Golf Digest May 2007

This month's articles

-BLAST FROM DEEP BUNKERS—This instruction is ok but learning how much to open the face and how big the swing should be takes practice. This shot requires no change in swing but does require some experience from practice. It’s an unusual shot, so put it at the bottom of your practice list. P.S. You don’t need a 64 degree wedge. You can rotate the face of any wedge to achieve maximum trajectory.

-WHY DO I STRUGGLE FROM UNEVEN LIES—This is ok except for Fix No. 3. Choose a club with more loft. If the downhill is gentle, align your shoulders to the slope of the hill. If the downhill is step, play the ball back in your stance and align to the left of the target. Like the bunker shot above, these situations need to be practiced so you can have experience from which you can draw.

-ESCAPE CLEANLY FROM DIVOTS—When the ball is in a divot, the lie is different than when it’s sitting on the grass in the fairway. Accept that. Then accept that the club will contact the ball just below its equator. This will result in the trajectory of the shot being lower. That’s ok, you can still make it go straight and all the way to the green. No swing change is necessary.

-HOW TO PUNCH UP YOUR POWER—The club is on the ball for .0003 of a second. Anytime anyone suggests that you “time your swing” thank them and then forget anything you heard. When you swing the club always gets square to the target line directly below your center-the swing times itself. Second, Martin’s idea is to “punch” or put linear energy into the ball. This will prompt you to flex your muscles but will slow down your swing. The swing is circular—keep it that way.

-HOW TO PLAY ON-TARGET CHIPS—Carefully read “The Solution”, notice that it says at set up to keep the shaft in line with the left arm. No take out a straight edge (you can use a business card) and lay it along the shaft of the club in these pictures. Do you ever see the club aligned with his left arm? No. Turn the page on this article.

-GET IT CLOSE BY GETTING WRISTY—Read the warning at the bottom of this article.

-How to control your turn—Let’s make this quick. Look at the club in the photo in the top right corner of page 61. Note how it is not pointing to the target but is pointing to the left. Now look at the photo No. 3. Note how the club is not pointing left but instead is parallel with this toe line. Same turn but two different positions at the top. We are not interested in controlling the turn. We are very interested in controlling the club. Forget this article.

-TRY A FORWARD PRESS FOR SMOOTHER PUTTS—Michael needs to watch the high speed photos taken of a ball coming off a putter face—it has backspin. Since all clubs have loft (even the putter), every shot leaves the club with backspin. You cannot put topspin on a ball unless you contact it above the ball’s equator. Regarding the forward press, look at the full length photo of Michael at address. Look at the putter face relative to the yellow line. See how the putter face is out of square. This putter face will send the ball to the right of the target line. Forget the forward press. The putter has been designed to put its best roll on the ball with the shaft vertical not leaning forward.

-COPY THAT—I like the idea but the devil is in the details. Annika swings the golf club. An uninterrupted swinging motion will turn your right side to the target. Don’t make this happen by trying to turn. Let it happen as a result of an uninterrupted swing.

-OPERATION DESERT ESCAPE—Too complicated. No swing change. No grip change. When you setup begin by hovering the club directly above the ball. Center and balance yourself to the club. Now relocate the clubface to just behind the ball and resting on the ground. This setup will make the lowest part of your swing right under the ball. Therefore the club will contact and propel the ball before the club reaches the sand. In other words, play this like a fairway bunker shot. The ball will travel on a lower trajectory.

-LOW DRIVES FOR LOW TEES—The driver face has “roll”. It is not flat. It has more loft higher on the face and less loft lower on the face.

-TURN LEVEL TO STOP HITTING FAT—The number one reason for fat shots (9 out of 10) is the use of the right hand to make the club face “hit” at the ball. Use the arms only.

-STOP DIPPING TO STOP PUSHES AND HOOKS—Isn’t this silly. For a million dollars and hitting a thousand golf balls don’t you think you could find a way to dip and still hit it straight? Yes. That’s because pushes and hooks have to do with the club not the body. Fix ball flight by fixing the club’s motion not the body’s.

-HOW TO FIX THREE BACKSWING KILLERS—Let’s make this simple. Keep your balance.

-WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM A SNAPSHOT—Ok.

-HOW TO BE CLUTCH—There’s a difference between focusing on what worries us during a round and focusing on what we want the club to do. Focus on what you want not on what you don’t (that works well off the course too).

-HOW TO TURN KNEE-KNOCKERS INTO TAP-INS—If this works for you great. But, for tap-ins the arc of the swing is so small it appears as though the putter head is tracking the target line (i.e. straight back straight through). Be careful that this tip doesn’t ruin your swing with the putter and degrade it into a straight-back straight-thru pushing motion.

-TRUST YOUR ROUTINE—absolutely.

-HOW TO BUILD A REPEATING SWING. Get ready this is going to be wild!
PRE-SWING—Keep your spine straight….your spine was made “S” shaped. You cannot (and better not try) to keep it straight. Look carefully at the photo. The yellow line is straight is is back? No.
Three-point stance—Just sole the club correctly and that will position you correctly.
Climb a ladder—the top yellow line is 3 inches below his shoulder.
TAKEAWAY—Move the shoulders and nothing else…look at how the shaft is in line with his left forearm. Now look at the front view of the setup on the preceding page. See how the club shaft is not aligned with the left forearm. So when he says the shoulders move and nothing else, he is not doing what he is saying.
-Key Checkpoint—club shaft, and hands are in line with your belt buckle. Look at the last photo in that series of four—again he isn’t doing what he is saying.
-TO THE TOP—“its not how far back the club is at the top”…huh? The further back it is the more time for acceleration before it contacts the ball. (take a look at Tiger on P. 79). It’s much less as to “how” you take it back but “where” you take it to. You want as full a backswing as is easy for you with the club on plane at the top.
-TRANSITION—don’t drop your arms (that’s a linear direction). Swing them (that’s circular).
-DOWNSWING—Ok.
-Key Checkpoint—“…mostly arms”—ONLY ARMS!!!
-IMPACT—Uh-oh. Look back to the previous page. Notice step 6 where he says, “You’ve done it right if, once again, the club, shaft and your hands are in line with your belt buckle. Now look at the impact position on page 124. He’s not doing what he told you. The reason he isn’t is because he can’t. The reason he can’t is because he “gets shifty” That left wrist is bowing. When it does the clubface gets deloft and/or out-of-square.
-Balance—“…stay balanced”. You can’t “get shifty (i.e. shift your weight) and stay balanced.
-Release—Ok. Release is something you “let” happen, not “make” happen.
-THE FULL SWING—
1) ok
2) ok
3) ok
4) the shaft is not perpendicular to the ground and there is no reason why it is better to have it stop short of being parallel.
5) ok
6) ok
7) the shaft is not perpendicular to the ground because he shifted his weight
8) ok
9) the shaft is not perpendicular to the ground and doesn’t need to be

-ADD WRIST ACTION ON EXTRA-LONG PUTTS—This is disastrous instruction. If you are tossing a ball (underhand) is there ever a distance where “wrist action” would be helpful? Use the same swing, just make it bigger.

-DIVIDE YOUR BALL IN TWO—focusing on parts of the ball guarantees you nothing. Keeping your balance will keep you behind the ball. If you want the ball lower setup with the ball further back in your stance (or choose a lower lofted club).

-LET YOU POSTURE DICATE YOUR PUTTING STROKE—this is almost correct. The lie angle of the putter defines the angle of the swing plane. The flatter the lie the more flat the swing plane. This has nothing to do with your posture.

-FOR MORE LENGTH, LENGTHEN YOUR TARGET—go to the range and find out how far you carry your wedge, 8, 6, and fairway wood. Once you know these you can deduce the rest.