This is day two of total game improvement week.

Each day for a week, I’ll be posting a series of tips, drills, advice, and information designed to help every aspect of your game. I want us all to make one final push to get over whatever humps are in the way before the year is out.

Don’t forget to e-mail me your favorite tips and drills from any of the different categories for inclusion in the post on day-six.

Putting

There are many points of view about how much speed a putt should have when it approaches the hole. Some prefer to be firm, and others prefer to have the putt die at the hole and just turn over and fall in.

But what’s really optimal?

Dave Pelz has determined through testing that you should give a putt enough pace so that if the hole were covered and the ball couldn’t fall in the cup, that the ball would continue on 17 inches past.

Through extensive experimentation, he has found that this speed is optimal for countering the “lumpy donut” effect (the area of high footprint traffic damage around the cup). Putting with enough speed to get 17 inches past will give the best chance of staying on line through the lumpy donut but still have the best chance of falling if the ball hits the hole.

As the saying goes, “never up, never in”. Well, just shoot for 17 inches past to have the best chance of being up and in.

Short Game

It’s pretty easy to miss the green by a couple of yards and end up in some thick, well-manicured rough. It may not be the nasty 6-inch stuff, but the ball can still sit down, leaving a delicate pitch or chip to the hole.

One alternative from the Life in the Rough archives that you can use to get the ball on the putting surface is to splash it out of the rough, similar to a shot from the sand.

Recovery

Every once in a while, we end up with hardpan lies on the golf course. These are spots where there is little or no grass and the dirt is packed down, making a fairly hard surface.

Fortunately, these shots aren’t too difficult to handle.

Simply play the ball back in your stance a couple of inches and try and make contact with the ball and the ground at the same time.

If you hit the ground too early, and you’re using a club with a lot of bounce, chances are that the bounce will skip the club off the ground and you’ll end up skulling the ball. Or, if you don’t have much bounce, you could dig in a bit, causing a chili dip.

You should expect a shot that flies a little lower and has a decent amount of spin.

Here’s an article by Dave Pelz that gives some more information about hitting from hardpan, including impenetrable hardpan (i.e. asphalt). He suggests using an almost wrist-free wedge swing to lessen the chances of hitting the ground too soon.

Course Management

How much thought do you give to which side of the tee you play from on each hole?

If it’s not part of your course management strategy, then you may not be leaving yourself in optimal position off the tee on every hole.

This article from the Life in the Rough archives will help you understand why it’s important to use the tee to your advantage.

Driving

Logically, it might seem like generating more power and thus longer drives is a result of more turn. However, Jim McLean has discovered that it’s not the amount of turn you can muster, but it’s the amount your shoulders turn in relation to your hips.

He dubbed that “The X Factor”.

The key is creating more resistance in your body’s coil during the swing that allows a more powerful swing to develop. So, while you want a nice full shoulder turn, a power-adding move is to restrict the hip turn some, to create more resistance.

“Restricting” the hip turn might not be the best way to think about it. A better thought is that you’re trying to not “overturn” the hips on the backswing.

In my case, I was able to accomplish that by concentrating on more stability in my right knee, that kept me from getting my hips turned too much in relation to my shoulders and also kept me from getting my weight on the outside of my right foot on the back swing. For me, it wasn’t just a power move, but a consistency move as well.

Sand Play

Sand play is enough to make a lot of players sick to their stomachs. Throw in a less than perfect lie and they sweat bullets. When the ball gets partially or completely buried, it’s intimidating, but don’t worry too much.

Back in June, I shared a tip from Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible to help cope with buried lies in the bunkers.

Mental Game

Getting in the right frame of mind is critical for success on the golf course.

One way to get yourself in that good mental state is by ending your pre-round warm-up with some confidence in the club you intend to hit on the first tee.

If the first hole is a driver hole, then finish your warm up by hitting some drives, and don’t end on a bad one. The last swing memory you should have before heading to the tee is from a positive shot.

What do you do if you’re hitting the driver poorly? Put it in the bag and don’t get it out again. If you can’t hit it on the range, you can’t hit it on the course. Drop down to your 3-wood, 2-iron, 3-iron or whatever club you can hit well at the time.

If you don’t have confidence in a particular club, don’t get it out of your bag. Even if that means you have to play with a 7-iron and putter.

Fitness

How much do you pay attention to nutrition in golf? If your idea of nutrition on the golf course is a hot dog at the turn, then you’re not putting your body in the state it needs to be in for maximum performance.

Even taking a golf cart, you can get a weary as you get further into a round, especially if you’re not in good shape. To play well, you need to fuel your body properly.

Recently, Better Golf With Fitness ran a series on nutrition. Check out Improve Your Nutrition and Your Game, Part 1. Also check out Part 2 and Part 3 of that series.

It’s a great look at how nutrition and golf tie together, but in reality good nutritional habits will improve life in general, not just golf.

Iron Play

Well, it’s the end of the season (or the beginning if you live in the southern hemisphere), and you contracted a case of the shanks. You can’t let the year end like that. Don’t be afraid. It’s not a disease and is 100% curable.

The cause is very basic and so is the cure. I discussed the shanks and how to cure them back in May.

—————————

Further Reading:

Splash It Out of the Rough (Life in the Rough)
Hitting From Hardpan – Dave Pelz (GolfOnline.com)
Use the Tee to Your Advantage (Life in the Rough)
Consistency and Distance with a Stable Right Knee (Life in the Rough)
Buried Lies in the Bunkers (Life in the Rough)
The Shanks (Life in the Rough)

Series on improving your nutrition and your game at Better Golf With Fitness:
Improve Your Nutrition, Part 1
Improve Your Nutrition, Part 2
Improve Your Nutrition, Part 3

Previous Installments:

Total Golf Game Improvement Week, Day 1 (Life in the Rough)

Did you like this post? Get free RSS updates!

Leave a comment | Comment Policy | Trackback URL