Shotmaking

Understanding Sand

The greenside bunker shot is one of the most intimidating shots for the amateur player, while at the same time being one of the easier shots for touring pros. Why? The reason is simply because professionals understand how to manage sand properly and actually use the sand to their advantage. As for amateurs? For some reason, most amateurs make matters more confusing than they ought to be.

When hitting from a bunker, there are two things that you should try to do above all else. First, strike the sand with the bottom of the clubhead (the sole) about two inches behind the ball. Second, create a divot from one to one and a half inches in depth. Too often, I see amateurs either afraid to make a sand divot or, on the other hand, take too much of a divot. In actuality, the right amount of sand to dig is generally only an inch deep!

The main job of the clubhead is to create a pocket of sand between the ball and clubhead. As the clubhead digs, you can see the sand between the clubhead and ball actually start lifting the ball upward. There’s no need to try to lift the ball from the sand; instead, you should simply let the sand do it for you. If you dig too much, the clubhead will lose momentum, making it hard to get the ball out. Any less sand will prevent a soft landing, often resulting in skulled shots.

Practice taking divots in the bunker using the guidelines I’ve provided and you’ll soon see that hitting great bunker shots isn’t as hard as you once thought.

John Stahlschmidt, PGA, is the Head Instructor at the TOUR Academy at the TPC of Scottsdale in Arizona. To book a lesson or for more information, visit www.pgatourexperiences.com.

Tips From The Tour With Brady Riggs

Editor’s Note: This instructional piece from 2007, Tips From The Tour With Brady Riggs, centers on several players who were in their prime in the mid-2000s. Some of them are still active, some are now out of the picture, but Brady’s analysis of their swing methods and styles is forever relevant to the game improvement goals of any generation of players. Parts of the piece have been updated for clarity and continuity. Apologies for the blurred photos.

All of us who love the game of golf have, at least once in our lives, dreamed of playing at the highest level against the pros. Of course, it’s a dream that very few get to actually live out, but it’s also a dream that drives us all to try and improve.

In reality, golf is one of the few sports that actually allows amateur participants to use the same tools and play on the same tracks as the world’s best, and as a result, we all probably feel more kinship with the elite than enthusiasts in other disciplines.

Even neophyte players have brushes with greatness when they strike one solid iron shot or hole a long putt, an experience that tends to get them hooked on the game for good.

There is, however, a good reason to not only admire, but also study the techniques of Tour pros, and it goes well beyond the impressive natural skills they possess. The best players in the world have reached the top of the game in large part because they’ve mastered the fundamentals and spent untold hours honing their mechanics.

Let’s face it, you just don’t see too many guys playing on Tour with homemade grips and funky swings. To be able to hold up under the stress of big-time tournament play, you have to have reliable tools to work with, and these guys have them. For this reason, they’re probably the best people on the planet to study if you hope to get better. Let’s take a good, hard look and see what there is to learn.

Delivery Is The Key

Shigeki Maruyama’s ballstriking prowess is no surprise after taking a close look at his swing. Notice how his left foot is firmly planted on the ground while his body appears to be comfortably balanced as the club gains speed in the delivery. His right heel is off the ground and his right knee is kicked in slightly, pointing at the ball. This shows that Shigeki is leveraging the right side of his body against a firm left side, a great way to produce power. But his quality ballstriking is largely due to his ability to keep his shoulders level while his lower body is rotating out of the way. This is particularly critical with the irons because it helps create a descending blow into the ball. Learning to maintain level shoulders while your hips are rotating to the left of the target is critical for solid strikes.

Maintain Your Angles

Pitching the ball softly around the green is something a lot of amateur players struggle with, but most pros find relatively simple. Here you can see that Charlie Wi has maintained his spine angle and his knee bend as the club has passed through impact. This keeps his body quiet and promotes a solid strike and better distance control. The key is to allow the left elbow and wrist to bend immediately past impact, just as Charlie has. This way, the face of the club will stay open, creating a very soft shot. Want to learn to hit soft pitch shots that stop on a dime? Be sure to let your left elbow bend just after impact.

Release The Putterhead

Anthony Kim is the youngest player on the PGA Tour this year, but he can roll the ball like a veteran. Check out how he has allowed the blade of the putter to release through impact—this is an absolute key to rolling the ball smoothly. Anthony does this by keeping the butt end of the putter grip pointing at his belt buckle during the entire stroke, which is a technique you should try if you’re not rolling the ball well. Probably the biggest mistake most amateurs make on the putting green is trying to keep the putterhead square to the target line all the way through the stroke. Good putters almost never try to keep the face of the putter square to the target during the stroke.

Know Your Swing

Jesper Parnevik is a good example of a player who knows his swing and shot tendencies well enough to make the proper compensations. Jesper is lanky and very flexible and is able to rotate his hips and shoulders out of the way of his upper body very quickly, which is a great way to produce a powerful release of the clubhead. However, he also has a very strong grip, which will produce a hook when the clubhead is fully released. The answer to this problem for Jesper is to prevent the clubhead from rotating through impact. Put your swing on video and learn how it works—it’ll help you play better. Jesper knows that his strong grip creates a lot of hooks. He combats this by holding off the release.

Flat Feet And A Flat Sole

A very common mistake made by amateur players when chipping is to place the ball too far back in the stance and lean the clubshaft too far forward. Notice how Heath Slocum is keeping the shaft straight up and down through impact without taking any sizable divot. This technique provides considerably more consistent results because it allows the club to strike the ball with its true loft, rather than with the much stronger loft created by forward pressing. Also notice how Slocum keeps his feet close together with his weight evenly distributed. This helps him keep his balance and feel comfortable as he strikes the ball. Remember, these shots are all about touch, and balance is key. don’t forward press when chipping. Instead, try to keep the sole of the club flat on the grass.

Straighten Through Impact

Eric Axley is a relative newcomer to the PGA Tour, but his swing technique is definitely worth a look. Notice how his arms and legs are fully extended through impact, so much that he’s actually standing on his toes. This is a result of a strong push against the ground as he leverages his entire body and cracks the whip into the ball. This effectively releases all the energy he’s stored during the swing, creating a ton of clubhead speed and power. Don’t make the mistake of comfortably cruising through impact because it will cost you distance. Launch yourself into the ball! Transfer all your energy into the ball by pushing down against the ground through the impact zone

Get On Top For Added Power

Everybody wants to hit the ball longer off the tee, and Tommy Armour III is a great player to emulate if you’re looking for power. You can see how his body weight has passed into his left heel as his hips have rotated open to the target—this is a very basic power move that just about all good players make.

In addition, notice how perfectly his right hand and forearm have been driven on top of his left hand and arm by a powerful drive of his right shoulder. This technique is one that professional golfers have been using just about forever because it’s a great way to produce a lot of clubhead speed as well as a distance-optimizing right-to-left shot shape. Crush the ball by getting your right arm and shoulder on top as you fully release the club.

Big Hitter, Great Mechanics

While most amateur players probably think there’s not much they can learn from studying the swing of an extremely fit, 21-year-old professional golfer, that’s simply not the case. In fact, there’s a lot to be learned from checking out Anthony Kim’s technique, because while he does have outstanding physical skills, his swing is simple and fundamentally sound.

Most importantly, Anthony’s swing features the perfect sequence of movements, a trait that can help any player hit it longer and straighter. When studying Anthony’s swing, it’s important not to focus too much on the static positions of the club, but rather to try and appreciate how his swing is being driven by the proper loading and unloading of his body rather than the muscles in his arms and hands.

AK (as he’s often called), has a swing based on building torque through stretching his body against itself and unwinding at the optimum time to produce a cracking of the whip through impact. Anyone who’s ever watched videos of Ben Hogan’s swing knows that while he wasn’t a physically big man, he could create tremendous clubhead speed and power through a combination of strength, outstanding flexibility and awesome mechanics. AK utilizes almost the same exact attributes to hit the ball prodigious distances with accuracy. A key to both accuracy and distance is driving the club with the pivot of your body, not the muscles in your arms.

(l-r) Anthony’s core is tight, his knees are flexed and his weight is poised in the balls of his feet—a great athletic position. The chest, shoulders and arms move the club away from the ball, not the hands. The lower body is quiet; his torso turns against his legs while he fights to maintain the angle between his stomach and right thigh.

(l-r) Anthony’s body is now in full stretch. His feet remain steady, his knees flexed and his posture is near perfect. Now the lower body takes the lead as the feet help the knees rotate all the way back around to the target. The majority of his body weight remains in the balls of his feet as the legs drag the upper body—and the club.

(l-r) The rotation of the hips begin to throw the arms and club out to the ball. There’s no independent motion here! The drive from the lower body now stops as it collides against a straight left leg and firm left side. This is power!

(l-r) Both arms have completely straightened, thrown outward by the powerful pivot of the body. The momentum of the arms and club are now dragging the body around to the finish. The right arm and club are on plane. His right side is perpendicular to the ground, his arms are relaxed and his right foot is on the toe. A great finish to a great swing!

Drive For Show

A critical part of driving the ball accurately is starting the shot on-line to the intended target. The two drives seen above by Tour players Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair clearly illustrate the difference between a dependable driver swing and one that will produce erratic results.

Kevin Na (at top), tends to swing the club on a much more inside-out-path than O’Hair, and as a result, must use his hands to try and square the clubface through impact. This technique requires a great deal of timing and a lot of practice, and can be extremely difficult to reproduce in pressure situations.

On this particular drive, Na was unable to get the clubface squared in time and blew his shot well to the right of the fairway.

In contrast, O’Hair swings the club on a more neutral path into the ball, which requires much less timing and manipulation. He can simply let the clubface release naturally with the pivot of his body because he knows the shot will tend to start on-line to the target more times than not. This particular shot, for example, split the middle of the fairway.

Although it probably sounds a bit simplistic, the truth is, if you currently have to aim off the right or left side of the fairway in order to get the ball in play, you’re never going to be able to drive the ball with any consistency or accuracy. If this sounds like you, it’s definitely time you learned to swing the club on-plane and on the correct path.

Remember, good players don’t swing the club on an overly inside or outside path, but generally try to keep the club in a neutral and predictable position.

Na’s downswing begins with a drop of his right shoulder, forcing the club onto an overly inside-out path.

The only way to compensate for a position that’s underneath is to flip the clubhead with the hands at the right time.

O’Hair’s right shoulder stays high while his lower body unwinds. This keeps the club tracking properly.

O’Hair doesn’t need to compensate with his hands. Instead he can simply let the club release with the pivot of his body.

Brady Riggs is a Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor. He’s located at Woodley Lakes, G.C. Check out his entry in our Top 10 Best Swing Tips Ever.

Hybrid Chips

Okay, so you’ve missed the green by a few feet and are left with a fluffy, unpredictable lie. Situations like this aren’t uncommon here at Poipu Bay in Kauai (and probably your home course too), but with a quick pointer on greenside chipping, I think I can help you get up and down more often than not from this tricky position. How? With the most versatile and forgiving club in your bag.

When you miss the green and find yourself with a tight, fluffy or unpredictable lie near the green, ditch the wedge for a hybrid club (if you’re one of the few not using a hybrid club, try a high-lofted fairway wood). The hybrid, which has become known for its remarkable versatility, can help you hit a shot that produces the same result, no matter what the lie. A wedge, however, may pop the ball up high, promote roll or cause the ball to check up. (Or worse yet, in a fluffy lie like I have here, the wedge can slip completely under the ball, causing an embarrassing flubbed shot.) With the hybrid, you can almost always guarantee the ball will get airborne a few inches and immediately start rolling toward the target.

To hit this shot—no matter what the lie—simply adopt your putting stance. Choke down on the shaft to a comfortable position, place the ball and your weight slightly forward of center in your stance and glide the clubhead across the grass as you would with a putter. The thick sole and low weighting of the hybrid will help brush through the turf with the needed momentum to prevent a flubbed shot, and the enlarged sweet spot will minimize twisting and distance loss should you hit the ball slightly on the heel or toe.

When you’re ready, make a putting stroke and be sure to play for plenty of roll, as the ball will get airborne momentarily and begin rolling in a hurry. (This shot tends to be more effective with at least 10 yards of green between you and the hole.) Remember to read the green as you would a putt, and play the break. With some practice and experimentation, you’ll soon find using the hybrid to be one of the most effective ways to get the ball close from off the green. Mahalo!
_Ê
Craig Sasada, PGA, is Director of Golf at the beautiful Poipu Bay Golf Resort on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. For more on the resort, as well as all of Kauai, visit www.kauaidiscovery.com and www.poipubay.com.

Chip From The Sand

Part of being a skillful player is reading the situation, choosing the right shot and then being able to execute that particular play. Taking into account all your options is important, but most golfers never consider the versatility the game allows. For example, when faced with a bunker shot, most golfers think blast. But in some situations, thinking chip may produce the better result.

There are three conditions that should trigger your consideration of the sand-chip. The first thing is your lie. If the ball is sitting up so you can get the clubhead cleanly on the ball, the chip is a possibility. The second factor is the height of the lip. The sand-chip features a low trajectory, so you can only use it if the bunker has a very low lip. The third factor is the location of the pin–the sand-chip will run with very little spin, so it’s ideal when there’s a lot of space between the ball and the flag.

The sand-chip also is the shot of choice when the pin is on a tier where it would be all too easy to hit a normal bunker shot a foot too short and spin it back down the slope, leaving you a long, difficult putt up a steep slope.

When all three of these conditions are present, you’re primed to make your chip from the sand.

Three Adjustments
Unlike the regular bunker shot, where you take sand before you contact the ball, the idea of the sand-chip is to catch the ball cleanly, then take a bit of sand. To carry out this ball-first mandate, you need to make several adjustments to your normal chipping technique.

First, choose enough loft to clear the lip of the bunker. Select a club that will land the ball about two paces on the green, where it will run the rest of the way to the hole. That being said, don’t err by choosing too much loft–use the least amount of loft that will still carry the ball over the lip.

Next, raise your club on its toe to make the shaft more upright, like your putter. The advantage of the heel-up method is that it lessens the chance of your clubhead catching the sand. With the shaft more upright, you’ll have to stand closer to the ball with your eyes over the target line.

Third, turn in the clubface slightly until the top line of your club is perpendicular to the target line. This toed-in position squares the clubface to the target and discourages sidespin—the enemy of all chips.

The Technique
Play the ball opposite the back foot and with your hands forward so that the shaft points at your lead shoulder. This helps ensure a low, running shot that tracks like a putt. Open your stance and bend from your hips with your elbows bent and flared out from your sides, similar to how they bend in your normal putting posture.

The stroke is made with little wrist break and by keeping the majority of your weight on your front foot. The fixed wrists allow the butt end of your club and the clubface to move together back and then through the golf ball. The most common error is to drop down into the ball in an effort to lift it into the air. This destroys ball-first contact. Make sure you keep your spine angle intact until the ball is well on its way.

The chip from the sand requires a technique that needs to be practiced before you use it on the course. To accelerate your learning curve, draw a line in the sand in front of the ball (on the target side) to remind you to take sand only after contact with the ball is made.

PGA professional Dr. T.J. Tomasi is regarded as one of the top 100 teachers in America, and is one of the most widely published authorities on the golf swing. He’s currently director of instruction at Lyman Orchards GC in Middlefield, Conn.

No Backswing, No Problem

Bad lies are one thing, but there’s nothing worse than a situation where your backswing is completely restricted. The feeling of helplessness can be pretty disheartening. For most golfers, the only play is to chip back into the fairway–a momentum-breaker that’s not going to help you if your goal is to shoot low numbers. But take a closer look–you may be able to knock it near or even on the green if you know this savvy technique.

The Plan
The plan is to radically close your stance, creating a swing path that’s so far to the inside that you miss the tree, but hit the ball. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a tree–it could be a bush, OB fence or a big root you’re worried about snagging your clubhead on. Regardless, here’s what to do when you have an obstruction directly in your backswing path and chipping back into play isn’t an option.

The Setup
First, take your normal stance and sole your club, with the clubface pointing in the direction you want the ball to start–just as you would if your backswing wasn’t obstructed. Now, without moving your clubhead, rotate your body clockwise until your toe line becomes perpendicular to the target line and your chest faces the obstruction. Basically, you want to create the ultimate closed stance, with your back facing the target at address. To facilitate solid contact, play the ball just to the left of your front foot (on your toe line).

Obviously, the shot calls for a big-time, right-to-left curve–a hook for the ages. Since you need to hit a big bender, gear back on your grip pressure. This will activate your wrists and give them the freedom to work the clubface into position through the hitting zone. If you grip the club too tightly, you’ll keep the clubface from properly closing through impact.

The key to this play is to swing the clubhead back and forth along your toe line, a path that’s well inside the target line. Feel as if you’re going to put your hands into your right pocket on the backswing. On the downswing, it should feel as though your hands are going to hit your right hip as it rotates back toward the ball. Take special care to keep your head from following your hands–you want your head to remain rock-steady. This will prevent you from sliding ahead of the ball on the downswing, a mistake that’s easy to make with such an odd swing path. Lastly, use a three-quarter-swing for control. The ensuing hook spin will carry the ball farther than normal, so you don’t need your standard-issue swing.

The toughest element of this shot is to resist the urge to swing to the target. If you do, you’ll hit the obstruction. Simply focus on swinging the clubhead down your toe line and let that baby hook.

Pre-Setup
Before you take your stance, make sure you see the shot shape in your mind’s eye. And take enough practice swings so you get the feel of the unusual swing you’re about to make. Use your practice swing to program in the curve of your shot by holding your finish for an extra count, with the handle of your club tilted toward the target line.

A final word of caution: Don’t try to hook the ball with your hands or any part of your body. Work the ball with your setup and your mind–anything else leads to over-manipulation and less-than-decent results.

Hopefully, you won’t have many opportunities to use this trouble shot. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice it once in a while on the driving range. Use your golf bag to simulate the obstacle. When you get the hang of the technique, put the ball on the ground and move the bag closer by a foot.

PGA pro Dr. T.J. Tomasi is the director of instruction at Lyman Orchards GC in Middlefield, Conn.

Control Trajectory

A key element to becoming a better player is learning to create different ballflight trajectories on command. It’s this aspect of your play that will allow you to effectively tackle a variety of situations ranging from lob pitches to knockdowns to recovery shots. Here are six factors of flight to help you learn to throw it high or keep it low.

Keep It Low
1. Ball Back
Position the ball anywhere from dead center of your stance to your rear foot.

2. Weight Forward
This helps de-loft the clubface and ensures a steep, descending blow.

3. Shoulders Level
The shoulders need to be leveled out. Focus your eyes on the ground to get your shoulders to match the horizon.

4. Hands Forward
Leaning the hands and shaft toward the target also helps de-loft the face.

5. Swing Slow
A softer swing pace will lower the ball’s spin rate and prevent an up-shooting flight. Swing with an even, pendulum-like rhythm to accomplish this goal.

6. Finish Low
No full finish here! Try to hold the clubhead below your waistline after impact.

Throw It High
1. Ball Forward
Position the ball toward your left heel to facilitate catching the ball on a slightly ascending arc.

2. Weight Back
Position your weight to favor your right side at address.

3. Right Shoulder Low
Be sure that your right shoulder is tilted lower than your left at address. To get a feel for this, rotate your head to the left. This will drop the right shoulder the proper amount.

4. Hands Neutral
Maintain a neutral hand and shaft position as a means to maintain the loft built into the face at impact. Keeping your hands in the center of your stance works well here.

5. Be Aggressive
Speed creates lift. Don’t be afraid to give this one a little extra pop!

6. Finish High
A high ball needs a high finish. Finish in balance with your hands and arms back over your front shoulder.

In addition to these setup and swing cues, designed to control the loft of the face at the point of impact, one of the easiest ways to dictate flight is to choose the appropriate club. For low shots, select one more club than needed, choke down on the handle a few inches and execute a smooth, abbreviated swing. For higher shots, take less club and get even more aggressive.

Practice these setup and swing techniques on the range. In no time, you’ll effectively increase your arsenal of shots and be better equipped to tackle whatever the course presents during play.

PGA professional Jeff Ritter is the director of instruction at the ASU Karsten Academy, and also teaches at Nike Junior Golf Camps nationwide.

Curve On Command

If you want to take your scores even lower, you’ve got to be able to control the spin on your golf ball, and that means being able to curve it when you want to. This skill is called working the ball, and it takes practice. But most low-handicappers don’t rehearse this part of their game correctly–they’ll hit 20 draws in a row, then hit a bunch of fades. This practice sequence doesn’t realistically represent what you’ll face on the course. In golf, you only get one chance, not 20. That’s why I recommend the Diamond Drill. The Diamond teaches you how to work the ball on demand using the geometry of the setup.

Geometry At Address
Draw:
1. Aim your clubface at the target.
2. Align your body to the right of the target on the line you want the ball to start.
3. Swing your arms along your body line.
4. Finish the swing with the butt of the club angling toward the target line (for a hook, finish with the shaft lying horizontal to the ground).

Fade:
1. Aim your clubface at the target.
2. Align your body to the left of the target on the line you want your shot to start.
3. Swing the club on your body line.
4. Finish the swing with the butt of the club pointing straight down toward the ground (for a slice, point the butt of the shaft to the left of the target line).

Straight Shot:
1. Aim your clubface at the target.
2. Align your body parallel left of the target line.
3. Swing the club on your body line.
4. Finish with the shaft parallel left of the target line.

Now, use the Diamond Drill and simply rotate your setup to change the curve of the shot. For example, hit a fade, then a draw, then a straight shot. Should you fail to produce the correct spin on the shot, continue the rotation–don’t take a mulligan.

The Diamond Drill
_Ê Arrange four balls in a diamond with two feet between each ball. The top ball of the diamond should be on the target line. Tee up the rear ball–this is the one you’ll hit.
_Ê Your task is to hit three balls per series: one that starts over the right ball and curves back to the target; the second goes directly to the target over the front ball; and the third shot starts over the left ball of the diamond and fades back to the target.
_Ê Use a 5-iron on a tee, and once you’re successful, off the ground. Then change to a driver.
_Ê If you can do three series in a row perfectly with both clubs, head for the Tour.

Here are some key concepts that will help you:
_Ê Make sure you imagine the shot by seeing, feeling and actually describing it to yourself.
_Ê Program in the curve you want with your practice swing followthrough. For the draw, finish with the back of your right hand (for right-handed golfers) looking at the sky and the handle of your club tilted toward the target line. It’s the opposite for a fade.
_Ê Match your grip pressure to the shot. For a fade, tighten your hold on the club in both hands, but increase it the most in your left hand so the face stays open. To draw the ball, decrease your grip pressure. This will activate your wrists, giving them the flexibility to work the clubface into a slightly closed position through the hitting zone.

Dr. T.J. Tomasi is one of the most widely published authorities on the golf swing. He’s the director of instruction at Lyman Orchards GC in Middlefield, Conn.

Drive Off The Deck

Growing up in Oklahoma, my golfing buddies and I had more than our fair share of wind to deal with on the course. As a PGA professional on the island of Maui, I still rely on different techniques to cheat the breeze and set up more scoring opportunities.

Any golfer who plays in windy conditions knows that certain skills are required to keep the ball low–and to keep the ball from blowing back over your head! One of these skills is hitting driver off the deck. Making a pass with the driver from the fairway isn’t your everyday type of shot, but it flies low and with plenty of distance, making it the perfect play when you have a ton of yardage left into a par-4 green. It’s also an advantageous shot to reach a par-5 green in two and set up–hopefully–a nice eagle opportunity.

To perform this shot, I start with a slightly open stance and a ball position that allows me to pick it cleanly off the turf (which is just to the right of a normally teed golf ball). As far as posture goes, I follow David Leadbetter’s recommended three to five percent body tilt to the right. Setting up with my right shoulder slightly lower than the left (reverse for left-handers) allows me to load up and fully extend my arms on the backswing.

During the takeaway, keep the feet and legs as quiet as possible–you’ll need a solid foundation to support the power of this swing. Concentrate on rotating your torso, and don’t be afraid to turn your back to the target. For control, stop your backswing so that the clubshaft lies just short of parallel at the top.

Now, things get fun. From the top, the key is to simply turn back toward the target. As you do, use the ground to push off and transfer your weight to the inside of your left foot. Your hip rotation should follow this move quickly and power the hands and clubhead into the impact zone.

Re-creating your setup position at impact is key to really giving the ball a beating. As a young golfer, my friends and I used to stand in front of a poster picturing Ben Hogan at impact and try to imitate his contact posture, keeping our arms in front of our torsos. From impact, strive for full extension (no chicken-winging here!) and a balanced, full finish with everything facing the target (Park it in the garage, as Gary Player says)._Ê

The driver off the deck usually produces a left-to-right ballflight, a ton of distance and a fairly low trajectory (which is much more reliable than a high, floating trajectory, especially on windy days).

In conclusion, use this technique off the tee box when playing into a strong headwind or for extra distance on a second shot to reach a par-5. Remember, the shot requires a solid foundation, proper grip pressure (be certain that you don’t grip the club too tightly), arms in front of the trunk, good extension on the backswing and a full extension after impact. Also, your results will improve if you try to pick the ball off the turf, making a sweeping pass instead of the down-and-through dynamic used in a proper iron swing. To become more adept at picking the ball off the turf, try practicing off a patch of hardpan and not taking a divot.

If you can meet these requirements, you’ll be well on your way to producing big yards in tough situations (and likely eliciting a few oohs and aahs from your playing partners). If you can’t, by all means, don’t try something you can’t do. There’s a local saying here in Hawaii: If can, can; if no can, no can! That’s perfect advice for driver off the deck.
Aloha and good luck!

PGA professional Kirk Nelson is the head professional at the Makena Golf Courses at Makena Resort in Maui, Hawaii.

The Dead Shot

When playing golf, there are some days that no matter what you try, you can’t get your upper and lower body to work in sync. On these days, you’ll find that the hips trail too far behind the shoulders, and the shoulders trail too far behind the arms and hands. The Dead Shot is an effective drill I use with my students to promote balance, timing and synchronization from the takeaway through the finish.

Assume your normal stance with any club, but position your right foot near the instep of your left foot (for right-handed golfers), leaving three to four inches between both feet with the right toe drawn back from the original toe line about four inches.

Now, turn your left foot inward so that your left big toe points toward the ball. Taking your stance with your feet in these positions will effectively limit your hip turn and lower body movement. Swing the club back with a great deal of freedom in the arms and shoulders and then forward with the same free and easy motion. Try this technique and you’ll find why it’s called the Dead Shot—the body is dead and the ball goes dead straight. If you let your hips turn, you’ll have problems controlling the direction of your shots. Simply work on swinging the club with your arms and hands in a smooth, unhurried motion.

Class A PGA Professional Jerry Elwell‘s former students include Johnny Miller, Billy Casper and Nancy Lopez. He directs instruction at Max Out Golf in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Putt It Out

Using a putter (the good ol’ Texas wedge) to escape a greenside bunker should only be attempted if the sand in the bunker is firm, the lie is decent (not buried) and the bunker itself doesn’t feature a lip, or if it does, a very small lip with a rounded edge. If you try this shot without each of these conditions being met, be ready to hit two shots from the same place.

From your clean lie, address the ball as you normally would with a putter on the green, with your weight centered over both feet and with your standard putting grip. Play the ball back in your stance, which will help prevent touching the sand through impact. In this situation, unlike other bunker shots, the key is to catch all ball and no sand, so plan on striking the upper hemisphere of the golf ball with the putterface. Expect the ball to roll much like it would on the green and then pop over the lip. Because you’ll be hitting all ball and no sand, and the ball may pop up when it hits the lip, don’t be afraid to hit this shot harder than you would a normal putt from this distance. The off-center strike and spin from the hop will reduce the speed of the ball, so give it a good hit. With a little practice, you’ll find that this shot reigns supreme and nearly takes out all the guesswork from low-lipped bunker shots.

Craig Bunker, PGA, is director of instruction for the John Jacobs’ Golf Schools (www.jacobsgolf.com).