Thanks for visiting Golf Magazine Instruction.  In our efforts to continually improve, a new website has been created.  In it, we review the instructional articles in each month's issues of both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine.

If you read these magazines, you will find these reviews very helpful.  The new site also contains a glossary of those many terms frequently used but seldom defined.

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October 2008 Golf Magazine

GREG NORMAN: STILL A HIT—A giant spoonful of body analysis. An ear-splitting silence of any word about how Greg moves the club. Want your body to look like Norman’s during a swing? Then this is for you. Want your ball flight to look like his? Don’t look for that in this analysis.

MAKE EVERY FOUR-FOOTER—Like so many articles, this one has a great title. However, the article has nothing to do with increasing your percentage of four-footers. It does however make a good point about “upswing”--but that’s all.

HIT A POWER FADE—Let’s not take issue with the ball placement, but let’s look at setup. Steve’s setup is fine if you want a fade with extra height. There is no need to try to contact the outside quadrant of the ball.

FIND THE RIGHT STANCE WIDTH—Wow! Where did David come up with this one? I tested this. The change in my stance had no change in the position of either hand. By the way balance is a matter of weight not hand position. Balance is achieved when the weight carried by both feet is the same. Disregard.

HANDLE SOGGY LIES—OK.

CURE YOUR SLICE IN 10 SECONDS—Not again!!! But it gets worse. Shawn’s instruction actually promotes the clubface arriving out-of-square at impact. It promotes a slice. Try this. Take your normal setup. Notice that your left wrist is cupped. Now (while leaving the clubhead rest behind the ball, attempt to flatten your left wrist. The clubface is radically out-of-square.

PTICH FROM DEEP ROUGH—I can buy David’s article if we reduce it to this: When making a shot ensure that you allow your body to respond to the swing produced by your arms.

STOP FLUBBING CHIPS—If flubbing means “hitting them fat” this technique can be helpful. The reason it works is that almost all fat shots are the result of hand action during the forward swing (instead of arms). However, Chuck’s technique has you setup with the clubface delofted. So this keeps you from having the high soft shots that are often useful.

THE EASY WAY TO LAG PUTTS CLOSE—Ted wants you to calibrate a putting stroke on a level stretch of green. How many putts are level? How much do you adjust for a slight downhill or an extreme uphill? Myriad teachers have proposed this approach to calibration. It works poorly.

PUTT UP A TIER—Break the putt into two pieces, decide the correct stroke for each and then add them together? Are you kidding me? This may be logical but it sure isn’t practical. I think the better approach is the one Don uses when he recommends to “Imagine you’re bowling…” That’s not great but its better.

GET EVERY BUNKER SHOT CLOSE—There must be something in the water these guy’s are drinking. Yes, its true the arc of the swing gets bigger as the ball travels further. But don’t try to guess how big the swing should be. That’s a formula for poor performance.

STRIPE A BALL BELOW YOUR FEET—OK.

FIX POOR CONTACT—If by “clunky” Roger means fat, the solution may not be solved by sprinkling grass leaves in front of the ball on a mat. Fat is the result of the club not retracing its backswing arc. Instead the club arrives at the ball on an arc that is lower—hence fat. This can be the result of hand action or not maintaining the balance (toe to heal) you had at setup.

THE EASY WAY TO PLAY HYBRIDS—And how is this different from the driver and irons? The one thing to take from this article is to get hybrids (i.e. fairway woods) in your bag to replace your long irons (2, 3, 4, and 5).

MIRACLE WHIPS—Let’s be clear, no change in clubs will fix a swing.

Private Lessons

DITCH YOUR DECELERATION—A putter looses 20% of its speed to the ball at impact. It cannot be accelerating through the ball. The arc of the swing should appear relatively symmetrical.

COMING BACK FROM A SLUMP—Ok.

PLAYING THE PUNCH—Ok.

PERFECT YOUR POSTURE—Posture is a matter of pragmatism. Posture is functional. With your hands on the grip and your knees unlocked, sole the club correctly. That establishes the spine angle that’s right for you. Then without moving the club, your hands, arms, chest or head set your feet so that you feel your weight balance between left and right and between toes and heels.

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.

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.

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

February ’08 Golf Magazine

This month's articles

Sergio’s Power Lag—Lag happens. It’s not something that we need to add to our list of things to do. Look at what happens when you throw a ball over hand. At the end of your throwing backswing you will find that your wrist has flexed. As you start your forward swing of your throw, you will find that the wrist stays flexed. It continues that way until you arm is near parallel to the ground. At that time the wrist un-flexes and the hand, forearm, and arm form a straight line. You did not hold the lag nor release the lag. Instead it is a function of the motion. The same is true with the golf swing. Now do this experiment. Make a forward throw and try to manage the lag. Hold it for as long as you can and release it when you think it would be best. Did this help you throw further? No! Nor will attempting to manage the lag during the golf swing. The only thing that you can do regarding lag is to interfere with it. You can do this in one of two ways: 1) have your wrists so stiff that they cannot release (ball goes low and right), or 2) use your hands (hand action) in an attempt to try to hit the ball with the clubface (the prematurely diminishes the lag (see photo on page 107).

Lag it to tap-in range—I never hit a lag putt. I want to give myself a chance to make every putt. Peter’s drill will not help you get the ball closer to the hole. It will help you identify as to whether your swing plane is parallel to the target line.

Hit a reliable draw—There are two fundamentally different ways to draw the ball: change the swing, or change the setup. Jim is a proponent of the former. Heartland is a proponent of the latter. If you want reliability I think it is a no-brainer to believe you could better manage making a setup change than making a swing change.

Create more clubhead speed—In no way will ankle action increase your clubhead speed. What Paul is actually saying (re-read the article) is that his prescription will inhibit a forward sway (inset photo). Or, you can simply not sway when you swing and leave your ankles do whatever it is they do.

Add yards to your irons—Shifting your weight does not make your swing longer. Check it out for yourself. It does do a great job of making your contact much less consistent.

Straighten out your hybrids—The shaft angle on all clubs is the same. That is to say when you have the club soled properly so the club face has its correct amount of loft, the shaft will not be leaning forward (toward the target) or backward (away from the target). This is why all clubs are played from our center.

Quit hanging shots to the right—I like Rod’s objective, but there is a better means to check if you are rolling the clubface open during the backswing. Here it is:
From the address position swing the club back till the shaft is parallel with the ground. Now look at the clubface. Are the grooves pointing vertically toward 12 o’clock or are they leaning toward 1 or 2 o’clock? Next, finish the backswing so the shaft is parallel to the target line. Without changing the orientation of your clubhead and keeping it parallel to the ground, shift the club so the shaft is perpendicular to the target line. Then (without twisting the shaft) set it down in the address position. If the clubhead has the same orientation as it did before you began your backswing, then you did not turn the club on the backswing.

Putt with the Edge of your wedge—Brady’s instruction about the use of the wedge is functional. However, when you have this shot, rather than using the bottom edge of the wedge, try using the bottom edge of your putter. You’ll be much more comfortable making a putting stroke with a putter and the outcome will be more predictable.

Chip it close from an Uphill lie—Ok.

Stop leaving it in the sand—Rick says that a player leaves the ball in the sand because, “Your bunker swing is too shallow.” However, his 3 step solution makes no change to the “shallow-ness” of the swing.

Create Perfect putting impact—Perfect impact would be contacting the ball with the center of the clubface and the clubface square to the target line. Robert’s instruction addresses neither. Instead what this drill does is promote a de-lofted putter face working against the design by the club manufacturer who puts 3-5 degrees of loft in the putter.

Make a smoother stroke—When you count, make the cadence even and the volume of each number the same. Be aware if you say the word “three” louder than one or two. Also don’t setup the putter wrong. Chuck has the putter sitting on its heel instead of properly soled.

Fix pop-up slices—Disregard this article. If you have this problem, a sure fix is to observe the shaft and clubhead during the first four feet of your backswing. Spend some time training yourself that your forward swing should retrace that portion of your backswing.

How to dominate Par 3’s—I like Retief’s thoughts strategizing about these holes (comments 1-3). With regard to shaping shots, while Retief relates body movements to such shaping, remember it is club movement that shapes shots. Disregard his swing tips.

Private Lessons
Stay loose for more yards—ok
Reach the green from fairway bunkers—Ok.
How to shape shots by feel—Feel is related to how the body feels. Such feelings are one step removed from what shapes the shot—the club. Always work on being aware of what you want the club to do.
How to check for power leaks—Ok.
Use different clubs for chipping—Ok.
**I think this is the first time I’ve ever found most (let alone all) of these Private Lessons to meet my approval!

January ‘08 Golf Magazine Instruction Commentary

This month's articles

READ THE BREAK IN REVERSE—Dave doesn’t mention it, but I can’t believe he overlooked the fact that a putt rolling from the cup to its point of origin requires a different stroke than rolling from origin to the cup. Because the initial speed of the putt is greater (on a level putt), it will not be affected by breaks in the first half of the putt as much as it will in the second half when the ball is rolling much slower.

PLANE SIMPLE—Don’t look too long at Zach’s swing. It’s not what you’d want to copy. The club head is outside on the first part of the backswing. The club is below the plane on the end of the back swing. The club face is open and the club is pointing left at the top of the swing. But, on the forward swing he fixes all those things. The reason Zach can play well is that he is consistent in his swing. His swing is not exemplary but it is something he has learned to repeat.

HOW TO PLAN A GREAT ESCAPE—I like Laird’s comments (except for those titled “Set Your Base”).

HIT CRISP, STRAIGHT IRONS—Fat, thin, short, and all-over-the-course is the result of tilting your hear to the right? Maybe for a few golfers. This is a new one.

MAX DISTANCE WITH YOUR 3-WOOD—
-Line up Straight—Using Don’s technique cannot work. Your eyes are not positioned over the club. Instead, when the golfer turns their head to see where the club is pointed the eyes will be looking from right to left which results in the club appearing to point more left than it really is.
-Keep your chin up—Why do you need “extra” room? Don’t raise your chin.
-Use Posture to keep your swing on plane—With perfect posture, it is easy to swing the club below or above the plane. Plane is not fixed with posture.

HOW TO CATCH DRIVES FLUSH—Don’t try to fix one problem by causing another. Neither of the yellow arrow depict the correct path of the club’s arc. To do so, the arrow would be drawn approaching from roughly one end of the second dowel rod and leaving over the other end of the same rod.

HOW TO KNOCK LAG PUTTS TIGHT—Many times our distance is off on putts because we loose the mental image of the hole. Brady’s fix is to look at the hole while you putt. Do you think he does this when he is playing for money? The solution is to hold the picture of the hole in your mind while you are putting. This informs the brain so it knows how big to make the stroke.

SET THE BALL FOR STRAIGHT DRIVES—“You’ll know you’re [set ] correctly if a line extending from the shaft of the driver bisects your left ear.” Go set up with your driver and ask yourself if the shaft is bisecting your left ear. If you can, you’re one up on me. Instead, set the club head behind the ball with the shaft square to the target line and then center yourself on the club.

CONTROL SPEED AND DIRECTION ON PUTTS—Use a band-aid for a cut not a putt. If your problem is hand-action during your putting stroke work on fixing that problem not on trying to avoid a band-aid stuck to your putter face. Make several very small strokes without the ball and no hand action. Then do the same with a ball. After you repeat no-ball/ball several times (about 30 putts), increase the size of the stroke paying attention to the hands holding the club with no wrist movement.

PITCH IT CLOSE EVERY TIME—Take a look at the small inset picture. You can clearly see how Dana has use her hands to “flip” the club. But now look at her arms in this picture. You can easily imagine how she could be holding the towels under her arms but still flip. Disregard this article.

HIT THE POWER SWEET SPOT—I agree with Bruce that hitting down on the driver will produce a lower trajectory. However, I disagree with him regarding hitting down increasing the back spin. Hitting down delofts the club face. When a club has less loft it produces less backspin (think about a sandwedge compared to a 9 iron). I also disagree that you have do setup different with the driver than with any other club. If the driver is fitted for you, then you should not have to compensate by tilting or moving your hands.

HIT YOUR IRONS LONG AND STRAIGHT—How alignment makes you hit the ball longer, I don’t understand. How alignment makes you hit the ball straighter, I don’t understand. Properly aligned you can still hook or slice and can still hit it fat or thin—any of which you can also hit shorter than anybody in your foursome. All the above notwithstanding, please don’t stop swinging at the flag. The ball always travels in the direction of your swing and will stay in that direction unless you have imparted side spin on the ball.

MY 4 DRIVING SECRETS—I’d hardly call these secrets.
-Slow down your backswing—only do this if your backswing is so fast that you feel jerky instead of smooth as you transition from backswing to forward swing.
-Get wide for more yards—If you want to widen your stance, don’t do it the way Sergio describes. Moving just the right foot changes the ball and club position. Move both feet equally.
-Don’t fear the fade—“If you can master the timing…” The club is on the ball for 3 ten thousandths of a second and you are suppose to turn the right hand then!! If you want to fade the ball change rotate your grip to the left at address. Don’t try timing it.
-My Take on Tee Height—Big secret here!!

ADD 20 YARDS—If we would combine all the articles about adding distance, could we hit a ball into next week?
-Power Factor 1 A flatter Approach—Flatter than what? If the club travels around the body with no up and down it will be on a horizontal plane 3 feet above the ground. How about if we just make it simple and say swing the club on plane?
-Power Factor 2 Wrist Hinge—“…--your wrist joints are among the fastest in you body.” In a head-on collision auto accident the neck joints are even faster. Joints aren’t fast or slow. Where does he get this stuff? Hinging the wrist does only one thing, it lengthens the arc of your swing. The un-hinging and re-hinging happens gradually but continuously throughout the forward swing. You don’t time it.
-Power Factor 3 Square Clubface—Charlie must have been having an off day when they interviewed him. Read the last paragraph. He completely disregards the elbow and turns his attention to the club (Better late than never!). If your grip is neutral and the club goes toe-up to toe-u then the clubface will have been square at impact.
-Power Factor 4 Ascending Strike—I called Taylormade on this one. They confirmed my assumption. The five degrees of “attack angle” is a function of the club shaft and is not a matter for you to attempt to achieve in your golf swing. If the club is optimally fit for you your swing speed cause the head to deflect the shaft a positive 5 degrees.

PUTT TO A SPOT—This is the old “intermediate target” lesson. The problem is that if you concentrate on rolling the ball over the intermediate target you loose awareness of where the hole is and now you’ve lost your distance control. Keep the actual target in mind, not the intermediate.

OPEN YOUR STANCE FOR CHIPS AND PITCHES—Again this is an oft cited instruction but should only be applied if setting up square is less effective for the player (typically it isn’t).

Power begins with your backswing—Ok.

SWING FREE AND EASY—Make your grip neutral. Swing with as little tension as possible and with you grip pressure remaining constant. Your stance should be square.

SWING EASIER FROM A DIVOT—When the ball is in a shallow divot, play the shot with your normal setup. Because a very small portion of the ball is below-grade your swing will have the club head contact the ball a little high producing what you would otherwise consider a “thin” shot. No problem it will still go about the same distance, will go straight but with a lower trajectory. If the divot is so deep that the club will contact the ball too high, then move the ball back in your stance so the path of the swing will miss the back edge of the divot and cleanly contact the ball. This too will produce lower trajectory with about the same distance.