How can we explain the golf swing here when professional players
spend all their lives working on their swing? Because the
fundamentals of the golf swing
don’t change. They’re based on scientific facts such as power, thrust,
centrifugal force, levers, and more.
If you take the tour players and break their swings down to the fundamentals; (like
what happens at address, back swing, impact, and follow through),
about 95 percent of
what they’re doing is the same. Their swings look different, because each
player’s swing has its own personality. But, fundamentally, their swings are very
similar. They have to be, or they wouldn’t be playing on the tour.
We’ve taken the golf-swing fundamentals and made them easy to understand, without
the technical mumbo jumbo. It’s like electricity - - you need to know how to work a
light switch. But you don’t need to be an electrician to use it.
You’re looking for results, and we’re going to put you on the right track to
getting them. Incorporating these ideas into your swing will take time and practice. But
as long as you’re working on the fundamentals, you’ll be working toward
developing a consistently
good golf swing.
What about Quick Fixes?
There aren’t any. Everyone wants results now. It’s human nature. But that
same human nature requires time to learn a new physical skill. If you’re slicing the
ball, a common fix is to adjust the grip to a stronger position or a hook grip. It might
make your ball go straighter today, but it’s like putting a bandage on a bleeding
artery.
You’re slicing the ball because you have something fundamentally wrong with your
swing, not just your grip. If you don’t identify and fix the real problem, it will
lead to other problems, too. A slice can be caused by a hundred different things. If
it’s your pivot, you may end up with back problems too. Not just a hooked ball.
You have to identify the true problem and treat it, not just the symptoms.
We hear the same thing over and over again.
Everyone wants to hit the ball farther
and straighter. When you improve the fundamentals of your swing, you’ll hit the
ball farther, and you’ll also hit it straighter. Power and control go hand in hand.
With the proper fundamentals, you’ll have more power and control.
Do's and Don'ts
- Watch good players and tournaments. People learn by imitation. When a husband and wife
come to me, they often have very similar swings. They’ve imitated each other
unconsciously.
- Don’t watch struggling players. You don’t want to imitate their swings.
- Practice.
- Practice on the driving range, in your living room, or even your backyard. You
don’t have to leave your home to get quality practice.
- Focus when you practice. It’s much better to spend ten minutes and concentrate on
what you’re doing than spend an hour just whacking balls.
- If you’re hitting a bucket of balls, take breaks.
- Think about what you’re doing, and rest when you’re tired and frustrated.
- Don’t wear sun glasses they impair your depth perception. Most professional golfers don’t wear them as a result.
- Don’t give unsolicited advice to your friends when you’re playing golf, and
never give unsolicited advice to strangers - - not even if they’re very attractive
and you’re sure you can help. It is extremely rude.
- Try walking the course. The tour players always walk. There’s a reason. It gives
you much more time to concentrate on your next shot. And it actually improves the speed
with which you play.
- Have a professional videotape your swing, then watch it, and analyze it.
The Four Stages of Learning
- Unconsciously incompetent.
You don’t know what your problems are, and you don’t know how to identify them.
- Consciously incompetent.
You see a lot of your problems, but you don’t know how to correct them.
- Consciously competent.
You know how to correct your problems, but it will take time and practice.
- Unconsciously competent.
You play well without thinking about it!
Each stage takes time, but with practice they’ll go more quickly. Even if you
practice in your back yard or living room, you’ll be developing the skills to be
“unconscious”.
Don’t Learn to Hate Golf Before You Learn to Love it
When you’re learning to play golf, have fun, and don’t torture yourself
out on the course. If you hit your ball into the sand bunker, try to hit it out once. If
you can’t get it out with your club use your foot wedge (kick it) or pick it up! But
don’t sit in a bunker for 10 minutes racking up strokes and your blood pressure. Take
it easy on yourself in the beginning. Give yourself breaks, and if you need to put a ball
on the fairway, you’re learning a game. Never forget, games should be fun!
Six Fundamentals of Golf
There are six fundamentals in the golf swing:
- Grip:
How you hold the club.
- Posture:
How you set up to the ball. This is a key to a successful golf swing. It includes:
•Width of stance.
•Knee flex.
•Straightening of the back.
•Bending from the hip socket.
•The angle the back maintains throughout the swing.
- Pivot:
How you move your body from your head to your toes (excluding your hands and arms).
- The hand and arm relationship:
What the hands and arms do in the golf swing.
- Alignment:
How you pick and set up to your target.
- The mental side:
The ability to play without thinking about it.
There are five physical fundamentals and one mental fundamental.
Grip
Grip is how you hold the club. Your hands should be fixed on the
club; they don’t move. Their only job is to hold on, like clamps. They don’t
manipulate it by snapping the wrist or forcing the club. We’ll discuss the hand and
arm relationship more later.
There are three conventional grips, in order of preference:
- The overlap, called the single overlap:
The pinkie of your right hand overlaps the index finger of your left hand.
- Interlock:
The pinkie of your right hand and the index finger of your left hand intertwine
(interlock), or wrap around each other.
- Ten finger, commonly known as the baseball grip:
All eight, actually ten, fingers touch the grip of the club; they don’t overlap or
interlock.
Any of these grips are fine as long as you also meet these basic guidelines:
- The grip is neutral, so the backs of both hands oppose each other, and the palms
are facing each other.
- The club is held in your fingers, the middle digits of the fingers, and not the palms.
- The butt end of the club is held down by the palm of the left hand.
- The thumb of the left hand is extended right down the center of the shaft.
- When you close down with your right hand, the “V” formed by your thumb and
index finger points towards your right shoulder, or somewhere between your chin and your
right shoulder.
- Grip pressure needs to be medium. So on a scale of one to ten, ten being a death grip
on the club, and one very loose, you want between a four and a seven. Your wrists,
however, need to be relaxed.
A grip that’s too strong is when the hands are turned to the right too much. If
the hands are turned to the left too much, the grip’s too weak. Crossing yourself up
is when your right hand is turned to the left too much, and your left hand is turned to
the right too much - -
that’s death.
If you develop blisters, it’s probably not because you’re holding the club
too tightly or too loosely, but because you have a problem with the quality of your grip.
The grip is something you should evaluate right off the bat. Make sure you have a
proper grip, and then check it every time you set up to the ball.
Your grip isn’t something you should be playing with and changing all the time. If
you mentally need a new start, go buy a new driver, or putter, or something fun.
Posture
Posture is how you set up to the ball. Everything is built on this foundation. If you
have a problem here, it’ll show up later in your swing, possibly disguised as
something else. This, like your grip, is one of the first things you think about when you
set up to the ball.
- Stance:
- Feet should be shoulder width, both feet slightly flared, toes pointing out about five
to ten degrees.
- Knee flex:
- Minimal knee flex. If you lock your legs and then unlock and slightly bend them,
that’s all the flex you need.
- Bending from the hips:
- It’s important to bend over from the hip sockets, don’t slouch from the
shoulders.
- Back:
- Your back remains straight, then bend with that straight back from your hips. Proper
posture allows you to make the golf swing and protect your back.
- Hands and Arms:
- Your hands and arms should hang directly below the shoulders. To check the location of
your hands and arms, set up to the ball as described above. Then let your left arm hang
loose. See where the hand is, that’s where you should be holding the club.
Posture isn’t negotiable. It’s a requirement to being
able to make a good swing. Without it, you’ll always be coming back to that and never
be able to move on and progress. It’s basic from a physical stand point, protecting
your back, and from a motion stand point, being able to make a good swing.
Nothing good can come from poor posture. Good posture protects the back and puts the
body in the right position to make a good swing.
I’ve seen a lot of people with poor
golf posture, primarily because they
don’t know any better. That keeps them from being able to work on more sophisticated
issues.
Remember your posture when you’re setting up; in particular, keep your
back straight and bend from the hips.
Grip and posture are two things you can quickly check because you work on them while
you’re standing still. They should be the first two things you cross off your list.
The other aspects of the golf swing take much more time and concentration because
you’ll be working on them while you’re swinging the club.
Check your grip and your posture, and move on.
Pivot I
Pivot is how you move your body. It’s how you move from your head to your toes
without using your hands and arms, so pretend your arms are invisible for a moment.
As simple as the word “pivot” sounds, the motion is very complex. The pivot
moves every muscle in your body, and all this happens in less than two seconds. Your mind
can’t key into what’s happening that quickly.
Because it’s so complex, we’re going to make it
easy by breaking it
into four segments with a drill, called the elbow drill. The elbow drill slows everything
down so you have time to think, and train your muscles.
The elbow drill is an exact replica of the pivot you should make during the swing. As a
result, it demonstrates and reinforces the motion you should make during the swing.
It’s a mechanical drill that will give you a sense of feel that you can then repeat.
It’s an excellent drill, and one I still do everyday. I do it before a practice
session and before I play to stretch and mentally prepare my muscles. Even if I don’t
actually hit a ball during the day, I still swing a club in my living room, or backyard,
and I still do my elbow drills.
You can obtain feel through mechanics, but you can’t obtain mechanics through
feel.
Elbow Drill
Position 1 - Address:
- Place something on the ground to represent the ball.
- Put the golf club behind your back and through your elbows. The golf club will help
with your posture. It keeps your shoulders back, insures you’ll bend from the hips,
and not slouch from the shoulders.
- Spread your feet about shoulder width.
- Equal weight distribution front to back and right to left.
- Bend from your hip sockets keeping your back nice and flat, with knees slightly flexed.
Position 2 - Back Swing:
- Shift your weight to your right foot.
- At the same time, tilt your shoulders vertically so that the left shoulder points down,
and the right shoulder points up. The left end of the club will be pointing approximately
at or behind the ball position.
- As you’re shifting your weight to your right foot, release to the instep of your
left foot, so you can get “behind” the ball.
- Your head does not move up in the back swing, just to the right.
- Check to see if your right foot, right hip, and head are in a vertical line.
- If you drew a line from the ball up, you’d be behind the ball now.
Position 3 - Impact
- Start with your hips.
- Shift your weight to your left foot, by leading with your hips in a slight lateral
motion.
- Point the club end in your right elbow down at your right foot.
- At the same time, release to the instep of your right foot.
- You now have 90 percent of your weight on your left foot.
Position 4 - Follow Through, Post Impact
- To finish the drill, release your hips by rotating them through, so your hips, belly
button, and shoulders are facing the target.
- Almost all your weight is on your left foot; your right toe is simply balancing you, it
isn’t actually supporting any weight.
- Your eyes are looking down the target line, not down at the ground.
If you can make a proper elbow drill, you’re pivoting correctly. Now you need to
learn to pivot with the club in your hand, and not behind your back.
Hand and Arm Relationship
Hand and arm relationship is based on proper grip, posture, and
pivot. If you have all three, you’ll probably have a good hand and arm relationship.
If you have a problem in any of those areas, it’ll show up in your hand and arm
relationship.
Picture a bicycle wheel. The hub turns the spokes, which turn the rim. The hub
generates the power to turn the spoke. The spokes simply transfer the power; they
don’t increase it or decrease it by any movement of their own. They just stay
straight. These spokes then give the rim the power to move much more quickly than the hub.
The golf swing works on a similar concept. The body is the center of the wheel, the
hub. The arms are the spokes. The hands are simply connectors between the spokes and the
rim. The club head is the rim. The body generates the power, and the arms and hands
transfer it to the club and club head.
That sounds simple, but many people instinctively snap up the club with their hands and
arms in the back swing and flip, push, snap, crackle, and pop, in the down swing.
Manipulating your hands isn’t necessary. It actually decelerates the club (which is
bad), and the leading edge of the club will start moving up (which is also bad). All the
hands and wrist have to do is hold on.
There is a certain amount of hinging and unhinging that automatically happens as a by
product of the force generated by swinging the club. It’s a basic part of the swing,
but don’t force it in any way.
From Address to the Top
At address, the left arm is straight, the right arm is slightly bent, the elbows are
close together. You don’t want your elbows to look like they are bowlegged. You want
the elbows to be turned in.
At the top of the back swing, the left arm will be as extended as possible. The right
elbow will be bent in and pointing down at the ground. Similar to a waiter’s arm when
he carries a tray.
The arms will go back as far as the tilting of your shoulders will allow. It is
different for every person depending on the size of their chest and the length of their
arms.
Down Swing - Maximum Club Head Velocity
At the top of the back swing, the club and your left arm are at a 90 degree angle. In
order to reach your maximum club head velocity, you need to maintain that angle as deep
into your down swing as possible.
The way you do so is to start the down swing with your hips, not your hands and arms.
When your hips are
pulling, your left arm is the primary lever, and the club is the
secondary lever. The centrifugal force caused by your hips will then pull your arm, which
in turn pulls the club. The angle between your arm and the club will actually get tighter
at the beginning of the down swing because of the weight of the club head and the changing
of the direction.
The law of the lever states that the club will move as far and as fast as it has to in
order to catch up with your left arm. The club is moving fastest when it does catch up
with your left arm. This happens at impact.
The club is
automatically released as a result of the combination of the angle
your arm retains and the power caused by centrifugal force. You don’t have to force
the club to release, or catch up with your arm, the motion your body is making forces it
to do so.
From Impact to Finish
At impact, the left arm is straight, and the right arm is almost straight. The hands
are slightly in front of the ball.
Both arms stay straight about one-quarter of the way up in the forward swing. Then the
left arm starts to imitate what the right arm did in the back swing. It will start to
hinge, and the right arm will hinge with it.
That leads us into supinate and pronate.
Supinate and Pronate
Supinate and pronate, big words you’ll hear a lot in the golf world. Supinate
comes from the word supine - lying on the back. Supinate means the right arm is lying on
its back. Think of carrying a bowl of
soup in your right arm, it would make your
right arm lay back. Pronate comes from the word prone - face down. It’s when your
right arm is face down.
The right arm supinates going back, and pronates coming through. That keeps the club
moving at a right angle to your target line at impact. This motion or rotation of your
arms is much more efficient than pushing with your hands and wrist. By supinating your
right arm on the back swing and pronating it on the down swing, your arms create the only
motion necessary to release the club.
Supinating and pronating also allows you to make one fluid movement while making sure
the club head is moving down on the ball at impact. People are surprised when they find
out the club head is moving down on the ball at impact. It’s natural to think that
the club head would be moving up. However, when the club head is moving down on the ball,
it creates a more efficient spin, and causes the ball to go up.
The Quarter Shot
I do quarter shots every day, right after I do my elbow drills. I
originally used the quarter shot to warm up, then I realized how valuable it is in making
changes to my swing.
The quarter shot is the next progression after the elbow drill. It is a mini-pivot, but
the quarter shot is more advanced than the elbow drill because it includes the club.
The quarter drill helps you implement changes in your technique. It allows you to take
the full swing and break it down into a much more controllable swing, the quarter shot.
When you’re making the full swing, things are moving so quickly that you don’t
have an opportunity to focus on the changes you’re trying to make.
Technique
Take your sand iron and set up to the ball as you would in any other shot. After
addressing the ball, start your pivot by shifting back to your right foot. Tilt your
shoulders so the club is parallel to the ground and the target line, and the toe of the
club is pointing up.
Start your down swing by shifting your hips to the left. Once you have shifted your
hips, rotate them towards the target. Allow your shoulders and the club to move with your
hips. As you tilt your shoulders, the club will move to a point where the shaft of the
club will be pointing to your target, parallel to the ground, and the toe of the club
would be again in a vertical position.
How do you incorporate this? Let’s say you’re trying to make a better weight
shift to your right foot. When you’re doing the quarter drill focus on getting your
weight shifted early in your swing by releasing to the instep of your left foot. The drill
allows you to move slowly enough that you can think about it, feel it, and reproduce it.
To Make a Quarter Drill
- First - make a swing and stop at a quarter position going back. Focus on the change you
want to make. Then start your down swing by shifting through to the left, letting the club
brush the ground. Continue in a forward swing coming to a stop at a quarter position. The
toe of the club is up, and the weight is on your left foot.
- Second - make a quarter swing where you don’t stop. Go back and through, without
hitting a ball, thinking about the change you want to make.
- Third - Step up to the ball, make the swing and hit the ball.
First, you’re stopping the action, and consciously thinking about it. Second,
you’re trying to reproduce that sensation in a continuous motion. Third, you’re
adding the ball. This keeps the ball from becoming so intimidating.
Don’t judge how you hit the ball, but whether or not you made the change you were
trying to make. This drill will eventually allow you to hit the ball differently. You can
see how this drill can be valuable to warm up with, or even to work on a very
sophisticated change in your swing. Work slowly and simply, it doesn’t always have to
be hard work.
Pivot II
In the back swing, think of your
back. It connects your hips, torso, and
shoulders. It allows you to make a one-piece motion when you shift your weight, and tilt
your shoulders to get to the top of your back swing. Your back has the large muscles that
allow you to raise the club with minimal force from your arms, which have smaller muscles.
Pivot and weight shift happen and work together. In one motion, you need to:
- Shift your weight with your hips and back directly over your right hip and foot,
not beyond them. This is a slight lateral motion from left to right. If your hips
or head go anywhere outside your right foot, it’s considered a sway, and it
wasn’t a slight motion, you went too far.
- Tilt your back (which is still flat), so that the right shoulder points up and the left
shoulder points down. Your flat back will actually now be behind the ball.
- Don’t come out of your posture by raising your head when you move into your back
swing. Your head moves horizontally as your shoulders are tilting.
- Your hips and back move together. Rotate your left hip down, forward, and to the right,
so that it moves with your back.
- Don’t over rotate your hips, or twist them too much. If you don’t force it,
it’s likely to come naturally. If you keep your back flat, when you tilt your
shoulders, your hips and shoulders will move together.
All these things need to happen at the same time. They really can’t be separated
because they work together. I’ve listed them here separately for sake of clarity.
That’s the back swing, now on to the forward swing.
Forward Swing
Your hips start the forward swing. Your left hip shifts all your weight directly over
your left foot. This produces a whip-like effect, where your hips are pulling your
shoulders, which pull your arms, and finally the club. As a result, the club head is
moving much more rapidly than your hips, arms, or hands.
Your shoulders follow your hips, and your arms follow your shoulders. Follow means they
come behind. Never push with your hands or arms. The arms must come behind the hips and
shoulders to reach their maximum velocity. Maximum club head velocity is good, very good.
Because this is where you get distance.
At impact your back and legs look like a letter “K.” The left side of your
body is straight, and the right side is angled in.
After impact, your hips will continue to rotate toward the target, your shoulders and
arms will follow. About 95 percent of your weight will be on the left side of your body
now. Your hips, belly button, shoulders, and eyes are facing the target.
The Head: Fact versus Fiction
A lot of golf instructors say, “Don’t move your
head!” What they’re trying to communicate is, “Don’t come out of your
posture by raising your head and shoulders during the back swing.!” Since that’s
an awful lot to say, many people just say, “Don’t move your head.”
The concept is good, it just doesn’t completely explain the issue. As a result,
people often develop other problems because they’re trying to make sure they
don’t move their head.
The head does move, and has to in order for you to shift your weight. Power comes from
thrust. Thrust is shifting your weight from your right side to your left side. Therefore,
your body has to move. If your body is going to move, your head has to move also.
The average pro’s head moves approximately two inches to the right to get to the
top of the backswing. Then at the start of the forward swing, it moves an additional inch
to the right. It then moves three inches down, and eleven inches forward through the
forward swing.
Many people develop a problem in swing because they’re trying to keep their head
from moving. As a result, they cripple their swing because they don’t release their
hips through impact. In trying to keep their head down, they don’t look up after
impact. Then their hips can’t rotate forward because of the placement of their head.
If you think your head is moving too much, it’s a symptom of another fundamental
problem such as, coming out of your posture. Your head is moving as a result of another
problem, it’s not the cause. Your head will move, that’s a requirement of a
proper golf swing. If, however, you think it is moving too much, you need to look
somewhere else for the problem, don’t just focus on your head.
Alignment
Alignment is how you line up to your target. It’s important in achieving your
goals, because a great swing and poor alignment does not make for a happy golfer. In
putting, it’s particularly important, and the better you get, the more crucial it
becomes.
Once you’re comfortable with grip, posture, pivot, and hand and arm relationship,
you can work on alignment.
When you’re setting up to make your shot, make sure you’re focusing on your
target, not a distraction, such as a water hazard or sand bunker. If you’re thinking
about a hazard, your body is naturally going to focus on that point. Acknowledge the
hazard, but focus on your target.
There are a lot of ways you can properly align yourself to your target. When you look
at the target and away from the ball, you loose all your orientation. So use an
intermediate target. Something between the ball and your target. Make sure you can see it
when you’re looking at the ball. It’ll usually be a discolored blade of grass, a
twig, a clover, anything that stands out. It must be something that’s already there;
you can’t place something on the ground to help.That’s illegal!
To pick your intermediate target, stand behind the ball and look through it at your
target. Pick something you’ll be able to see when you’re looking at the ball. It
should be about six to twelve inches away from the ball.
Keeping your eyes on your intermediate target, move to the ball. Set your club directly
behind the ball, with the club face pointing at the ball and your intermediate target.
Take your stance with your feet, hips, and shoulders
parallel to the target line.
Most people think their body should be pointing directly at the target. But if your
body and your club face are both pointing at the target, then you have a “shut”
club face, and you’ll probably hook the ball. The ball would travel from right to
left and not toward your target.
The direction of the club face and the ball should point and extend all the way
through your target. The line the ball will make is a straight line. Your feet, hips,
and shoulders should be on a parallel line that would end just left of your target line.
Like a railroad track, your feet, hips, and shoulders are on one track, and your club
face and ball will be on the other track. Your body will actually be aligned just a little
left of your target.
Picture your target in your mind’s eye. Positive thinking and visualization
will improve your game.
Proper alignment: Like a railroad track, your feet, hips, and shoulders are on one
track, and your club face and ball on the other track. Your body will actually be aligned
just a little left of your target (parallel left).
Mental: The Ability to Play Without Thinking About it
True confidence comes from knowledge and experience. Think of
something you do very well, basketball, snow skiing, tennis, playing the piano, using a
computer, anything. You have confidence in your ability because you know what you’re
doing, and you’ve had lots of experience! You can achieve the same thing with your
golf swing.
You’re getting the knowledge right now, and practice will give you the experience.
Quality practice will give you confidence out on the course, and it doesn’t require
“hard” practice.
It’s working smart, not hard, that counts in your
practice time. Quality practice means:
- Practice on the driving range, not out on the course.
- Always take a practice swing, even if it’s a half one, before your full swing.
- After your practice swing, walk up to the ball and hit it. Don’t think about what
you’re doing during the actual swing. Thinking is what you do in the practice swing.
- After your swing, evaluate the shot. Were you pleased with what your body was doing?
Don’t worry about where the ball went. Focus on the aspect of the swing you’re
working on.
- Try to relax, make sure you’re breathing regularly.
- If you get frustrated, take a break. If you keep working while you’re tired and
frustrated, you’ll loose focus and be building bad habits.
Golf needs to be something you enjoy. Five or ten minutes of quality time is much more
valuable than an hour of poor practice!
On the practice tee, you should be working on the fundamentals, focusing on one thing
at a time. You can’t work on several things and have any success. Pick one aspect,
and focus on it until it’s right.
Working on the fundamentals is done on the range, not on the course.
The range is where you work on your golf swing; the course is where you play golf. Many
times, I’ll see people on the range, and I’ll ask them what they’re
thinking about, and they’ll say “Nothing, I’m just trying to groove my
swing.”
That’s a vague answer, which means they’re just whacking balls. The range is
very forgiving. It’s a wide open area that doesn’t penalize your shots. As a
result, that’s where a lot of people “play” golf.
Then, out on the course, I’ll ask what they’re thinking about, and
they’ll say, “I’m thinking about stayin
g in my posture,” or “I’m thinking about keeping my
left arm straight,” or a number of different answers. They’re working on their
swing because the ball went in the rough, or missed the green, or something else
unpleasant.
If you work on the fundamentals on the range, you won’t have to out on the course.
Practice on the driving range. Play on the golf course.
Out on the course, all you have to think about is getting the ball in the hole, being
mentally tough. Placing it on the tee and getting it in the cup with as few strokes as
possible. That’s all.
Putting: The Short Game
An average of 43 percent of the strokes you make in a game of golf
will be putts. The next highest is your woods, at 25 percent, followed by 13 percent
chipping, 10 percent irons, and 5 percent hazard shots.
Putting is incredibly important. Most people want to hit the ball farther and
straighter. That’s important, but effective putting makes the difference between an
average golfer and a good golfer.
Don’t forget the mental side; tell yourself you are a great putter, and
you’re going to sink every putt you look at. Then practice to gain confidence in that
belief.
False confidence is when you believe you can do something, but you don’t have the
experience to back up that belief. So first believe in yourself, then practice so that
you’ll be confident in that belief. Eventually, you’ll be making your putts and
loving it.
Good golfers enjoys working on their putting. They work on their three to four foot
putts until they’re confident they’ll always sink them. They learn how to read
the green to see which way it will break, and when they do get bored, they work on 20 -
foot putts! Try to hit five of those in a row!
Enjoy working on your putting, it can make a difference to 43 percent of your game!
The Mechanics of Putting
- Posture is generally the same as in a full swing: Back straight, bending at the hips,
your knees may flex a little more than in the full swing if you like.
- Stance can vary from shoulder width to feet almost being together. There is a lot of
flexibility here.
- A neutral grip is preferred. A grip is very individual in putting, there isn’t one
particular grip that is best.
- Your arms and shoulders form a triangle. Whether your arms are straight or bent
doesn’t matter. It’s that you maintain the way you’re holding your arms
throughout the stroke. So if they’re straight, keep them straight; if they’re
bent, keep them bent. Don’t change the angle of your arms during the putt.
- Ball position: There isn’t one prescribed ball position, but most of the better
players have a ball position that is toward the instep of the left foot.
- Eyes directly over the ball.
During the Stroke
- Putting is a pendulum motion. Only the shoulders and the arms move. The hips and legs
stay still.
- Your wrists don’t cock or hinge. Remember, they’re only clamps holding the
club!
- There isn’t any weight shift in putting.
- Eyes are looking at the ball, not tracking the putter. If your eyes are on the ball,
you’ll see an after image of the ball after you hit it. If you’re tracking the
putter, you won’t.
- Learn to have real confidence in your putting by practicing, even in your living room.
It’s fun and rewarding!
How to Read a Green
Reading a green is surveying a green, and determining how you need
to hit the ball to make it go into the cup.
How do I determine the way the ball will roll? You have to be able to use your
imagination here. I frequently imagine a rain storm, and how would the water flow? The
water, and your ball will always go toward the lowest side of the green. It will go from
the high side of the green to the low side.
If the green appears to have a lot of undulation, and you’re not sure which way
the ball will break, just remember, a hill always has a high side and a low side. The ball
will naturally go towards the low side.
Picking a Target
You’ve determined the pitch of the green, and the way the ball will roll. Now you
need to pick a target that will start the ball on that line. That target will be an
intermediate target.
If you think the pitch of the green will naturally make your ball roll a little to the
left of the cup, pick an intermediate target that will aim a little right of the cup.
I actually get behind the ball, about three to four feet, and crouch down so that
I’m looking through the ball at the cup. This is a very effective way to pick your
intermediate target and determine the slope of the green.
Depth Perception
Now that you’ve determined the break in the green, and selected an appropriate
intermediate target you need to figure out how far the ball has to go, and how hard you
have to hit it to make it go in the cup.
When you throw a ball to someone, you don’t have trouble getting it to them
because you can see them. You can even throw a ball to someone who is moving without
difficulty. But when you putt, you can’t see the hole. So I encourage people to take
a few practice swings looking at the hole. This gives them the ability to estimate the
stroke they need to make when they are looking at the ball and not the hole. It gives them
depth perception.
To keep your depth perception fresh, you need to look at the cup within about five
seconds of hitting the ball. At first, it will feel awkward to be looking back and forth
between the ball and the cup, but eventually it will become comfortable.
You’ll notice the professionals look back and forth between the ball and the cup.
They’re trying to keep their depth perception accurate and fresh.
Chipping
Chipping is very similar to putting in that there is no body motion, it is simply
shoulders and arms. There is no pivot. If you can learn the proper technique in chipping,
you are guaranteed to take strokes off your score.
Technique - your feet and hips will have a slightly open stance. This will allow your
hands and arms to move through impact without hinging your wrist. Your feet will be close
together. The ball position will be back towards your right foot. Choking down on the golf
club with your hands over your left thigh. This insures that you hit the ball first on the
down swing.
Don’t break your wrist, or flip your hands, it is simply a pendulum type stroke.
With the goal of getting the ball on the ground and rolling toward the hole as soon as
possible.
Don’t confuse a chip with a pitch. They are very different techniques. A chip is
more like a putt in that there is no pivot. A pitch is more like a regular shot there is a
pivot.
