July 2008 Golf Magazine

July ’08

TREVOR IMMELMAN—Textbook.

MAX OUT DOWNWIND DRIVES—Close. Play the ball an inch forward. Keep your balance.

ADD 10 YARDS TO YOUR DRIVES—“Power slap?” Using the wrists feels powerful because we can feel our forearm muscles making their effort. This is “powerless effort”. Use the arms (they are powered by much larger muscles). This is “effortless power”. You don’t want wrist action in your putting or in your driving.

USE YOUR FEET TO PURE YOUR IRONS—What was Dave thinking when he wrote this? Useless.

BIRDIE SHORT PAR 4s—Ok.

MAKE CHIPS CHECK—Ok.

HIT A SHORT, SOFT SAND SHOT—Ok.

MAKE A PERFECT BUNKER SWING—Your normal swing is the perfect swing. The only change for a bunker shot is the setup.

PRODUCE PERFECT SPEED—And this produces perfect speed how? Disregard.

TURN 15-FOOTERS INTO EASY MAKES—Alignment does not determine direction. The swing determines the direction. Alignment is only useful in making it easier to swing in the direction of the target.

KNOCK IT STIFF FROM A SIDEHILL LIE—Ok.

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.

HOW TO BUILD THE SWING YOU WANT—
….. BE MORE ACCURATE—The backswing does not determine accuracy.
…..STOP SLICES AND HOOKS—Good idea, but it wont fix slices or hooks.
…..ADD SPEED—Weight shift adds more inaccuracy than speed and hand release is a myth (look at the photo on page 85—no hand release! Don’t worry about the left leg or the re-hinging of the wrists at the end of the swing. These things happen as a result of the swing.
…..PURE LONG IRONS AND WOODS—These are all ok but do not ensure that you “pure the shots” Put simply, “puring” is the result of swinging in a way that returns the club to the address position.

HOW TO ATTACK ANY PIN FROM 100 YARDS—Ok.

THE QUEST FOR 300 YARDS—If your interest is in hitting the ball 300 yards (and you already hit it 260), I think the article lays a reasonable plan. If your interest is in improving your score, your time is much better invested in eliminating 3 putts and being about 80% on getting up and down.

HOW TO PUTT LIKE A CHAMPION—
..SET YOUR FOUNDATION—If you look carefully at Keystone 1 you see that there is nothing in the photo that matches the captions (e.g. “top of your back is parallel to the ground”. What is the “top of your back”?)
..GET SQUARE—Ok.
..RE-CREATE ADDRESS AT IMPACT—Ok.
..MAKE AN UPWARD STRIKE—The ball always comes off the putter with backspin.
..PUTT WITH RHYTHM—Ok.

PRIVATE LESSONS
TEE IT HIGH TO STRETCH YOUR DRIVES—Ok.

FIND THE RIGHT STRATEGY FRO YOUR GAME—Ok.

BALANCED PRACTICE LEADS TO BETTER SCORES—Ok.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR TARGET—Good. Then hold the picture of the club swinging to that target in your mind during the swing.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR GRIP AND YOUR CLUBFACE—Ok, but the V’s belong pointing at your center.