Life in the Rough» Ball Striking Tips

A Simple Tension-Buster for When You Just Gotta Go for It

Mike Gray — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:33:55 +0000

One of the cool things about spending too much time on the driving range is that you eventually start to gravitate toward the other regulars. It’s a good way to meet other serious players and, most importantly, to catch some great tips.

This one comes courtesy of a fellow range rat at my local course (thanks, Phil!).

As you’ve probably heard many, many times, tension is a killer in the golf swing. I’m sure I’ve heard it from the likes of every famous teaching pro, and I’ve no doubt read it in various books and magazines.

It’s virtually impossible to consistently hit good golf shots when you have tension that creeps into your hands and arms during the swing. It prevents smooth, free motion and can cause all sorts of problems.

The photo at the top-left depicts a guy with more of a mental tension problem, not a physical tension problem, but it kind of makes me laugh so I couldn’t resist.

But we’re definitely talking about physical tension creeping into your arms. Your muscles tighten up. You take more of a death grip on the club. When you swing, you get stiff and somewhat statue-like.

Let’s say, though, that you don’t really have a problem with tension in your swing. Say you have a free-flowing motion and your grip is nice and light.

As the title suggests, one place you might still struggle with that is in a situation where you absolutely positively have to jack one. You know that you need to go at it hard and just rip it. The problem is, if you don’t catch it solid then you’re in trouble.

This is one situation for players of all abilities where tension can start to creep in. For people that have tension problems already, this situation just puts them in a situation of virtually insurmountable odds of success.

The good news is, there’s something that can be done. Remember the tip I promised? It’s so simple, you’re not going to believe it will work. You’re going to have to try it just like I did to see that it indeed does.

So, here goes. If you need to crush the ball and want to prevent tension from destroying your chance for success, you just need to relieve that tension before and during the swing.

To do that, take your grip and address the ball. As you’re preparing to hit the shot, simply focus your attention on the pressure of your right thumb on the club shaft (left thumb for left-handed players). You want to feel extremely light pressure under your right thumb.

Don’t think about anything else. Don’t fixate on the target. Don’t fixate on trouble. Just concentrate on keeping your right thumb pressure very light. Your grip will instinctively lighten and your arms will naturally relax some.

When you make your swing, you’re likely going to feel extremely loose, like you barely have control of the club. Just take a normal smooth swing and all will be right in the world. Let yourself be aggressive with the shot, but keep focused on that right thumb. Take a few practice swings first and just feel the free, loose motion.

Those of you with tension issues might feel it a little more than those who aren’t really tense to begin with. But when that stressful situation comes where you just have to pound one, this will help.

As always, I recommend giving it a shot on the driving range.

Out there, it was especially valuable to me. At times, when I start to hit the ball well, I also find myself hitting the ball a little harder. Consequently, I start to grip a little tighter and get a little tense. This tip definitely helped me to feel more loose when trying to swing aggressively. My ball striking instantly improved.

Keep in mind that the purpose of this tip isn’t to be a recipe for swinging out of your shoes on every shot. Those times when you need a really aggressive swing are relatively rare and your typical shot should be smooth with good tempo. There are those times, though, that you just gotta go for it, and this tip will help you do so with success.

Thanks again to Phil for the tip. When I’m able to start practicing again, I might just hit some shots like that to make sure I’m not tensing up after a month off the course.

Curing Fat Shots

Mike Gray — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:21:02 +0000

Never let it be said that Twitter isn’t a great way to find helpful information. Recently, Dexter from Golf Tips & Quips tweeted a helpful YouTube video featuring Hank Haney giving some great advice on two causes of fat shots and how to cure them.

As I watched, I saw Hank imitating the exact problem I suffer from and I thought it would be helpful to point it out here, since I don’t currently have any decent video of myself to share.
Have a look at the video and meet me down below when you’re finished.

As you saw in the video, there’s a problem with steep fat and shallow fat. The steep issue is the exact problem I’ve suffered from for a long time. I took some video last season that showed me doing exactly what Haney described.

The only difference is, I don’t really suffer from fat shots (primarily) as a result of being too steep. I tend to hit the ball off the toe and pull hook it. Mainly, this happens because I compensate with my hands by flipping them closed and doing who knows what else.

You may have heard me talking about fixing my takeaway for a while. My pro has identified that as one of my main issues and you saw Hank Haney talking about it a little in the video above. In my case, I tend to take the club too far to the inside from the start. So, to counter that, I then overcompensate when trying to correct that by taking the club back across the target line and a little steep on subsequent shots over time as I try to work the problem out.

Haney pointed out that a more level shoulder turn can help to fix the issue of being too steep. I’m going to give that a shot as soon as I can get to the range again and really work on my takeaway early in the season so I can get this resolved once and for all this year. I just have to be careful to not take the club too far inside like I used to do or I’ll be back to square one.

I got on a little tangent there with my own swing and don’t want to lose sight of the original point. If you’re suffering from fat shots, then this bit of wisdom from Hank Haney might be able to help you start hitting the ball solidly.

Incidentally, that video comes from the GolfLink YouTube channel, which has a ton of other great videos that you might find helpful.

Reading Lies on the Golf Course, Part I

Mike Gray — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:35:27 +0000

A few weeks back, I was contacted by a reader who is interested in learning how to read lies and suggested the topic to me. I thought it was a great idea, so here we are. He pointed to a recent golf telecast where Nick Faldo, in discussing the new groove regulations for 2010, pointed out that players are going to have to do a better job of reading lies now.

As most of you probably know by now, grooves in irons have been dialed back at the highest levels to try and reduce the spin that wedges and short irons can impart on the ball. In recent years, it became common for players to just bomb away off the tee, because they knew that their wedges would still provide high spin from the rough.

Now, with grooves providing less help to players out of the fairway, Faldo made a good point, that reading lies will become more important. (Note that the new grooves won’t affect most of us for quite a while, but all of this is still worth talking about)

What did he mean by that?

After we hit a shot and approach the ball, probably the most important factor in deciding the next shot is the lie of the ball. In other words, how will the way the ball is sitting affect the ability for you to put the club head to the ball and have the shot react the way you expect?

There are two important parts to that. One: can you strike the ball solidly? And, two: how will the shot react? The first question is kind of obvious in most circumstances. If your ball is lying against a tree root, clearly your ability to strike the ball solidly is in doubt. It’s the second question, however, that is just as important, but more tricky to predict and to understand.

What that comes down to is, how much spin can you put on the ball? We might not be thinking of it in those terms at the time, but that’s really what we’re asking ourselves because it has a big effect on the outcome of the shot. If you’re able to strike the ball perfectly in the center of the club face with the club head moving at normal speed, the variable then becomes the amount of spin on the ball. That will affect distance, trajectory, and stopping power.

Let’s take a look at actual situations and we’ll discuss the factors that go into the outcome of the shot. It’s not my intent to cover every possible situation here or the mechanics of how to hit shots from all the different lies, but to discuss generalities that will help you to get a feel for reading lies. Nothing is a good substitute for practice, however, so get out on the course when no one is around to try these shots and see for yourself how they react.

We’ll look at the situations that occur with shots from the rough and from the fairway. In part II, we’ll look at lies in the sand and some special circumstances. In each case, we’ll take a look at the questions we should be asking ourselves as we go about reading lies. That’s really the how-to of reading lies. Knowing which questions to ask and what the answers mean is what this game is all about.

In the Rough

Shots from the rough are really the ones Faldo was talking about when he mentioned being able to read lies with the new grooves imparting less spin.

The main purpose of grooves on the club face is to divert grass and moisture from the club face. Those things tend to cause shots to spin less. With the old grooves, much more grass and water were able to be diverted so it was possible to still get good spin from poor lies. Now, that capability is diminished.

It’s not just grooves, however, that are important. Remember the first part of the equation? Can we strike the ball solidly? If the answer is ‘no’, then there’s a much bigger issue.

In that case, we have to consider that we may not be able to strike the ball solidly and at full speed. If the ball is buried in six-inch rough, we have to start worrying about what the club head will do as it passes through the grass. I previously covered how to hit the ball from deep rough, so I won’t go into the specifics here. But understand that there are consequences to that type of lie.

For instance, there is a tendency for the club face to shut as the grass grabs the hosel. Then, there’s the question of spin. As we discussed, grooves divert grass and water so that the club head and ball can meet solidly. Is there too much grass to be diverted?

The Questions

Here is a checklist of things you probably should be considering as you try and read lies in the rough.

How Long Is the Grass?

The length of the grass is really important to being able to strike the ball solidly. Remember that the club head approaches the ball in an arc. It’s fairly low to the ground for a couple of feet before actually getting to the ball. If it has to pass through long rough, there’s a very good chance that the speed and path of the club head will be affected. The club head will slow down. It will have a tendency to twist (usually closed). You may be forced to try a lay-up shot, if you don’t have a chance to strike the ball well.

How Thick Is the Grass?

As all of you are certainly keenly aware, rough on a golf course comes in many, many varieties. Not just species of grass, but the climate and amount of maintenance that it receives causes it to grow differently.

Rough that is thick and healthy presents a huge challenge. At times, however, long rough might be more dry and brittle and even sparse. In that circumstance, it presents somewhat less of a challenge. In either case, you’re still left to answer the two questions I posed at the top.

How is the Ball Sitting in the Grass?

Can you strike it solidly? If so, then there’s the question of how much grass is going to get in between the ball and the club face. A clean strike means that you’ll get more spin. A lot of grass means that you’ll get less spin. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean less distance.

You’ve probably heard the term “flyer lie”. When the spin on the ball is greatly diminished, you might actually see more distance out of the shot. And, it will probably fly along a lower trajectory (spin helps the ball fly higher). Not only that, but you can expect it to run further on the green because there isn’t enough spin to stop the ball as quickly. You should be mindful of what kind of trouble lurks behind the green because you may find yourself hitting it over the back. You might want to consider less club and play for the ball to fly and run further.

How is the Grass Laying?

This is one that we might not consider as much. When grass gets long, or when it has been rained on or trampled, it might tend to lay in a certain direction. Some types of grass might tend to do that all the time. On the green, we call it “grain”. It can happen just as easily with rough, too.

It is very important to pay attention to which direction the grass lays, relative to the path the club will take as it approaches the ball.

If the grass is laying away from the target even with the ball sitting on top, as the club head approaches the ball, it will tend to get down into the grass and the shot will act more like one where the rough is standing up. The club head will slow. There will be a tendency to twist. There will be grass between the ball and club face. And so on.

However if the grass is laying toward the target, the club will tend to just pass smoothly over top of it. This doesn’t mean that the shot will be so simple, though. In this case, if the ball is sitting on top of tall rough that is laying over toward the target, it’s easy as the club head approaches the ball, to hit down a little lower (firm turf would resist this a little). This makes it possible to hit the ball a little higher on the club face, reducing both spin and distance. It’s probably enough just to be mindful of not trying to make an overly descending blow, as if you’re trying to take a big divot.

In the Fairway

When the ball is sitting in the fairway, there is much more uniformity in the types of shots you can expect. However, it is these shots where we rely on precision. If you’re 100 yards from the green, in the middle of the fairway, you want your 100 yard shot to go 100 yards, and you want to get the amount of spin that you’re expecting.

We still should be asking ourselves questions about the lie, even in the fairway.

How Firm Is the Turf?

From the fairway, grooves aren’t the primary factor that contributes to spin. There is usually very little grass that gets between the club face and ball, so there is little grass and moisture to divert.

You may have heard the phrase “pinching the ball”. On tight, firm turf, depending on how much of a descending angle the club head approaches the ball, the club face actually pinches the ball against the turf very briefly. This maximizes spin. The firmer the turf, the more that spin is maximized. More spin means more stopping power, but it can also mean slightly less distance and a higher ball flight. Softer turf will diminish this slightly.

How Tall is the Grass?

Yes, this even matters on shots from the fairway. Some courses go several days between mowing fairways and depending on the type of grass, it might be significantly longer after a few days. At that point, you need to be asking yourself how much of an issue you’re facing with grass getting between the ball and club face. I’ve played rounds where, because of a string of bad weather, fairways were not mowed for almost two weeks. At that point, fairways started to resemble rough, and reacted like rough too.

How Wet Is the Grass?

Remember how we said that grooves divert grass and moisture? Well, they can only divert so much. After they have started operating at capacity, then there will be an effect on the shot.

During or after rain, or even after a heavy morning dew, there is simply too much moisture for grooves to divert. This moisture gets between the club face and the ball and it will tend to lessen spin.

Putting It All Together

Remember that reading the lie is only one piece of the whole puzzle. It’s easy to get too wrapped up in the minutiae and to lose sight of the rest of the big picture.

Consider the fact where the fairway is really wet. You might think, “OK, wet turf means the grooves will be taxed and won’t move all that water, so that will mean less spin and the ball will fly a littler further and run out more after landing.” In theory, yes, but don’t forget to consider the fact that since it’s wet, the ball can just as easily plug on the green and stop dead, if the putting surface is soft. Or, you might have to take a more conservative swing to keep your balance.

I also can’t stress enough that this academic exercise will only take you so far. There is absolutely no substitute to hitting shots from these various lies to get a true feel for how they will react. We’re talking about tendencies here, so nothing is absolute. A certain situation might tend to increase or diminish spin, but that doesn’t mean that it will. The golf swing is a very dynamic machine and there are a lot of variables that can tip the scales one way or the other.

Next time, we’ll take a look at reading lies in the sand and in some other special circumstances.

The Secret of Golf…

Mike Gray — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:00:03 +0000

Sunday, I promised I’d share the secret of golf that I discovered in a lesson over the weekend.

It was said that Ben Hogan supposedly was coaxed to share his “secret”, but that he kept the real secret for himself. Many now claim to know the lost secret move that gave Hogan’s swing the magic.

Well, I’m afraid that it has nothing to do with angles or positions. If golf swings were meant to be a series of geometrical checkpoints, then players like Jim Thorpe, Jim Furyk, Lee Trevino, and so many others never would have made it to where they did.

I asked on Sunday if anyone knows what I’m referring to. I will guarantee that the secret to the golf swing is something that any golfer has heard time and time again. The question is, do you realize the importance? I don’t think I did.

Are you ready to know?

Here it is: tempo.

That’s it. The secret to consistency in golf is tempo. Of course, consistency is what leads to scoring and scoring, obviously, is success.

Do you feel cheated? Did the answer not live up to the hype? Let’s look a little further.

When we’re talking about tempo, we’re referring to the natural flow of the golf swing. It is very much the same as tempo in a musical sense. To strike the ball with solid contact and more importantly, to do it consistently, a player must have a smooth-flowing tempo and rhythm that lets him stay in balance.

I’ve heard it said that in many great players, the amount of time that the backswing and downswing take are nearly identical. That’s tempo. In a musical sense, we’re talking about beats, like with a metronome. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. The golf swing is the same. Tick (backswing) – tock (downswing). Not tick-tooooooock. Not tiiiiiiiiiiick-tock.

Let’s take a look at my own case.

As I told you on Sunday, I’ve resumed taking lessons and while I have had great success on the lesson tee, when I get on the driving range or on the course, it’s all been falling apart.

My problem? I’m always trying to hit the ball too hard.

This is something my pro noticed immediately in my most-recent lesson. I told you that he gave me three minor technical adjustments to make, but that wasn’t all. He noticed within a swing or two that my tempo was way off.

When I swing the club back smoothly, and keep that smoothness through the transition to the down swing, through impact and into follow through, then I hit great shots.

Unfortunately, my tendency to try and hit the ball hard leads to some adrenaline creeping in and taking over. Sometimes, I take a smooth backswing and then jerk the club down at the ball, trying to get some serious clubhead speed going. Sometimes, I know I’m going to try and kill it, so my takeaway is jerky, and once I’m in a bad position at the top or my rhythym is off, then the shot is a disaster.

As I hit a few 7-irons, my pro had me dial back to try and only hit them 150 yards. Still, I was smooth all the way to the downward transition, and then the adrenaline took over and I was pulling them left. The tension in my hands and arms was causing me to flip the club closed. I was hitting them off the toe. It was bad.

Then, he did something that turned on the light bulb for me. He handed me my pitching wedge and had me aim at the 100 yard flag. Since a full wedge is about 125 yards for me, I had to dial it back. I immediately fell into my Pelz-style, dead-hands, finesse wedge swing. I began striking the ball crisply and on target.

After that, he simply handed me my 7-iron and told me to put my wedge swing on it. I did and the results were immediate.

Surely you’re thinking that I can’t be suggesting to hit drivers with a finesse wedge swing. No, not exactly.

What I’m saying is that he found a way to show me what proper tempo is, and how to bring it out of the wedges and into the rest of my bag. It was there on the wedges but on full swings, I was just suppressing it.

Trying to increase my tempo by jerking the club from the top and trying to crush the ball was actually having the opposite effect. I was tensing up and getting out of sync. From there, all hope is lost.

I actually fall into a common trap on the range. When I hit a solid shot at 70% power, then my natural tendency is to hit the next shot at 75% to get more distance. Then 80%, then 90%, and so on. Long before that, my ball striking has broken down because I begin to sacrifice tempo for power.

Then comes the funny part – do I then peel back to 70%? No. What happens then is, I try to “fix” the things that I perceive I’m doing wrong at that time. I change my shoulder alignment, the alignment of my feet, the tilt of my spine, my distance from the ball. On and on and on, until I have no hope of making progress.

My pro proved to me that tempo is the secret by forcing me to find it and then stick with it after I went back to my 7-iron. The fact that I went back to hitting perfect shots proved that I wasn’t off-plane and didn’t have a bad wrist cock, or have too open/closed shoulders or anything else.

Are those things in my swing (alignment, plane, etc.) what you’d consider “textbook”? No. But they’re also not what’s keeping me from scoring well. Before I get to the next level, we’ll look to refine those areas. But building a foundation that includes tempo, rhythm, and balance is crucial. I finally see that I didn’t have it.

Now, what you want to know is, what is the proper tempo for you?

I have no idea. There is no single proper tempo. Tempo is an individual trait. Some players swing very quickly with a fast takeaway and a fast downswing. Some players swing more slowly with a deliberate takeaway and downswing.

One thing is certain, though – the “beats” on your backswing and downswing (tick and tock) should be very close to the same. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Backswing-downswing. You’ll need to adjust the pace of the beats to find your optimal tempo, but once you do, your ball striking will improve.

The beauty (and curse) of tempo is that it’s the foundation of the swing. When things go bad, it’s like a baseline that can be comfortably returned to, like a ship returning to a safe harbor to escape a bad storm. If tempo itself goes bad, then the swing begins to crumble. I discovered that on Saturday. As bad as I was hitting the ball, fixing my tempo immediately resulted in good shots again.

No matter how good or bad your mechanical swing fundamentals are, you’ll never reach the full potential of your swing unless your tempo is good. If your tempo is poor, then without question it’s holding you back.

Still don’t believe the importance? Well, how about this – I’ll show you any number of great players you want with different grips, stances, swing planes, and so on, and you point me to a single great player with poor tempo. I’ll wait… Give up?

If you suspect an issue with tempo, then you have to try and work it out. Hit balls to the beat of a metronome to get the feel of perfect tempo. Don’t forget that you might have to slow it down or speed it up to match your natural rhythm. If you don’t have access to a metronome, then just do the tick-tocking in your head as you swing.

Most likely, though, you don’t even realize there’s a problem with your tempo, so the best solution is to meet with a pro and get a swing check-up. If you discover a problem with tempo and work it out, you’ll be making music on the course in no time.

Golf Ball Position at Address

Mike Gray — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:00:36 +0000

There are two main schools of thought about ball position for full swings. The first is that ball position is around the middle of the stance for a wedge and moves slightly toward the left foot (for a right-hander) for each longer club, through the driver where the ball position would be somewhere near the left heel. The stance also widens slightly for each longer club.

The second is a relatively stationary ball position near the left heel but with the width of stance narrowing a little more for each lower club. (Note that we’re talking about full swings here, not short game shots within 100 yards. Being a Pelz follower, I play those shots in the center of my stance.)

I was introduced to the stationary ball position in a lesson several years ago. At that time I had been employing the moving ball position technique for several years. It took some getting used to, but my perception is that it made me a little more consistent.

Essentially, the only thing that changes is the position of the right foot, depending on the club. There will be more width between the feet with the driver and less width progressively down to the wedges. That keeps the head a little further behind the ball when hitting drives and long irons (ball closer to the left shoulder), promoting more of a sweeping motion. The head is a little closer to the ball on short irons, promoting more of a descending blow.

Ben Hogan discussed the technique in his book Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf (actually a collection of articles he wrote for Sports Illustrated). Hogan also recommended that the stance be somewhat open for a pitching wedge and become increasingly less open for longer clubs, getting square for a five iron, and finally somewhat closed for a driver.

These days, I’m working on the Jim Hardy one-plane swing. His technique involves using the more traditional moving ball position technique, so that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s pretty much the same as we’ve all been taught at some point: ball off the left heel for the driver with each lower club moving further back until the ball reaches the center of the stance (or slightly behind center) for a wedge.

This is one of those techniques that’s probably more of a personal preference than anything. One advantage the stationary ball position provides is that only the width of the stance need change, whereas in the other method, both the width of the stance and ball position change, leaving twice as much chance for error and inconsistency.

Maybe next time you’re at the range, give the alternate ball position a shot and see what you think (whichever you don’t currently do). Next time you tune in for a Tour event, observe how the different pros position the ball at address, as well. You might be surprised at what you see.

Uneven Turf – Sidehill Lies

Mike Gray — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:20:39 +0000

Not too long ago, I discussed hitting shots from uphill and downhill lies. The adjustments are relatively straightforward.

How about sidehill lies? Same thing. The adjustments are straightforward when you understand what’s going on. With a little practice, you can get a grip on the likely outcome and handle those shots with no problem.

Ball Above Feet

The most important thing to remember when the ball is above your feet is that the orientation of the club (for a right hander) is now such that at address the club face is pointing left of the target.

Don’t believe me? Take out a short iron or wedge and hold it so the sole is flat on the ground, as if someone were addressing a ball. Point the club face square to a target.

Now rock the club so that the grip is closer to the ground and the sole of the club is no longer flat on the ground, but only the heel is still on the ground (as if the imaginary person is trying to address a ball above his feet).

Look at the club face. It is now pointed to the left of the target. It might help to hold something to the club face that will show where the club face is pointing, like an empty paper towel cardboard tube or a wooden dowel that you can hold flat on the face to act as a pointer.

That effect is more pronounced on clubs with more loft. So for a specific lie above your feet, a wedge will point further left than your 3-iron.

For that reason, and because you have to swing on a much flatter plane (more like a baseball hitter), a ball will tend to fly on a right to left path.

If you’re a slicer and want to get the feeling of drawing or hooking the ball, hit from a lie with the ball well above your feet. It’s hard not to get the ball moving right to left in that situation.

The basic adjustment for a ball above your feet is to allow for the ball to come out to the left.

Ball Below Feet

When the ball is below your feet, you do not get the opposite effect that you see with the ball above your feet where the club face points to the left. This is because to address the ball, you will tend to just bend down more, as opposed to having to rock the club one way or the other.

However, you will be forced to swing in a more upright plane. You won’t be able to make as aggressive a hip turn though impact and still maintain your balance.

So, for a ball below your feet, allow for the ball to move left to right.

Balance

Balance is key for hitting from uneven lies. The slope of the hill will tend to make you want to “fall” down the hill. With the ball above your feet, you’ll tend to sway back away from the ball and get your weight on your heels, and with the ball below your feet, you’ll tend to sway more over top of it and get your weight on your toes.

That’s why it’s important to maintain good balance in these situations. Take more club and swing within yourself, ensuring that you can avoid rocking your body during the swing. Otherwise, you’ll make poor contact and the ball will not do what you expect.

The Keys

When hitting with the ball out of sidehill lies, here are the keys to remember:

The ball will tend to move in the direction of the slope.
Maintain your balance through the swing and don’t allow your weight to get out on your heels or toes. Take extra club if you need to, and make a smooth, balanced stroke.

Uneven Turf – Downhill and Uphill Lies

Mike Gray — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:17:04 +0000

Fewer and fewer golf courses these days are relatively flat. In fact, the ones are mostly flat are those that were probably just cut out of the landscape before it became normal to sculpt the land more. And, if you live in an area where the land is naturally hilly, then even old courses will be undulating.

That means that it’s very important to understand how to hit shots from uneven lies. Even a perfectly struck drive will very rarely end up on flat ground. That’s one reason (among a few) why some players hit the ball well at the driving range and then aren’t as precise on the course.

The adjustments aren’t terribly complicated. Understanding how to modify your setup and swing and what the shot tendencies are will help make your results more reliable from uneven lies.

Uphill Lies

With uphill lies, The main thing to remember is that when you set up to the ball, try and set the angle of your shoulders to the angle of the slope so your shoulder line is parallel to the hill.

Also, the ball should be played slightly forward of your normal position.

You’ll want to use more club because the uphill stance will add loft to the club, making the ball fly shorter.

Make a smooth, balanced swing, trying to make your swing follow the slope. Try and get your weight left (for a right hander) on the follow through, if you can. Otherwise there will be a tendency to pull the ball left because your lower body turn is restricted and your upper body will outrace it. You can compensate by planning for the shot to go left, or by “holding on” through impact and keeping the club face from shutting down.

The keys for uphill lies:

Shoulders match the slope
Ball forward in your stance
Take more club
Swing with the slope
Smooth, balanced swing
Keep the face from shutting down at impact, or allow for the shot to go left.

Downhill Lies

Downhill lies are similar to uphill lies in that you should also try and match your shoulders to the slope of the hill and swing with the slope.

Take a little wider stance for stability and play the ball a little further back in your stance than normal to encourage ball-first contact. You’ll want to take less club than normal because the ball will come out in a much flatter trajectory with more roll.

As with the uphill lies, take a smooth, balanced swing. Your weight will stay more on your left side during the swing. Plan for the ball to fade to the right some.

The keys for downhill lies:

Shoulders match the slope
Ball back in your stance
Take less club
Swing with the slope
Smooth, balanced swing
Allow for a fade

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One thing you don’t want to do in either case is try and kill the ball. If you over swing and get off balance, the result is going to be bad.

It’s good to practice these shots if you can. If you’re out on the course alone in the evening, try hitting some extra balls from uneven lies to get the feeling of doing these things correctly. That also lets you gauge how the slope will affect club selection, carry, roll, shot direction, etc.

If your driving range has a grass tee, sometimes they’re elevated so you could simulate uphill and downhill lies on the front and back of the tee. That’s a good way to get in some practice, but check with the range operator to make sure that’s OK (and safe).

In the near future, I’m going to cover sidehill lies as well, so stay tuned.

The “No-Backswing” Swing

Mike Gray — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:28:59 +0000

Uh oh, another golf swing revolution.

Golf Digest has cornered that market on the stack and tilt swing, so Golf Magazine came out with a revolution of its own in the September 2007 issue. This time, it’s the “No-Backswing” swing.

The concept has been developed and studied by Top-100 teachers Dr. Jim Suttie and Dr. T.J. Tomasi. This isn’t a new idea. When I was first learning the game almost 15 years ago, a pro demonstrated this to me as a drill to get the feeling of swinging down from a proper position. However, Suttie and Tomasi have taken it to another level, including a study of its effectiveness.

The basic premise is that about 70% of swing faults of around 90% of golfers occur in the back swing. Those faults compound because they build on top of each other. A flaw during the back swing is very difficult to recover from.

The answer: start the swing at the top.

Of course, the “No-Backswing” is somewhat of a misnomer. After all, the club has to get up there somehow. But instead of a fluid move starting from address and moving through impact to the finish, the no-backswing swing starts with the left arm (for a right hander) parallel to the ground with the wrists fully cocked. From there, you do a move called “The Pump” where you get into the traditional top of the back swing position. From there, just hit the ball.

The full instructional article is available online at Golf.com, including a video of how to do the swing.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the article is the study that was conducted to test the effectiveness of the technique.

In the first experiment, 29 golfers of varying skill levels were tested by having them hit five balls with their regular swing and then five with the no-backswing swing. To me, the results seem unremarkable, but GD declares, “Nonetheless, the data indicates that the No-Backswing Swing works and has distinct advantages over the traditional way of swinging the club.”

The second experiment is the one I find most remarkable. In it, they asked reader Pat Sexton, an 8-handicap, to learn, practice, and play with the no-backswing swing for two weeks.

When he returned for follow-up testing, he gained 6.2 mph in club head speed, 10 mph in ball speed, and nearly ten yards of carry. Also of note is that his dispersion pattern tightened by almost 4 yards.

I’m having trouble deciding whether I favor playing like this. I really wanted to try it out tonight at the range, but I’ve been having some soreness in my foot that kept me on the couch.

I will say that I definitely agree with the point that a large number of swing faults happen well before reaching the top of the backswing and the errors can definitely compound making it difficult or impossible to recover prior to impact.

I suppose there’s not much to be lost by starting the swing at the top. After all, the energy is stored in the body’s coil and doing the coil and downswing in a single move doesn’t really increase the amount of stored energy. At that point, it’s simply a matter of timing and tempo. The “pump” move keeps you from having to start the downswing from a static position.

I’m definitely interested in giving it a try. Has anyone tried it, and if so, what are your thoughts? Can anyone think of any downsides?

After I get a chance to try it for myself, I’ll report back. Your homework assignment is to do the same.

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Adding Consistency With a Stable Right Knee

Mike Gray — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:06:37 +0000

One problem I’ve struggled with in my swing is a little too much lateral movement, both in the back swing and in the down swing. When there is a lot of lateral movement (a small amount is normal), the bottom of the swing arc moves. That leads to inconsistency because I then have to try and return the low point of the swing to the correct spot to make crisp contact.

If I shift too far right and then not enough to the left to counter it, I hit the ball fat. If I shift too much back to the left, then I come down to the ball at a steep angle and smother it. It becomes one big inconsistent mess. It’s magnified because I’m a big guy and don’t have a really speedy action in my hips, so if I get too far right, it’s hard to get back to the left in time.

I discovered something at the driving range recently that has really helped me to cut down on this problem.

I found that when I address the ball, if I move my right knee every so slightly toward the left one it makes a big difference.

What it does is help to keep me from trying to turn too much with my hips. When I do that, I tend to add in a little subconscious hip slide to help myself get the proper coil and that’s where the problems arise.

Unfortunately, I don’t need to coil my hips to the degree that they want to go. Part of that is from flexibility. My brain feels like it needs to help a little to get the job done because I’m not as flexible as I should be. And part of it is a fixation on getting a full turn for increased power, even though my turn is already pretty full.

But that’s not really necessary. A while back, Jim Mclean presented his concept of the X-Factor, where he believes power originates.

Imagine looking down at yourself from above as you address the ball. Further imagine lines parallel to the ground, one passing through your both shoulders, and one through both your hips. At the top of your back swing, your shoulders should turn about 90 degrees from the target line, but your hips will turn somewhat less, maybe only 45 degrees. Now those lines would form an X instead of being parallel to each other and to the target line.

McLean believes that power originates not from the amount of turn that your hips and shoulders have, but because of the difference in turn in relation to each other. He goes further to mention that it’s the resistance in the lower body that generates that power, and that one shouldn’t try to restrict hip turn. A good turn is necessary, but resistance is crucial to power.

In my case, I’m turning a little too far and losing that resistance. Plus, I’m letting my weight shift to the outside of my right foot sometimes on the back swing, compounding the inconsistency.

By kicking in my right knee just a tiny bit, I’m now getting the proper resistance in my lower body. I’m keeping my weight from shifting so far and keeping it from getting on the outside of my right foot by lessening the slide to the right. I can also feel the coil in my leg now, especially in the upper part.

Instantly, I noticed an increase in how solidly I was striking the ball.

If you have trouble with too much lateral shift in the back swing, give it a shot. Keep in mind that you don’t want to inhibit a proper hip turn. I’m only talking about a tiny bit of inward pressure on the right knee that helps me to throttle back the hip turn to a proper degree to increase that X-factor. Try it out and see if it can help you too.

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Drawing and Fading

Mike Gray — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:09:38 +0000

Being able to curve the ball either way, in a controlled manner, is something that every golfer should try to add to his or her bag of tricks. Course designers often design holes to be played a certain way, and having the ability to shape your shots to suit the hole is a big bonus.

There’s not much to being able to hit a controlled draw or fade, but it’s much easier to accomplish if you have the ability to hit the ball relatively straight. If you have an uncontrollable slice, then you might have difficulty drawing the ball in a controlled manner, or even at all. The best bet is to kill your slice first, then work on draws and fades.

If you’re ready to tackle shot shaping for the first time, you’re probably going to be amazed at how easy it really is.

To produce a draw for a right hander, you simply address the ball aiming right of the target with your club face slightly closed, and take your normal straight-shot swing. For a fade, address the ball aiming left of the target with your club face slightly open and take your normal swing.

That’s all there is to it!

A good rule of thumb when trying to shape the ball is to align the club face at the target as you’re about to address the ball, but as you step into your stance, align your body where you want the ball to start it’s flight. So, to fade the ball, you’d aim the club face at the target, then align your body to the left of the target to allow the ball to start left and curve back at the target. The draw is just the opposite: your body would be aimed to the right of the target to allow for the ball to curve back left.

Some things to be aware of:

Hitting a fade will typically cause the ball to fly a little higher and shorter with less roll, so plan on taking a little more club.
In general, a draw will tend to fly a little lower with more roll, so plan on possibly needing a little less club.
When you align the club face to the left or the right, don’t do so by rolling your hands open or closed, do so by spinning the handle of the club in your hands slightly. Otherwise, when your hands return to impact, they will return to a neutral position and you’ll lose the adjustment.
The same goes for when you align the club face at the target and step into your stance, aligned either left or right. You don’t want to move the club face to be square with your aim line or that’s where the ball will go and end up.

Sometimes players have a difficult time getting the ball to curve the opposite direction from their natural tendency. Don’t be too concerned, because some great players have played the ball primarily one way or the other, with great success and never feel comfortable curving it the other way.

Nevertheless, it’s good to be able to curve the ball the other way, and there are some additional adjustments you can make to help you. Realize that the more modifications from your normal shot you have to make to curve the ball, the more room for error you leave yourself.

If you tend to play a fade and want to draw the ball, there are a couple of adjustments that will help.

At address, drop your trailing foot back couple of inches, so that your foot line becomes more closed. This encourages your swing path to come more from the inside of the target line, putting you in a better position to draw the ball. Make sure that the rest of your body is aimed correctly, and not open to the target.
Take a stronger grip. At address, if you have a weak or neutral grip, turn your hands around on the handle a little to the right (for a right hander). This encourages you to really get the club square or slightly closed at impact.

If you tend to play a draw and want to fade the ball, there are a some adjustments you can make, as well.

At address, drop your leading foot back a couple of inches, so that your foot line becomes more open to the target. This helps keep your swing path coming a little less from the inside and more down the line or even across the line a hair.
Take a weaker grip. For a right hander, this means turning your hands on the handle a little to the left. This will encourage you to keep the club face a little open at impact, letting you fade the ball.

These adjustments come in handy if you need to move the ball a long way one way or the other (to curve around a tree, for instance). But, in general, aiming your body where you want the ball to start and aiming the club face at the target is the least error-prone way to get the job done.

As with any shot in golf, experiment on the range a little before taking it out to the course for the first time. Use draws and fades in your practice sessions to spice things up a little. Before you know it, you’ll be moving the ball like a pro.