Quick Tips

Square At Impact Is A Myth

Believe it or not, the long-held belief that the clubface must be square through the hitting zone to hit straight shots is a myth. Over the past 10 years, I’ve measured the activity of the clubface during Tour players’ swings through the impact zone, and what I’ve learned is that not a single player holds the clubface square during the hitting area. Not one! In fact, these top-level players rotate the face counterclockwise around the shaft (for right-handed players) at about 30 degrees per foot of linear motion forward.

Put another way, the clubface is 30 degrees open 12 inches from the center of the ball before impact and 30 degrees closed 12 inches past where the center of the ball was after impact. This means that the clubface is only square when it reaches a point somewhere near the center of the golf ball. It also means that when the clubface first touches the ball, it’s actually open instead of square.

If your clubface is square when it first touches the ball, and you correctly allow the clubface to rotate six degrees counterclockwise, you’ll get a six-degree hook that starts left of the target and hooks further left. In contrast, if the club touches the ball with the face six degrees open, it will apply an initial six-degree slice rotation. This will be negated, however, by the six-degree hook rotation applied during the deformation phase. The result is sidespin of net zero and a straight shot.

If you strike the ball with the face anywhere in the three- to nine-degree open range, you’ll hit a perfectly acceptable golf shot. It should be reassuring to know that a six-degree variation at impact will produce decent results. In measuring Tour players’ face angles at impact, I found a five-degree variation, shot to shot.

Put these new concepts to the test the next time you visit the range. Address the ball with the face six to 10 degrees open, instead of square. Turn the shaft counterclockwise through the impact zone and observe the resulting ballflight. If the ball flies left, you turned the face too soon. If it goes right, you turned the face too late. Keep hitting shots and observing ballflight until you have a sense of the face hitting the ball at the right time with the proper angle. Once you find the right amount of rotation for your swing, hitting accurate shots will become a lot easier.

Veteran teaching professional A.J. Bonar is the director of A.J. Golf School in Carlsbad, Calif.

Get Reckless

Most power tips I share with readers of Golf Tips_¨ have to do with the physical components of generating speed and power in the golf swing. For this issue, the power tip is a mental one.

What I refer to as bringing your power to the tee is more of a frame of mind than a matter of swing mechanics or technique. To hit your longest and straightest drives, you must be mentally geared up to unleash your potential power. This holds true whether you’re playing a $2 Nassau with your buddies or competing in the finals of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.

You can’t go deep if you’re filled with fear or anxiety about the outcome of the shot. You can’t hold on to the club through impact, instead of releasing it down the target line. You can’t try to steer the ball, instead of allowing it to work toward the target. And you can’t come to a tight driving hole and start staring at the OB stakes on the right or the water on left, instead of narrowing your focus to an intended landing spot.

I’ve listened to experts like Jackie Burke Jr. and Jim McLean discuss the topic of being a little reckless with the driver, and I agree with their thoughts. Golfers can’t allow fear or anxiety to dictate a shot. Nor can they become overanalytical during the golf swing. They have to just let things happen. They have to trust themselves and then allow their athletic instincts to take over from there.

As the saying goes, let the big dog hunt; don’t try to hold him back with a leash. That often can be more of a mental challenge than a physical one.

Two-time National Long Drive champion Art Sellinger is a member of the Pinnacle Distance Team. Copies of Sellinger’s Power Guarantee training system are available at (817) 329-8262 or by visiting www.artoflongdriving.com.

Sweet Spot: Ernie Els

To say that Ernie Els is one of the greatest golfers of our generation is about as gutsy as laying up from 150 yards. Already a three-time major winner (’94 and ’97 U.S. Opens, ’02 British Open), Els has notched 42 professional victories worldwide (12 on the PGA Tour) in just over a decade. More impressive, Els has 11 second-place finishes to his credit, including four runner-up calls in the majors. Often dubbed The Big Easy, Els is certainly big (6’3, 220 pounds) and his swing is ridiculously effortless. It’s a study of contrasts, as he generates power not by his obvious size, but by employing the proper sequence of downswing moves. Here’s how he does it.

1. Perfect Path
As Els approaches the golf ball, his left shoulder rocks up while his right shoulder remains low. This slight raising of the left shoulder allows him to keep his head behind the ball through impact and his arms to work down the correct path. If the shoulders are level through the hitting area, it becomes nearly impossible to swing along the correct inside-out path.

2. Swing The Club
This image is a single moment in time, captured during Els’ record-setting weekend at the Mercedes Championships. But it’s part of a chain reaction–a result of all that’s occurred before it. You simply can’t work at the approach position. The key, like Els demonstrates swing after swing, is to control the clubhead by swinging it, not guiding it. Trust your mechanics and let impact happen.

3. Tempo
Els’ effortless power results from his ability to successfully combine the rotary action of the hips with a very good arm swing. Most recreational players tend to err on too much hip action, forgetting that, in the end, the arms and hands are what propel the golf club into the back of the ball and beyond. Synchronizing the lower and upper body generates power along with control of the golf club.

4. In Balance
One thing all good golf swings have in common is balance. This can’t be stressed enough. Good balance starts from the ground up, and Els certainly accomplishes this as he adopts a wide, solid base from which to swing. Throughout the backswing and downswing, Els strives to maintain this base. Even as he approaches impact, his right foot is still down with just a slight roll. This shows his knees and hips aren’t overactive; they’re serving correctly as stabilizers.

5. Pivotal Moment
Like all good ballstrikers, Els braces his left knee. This posting up allows his hips to rotate open through the hitting zone (they’ll ultimately face the target at the finish). Open hips give the arms the room they need to extend out through the shot. If the hips remain closed or don’t rotate at all, expect your shots to travel much shorter than they would otherwise.

PGA professional, top-100 instructor and Golf Tips_¨ Senior Instruction Editor Glenn Deck operates the Glenn Deck Golf Academy at Pelican Hill Golf Club and Resort in Newport Coast, Calif. (www.pelicanhill.com).

One-Armed Putting

It sounds crazy, but one-armed putting can improve even the worst putting strokes. Putting with your rear arm (the right arm for a right-handed golfer) helps instill a feeling of acceleration through the putt, which is absolutely critical for creating a smooth, end-over-end roll. Rear-arm putting accomplishes this largely due to the weight of the putter–with two hands, it’s easy to manipulate the club and make jabbing or decelerating strokes. But with one hand on the club, you don’t have the coordination or strength to manipulate the putter. You’ll need to rock your shoulders and control the stroke with your body, not your arm, two hallmarks of a fundamentally solid stroke.

Rear-armed putting also promotes a longer followthrough, which generally improves accuracy and consistency. Think about it. When you putt with both hands, it’s pretty easy to stop the club short, just past the ball. But if you try to stroke it with just one arm, you’ll have to let the club go down the target line because it’s hard to stop the momentum of the putterhead with only one hand.

The third benefit of one-armed putting is better distance control and touch. Believe it or not, losing the front hand puts all the feel in your back or dominant hand, which is where speed control comes from.

Finally, one-armed putting creates confidence. When your consistency, distance control and accuracy increase, so will your belief that you can make anything you look at.

As you practice with this technique, you’ll find your sensitivity increases to the point that when you put your other hand back on the club, you won’t notice it’s there.

Debbie Steinbach competed on the LPGA Tour for 11 years, and is now a top-50 instructor. Debbie teaches at The Palms Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif. (www.venusgolf.com).

Stop Shanking

Most golfers have felt the agony of wasting a great drive by shanking a wedge shot into the trees or the water. That one shank probably has even made a few of you so paranoid that you shanked the next four shots around the green.

The main reason golfers hit shanks with their wedges more than with other clubs is the steep, outside-in path it takes to use these clubs properly. Also, the clubface must be open in order to get a wedge shot to fly high and straight. The combination places the hosel of the club–where shanks occur–dangerously close to the ball.

To keep the shanks at bay, make sure that you let your arms hang naturally from your shoulders at address, with maybe a slight amount of reach toward the golf ball. Also, push your rear end back as though you’re getting ready to sit down in a chair. This will establish some room between your arms and body. If your hips and rear end pull in toward the ball during the downswing, your arms and hands will naturally get closer to the ball as well, which can easily lead to shanks.

Also, try putting three or four tees about one-eighth-inch to a quarter-inch beyond the toe of your club. When you swing, make sure that you don’t hit the tees. Avoiding the tees will keep you from extending so much that you hit the ball with the hosel.

Steve Atherton is the VP of Instruction at GolfTEC. Locate the GolfTEC center nearest you at www.golftec.com.

Throttle Back

I’d like to let readers in on a little secret that professional long drivers share among themselves: Maximum distance results from somewhat less than maximum effort. Trust me, I’ve been competing in the long drive arena for 20 years, and during that time, I’ve watched competitive long drivers post their best distances when they throttle back from an all-out assault on the ball. So will you.

When Sean Fister won the 2002 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship, his one goal was to keep his swing under control. He focused on swinging at 85 percent of his top-end speed. Faced with the pressure of trying to win a world championship, Fister used that formula to unleash a sensational winning shot of more than 375 yards on the final ball of the event.

Driving with 85-percent effort, not your all-out max, promotes several positive things during your swing, one of which is maintaining balance. Golfers who immediately get out of balance by overswinging have to make compensations to correct the situation. Another benefit is solid contact. Golfers who swing at 85 percent have the best chance of catching the ball flush on the sweet spot of the driver. Also, swinging at 85 percent reduces tension in the body and allows fast-twitch muscles in the hands and arms to work.

Finally, your equipment actually works better when you swing at 85 percent. The properties of torque and flex built into the shafts of today’s drivers perform best when the club isn’t being swung as hard, or as violently, as possible.

Art Sellinger is a two-time National Long Drive champion and a member of the Pinnacle Distance Team. Art’s Power Guarantee training system is available by calling (817) 329-8262 or visiting www.artoflongdriving.com.

Turnstyle

Most golfers know that a full, 90-degree shoulder turn is a crucial element of a solid golf swing. Without it, a proper weight shift and a correct swing plane are almost impossible to achieve. A good shoulder turn not only ensures that your shoulders and chest are behind the ball at the top of the backswing, but helps maintain consistent balance throughout your motion. Before you can master a proper shoulder turn, however, it’s important to understand what it entails and exactly what it is._Ê

Simply put, a full shoulder turn is accomplished when the left shoulder replaces the right shoulder’s position in the backswing. In other words, to make a correct turn, your left shoulder should rotate into the position held by your right shoulder at address.

Another way to achieve this position is to simply concentrate on moving the left shoulder to the inside of the right foot. Both techniques will produce the same result–a left shoulder that has turned, not swayed, into the right side.

Although this move sounds simple, recreational golfers have a terrible time doing it consistently. Instead, they make a mistake that I call the fake turn. This is probably the most common backswing error, and can be difficult to overcome because it actually feels like a proper move. Unfortunately, the fake turn–in which the shoulders rotate, but don’t actually position the body behind the ball–almost always results in a reverse pivot and a lack of balance. By turning in this way, with the left shoulder beginning over the left foot and staying in that position throughout the swing, the majority of body weight is stranded on the left side, which can lead to a variety of bad shots, including pull hooks, blocks and slices.
_Ê_Ê
Another characteristic of the fake turn is a left shoulder position that’s markedly lower than the right. In contrast, a solid shoulder turn has the left shoulder maintaining the same height it held at address and simply rotating away from the target and behind the chin. You’ll know you’ve made a good turn when your head moves away from the target, not toward it. And remember, your left shoulder has to turn, not drop!

Backswing Basics
The amount of power you can potentially unleash into the back of the golf ball is directly proportional to the quality of your backswing and, more importantly, the solidity of your shoulder turn. A proper shoulder turn is one in which the shoulders rotate fully, weight is transferred to the rear leg and a constant spine angle is maintained.

Parallel Club Drill
A very simple exercise that quickly and easily instills the feeling of a correct shoulder turn is the Parallel Club Drill. To practice this drill, place a club across your chest and another club parallel to the inside of your right foot (at address). Make a backswing so the club across your chest is directly on top of the club inside of your right foot. When the two clubs are in-line, hold the position long enough to remember what it feels like. Repeat this move until you feel confident you can achieve the correct position without the reminder club being present._Ê

Turnstile
A solid turn begins with a solid setup, preferably one dominated by a wide base of support, a straight spine and comfortably flexed knees. From this position, if all you think about is replacing your right shoulder with your left while maintaining your spine angle, you’ll be well on your way toward grooving a high-quality backswing turn. If your head floats toward your rear leg during the process, don’t fight it–it’s part of the proper move.

Mirror Drill
Another great drill to help understand how it feels to correctly turn around your axis is the Mirror Drill. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and assume your address position. Have a friend stand behind you and hold a club vertically, running from your head toward the ground. This line represents your spine angle and the axis around which you want to rotate. Once you have this position set, make a backswing and take a close look in the mirror. If you only see your friend’s left shoulder, then you’re making a fake turn. In contrast, if you’re moving correctly and rotating well, you’ll see most of your friend’s upper body. Once you can consistently make your backswing and see your friend clearly in the mirror, you’ll have mastered the proper shoulder turn and will be ready for increased power.

Shift Your Weight For A Proper Turn
Since the fake turn is a major contributor to bad balance and a reverse pivot, it can be extremely helpful to pay close attention to the flexing of your right knee in the backswing. Often, making a fake turn will cause the right knee to become stiff or locked in a straight position at the top (for right-handed golfers), which places the majority of body weight in the left leg. When you swing down from this position, your weight will naturally shift to your right side, taking away all your power and pulling the club up through impact, instead of allowing it to move down and through the hitting zone. From this dynamic, expect the gamut of poor shots.

A great way to improve your turn and to eradicate the reverse pivot (locking of the right knee) is to shift your weight properly while maintaining the spine angle you established at address throughout the entire swing. To develop a proper weight shift while also working on your turn, try this drill: Assume your address position, and have a friend stand behind you, placing the butt-end of a club against your left shoulder and the end of another club against your left hip. Then, take a backswing. If your hip moves off the club, then you’ve swayed and your right leg and knee have straightened to some degree. Instead, you want the left shoulder to move off the club, to the inside of the right foot, and the left hip to rotate while staying in contact with the club. This will ensure that you’ve maintained your original spine angle throughout the backswing, while also helping retain the original angle of the right knee.

PGA pro Carl Rabito operates Rabito Golf Schools in Orlando, Fla.

Post-Up For Precision

Do you have a problem striking the ball solidly on a consistent basis? Do you tend to hit behind the ball? Do you struggle getting the ball to go into the air? Do you lack power? If so, it could be that you have too much lateral body movement through impact.

This isn’t to say lateral movement isn’t allowed. In fact, the left hip should shift laterally forward until it’s directly over the left heel. The key is to shift laterally, not by flexing your left knee, but by transferring your weight to a straight left leg. This is called posting-up.

Posting-up simply means straightening your left leg as you drive your weight into the finish position. You can check this by either videotaping your swing or having your playing partner watch your lower body through impact. As you drive into the ball, your left knee (for a right-handed golfer) should be straight and devoid of flex. This creates a lower-body motion that can be easily repeated and that provides a consistent impact position.

At impact, PGA tour players achieve a position that situates their left hip higher than their right. Put another way, their left leg is longer than the right leg. At GolfTEC, we define this as hip tilt. The PGA tour players’ average hip tilt at impact is 14 degrees to the right. Amateurs typically don’t post-up well and generally have around three degrees of right hip tilt at impact.

Use your lower body efficiently by posting-up. When you do, you’ll hit the ball farther and with greater accuracy.

PGA teaching professional Scott Young is the Director of Instruction at the GolfTEC learning center in Dallas, Texas.

Reduce Spin, Add Distance

Tour players are hitting the ball dramatically farther these days. Improvements in clubs and balls are contributing factors, but so is the fact that professionals have learned to reduce the amount of spin on their drives. Today’s players put in long hours finding ways to reduce backspin and create the optimal launch angle. Work on the tips below to take spin off your tee shots and hit longer, more penetrating drives.

Spin robs drives of their maximum distance. Golfers who can master the art of reducing spin on their tee shots will add extra yards to their drives. Here’s how to go about it.

First, tee the ball higher. Acquire some extra-long (23__ã4 inches) tees and peg the ball as high as possible. This promotes swinging up on the ball–rather than flat or, even worse, downward–and helps create launch angles of 10 degrees or higher and spin rates of 3,000 rpm and lower, proven to be the ideal launch conditions.

Second, never sole the driver at address. This will help promote an upward strike on the ball, too. It also increases a golfer’s chances of making contact with the clubface in the center or slightly above. Drives struck one or two grooves below the center of the clubface will have too much spin and a trajectory that starts low and then climbs.

Third, eliminate any downward action in the swing. To reduce spin and maximize distance, golfers need to adopt the uppercut swing of a home-run hitter in baseball, not the flat swing of a contact hitter.

Fourth, stay behind the ball. Any tendency to slide ahead of the ball at impact will lower the launch angle and create more spin. Stay down and through the shot at impact, swinging the club up, out and away from the body, not down and across it.

Two-time national long drive champion Art Sellinger is a member of the Pinnacle Distance Team. He uses the Cobra 427 in his power exhibitions and represents the Four Seasons Resort and Club, Las Colinas. Copies of Art’s Power Guarantee training system are available by calling (817) 329-8262 or visiting www.artoflongdriving.com.

Speed Through

Many amateur golfers sacrifice power and distance because they become infatuated with swinging at the ball–not through it. They’re so intently focused on making solid contact that they become fixated with the point of impact.

Watch closely the next time you visit a driving range and you’ll see what I mean. The majority of amateurs lose speed at the bottom of the swing because they regard contact with the ball as an end to itself. They resort to making what I call a false finish–after losing the momentum of their swing at impact, they try to play catch up with body rotation and by having their knees touch.

Impact is an intermediate step to a golf swing; the completion point of the swing is a balanced followthrough with the body rotated toward the target. Anyone serious about trying to increase distance must train himself or herself to swing through the ball, not at it. As the popular saying goes, Let the ball get in the way.

That’s more than a golf adage, though. It’s sound advice. A solid swing should be one continuous motion, with the speed created on the backswing and enhanced by centrifugal force on the downswing finally reaching its peak immediately after impact, not at or before.

An important concept to understand when talking about increasing the speed of your swing is that distance is affected by an efficient transfer of energy, not solely from the creation of energy itself. This transfer of energy is similar to the motion of a whip. As you start the whip in motion, energy is created. This energy moves out from the handle (from which it was formed) out toward the tip, which soon moves much faster than did the handle when you started the whip in motion. The transfer of energy is so efficient and powerful that ultimately the tip breaks the sound barrier (which produces the crack.) The same thing happens in a fundamentally sound golf swing. Your hips begin the downswing and transfer energy to the shoulders, then to the hands and ultimately to the clubhead.

It makes sense, then, that the hips, shoulders, hands and clubhead reach their respective top speeds at different points in the downswing. Computer studies have proven that hip speed peaks out at about halfway through the downswing. Shoulder spin rate peaks out just as the clubhead reaches the impact zone. The hands achieve their maximum speed just prior to contact and the clubhead shortly thereafter. In other words, keep accelerating as the ball rockets off the clubface.

Senior Instruction Editor and two-time National Long Drive champion Art Sellinger is a member of the Pinnacle Distance Team. Art’s Power Guarantee training system are available by calling (817) 329-8262 or visiting www.artoflongdriving.com.