June 2006 Issue

This month's articles

-SAY GOODBY TO A ONE-PIECE TAKEAWAY. Does the ball care if it’s a one-piece or not? You don’t think so and neither do I. Swinging the club back with the hands will put it in a dandy spot from which to swing forward—that the ball does care about.

-HOW TO TURN ON THE POWER. Your hips rest on the top of your legs. Unless one leg is longer than the other or one knee is bent slightly more than the other, its not possible for the hips to be on a 10 degree angle.

-HOW TO STOP CHUNKING FROM THE SAND. First, a swing only moves on one plane. To swing down steeply and then follow-thru on a shallow or flat plane is not possible. Drill 2 has the player set up with the bottom of their swing aligned with the ball, that means the club will still be descending when it gets to the ball and you will have club-ball contact. We never want club-ball contact in a greenside bunker. The club goes into the sand, creating a small sand tidal wave. The tidal wave of sand pushes the ball out of the bunker.

-HOW TO MAKE A SOLID DOWNSWING. This is way to complicated and its contrary to your natural motion. Do this. Set up to the ball and make a back swing. From the back swing position, replace the club to its address position. DON’T SWING IT BACK. JUST REPLACE IT. Do this several times and then observe the sequence. You’ll find that the hips and shoulders move last. In point number 2, having the handle lead the down swing will produce either a very delofted club or a club face that is pointing to the right at impact. We don’t want either of these.

-OUT-THINK SCARY FAST PUTTS. If you are at the top of a staircase tossing a ball down to someone at the bottom do you need to attempt to focus on throwing it a few steps short of the bottom? No. The same is true for putting. Your unconscious is getting the same data your conscious is getting. It knows its downhill and will make the adjustment for you.

-WHEN AND HOW TO PUTT WITH YOUR DRIVER. Ok.

-STRAIGHTEN YOUR SHOTS.
1) Changing the ball position does not make it impossible to chop down on the ball. The solution to too step an approach is to learn the correct swing path.
2) Set the club at the ball and then adjust your stance until your arms are freely hanging and your weight is just behind the ball of your feet.

-STALL AND HIT A DRAW. Ok, but difficult. Better to just close the club face slightly at address, align right and swing normally.

-HOW TO CHECK YOUR POSITION ATH THE TOP. Ok.

-Now What? This is ok but there is no need to open the club face. Doing so complicates the shot unnecessarily.

-ESCAPE FROM WASTE BUNKERS. Ok.

-FIND YOUR LOST SWING. ????

-TIPS FOR READING GREENS. I don’t know where Mike got this info, but wherever he found it he should have left it there.

-HOW TO BE A HALF TIME STAR. Look at the photo on page 68. The pin is not ten feet from the front edge. While I like the pitching wedge, this is not the club for this shot. Playing a downhill like to a tight front pin calls for the loft of a sand wedge. Regarding his instruction #1, that’s ok. Regarding #2, that’s ok too. Regarding #3, that’s ok as well. However, the Drill he prescribes is a classic formula for delofting the club and attempting to time the hit. Remember, in a swing there is no release. The club is in a constant state of swinging.

-UNDER PRESSURE. Ok.

-HOW TO PLAY DOWNWIND. Good.

-WHAT YOU CAN LEARN IN A SNAPSHOT. Classic body instruction. Everybody’s body can look different. The ball doesn’t care about the body—only the club.

-TEE IT HIGH OR LOW? The photo and the caption on page 174 don’t match. The bottom of the ball is not above the crown. That nothwithstanding, give this a try. Teeing higher can be beneficial. But don’t make any swing changes.

-ESCAPE FROM UNDER THE LIP. Ok.

-CREATE HIP ACTION FOR MOR POWER. Even if it produced more power (and it doesn’t) you can see how the player has severely shifted his center. Now, in order to hit it straight, he has to shift it back at the instant the club impacts the ball. Impossible.

-SINK MORE PUTTS WITH A KILLER CROSSOVER. Lots of inaccurate info here.

-CONTROL THE HEIGHT OF YOUR WEDGE SHOTS. Ok.

-STOP POPPING UP YOUR TEE SHOTS. Look no further than the illustration and see that the hand position is set for the ball to be a high fade. Forget this instruction.