August 2008 Golf Magazine

HOW TO PLAY LIKE THE BEST—The shoulder turn and hip turn are best considered as a response to the swing as opposed to causes of the swing. Shoulder and hip turn are two factors that contribute to a long backswing. The longer the backswing the more time the club has to accelerate.

PAUL CASEY—Ok.

MAKE TRICKY READS EASY—Ok.

GAIN CLUBHEAD SPEED—As mentioned above, the shoulder turn (ie. turning your back toward the target) is not the objective—you longest backswing is. Many players will not be able to turn their back to the target and still keep the club on plane. Regarding softening your wrist, apply this to your whole body. Rid yourself of any unnecessary muscle tension. Tight muscles are slow muscles. And regarding turn your hips fast, this is a sure way to flare a bunch of shots off to the right (just like Tiger).

STIFF IT WHEN YOU’RE BETWEEN CLUBS—Why does Steve say “hit a shorter club with a harder swing” but “ hit the longer club with a ¾ [shorter] swing? Why not hit the longer club with a softer swing? Because it is very difficult to make a full swing but make it slower. It is no less difficult to make your full swing faster than you normally make it. Whether high or low handicapper, go with the longer club but shorter swing.

HIT YOUR IRONS ON TARGET—Let’s see if we have Kip’s lesson correct: If the knee doesn’t knock over the trash can (or bin), then the hips turn, then the curves in ball flight will begin [begins?] to straighten out. Huh? Is this article about hitting my target or about straightening out my ball flight. Kip, its about the club—not the trash can.

DIFFERENT SHOTS FOR DIFFERENT SANDS—The less sand you take, the less speed you need, so the shorter your swing.

MAKE PITCHES HOP THEN STOP—First, anytime you read an instruction to “trap” the ball realize the you are being instructed to do the impossible. Step to a ball and position the club as you would image it to be at impact when it traps the ball. You can’t. (If you can, please email me right away!). Second, anytime you open the clubface you add loft and increase backspin. If you want more stop and less roll take a more lofted club or open the clubface. There is no need for a setup or swing change.

HOW TO PUTT ON WINDY DAYS—Ok.

HOW TO HANDLE FAST DOWNHILLERS—If you want to see how well this instruction “doesn’t work”, go to a green with a fast downhiller. Put the ball in your hand and try rolling it close to the pin. Notice that when you do this your attention is not on some “speed point” but instead is on the hole. Your brain works the same way for putting.

HOW TO CHIP FROM A TRAP—This works ok if the ball is sitting up on top of the sand (ie. hard pan) or if the ball is on the upslope of a bunker with little or no lip in front of it.

HOW TO HIT A BACKHANDER—Ok

MY PLAN FOR WINNING SCORES—I couldn’t be more in agreement and disagreement with Dave. I fully agree that a player needs to have a “go-to” swing—a swing they are confident in. I couldn’t be more in disagreement with Dave that this go-to swing should be something other than then swing you use for every shot. A go-to swing is what Dave refers to in the opening sentences. The he changes and talks about go-to shots.
Go-to shot 1…..Who is Dave talking to when he says, “A low-lofted hybrid should give you bout 200 yards of carry and 20 yards of roll”? How many players don’t even hit their 3 wood 220 yards? The point Dave is really making (and it’s a good one), is that the longer you hit it the straighter it needs to be. If the landing area is very tight, hit a shorter club. Hitting two six irons 150 yards each and keeping them in the fairway is much better than a 240 yard drive that drifts into the trees and leaves you a 60 yard shot out of the rough and through the branches.
Go-to shot 2…..It is often the case that our ability to create a low rolling shot the right distance and direction is better than trying to use the wedge and fly the ball to the target.
Go-to shot 3…..Same as #2
Go-to shot 4…..Same as #2. Regarding the “low punch” don’t change your swing. Choose a club that produces a trajectory that will keep the ball under the branches. A driver is a great choice.
Dave makes a good point regarding these shots. More than “know of them” you need to “practice them”.

5 DRILLS TO SHARPEN YOUR GAME—Ok.

Private Lessons

IMPROVE YOUR LAGS—This drill is really about the benefit of convincing yourself that the putt is not that difficult. We don’t want to lag and be short. For any putt, we want to try to make it. However, when we miss (which we will do most of the time) we want to be close enough for a tap-in.

AVOID OVER-TURNING—Let the swing turn you.

STOP THAT TOP—Notice, to cure the tops the picture is of the golfer having the intention to make the ball travel low along the ground (not hitting down on it).

SIMPLIFY YOUR SAND STRATEGY—Lot of good points here. But you don’t have to open the clubface or swing the club steeply. Just lower your center at address.

Pinpoint you aim for big results—Ok.

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.

November 2007 Issue

November ’07 Golf Magazine Instruction Commentary



This month's articles

-POSITIONS “A”. Blah, blah, blah. Let’s cut to the chase. This is the next version of a long list of articles prescribing the “body positions” of pro vs. amateur. This may be one of the worst of the lot because it is based on one high handicapper and one pro. There is discussion of their body but not one word about the club. Not one word about the tool that determines ball flight. If golf was scored on style and body positions this would be a landmark article worthy of your study. Since golf is scored by and enjoyed for ball flight, this article is worthless.

-HOW TO MAKE LONG HOLES PLAY LIKE SHORT ONES—This is another in Dave’s interesting analysis of golf statistics. He’s good at this. I like Dave’s analysis but not his recommendation. The problem he suggests is that amateur golfers attempt to hit longer drives on longer holes and wind up hitting poorer drives because their added effort distorts their swing. The solution he offers is a band aid. Instead, learn to make your swing consistent regardless of distance.

-HOW TO HIT PIN-SEEKING IRONS—And why does this technique make you more accurate? This article describes one way to produce a knock-down shot but does not offer one word about why a knock-down is more accurate than a normal swing.

-HOW TO BLAST ONE FROM A BUNKER DOWNSLOPE—This is ok, but think twice about spending time practicing this versus making 3-4 foot putts.

-6 WAYS TO FIX EVERY BAD SHOT—David should have titled this “6 Ways to fix every bad shot that is caused by strange body movements.” Read the first ten words of each of the 6 problems. All of these are strange body movement problems. These solutions have not benefit for problems from things like a problematic grip or poor alignment.

-HOW TO ATTACK WITH YOUR SHORT IRONS—I want to ask you to look at Brian’s two photos on the left. Lean to the right at address and then sway to the left on the back swing? That’s a sure way to make a simple shot more difficult. Brian also offers that prudent advice to “hit down on the ball”. That’s icing on the cake.

-SWING YOUR BAG TO STOP YOUR SWAY—I want to see Peter use this with one of his students. He wins the “creative but silly” golf instruction award.

-MOVE YOUR LEFT SHOULDER, ADD YARDS—Why is the yellow arrow longer in photo #3 than in photo #1? Does Bob have an elastic collar bone? Notice that the butt of the club in photo #3 is 15 inches (approx) from the center of his body and the club 4 feet. What is the chance of the club head arriving at the center the same time as the butt of the club? Answer: Slim and none. It appears to me that this is a sure way to have the ball go to the right.

-HOW TO STRAIGHTEN OUT YOUR PUTTS—Anne offers a great alternative if you don’t have a golf ball handy. If you do, then use it. Stretch a string out on the green (or carpet), place the ball inch from the string, and then make the putt. If the stroke is good and the blade is square at impact, the ball will roll parallel to the string.

-STOP SLICES (AND HOOKS!) WITH YOUR FEET—The idea behind this instruction is that if I put the body in a strange position I can force the swing to be different. Here is an alternative: Leave the feet in a normal position (each foot perpendicular to the target line and the toe line parallel to the target line), then swing the club correctly.

-HOW TO TURN YOUR SLICE INTO A DRAW—(I’d be more impressed if Steve taught us to turn the slice into straight). Here is the first article in this issue that deals with the club. I can’t imagine how this works but it might be fun to give it a try.

-BENCH YOUR SWING—This article deals with the club also. Nice. When doing drill 1 use a 5 iron instead. An eight will probably hit the ball too high.

-4 EASY WAYS TO BE A MORE CONSISTENT BALLSTRIKE—Can the formula for “hitting everything better” be reduced to : 1)shorten your backswing, 2)back a bigger hip turn, 3)Swing slower and with more arms, 4)release with your chest? I don’t think so. Again this is all body stuff and doesn’t deal with the essential role the club plays.

-USE YOUR TRIGGER TO INCREASE FEEL—Control of the putter results from: having a correct grip that squares the club face, swinging the club, have the putter aligned so the swing rolls the ball to the target. Forget the finger.

-IMPROVE YOUR CHIPS FROM THE ROUGH—Ok

-CURING WRISTINESS—Ok

-RELAX YOUR RIGHT ELBOW—Ok

-STAND TALL FOR A BIG TURN—At address, anything more than a slight knee-flex will restrict your back swing. The only knee flex that is appropriate is that which is necessary to sole the club.

May 2007 Issue

This month's articles

-CATCH THE WAVE--Dear Golf Magazine Editors, Welcome to the past. Listen to Manuel de la Torre 20 years ago or look at his 2004 DVD and you’ll hear him explain the “tidal wave” effect for bunker shots.

-DON’T LEAVE UPHILL WEDGES SHORT—When you are playing from an uphill lie there are two strategies: spine perpendicular to the hill (like Dave in photo #1), or spine vertical (like Dave in photo #6). If your spine is perpendicular the club will not go into the ground after impact. If the spine is vertical it is likely (depending on the grade of the hill) that the club will take a heavy divot or imbed in the hillside. Regarding being short, do this: imagine the normal trajectory of the club you want to use for the shot, then look at the grade of the hill and add that much trajectory to your normal flight, if the added trajectory directs too much of your swings energy upward rather than forward, choose a lesser lofted club.

-DO YOU KNOW 53 YARDS WHEN YOU SEE IT?—Do you know thirteen yards when you see it? Do you need to know the yardage between you and me if we were playing catch? No. Why not, because our tossing is regulated unconsciously by our vision not a consciously by our knowledge of yardage. Have a friend close their eyes and try tossing a ball various yardages as per your instructions. Now have them do the same thing with their eyes open with makers at those same yardages. Being able to estimate the yardage and being able to send the ball there, uses two different parts of your brain. Yardage is not helpful when you are making partial swings. It is only helpful when you are choosing clubs for full swings. (Look at Dave’s answer to the first question in the upper right hand corner of page 41).

-LASER TREATMENT—DON’T BUY THIS!! Like all your swings, a putting stroke is circular. When you swing this device the laser lines will immediately shine to the right of the target as you start your back swing and will immediately shine left as you pass the impact point. This device is based on a will cause people to try to bring the club straight back and straight through—very unnatural and unnecessarily difficult.

-HOW I STOPPED HOOKING, ONCE AND FOR ALL.—If your grip is too strong or you roll your hands during the swing you can have hooking problems. If your grip is neutral (v’s formed by your thumb and forefinger are pointed at your shirt buttons), and you allow your arms to rotate you will not have a hooking problem. Hogan created his own way of compensating—most players will find its more difficult.

-LONG ARMS ARE THE LAW.—Ok.

-SWIVEL YOUR HEAD FOR EXTRA DISTANCE.—This is a sure formula for hitting lots of shots to the right. Simpler and better is to allow your left arm to fold. This promotes a longer backswing and therefore more time for the club to accelerate.

-MAKE A WEAK EFFORT TO ESCAPE SAND.—Unnecessary.

-GIVE OUR SHORT PUTTS A “POP”.—How much of a pop? The swing is not “poppy” it is very smooooooooth.

-THE NATURAL.—Pay attention to the words “homegrown”. This is a code word for “this swing is so unusual that you’ll almost never see even professionals try it”. Look at J.B.’s club position in photo 3. From an address position, put your club in this position. The clubface is either delofted, facing to the right, or both.

-HOW TO HIT THE PERFECT CHIP.—There is so much wrong with this instruction its almost not worth the trouble.
Wrist Flat—The wrist is the hinge between your hand and forearm it can’t be flat. If the back of the left hand and the forearm are flat (i.e. you could lay a ruler across them), you will find that the club head is severely trailing the handle of the club and the club face aligned severely to the right.
Toe Closed—Todd writes “…your hand should be passive” and then goes on to say, “smoothly rotate the club”. Passive but active? How much should the club be rotated and when?
Weight forward—To fix hanging “back on your right side”, Todd wants us to hang on our left. Why not fix the hanging by making it simple and just be balanced?
Shoulder down—Look at Todd on page 60 in step 4. Is his left shoulder down?
Bottom Line: Use your normal setup and swing the club correctly.

-POWER FROM THE GROUND UP.—So the problem is a handsy swing, and the solution is to check the hips? How does this fix handsy? Do all handsy players have their hips out of place?

-HOW TO MAKE PITCHES BITE.—The ball doesn’t care if the wrist hinge quickly or if the club stops abrubtly. Its simple a matter of clubhead speed + clubhead loft + the type of ball you are using. Use a spin ball (Pro V1), and your most lofted club, and that’s all the spin that anyone can create.
P.S. the grooves do get worn on wedges and therefore they impart slightly less spin.

-HOW TO ROLL WITH THE RIGHT SPEED.—So the problem is that you are unsure how hard to hit a putt. Gary says that practicing rolling it over a pencil will improve your ability to know how hard to hit a putt. Or will it teach you the speed needed to jump a pencil? This is cute but absurd. Most missed putts result from the player concentrating on the ball instead of remembering where the cup is.

-BETWEEN CLUBS?—Ok, but this takes practice.

-2 = SAND ESCAPES.—Unnecessary

-HOW TO MAX OUT YOUR IRONS.—The problem that T.J. describes is “lack of crisp pure feel”. I’m really not sure what that means, are you? Regardless of what it means, do we ever want to contact the “inside lower quadrant” of the ball? From the address position, re-position the club face so it is up against the “inside lower quadrant”. Notice how the clubface is aligned to the right. Is that were you want the ball to go? Look at the small photo where the cup is in the air. Note the divots. T.J. took two shots. The divot for the this shot appears shallow and straight (not against the “inside lower quadrant”). The other divot is and deep and to the right—I think you are likely to get that kind of result from this kind of instruction.

-HOW TO CONTROL EVERY SHOT—Rotating the clubface affects the trajectory and direction of your ball flight. Rotating your hand (“knuckles down”) rotates the clubface. You can over-rotate and under rotate if you begin trying this technique. Be ready for a lot of practice and a lot of under and over cooked shots. Are you into simple? If you want the club face open or closed at impact just pre-set the club at address by rotating the shaft to the left for a hook or rotating it to the right for a fade and then grip the club while it is in that orientation. Now make your normal swing with no need to manage the rotation of your hands during the swing.

-THE CAN’T MISS PUTTING GRIP.—Somebody get Tiger on the phone and let him know he will never again miss a putt. I tried Brad’s suggestion. I could still be as wristy as I wanted.

-A NEW GRIP THAT STOPS YOUR SLICE.—Somebody get Cobra on the phone and tell them to trash all of those offset drivers they make for slicers. I certainly think that the “old way” that Brad describes is a problem but I am able to slice the ball with either of these grips.

-HOW TO STOP PULL-SLICING LONG IRONS.—As long as players focus on the body they won’t fix the pull slice. Dom’s suggest will only result in a pull slice that doesn’t start as far left and finishes further right. Fix the club not the body.

-USE YOUR HEAD FOR EXTRA YARDS.—(see above)

-PRIVATE LESSONS
SQUAT FOR POWER.—At the address position there is a specific number of inches from your swings center (just above your sternum) to the ball. If you squat the number of inches decreases. You will either hit the ball on the heel or hit it fat. No squatting. No swaying. The ball falls from between the knees because the left knee rotates toward the target.

PUTT WITH A FULL FOLLOW THROUGH.—The swing is a pendulum action. If the club swings back to 8 o’clock, it only has enough energy to swing forward to 4 o’clock. We don’t want the follow through bigger and never smaller.

SWING YOUR WEDGES AT 90 PERCENT.—Great advice for all our clubs (85% might even be better).

BUTT OUT!—You spin is not straight. It is “s” shaped. At address our objective should not be to have our butt out but instead to be balanced and relaxed.