June 2008 Golf Magazine

TIGER WOODS SEQUENCE—Photo 1..does it really look like Tiger’s shoulder blades are “squeezed together”? Not. Photo 2..”…years to perfect.” Not so, because the arm does not rotate at all. Photo 3..Ok Photo 4..In a 2 ½ second swing you are going to decide when and how much you are going to slow your hips? Get real. Let me assure you Tiger does not “slow his hips”. Photo 5..Brady has this a bit misconstrued. You see Tiger swinging the whole club (Just as Manuel teaches). If you looked at the club just before impact it would look the same way. Photo 6..If you swing the club fully, all of these things Brady says you should try to do, happen as a result of the swing. It may be better to think of a full swing as avoiding the deceleration that occurs in a shorter swing.
Finally totally disregard the “Key Move” described on page 43. The hands do not drop straight down. To prove that, just look at photo 4. The hands follow the inclined plane of the swing itself.

STOP MISSING PUTTS LEFT—There is absolutely nothing in this article that assures or diminishes your likelihood of “missing putts left”.

SETUP SECRET FOR SHAPING SHOTS—Manuel is an advocate of producing draws and fades through setup changes versus swing changes. However, Jerry’s setup changes will not produce draws and fades. Playing the ball back makes the clubface look right at impact. Playing it forward makes it look left. The ball flight will be to the right and left respectively but will not curve.

ADD 10 YARDS TO YOUR IRONS—Mike states that the key is to “make consistent impact…”. However, the entire article is devoid of any factors that would make your impact more consistent. Instead Mike spends the time explaining how you should “arrive at impact with a slightly descending blow.” I like the consistent impact idea, too bad he didn’t.

STOP SLICING YOUR IRONS—(the 237, 394th article for stopping the slice). First of all there are nineteen causes for slicing (read about them in Manuel’s book). If the cause of the slice is swing path, Jim’s suggest could work. However, there is an easier fix.

LEAVE YOURSELF A TAP-IN—Here we go again. Todd tells us that consistency is the key to tap-ins. But does he tell us how to be consistent? No, he tells us to learn two different swings for high and low trajectories. How does that result in tap-ins?

MAKE MORE 10-FOOT PUTTS—Get real. If you were going to roll a volleyball across the floor to another person, would your eyes be on an intermediate target one foot in front of you or would it be on the other person? When you are putting, who can look 10 inches in front of the ball and choose a correct intermediate target less than half the diameter of the head of a tee? Have the target in mind, not an intermediate target.

ROLL THE BALL STRAIGHT—This is a real breakthrough. If you roll your hands during a putt, you roll the head of the putter. Who’d a thunk it? Tom says, “Make sure that the back of your left wrist points at the target at impact.” What Tom doesn’t say is this works only if the back of your left wrist points at the target during address. What he should have said is that your hands (and the club) should arrive back at the ball just as they were at address (however that was). If they don’t, the putter face will not be the same as it was at address.

PUNCH A RESTRICTED SWING—Ok.

MAKE A PERFECT TAKEAWAY—The article is not about the takeaway but catching “it flush”. Further confusing is the fact that you fix the backswing in order to catch it flush on the forward swing. I think you would have to fix the forward swing instead. Further puzzling is how the folded right elbow is the key. Disregard.

TOP 100 TEACHERS—Emeritus is a title applying to someone who is retired. Manuel de la Torre works 6 days each week and many of those days begin at 7:00am.

20 MOST DIFFICULT SHOTS—
#20…Good
#19…Ok
#18…Ok
#17…As the slope steepens you will aim further right and as the club loft increases you will aim further right. Learn to judge where the clubface is facing at address.
#16…ok
#15…Easier still is to use a seven iron, swing level and the ball will come out nicely.
#14…Good
#13…Ok
#12…Play the ball one inch back in your stance. Make your regular swing and plan the club will make contact higher on the ball which will reduce the trajectory.
#11…Good
#10…Good
#9…Good—but swing the club with the arms, not the shoulders
#8…Good
#7…Consider making a very short swing to safely and predictably leave the bunker and put the ball in a good place to make your next shot.
#6…Rotating your grip more to the right is a more certain way to have the club face close during impact than by attempting to roll your hands during the swing.
#5…Cutting the ball does not add loft. Moving the ball forward in your stance does.
#4…Ok
#3…Ok
#2…Ok
#1…Ok, but don’t forget that there are some downhill lies from which the only shot will be backwards or to the side.

HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY PUTTS—Ok.
TURN YOUR SHOULDER, SWING YOUR ARMS—The movement of the body can be described many ways. It is more useful to think of the hands swinging the club back, the arms swinging it forward, and the body responding accordingly to both.
Open the Face to Land Pitches Close—There is no correlation between opening the face and improved distance control. In fact, it might be argued that increasing loft reduces our distance control.

SWING THE CLUB DON’T THROW IT—Unchanging grip pressure is a sensation related to “swinging the whole club” which is an attribute