This is the second of a two part series outlining the basics of my teaching structure. In the last issue of Golf24 Magazine I described how to hit the ball the correct distance.
DISTANCE = CLUBHEAD SPEED + SOLID CONTACT
We talked about how the width of the swing and it’s acceleration provide the proper speed of the clubhead. While swing plane, and the coordination between the body and hands ensure ideal contact with the ball. Now let’s move on to the important task of hitting the ball in the right direction, so that when Spring finally arrives... we can find our golf balls after we hit them!
DIRECTION = ANGLE + PATH OF THE CLUBFACE AT IMPACT
If we assume good contact with the ball, then the direction it flies is a result of only two things:
1) The angle of the clubface at impact, (open, closed, or square)
2) and the direction the clubface was moving in when it strikes the ball. (out-to-in, in-to-out, in-to-in)
Let’s deal with the angle of the clubface first, as it has by far the biggest influence on the final resting place of our ball. If the clubface does not square to the target at the moment of impact, then the ball will receive a sidespin, resulting in a slice or a hook. We control the angle of the clubface with our GRIP. Therefore HOOKING and SLICING are controlled by the grip, period. It is that simple. If you want to change the curve that the ball makes in the air, then you have to change the way you hold the club.
Changing your grip is easy, although very uncomfortable at first. The grip has two basic directions: „Strong” is with the hands rotated away from the target (Photo #1), vs. „Weak” with the hands rotated towards the target (Photo #2). These terms have nothing to do with grip pressure!
Photo #1 Photo #2
A „strong” grip closes the clubface through impact and therefore produces more hook, while a „weak” grip maintains the clubface open and gives us our beloved slice. If you suffer from a slice, then you MUST „strengthen” your grip! Don’t mess with your swing! Just rotate your hands on the club, away from the target, and swing again. If you still slice, then change your grip more. I don’t care what your grip looks like, as this is not a question of „wrong or right”. Keep strengthening your grip until the ball starts curving with a hook spin. Of course, when you start hooking too much, then „weaken” your grip again slightly. All the best golfers, all over the world, adjust their grips daily, depending on what shot they want to hit, or what side of the bed they woke up on that day. You should practice hitting balls with different grips until you can hit a hook or a slice on demand. This type of practice will make hitting the ball straight MUCH easier.
The other contributing factor to direction is determined by the path the clubhead is travelling through impact. By adjusting our grip, we have learned to hit the ball straight (no curve), but it still might fly straight-left (a „Pull”, for right-handed golfers), or straight-right („Push”). You will notice that the divot (hopefully there will be one!) points in the direction of your swing. An „Out-to-In” swing direction will produce a Pull, and an „In-to-Out” swing will Push the ball. Check your divots to be sure of this diagnosis.
To deal with Pulling and Pushing, ADJUST THE BALL POSITION! All swings are round in the sense that: your club comes on it’s way down, from behind you, passes in front of you at some point, and then returns behind you. So the further forward (towards the target) you place the ball, the later you will make contact, and the club will be on a path back around you. This will tend to pull the ball. (Photo #3) Conversely, the farther back you place the ball in your stance, the earlier you will hit it, and the club, in that phase of the swing is still coming from behind you, and will „push” the ball away from your body. (Photo #4)
Photo #3 Photo #4
As you can see in the photos, the string of divots represents the path of my clubhead. In photo #3, with the ball on my left heel, I will pull it. Photo #4, with the ball on my right heel, obviously produces a push.
Again, DON’T mess with your swing. Do not TRY to swing toward the target. Rather, if you tend to pull the ball, move the ball farther back in your stance. If you still pull it, move it even farther back until you end up with a push. The fundamentals of Ball Position and Grip are not concerned with „right or wrong”, but rather with fine tuning until you get your desired result.
To make a quick summary of Direction:
Hooking and slicing have to do with your grip.
· Strong = hook
· Weak = slice
Pulling and pushing have to do with the ball position.
· Forward = pull
· Back = push
There is not more to this topic. If you carefully read the last two articles on Distance and Direction, you should be able to fix almost any problem that you have in controlling your ball. In the next issue of Golf24 Magazine I will put these fundamentals to work, and give clear and concrete examples of how to cure the most common faults in golf.
Till then, enjoy your game.
Hitting a ball to a target involves only DISTANCE and DIRECTION This first article is going to deal with the more important of the two factors: Distance. As we improve our understanding of how to hit a golf ball, and send it the correct length, then we can move on to the second element in the next issue of Golf24 Magazine: Direction. DISTANCE = CLUBHEAD SPEED + SOLID CONTACT The distance a ball travels is the direct result of only two things: clubhead speed, and the solidness of contact. Speed: In the last issue of Golf24 Magazine I dealt with some of the factors that concern clubhead speed. Total swing speed depends on the length and width of your swing’s arc plus the club’s acceleration. The difference between Photos #1 and #2 is that more flexibility leads to a bigger body turn which promotes a wider arc. A 15cm wider arc is like adding 15cm to your club’s shaft. This will give you a huge increase in clubhead speed. Acceleration is of course the other factor. I like to practice with a weighted club or just swinging three clubs as fast as I can (Photo #3), to get the feeling of a powerful acceleration into the ball. Of course power is nothing without balance, timing, and coordination, which were the lessons in last month’s edition. In this issue, I am going to explain how to make good contact with the ball. This is the most important goal for amateurs and professionals alike: Photo #1 Photo #2 Photo #3 How to make good contact: The most simple answer is from Ben Hogan: “The secret is in the dirt! You have to dig it out.” If you are swinging with an iron YOU MUST TAKE DIVOTS. (Photo #4) Whether you take a divot or not is a question of the steepness of your swing. The steeper the swing, the bigger the divot. The more shallow your swing, the smaller your divot, if at all. The only difference between a swing with my driver and one with my sand wedge is the swing plane. As you can see by the white line on my left jacket sleeve, the shorter the club (sand wedge), the steeper the swing, the bigger the divot. (Photo #5). The longer the club (driver) the flatter the swing, the smaller the divot. (Photo #6) Although controlling the steepness of your swing should be mostly instinctive, you will find that your body posture greatly affects your ability to take consistent sized divots. The more you bend forward at the waist, the steeper you swing will tend to be. The more upright you stand, the flatter swing you will have. Photo #4 Photo #5 Photo #6 But simply taking a divot does not guarantee success. Good contact also depends on taking the divot IN THE RIGHT PLACE! The divot must start under the ball and extend toward the target. Once you have the right sized divot, there are only two possible mistakes you can still make. 1) If you hit the ground too early, grass and dirt get between the club and the ball resulting in a “fat” shot; the typical “duff” that high handicappers suffer from, which causes their fear of taking a divot at all. Most beginners at golf hit at the ball too much with their hands, and don’t turn their body enough through impact. This is what causes the “fat” ones. The clue here is in the right foot at the finish position. My right foot staying down in Photo #7 gives away the fact that my hips never entirely face the target. This is not enough body turn, and I will make up for it by swinging my hands at the ball, causing a “fat” shot. 2) Taking a divot too late is a fault of better players. If you turn your body too fast toward the target, and delay the release of your hands too long, you will hit the ground too late with the club, and contact the ball “thin”. I suffered 5 years from this mistake. In Photo #8 you can see my right heel bows outward, pointing to the fact that I am too aggressive with my body. Photo #7 Photo #8 The correct coordination between the speed of your hands, and the turning of your body will assure that you contact the ball and the ground at the same instant. This is good timing, and should give you that great feeling of solid impact. But this is only half the story. Having the correct clubhead speed and making good contact with the ball sends it the exact distance you want… but it has nothing to do with the direction you send it! Spend this Winter trying to improve your impact, and your swing speed, and we’ll deal with where the ball flies to in the next issue!
More time in the Sand than a Matador
Do you dominate the bunkers? I was asked this once in Spain; I replied that it was impossible. Bunkers offer an endless variety of sand conditions, bad lies, and awkward stances. Though now I understand that domination is an attitude; a cockiness that breeds creativity. Spanish players love to show off their skills, especially in the bunker. One said, “I spend more time in the sand than a matador”. You could almost hear the trumpets blaring as he walked into the trap with his chest out, head high.
Most high-handicappers struggle in bunkers because poor technique leads to bad experiences. We all know how it feels to fat a shot that comes rolling back to your feet. Or even worse: thinning the ball over the green and into even deeper trouble! These terrible experiences create a fear of sand that takes time to overcome.
First you’ll have to improve your technique. I’ll simplify some ideas, so you know how and what to practice, and then sooner than you think, you’ll start to relax and have fun playing in the sand.
Simplify your Setup:
Stand as you would for a normal pitch shot. Don’t squat, and don’t worry about “opening the clubface to the target”, or “opening your stance”. This is only done to play soft, spinney, lob-shots from the sand, which 9 times out of 10 you won’t need in Poland because the greens are not fast enough. If you really feel you need higher, softer shots out of the sand, then you may want to look for a lob wedge with medium “bounce”.
The ONLY difference in your setup is going to be placing the ball 5-8 cm further forward (toward the target) in your stance than where you’d normally play the ball. Obviously you do NOT want to hit the ball; therefore it’s very important to move it forward, out of your normal hitting area. (Photo #1 & #2)
So now all you have to think about is taking a decent divot.
Swing with purpose:
Your swing is also going to be the same as that which you use for pitching: which is about half, or ¾ of your full swing. You don’t have to do anything different, or special; just make a normal swing where you follow through as far, or slightly farther than you take the club back.
Like all short shots, controlling the distance the ball travels is twice as important as worrying about the direction. Practice controlling distance, and the direction will improve on its own. From sand, distance is controlled by 3 factors:
1. The speed of the clubhead:
Swing at a speed that comfortable for the distance you are trying to hit the ball.
2. The loft of the clubhead:
You should practice and be able to hit all of your wedges out of a bunker. Try your pitching wedge for long shots (40-60 meters). Gap wedge for medium-long (30-40 m). Sand wedge for medium-short (10-30m), and lob wedge for short or high-lipped shots (under 10m).
3. Amount of sand between the clubhead and the ball at impact:
This is determined by the depth and placement of the divot. Let’s analyze this in more detail.
The depth of the divot (how much you hit into the sand) is a function of swing plane, which is controlled by your body posture (the amount you bend forward at the waist). If your divots are too deep, this means your swing is too steep, and you need to bend less over the ball. Inversely, if your divots are too shallow, or you struggle to take a divot at all, then your swing is most likely too flat, and you need a posture that is more inclined forward.
The placement of the divot (where you hit into the sand) is a question of timing between how fast you release the clubhead into impact with your hands, and how fast you turn your body weight through towards the target. The faster you are with your hands, the sooner the clubhead will hit the sand: the quicker you turn with your body, the later your divot will come.
Practice for Great Bunker Shots:
Since taking a proper divot, in the proper place is the key to competent bunker shots, I frequently use a drill that trains just that.
Draw a line marking where you want to hit into the sand, about 2-5cm behind the ball, and which extends into the middle of your stance.
Now draw a series of divots along that line, and practice hitting those divots out with a realistic swing. Once you’ve taken several proper divots in a row, go ahead and try your skill with the ball. Take a moment after the shot to judge whether your divot was too deep, or too shallow; too early, or too late. (Photo #3)
You should get the hang of taking good divots with your practice swing relatively quickly. If you find that your swing changes with the presence of the ball, then try alternating practice and “real” swings in quick succession. (Photo #4)
Experiment, test yourself, have fun. Soon you’ll hear the trumpets sounding.