Golf Digest Jan '06 Instruction Commentary

Before we get to this month’s articles we noticed that Jerry Tarde (Editor-in-Chief) responded to Ray Romano’s question, “Do the pros really write their own articles?” Jerry’s answer was in the affirmative.

This month's articles:

FIND YOUR PERFECT TEMPO. Butch demonstrates a drill based on the fact that when you do this drill there is a tendency to “swing” (i.e. use a swinging motion) to move the club from the forward position to the end of the back swing. That “swing” has a rhythm that you will tend to use on the forward swing. As rhythm improves, you’ll tend to hit some of these shots well. The speed of these rhythmic swings will give you a sensation of the tempo that works well for you.

MY BEST TIP EVER. Please note Tom’s comment, “was the culmination of years of doing what he showed me.” Think twice about Watson’s idea to “take it back outside the target line”. Practicing enough to get comfortable taking it outside can easily creep into your other swings and now you’ve created a monster. Opening the clubface to add loft (as in the top photo) is a simple strategy and requires no swing change.

LIGHT ON THE LOB. Great idea for every swing.

EQUALIZE YOUR UNEVEN LIES. Ok.

SWING SEQUENCING. This article perpetuates one of the most common problems underlying playing well. It presents the golf swing as an assembly of pieces rather than a motion. It’s the other way around. The golf swing (focus on the word “swing”) is a motion. When we create the motion, the club moves in a manner that could then be dissected into pieces. Observe a child of 5 or 6 hitting nice golf shots. What are the chances they know these pieces? None. Swinging is an instinctive thing that can result when we want to create speed. When we swing the pieces happen.

A BETTER SHOT FROM THE FRINGE. If you’re on the fringe use the putter. However, if you are near the putting surface but the turf between your ball and the green is not going to allow the ball to roll predictably, then use a more lofted club. A hybrid is fine (so is a six iron).

ALIGN YOUR EYES. OK

PLAYING 0UT OF THE ROUGH.
BREAKING 100. No need to make your swing steep. Just play the ball back in your stance by 1 or 2 balls. This will ensure that your will catch the ball before the turf. Remember this will also lower the trajectory of the shot.
BREAKING 90. OK
BREAKING 80. OK

SIMPLE RULES.
PITCHING RULE. The idea that we change clubs and not swing speed is good. Regarding his keys to the pitch, ask yourself what problems would result from happen did not doing any of these three things. None Keep it simple. Make your Plan A to use the same setup and swing for chipping as you do for a full swing.
MINI-PITCH RULE. Following David’s advice can make this shot unnecessarily complicated and your short chips can become knee-knockers. Use your normal setup. Let your visualization (watching the ball roll to the hole) inform your muscles how big the swing should be.
FLOP-SHOT RULE. OK
CHIPPING RULE. A chip shot is merely a less than full swing that consists of more roll-time than airtime. David makes this more complicated than necessary. Use a lower lofted club (6 iron or less) and let your visualization (watching the ball roll to the hole) inform your muscles how big the swing should be.
BUNKER-SHOT RULE. How much should we open the clubface? A little bit makes a big difference. If the clubface needed more lofted, why didn’t the club designer make it more lofted? Why buy a club and then not be able to use it the way it was made? Keep it simple. The club was made correctly; we don’t need to open the face (unless the bunker is very deep).

GET AN EDGE—THE LEADING EDGE. OK

DON’T LEAN TOO FAR. Slightly??? Leaning the club forward does not allow it to slide along the ground. Leaning the club forward raises the bounce off the ground. Keep it simple. Instead of “don’t lean to far”, just “don’t lean”.

HIT PTICH SHOTS LIKE BUNKER SHOTS. OK but “don’t lean.”

MATCHING THE LEADING EDGE TO YOUR SPINE ANGLE. Whoops! Josh’s idea that the leading edge must stay “square to the swing path” makes a full swing impossible. Josh is absolutely correct that the club will rotate. This rotation is the result of the rotator joints connecting your arms to your shoulders. The club begins to rotate the moment it leaves the ball. When the club is parallel to the ground, the leading edge should be pointed skyward.

ON THE TEE, PLAY ON THIN ICE. OK

MAKE CONTACT ON THE RIGHT SPOT. OK

PRETEND EVERY SHOT IS A TROUBLE SOT. OK

GET THE MENTAL EDGE. OK

Golf Digest Dec '05 Instruction Critique

Many golfers look to Golf Digest for information to help them play better. Unfortunately, the instructional information often appears contradictory but, more seriously, too often it is problematic. By wrong I mean that the words in the instruction don't match the picutres and that the instruction given cannot produce the results being sought. The objective of this blog is to provide a helpful perspective.

This month's articles:

GIVE YOURSELF ROOM. More and more, I like what Tiger is doing to his swing and how he is conceptualizing what he wants to do. If you would make a very slow backswing, you would see how your right and left forearms begin rotating the moment the backswing begins. On the forward swing they begin rotating in the opposite direction the momet the swing begins. Tiger used to have the sense of dropping the club linealy downward. Now he instead has a sense of the club swing circularly around him. Nice.

ELBOWS IN. David has a good point. You don't want to slice. But isn't that old news? If you try the "headcovers under the arms" drill, you'll find that you can still slice. Elbows in doesn't rule slicing out!

STAY SHARP. OK

LIGHTEN YOUR GRIP. GOOD

KEEP THE CLUB IN FRONT. First, this is about chipping and I can't imagine the player who would be making a small chip shot and would swing the club like the photo on the right (page 50). But, that aside, look at the two pictures. Now imgine that these are not photos of the backswing but instead are of the forward swing. It's anybody's guess as to where the ball on the right would go. Now let's consider the photo on the left. With the club "in front of the hands" as Hank suggests, the club is off-plane. From this position the player either has to quickly change the plane or hit it left. Bottom line, Hank's suggestion that swing plane is related to "an inconsistent bottom to your swing" doesn't hold water. Both the path and the plane can be faulty but the bottom of the swing's arc can reach bottom precisely at the ball. Not very helpful instruction for tight lies.

HOW TO KEEP IT LOW. Keeping it low can be useful. But let's keep it simple. The trajectory of the ball is merely a function of the loft of the club face. Want to keep it low? Use a lower trajectory club without any swing changes. Want any iron to travel lower? Play the ball further back in your stance without any swing changes (aim more to the left). Keep it simple.

FIVE KEYS FOR SOLID CONTACT. "Consistent ball-striking is about keeping your swing as simple as possible" (Butch got that one right). Unfortuately Butch did not get past the first KEY without throwing a curve. Notice the Step2 photo on page 100. You'll see that the shaft is leaning toward his left pocket. Set up with your own club with the shaft pointing at your left pocket. Then, while slowly moving the grip back to pointing at your belt buckle, notice how much you had the club de-lofted when it was leaning forward. In that forward position, the club face is likely delofted, aimed right, or both. On page 102 Butch suggests a "simple rule": Your weight should move in the same direction as the swing. If Butch would honor this rule I'd be very enthused. But he violates it right away. The club moves in a circular direction. Butch must be thinking that the swings direction is to the right because moves his weight laterally to his right on the back swing. With his weight shifted to his right, he is now out of position to make solid contact and must begin shifiting it forward hoping that his body arrives back in position at the very instant the club does (see his comment in the photo on payge 103). Very small margin for error. Avoid the imprecision created by weight shift. Keep your balance till after impact. In the final KEY, are Butch's hips level in the top photo on page 104? Nor should they be. Nor should yours.

WHAT'S KILLING YOUR SHORT GAME? OK

HOW I WENT 351 HOLES WITHOUT A THREE-PUTT. OK

BREAKING 100. OK

BREAKING 90. Opening the club face to achieve varying trajectories is probably the most difficult way to do it. When we open the club face we must know: how much to open it and how far left to aim. It's simpler to just change clubs--a sandwedge for a lot of loft, a six iron for very little.

Breaking 80. Ok

Breaking 70. Ok

Golf Digest Nov '05 Instruction Critique

Many golfers look to Golf Digest for information to help them play better. Unfortunately, the instructional information often appears contradictory but, more seriously, too often it is problematic. By wrong I mean that the words in the instruction don't match the picutres and that the instruction given cannot produce the results being sought. The objective of this blog is to provide a helpful perspective.

This month's articles:

LIVE WRISTS, EXTRA POWER. Butch makes a great suggestion in this article. However, there is one point of miscommunication in it. You cannot increase your "wrist hinge". Your wrists will only hinge as far as that joint can travel. What we can do is to eliminate tension from the wrists and allow them to "hinge fully". Butch suggests that you "set them a little early in the back swing." The minute you try to set them, you'll put tension in them. Once the club begins to swing over your right shoulder, the weight of the club (if your wrists are tension-free) will set your wrists for you. Butch doesn't mention it, but the tension should stay out of the wrists througout the swing. By the way the hands don't "play an active role". They just hold the club. Centrifugal force will uncock your wrists as your club swings past the ball.

MY NEW STINGER. Tiger is teaching us a valuable lesson. It is best to find ways of creating various shots without making major swing changes. His new stinger requires no grip change and no setup change. As he swings he just keeps the hands leading the clubhead (the hands will pass his belt buckle before the clubhead) and this de-lofts the club and therefore creates the low stinger trajectory.

DON'T HIT DOWN. Well done.

THE RIGHT RELEASE. Hank almost got this one right. His discription of the hands at impact is good but what he should say is that this will happen by itself and that the "NO" photo is the result of "using" the hands to do something other than just hold the club. (See the above regarding Butch Harmon). The rest of Hank's comments are good.

McCleans Swing Fixes. Ok-but... With regard to the V's, at address both the left hand and right hand V should be pointed at your shirt buttons. The more they favor your left shoulder at address, the club face will tend to arrive at the ball with more loft and aimed to the right. The more they favor the the right shoulder at address, the club face will tend to arrive at the ball with less loft and aimed to the left.

Breaking 100. Good but...Regarding Setup be leary anytime someone says, "slightly" or "a little". Golf is a game of physics, and geometry. Unless your are trying to deloft the wedge, there is NO reason to play lean the shaft forward. If you play it with the shaft straight up and down, it simplifies the shot and removes the question, "am I leaning it enough or too much."

Breaking 90. Jack has it right regarding "longer not faster." However, the old idea of equating yardage to a clock face is problematic. What if the shot is uphill? Or, downhill? What if its into the wind? What if I want to use a sand wedge versus a pithing wedge? The clock metaphor never works. Instead, consider when you are playing catch with someone. How do you regulate the distance? No one ever thinks about their backswing. Your eyes are informing your brain of your partners location. That information regulates the size of your swing when you toss. The same is true for golf. Fully occupy your thoughts with a mental picture of the flag's location during the swing. You'll be pleased with how your brain will figure out how big the swing should be. By the way, there is a learning curve for being able to vividly hold the picture in your brain and the brain learning the right swing for the distance. But you'll be delighted at how quickly you'll see results.

Breaking 80. Ok.

Bonus Tips. Practicing making a swing while facing a wall is a valid way to confirm that your swing path is not seriously flawed. However, the information regarding "lead with your hands" is itself seriously flawed. To begin with, address a ball in the manner shown in the photo (ball in the middle of your stance, hands near your left pocket). When your club is in exactly the position of the one in the photo, you will see that the club face is aimed horribly to the right. The hands cannot be in front of the club head during the swing without either de-lofting the club, making the club face look right, or both. Finally, just move your hands back toward your belt buckle and notice how the club face corrects those errors--it is now properly lofted and looking down the target line.