Golf Instruction
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Sunday, February 18, 2007 Alignment Beats The Slice Body alignment is one of two key setup elements most frequently changed by amateur golfers (the other is ball position). Because players often associate the alignment of their upper body with the starting direction of the ball off the clubface, they tend to incorrectly alter their alignment for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is to compensate for a chronic pull slice. While the logic of aiming the torso further left to prevent hitting the ball to the right may appear sound at first, this faulty compensation actually causes more harm than good in the long term. |
Sunday, February 18, 2007 Good Breaks To be a great putter, you have to have sound fundamentals. This requires a steady putting stroke that regularly sends the ball rolling in the desired direction. You also ought to have a clear idea of what direction you should roll the ball—not only in the first few feet, but also during the entire distance of the putt. To do this effectively, you need to know how the green breaks by looking at two components of the putt: speed and direction. Some instructors argue that speed is the most important factor in putting because it dictates direction—that is, more speed equals less break, less speed equals more break. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Conquer ObstaclesTake the high route over what?s between you and your target Many golfers have difficulty in hitting a high-trajectory shot when they have to. A reason for this inability is a ball position that’s too far back in the stance. This makes varying the trajectory of your shots nearly impossible. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Match Posture With Path The secret to consistently putting well is to match your posture to
your stroke type. However, the conventional wisdom applied by most
recreational golfers is that while putting, anything goes (witness the
claw grip, the left-hand low technique and the belly-anchored stroke).
And while many a Tour victory has been fueled by an unorthodox method,
one fundamental shouldn’t be ignored: How you stand to the ball
conditions how you stroke it. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Conquer Hardpan Regardless of where you play, you’ll eventually face a tough pitch off
hardpan. This is a dicey situation, as ultra-tight lies such as hardpan
make it easy for the clubhead to bounce off the turf and into the top
half of the golf ball, skulling it over the green. The key for pitches
off hardpan is to make sure the clubhead does anything but bounce off
the turf. Knowing how to accomplish this will save you strokes
not only in this situation, but in dozens of others that involve tight lies. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 No-Frills Putting DrillsNine easy ways to lower your score A quiet body, a ball at rest, a short back-and-forth motion—how could
something so simple cause so many headaches? It’s a question that
occupies the minds of touring professionals and weekend warriors alike.
Wouldn’t it be great if putting was as simple as it sounds, where every
round was as automatic as the clinic Aaron Baddeley put on at Harbour
Town this year (97 putts over 72 holes)? Jeff Ritter, director of
instruction at the ASU Karsten Golf Academy in Tempe, Ariz., believes
putting isn’t complicated. And to help solve your putting woes, he has
put together his No-Frills Putting Drills—nine straightforward,
no-nonsense exercises intended to be practiced on your own, without the
aid of an instructor. Practice these drills and, before you know it,
you’ll actually look forward to working with the flatstick. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Hinge For Power Amateurs have problems hitting crisp iron shots due to two fatal flaws.
First, the takeaway tends to be too low to the ground, which delays the
proper hinging of the wrists until too late in the backswing. Second,
in a misguided effort to create power, the arms tend to swing too far
in the backswing. This causes a breakdown in posture and usually leads
to a reverse pivot. These flaws cause mis-hits and a lack of distance
and control. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Dial In The Distance To get the clubhead traveling a little faster (a necessary requirement
for hitting longer shots), you need to create a longer backswing with
an increase in the amount of arm swing and body turn. Not only must the
swing be a little longer, but you need to pick up the pace of your
swing to increase clubhead speed as well. The pace of the forwardswing
should be slightly faster than normal. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Align The Easy Way Most of my students struggle with the slice. Many of these golfers have
serious swing issues, but the majority certainly possess enough talent
and an understanding of the golf swing to keep slices at bay. The
problem is they’re trapped into hitting slices because their setup
facilitates swinging on the out-in path to which all slices owe their
existence. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Hill RidesUphill and downhill lies are a challenge as they demand balance and control of the clubface throughout the swing Set up with your spine perpendicular to the slope and shoulders
parallel to the ground so you can swing up the slope on the backswing
and down the slope on the forwardswing. The arrangement of your body
will favor the creation of an upright swing and make it more difficult
to square the face through the hitting area—that’s why a shot from a
downhill lie tends to curve a little to the right. To help shallow the
plane and encourage a swing that’s a little more around your body, drop
your right foot back to close your stance slightly and match up the
ball position to your stance by putting it about two inches back of
normal. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Swing Barefoot For Balance The majority of recreational golfers fail to achieve the balance needed
to excel at golf or any athletic activity. One of the reasons why most
golfers don’t swing in balance is that they swing too hard. A rule I
like to impose on my students is “Swing as hard as you want to as long
as you finish the swing in balance.” |
