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.

April 2007 Issue

This month's articles

-HOW TO SWING FROM THE TREES—Ok
-Ask Pelz—Before you try Dave’s approach regarding focus, try it when you are tossing a ball. What you will find is that for your tosses to at all be close to target, your mind’s focus must be on the target—not speed and distance. Whatever works for you tossing will work very well for your putting.

-LOOPY LOGIC—People make way too much out of the loop in Jim’s swing. Yes, it is unusual. No, you would not want to try to put a loop in your swing. Instead of looking at the loop, let’s look at the club as it moves through the bottom 1/3 of the swing (8 o’clock to 4 o’clock). There you will see that Jim does with his golf club just what every other good swinger does. Note: Because Jim plays the ball forward in his stance, he must slide his body to his left so that his center is aligned with the ball. If he had not taught himself to setup this way, he would not have to slide and add that variable to his shots.

-UPHILL ESCAPE—Ok. But be advised that setting up on an uphill shot with a sand wedge will send the ball very high. Your swing will have to be bigger than you might think if you have not practiced this. An alternative strategy is to use a PW or a nine.

-HOW TO HINGE YOUR WRISTS—STOP!! Martin has the hinges strapped on his wrists incorrectly. The left is ok but look at the right in the bottom picture. See how the hinge strap on his right forearm is no longer pointing at his right elbow. It’s twisting—and that’s not even with the club all at the top of the backswing. Martin is using the wrong hinges. Our wrists are ball and socket hinges. This illustration would be a little better if the hinge on the right wrist was mounted on top of the wrist like he has the left one.

-HOW TO BE FIRM WITH FAST DOWNHILLERS—It sounds desirable but what does “firm” mean? Hitting a ball on the toe of the club will not impart as much force as it will when you hit it on the center. So when you have a putt like the one on page 72, how much bigger of a swing would you want to make when you hit it on the toe? This takes a LOT of practice to develop a whole new knowledge of judging speed off the toe. Eden is right the ball won’t go as far when it comes off the toe. What Eden doesn’t tell you is that you now need to learn a whole new base of knowledge to judge toe shots in addition to judging center shots. It’s not worth it. Keep it simple. You can still put them in the cup on downhill putts when you hit them off the center. When you hit it off the toe, it feels anything but firm.

-IRONS IN THE MISFIRE—David is correct about many players aiming left of target. But it’s not because of the off-set. Players align left even with their putters—which have no offset. Use Manuel’s approach to alignment (page 35).

-HOW TO PRACTICE LIKE A TOUR PLAYER—I have never seen an article more superficial and misguided than this one.

-CHOKE DOWN TO KEEP IT LOW—Choking down shortens the length of the club and therefore lowers the club head speed. Shortening the swing will also decrease club head speed and therefore distance. How does choking down affect the loft of the clubface? It doesn’t—so choking down does not make the ball flight lower.

-DOES YOUR PUTTER MAKE YOU MISS?—Your putter does not and will not make you miss—ever. However, your putter can misfit you to such an extent that it makes putting more difficult than need be. Many players use putters that are too long for them.

-THE TURN SECRET—The only guarantee for not coming over the top is to have the back swing over the right shoulder and then have the club retrace the path of the backswing during the forward swing.

-TIGHTEN YOUR STAND TO BUST BIG DRIVES—Read the last sentence. What is says is true. What it doesn’t say is why this stance will make you hit it further. The reason it doesn’t is because it won’t. On the other hand, an extra wide stance can restrict your turn and keep you from making your fullest swing.

-STOP SLICING IN 5 SECONDS—Tom makes a good point as to how the toe of the club should be vertical but this is not the cause for most player’s slicing. If you see your shot ballooning high and to the right, Tom’s fix may be right for you.

-POWER UP WITH THE O FACTOR-- Try this: 1) stand at address with the club wresting on the ground, 2) leaving the club rest on the ground, turn your hips as fast as possible, you’ll see that the club does not move 3) the hips are independent of your arms. You can turn them as fast as you want and it adds nothing to the swing speed, except at the very end of their turn at which time they are twisting your torso to the left. Turn to page 172 and make a careful comparison of the clubface at address and at impact. The clubface is open and looking to the right. The only thing the O Factor will do on this shot is get the player to say, “Oh, no!”

-PRIVATE LESSONS
-Show the putter face the hole—The old wives tale is trotted out once again. One foot after impact the putter face will not be looking at the hole. The swing is circular. The moment the club passes impact the face begins looking left—on all swings. The putter does not need to, nor should you try to make it travel straight back and straight through.

-WATCH THE ELBOW—Forget the elbow. Focus on the club. Swing the club over your right shoulder (junction of shoulder and arm) with the shaft parallel to the target line. Then just re-trace the path for the forward swing. Wherever the elbow is during this swing is where it needs to be.

-WHEN BAD CONTACT IS GOOD—Actually this article has it exactly backwards. In heavy grass the grass catches the hosel, slows it down, and the toe quickly passes it and shuts the club face. Its why we hit a lot of grounders out of taller rough. On hardpan, plan to hit the ball thin and miss the dirt altogether.

-FOR MORE DISTANCE, LET THE DRIVER GO—This could be helpful for some players.

-THE HIGH TROUBLE SHOT—Rather than learn a new swing, just open the clubface before you grip it and play for the ball to travel to the right of your target line.

March 2007 Issue

This month's articles

-BLAST FROM DEEP BUNKERS—This instruction is ok but learning how much to open the face and how big the swing should be takes practice. This shot requires no change in swing but does require some experience from practice. It’s an unusual shot, so put it at the bottom of your practice list. P.S. You don’t need a 64 degree wedge. You can rotate the face of any wedge to achieve maximum trajectory.

-WHY DO I STRUGGLE FROM UNEVEN LIES—This is ok except for Fix No. 3. Choose a club with more loft. If the downhill is gentle, align your shoulders to the slope of the hill. If the downhill is step, play the ball back in your stance and align to the left of the target. Like the bunker shot above, these situations need to be practiced so you can have experience from which you can draw.

-ESCAPE CLEANLY FROM DIVOTS—When the ball is in a divot, the lie is different than when it’s sitting on the grass in the fairway. Accept that. Then accept that the club will contact the ball just below its equator. This will result in the trajectory of the shot being lower. That’s ok, you can still make it go straight and all the way to the green. No swing change is necessary.

-HOW TO PUNCH UP YOUR POWER—The club is on the ball for .0003 of a second. Anytime anyone suggests that you “time your swing” thank them and then forget anything you heard. When you swing the club always gets square to the target line directly below your center-the swing times itself. Second, Martin’s idea is to “punch” or put linear energy into the ball. This will prompt you to flex your muscles but will slow down your swing. The swing is circular—keep it that way.

-HOW TO PLAY ON-TARGET CHIPS—Carefully read “The Solution”, notice that it says at set up to keep the shaft in line with the left arm. No take out a straight edge (you can use a business card) and lay it along the shaft of the club in these pictures. Do you ever see the club aligned with his left arm? No. Turn the page on this article.

-GET IT CLOSE BY GETTING WRISTY—Read the warning at the bottom of this article.

-How to control your turn—Let’s make this quick. Look at the club in the photo in the top right corner of page 61. Note how it is not pointing to the target but is pointing to the left. Now look at the photo No. 3. Note how the club is not pointing left but instead is parallel with this toe line. Same turn but two different positions at the top. We are not interested in controlling the turn. We are very interested in controlling the club. Forget this article.

-TRY A FORWARD PRESS FOR SMOOTHER PUTTS—Michael needs to watch the high speed photos taken of a ball coming off a putter face—it has backspin. Since all clubs have loft (even the putter), every shot leaves the club with backspin. You cannot put topspin on a ball unless you contact it above the ball’s equator. Regarding the forward press, look at the full length photo of Michael at address. Look at the putter face relative to the yellow line. See how the putter face is out of square. This putter face will send the ball to the right of the target line. Forget the forward press. The putter has been designed to put its best roll on the ball with the shaft vertical not leaning forward.

-COPY THAT—I like the idea but the devil is in the details. Annika swings the golf club. An uninterrupted swinging motion will turn your right side to the target. Don’t make this happen by trying to turn. Let it happen as a result of an uninterrupted swing.

-OPERATION DESERT ESCAPE—Too complicated. No swing change. No grip change. When you setup begin by hovering the club directly above the ball. Center and balance yourself to the club. Now relocate the clubface to just behind the ball and resting on the ground. This setup will make the lowest part of your swing right under the ball. Therefore the club will contact and propel the ball before the club reaches the sand. In other words, play this like a fairway bunker shot. The ball will travel on a lower trajectory.

-LOW DRIVES FOR LOW TEES—The driver face has “roll”. It is not flat. It has more loft higher on the face and less loft lower on the face.

-TURN LEVEL TO STOP HITTING FAT—The number one reason for fat shots (9 out of 10) is the use of the right hand to make the club face “hit” at the ball. Use the arms only.

-STOP DIPPING TO STOP PUSHES AND HOOKS—Isn’t this silly. For a million dollars and hitting a thousand golf balls don’t you think you could find a way to dip and still hit it straight? Yes. That’s because pushes and hooks have to do with the club not the body. Fix ball flight by fixing the club’s motion not the body’s.

-HOW TO FIX THREE BACKSWING KILLERS—Let’s make this simple. Keep your balance.

-WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM A SNAPSHOT—Ok.

-HOW TO BE CLUTCH—There’s a difference between focusing on what worries us during a round and focusing on what we want the club to do. Focus on what you want not on what you don’t (that works well off the course too).

-HOW TO TURN KNEE-KNOCKERS INTO TAP-INS—If this works for you great. But, for tap-ins the arc of the swing is so small it appears as though the putter head is tracking the target line (i.e. straight back straight through). Be careful that this tip doesn’t ruin your swing with the putter and degrade it into a straight-back straight-thru pushing motion.

-TRUST YOUR ROUTINE—absolutely.

-HOW TO BUILD A REPEATING SWING. Get ready this is going to be wild!
PRE-SWING—Keep your spine straight….your spine was made “S” shaped. You cannot (and better not try) to keep it straight. Look carefully at the photo. The yellow line is straight is is back? No.
Three-point stance—Just sole the club correctly and that will position you correctly.
Climb a ladder—the top yellow line is 3 inches below his shoulder.
TAKEAWAY—Move the shoulders and nothing else…look at how the shaft is in line with his left forearm. Now look at the front view of the setup on the preceding page. See how the club shaft is not aligned with the left forearm. So when he says the shoulders move and nothing else, he is not doing what he is saying.
-Key Checkpoint—club shaft, and hands are in line with your belt buckle. Look at the last photo in that series of four—again he isn’t doing what he is saying.
-TO THE TOP—“its not how far back the club is at the top”…huh? The further back it is the more time for acceleration before it contacts the ball. (take a look at Tiger on P. 79). It’s much less as to “how” you take it back but “where” you take it to. You want as full a backswing as is easy for you with the club on plane at the top.
-TRANSITION—don’t drop your arms (that’s a linear direction). Swing them (that’s circular).
-DOWNSWING—Ok.
-Key Checkpoint—“…mostly arms”—ONLY ARMS!!!
-IMPACT—Uh-oh. Look back to the previous page. Notice step 6 where he says, “You’ve done it right if, once again, the club, shaft and your hands are in line with your belt buckle. Now look at the impact position on page 124. He’s not doing what he told you. The reason he isn’t is because he can’t. The reason he can’t is because he “gets shifty” That left wrist is bowing. When it does the clubface gets deloft and/or out-of-square.
-Balance—“…stay balanced”. You can’t “get shifty (i.e. shift your weight) and stay balanced.
-Release—Ok. Release is something you “let” happen, not “make” happen.
-THE FULL SWING—
1) ok
2) ok
3) ok
4) the shaft is not perpendicular to the ground and there is no reason why it is better to have it stop short of being parallel.
5) ok
6) ok
7) the shaft is not perpendicular to the ground because he shifted his weight
8) ok
9) the shaft is not perpendicular to the ground and doesn’t need to be

-ADD WRIST ACTION ON EXTRA-LONG PUTTS—This is disastrous instruction. If you are tossing a ball (underhand) is there ever a distance where “wrist action” would be helpful? Use the same swing, just make it bigger.

-DIVIDE YOUR BALL IN TWO—focusing on parts of the ball guarantees you nothing. Keeping your balance will keep you behind the ball. If you want the ball lower setup with the ball further back in your stance (or choose a lower lofted club).

-LET YOU POSTURE DICATE YOUR PUTTING STROKE—this is almost correct. The lie angle of the putter defines the angle of the swing plane. The flatter the lie the more flat the swing plane. This has nothing to do with your posture.

-FOR MORE LENGTH, LENGTHEN YOUR TARGET—go to the range and find out how far you carry your wedge, 8, 6, and fairway wood. Once you know these you can deduce the rest.