Check Your Lies

Monday, November 25, 2013

With misfit lie angles, it’s easy to groove a swing error. Lie angles that are too upright (toe up) at impact cause your ball to finish left of target. If they’re too flat (toe down), your ball flies wide right. If you make good swings and the ball consistently flies to the right of the target, it won’t be long before you introduce an over-the-top move to pull the ball back to target. If your ball flies left, you’ll learn to delay your hands to block the ball back to target. Bottom line: Have your lies checked.

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Underswing/Overswing

In  an “underswing,” your arms move too slowly during the downswing and can’t keep up with your body turn. As such, your club becomes trapped (right) and the ball flies to the right. Underswinging is especially prevalent among women. Overswingers (mostly men) swing their arms too quickly, invariably in an attempt to produce added power. The problem with overswinging is that when you try to hit the ball too hard, you hit too soon from the top, which loops the club out toward the target line, resulting in a pull or a pull slice.

The solution is simple: If your shots are starting to the right of target, select one less club than you’d normally hit (a 7- vs. a 6-iron) and speed up your arms. If you’re pulling the ball, choose one more club and slow down your arms.

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Don’t Play Your Hunch

While it feels powerful to reach for the ball at address, it actually costs you power because it decreases coil. When you overreach to the ball, your upper back invariably “hunches,” and for every one degree of hunch, you lose two degrees of coil. In the correct setup, try to touch your shoulder blades at address and make sure to bend from your hips rather than your waist. If you bend from your waist, you’ll hunch your back and that’s a hunch you don’t want to play.

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Cover The Ball

The golf swing is a complicated event, full of many moving parts and varying demands on your body at different points during the motion. A well-oiled swing flawlessly keeps all of these parts in order by synchronizing their movement, from takeaway to finish. Here’s a great drill you can use on the course to synchronize your swing and create more powerful, more accurate golf shots.

Assume your address position with your club soled behind the ball. Then, keeping your clubhead in position, remove your target hand (the left for right-handers) from the handle and place it on the butt end of the club so that you can hold the club in position with that hand only. Now, simulate a golf swing using your right hand, allowing it to move to the top of your swing, then down to the ball until it moves under your front forearm through impact.

I call this drill the “Cover Drill” (Corey Pavin once used it as part of his preshot routine) because it forces the front shoulder to move upward through impact—just as it should—without spinning open. Thus, your shoulder “covers” the ball at impact and returns your arms back in front of you like they were at address.

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Warm-Up For Power

Prepare your round for heavy doses of power with this drill. Stand upright and make non-stop practice swings as though you’re hitting waist-high fastballs. Keep the motion continuous as you gradually incline your spine toward your normal golf swing position until your clubhead clips the grass. Repeat five times and you’re good to go.

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Remember To Rebound

 

As you swing through the golf ball, your club whips past your body at a high rate of speed, a result of your body whirling around your front hip joint. In order to stay balanced while you whirl, your spine must be allowed to tilt slightly away from the target—the correct reaction to the demands of physics known as “staying behind the ball.” Depending on your strength, flexibility and swing pattern, you may have more or less spinal deflection (in the five- to 10-degree range), but all good players have some spinal rebound.

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Pre-Round Tips

Before your round, ensure that you’re nice and loose. I like the “Superman Stretch.” Stand with both arms stretched out in front of you. Reach under your left arm and curl your right wrist behind your left elbow. Keeping this relationship, place your right palm on the right side of your face (see photo). Now, bend from your hip joints into your golf posture. Make a slow-motion backswing. Hold at the top for 30 seconds, then reverse for the other side.

Upon hitting the practice range, work on two things: balance and contact. Tee the ball and choke down on a 7-iron. Make three-quarter swings, and don’t worry about how far the ball travels because your goal is solid contact. In addition, strive to finish in perfect balance no matter where the ball goes. Soon, your brain will get the message—balance and solid contact are the order of the day.

Another key element of your pre-round preparation should be to determine what “game” you have on that day. If your “A” game shows (you’re hitting the ball solidly and accurately), your master plan is to play aggressively. If your “B” game surfaces (your contact and accuracy are just okay), understand that your shots won’t carry as far. Resolve to take one more club and pick your spots to be aggressive. When you have no game at all and almost every shot is a mis-hit, it’s “Short Game Time,” where the plan is to play it safe and get up and down. Hang in there until something good happens. If you get aggressive early in the round, you’re in for a long day on the golf course.

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