Iron Play

Iron Power

Most people don’t think power when it comes to iron play, but as with any shot on the golf course, more power can help you a lot more than it can hurt you. Hitting longer iron shots means you can hit higher-lofted irons more often, which are no doubt a lot easier to strike solidly than lower-lofted long irons are. Also, in most cases, when you’re between clubs, it’s generally better to swing harder with the shorter iron than to swing easier with the longer iron.

So what’s the secret to a few more yards with your irons? Check out the sequence here. I’m hitting a middle iron, and believe me, I’m swinging hard. Only this time, I’m not doing what many amateurs do when they try to swing harder. Instead of using my upper body to muscle the ball, I’m hinging my hands, firing my hips and straightening my left leg through the shot. The secret to power is that it’s not about muscle, it’s about speed. Let’s look at these three keys for iron power.

Step 1: To really max out your power, you have to develop what power hitters often refer to as lag in the swing. This means, holding the angle formed by the left forearm and the shaft for as long as possible, then releasing directly over the golf ball. The more lag, the more speed you’ll generate. The technique may actually deloft your iron, as well, helping you to hit the ball farther still.

Step 2: The hips have got to open through the hitting zone. This frees the upper body to swing more freely, as well as making a full extension of the arms through the shot.

Step 3: As for the straightening of the left leg at impact, think of this more as the final step in shifting your weight down and into your left leg. The key however is to remember the proper sequencing for straightening that leg. You don’t want a straight left leg at any other point in the golf swing, outside of the moment of impact with the ball. The longer you retain flex in the knees, the greater energy you’ll be able to release when you straighten that leg and whip the upper body through the hit. Think of this as you would a basketball player about to jump for a quick rebound. The knees stay flexed, and when it’s time to jump quickly, that basketball player presses into the court and then extends his legs. It’s the same in golf. You want to stay flexed until just before impact when you want to straighten, or snap, that left leg. This is a huge power source.

By remembering and practicing these three keys, no doubt you’ll be on your way to hitting longer iron shots. And as luck would have it, you’ll probably hit straighter shots, too.

Tom Leese, PGA, is one of the top teachers in Las Vegas. Visit mastergolflasvegas.com.

Ironworks

Better iron play is at the heart of game improvement. It’s the center link of the golfing chain, and without a strong link in the middle, playing your best becomes an arduous, if not very frustrating, task. In other words, you may be capable of hitting great drives, but they really don’t mean much if you can’t hit the green. Second, hitting the green is one thing, but hitting the ball closer to the hole is the real secret to shooting lower scores. I’ve put together a few of the most common faults I see my students make pertaining to iron play. Each tip is designed specifically for the player who already has a mastery of basic iron fundamentals, but is struggling with a few particular faults. Does that sound like you? If so, read on and get ready to start shooting lower scores.

Normal

Normal Setup
A normal setup, when the wind is not blowing, looks just like this. The feet are shoulder-width apart, the shaft is leaning slightly toward the target, and the body is in a relaxed, athletic position.

Narrow

Windy Setup
When the wind blows, no matter which way, it’s generally best to play a lower, more controlled shot. This means adding more shaft lean to-ward the target at address, and a narrower stance. This will help you get to your left side sooner on the downswing and cover the ball through impact.

Finish low

The Knockdown
In windy conditions, basically what you’re doing is hitting a knockdown shot. This is a lower, less-spinning iron shot that isn’t as susceptible to ballooning in the wind as a normal shot would be. But it’s not just a shot for windy days. A knockdown is a great option for distances in between two clubs, or if you need to hit a controlled shot under a tree.

Beat The Wind
To hit successful shots into the wind or facing a crosswind (go ahead and swing away as normal when hitting downwind), remember two key factors. First, keep the hands ahead of the ball at impact. This is what I meant by covering the golf ball on the previous page. Not only will this produce a lower shot, but a slower release of the hands ought to reduce spin, as well. Second, finish with the hands in a lower position. This will help you hit down and through, as opposed to down and up, which might add loft to your shot.

Hit It Higher
The simple solution to hit a higher shot is to change clubs in favor of an iron with more loft. But what if you need to add a higher trajectory to all your iron shots? Instead of fixating on ball position, weight shift and/or rotation, consider the following advice to hit higher shots.

Start by taking a look at the position of your hands at the top of the backswing. If you have a flat wrist, where the back of the hand is flat (or near flat like mine) with the forearm, odds are that you tend to hit your irons on the lower side. To add height, consider cupping your wrist (see inset photo) more at the top of your swing. A cupped wrist will open the face more at the top of your swing, as well as at impact, causing your shots to fly higher. Just remember, a cupped wrist also promotes a fade, so be sure to aim more to the left and be ready for some left-to-right ball movement.

Educate Your Hands

Play Sidehills Correctly
When faced with an uneven lie, the key for a successful result is to examine how the ground will affect the flight of your golf ball. Let’s look at how by using a couple sticks. The stick on the ground is pointed directly at my target. The other stick is put into the ground, perpendicular to the slope. Now, here’s what you need to know. The stick in the ground, perpendicular to the slope, represents the direction in which my ball is likely to fly if I aim directly along the target line. The more sidehill, the more the shaft will lean and the more likely my shot will veer away from the target line–even if I set up perfectly square to the target line.

The fix? In this case, play for some added draw on the ball. Close your stance a bit and play the ball a ball or two farther back in your stance.

The slope will still cause you to swing from the inside and produce a draw, so be confident in your decision. Just remember to always look at the slope and, if you need to, stand behind the shot and draw an imaginary line perpendicular to the slope. That’s the direction in which you should expect the ball to fly. Be sure to compensate by aiming in the opposite direction. And in case you’re wondering, this strategy works just as well when the ball is below your feet, too. When that happens, squat more, play the ball forward and make a full finish.

Why You Thin It
Okay, here’s the real reason you hit thin shots: You aren’t getting off your right side through the shot. It’s not from scooping the ball, or trying to hit up on it. In most cases, it’s as simple as not finishing on your forward leg. Practice coming to a full finish on your forward leg (your left), and you’ll stop hitting thin shots.

Why You Hit It Fat
A fat shot and a thin shot are quite different. Chunks aren’t from not shifting to your forward side as much as from a swing that’s both too steep and, often, from outside in. In this sequence, the club is coming down too steep into the ball. Ouch!

How To Hit It Good
In this sequence, compare the first two photos to the first two in the above sequence. Here you see I’m swinging not only on a flatter plane, but also from the inside of the target line. This is key for better, longer iron shots.

Hit A Hybrid
Even with good mechanics, it’s still difficult to hit crisp iron shots from the rough. Hybrids can make matters easier, thanks to their big, flat soles and deep CG weighting schemes. The trick is, don’t get wide with your hybrids either. Stay narrow in the rough and hit down on the golf ball. If you try to scoop the ball with an iron or a hybrid, you just won’t get good results. Stay steep!

Escape The Rough
Hitting from the rough is never fun. It’s one of the few places on the golf course that requires you to alter the way you normally swing. And in case you’re wondering, that doesn’t necessarily mean swing harder, and many of my students assume you should. When golfers try to swing harder, they usually take longer, wider swings, which actually makes matters worse when you’re in the long stuff.

The solution is to steepen your downswing with more wrist hinge, not swing harder. This means adding more hinge at the top and more lag through the hit. You can still have a wide backswing, but the downswing has to be narrow. The result will be a steeper, more descending blow into the ball with less grass interference. Try this the next time you’re in the rough. Add more hinge in your backswing and add lag on the forwardswing, as you can see in the photos below. I bet you’ll hit it farther than if you try to muscle the ball out of the rough.

Draw It
The new style of play is to hit everything straight and right at the target. But that doesn’t mean you won’t encounter instances on the course where you need to shape the ball. To start by hitting a draw, I like to make my changes in the swing, not in the setup. So set up as you normally would for a given iron shot. As you swing, the key is to swing low to high. By low, I mean the clubshaft should remain below the shoulders on the downswing. By high, I mean the hands should finish high. This will help you swing more from the inside of the target line and put draw spin on the ball. Just don’t inhibit the hands from releasing through impact. If you do, that draw will turn into a dead push. If you think low to high, the ball will fly high and with a smooth draw.

Fade It
To hit a fade, again set up to the ball as you normally would. Only now, we’re going to do things in an opposite fashion. In this case, think high to low through the shot. This means, the hands are in a higher position at the top of the swing and into the downswing. Low refers to where the hands finish, which as you can see, is significantly lower than they are with the draw shot. The key with the body is to keep rotating, since with a high-to-low swing, you’ll be swinging more from outside the target line to back inside the target line. Body rotation is critical because you need to stay ahead of the hands. If you don’t, you’ll hook it. Think high to low and watch that ball fly with a gentle fade.

Brady Riggs, PGA, is one of the most popular and sought-after instructors in Southern California. For more information and to book a lesson, visit www.bradyriggs.com.

From 150 Yards Out

Here’s the good news: You’ve just hit your drive to within 150 yards of the green. If you’re like most golfers, that means all you have left is a 7- or 8-iron (that is, if you have a perfect lie, of course).

But this is golf, and bad breaks happen. Just because you’re 150 yards out doesn’t mean that you have one of those easy, unobstructed shots you practice at the driving range. You might be in a divot, in the bunker or behind a tree. Don’t worry–over the next four pages, I’ve taken a look at a number of different shots and situations in which you may find yourself. Hopefully, after you read it, you’ll be able to find the green as a result!

1. FAIRWAY BUNKER

To escape fairway bunkers, you must make good ball-first contact. Rather than hitting the sand first, like a greenside bunker shot, you want to hit the ball first as if the ball was in the fairway. If you take some sand after the ball, like a normal divot, that’s fine. When you hit the sand first, the club slows down tremendously and will result in a shot that comes up well short of the green.

BALL FIRST!

CHOKE DOWN!

BALL BACK!

To make good ball-first club contact, you must adjust your setup accordingly. First, place the ball slightly back in your stance. When the ball is back, the club will hit the ball first before bottoming out and hitting the sand. The other setup key is to grip down slightly on the club about half an inch. Doing this makes the club slightly shorter and more difficult to hit the sand too soon during the swing. As a result, take one extra club (if you’d usually hit an 8-iron, try a 7) so you can make a controlled swing.

2. FAIRWAY DIVOT

Finding your perfect drive in a fairway divot is one of golf’s unluckiest breaks. When you find yourself in this situation, change your expectation. You may not be able to go for the pin, so accept a shot that hits somewhere on the green. If possible, play a low punch shot from this lie and let it run up to the green or land just on the front.

In golf, you never want to scoop the ball, but especially for this shot, you must hit down on it to escape the divot and get it airborne! To hit down on it, place the ball slightly back in your stance and your hands slightly ahead of the ball. You want your backswing to be a little more upright so you hit down on the ball. Make sure your wrists are relaxed so they hinge a little earlier in the backswing. Make a three-quarters swing and hit down on the shot. Expect a shorter follow-through, and as a result, a more descending blow.

3. TWO LIES

FLIER
Now and then you get a lie in the rough that sits up. Initially, it seems like it’s a pretty good lie–even better than a perfect lie in the fairway. Then you hit it, and it flies 20 yards over the green. What happened? Well, some grass between the ball and club negated the spin and caused it to fly farther than usual.

The first thing you have to do is be able to identify this flier lie. Typically, the grass blades grow in the direction you’re hitting the shot. To combat hitting it 20 yards past your target, take one less club. If you typically use an 8-iron, hit a 9-iron and so on. Second, move the ball slightly back in your stance from its normal position. If you make good contact, you’ll get the spin you need for the ball to travel the close to normal distance.

BALL DOWN
When the ball sits down in the rough, you need to make good contact. If you hit the tall grass first, it slows down the club, and the ball comes up short of the green. Since the ball is sitting down, you must hit down to make good clubface contact. That fires the ball out of the rough.

To make sure you hit the ball first, place the ball back slightly in your stance at address so your hands are slightly ahead of the ball. You want a slightly steeper downswing than normal, so feel your wrists hinge so the club points at the sky early in the swing. This will help you hit down on the ball. Really try to feel as though your left hand leads through impact. If you can keep your left hand ahead at impact, you’ll make good contact. Since the ball is sitting down, the grass will grab the club and slow it down, so expect your followthrough to be a little shorter than normal. Don’t try to force a full finish!

4. STYMIED!

OVER A TREE
If you find yourself with a tree between you and the green, don’t worry! The good news is that, since you’re 150 yards out, you have a relatively short club for this shot. So first figure out if your 150-yard club will get over the tree. If you think it can and it will land, at worst, near the front of the green, go for it. Short of the green is usually safe, so if it gets over the tree but comes up a little short, that’s fine.

To hit the ball high over the tree, play it slightly forward in your stance. Make a normal backswing and downswing, but make your finish reflect the shot–in this case, high so your hands are high and you don’t fully release. I want my forearms separated and not touching. This does two things: First, a high finish helps the ball fly higher, since swinging into a high finish demands a speedy swing; second, I limit the amount of release that typically leads to a fade (fades go higher than draws). Also, make sure to swing with good speed, as more speed equals spin and gets the ball higher in the air.

UNDER/AROUND A TREE
If the tree is too high (or too close), you have to hit it under the tree. For this shot, you have to choose the right club. In this case, I’ve selected a 5-iron. Its low loft keeps the ball low, but high enough to get airborne out of the rough. One of the hardest things to judge is how big your swing needs to be. After all, it’s a low shot, and the ball will run a good amount when you hit it. For example, a 150-yard shot needs to fly only about 130 yards (so it rolls another 20).

FINISH HIGH TO GO OVER

FINISH LOW TO FLY UNDER

OVER!

UNDER!

Also, a smaller swing generates less speed, and less speed equals less spin, and less spin keeps the ball low and under the trees. Play the ball slightly back in your stance and place your hands ahead of the ball. From there, make a three-quarter backswing and hold off the finish, only about halfway through. Remember, a short finish keeps the ball below the trees.

Nick Kumpis, PGA, teaches golf in Southern California.

Rough And Tough Shots

USE A WEDGE FOR BETTER CONTACT

When your ball finds the deep rough like the position I’m in here, the smart play almost always is to take a higher-lofted club and either lay up or pitch the ball back into the fairway. Why you ask?

The shorter the club, the more descending the blow you’re going to have into the golf ball. The longer the club, the flatter the angle you’ll come into the ball. This is the main reason it’s so difficult to hit longer irons and fairway woods from the rough. Because of the shallower angle of attack, there’s too much rough coming into contact between the clubhead and ball, making it difficult not only to get the ball airborne, but also to move it out of the rough.

The right play? Punch it out to a comfortable distance in the fairway, with a high-lofted iron or wedge.

On a side note, because the rough is a lousy place to hit long irons and fairway woods, it’s not an accident that hybrids are designed to be played with a steeper angle of descent. Try hitting your hybrid like a middle to short iron from the rough, and see if it helps you.

UP AND OVER

In this scenario, I have two options. I can go over the limbs hanging between the green and the golf ball, or I can go under them. Let’s imagine the pin is on the short side and I need to hit it high and stop it quick. In this case, hitting over the limbs is the right shot.

To hit a high pitch, I like to keep things simple. Address the ball as you normally would with your high-lofted wedge, with the ball positioned center or slightly forward of center. Only now, concentrate on releasing the hands faster through impact. With a quicker release, the clubhead will outrace the hands and add both loft and bounce to the club. Because of this, don’t be afraid to hit down aggressively onto the ball and use the club’s bounce to avoid hitting a fat shot. As for your finish, the shaft should be vertical, as you see in the photo to the left. This is a sure sign of a quick, handsy release through the ball.

DOWN AND UNDER

Now, let’s say the pin is at the opposite end of the green and I have some more room to roll the ball. The right play is to hit the ball below the limbs and play for more roll. I don’t really make a lot of changes to my pitching stance and setup. As with a high shot, I play the ball in the center to slightly forward in my stance. Only now, instead of concentrating on a faster release of the hands, I try to delay the release of the hands to help hit the ball lower and with forward roll. I’m not intentionally trying to keep my weight on my left side, nor do I change my impact position all that much (for proof, check out the two sequences and note the similarities). Instead, by delaying, or slowing, the release of the hands, I’ll make contact with less loft and create less backspin. The key is to remember to rotate the body and finish the shot with the shaft below the hands, as you see in the photo to the right.

BEND IT LEFT

Target Line

ALIGN TO RIGHT

Just because you found the fairway, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll have an open shot into the green.

In this case, I need to hit a draw around a tree to have any chance at a birdie. To start, align your clubhead as you normally would: right at the target. As for your body, aim to the right. The face will look closed, but trust you’re setting up correctly.

RELEASE THE HANDS

To hit the draw, the hands have to release, and the clubface has to close through the shot.

Notice how the shaft is parallel to the ground? Now look at the clubface. It’s facing down, further indicating I’ve hit a draw/hook effectively around the tree.

SWING ALONG BODY LINE

The key here is to trust your alignment and swing out to the right! Don’t feel as though you need to tug the clubhead back to the left. Because the clubface was square to the target (and closed relative to your body line), a draw is imminent. Swing along your body line and be ready for a right-to-left ballflight.

BEND IT RIGHT

ALIGN TO LEFT

In case I need to hit a big fade or a slice, I’ll need to do the exact opposite of what I did when hitting a draw. Aim the clubface at the target, and align the body left of the target. This will effectively open the face relative to your body line, helping you to not only hit a fade, but hit it higher, too.

DELAY HANDS

To hit a good fade, the goal is to delay the release of the hands and hold the clubface open (relative to the body line) through the hit. The key to doing this? You have to keep rotating the body! Look how much more my body has rotated here vs. the draw swing. This is what you want to achieve in hitting this shot.

SWING ALONG BODY

Once again, swing along the body line, not the target line! Don’t let fear keep you from rotating your body and
swinging to the left of the target. Also, when you do set up to hit this shot,
take one more club than usual, since fades from this setup fly shorter and higher than do normal shots.

BRUTAL BUNKER

Tough bunker shots require tough practice! To hit a high and long bunker shot, you need to activate your hands and whip the clubhead through at impact. In the sequence below, notice how my hands are cocked and, just before impact, they release and make contact with the sand and ball. Through impact, my hands release, but I retain the extension of my arms. That’s what you want to help hit better, more consistent bunker shots from farther distances.

IN A DIVOT!

ROTATE!

Just because you’ve found a divot in the fairway (life just isn’t fair, is it?), the shot isn’t lost. The trick is to remember that effective ballstriking requires a full rotation through the shot. In the case of the divot shot, play the ball back in your stance to help encourage a steeper downswing. Just remember, the steeper you get, the more critical it is to rotate the body. If you get steep and don’t rotate, you’ll hit it fat and probably off line. Instead, swing with confidence and rotate through on the downswing.

Bobby Hinds, PGA, has developed a golf instruction curriculum designed to help all golfers become better through applying instruction that’s easy to understand and execute. For more information, and to book a lesson, visit www.bobbyhinds.com.

Photo location courtesy of Crystalaire CC in Llano, Calif. For more info, visit www.crystalairecc.com.

Hit More Greens

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE HANDS AND CLUBHEAD is critically important. After all, it’s your only true linkage to the golf ball, meaning any slippage or loss of traction can lead to devastating shot results. And that’s no matter how well you swing it!

So, check your grips routinely for wear and tear, and/or any loss of tackiness. Furthermore, make sure your grips are fitted properly for both your hands and your golf swing. Typically, smaller grips are better for smaller hands, but they also aid in helping the hands rotate through the shot. Fatter grips have the opposite effect, and can actually lessen the rotation of the hands to prevent excessive hooking of the ball. Experiment with different sizes and see what works best for you.

NEUTRALIZE YOUR GRIP PRESSURE
YOU MAY KNOW THE CORRECT HAND POSITION, but how many times have you considered how tight or soft you should grip the club? In reality, it depends on both your natural grip strength and how well you set the hands at the top of your golf swing.

TOO TIGHT

TOO SOFT

To get a better hold of how firmly you should grip the club, first examine how well your hands are functioning at the top of the swing. In the photo above, you can see that the back of my left hand is flat, the clubshaft is on plane (it’s hidden behind my hands), and my wrists are fully hinged. Now, if I grip the club too firmly, my wrists won’t hinge enough, meaning I’m likely to release the hands too soon through the downswing.

If I grip the club too softly, not only am I likely to regrip and lose the proper club position, but my swing plane is going to suffer, since the shaft is likely to droop behind or in front of my hands.

NO!

USE YOUR LIES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
The intermediate cut of rough can actually be an easier place from which to hit a longer iron.

SWING DOWN THE FIRST CUT
A GREAT WAY TO check the direction of your swing path is to take a few practice swings along the first cut of rough. With the clubhead positioned just inside the first cut (the toe barely touching the rough), you’ll be able to quickly see whether or not you’re swinging down the line, too much inside-out, or as the small photo above shows, too much outside-in. You can even use a tee to get a better idea of where you want to make impact with the turf.

Another great swing thought to have is to try to swing the club par-allel to the line midway through the backswing, and again, parallel through the line midway through the downswing. You can see here, I’m almost perfectly parallel on the downswing, the toe of the club is pointing up, and my body is rotated through. I’ve definitely swung straight down the line here.

THE SHADOW CHECK
OUT ON THE COURSE, YOU PROBABLY WON’T FIND TOO MANY FULL-LENGHT MIRRORS, but that doesn’t mean you can’t check your swing to see whether you’re swaying or not. To do so, simply turn your back to the sun so your shadow is in front of you. Start at the setup and note where your head and hips are. As you swing back, watch your shadow and make sure you’re rotating, not sliding back and forth. This also is a great way to make sure you’re keeping your spine angle, too.

Once you’ve practiced with the shadow, turn around, face the sun and repeat the way a good swing feels. This will train your mind to ignore your shadow and keep you focused on the back of the ball come time to hit your next shot.

Give it a try, use your shadow and make sure you rotate, not slide, through the hit.

At the setup, your shadow should resemble a golfer with no arms. Pay attention to any tilt away from the target, as well.

The shadow you cast when you slide too far away from the ball will show you a lot of things: a slide, a greater separation of the hands and a clubshaft that’s not parallel to the target line.

TWO-TEE DRILL
what’s the secret behind solid ballstriking? Ball-first contact! Hitting the ball first, before you make contact with the turf is critical if you want to become a better ballstriker.

A great way to practice ball-first contact (without actually using a ball) is to use two tees, situated gate-style in the position where your golf ball would be. As you swing, concentrate on hitting the turf on the target side of the tees, and not behind. Notice in the sequence above, doing so requires two key components. The first is a good extension of the arms. The second is a full rotation of the body through and up to the finish.

Iron Types

CHOOSING the right type of irons for your game ought to be your first step toward improving your score. And if a new set isn’t in the budget, or you’re content with what you have, at the very least, consider getting your irons properly fitted. This means having them inspected for length, loft, shaft flex and lie angle.

You may find that your irons fit improperly, and a few tweaks will make a big difference in helping you hit better iron shots. Or, let’s say your irons actually fit your game as they should. Then why aren’t you seeing any improvements? The answer may be in the type of iron set you have. If you struggle with a lack of distance, wayward shots or even getting the ball airborne, maybe it’s time to ditch those blade-style irons and opt for a cavity-back set–or better, a mixed set with a couple hybrid irons to choose from.

Either way, the era of sizing up one’s golf game based on the types of equipment in the bag are long gone. Many of the best players in the world not only have adopted cavity-back styles, but also have worked hybrids into their sets. This is all in an effort to stay competitive and hit shots that, frankly, you could never do with a long-iron blade.

FEET-TOGETHER DRILL
IF YOU HAVE TOO MUCH UPPER-BODY ROTATION, a great way to check is to try the feet-together drill.

Too much upper-body rotation is usually the culprit behind bad balance and bad positions at impact. To check yours, stand with your feel together and make a few swings at full speed. If you’re falling over in any direction, you probably have more upper-body rotation than your lower body can handle. The solution? Either scale back your backswing or add more middle-body rotation to the mix. This will help stabilize your motion and, in turn, lead to better balance and more consistent ballstriking.

DRILLS

STEP-INTO-IT DRILL
PROBABLY THE TOUGHEST aspect OF THE GOLF SWING is understanding how to make a solid transition from backswing to forwardswing. In reality, there ought to be three things working together. First, the weight shifts to the forward side. Second, the body rotates. And third, the hands drop and release over the ball. Seems simple enough right? Not quite. Understanding the order of these motions is the toughest part.

To better train your body to follow a proper sequence, consider this drill. First, start in your setup position, and then move your forward foot (my left in the first photo) along your right foot. Then, initiate your backswing as you normally would. Once you reach the top of your backswing, lift your forward foot (again, my left in the photos) and plant it back into the position in which it would normally be. As you do this, you’ll sense a greater feeling of the body wanting to turn toward the target and the hands coming down over the golf ball.

By stepping into it, you’ll get a better feeling for making a proper weight shift. The rest of the swing ought to fall into sequence naturally.

Iron Shafts

DRIVER SHAFTS tend to garner the lion’s share of attention when it comes to club shafts, but don’t forget about the ol’ iron shafts in the bag. What you don’t know might actually be hurting your game.

To become better-informed, first make sure your iron shafts are cut to the right length and have a flex suited not only to your overall ability, but also to your tendencies with each type of iron. For instance, maybe you prefer making short, aggressive swings with your short irons, meaning, stiff shafts will work better in the higher-lofted irons. Or, perhaps you prefer swinging easier with your long irons, thus requiring a softer flex profile in the long irons. Either way, a set can be dynamically arranged so each iron flexes exactly as you’d like. Go to a fitter and see what we mean.

TEE-FLIP DRILL
HOW MUCH OF A DESCENDING BLOW YOU NEED? Now that you know you need to clip the ball first before you make contact with the ground, how steep should you be?

A great way to practice the perfect descending blow into the ball is to try to mimic my position in the photo to the right. See how my hands are just ahead of the ball, my hips have rotated, and my head is slightly back? This is the position you want at impact, but getting here is going to require some practice.

To get started, try the tee-flip drill. Take a tee, and place it in front of the ball (toward the target). Push it into the ground so it’s snug and doesn’t pop out too easily.

From this position, make a swing! If you execute the proper downswing, you should not only hit the tee, but also be able to pop the tee out of the ground.

Practice this drill anytime you feel as though you’re hitting it too fat or too thin. You’ll quickly be on your way toward making crisper contact.

SETUP VS. IMPACT The reality is, there’s actually a big difference between the setup and impact position. At impact, the weight is on the forward side (target side), the hips and lower body are open, and the shaft is leaning forward.

WALL CHECK
MAKING A GOOD BACKSWING DOES NOT HAVE TO BE DIFFICULT. A simple way to check and see if you’re taking the club back straight along the target line is to check with a wall behind you.

The goal is to make a ¾ backswing and a ¾ followthrough. (Eventually the club will hit the wall, even with a good swing. So, stop
the downswing ¾ of the way through the forwardswing.) If you take the club back too far inside, you’ll hit the wall on the backswing. If you do the opposite and take the club back too far outside, you’ll likely come over the top and hit the wall through the downswing.

As a bonus, this is a great tip to ensure you retain the needed spine tilt toward the ball.

Lies, Lies, Lies!

IF YOUR IRONS DON’T FIT, there are some surefire hints as to why that might be. For instance, if you struggle with shots that fly too far to the right, your irons may be too flat for your swing. If you tend to hit most of your irons to the left, they might be too upright for your natural ability. Bending the lie angle of your irons is a simple fix to help you hit straighter shots in no time.

DIAL DOWN
UNLIKE WITH THE DRIVER OR EVEN SOME OF YOUR FAIRWAY WOODS, you don’t necessarily want to hit every shot with your irons as far as you possibly could. In a given round, you’re probably just as likely to have as many in-between distances as you will distances that set up well for a particular iron in your bag.

A great way to practice and to get a feel for different distances is to practice hitting each iron in your bag three different distances. Start with three balls, and with your first shot, hit with your average swing speed, which should be somewhere around 80 percent full power. Then, with the second ball, dial it back to 70 percent and monitor the difference. Then, with the last ball, take a swing at 100 percent and, again, track the difference in distance.

Once you get a better idea of how far you can hit a single iron at three different swing speeds, you’ll likely see that some of your distances overlap from iron to iron, which essentially fills any distance holes in your set.

Also, becoming more versatile with each iron, you’ll get a better sense of what type of shot a particular hole requires, especially in relation to trajectory and spin (typically the faster you swing, the higher the launch and greater the spin).

Do this for every iron in your bag and take the guesswork out of choosing the right club once and for all.

MAKE SOLID CONTACT
DON’T GO OVER THE TOP. Speaking of swinging over the top (as the wall-check drill alluded to), an outside-in swing path is one of the worst and, sadly, more common mistakes amateurs make. It not only produces a weak and inconsistent shot, but also causes slices and duck hooks, both of which we all could do without. The opposite problem is a swing that’s too inside-to-outside the target line, which causes pushes, hooks and even the likely shanked shot. That’s just as bad.

To make sure you swing more squarely, try hitting a few shots with something along the outside of the golf ball. In my case, I have an OB stake, but I suggest you try using something softer, like a headcover. Set it as close to the ball as you can without touching it at address. The goal, obviously, is to avoid contact with your headcover through the entire swing. If you’re too outside-to-inside, you’ll hit it. If you’re too inside-to-outside, you’ll still hit it. The right amount is to swing inside-to-inside the target line, straight toward the target. Practice this often and you’ll hit straighter shots.

FINISH STRONG ON YOUR FORWARD LEG
JUST BECAUSE IT’S NOT YOUR DRIVER, that’s not enough of an excuse to quit on your swing and not make a solid rotation. For even the most delicate of shots, whether it be a 100-yard pitch or an easy 7-iron, you always want to finish on your forward leg. If you don’t, you run the risk of not making a full rotation, releasing the club too soon, and, well, you can guess what types of shots will ensue.

As you practice, work on finishing on your forward leg, even with shorter-iron shots, punch shots, 3__ã4 shots or what have you. In this photo, I’m hitting an easy 6-iron. Even though my finish is abbreviated, my weight shift is anything but. I’m fully rotated, and my weight is solidly placed over my left leg.

Some of the best players in the world have said they don’t think about anything in the golf shot other than how they finish. Give that a try and, no doubt, you too will see how a finish-focused swing will help the rest of your motions fall in sequence automatically.

Jeff Johnson is currently the director of instruction at the beautiful Ojai Valley Inn & Spa in Ojai, Calif. To learn more and to book a lesson, visit www.ojairesort.com.

How To Win The Masters


Left: Angel Cabrera 2009 Champ; Center: Trevor Immelman 2008 Champ; Right: Zach Johnson 2007 Champ

One of the things I enjoy most in golf is the opportunity to travel to Augusta, Ga., for The Masters each spring. It’s truly an amazing event and one every golfing enthusiast should experience at least once in his or her lifetime. From the Par 3 Contest, to the magnolias in bloom, to the best back 9 in championship golf, The Masters is beyond compare in both style and competition. I love the tournament’s international flare, not to mention the unique array of champions who have donned the infamous green jacket. In this segment, I’ll break down some of the keys to victory of the tournament’s most recent champions: Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman and Zach Johnson. With these simple tips, you’ll find the keys to success to conquering golf’s greatest major!

Zach Johnson, 2007 Masters Champ
Score: 289, one over par
Margin Of Victory: One shot over Rory Sabbatini, Retief Goosen & Tiger Woods
How He Won: Destroyed par-5s by laying up to his perfect wedge range
His Shot: How to hit the 3__ã4 wedge

1. Set left
The key to feeling confident from a short distance is to make consistently solid contact. Players who allow their weight to shift away from the target generally have an inconsistent bottom to their swing arc. This produces both fat and thin hits.

On shots from within 100 yards, set your weight more toward your left side. As a result, your swing will, in essence, pivot around the left side post you’ve created. This left-sided stability will ensure you maintain your swing center and improve.

2. Control your length
A long, loose swing creates a wide shot dispersion. To tighten up your direction, you need to keep your swing length under control. Work on creating a go-to shot (a 3__ã4 swing is a good place to start).

Next, take a look at your swing from the face-on perspective. (I suggest either asking a friend to watch you or tape yourself with a video camera.) Once you swing as far back as you’d like and make some corresponding solid hits, measure how far you’re hitting the ball. That’s your go-to shot. Then do the same with swings of varying lengths to bolster your arsenal!

3. Hit firm with the correct wrist angle and pressure at impact
In golf, the knockdown shot is one in which the player creates a tight, piercing ballflight that can cut through strong headwinds.

To feel the same type of contact with your wedges, you want your hands to deliver a blow that’s firm and crisp in attitude. Feel the back of your left hand hit solidly into the hit with a clubface that strengthens in loft. De-lofting the clubface is a characteristic all great ballstrikers share. Adopt a knockdown attitude and you’ll be knocking down flagsticks as well!

4. Strike a match to create the right rhythm
The theme thus far has been to create a swing that’s crisp and under control. To seal the deal, adopt a rhythm that embodies the same mind-set. Your wedge rhythm should be aggressive and upbeat, like the attitude you have when striking a match. Make a rehearsal swing that has enough zip to start a fire at the bottom, and your ball will stop on a dime!

Conclusion: If you want to win The Masters, you need to be deadly accurate with your distance control into the green. Although each putting surface at Augusta may seem like a large target, a player must hit his shot to an area no larger than a typical bed sheet. During Zach Johnson’s impressive victory, he demonstrated how a player who doesn’t have home-run power can steal the green jacket with some precision wedge play.

Angel Cabrera, 2009 Champ
Score: 276, 12 under par
Margin Of Victory: Cabrera finished tied with Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry after 72 holes. Campbell bogeyed the first play-off hole to drop out. Cabrera then parred the second hole to win his first green jacket.
How He Won: Controlled his speed perfectly on Augusta’s slick greens
His Shot: Using the belly putter to drain putts

1. Set your anchor
The belly putter is great simply because it’s so simple to use. All you have to do is anchor the grip end of the putter to your midsection and you’re good to go.

I find that a spot just to the left of my navel works best. Once your anchor is set, the stroke operates just like a perfect pendulum, in rhythm, with the back- and through-swings about equal length.

2. Fold your elbows so they’re high on your hips
The next step is to put your hands on the putter so that your arm swing can stay relaxed and fluid. Instead of having your arms long and rigid, place your hands high on the shaft, forcing your elbows to fold up and into your body. As you make your stroke, this folded-arm position will allow your joints to naturally flex in response to the swinging putterhead.

3. Feel some flow
To control how far you hit your putts, you must feel a proper-sized stroke. From your anchored position, make some strokes with your right arm only. With this one-handed action, you’ll be able to feel the putterhead swing naturally, and judging distance will be as simple as tossing a ball to the cup. Make a smooth start and keep your rhythm even and you’ll think these belly putters should be illegal!

4. Stay at home
The final quality you need to make a great belly putter stroke is to stay at home. By that I mean the proximity of your arms to your body throughout the motion.

At address, feel your arms touching the sides of your midsection, with your elbows settling just above your hips. As you make your stroke, maintain your arm/body connection by staying at home. This means not allowing your arms to stray away from your torso. Even at the end of the stroke, your arms and body will have a gentle connection.

Conclusion: It’s no secret that to win at Augusta, you have to be able to roll the rock. Over the course of four rounds, you’re sure to be faced with your share of slippery knee knockers, so making a stable, reliable stroke is a must. For guaranteed success with the flat stick, I recommend trying the foolproof belly putter method employed by 2009 champ, Angel Cabrera.

Trevor Immelman, 2008 Champ
Score: 280, eight under par
Margin Of Victory: Three shots over Tiger Woods
How He Won: Found the right location on the greens, and that set up aggressive putting opportunities
His Shot: The well-struck iron

1. Set Your Posture
First, get into a strong spine-angle position. I like my players to bend forward so that their spine and shaft are at a 90-degree angle to each other at address. A chest that’s too tall is up and away from the ball and will lead to a retreat when you swing. Lean over, get engaged with the turf into an attack-driven posture and you’ll be in a position to create maximum pressure on your golf ball.

2. Do the logo drill
Once your posture is set, it’s all up to the arms to create your golf swing’s shape. Get your arms to swing around your torso by smashing your golf shirt’s logo on the backswing with your left arm. On the followthrough, swing your right arm back across your chest, replicating the path you traveled with your left. With a solid posture and this simple tip, your swing will always be on a reasonable plane and yield consistent results.

Conclusion: With bunkers, water and nasty slopes guarding the green (not to mention some of the longest approaches in golf), every Masters champion needs a rock-solid iron game. Take a page out of Trevor Immelman’s arsenal and you’ll be on your way to your own awards ceremony!

Stats Corner
How They Ranked

2009 Masters Champion, Angel Cabrera
(276, 12 under par)

After two years of abuse from Mother Nature, Augusta National returned to its placid spring conditions. El Pato not only hit a lot of greens (70.42%), but also made putts when it counted, averaging 1.58 strokes per hole for a total of 112 putts over the four-day tournament.

2008 Masters Champion, Trevor Immelman
(280, eight under par)

The South African not only won by a decisive three-stroke margin, but also dominated the statistics leaderboard. Immelman was first in driving accuracy (hitting 48 of 56), second in GIR (51 of 72), fourth in driving distance (287.5 yards) and fourth in overall putts with 112.

2007 Masters Champion, Zach Johnson
(289, one over par)

As the mercury plunged into the low 40s on Saturday, and the wind gusted, Johnson remained cool and composed. While hitting 61% of his greens, the native Iowan dominated the par-5s, shooting an impressive 11 under on those holes. He always putted the lights out. Johnson averaged 1.56 putts per hole and 112 total.

Editor’s Note: It doesn’t hurt to hit the ball long and straight at Augusta, but when you look at the past three winners’ stats, it’s clear that you need a hot putter to win a green jacket. Consider that all three men took the same number of strokes with their flatstick, 112. That’s 32 fewer over four days than if they had two-putted every green.

Jeff Ritter, PGA, teaches at the ASU Karsten Golf Academy in Tempe, Ariz., and is the author of Golf by Design. Visit golfbydesign.net.

Iron Out The Kinks

The hard part is over, right? You’ve boomed a 300-yard drive right down the middle, leaving no more than a short iron into the green. The last thing you want to do is shank, duff, hook or slice, especially considering how well-struck your drive was.

To avoid making a mistake from the fairway, there are a handful of quick tips that ought to become second nature to you so you don’t waste that well-struck drive. Although they may seem simple and minor, these changes can have a profound effect on your ability to not only hit the green, but also shape shots into tight pin locations and avoid making critical mistakes that will end up costing you strokes. So, let’s get started, shall we?

The first tip is the easiest one to master: course management. In this photo, I’m 185 yards from the center of the green, with water to the left and bunkers to the right. Now, if you were me, what club would you choose to hit, and where would you aim?

Tricky, isn’t it? The right choice in this scenario is to do two things. First, add some extra club to make sure you clear the water, in case you pull it. Second, aim slightly right of the target. Yes, this puts the bunkers in play, but hitting a bunker won’t cost you penalty strokes like a water ball will. The key with every shot is to carefully plan out where you want the ball to land. If you pay more attention to your course management, you may find yourself worrying less about your swing, which will help you hit better shots. You owe it to your great drive to follow up with a solid approach.

Often, golfers seem to think that how they address their feet determines what type of shot they’ll be likely to hit. And while that’s true, in part, how you adjust your feet also affects how your body swings–not just the way the ball curves. Consider this: If the target line of the golf ball remains constant, then your feet can be adjusted three ways that will affect the way your body rotates. First, the feet may be positioned parallel to the target (shown left). From here, the body will make a free turn in both directions (away and through), thus providing the perfect blend of power and accuracy. Second, the feet may be positioned slightly left of parallel (bottom left). This position will help golfers restrict their backswing length and, in turn, help them make a more complete rotation through the finish position. It’s a good feet position for golfers who over rotate on the backswing.

And finally, the feet may be situated to the right of parallel. This will help the golfer make a bigger rotation on the backswing and help you feel more “loaded” at the top of your swing. This positioningof the feet is very helpful for golfers who tend to take quick, short backswings without fully loading their right side at the top of the swing.

Target Line

START FROM THE GROUND…UP
If you situate your feet left of parallel to the target line, you’ll be more likely to make a restricted backswing, but with a more thorough rotation through the golf ball and into the finish.

With the feet positioned right of parallel to the target line, the body will make a greater turn on the backswing, but will end with a more abbreviated finish.

MIND YOUR GRIP AND BALL POSITION
How you grip the club is critical. In fact, I’d go so far to say that there has never been a great player in the game of golf who didn’t have a solid grip. As Homer Kelly wrote in The Golfing Machine, the grip has several pressure points in order to unify the hands into one cohesive entity. The first pressure point is in the last three fingers of the left hand. Keeping pressure contact here is key for a smooth and controlled backstroke. The second pressure point is where the right hand presses against the thumb of the left hand (reverse for southpaws). This helps maintain a solid extension through the swing. Finally, the way the lower hand (your right hand) grips the club also is important.

Often called a “trigger finger,” the index finger of the right hand has some separation from the rest of the grip. This serves to pull up on the shaft and direct the force of the club back and through. Lose control of any of these three points in your grip, and you’ll have a tough time controlling the unity of your grip.

As for where your hands are to situate on the grip, consider the type of shot you’re trying to hit. Gripping lower on the shaft will slow down your clubhead speed, enabling you to hit shots in those in-between distances without having to consciously slow down your swing. If you grip low and swing normal, the smaller arc will slow down your swing automatically. Some players, such as Anthony Kim, actually prefer gripping low on the shaft for all their iron shots, since the counterbalancing feel helps with rhythm and tempo. Experiment with what grip positions work best for you. Sometimes gripping low feels better.

What about ball position? Well, if you’re a better player, having one ball position with your irons is acceptable. But that’s only if you’re good enough to pivot consistently. As for the rest of us, I suggest you play the short irons in the center of your stance (right down your sternum). Your middle irons ought to be played just below your shirt logo on your left side, and the longer iron just under your left armpit. Using the body’s landmarks instead of foot positions will help make it easier to repeat the same ball positions as needed. Also, remember this: Your ball position is likely to change from time to time. Sometimes it’s forward in your stance; sometimes a little more back. The key is to allow for some flexibility and not to get stuck. As the swing changes, allow how you position the golf ball relative to your body to adjust, as well.

Seek The Plane

SIMPLIFY
Jack Nicklaus had it correct when he said it’s best to allow each club to “seek its own plane.” What that means is, the longer the iron, the flatter the lie angle and the flatter the swing at the top. My take on all this? Forget about it! Don’t get bogged down in worrying about your club plane and the lie angles of your irons. Instead, focus more on what YOU do during the backswing with each of your clubs. For instance, you’ll find that it’s easier to hinge your wrists faster with shorter irons than with longer irons. So allow some extra time in the backswing with your longer clubs. Think more of YOU and not your club’s lie angle or plane. You’ll focus a lot better on swinging the club rather than manipulating it.

If you were to look at both these swings from the waist up, it’d be hard to tell which one produces solid results and which one doesn’t. But check out my lower half. Better golf shots require a solid base. And a solid base comes from making a good rotation away from the ball, not a sway. A good lower body rotation frees up the upper body to coil even more, resulting in greater power and control. Be sure to rotate and keep your weight centered during your swing.

CONTROL YOUR BALLFLIGHT
To hit a draw, moving the feet right of parallel isn’t enough. The entire body needs to reorientate in that direction. As you can see, my entire body is rotated, meaning I’ll make a pass through the ball from inside to outside the target line. The key is to not force the hands to rotate. Let them do their job naturally.

To hit a fade, just do the same, only in reverse. Open your stance relative to the target line and, again, don’t force the hands to under- or overrotate. Keep them aiming at the target. The club will travel from outside to inside through impact, imparting slice spin to help curve the ball from left to right.

Forward Neutral Back

To hit the ball higher, let your ball position handle it for you. Adjust your ball forward of where you’d normally play it. This will cause additional tilt in your shoulders away from the ball, as well as eliminate any forward shaft lean. The result will be a longer, lower swing that sends the ball on a higher trajectory.

To hit the ball lower, play the ball farther back in the stance than normal. Make sure the clubface is square to the target (it may appear more closed than usual) and keep the hands in the same place as they’d be with a normal shot. Then, swing all the way to the finish! You don’t have to finish low to hit it low!

SAND CONTACT DRILL
Finally, the last quick tip that I hope you try is one geared to help you perfect your impact with the ball by honing in on your weight shift and ball position–at the same time. To do this, grab your 7-iron, and draw a line in the sand just as I have.

Position the line in the correct ball position, and practice making divots on the target side of the line. If you find yourself hitting behind the line, you’re sliding too much on the backswing. If you aren’t making a divot at all, you’re pulling up too much through the hit. And if you’re hitting too far out in front of the line on the target side, your body is outracing your arms through the downswing.

The trick is to practice this drill until you can consistently hit the target side of the line without making an effort. Practice it until it comes naturally, and you’ll be amazed at how well this drill will help you improve your ballstriking!

ONE ON ONE WITH TOM STICKNEY
1. What are some of the most common swing flaws you’ve seen from watching people try to hit consistent iron shots?
Most people seem to play the ball too far back in their stance and then try to help the ball into the air by falling back and scooping. This only causes poor contact and very inconsistent distances. Placing the ball in the proper position of the stance allows the body and club to work more in conjunction each other, resulting in more solid contact.

2. You’re a big fan of Homer Kelley’s The Golfing Machine. Care to elaborate on why you find that book to be so instrumental in your teaching?
Homer Kelley’s book is the bible of the golf swing. All swing models have come from this book, and the golf swing’s motion is described in great detail by Homer. The book categorizes only the 24 motions that every golfer utilizes (from Bobby Jones to Tiger Woods) and the variations of those motions. For example: Everyone must have a good grip. There are only five variations of the basic grip, each one serving a different purpose. That’s the way the book lays out the golf swing. It describes the golf swing in parts, but the parts are interconnected to make up a whole golf swing. It’s also loaded with options as far as what’s considered the right way to develop the golf swing. In other words, there’s more than one way to get it done. The Golfing Machine helps me build golf swings around what people can do, instead of forcing them into a swing pattern that they can’t do.

3. How often should golfers practice?
Practice comes in many forms: mirror work, slow-motion swings, Internet study, hitting balls, playing practice rounds, etc. It would be nice to involve as many of these practice ideals as possible, but let’s be realistic! Most people can hit balls or play only on the weekends, so I recommend folks use the weekdays to do mirror work and practice swings at home. On the weekends, head to the practice facility. Also, it’s not a good idea to practice in one sitting for over 30 minutes. It gets too monotonous, and often golfers will begin trying different things instead of honing in on core fundamentals. And by the way, nobody cares if you can bust range balls over the fence. Practice ought not to be a long-drive contest. Get out there, pace yourself and take breaks to stay focused. Do that and you can practice all day if necessary.

4. How did you become a teacher?
Like several other instructors, I first began as a competitor, playing in college and on mini-tours. And it was during my competing days that I realized that my passion wasn’t so much for winning tournaments, but rather helping people get better at golf and in studying the golf swing. Golf is a great game, and golf instruction has been a wonderful way to make a living. Bighorn and Cordillera are the best places in the world to work! I really get the best of both worlds–out in the desert and up in the mountains. I’ve been asked before about what I’d do if I hadn’t become an instructor, and if I could have done anything, professional wrestling would have been fun. But, I think I was skipped in the gene pool for that one!

5. Any favorite swings on the PGA Tour?
Am I allowed to answer “all of them”? If you’re on the PGA Tour, you obviously have a great golf swing that can be repeated over and over again to produce steady results. I really like Stuart Appleby’s fundamentals, in particular. He has no extra movements in his golf swing, and it’s so compact and powerful. He’ll win more, as soon as he gets that putter working again.

Tom Stickney, PGA, is a Golf Tips Top 30 instructor based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Check out his entry in our Top 10 Best Swing Tips Ever and visit him at www.tomstickneygolf.com

Swing Myths and Simple Fixes

I’ve seen so many different approaches to golf instruction that some things have come full circle. For every instructor who says keep your head down, another says let it turn. For every pro who has told his or her students to keep their left arm straight, I’ve heard others (including me) argue that it’s better to allow your arm to naturally bend at the top of your swing. Contradictions are everywhere, especially when it comes to golf instruction.

The question is, who should you listen to? Who’s right, and who isn’t? Well, I’m here to explain some of what I consider to be the most common swing myths, many of which have been wrongfully taught for decades by both golf instructors and amateurs alike.

I’m willing to bet you’ve already heard of a few of these, which is why I’m presenting not only the myth but also the fix. Read on and get ready to eliminate swing myths from your golf game and get your game back on track.

Myth #1: Keep your head down

Who hasn’t heard of this one? Keeping your head down at any point during the golf swing is the last thing you want to do. By keeping your head down (see photo to the left), you stifle your upper body’s ability to rotate. A hindered rotation means my hands will get flippy; my weight will either shift too little, too late or not at all; and furthermore, any chance of solid impact will lessen significantly.

In addition to hurting my ability to hit solid shots, keeping your head down can actually hurt you, physically. It puts a tremendous amount of stress on your neck.

Let your head move

Here’s the right way to do it. See how more of my face is visible under my hat? My head is up, and my neck is in line with the rest of my spine. This enables me to rotate without my head getting in the way. Also, by keeping my head up (and my eyes on the ball, of course), I retain my spine angle better than I do with my head tucked down. Look at the difference in body rotation, arm extension and weight shift. All three factors are directly attributed to keeping my head out of the way.

Myth #2: Keep your left arm straight

A straight, rigid left arm not only can cause you to have a reverse pivot, but also can have the opposite affect on your right arm at impact. In the small photo below, notice what happens if you have too much strain in your left arm at the top–you’ll lose your ability to shift your weight properly, and in doing so, the right arm will straighten too soon on the downswing. So, if the left arm is too rigid, the right arm will do the same through the impact zone.

Let it bend

Hey, if you can keep your left arm straight without strain, go for it. It will add power. But if you can’t, it’s perfectly acceptable to allow for some bend in the elbow. By allowing the elbow to flex, the body will rotate more, and the release through the downswing will be much more fluid. In the photo below, I’ve lessened the tension and strain in my arms, which then allowed my body to rotate much more than it did with a rigid left arm.

Myth #3: Keep your left heel down

Lift your heel

Not everyone is as flexible as Tiger Woods. Scratch that. Nobody is as flexible as he is! If you aren’t flexible enough and you attempt to keep your left heel grounded as you swing, you’re likely priming yourself for a reverse pivot (as shown above). Instead, by allowing your left heel to raise (naturally, don’t force it), the body can shift its weight back and forward much more effectively. Nicklaus, Snead, Palmer, et al. They all lifted their left heel. Why shouldn’t you?

Myth #4: Tuck your right elbow

If you tuck your right elbow too much, here’s what will happen. First, your swing will likely be too flat at the top of your swing. If you stay tucked, your arms won’t be able to swing freely down and through, meaning your body will have to compensate and either cause you to overrotate or come over the top of the ball (as I’m showing here). And in case you didn’t know, coming over the top (from outside the target line to inside the target line) is never a good idea, as it produces all sorts of duffs, hooks and slices.

Let it fly!

Davis Love III has made quite the career by allowing his right elbow to fly. In other words, by allowing the right elbow to drift from the body, DL3 can make a huge upper-body turn and keep the clubshaft perfectly on plane. From the top of the swing, he then drops his arms down as he rotates his body through the golf ball.

In this sequence, I’m doing the same thing. By letting my elbow drift up and away from my side as I initiate my downswing, it becomes a lot easier to keep my club perfectly on plane. And check out my impact position in both swings. My body is much more rotated here and in a much more athletic position.

Myth #5: Listen for it to drop

I can’t count how many times I’ve heard other instructors tell their students that the key to successful putting is to keep your head down through the stroke. But before I digress, how many of you can shoot a basket while looking at the ball? Or shoot a target with a gun while staring at the gun?

Watch it go in!

In sports, where precise positioning is required, more often than not, the best way to accomplish your goal is to have the mind and eyes fixated on the target. Baseball players need to the see the baseball, primarily because it’s moving at great speeds. They also don’t have to fear hitting it too far, meaning they can swing at full throttle every time and not worry about a lengthy comebacker for par. Putting, like shooting a basketball, requires a deft touch that’s best executed with help from the eyes.

Now, back to my point. By keeping your head down, you stifle the body’s ability to rock the shoulders through the stroke, invariably causing the hands and arms to collapse before, during or even after impact.

A better way to ensure a smooth pendulum stroke is to allow the head to rotate with the putterhead through impact. This will foster a more natural forwardstroke and also help train the eyes to become more accustomed to seeing how far each putt rolls out. The eyes also can help correct any tendencies in your aiming as well, since you can see the effects of the roll.

Practice a few putts and allow your head to rotate (don’t lift your head; rather rotate it from side to side) and get a feel for how far the ball rolls and in what direction with strokes of various lengths. In no time, you’ll see and feel what it’s like to become a better putter.

Bobby Hinds, PGA, teaches at Woodley Lakes GC in Van Nuys, California. For more information, call (323) 363-7761.

Why You Can’t…

One of the great things about the game of golf is that, on occasion, all of us, even the highest handicapper, will hit a shot like a pro. It might be a well-struck drive, hitting a par-5 in two or holing out a bunker shot. Whatever the case, once in a while, the stars align, and for a brief moment, we pull off a Tour-quality shot.

Having been around Tour pros for many years, I can tell you that one thing is certain, however: There are things they consistently do on the golf course that you and I can’t. That’s why they’re the game’s greatest.

And yet, of course, you’re an expert in your respective field. Whether you’re a doctor, a chef or a real estate agent, in your work, you’re a Tour pro. There are things you know that most of us don’t.

Like you, Tour pros are good at their jobs, and there are shots they hit that we can’t always pull off when we play. That’s reality. But let’s look at what they do well and try to learn from them so we can improve our games.

…hit it 300 yards on a rope consistently

To crush it, you must use all your power sources (correct wrist action, a controlled arm swing and a full body pivot) effectively.

Start your downswing by uncoiling your lower body first so your club swings around your body on plane. This will help you hit it in the center of the clubface and help you square the club at impact.

…control your distance with all clubs

Tour pros know not only how far they hit each of their clubs, but also the distance gaps between them. The key, though, is how they fill the gaps between each club: by adjusting the length and speed of their swings. This ability to dial in shots helps Tour players make tons of birdies.

To shrink your distance gaps, work on making half and three-quarter swings. You’ll find that the distances the ball travels and the trajectory you have with different-length swings will help you control your distances much better.

…spin the ball on command

When you see the pros hit the ball past the flag and then zip it back to the pin, it doesn’t happen because they got lucky.

Tour pros are great at making perfect contact with a descending blow into the ball, plus they use the right equipment. To spin your shots like a pro, use a soft-covered ball, keep your grooves sharp and make solid contact. Hitting into perfect turf on great greens doesn’t hurt either.

…curve the ball on command

If you want to move the ball from right to left, I suggest you strengthen your grip slightly at setup (see photograph at right). Turn both hands to the right a few degrees. The Vs created by your thumbs and forefingers should now be pointing toward your right shoulder. This stronger grip will encourage you to rotate your hands and wrists over through impact (see photograph at left), which will place a draw or hook spin on the ball and make it curve from right to left (for a right-handed player). If you’re a lefty, do the opposite.

To hit the ball from left to right, weaken your grip slightly. Turn both hands a few degrees to the left so that the Vs are pointing more toward your chin (see photo at left). This helps your hands and wrists hold off the club and keep the face open at impact (see photo at right). As a result, the ball will move from left to right. Make sure both hands match! For a slice, they both should rotate to your left; for a draw, they both should rotate to the right. This will help your hands and wrists work together.

…get out of trouble like Houdini

In the photo at left, you can see I’m stymied. Should I start the ball way left and slice it? Should I hit it over the tree? Can I fit it through the gap between the branches?


*SLICE*

Here’s how to hit all three:
To slice it, take a less lofted club (this will help you curve it), weaken your grip slightly and aim safely to the left to get the ball started away from the trouble. Try to actually swing down from outside to inside the target line and make sure to hold the clubface open at impact. Here, the ball started left of the tree, and I curved it 30 yards.

To hit the high shot, play the ball a bit forward in your stance and keep your head well back of the ball at impact. Make sure you hit the turf and don’t flip your wrists at impact. In both photos, notice how low my right shoulder is. I’m definitely behind the ball, and that produces a high ballflight.


*HIGH LAUNCH*		*PUNCH THROUGH*

To punch the ball (here, through the gap between the rocks and the large branch), lean your weight slightly forward and commit to making a swing down into the turf to promote a low ballflight. Here I hit an 8-iron, played the ball slightly back in my stance and made sure the hands stayed in front of the clubhead as I struck the turf.

…lag it close from anywhere

Learning to lag putts close is a great way to save shots during your round. There’s a stat on Tour called 3 Putt Avoidance, and trust me, nobody wants to be near the bottom of it.

If you’re going to be a good distance putter, I believe you need to do two things very well. First, you need to be a good green reader. As you approach the green and survey your putt, look for high and low points in the green complex. Imagine where water would flow if it were dumped on the green. Remember, all greens are built for drainage, so look for those spots, and they’ll tell you where your ball is going.

The second (and most crucial element), however, is distance control. It doesn’t matter how well you read your putt if you leave it 15 feet short. In the photo at left, I’m faced with an uphill putt over a small tier. It also appears as if the ball is going to move a little from left to right. To make sure I get the ball to the hole on this uphill putt, I visualize a pin 10 feet past the hole so I can make sure I hit my putt with enough pace.

…make it all day from 3 to 6 feet

The key to making tons of short putts is to develop a consistent putting stroke. In my opinion, the simplest type of stroke should give you the best chance to make those so-called 3-6 foot knee knockers.

Here you can see I’m working with a training aid made by Momentus called the Inside Down the Line Putting Track to help me groove a stroke. You can use either this type of aid or any other tracks that help you get the feeling of what a good putting stroke should feel like.

One thing to remember while practicing either with or without a training aid: Tour pros work incredibly hard on these putts, and while it’s not as much fun as hitting drivers on the practice range, the time you put in on the green will pay big dividends on the course.

…chip it off the tightest lies

For many players, tight lies are the kiss of death. When the grass is really closely mown, you need to trust that your technique will give you perfect contact (remember you always want to hit the ball first, then the turf), or all sorts of things can happen: fat contact, skulled shots across the green or, worse yet, the chip yips. When we watch Tour pros play these shots, they don’t seem like that big a deal, but they are.

Don’t tell your greenskeeper (or mine), but a great way to gain confidence when playing off tight grass is to hit a couple chips off the practice green. To begin, first lay a club down a couple feet in front of your ball. The goal is to hit the ball over the club. If you aren’t confident with this shot, you’ll probably try to lift the ball, your wrists will flip, and the ball will skid into the club (see below right).


*YES*	NO

If your technique is good (see below left), however, you can make a confident stroke, pick the ball right off the green and control its trajectory, distance and spin. To do this, make a small swing with your weight leaned slightly forward before and throughout the swing. Wrist action is the enemy in this shot, so keep the left wrist flat at impact, and good contact will occur.

…Perform at the highest level in front of spectators

Part of a Tour pro’s job is to play in front of large crowds while television cameras and thousands (at times millions) are trained on his or her every move.

Although professionals do get nervous during tournaments, the consistency they have in their games (and the confidence that breeds) allows them to focus on the shot at hand and continue to pull off great shots. They’re no different than elite athletes in any other sport.

Great athletes are so mentally tough and focused that they can (most of the time) put all the outside elements aside and focus on their jobs.

Keep in mind, if you feel nervous while playing, that’s a good thing. It means you’re playing well, and the more often you play well, the easier it’ll get to play under pressure. Embrace your nervousness and let it help you play your best.

…average under 70 for a year on the world’s most difficult courses

Tour pros’ games are rarely satisfied with the state of their games. That’s one of the reasons why they work so hard at improving. The time they put into their games pays off too: They hit long, straight drives and controlled approach shots and have accurate short games. It’s easy to see why the world’s best players average under 70.

While you may not play as well as Tour players, take a close look at your game to identify areas that need the most work. Then set some goals as to how best to improve your game. With quality practice, you’re sure to get better.

Steve Dahlby, PGA, is the director of instruction at The Golf Club Scottsdale and Forest Highlands Golf Club. He has taught numerous Tour players.

Master Your Iron Play

Better iron play requires solid and consistent fundamentals. If you watch the best players in the world, and factor in the heavy pressure and stress they face during any given round, you’ll notice that the players with the soundest fundamentals are the players who rise to the top of the leaderboard come Sunday. Often, I see players who can hit their short irons well but struggle with long irons, or players who are better with middle irons than they are short and long irons. Either way, the most common reason players lack consistency through the iron set is a lack of sound fundamentals as they adjust to each club. Too often players try to change up their swing with each iron, thinking, because they’re of different lengths and lofts, they need to swing differently. Wrong! In this section, pay attention to the basics, and learn what elements of the golf swing work with just about every iron in your golf bag. While basic positions may subtly adjust, the golf swing should stay the same throughout the entire bag.

Set the grip, turn the hand, squeeze the club. It’s that simple! Gripping the club properly with your gloved hand means gripping the club in the right sequence. I’ve seen students actually do this in opposite order, where they squeeze the club first, then set their hands, which then sends the grip all out of whack. Instead, first lay the grip along the second knuckle of the index finger and just below the point where your little finger and palm meet (as I’ve indicated with my pen). Then, while holding those pen points on the grip, rotate the hand so the V formed by your thumb and index finger point somewhere between your right cheek and shoulder.

From there, squeeze the grip so your hands are secured, but not tensed up. If you look at my knuckles, you’ll see my most comfortable grip shows two dots (I also dotted each knuckle with a pen). One dot showing indicates a weaker grip, three dots showing is a grip that’s very strong. As for what works best for you, go ahead and experiment to find out. Just be sure to follow the proper grip sequence, and once you settle on a grip position that’s optimal for you, stick with it. If you’re constantly changing your grip, you’ll have no chance at becoming a consistent iron player.

QUICK TIP!
Choose the right width when it comes to your grips. If you have long skinny fingers, thicker grips will help. Short and stubby fingers may benefit from regular or skinny grips.

A trigger finger can help you better engage your golf swing. What’s a trigger finger? John Daly, for instance, as well as several other top players use some separation between their index finger and the rest of their grip as a trigger to help sustain proper grip pressure and assist in better hand rotation and in preventing the club from slipping too far into the palms of the hands. Give it a try and see what a trigger finger can do for your feel and overall swing.


The marks on my hand are the proper pressure points. Grip the club with your ungloved hand along the thumb pad and last knuckle of your index finger.	See how the palm of my hand fits perfectly over my gloved thumb? That’s where you want it. Second, check out how my index finger is being placed just below the grip. This will help me position my hands with ease around the grip for better control.	Unlike the gloved hand, this hand grips the club more like a clamp. My hand is secure and my thumb isn’t squished up against my hand, nor is it stretched out along the grip. Feel free to overlap or interlock your pinky. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Keep your posture the same for your iron shots. There has been much said about having the need to adjust your posture for different iron shots, but in reality, what should change is the distance you are from the ball, not your posture. Here, I’m holding a long, middle and short iron to demonstrate how much spine angle (the amount my upper body leans toward the ball) and leg flex remain constant. Although not showing, in addition to the ball moving farther from my body with longer irons, the ball position also will move slightly closer to the target (relative to my stance). This will add a small amount of tilt to my shoulders with longer irons, but my posture and spine angle will stay the same.

QUICK TIP!
If your irons are too flat or upright for you, you can tell by looking at your wear marks. Are you missing on the heel? Your irons might be too upright. Missing toward the toe? Your sticks are probably too flat. Always opt for a set of irons that matches your posture. It will make a big difference in your ballstriking performance.

Leave room so your body can swing. You don’t hear much about this one, but the distance between the club and your body also should remain consistent with every iron in your bag. I like to use a hand’s width, which in turn frees up some space to enable my body to rotate and my arms and hands to swivel and release through impact. If my hands are too far from my body at address, they’ll be too far at impact, making the production of consistent shots a tall order. Conversely, if your hands are too close to the body, your swing will be constricted and your arms won’t have the room they need to do their job. Keeping a gap between the body and the grip of the club not only will make you more consistent, but will boost your power as well.

Where you are at this point in the swing is critically important. Check out this layered photo. Sure, my body is in the same position, and so are my hands. But, if you look at the clubhead, things are drastically different. Controlling the clubface requires keeping the clubface as square to your arc as possible. Did you catch that? I said square to your swing arc, not to the target, your body, the sky, etc. The one clubhead facing toward the ground is extremely closed, which, depending on my downswing, will result in either a severely pulled or hooked shot. The clubhead that has the toe way up and even a little behind me is viciously open and will require a ton of rotation to prevent a nasty sliced shot. For the right way, see the next page.

Keep your clubface square to your swing arc. What that means is, because we swing on an arc that’s tilted (because you hit from the side of the ball, not on top of it), your clubface actually closes (relative to the target) on the backswing and opens up through impact and into the finish (also relative to the target). If that’s too much to digest, consider this: The proper clubface angle at this position on your backswing is slightly closed, but square to the swing arc. It also should parallel your left arm, as mine does in this photo.

If you’ve been trying to point the toe up at this spot, you’re doing it wrong! Practice this position with a mirror and get your clubface square to your arc. Use your arm as a guide when practicing.

Swivel, THEN release. You’ve probably heard a lot about releasing the hands, and you may have heard how better players are able to release their hands faster than average players. Hmm, too bad that isn’t true! Touring professionals and low handicappers alike don’t release their hands as soon as you might think. The reality is, they know how to SWIVEL their hands through impact BEFORE they release their hands.

What’s a swivel? Simply put, it’s the rotation of the hands through impact. Look at the sequence on the opposite page. I’ve swiveled my hands before releasing them (releasing my hands means allowing my forearms to cross like you see on this page). By swivelling first, I can maintain a better extension of my arms, which usually indicates more power and control. If you try to release the club too soon, you’ll likely hit a lot more fat and thin shots, not to mention shots that veer left or right.

Practice in slow motion and swivel the hands to square the clubface at impact before you release, which should happen once the arms reach waist high on the followthrough. If you do this, you’ll not only learn how your swing should look, but also feel a sense of power and consistency you probably haven’t had before.

Stay on plane, before and after. Some players, like Jim Furyk and Fred Couples, can get away with having extremely upright backswing positions, only to reroute the clubshaft back on plane at the peak of the backswing and into the downswing. But, for most of us, we’re much better off trying to keep on plane during the backswing and forwardswing. To get on plane, check your position at two-thirds of the way into your backswing and see if the shaft points toward the ball. If it points away from the ball, you’re too flat. If it points between you and the ball, you’re too upright. Get the butt of the grip pointing toward the ball (it doesn’t have to be precise), and concentrate on keeping this plane consistent by avoiding any extra droop or bend in the arms and hands.

A quick drill to learn how to swivel. Are you still reeling over my advice on swivelling before you release? If so, try this simple drill. Position a stick or a club to your side, as I’ve done above, and practice some knee-high to knee-high swings, focusing on squaring the clubface with your body rotating as it should and also by swivelling your hands. As the body rotates and the hands swivel, you’ll see there’s less need to try to force the hands to release and flip over.

In fact, flipping the hands too soon is a common problem for better players who either stop rotating the body or who don’t swivel their hands. As you pitch the ball forward, let the club nick the shaft or stick you have in the ground. Check to see where your clubhead is facing (it should be square or slightly closed, and your body should be rotated as mine is). The shaft in the ground marks the point where I should release the hands. Also, watch how the best players in the world can extend and release with such vigor. Next time you tune in to an event on TV, watch Tiger (as if you aren’t doing that already), and pause your DVR after he hits. His arms extend as well as anyone’s, further proving he swivels before he releases.