February ’07 Golf Digest Instruction Commentary



This month's articles:

LESSON TEE –Tiger Woods. If we look at Tiger’s comments and swing through a “de la Torre lens”, he is making progress. First, it’s the case that when we setup with a fairway wood the shaft is on a flatter swing plane than an iron (simply because the shaft is longer). So Tiger’s swing plane should be flatter. Second, he notes that “I used to make a big lateral move.” That move is getting smaller but it ain’t gone yet. Third if you look at the logo Tiger’s glove hand in the center photo you can see that he is not letting the arms rotate. He is holding the clubface open this produces the fade. This is a VERY difficult way to produce a fade reliably—but that’s why he’s Tiger. I predict that he will change and instead produce a fade by making his normal swing but setting up with the club face open at address. Changes are always better made at address than in mid-swing.

BELLY IT WITH A PITCHING WEDGE—Tom’s comments about blading the ball for shots when the ball is against the collar are good. But note the last sentence in the article. You’ll see that Tom is using Manuel’s recommendation that we choose a club that produces the shot we want rather than trying to manipulate a club to create a shot .

BEAT THE FAT BUNKER SHOT—Plain and simple, Annika is adding bounce to this shot to make it more difficult for the club to dig into the sand. This doesn’t fix a fat shot. A fat shot is the result of using the hands—adding bounce can reduce the amount of sand you’ll dig but it has nothing to do with fixing FAT.

PUTT WITH YOUR LEFT EAR—Good setup instruction (just like Manuel). Putt with your ear??? You should not even be thinking about the sound. All of your mental awareness should be of the visual image of the ball rolling down the line to the target. That visual image will direct your brain to make an appropriate swing. Listening is useless.

IMPROVE YOUR FOOT ACTION—The photo’s here are of Hank—not Tiger. Look closely at the clubface in the third photo. The club is out-of-square and looking to the right. You want your ball to go to the right? This is what happens with a sway like Hank is using.

PLAY THE 5’S BACKWARD—Ok.

LET YOU TILT INCREASE—Stand at address with your driver. Now, without moving the club, tilt to your right an extra 10 degrees (no I have no idea how much ten degrees would be). What you will notice is that as you tilt, the club face loft increases. Forget this one.

CLOSE OUT YOUR SLICE—In short, the fix for a slice is a hook? Then, by getting consistent at hooking I will have learned how to hit it straight? And people pay him for this? As David says in the first sentence slicing is from one of two problems. He offers a fix for one and that one may not be the one that is bugging you. Forget this one.

FINALLY, A CURE FOR THE YIPS—The latest work on the yips says that the minority of cases are muscular with the majority being mental. The principle mental cause is worry and doubt. Many yippers are able to putt balls from one end of the green to the other (very long putts) without yipping. And they are able to make practice strokes for short putts without yipping.

WORK THE BALL OUT OF TROUBLE—Ok.

SIMPLIFY YOUR SWING—Simplify is good. Matching hand height is important? Look carefully at Jim’s hands on the left page. Notice how the butt of the club and the heel of both hands is below the dotted line. Now look at the right page. So much for matching hand height.

The steps that Jim outlines regarding backswing and forward swing are steps used by an instructor. They are useless if you do not know exactly where the club should be at the top of the swing and how it works its way forward. These drill alone allow for the player to do a number of things incorrectly.

The ALIGNMENT stuff is ok for practice.

The SPINE ANGLE info is so wrong. Don’t look at the dotted line. Look at Jim’s back. Is it straight? No. The spine in a normal person has an “S” curve in it. It can’t be straight.

BREAKING 100|90|80

IT’S A CUSTOM-FIT WORLD FOR EVERY PLAYER.—Ok.

GIVE AN UPPERCUT.—Unless your driver miss-fits you, there is no need to play the ball forward. Remember, the moment your club passes the middle of your stance, the club is facing left.

HIT HYBRIDS LIKE IRONS—Do you see any grass flying in this photo? No, neither do I. So much for needing to “take a small divot after impact.” Hybrids don’t need a special swing.

FIND YOUR PERFECT WEDGE-HYBRID MIX—Ok.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR WEDGES—For normal shots, every club in the bag should bottom out just like the club on the left. If I wanted to open the club face to add some loft, then the scuff mark on the bottom would look like the club on the right.

DIAL IN THE DISTANCE—This article doesn’t have anything to do with distance control.

PURE IT WITH THE PUTTER—When you lean the shaft forward you deloft the putter and/or make it face to the right. Forget this article.