October ’07 Golf Magazine Instruction Commentary

This month's articles

-HOW TO BE CLUTCH—Before you invest a lot of time in this exercise, try it with simply tossing. Determine how effective you are at controlling distances by controlling your backswing. Do it this way:
o use ten balls to make ten tosses with your backswing halfway back (your forearm is parallel to the ground on the back swing).
o Note what the average distance was on the tosses.
o Pick up the balls.
o Now, close your eyes and get ready to toss a ball.
o Then, have someone pace off the distance that you had averaged.
o Have them quietly say, “Ready”.
o Now toss the ball concentrating on attempting to duplicate the halfway backswing you made.
o Do this with ten balls.
This drill will make it apparent that attempting to control the backswing is very ineffective. Not only were you not able to feel confident about the size of your backswing, your direction was poor. Humans are much better able to do this is they use their visualizing ability to simply watch a mental image of the ball going to the target and stopping there.

This approach to distance control is logical. It just is not the best way humans can control distance.
P.S. If you would try to use this, how would you adjust if the shot was a little uphill or downhill; or if you wanted to use a 7 iron?

HOW TO GROOVE YOUR PUTTING STROKE—Note: the block of wood must have this 45 degree angle cut on it so the putter can arc correctly.

HARDPAN MADE EASY—This is a little more complicated than necessary. Simply adjust the setup by have the ball positioned in the center of your stance (instead of the club). The club will be positioned behind the ball—slightly toward your back foot. Keep your balance (VERY IMPORTANT) and make your normal swing. The ball flight will be lower. The setup for this is similar to a fairway bunker.

HOW TO POWER UP YOUR SWING—Let’s simplify this:
o Key 1 the wrists hinge during the backswing (don’t shift your weight)
o Key 2 allow your arm (the bone from your elbow to your shoulder) to make as big a backswing as you can. Allow the elbow to fold if that increases the length of your swing.
o Key 3 you can eliminate this step since you didn’t shift your weight
o Key 4 when you flip the club the butt of the club travels toward your back foot and the head toward your front. Keep both ends of the club moving forward.

BUILD A BETTER BACKSWING—Ok. In step three, notice that the center does not shift to the right foot on the backswing. It merely turns and points toward the right foot.
Tilt right for pure contact—Ok. This setup does not prevent you from hitting the shot fat.

REGAIN YOUR TOUCH FROM THE SAND—Ok. Instead of thinking about Danish (which I love), I think you’ll find it more helpful to understand that what we are doing is to use the club to create a tidal wave of sand that in turn pushes the ball out of the bunker. To do this, set up one ball’s diameter behind the ball, lower your center so your swing will enter the sand before the ball creating a wave of sand.

HOW TO HIT PERFECT IRONS—This is about setup and does not assure you of hitting perfect irons. This only works if in step one you have your left arm at the correct angle. Pass on this article.

HOW TO CHECK FOR A PERFECT GRIP—Rotating the hands to the right (V’s over right shoulder) will close the clubface (deloft it and make it look left). This is a dangerous fix for the problems Brian targets.

HOW TO HIT DRIVER OFF THE DECK—Because the driver has such a small amount of loft, you’ll need a very high swing speed to get it high enough for it to travel further than your three wood. Unless you hit the driver over 250 yards, your 3 wood will probably give you more distance off the fairway than the driver. If you use the driver off the deck, the setup and swing should be unchanged.

THE SIMPLE WAY TO SHAPE SHOTS—This may be simple for Jason. He is suggesting making two different swings. Simpler yet is to adjust the setup for a draw or fade and use your normal swing.

FOUR EASY WAYS TO HIT MORE GREENS—This is an interesting article because it discusses improving your score through shot selection vs. swing improvement. I liked Jim’s ideas. These can help all players.
P.S. Use Jim’s strategy. Don’t try to use his swing.

MASTER THE SHORT SAND SHOT—Ok.

STOP COMING UP SHORT—Ok.

PLAY A CONTROLLED FADE—Work on straight first, fade second.

PERFECT POSTURE—Assuming that your clubs are the correct length and lie angle for you, perfect posture is as follows:

o hold the club with both hands and sole the club correctly
o center your body on the club
o allow the arms to hang (vs. reach)
o balance the weight in your feet
o done.