Category Archives: shot-making

Elevated Tees

It is not unusual for a course to have a par-3 hole where the tee is elevated above the green. This throws a wrinkle into your club selection, and that’s not all. The way you play the shot needs to change, too.

A golf ball in flight obviously has a vertical component of motion and a horizontal one. When the ball descends, it is going down, but still forward as well.

A green that is lower than the tee allows the ball to fall down farther, which at the same time will also carry it farther forward. That means you need less club for a given distance. A general rule is to use one less club for every 50 feet of elevation difference.

If the tee is on a level with A’, B’, and the green at A, B, you can see that a club which would leave you short on level ground will be just right once it has completed its extra fall downward.

It’s hard to describe 50 vertical feet looks like, and hard to tell just by looking because the difference is stretched out over the length of the hole. Use one less club as a rule the first time you play the hole, then adjust from there.

The other danger that an elevated tee presents is that the ball spends more time in the air before it hits the ground. Every aspect of its flight gets exaggerated. We’ve dealt with forward-back motion with club selection, but there’s side-to-side motion as well.

Your fade that lands nicely on the green could fade itself right off the green by the time it hits the ground when launched from an elevated tee. It makes sense, then, to keep the ball as low as possible with this shot. This is especially true if there is any wind blowing.

Dip into Better Recreational Golf downloadable free on this blog, and look up the Hard Chip. This is the shot to play.

Elevated Greens

When the green is higher than the fairway or tee you’re standing on, you have a problem to solve. Elevation adds yards to the shot. As the ball descends, it is also still going forward. When the ground the ball will land on is higher than the ground the ball took off from, the descending arc gets cut off. The ball will not fall as far, and it will not carry forward as far, too.

You therefore have to do two things when hitting toward higher ground: take more cub, and hit a ball with a higher-than-normal trajectory. But first, you have to read the slope.


This diagram below shows how an elevated green changes things. The curve does not truly reflect actual ball flight, but the general idea is the same. A ball starting off at point O on the left will land on the green between points A and B. If the green is elevated, now defined by points A’ and B’, a ball hit in the same way will land short of the green. Also, its angle of approach to the elevated green, θ’, is shallower than the angle of approach to the coplanar green at θ.

One kind of elevated green is easy to see. The fairway runs reasonably level toward a sharp upslope that the greens sit atop of. Another kind can fool you if you aren’t paying attention. This would be a green that sits at the end of a gentle but constant rise from where the ball is, up to the green. A three-degree slope doesn’t look like much, but it rises almost 8 yards over a distance of 150 yards.

A higher target requires more club. Figure adding one club for every thirty feet of added elevation. Always err of the side of extra club.

You might have to hit the ball with a higher trajectory if you are significantly lower than the green. As the diagram shows, the ball will land at a point in its downward arc where it still has a significant horizontal component to its flight, it will run farther than usual after landing. If the pin is in the back of the green, you can aim for the front of the green and let the ball release the rest of the way. If the pin is in front, you have to hit a shot with a high trajectory so the ball will fall down straighter and stop faster.

To hit the high shot, take out one more club than the distance calls for. Set up to the ball as you normally would. Step back with your right foot about one inch, moving your body and hands back with it. You are now behind the ball. Swing so that you keep your hands behind the ball at impact. This will add loft to the club so you hit it higher than usual. Do not try to lift the ball in the air.

See also Elevated Tees

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Three Shots That Polish Your Golf Swing

Short and sweet today. Modern golf clubs let you get away with a faulty swing and still hit playable shots. Not great shots, but ones that will do. If you want to play better golf than that, learn to hit these three shots:

1. Drives with a persimmon/laminated maple-head driver. You have to hit this club dead center to get anything out of it. The secret to distance and accuracy is to hit the driver on the center of the clubface. Modern drivers do not encourage you to learn this. A wooden driver does.

2. 2-iron. If you can hit a 2-iron as well as you hit your 2-hybrid or 5-wood, you have a swing that is doing a lot of things right.

3. Chip with a sand wedge, using the left hand only. Again, you have to be doing a lot of things right to hit this shot as well as you do with two hands. If you want to go further and learn to hit a 6-iron 150 yards with only our left hand on the club, so much the better.

None of these shots are easy. It will take lots of practice for you to be able to hit them consistently. By the time you have learned all three, you will have ironed out the flaws in your swing and be an outstanding shotmaker.

Since you probably don’t have a wooden driver or a 2-iron lying around, you can find one of each for not very much on eBay or at www.2ndswing.com. If you’ve never hit a ball with a wooden driver, you’re in for a real treat. The soft strike and the gentle “click’ of impact are quite something. You might want to start playing with it!

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Total Command of the Golf Ball

If you want to be a golfer who has the right shot for every occasion, you need to be able to control distance, spin, curvature, and trajectory. We will reduce direction, the fifth characteristic of a golf shot, to being able to hit a straight ball and assume that you already know how to do that, since the other four controls are variations of this shot and depend on your being able to hit it.

Please don’t think, though, that I’m going to tackle that project in this post or in a series of posts. I want you to really learn how to do all those things, not just get a general idea, and you do that by signing up for a series of lessons of your own design. This is what you would tell the pro you want to learn.

Say you hit your 7-iron 145 yards. To get the ball close to a pin with a 7-iron, that one distance isn’t enough. You need to know how to hit it anywhere between 133 and 145. That’s lesson number one.

Sometimes when you’re chipping you need to put on spin so the ball will stop. Other times you need to take spin off so the ball will run. Ask the pro how you hit each shot, with the same club.

Sometimes you would like to bend the ball a little bit into a tucked pin. Other times you need to bend the ball a lot around a tree. Learn both shots, curving left or right. Find out how to do that.

Hitting shots into the green with a higher or lower trajectory will get you closer to the pin by design rather than by chance. With a pin in front, a high shot that sits quickly is best. A lower shot that releases is how to get to a pin in back. Hitting into an elevated green calls for a higher trajectory. Controlling trajectory is a vital skill for playing on a windy day. All of this is the fourth lesson.

None of these things are difficult to do, and winter is a good time to learn how. Your teaching pro will be delighted to spend time with you on these matters, since few golfers ask about them. Afterwards, just keep these skills in practice to be in command on the golf course.

Uneven Lies – Not a Problem Anymore

One of the hallmarks of a competent golfer is that the course cannot present a problem for which the golfer has no solution. Four of the basic problems come from uneven lies. These lies can throw you off completely and require adjustments in stance, ball placement, and swing.

Fortunately, I have the answers for you, which I have been uploading to my web site over the past few weeks. They had to go there because YouTube was being a bit cranky about letting me upload to their site, but now they’re behaving themselves, so up went these videos.

After you finish watching Bananarama videos (More, More, More is especially hot), you can dial up TRG and see how to hit these troublesome shots.

So here they are – easy solutions for difficult lies.

Ball above your feet:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848rEBbzg1c

Ball below your feet:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ror8dKP8KaM

Uphill lie:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCi8K9rUsE

Downhill lie:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i_hGoy2HTo

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com.

Curving the Ball to the Left or the Right

Last month I discussed the reasons why the golf ball curves. This impact geometry needs to be clearly understood by every golfer. Only then can swing problems be corrected, and can a golfer curve the ball at will to advantage.

Let us review. The direction the clubface faces at impact is the major determinant of the initial direction the golf ball starts along. The ball will curve if the clubface is not square to the path the clubhead is moving along at impact. (A left-hander’s version of this post is found here.)

To fade the ball:

  • Set up (small oval) to the left of the target (point A).
  • Open the clubface so it faces between point A and the target (point T) (dotted line).
  • Swing normally toward point A.

The ball will start right and curve further right.

To draw the ball:

  • Set up (small oval) square to the target (point T).
  • Pick a spot to the right of the target (point A).
  • Open the clubface so it faces between points A and T (dotted line).
  • Swing into the ball from the inside out toward point A.

The ball will start right and curve left. Even though the clubface is open, if it is closed to the club path, the ball will draw. This push-draw is easy to hit and gets the ball in the air. It avoids the risk of smothering the ball, which might happen if the clubface is closed at address to create the draw spin.

These drawings demonstrate relationships. They do not show the actual
amount of adjustment necessary. That must be determined by your own
experimentation.

I also assume that you have a reasonable command of hitting the ball straight. These corrections won’t work if you always curve the ball one way or the other as a normal shot.

These corrections to your setup and swing are tiny ones. The clubface needs to be opened only two or three degrees. That isn’t very much. The inside-to-out swing for the draw does not need to be exaggerated. You must experiment with the variables for both shots to determine how much of an adjustment you need.

These shots are not to be hit for the asking. You must practice them. Hit ten balls each way every time you go to the range.

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Golf’s Nine-Shot Drill

Last fall I started a series of golf lessons to move me beyond my self-imposed limits. The instructor told me to do a nine-shot drill: learn to hit each combination of trajectories, high, medium, and low, and combine that with three shot shapes, fade, straight, and draw. That’s nine different shots.

The reason? To unlock my mind from the technical aspects of making a swing and learn instead to visualize a shot and let that visualization be the mental basis of my swing.

Since I’m a high-ball hitter, and fade easily, those shots were pretty simple. But any shot that had to fly lower than normal, or any intentional draw, that was tough.

So I worked on what I knew, and figured out what I didn’t. I came up with four different ways to fade, to find the one that was the most reliable. I knew how to hit a low shot, but didn’t know that I knew. I just didn’t know what a low shot is supposed to look like.

Then there’s the draw. A draw can turn into an ugly hook without notice. It’s here that I would get my double-cross–setting up for a draw and hitting a fade–because deep down I was nervous about it. Until I figured out how.

“Tell me how,” I hear you cry. All right. Here’s how it works for me.

Fade: Set up left of target, clubface aimed halfway between stance and target, swing along stance line.

Draw: Set up at target, aim clubface right of target, swing inside-out to the right of that.

High: Set up with the ball more forward, weight more on the right. Transfer less weight than usual to the left on the downswing. Tends to go left.

Low: Set up with the ball more to the back of center. Use normal weight transfer and follow through low. Also called a knockdown shot. Tends to go right.

If you want to try this drill, you’ll have to experiment with just how big all these adjustments need to be. Hint: less than you think.

There’s no reason anyone who makes solid contact 3 out of 5 times can’t learn to do this, and your everyday straight shot will improve immeasurably, too.

Go ahead. Open up a new world of golf for yourself.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

How to Hit a Controlled Fade

A fade is golf’s control shot. The ball rises up high, curves gracefully to the right, and falls gently down to the ground in the fairway or on the green. A draw gets you more distance, but it can easily get out of control and turn into a nasty hook. To keep the ball in play, hit a fade. Here are four ways to do it.

If you set up square and strike the ball squarely, the result will be a straight shot. To make the ball curve intentionally, you have to change something. To set up left-to-right spin, the clubface has to come into the ball ever so slightly open to the path of the club. For example, if the club is traveling from 3 o’clock to 9, the clubface, instead of facing 9, must be facing between 9 and 10.

1. The classic way to hit a fade is to change your setup. Aim yourself slightly to the left of the target and twirl the club in your hands so the clubface aces halfway between your aim point and the target. You have pre-set the club open to the swing path, so if you just make a square swing along your body line, the clubface will sweep into the ball open, and the left-to-right spin will be imparted.

2. Another way of hitting a fade is to set up completely square, and take the club away outside of your normal swing path. If you swing the club back down on this path, outside-to-in, the clubface will be facing directly at the target, but the club path will be to the left of that. The ball will start out left and come back in to the right.

3. A third way of hitting a fade is to set up to the left of the target, clubface square, and swing back on your normal swing path. The change happens as the club is on its way up. Over-rotate your left forearm clockwise as you swing back. This will open the clubface. Keep this rotation as long as you can on the way back down. The clubface will close again, there’s no preventing it, but there will not be enough time for the face to close all the way back to square. It remains open and left-to-right spin is once again imparted.

4. A fourth way is subtle, and is perhaps only for advanced players. Hold the club tighter than normal with the last three fingers of the left hand. Hold it very tightly, but not so much that your left forearm gets rigid. This will tend to lock your left wrist, preventing the club from closing at impact. The open clubface will give you the fade you’re looking for.

See also Curving the Ball to the Left or Right

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How To Hit a Fade

The fade is one of the most useful shots in golf. It starts out slightly to the left of the target and curves gently back to the right, sitting down nicely where it lands. If you are able to hit the ball straight with reasonable frequency, a fade is an easy shot to acquire.

Whenever we hit different shot than normal, it is best to do it with minimal adjustments to what we normally do. In this case, we’ll hit the fade using our regular swing and our regular grip. All we are going to do is change some of the angles in our setup. That, and a little change in our mental focus, will give us the shot we’re looking for.

A fade is caused by the clubface coming into the ball slightly open to the path the clubhead is traveling. That creates a clockwise sidespin which curves the ball back to the right of where it started off. Pre-set that angle at address by doing just two things:

1. Align your stance to the left of the target. If the pin were in the center of the green, you would want to start off the ball toward the left edge. Set up as if you were actually going to hit the ball to the left edge of the green.

2. Spin the club clockwise in your hands so the clubface now points between your aim point and where you want the ball to land. In our example, the clubface would be spun so it faced the pin. Be sure to spin the club. Merely turning your hands clockwise won’t do. The adjustment required is slight–only a few degrees is enough.

All you need do now is swing the club, using your normal swing, toward where your body is aimed, the left side of the green, and the slight misalignment between the clubface and the club’s path will take care of everything else. Well, almost everything.

At first you might find yourself pulled back in your mind toward your real target, the pin, and swing along a line toward it instead of where your swing is truly aimed. Now, the geometry of the swing, which was subtly altered, is way out of whack, and the shot you’ll get can best be described as “ugly right.”

To prevent this from happening, you must truly believe you are trying to hit the ball onto the left side of the green — that that spot is your actual target. Just setting up for a fade can be done correctly the first time, but learning how to switch your mind from your target to your aim point, which are now different, might take a bit of getting used to.

This shot works best with your 7-iron and longer clubs. Short irons put so much backspin on the ball that the sidespin is overwhelmed and the ball doesn’t curve much at all.

A fade is handy shot to have in your skill set if you have to hit the ball around an obstacle with room on the left for starting the ball off. You can also use it to get to a pin that is tucked on the right side of the green. Once you get the hang of it, though, you might find you want to make a fade be your everyday, bread-and-butter shot because of the control and consistency it offers.

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How To Hit Crisp Iron Shots

[August 2019: Everybody wants to hit what are called crisp iron shots, so I gave that title to this post. I don’t know what a crisp iron shot is, though. Maybe it has to do with what contact feels like. Anyway, this post doesn’t really get to the point. I’m leaving it here for historical purposes, but if you really want to hit good iron shots, the kind that hit greens and people NOTICE, read this post instead: The Hands Lead the Clubhead – IV.

There’s a difference between the iron shots that very good amateurs and pros hit, and the ones the rest of us hit. Our irons shots lift off the club face like they were thrown off it, and make a lazy arc through the sky. At least the good ones do.

Those other iron shots, the ones we don’t hit, seem to take off like they were shot from a gun and fly toward the green like a pin-seeking missile.

That’s not a shot we have to admire from afar. You can hit your irons like that, too. The whole idea is for the clubface to still be moving downward as it contacts the ball. Hit the ball first, the ground second.

You might have heard about hitting down with your irons. That can be interpreted as making the downswing more vertical, as if you were chopping wood, but that’s not what hitting down means. Rather, it means to hit the ball with a swing that bottoms out after the ball has been struck.

When you hit a golf ball you have to aim at something. I don’t mean the green ahead of you, for example. I mean something on the ground, something right in front of you that want the clubhead to hit.

Most people aim for the back of the ball. When you aim there, the downward arc of the swing will bottom out at that point so the clubface momentarily travels parallel to the ground. The club sweeps the ball into the air and the result is one of those lazy fliers we think are good shots.

To hit that crisp iron shot, do two things.

First, shift the swing arc forward so it bottoms out at a spot in front of the ball. An easy way to accomplish that is direct your attention to a spot about one inch in front of the ball once you’re ready to swing. Ignore the ball, and aim your strike for that spot.

Second, make sure your hands get to the ball before the clubhead does. The idea of dragging or pulling the club through impact is helpful.

To be avoided is the thought of pushing the clubhead through the ball with the right hand. That is what makes the hands slow down. Impact becomes a flicking motion, with rarely leads to a clean strike.

Having done both these things, you’ll catch the ball cleanly, trapping the ball between the club and the ground as the club heads down to the bottom. The result will be that breathtaking ball flight, straight, high, and far.

Take some time to work this out at the range. You might start by aiming for a point directly underneath the ball, and as you get the idea, gradually move the aim spot forward until you find the spot where you get the best results.

As far as leading the clubhead though with your hands goes, that starts the moment you bring the club down from the top of the backswing. Keep your hands and wrists in the position they’re in until the momentum of the swing releases them.

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