Getting the Golf Ball Off the Ground

August 6, 2011 recgolfer Leave a comment

For beginning golfers, their biggest triumph comes on the day when they learn to get the ball in the air consistently. Finally getting the ball to fly naturally off the clubface against a background of blue sky, on command, is a tremendous thrill. It is the gate that everyone must pass through to begin playing better golf.

The reason why this is so hard at first is because of the tiny margin of error in striking a golf ball, compared to other ball-and-stick sports. The golf ball is the smallest of hit balls, the golf club is the smallest of sticks, and the ground the ball sits on takes away half the room where an error in contact can be made.

Getting over this hurdle can be a reason why beginners decide to stop trying. It’s not easy. If you know someone who is taking up the game and is frustrated in this way, suggest the following:

1. Tee up the ball. Take the ground out of play for a while. Give yourself back that margin of error. Make sure the tee is the right height, though. For hitting an iron, the bottom of the ball should lie no more than one-half inch above the ground. For a driver, . . . , well, a beginner shouldn’t be hitting a driver, so we won’t go into that.

2. Do not try to lift the ball into the air. The iron club has an angled face, which is designed for that function. Just meet the ball. Getting the ball into the air is the club’s responsibility, not the golfer’s.

3. Start small. Hit little shots with a lofted club, such as a 9-iron, by taking a backswing of no more than four or five feet. If you return the club through the ball without thinking of hitting the ball, but only letting the club pass through the spot where the ball is, the ball will pop into the air just like that.

4. Ease into taking bigger swings, all the time just letting the club flow through the ball. The club’s design will get the ball in the air. (Remember that in steps 3 and 4, you’re hitting the ball off a tee.)

5. When you get to the point where you’re hitting one clean shot into the air after another, remove the tee and hit balls off a fluffy bed of grass. That will give you a little bit of room to hit underneath the ball and still be all right. Move at an appropriate rate to grass that is at normal playing height where the ball is resting firmly on the ground. You’ve made it! You’re in the club.

Now go play and have fun.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

potpourri

The Golf Season So Far

August 4, 2011 recgolfer Leave a comment

This happens every year. Just when I start to get my summer revved up, August is about to begin. We have short summers in Oregon, and this year it was especially short because of the long, wet spring we had. The parade of golf tournaments helps me keep track of how the year is passing by when the weather gives me false signals.

As far I’m concerned, the pro golf season ends with the British Open and i start thinking about college football. (See http://www.presnapread.com/.) As you read in my recent preview, it’s one of my favorite tournaments of the year, though this year I was in Japan when it was being played, and didn’t get to see any of it because of the time zone difference.

The PGA Championship doesn’t really grab me. Sorry. . .

The biggest story of the year is that we’re in a transition from one era to another. The Tiger/Phil is coming to a close (no, Tiger, when he comes back will be a very good player, but no longer a great one), European golf is ascendant, and the distinction between tours is blurring. If professional golf were a free market, we would be seeing a shake-out on both the PGA and European tours and the establishment of a world tour.

But that might involve American players traveling to foreign countries, eating food other than they are used to, and speaking a language other than English, (can you just imagine Bubba Watson ordering snails en Francais?). So let’s not hold our breath on a free market.

What we will find is that the success of European players gives them the power to resist the demands the PGA Tour levies on participants in its tournaments. The absence of current stars because of parochial membership requirements will have to give way soon. That would establish a freer market, and the results would be interesting.

For the ladies, it will take an economic recovery for the LPGA to schedule more than 30 tournaments. They’re trying to hang on by having a fifth major, and by holding it outside the U.S., are taking clear steps to create a world tour. Bully for them. Fortunately we have on of their precious events in the Portland area every August. If you want to see how good the ladies really are, and how good you aren’t, try to catch an LPGA event.

As for my season, I described in an earlier post the swing change my pro gave me to work on, and I’m still working on it. It’s paying off handsomely around the green already, but with longer clubs, the results are slower coming.

Here’s a hint, though. Friday I played with my grandson and was in the rough with my drive, 193 yards from the green. I took out my 24-degree hybrid, which in spring was my 175-yard club, and launched a gentle draw all the way to the green, the ball resting about 20 feet beyond the pin. And that was all carry, folks. No bouncing off rock-hard fairways.

I haven’t played much golf, because I’m also getting in shape for a trans-canyon hike at the Grand Canyon at the end of September. The conditioning hikes don’t leave me the legs for golf. Come October, I’ll be back in force.

When I do play, I’ve been carrying only six clubs. There was a note in an old Golf Digest magazine I picked up that told of a men’s club that had a six-club tournament. Twenty-three of the twenty-five players shot their handicap or better, and one 12-handicapper shot a 74. Try cutting down on your bag. It’s more fun, and you will not lose a stroke.

One last note. I finally got to single digits this year. For all of you who are close, let me tell you. You don’t have to hit the ball great all the time, just well enough most of the time. The difference in how I’m scoring right now, when I play, is that I don’t throw away shots by not thinking clearly or by having nightmare holes. Every shot I hit is the best I can do at the moment. If you’re a 12, you’re good enough to be a 9. You just have to stop wasting shots, and that’s mental.

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short game

Why Should You Work On Your Short Game?

August 2, 2011 recgolfer Leave a comment

Someone posted a thread on a golf forum that I read asking why he should work on his short game. The responses were pretty much to the point, which is, that no one has a flawless long game, and your short game will keep your mistakes in the LG department from hurting you.

It’s true that to play your best, at any level, you have to be able to hit the ball. A wicked short game won’t help you if you waste strokes getting the ball up to the green. It’s somewhat like a distance runner who has a blazing kick at the end of the race, but who lacks the endurance to stay in contact with the lead so his kick will matter.

May I repeat, this is not a chicken-or-the-egg problem. You’ll never score well unless you learn to hit the ball. Here’s a story which does not contradict that maxim, but illustrates clearly how the short game fits into scoring.

About eight years ago, I played golf with a guy, in his fifties, about 5’6″, 150, not a big guy, who also had a withered left arm. He hit the ball straight, but not very far.

His short game looked pretty good, too. Every shot he hit around the green ended up close to the hole. It was like his ball had an iron core and there was a magnet in the hole.

I was paying more attention to my game than his, but when I did, I noticed he was always getting a par. When the round was over, he had shot a 73, without hitting any shot from the tee or fairway that was noticeably spectacular.

I asked him about this, and he told me that he got this condition with his arm when he was a child, and he knew he would never become a long hitter. To score, he would have to have an outstanding short game. And that’s what he had.

Now he wasn’t having to get up and down on every hole. He did hit greens. It’s just that when he missed, he still got his par. His short game allowed him to get the most out of what his long game could deliver. That is what the short game does for you. That is why you should practice your short game.

Good enough for a player with a physical handicap, good enough for all of us, too.

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