September 2007 Issue

This month's articles:

LESSON TEE –
ANNIKA SORENSTAM—WHAT STARTS THE SWING?—Annika’s comments about “one piece” are good but can foster a notion of rigidity. Manuel puts it this way, “everything starts together, stays together, and returns together”. Regarding the clubface rotation Annika is exactly correct. The article is fine until the last sentence. Don’t try to manage the body’s movements (turn left shoulder). Instead manage creating a swing and allow the body to respond to that motion.

JIM MCLEAN—NO MORE TOE HITS—“The arms loose their extension?” Is Jim proposing that the arms get shorter? Is Jim proposing that centrifugal force isn’t pulling the club away from you? Toe hits most commonly result from two causes: The first is that the player has their weight on their toes at address, the second is that their arms are reaching rather than hanging, and the third is that the swing path is radically outside in. Look to these first.

TIGER WOODS—WHERE DOES YOUR GAME NEED HELP—Putting your improvement efforts where they will do the most good makes good sense. Use scorecards from prior round to help you identify where you are loosing strokes. You can also recruit a pair of trusted eyes to watch you make various shots.

TIGER WOODS—FIND THE FEEL—Ok.

TOM WATSON—ACTIVATE YOUR LEGS—Ok.

BUTCH HARMON—DON’T GET SNAGGED—Ok.

JIM FLICK—LIGHTEN YOUR GRIP—Ok. If you choose to lighten your grip, be sure it remains light through the swing. Tightening at impact will create errant shots.

ERNIE ELS—HOW TO READ ROUGH—Ok.

HANK HANEY—TURN ON YOUR CHIPS—First, you can’t be too focused. You can be focused on things that won’t be helpful. Second, don’t turn. Instead allow the swing to turn you.

STARE IT DOWN FROM 100 YARDS—I know David won’t loose any sleep over this, but his instruction makes things so difficult. For instance, telling Charles to have “some” forward lean of the shaft. Iron loft is measured in degrees. Every inch that you lean the club forward are degrees of loft you are changing. Even Charles cannot expect to lean the club the same number inches each time.

LEFTY / RIGHTY—Disregard.

SWING WITH THE RIGHT ARM ONLY—If David is trying to get Charles to feel the “release” by using this drill, what benefit would Hogan have in having three right hands. Would the release be three times better? I don’t think David quite connected the dots between right hands and releasing—besides, there is no release in the golf swing. Swing a ball on the end of a string and ask yourself where the release happens.

CONTROLLING DISTANCE—So when Charles is at 90 yards does he then have to decide whether to hit it long from the 10 o’clock position or short from the 9 o’clock position? This is ridiculous. Charles should reflect on how he makes a putt roll 8 feet versus 18 feet. He would find that it has nothing to do with the o’clock position of his putting stroke. Instead he would find a much better means of controlling his shots.

STACK AND TILT PART 2—It hasn’t gotten any worse but it hasn’t gotten any better. First, here are our comments from the June Blog when we reviewed Part 1:
THE NEW TOUR SWING—What’s new about this swing are new tilt body angles and new weight shifts. What’s old about this swing is its focus on the movements of the body and its disregard for the movement of the club (which of course is the single determinant for the flight of the ball). There is no reason to believe that these bodily gyrations will reliable deliver the club correctly to the ball.
Our comment regarding Part 2 is this: I have no doubt that these instructors can move their body in the manner they are describing and hit good shots. However, those same good shots can be made without attempting to learn the choreography. Make the club swing correctly and the body will make movements that support the swing. Most players attempting to learn this choreography will do more damage to their game than good.

BREAKING 100/90/80

PICK THE RIGHT SWING FOR YOU. If either of swings Jim demonstrates looks appealing—check your eyeglasses. It either look appealing but you aren’t wearing glasses, may you need them. For the record Manuel teaches a one plane swing.

BREAKING 90—If you are clear on what Jim means, I would be interested to hear from you.

BREAKING 80—The idea of “firing the right hand” sounds forceful. The fact of firing the right hand more likely results in fat shots and ball flight that is left of target. As Manuel puts it, the hands are for holding and the arms are for swinging. Notice that in neither photo is the hand in a “fired” position. Instead, the hands are in the same position (relative to the forearm) as they were at address.

SCORING TIPS—
BREAKING 100—Do you want the line on the ball to be “on target” or close. If you want it accurate, you’ll need to lay down on your belly to eye it up. Don’t embarrass yourself. Line your club up with your target not with the line on the ball.
BREAKING 90—Ok.
BREAKING 80—Almost. Here’s how it actually works: 1)Close the clubface to the degree you want it to hook, 2)align the clubface to the direction you want the ball to start, 3)the body should then be position so it is centered on the club shaft. Then make your normal swing.