. This happens when they set up incorrectly with too much weight on the left side, causing the head to be on top of the ball or even in front of the ball at address.

A reverse pivot follows this set up and causes too steep of an angle of attack. When the clubhead approaches too steeply or from the outside, you will end up hitting the ball on the toe or on the top of the clubhead.

Try This Drill

Practice setting up behind the ball with the driver. Place a club behind your back and make sure that your right shoulder is lower than the left. This angle should set your head behind the ball at address. Practice making a level turn, at the top of your backswing and make sure your left shoulder is over your right knee. If your left shoulder is still over your left knee, then you have a reverse pivot.

Practice your driving set-up in the mirror. Check your alignment and make sure that you are set-up behind the ball at address. Your set-up should promote a sweeping motion.

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Get more power on your golf swing

By Karen Palacios-Jansen
Special to WorldGolf.com

You've heard that a golf-specific workout will help you get more distance, so you're pumping iron, jogging religiously, stretching - but you still haven't gained any distance off the tee. What's the deal?

Well, I will be the first to tell you that a golf-specific exercise program will help you gain distance, but you also need to have good swing technique to take advantage of your strength and flexibility.

If you are losing power in your golf swing, it may not be because you are not strong enough; there may be a flaw in your swing. You may need to examine your golf swing more carefully and figure out where the power leaks are occurring. I have assembled a list of seven factors that may be causing power loss, with tips on how to get more distance.

Seven reasons you're losing power

1. You may not be making solid contact with the sweet spot, or center of the clubface. For every quarter-inch you hit the ball outside of the sweet spot, you lose 12 yards of distance. If you hit the ball off the toe of the clubface, which is three-quarters of an inch outside the sweet spot, you'll lose 36 yards of distance.

Concentrate on hitting the ball on the sweet spot. Buy special clubface tape available at the pro shop that will mark your strike point when you make contact with the ball. Work until you can make solid contact with the ball right in the middle of the sweet spot.

2. You may be coming over the top on the downswing. Specifically, your arms are swung away from your body on the downswing, resulting in an "out to in" clubface path. This produces very weak shots. To fix this problem, concentrate on your right elbow (or left elbow if you are left-handed) on the downswing. Try this drill: Swing to the top of your swing and pump your arms down half way, so that your right elbow points away from your body. This will make your arms come closer to your side and make the clubhead stay behind your hands so that you can hit the inside of the ball for solid contact.

3. You may be turning your shoulder incorrectly on the downswing. If you throw your right shoulder (left shoulder if you are left-handed) toward the target as you start your downswing, the result is an over the top motion with the club. To fix this problem, concentrate on making your right shoulder rock down instead of out on the start of the downswing. This will help the arms stay closer to the body and initiate an "in to out" swing instead of over the top.

4. You may be hitting the outside of the ball at impact, imparting left to right spin. To correct this, you need to hit the inside of the ball at impact instead. To help you achieve this position, have the butt end of the club pointing inside the ball-target line as you swing your arms down. This will help you hit the inside of the ball.

5. You may be initiating your downswing with your upper body instead of your lower body from the top of the swing. This will cause your arms to swing away from your body, creating a power loss. To correct this, you must initiate the downswing with your lower body first and let the upper body follow to the finish. Concentrate on leading your downswing with your legs instead of your upper body.

6. You may be making contact with the ball at the wrong point. If your clubhead makes contact with the ground before the ball, you will lose power and hit the ball fat or thin. To make correct contact, play the ball farther back in your stance. This will help you achieve a downward blow and give you more power. Usually the ball is placed in the middle of the stance for a mid iron, but to improve contact at impact, move the ball back of center. This will help you make better contact. As you gain confidence, you can move the ball back to the center of your stance.

7. You may be pushing the ball down the fairway with your arms instead of swinging the clubhead. If your left or lead arm looks like a chicken wing on the follow-through, the club is cutting across the ball, resulting in a power loss.

To adjust, you'll need to release your forearms. Try the split grip drill to get the proper feeling. Without a ball, slide your right hand down until your index finger is on the shaft. This will make your right arm longer on the club. Take practice swings and you will feel how the right arm folds over the left one on the follow-through. Practice this until it becomes automatic and then practice hitting shots with your regular grip.

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'Swing Essentials' start with grip

By Karen Palacios-Jansen
Special to WorldGolf.com

This is the first part in golf instructor Karen Palacios-Jansen's "Swing Essentials" series on building a fundamental golf swing. Here, Palacios-Jansen focuses on finding the right golf grip for your game.

My teaching philosophy is to instill the importance of the basic fundamentals, or "swing essentials" as I call them, to my students.

Once people have mastered the "essentials" of a good full swing and are confident with their ball striking, I like to work on other parts of the game: Teaching the short game, specialty shots, mental toughness and good course management. These all help people lower their scores and increase their level of enjoyment on the golf course.

 

So let's get started with one of the most important aspects of the golf swing.

Swing Essential No. 1: The golf grip

Your hands are the only part of your body that touch the golf club. Your hands influence how you set up to the ball, the path that the club takes on the backswing, the angle clubface at impact and how fast you can swing the club. Take the time to learn the correct grip and you will be on your way to a better swing in no time.

To be a consistent ball striker, you should strive to find a grip that helps you return the clubhead square to the ball at impact with effortless power. A neutral grip for me and a neutral grip for you may not be the same, so don't think that you have to put your hands on the club the same exact way as everyone else. In fact, forming a good grip is like art. You shape and mold your hands to the club until you find the most pleasing grip.

Here is an easy way to find your grip:

1. Stand straight with arms relaxed and hanging at your side. Notice how the thumb of your left hand hangs down (your right hand thumb if you are a left-handed golfer). If your thumb hangs to the right, then your thumb should be placed on the right side of the shaft. If it hangs to the middle, then it should be placed in the middle of the shaft.

2. Adjust your thumb with your left hand until you find what works best for your hand. Be cautious not to let the thumb of the left hand go straight down the shaft it should never be placed on the left side of the shaft. If you thumb is placed on the left side of the shaft, then you will have a weak grip that will inhibit the hinging of the wrists. It may feel comfortable, but it won't be effective.

3. Now for the right hand. Think of the palm of your right hand as being the clubface. Make sure your right palm is perfectly square to the clubface, just as it would be at impact. With your right fingers spread, place the lifeline of your right hand snuggly on top of the left thumb and wrap the rest of your fingers around the shaft. Hook your right forefinger around the shaft and spread it a little longer than the rest of your fingers, as if on a gun's trigger. I gently press the lifeline of my right hand on top of my left thumb to make sure my hands are joined as one.

Experiment with your grip positions to find the one that suits you best.

Now, let's see what is happening to your clubface at impact. Simply grip the club like you would normally with just your left-hand and raise the club up until the club is parallel to the ground.

Stretch your arm out. The leading edge of the clubface should be perpendicular to the ground or what we teachers call the "square" position. If your clubface stays "square," then you are in good shape. If your clubface twists to the right or "open" then you have a "weak" grip. If clubface "closes" or twists to the left, you have a "strong" grip.

There three basic ways to join your hands together to finalize your golf grip.

• The Vardon Grip: The most widely used grip by golf professionals is called the Vardon grip, named after the grip's inventor, Harry Vardon. This is where you piggyback the pinkie finger of your right hand on top of the forefinger of your left hand.

• The Interlocking Grip: The interlocking grip is where you interlace the pinkie finger on your right hand with the forefinger of the left hand.

• Baseball or 10 Finger Grip: This is where all 10 fingers are securely on the shaft, as if you were holding a baseball bat.

How you join your hands together is up to you. Use whatever grip feels comfortable to you. Most importantly, use the grip that helps you square the clubface at impact with the least effort. Experiment with your grip by hitting balls with the different grips to see what works best.

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PGA instructor Kellie Stenzel helps a reader overcome fear on chip shots

By Kellie Stenzel, PGA
Special Contributor

Most PGA Tour players and professional golf instructors will tell you your short game can be the difference between saving and losing strokes. A great short game requires mastering several specific shots for a variety of situations: The wedge approach, the bump-and-run, the release or spin, the bunker shot and the simple chip. That last one is vexing WorldGolf.com reader Patsy Fournier, who wrote to me recently.

Dear Kellie,

I need help with chip shots. I liked your idea of the visual tip about the bunker shot. I am hoping you can provide something similar that I can visualize when I have to chip. I tend to freeze when the shot calls for a chip.

Thanks,
Patsy Fournier

Dear Patsy,

You are not alone in feeling like you "freeze" when you need to chip. Here are the two things I would check.

1. Your set up posture

Be sure that, at address, you are in the proper posture where you are far enough away from the ball with your feet that you can bow forward from your hips. If you are properly bowing forward from your hips at address you should feel that your chest is over your toes. This will allow your arms to have a postion to hang straight up and down. You may also check to see that your arms do not touch your torso or your legs if you are bowing forward properly.

2. Keep your lead arm moving forward

Your putting motion and your chipping motion are virtually the same from a slighly different set up. Remember when you chip you should be gripping low, stance narrow and your weight should favor your forward foot. When you putt you do not use your wrists, but rather move the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders as a unit. Make this exact same motion when you chip.

Be sure that your lead arm (the arm closer to the target) also continues to move forward toward the target. Your left arm should finish left of your left leg. You can check this by holding your finish. This is a good habit and you can see whether or not you have allowed you lead arm to move forward.

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Six ways to hit better 'long' clubs

By Karen Palacios-Jansen
Special to WorldGolf.com

For women and probably for the majority of high-handicappers, the long clubs are the most difficult clubs to hit. A lot of people lack confidence with the driver and fairway clubs. They are more difficult to hit because they have less loft. They slice more often than not. Here's some tips on how to hit them.

1. Learn the difference between hitting an iron and wood. When you hit an iron, you want to have a steep angle of decent to get the ball up in the air. When you use a driver, the ball is teed up, so you want to sweep the ball off the tee, not hit down. If you hit down, the ball will pop up in the air. Ball position is critical. Play the ball opposite your front foot which will encourage a sweeping blow. Since you play the ball more forward in your stance your back shoulder and hip will be lower at address. This tilt is critical for you to sweep the ball.

2. To be a good driver, you need to have clubhead speed. You need at least 80 miles per hour of clubhead speed to hit a 15-degree lofted club or less. To help speed up your clubhead speed, you need to have light grip pressure. Tight grip pressure kills speed. Hold the club above the ground and feel the weight of the clubhead. If the clubhead feels light, you are holding it too tightly. Adjust your grip pressure until you can feel the weight of the clubhead.

3. To hit a driver and your fairway woods, it is important to shift your weight on the downswing. This move will help create clubhead speed and attack the ball at the correct angle. If you have a reverse pivot at the top of the swing, you will never be able to shift your weight on the downswing. A reverse pivot will cause your weight to hang back at the moment of impact. This robs you of power. At the top of your swing, the majority of your weight should be on the inside of your back leg. This position braces you to push off on the downswing. If your weight stays on the front leg at the top of the swing, then you have a reverse pivot.

4. If you slice your driver, consider using a 3-metal off the tee instead. The 3-metal has more loft and it is easier to control than a driver. You will get more distance from a straight ball with a 3-metal than a sliced driver.

5. If you top your driver or fairway clubs, you may be losing your spine angle at the top of your swing. To correct this, work on your body motion and keep the same level throughout your swing. Avoid bobbing up and down. Do not lift the club up in the air with your arms; try to keep the clubhead low to the ground at least until it has passed your right foot (if you are right-handed) so that at the top of your swing you have made a full turn with your shoulders and your weight is predominantly on your back leg. When you make a turn you will stay at the same level, so that you will not top the ball.

6. Good drivers of the ball never take a divot with a driver. If you are striking the ball correctly, you will be sweeping the ball off a tee. Never hit down with a driver and take a divot. Hover the clubhead above the ground before you hit your drive, which will help alleviate tension and encourage more of a sweeping blow. Take practice swings brushing the ground with the driver, but never taking any turf.

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Fight your way through a golf slump

By Chuck Evans
Special Contributor

As many of you know, this year Steve Stricker managed to rise from the land of, "What ever happened to...?"

Back in the early 90's Stricker was on top of his game and was one of the players that was consistent in almost every category. Then suddenly, he disappeared. He lost his game like Ian Baker-Finch and David Duval. Stricker seriously considered retiring from the grind of tournament golf and doing something else to feed his family. But in his heart he still had the desire to play golf. The problem was his golf game would not allow him to.

Living in Wisconsin, the hub of winter golf, he set out to be the player he once was. Stricker's biggest problem was controlling his driver. So for three hours a day, in the winter, he hit practice balls from a heated, converted trailer to find the solution. The results are what we have seen this year.

Stricker is one of the PGA Tour's nice guys and is genuinely liked by other players. He has risen to #4 in the world.

What does Stricker's story mean to other players? You have to work through those rough periods in golf. Here are some tips to get you through your next golf slump:

1. Never give up. We all go through periods when we are not playing particularly well and the key is to find the weakness that is cause of that. Sometimes it is ball striking and other times it is the short game and in rare cases it is both!

2. Always practice with a purpose. Virtually all players practice incorrectly, they go to the range and hit balls, which is only exercise, but they almost always do not have a plan for improvement. I recommend rehearsal swings then hit one ball, rehearse and hit one ball, and so on to build a feel for what you are trying to accomplish.

3. Driver, wedge, and putter account for approximately 78 percent of all strokes, so spend the majority of your practice time with these clubs.

4. Work on distance control. If the best 5-iron you have ever hit in your life is 180 yards then your 5-iron distance is not 180 yards! It is generally less then that. Hit 12 shots with each club, take out the longest and shortest and average the remaining 10. That is your average distance for each club.

5. Mirror work: You can build a world class golf swing by using mirrors, tape, and flashlights. These are used indoors so that you can see what you are doing.

6. Find someone to help you in your quest for improvement. Very soon you will be able to find a Medicus Golf Institute Certified Instructor in your area.

7. Remember that golf is a game. Unless you are playing golf for a living, golf is still a game. Get outside and enjoy the surroundings, your playing partners, and the time to get away from the rigors of everyday life.

As I close this article I would like to invite each and every one of you to join the Medicus Golf Institute Members Section. Inside this section you will find more than 15 hours of video instruction that covers every swing malady that you may have. There is also an assessment tool that will generate training videos for you based upon your answers. Right now it is free to join, but you will have to hurry.

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