April 2007 Issue

This month's articles

-HOW TO SWING FROM THE TREES—Ok
-Ask Pelz—Before you try Dave’s approach regarding focus, try it when you are tossing a ball. What you will find is that for your tosses to at all be close to target, your mind’s focus must be on the target—not speed and distance. Whatever works for you tossing will work very well for your putting.

-LOOPY LOGIC—People make way too much out of the loop in Jim’s swing. Yes, it is unusual. No, you would not want to try to put a loop in your swing. Instead of looking at the loop, let’s look at the club as it moves through the bottom 1/3 of the swing (8 o’clock to 4 o’clock). There you will see that Jim does with his golf club just what every other good swinger does. Note: Because Jim plays the ball forward in his stance, he must slide his body to his left so that his center is aligned with the ball. If he had not taught himself to setup this way, he would not have to slide and add that variable to his shots.

-UPHILL ESCAPE—Ok. But be advised that setting up on an uphill shot with a sand wedge will send the ball very high. Your swing will have to be bigger than you might think if you have not practiced this. An alternative strategy is to use a PW or a nine.

-HOW TO HINGE YOUR WRISTS—STOP!! Martin has the hinges strapped on his wrists incorrectly. The left is ok but look at the right in the bottom picture. See how the hinge strap on his right forearm is no longer pointing at his right elbow. It’s twisting—and that’s not even with the club all at the top of the backswing. Martin is using the wrong hinges. Our wrists are ball and socket hinges. This illustration would be a little better if the hinge on the right wrist was mounted on top of the wrist like he has the left one.

-HOW TO BE FIRM WITH FAST DOWNHILLERS—It sounds desirable but what does “firm” mean? Hitting a ball on the toe of the club will not impart as much force as it will when you hit it on the center. So when you have a putt like the one on page 72, how much bigger of a swing would you want to make when you hit it on the toe? This takes a LOT of practice to develop a whole new knowledge of judging speed off the toe. Eden is right the ball won’t go as far when it comes off the toe. What Eden doesn’t tell you is that you now need to learn a whole new base of knowledge to judge toe shots in addition to judging center shots. It’s not worth it. Keep it simple. You can still put them in the cup on downhill putts when you hit them off the center. When you hit it off the toe, it feels anything but firm.

-IRONS IN THE MISFIRE—David is correct about many players aiming left of target. But it’s not because of the off-set. Players align left even with their putters—which have no offset. Use Manuel’s approach to alignment (page 35).

-HOW TO PRACTICE LIKE A TOUR PLAYER—I have never seen an article more superficial and misguided than this one.

-CHOKE DOWN TO KEEP IT LOW—Choking down shortens the length of the club and therefore lowers the club head speed. Shortening the swing will also decrease club head speed and therefore distance. How does choking down affect the loft of the clubface? It doesn’t—so choking down does not make the ball flight lower.

-DOES YOUR PUTTER MAKE YOU MISS?—Your putter does not and will not make you miss—ever. However, your putter can misfit you to such an extent that it makes putting more difficult than need be. Many players use putters that are too long for them.

-THE TURN SECRET—The only guarantee for not coming over the top is to have the back swing over the right shoulder and then have the club retrace the path of the backswing during the forward swing.

-TIGHTEN YOUR STAND TO BUST BIG DRIVES—Read the last sentence. What is says is true. What it doesn’t say is why this stance will make you hit it further. The reason it doesn’t is because it won’t. On the other hand, an extra wide stance can restrict your turn and keep you from making your fullest swing.

-STOP SLICING IN 5 SECONDS—Tom makes a good point as to how the toe of the club should be vertical but this is not the cause for most player’s slicing. If you see your shot ballooning high and to the right, Tom’s fix may be right for you.

-POWER UP WITH THE O FACTOR-- Try this: 1) stand at address with the club wresting on the ground, 2) leaving the club rest on the ground, turn your hips as fast as possible, you’ll see that the club does not move 3) the hips are independent of your arms. You can turn them as fast as you want and it adds nothing to the swing speed, except at the very end of their turn at which time they are twisting your torso to the left. Turn to page 172 and make a careful comparison of the clubface at address and at impact. The clubface is open and looking to the right. The only thing the O Factor will do on this shot is get the player to say, “Oh, no!”

-PRIVATE LESSONS
-Show the putter face the hole—The old wives tale is trotted out once again. One foot after impact the putter face will not be looking at the hole. The swing is circular. The moment the club passes impact the face begins looking left—on all swings. The putter does not need to, nor should you try to make it travel straight back and straight through.

-WATCH THE ELBOW—Forget the elbow. Focus on the club. Swing the club over your right shoulder (junction of shoulder and arm) with the shaft parallel to the target line. Then just re-trace the path for the forward swing. Wherever the elbow is during this swing is where it needs to be.

-WHEN BAD CONTACT IS GOOD—Actually this article has it exactly backwards. In heavy grass the grass catches the hosel, slows it down, and the toe quickly passes it and shuts the club face. Its why we hit a lot of grounders out of taller rough. On hardpan, plan to hit the ball thin and miss the dirt altogether.

-FOR MORE DISTANCE, LET THE DRIVER GO—This could be helpful for some players.

-THE HIGH TROUBLE SHOT—Rather than learn a new swing, just open the clubface before you grip it and play for the ball to travel to the right of your target line.