January 2006 Issue

This month's articles

OPEN WIDE TO HAVE A SAND BLAST
I hope Bob Vokey is sitting down when he reads Mitchell’s Minute. As Titleist’s “wiseman of wedges” Bob might suggest that Mitchell get his eye at ground level and look at all the bounce that has been built on the sand wedge without having to open the face. Bob (and for that matter all the wedge designers) did not go to all the trouble to build expensive wedges that need to be opened in order to work well. Need more loft? By all means open the face. Just want to exit a normal greenside bunker? Use the club as it was made it will work just fine.

YOUR GAME
HOW TO BE STRAIGHT WHEN IT COUNTS. OK

NOW WHAT? This is way too much to think about. The shot is already challenging. Make the shot no more difficult than necessary. Look at photo 2. Yes, there’s a bunker but its really not in play. If you are concerned about how the club will interact with the sand, position the ball one ball back in your stance. Make your normal swing the club will contact the ball before it contacts the sand. Remember, when you play the ball back the club will be aimed slightly right at impact.

STOP YOUR REVERSE TILT AND CREATE POWER. So the answer to not tilting to your left is to tilt to your right? Does the photo at the top right of page 45 exactly like what he’s doing at the bottom right? Look at the difference in the angle of the yellow line. Keep it simple…set up correctly and then don’t tilt.

PLAY THE SAND, NOT THE BALL. Yes, a good mental image is of the sand pushing the ball out of the bunker. No, we don’t need to make a special back swing for this. Keep it simple…just lower your center (sternum) at address (you’ll have to fold your elbows to keep the club from touching the sand). On your forward swing allow your arms to relax and extend. The club will enter the sand nicely and out comes the ball.

HALF BURIED LIE. Ok

HOW TO GET TOUGH FROM THE ROUGH. Ok

HOW TO GO LEFT WHEN RIGHT IS DEATH. Unnecessarily complicated. Rather than changing your swing, just change your setup. First option, pick a target on the left side and align to the left. If you want the ball to curve left. Rotate your hand position to the right so that the “V’s” formed by your thumb and forefinger point over your right shoulder. Keep it simple.

HOW TO LAY OFF THE CHILI-DIP. This is a good example of a terminology problem. Chili-dip is often used to describe those shots when the club passes under the ball resulting in a small pop-up and the ball traveling forward only a small portion of the intended distance. However, Rick is using the term to describe a shot where the club makes a overly large divot. While it is reasonable that lowering one’s head could in turn lower the swing path into the ground, notice that while standing at address you can raise and lower your chin without moving the club. Only a small fraction of the time are chunked shots from body being lowered. Most of the time it is from excessive use of the right hand. Want to prove that too yourself. Take a half swing and attempt to make a large divot. You’ll notice that you did not lower your body, you instead used the right hand to drive the club head into the ground.

THINK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE WIND. A round of golf takes 4 hours, I’m sorry but wind conditions change. So knowing the reported windspeed before you tee off is not very relevant. Further, unless your are playing a course without trees the windspeed reported at some airport will probably not be representative of the course. Finally to complicate matters, the windspeed you experience at ground level is not the windspeed that will effect ball flight. Instead, recognize that evaluating the effect of the wind is a guess and that taking the wind into consideration is always better than overlooking it—even if your guess is wrong sometimes. A head wind always hinders more than a tail wind helps. So if you play into a wind and take an extra club to reach a green, expect that if the next hole is downwind its not going to allow you to take an 8iron instead of a 7iron. Finally, keep it simple when you are playing into the wind think twice about taking Paul’s advice about changing your swing—just take more club.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST FACTOR HOLDING BACK AVERAGE GOLFERS FROM IMPROVEMENT? I like the importance Peter puts on understanding cause and effect. I was stunned by his comment that the cause for a slice is an open clubface. His analysis is partly correct. However, the club face can be perfectly square at impact but produce a slice if the path of the swing is outside-in.

HOW TO HIT A RELIABLE FADE. See above article about “reliable draw”. Position V’s toward left shoulder. Keep it simple. Change the setup not the swing.
ASK THE TOP 100. Ok

HOW TO SEE THE PERFECT PUTT. Ok

THE COOLEST SHOT. This is only cool if the dime it stops on is near the hole. Don’t waste your precious practice time on this “cool shot” after you perfect the rest of your shots.

HOW TO HONE YOUR FINESSE. Dave’s motion with the medicine ball demonstrates how the swinging motion of a toss is similar to the swinging motion of a golf swing. What this has to do with finesse isn’t apparent.

SWEEP YOUR SLICE AWAY. Let’s remember that the path of the swing is circular (including Bubba’s). Martin’s suggestion of the “bristles of the broom riding against the wall for the first two feet” turns the circle into something that I’m not even sure there is a name for. Keep it simple. If we do not need to “have the bristles ride along the wall” on the back swing we don’t need to have them do it on the forward swing. The club travels on the same plane (not the same path) back and forward.

DIVOT DECISIONS. Ok, but in the first situation don’t change your swing (chop down) just setup with the ball further back in your stance.

TWO WAY TO ADD POP. The elevated heel is one of the many gimmicky things that we can use to help us learn that is unnecessarily foreign to how we should play. If you think your shoulders at setup is a problem, check Michael Breed on page 83. The “walk and wack” has less to do with increasing our speed than it does to reveal the role rhythm plays in a good swing.

TAKEAWAY: USE A FORWARD PRESS. Ouch!! I wish someone would bury this idea once and forever. Make a forward press and hold that position. The hands are in front of the club face making the club face out-of-square (aiming right) or delofted—neither of which is how you want to start a shot. Making a smooth swing does not have anything to do with a forward press.

SHORT GAME: VARY YOUR DISTANCES. Ok.

TIGHTEN UP YOUR SWING. Having seen thousands and thousands of swings, I can’t imagine coaching anyone to tighten up. It is contrary to the overriding sense of fluid rhythm that characterizes the best swings.

REDUCE WRIST COCK. The wrists are hinges. The cocking and uncocking motion are reciprocal. Allow the swinging motion to hinge the wrists and to unhinge them. Trying to control the hinge introduces “hand action”—this is where trouble starts.

Get hippy to lose your slice. Slices occur because of swing path (outside-in) and clubface (out of square) problems. Your hips can’t cause or fix these.

MAINTAIN THE TRIANGLE. First of all, notice carefully how the two red triangles are not the same—it wasn’t maintained. In the setup drawing we see the “forward press” with the shaft pointing at the left shoulder. In the swing drawing (illustration of a good swing) the press is gone and the shaft of the club points correctly at the shirt buttons. Don’t focus on maintaining the triangle. Focus on swinging the club—this creates what could be observed as a maintained triangle.