Iron Play

Five Steps To More Golf Consistency

Everybody wants more golf consistency. Defining that is sometimes hard and often unattainable in golf’s current form.

For most I would define it as making decent contact most of the time and hitting the ball within a relatively discernable area or pattern. That definition of consistency is definable, and if need be can be measurable.

Case in point: “I hit ten balls and eight of them felt relatively solid while nine of them went into an area of five yards left of the target to fifteen yards right of the target.” That would be absolutely fantastic instead of hitting fat or thin and left/right uncontrollably, right?

However, an important concept to grasp is that in the “inconsistency” that most golfers experience there still in lies a series of patterns.

One that I have seen quite frequently lately involves students perceiving that they are hitting up on the ball as they hit it fat or potentially top it. While that is certainly a possibility, I see far more of the opposite—a lot of very steep attack angles accompanied by the thought that they need to hit down on the ball more to A) hit the ball more solid and/or B) get the ball in the air.

Should I Hit Down on the Ball?

In general the answer is “yes” with an iron. However, the direct answer is not the whole story.

Let’s put a few things on the table and go deeper into why this is potentially a reason you keep hitting behind the ball or topping it.

In the figure above there are three lines—yellow, blue and orange. The blue line represents where the golf ball launches, and the yellow line is the amount of loft that is presented to the ball at the moment of impact. The ball is placed into the air by deflecting off the loft presented to the ball. So, the launch angle (blue) will always be lower than the Effective loft (yellow).

There is also a relationship to be understood with the orange line, which is the Angle of Attack (AoA). If you make the orange line move down more, i.e., hitting down on the ball more; everything being equal it will drag the yellow and blue lines along with it.

This is where the true lesson really lies. We are humans playing a game and we have an input of information as well as preferences like where we want to see the ball launch in the sky. Our hypothetical situation is this:

Three Crucial Golf Moves

As you dial in your iron game this summer, or whenever you’re practicing to get better, give the following three crucial golf moves a try as part of your routine. Over the years I’ve been teaching they’ve proven some of the most valuable and consistent ideas I offer my students, and they’ll work for you, too.

CRUCIAL MOVE 1: HEAD BEHIND THE BALL

I have been lucky enough to have spent quality private time with the great Jack Nicklaus. He took a liking to my talented daughter, Carly Ray, as she worked to be-come a dominant junior golfer in Florida, eventually winning the High School State Championship.

Jack spent half an hour at The Bears Club in West Palm Beach teaching her, and I took in every single word. Amazingly blessed, I know!

Anyway, Jack always stressed the one MUST in the downswing is that the head MUST be behind the ball at impact. He said poor players’ heads and upper bodies lunge forward and get ahead of the ball at impact.

As you can see in Photo 1, I’m executing a poor downswing. with my head way ahead of the ball. Poor ball striking will follow.

Look at Photo 2 closely. Notice that my head and eyes are behind where the ball was at impact, even after the ball has been launched. My weight is on my lead foot and hip but my head, eyes and up-per body did not lunge forward, ahead of the golf ball.

Please work on Mr. Jack Nicklaus’ tip to my daughter and I. Keep your head behind the ball at impact. This will assist every golfer on earth.

CRUCIAL MOVE 2: PURE ‘MAGIC’

If there is one crucial or “magic” move in golf, this is it. I recall seeing this as a young golfer when I saw the legendary Harvey Penick teach in Texas, when I played in Fort Worth and he was still alive and teaching. He stressed over and over again that if a golfer rehearses this move they can’t help but get better.

The ‘magic move’ is to begin your down-swing by SIMULTANEOUSLY letting your weight shift to your left foot while bringing your right elbow back into your body. This is ONE move, not two.

Look at Photo 3, which is far too typical. My right elbow is away from my body and my weight is rather flat-footed with no weight shift to my left foot.

Take a good look at Photo 4. This is the move you want to groove. My right elbow is into my body and my weight is on my left foot. My eyes are behind the ball. This will help every single golfer on the planet. You don’t even need a golf ball to practice this. Just groove this move in your home, office and take it to the course.

I also remember Mr. Penick said to always keep it simple. This is simple and crucial. I know this will help you hit the ball better as you learn it.

CRUCIAL MOVE 3: TAKE IT AWAY SLOWLY

Ah, the takeaway. I want to share this simple visual tip which will assist any golfer who practices it.

TAKE IT AWAY SLOW. The typical golfer will improve tons if they take the club away from the ball slowly and with soft hands. Hold the club softly, and remember that the first two feet of your takeaway can hardly be slow enough. The average player snatches the club away from the ball with tight hands and arms, and the club whips inside the ball too fast.

Look at Photo 5. Clearly the club is far too inside my hands as I whipped it away from the ball fast, with tight hands and arms.

TROUBLE!

See how in Photo 6 the club is much more in front of my body. The butt of the club is pointed at my belly button — much healthier position and on plane, as I took it away SLOWLY with soft hands and arms. This is what you should strive for.

I heard both the great Jack Nicklaus and legendary teacher/player Bob Toski tell my daughter that she hardly could take the club away from the ball slowly enough. GOOD ADVICE for everyone. Try this and I know you will strike the ball better.

Barry Goldstein teaches at Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, Florida, and is a renowned coach to junior and collegiate level players throughout the southeast. He also teaches in his native Binghamton, New York, from May to October. Reach him at drforgolf@aol.com.

Keep It Together For Iron Power

Loss of power with your irons has many causes, but one of the biggest bugaboos is not keeping the hands, club and body connected throughout the swing. Not staying in sync will cause loss a lot of energy leaks, poor rhythm, lack of balance and both shorter and less accurate shots. Let’s go through this simple swing sequence to show how effortless iron power unfolds.

At the start of the takeaway, keep everything very still and just let the club direct the swing — no swaying and moving hips all over the place. Keep the bottom half of the body quiet and building up the swing speed (Photo 1).

Keep your arms “long” and using the entire club — no shortening of the swing when hitting full shots (Photo 2).

Hitting the top of the back swing is a signal for your hips to now move slightly forward, get that weight onto your left side of your body and move everything out toward your target (Photo 3).

Here you’re building the speed and turning before impact occurs, and keeping those hands moving, too. Avoid the “flip.” (Photos 4-5).

Continue to swing to a full finish — if there is no complete finish you are automatically decelerating, which is loss of swing speed, target, and direction (Photo 6).

Autumn Thomas is clubhouse manager and director of instruction at Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage, California

Three Skills Challenges For Better Golf

All golfers are looking to improve and shoot lower scores. That said, each golfer should be very careful on how they go about improving as it’s an individualistic process and many lose sight of that. That’s why I’ve come up with three challenges for better golf.

The best players in the world have showed us that there are hundreds of different ways to see a desired ball flight. It’s not about one way to grip the club, one specific set of alignments, one backswing position, or a specific move in the downswing. The only thing that matters is what the golfer does at the moment of impact.

The majority of the greatest golfers of all time were by no means just relying on athletic ability. They learned how to develop skills, or the ability to produce the desired performance, through their training. These developed skills allowed them to hit the golf ball solid, control where the ball starts, and where and how much the ball curved.

Having a technically sound golf swing by no means guarantees an improvement in performance. There is an aspect to scoring and playing that has nothing to do with how good one’s swing looks. Skills, on the other hand, can have a big influence on how well one can both play as well as score. If more golfers focused on developing skills rather than positions, or getting caught up in “looks,” I believe they would perform at a much higher level as long as they have a solid understanding of why the ball does what it does.

THE THREE CHALLENGES

I have developed three skill challenges for my students in order for them to improve their ball control. They are presented in this order: Low Point Control, Club Face Awareness and Controlling the Curve. One must complete the first skill challenge prior to moving on to the next. Once all skill challenges are achieved, the player is given the task of a random mix, and finally a game is issued using the challenges with a point structure in place.

First Skill Challenge: Low Point Control

In this skill challenge the golfer must figure out a way to allow for the club to strike the ground forward of the ball with an iron. We start with my 3-tee exercise (Photos 1 & 2) to get feed-back. If done correctly the golfer will strike golf ball first and ground second. (Photo 3)

Place 3 tees on the ground so that the head of the tee is closer to the target
Place a golf ball on a tee following the row of tees
Address the back of the first tee and attempt to take the head of the tee off
Move down the line with the same objective
If done properly, each tee should shoot directly upward like a kicked field goal
Once each tee is hit properly, address the golf ball and achieve the same feel
You should see a divot forward of where the ball was teed up

Second Skill Challenge: Club Face Awareness

In this skill challenge the golfer must figure out a way to get the ball to start on the proper line. The orientation of the club face at impact is, of course, responsible for where the ball will initially start. If the golfer prefers to hit the ball as straight as possible, the goal is to get the face as square to the target as possible at impact (Photo 4). If the player draws the ball, the goal should be for the ball to start right of the target (Photo 5). If the golfer fades the golf ball, the goal should be for the ball to start left of the target (Photo 6).

Create an intermediate target, such as a golf bag or an alignment stick, approximately five yards in front of the hitting area
Golf ball should be directly in line with the intermediate target
Hit five balls, attempting to get the ball to begin in the desired direction
How many of the five balls can you start correctly? Keep score!

Third Skill Challenge: Creating The Curve

In this skill challenge the golfer must figure out how to curve the golf ball in the desired direction. Since the club face influences where the ball starts as shown in the previous drill, the movement of the club’s path influences the ball curvature a player gets. That’s what this drill is all about.

If the golfer prefers to hit the ball as straight as possible, the face and path must be both working in the direction of the target at impact (Photo 4), if the golfer fades the ball, the club face must be left of the target at impact with a club path that is working even more leftward, or an out-in path (Photo 7). We call this a club face that is “open” to the path. Finally, if the golfer draws the ball, the clubface must be right of the target at impact as the path works even more rightward, or an in-out path (Photo 8). We call this a club face that is “closed” to the path.

Create the same intermediate target approximately five yards in front of the hitting area
As in the second challenge, the golf ball should be directly in line with the intermediate target
Again, hit five balls, attempting to get the ball to begin in the desired direction and then curve properly
How many of the five balls can you start and curve correctly? Keep score here, too.

Once you’ve completed each skill challenge and you’re satisfied with your improvement, mix in each skill randomly and see how you do. For example, hit one ball at the curve station, move on at the low point station, and then to the club face awareness station. If at any point you fail, restart. Failing is part of the process — embrace it and learn from each attempt. Eventually, see if you can accomplish all 14 attempts in a random fashion without having to restart. You can then revamp the exercises to create your own game that continues to challenge you.

William Schmedes is Director of Instruction at Fiddler’s Green Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey

Divot And Pivot For Solid Golf Contact

What is what I call “Divot And Pivot? In short, it’s the key to solid golf contact time after time.

I can honestly say this one is “Original TP.” I tell all my students if I could give them two skills for Christmas, they would be the ability to compress/hit down on the golf ball and the ability to pivot the body without interruption through the impact area.

GETTING GRAVITY

Let’s talk “down” first: the ability to allow (not cause) the arms and golf club to fall down plane.

I always refer to one of the great teaching professionals of all time as Isaac Newton. Remember that gravity thing? Wonderful thing about gravity — it always falls DOWN! Never falls up, in, or outward. It’s amazingly consistent both in its direction as well as speed. If I proposed to hold a golf club the height of the top of your backswing as I had you lie flat on the ground, and then dropped the club on your head, would you like that? Of course not!

Why? Because even in that short distance, the accelerating club head, due to the force of gravity, would be moving rather quickly. You don’t have to create speed — speed via gravity will do the job just fine. Look at Fred Couples: his club moved plenty fast during his career. Remember, in golf swingers last longer then hitters. Allowing one of the most consistent forces in nature to become one of the primary speed sources of your downward motion would pay you huge dividends. It’s a brand of trust that must be developed over time.

LOSE THE TENSION

I hear teachers talk about tension and discuss grip pressure, but I believe that grip pressure is too elementary an explanation. I think any tension in the upper extremities (hands, arms, shoulders, or neck) will do great damage to the ability of the player to freely swing the club head in an on-plane downward descent. Master your tension levels and make Isaac Newton your friend and learn how to enjoy higher compressed golf shots.

Now that we have the club swinging downward, we must be sure it also moves forward to the exact point of impact. After all, impact is in fact the moment of truth. As the club falls downward as discussed earlier, we must simultaneously move it forward by pivoting the body. The pivoting action of the golf motion might be the most under-taught and underdeveloped area in golf today. I ask every student I work with, “have you ever seen a great athlete in any sport with bad footwork?” A point guard, a great running back, a tennis player, a shortstop, a gymnast? No! Likewise, to play great golf you have to develop great footwork. The ability to unlock the mystery of great footwork leads to great leg work, which then allows the core of your body to unwind and deliver force at the moment of truth.

THE BALANCE BOARD

I have developed a wonderfully simple training aid called the TP Balance Board (see it at www.tompatri.com). The TP Balance Board has been nothing short of miraculous in allowing my students to learn how to use their feet, leg, and core. I give my students simple images of finish positions I want them to aspire to. I want them to finish with their trail foot fully 100 percent vertical on its toe. I want them to feel their right knee touch their left knee at completion. I want them to finish facing their intended target, both in balance and level with the horizon.

Now here is the real challenge to hitting solid, on-line, compressed golf shots. The divot (downward descent of the arms and clubs) and the pivot (the footwork, legwork and unwinding core) must in concept be done at the same RPM’s.

The sequence of these two actions must be blended together in a very balanced, coordinated manner. Master the blended action of these two vital skills and your strikes will become amazingly solid. You’ll compress shots like never before.

Remember the simple catch phrase:

“Divot and Pivot.”

Tom Patri is a former Met PGA Teacher of the Year as well as a former South Florida PGA Teacher of the Year. He teaches at Esplanade in Naples, Florida during the winter months and on Long Island each summer. Reach him at tpatri@mindspring.com

The Iron Game: Compress To Impress

I have always felt that the golf swing is a chain reaction of events, and nowhere is that more evident than with the iron game. A good set up (Photo 1) leads to a proper takeaway, notice that my hands are well inside of the club head (Photo 2). From here all I need to do is keep turning to get to a solid position at the top of my backswing. From here my downswing can now merely be a reflex motion as I shift my weight forward, free of compensations and over-thinking.

All top players have one thing in common: they compress the ball. Try this simple drill. Paint a white line on the driving range (Photo 3). Place a ball on it and hit a 7 iron. If your divot is in front of the line (Photo 4) you probably made solid contact. If the divot is behind the line you probably hit it thin or chunked it (Photo 5).

As you can see here, a one-piece takeaway leads to a wide swing arc (Photos 6 and 7). My lower half remain stable as I complete my backswing (Photo 8). As I initiate my downswing by clearing my hips my swing arc has narrowed and my wrists are still cocked (Photo 9). It’s very important to clear the hips first so getting into this position is possible — if the arms start first this angle is broken leading to poor impact (Photo 10).

As my downswing continues and the club is coming from inside the target line, notice that my right elbow is close to my right hip (Photo 11). From here I can make solid contact and freely release my arms (Photo 12) as I continue into a balanced finish (Photos 13-14). All my weight is on my front leg and my body is facing my target.

Bobby Hinds, PGA, teaches at several Southern California locations, including his fully outfitted indoor facility in Burbank. Get more of his great lessons and tips here.

How To Play An ‘Edgy’ Fairway Bunker Shot

Not every bunker shot is alike. Sometimes we end up in lies on the very edge of the bunkers that have a little bit of grass and sand mixture. Sometimes tight, sometimes fluffy, these lies are very unpredictable, and even if there’s little to no lip to deal with, advancing the ball in the direction and distance you want to takes some careful consideration and strategy. It’s really a combination of shots.

We are going to play this like a fairway bunker shot by moving the ball back in my stance a little. The key to uneven lies like this is to make sure that you have good footing. If your feet move, it makes it hard to get into a good impact position. I will take an extra club to make sure that even if I mishit it, I have enough club to get to the green. Depending on the severity of the uneven stance you may have to take two clubs more and just take an easy swing and keep my footing nice and stable, as I do through the swing sequence shown here. By keeping your feet stable this will restrict your follow-through and can cause the ball to fly a little lower than normal.

Take these considerations into account when playing these shots. Don’t be afraid to attack the ball with a strong descending taking a little sand in the process.

Tyler Kuhn is Head Golf Professional at Gray Plantation in Lake Charles, Louisiana

Three Ways To Better Ballstriking

It’s the moment of truth: The split second when clubface meets ball. When you come right down to it, nothing else in golf matters. That’s why consistent, accurate ballstriking is what every golfer strives for, why it’s the only way to get better through the bag and lower your scores.

There are, of course, many ways to improve your ballstriking, but physics being what it is, to achieve consistent and crisp contact, you have to keep the golf club moving on a consistent plane, which means keep your posture intact through the swing, from shoulders to torso to hips. The three tips that follow from 2016 Southern California PGA Teacher of the Year, Alison Curdt — with a couple of training aids worked in — will help you do just that.

WEIGHT YOUR POSTURE TO IMPROVE IT

Moving the torso up and down throughout the swing causes the golf to have inconsistent strike patterns at impact. As some players rotate back incorrect positioning of the arms can cause the torso to rise up during the backswing, as I’m demonstrating in Photo 1. This makes it difficult to position the torso back into the starting position to allow the club to bottom out in the correct spot.

Utilize a weighted vest to help the torso stay in position, as I’m doing here in Photo 2. Strap the weighted vest on and take some practice swing with a short iron (Photo 3). The weight of the vest will make it harder to stand up vertically in the backswing and will allow the golfer to rotate correctly and stay in posture. The weighted vest will also encourage the golfer to stay in the correct spine angle at impact since there will be less movement vertically.

The use of the weighted vest gives the golfer a different physical sensation to keep the core bent over at the correct angle throughout the backswing and the forward swing. Keeping the angle of the torso constant in the backswing and forward allows the golfer to repeatedly bottom out the clubhead in the perfect position for solid contact.

TRAIN YOUR TRAIL SHOULDER

This tip trains the right shoulder to move down and through the hitting zone instead of out and arm to eliminate and out-to-in path causing the dreaded slice

Enter set up position. Take the lead hand and extend it away from body and hold club like a cane into ground (Photo 4). Use the trail arm to practice tossing balls out to “right field” through the gap that is created by the lead arm and golf club, as I’m doing in Photos 5-11. If you throw the ball to the left instead, as in Photo 12, you know your club path is too steep and out-to-in.

This simple drill trains the golfer to move the trail shoulder on the correct path to improve the path of the golf club.

TILT DOWN FOR BETTER CONTACT

It’s crucial to keep the proper shoulder tilt in the backswing to maintain posture. Many players become too flat in their shoulder tilt. This tip demonstrates the proper tilt for improved contact.

Use an alignment rod or a golf club across the shoulders as a guide for amount of shoulder tilt, as in Photo 13. Place a club or alignment rod on ground where ball would be. Rotate shoulders back and point the alignment rod from shoulder slightly outside of target line (Photo 14). Posture will remain at same angle and the lead shoulder will feel as though it rotates underneath the chin.

Put this drill into your regular practice routine and you’ll find that you’ll get more solid contact at impact and keeps the path of the club from getting too flat, as in Photo 15. The ultimate result? Fewer topped or thin shots, the proper descending strike with your irons and that beautiful, shallow divot in front of where the ball was.

Now that’s what we call good ballstriking!

Alison Curdt is a PGA and LPGA Master Professional and 2015 LPGA National Teacher of the Year based in Southern California. She’s also a featured instructor on the Golf Channel. Contact her at www.alisoncurdtgolf.com

How To Shape Your Golf Shots

Like many full-service teaching facilities, my staff and I at Boyne Resorts use Trackman and other technology like GEARS to help our students get a firm grip on their golf games. These tools help them, and us, find out how all the elements of a swing — club path, angle of attack, clubhead and ball speed — work together to yield great shots. Above all, that means knowing what the clubface is doing at impact, which ultimate gives you the power to shape your golf shots.

There’s a lot of talk in the industry about using the body. I’m afraid for the average player — they’re going to go out and work on the body motions, but it’s like taking calculus before basic arithmetic. The majority of people playing the game and taking lessons are in the advanced beginner to early intermediate range. Their golf IQs are still developing. So I want them to get a feel for the clubface first. When you get more advanced, to a more competitive player, that’s when you start to work on the body, make the hands more passive and control the ball better. But many people try to skip ahead in the learning curve, and they never get better. So I try to get back to basics and teach how to use the face of the club to tell the ball what to do.

A big part of our instruction program is identifying the ingredients of hitting a draw and a fade, and how you can practice them. As you can see in Photo 1, on the far end of the range — a spot designed and built by my mentor, the late, great Jim Flick — I have nice big white target line painted on the ground, with the Trackman lined up directly behind. Then I put a swimming noodle in line with the target to give the player a sense of “seeing” the shot, working on shaping the ball right to left or left to right. It’s a great stepping stone from advanced beginner to intermediate, learning how to use the face of the club.

I use a golf tee in this drill so the ground isn’t a factor — it’s just clubface and golf ball (Photo 2). Learning to curve the ball is important. I am using a 7-iron here, setting up for a draw or fade in relation to the swimming noodle.

To get the ball to start to the right of the noodle and curve back — a draw for righthanders — the path that you swing your club needs to be inside to outside, and the face needs to feel like it’s closing, like a door on hinges. The only contact we have with the golf club is with our hands. So you need to learn how to use the hands in relation to the face.

I’ll start with a square stance in the set-up (Photo 3), and to get the ball to curve right to left, I’ll move the left foot forward and the right foot back, as in Photo 4. That gives you more space to swing from the inside. A lot of times, the club will go where there’s room for it to go. When you start from this position, you’ll feel like you’re coming from the inside, but the face has to turn down and close in the position shown in Photo 5. Most people try to get the face to close by using their bigger muscles, so they end up throwing their right shoulder too close to the ball and target line, and that’s what’s called “over the top” or “outside to in.” So we are going for “in to out” with the face going down.

I take mini-swings, waist high to waist high, trying to get the club to close and rotate. Photos 6-8 show what I mean. From there I’ll look at the target to get a sense of where I want the ball to start and where to end. Then I get a nice little draw pattern. The Trackman is also tracking the spin access of the shot, the shape of it. Technology sometimes scares people, but once they know that a positive number is to the right and a negative number is to the left (as illustrated in the sidebar, via photos taken in our indoor fitting center), they can see their shot shape. In a drill like this the numbers will be exaggerated.

The other shot shape to learn, which most people are good at, is the fade or slice. To get there, the club path is opposite of a draw. I’ll set my body slight open to the target line (Photo 9), and swing the golf club along the body line (Photos 10-12), trying to get a sense of feeling the face still looking at the target after the strike — more of a position like that shown in Photo 13.

The idea is getting the student to understand 1) Why we’re doing the drill and 2) The ingredients of each shot shape will help them get an idea of why the ball does what it does — the relationship of club path and face of club relative to the path. That’s a basic understanding that’s very simple, even though it might sound scary to some.

For more instruction from Brian O’Neill, including video, visit www.brianogolf.com

Unleash Your Inner Lag

Just what is “lag,” anyway?

Lag is a very misunderstood concept in golf. Most amateurs can see that professionals maintain the lag or angle between the lead arm and club shaft as long as possible in the downswing to deliver the most powerful blow possible, but fail to understand how and why this happens. Left to their own means, many golfers have tried to hold onto this angle as long as they can and wind up shanking the ball, topping it and hitting shots to the right (Photo 1). These shots come from not understanding how to achieve lag and still turn the club over through impact.

Lag comes from proper sequencing on the downswing — not from trying to artificially hold onto the angle. Proper force generation and sequencing comes from the ground up and winds “out” into the club.

Just as a skier or snowboarder does a twist or a basketball player does a spinning dunk, they start their movement from the ground. Powerful golfers also start their downswings this way. They shift their weight from the right leg to the left (for righties) as their pelvis starts to unwind (Photo 2), then their upper torso starts to unwind, followed by their arms and then finally they deliver the club to the ball (Photo 2A).

In this sequence, the arms start down third and the club is fourth. When golfers lose the lag in their swings prematurely, they start the downswing with their arms and/or club first (Photo 3), which leads to a bad strike (Photo 3A).

Try the following drill to see if you can get the feel for the proper downswing sequence.

1. Set up to the ground, no ball, with a 6 or 7-iron. Bend both arms and place the shaft on the outer part of your right upper arm (Photo 4). You may have to let go slightly with your right hand, as I have.

2. Turn your shoulders 90 degrees as if you had made a backswing but keep the club shaft against your right arm (Photo 5).

3. Make your downswing and see how long you can keep the shaft touching your right arm (Photo 6) — at least until your hands get even with your right leg.

Feel the delayed release and then whipping of the club head through impact. You should feel your forearms and club turn over naturally (Photo 7).

Result: Delaying the club release through proper sequencing will help you maximize your distance.