November ’07 Golf Magazine Instruction Commentary



This month's articles

-HOW TO HIT YOUR IRONS ON THE SWEET SPOT—Dave describes this instruction as a solution to the fact that 95% of shots are short of the target. Ask yourself this question, when you are making a shot is your intention to get the ball “to” the target or to make it go beyond the target. The reason for short shots is that is what we are intending—and that’s not a problem. Being two feet past the cup is no better than being two feet short. Yes, only balls that have enough speed to go beyond the cup have enough speed to go in.
The above notwithstanding, Dave’s drill is beneficial for any player who is not making center contact. However, before you round up a two-by-four, hit some shots while paying attention to your balance. You may find that center contact will require nothing more that keeping your balance during the shot.

-MAHAN WITH A PLAN—This story-behind-the-story here is that you can will with almost any ball flight as long as you are consistent. (P.S. Consistently straight is better than consistently right.)

-MAKE SOLID CONTACT FROM A DIVOT—I like what Brady has to say but think it is a little more complicated than necessary. Setup with the ball one or two balls back of center. Doing this de-lofts the club and in so doing lowers the leading edge of the club so the shot will not be bladed. From this setup make your normal swing.

-STOP SWING OVER THE TOP—This is classic. It adheres the widely taught (and highly illogical) maxim, “When you have a problem with the club swinging incorrectly don’t fix the club’s motion, fix the body.” Get a chuckle from this article and quickly turn the page.

-STOP PUSHING THE BALL—Déjà vu all over again. Got a problem with the club? Fix the body. Turn the page.

-HIT GREENS FROM THE ROUGH—First of all, always make your first goal to put the ball back in play. Sometimes your lie will allow you to go for the green. If the lie is workable (ie. the path along which the club travels to the ball is not through grass that will greatly slow and deflect the club AND the path along which the ball will exit is also clear of such grass), then think about the green. The more lofted the club, the sooner the ball will get above the grass. You can play this shot with the ball one or two balls forward in your stance.

-BUILD A MONEY STROKE—Look at the sequence of photos at the bottom of the page. Notice how de-lofted the putter is at impact. Putters are designed to put the best roll on the ball when they have 3-5 degrees of loft. Ironically, there is nothing that will make the ball hop and skip more than hitting down on the ball.

-HOW TO ADD 10 YARDS TO YOUR DRIVES—Don’t tell Brad, but you don’t hit the ball with your backswing. Having a wider backswing guarantees nothing regarding the forward swing.

-PERFECT ADDRESS—Turn the page.

-MAKE SHORT CHIPS EASY—I don’t know how this is suppose to fix the problem Michael described.

-THE SETUP SECRET FOR MONSTER DRIVES—If you say so, Jon. Why this creates “monster” drives I’m not sure.

-PUTT FOR BIRDIE EVERY TIME—Ok.

-HOW TO MAKE YOUR FIRST DRIVE A GOD ONE—This is a warm up? This is suppose to get you loose and ready? Dana’s drill is useful for a session on the range if you suspect your swing is off-plane but not as a warm-up. This is a very specific drill for a very specific issue not a warm-up confidence builder.

-10 TOUGHEST WEDGE SHOTS—This article describes the statistical results of ten different shots comparing the use of a sand wedge to a lob wedge. It does not teach you how to pay the ten shots.

-CLOSE YOUR EYES FOR MORE POWER—This is very subjective. It doesn’t hurt to experiment on the practice tee.

-SET UP FOR SUCCESS—Look at the drawing on the lower half of the second page (red bars on the shoulders). Look at how the artist drew the shaft in line with the left arm. Now look above at the three setups for mid-irons, woods, and short irons. Do any of the three have the shaft in line with the left arm? Sloppy, re-hash, of bad info.

-HOW TO HIT WEDGES FROM TIGHT LIES—Ok.

-RUNNING YOUR APPROACHES—Ok.

-BE ON YOUR TOES IN THE SAND—Put simply, keep your balance. Leaning backwards during your forward swing increases the distance between your center and the ball. The result is that you will make contact high on the ball.