practice

Practice the Parts, Not the Whole

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A few years ago I posted a video lesson titled, How to Get Good at Golf. This is probably the most important post I have ever made.

The point I made is that a golf stroke is the sum of its parts. To learn the swing, you have to learn its parts and how they fit together.

Practicing swing after swing as a whole does you no good.

In my video essay, Six Fundamentals of the Recreational Golf Swing, I described in detail six features of a functioning recreational golf swing.

At the range, and in my back yard, I practice them, and a few other movements that are specific to me. I practice each one by itself, to reinforce each one in my unconscious mind’s concept of golf swing movement.

I also practice them individually because several of them are not my natural inclination. I get lazy and my swing starts failing because one or the other gets left out.

But because I practice them so much and am so familiar with them all, it’s easy for me to notice which one is missing, so just a few reminder swings makes my swing whole again.

So, again: your task is to figure out the movements that make your swing work, what your fundamentals are, and practice each one, by itself, over, and over, and over.

That’s how you get good. And stay good.

putting

A Few Putting Improvements

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I’ve been doing a few things lately that have improved my putting. You might want to see if they make any difference for you.

1. I hover the putter slightly at address rather than resting it with its full weight on the ground. That way I can take the putter directly back from the ball and not have to lift it while I take it back.

2. I think of the ball being transparent to the putter such that the ball will be stuck first on the side closest to the hole (yellow dot). I even look at that spot when I putt. That takes all the “hit” out of the stroke. At the time I would brace for that little hit, it has already occurred. (And if you think you don’t brace for the hit, think again. You do.)

3. Instead of swinging the putter head, I swing the shaft. The arms and shoulders rock, the wrists do not break, but swinging the shaft is the important thing.

driver

The Right Way to Use Your Driver

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I think the biggest problem we have with the driver is that we think of it as a distance club. Yes it’s the longest club, but it is not a club of unlimited length. It, like all the other clubs, is meant to hit the ball a certain distance.

We get the most out of our driver if we think of it instead as a positional club. Our task is to hit the ball off the tee to a place in the fairway that makes our shot to the green as easy as possible.

Consider every other club. If we want to make a six-foot putt, the direction has to be highly accurate. If we chip from off the green, we’re aiming at the hole.

When we pitch from 70 yards, we’re aiming at the hole.

When we hit an iron into the green, we’re aiming at something, maybe the pin, or somewhere more towards the center.

Why would it be different with the driver?

There’s a famous story about Ben Hogan at Carnoustie hitting his ball into a tiny space between a mid-fairway bunker and out-of-bounds because that spot gave him the best look at the green for his second shot.

It’s a shot that few people dare to try. But he did, because that’s how he used his driver―for position.

I know this is asking a lot. Turning your driver into a positional club is not easy to do. But start practicing with it that way. When you’re at the range, pick a specific spot and try to get the ball to that spot with your driver just like you would with a six-iron.

You might have to change how you hit your driver, but if you do, it’s going to be a change for the better.

In the end, you might not be able to land the ball in the divot you made yesterday, but if you can hit the ball to the right side, or the left side, or the center of the fairway at will, boy, those pars are going to start adding up.

Because the origin of pars (and birdies) is the tee, not the fairway, or around the green.

putting

How to Practice Long Putts at Home

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If you practice putting at home, it’s probably confined to short putts–eight feet or so at most.

While those are important putts to practice, longer ones need your attention, too. By that I mean, 20, 30, and 40-foot putts. But who has a living room that is 40 feet long?

You can still get it done. Set up on the carpet with a rubber “hole” about six feet away, and with a backstop behind it.

Instead of making a stroke for a six-foot putt, make a stroke for a 20-foot putt, say.

The putt should roll directly over the center of the hole. A bit off to the side won’t do. Dead center.

This drill teaches you to acquire a long putting stroke that is just as controlled and reliable as your shorter six-foot stroke. That might be an unappreciated skill. It is an important one.

The length of an approach putt stroke can get your putter out of whack directionally, both with its swing path and the orientation of the face.

You should also practice hitting the ball on the putter’s sweet spot, which is key to consistent distance control with long putts.

There’s more.

At the range, do The Number One Approach Putting Drill, and remember what those different distance strokes feel like.

Then you can practice actual distance control at home, even though the ball only goes six feet, by folding those memorized strokes into this drill.

golf swing

Tips for Tall Golfers Revised

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Being a tall golfer means that much of standard golf instruction needs to be modified. I’m 6’6″ tall, and while this has never seemed like a handicap, I do have to approach the golf swing differently than shorter golfers do.

Start with equipment. You should have your clubs fitted. Off the rack ain’t gonna work. They might have to be longer and get bent a few degrees upright.

During the setup, you will have a narrow stance. The traditional separation of your feet is to place you insteps as far apart as the width of your shoulders. This might be too far apart for you.

A tall golfer must stand as tall as he can.* Do not bend over and reach for the ball. By bending over too much, shown below, you create angles in your swing that make it difficult to maneuver the club effortlessly, but still full of power.

To stand taller, as shown below, you will have to stand closer to the ball. The way to stand taller is to elevate your hip at the same time you bend over from it. Bend over, but not down. When you bend your torso forward it should feel like your backside is coming up.

Make sure your upper body, especially your abdomen, does not collapse. Your back should be as straight in the address position as it is when you stand upright. Your head can fall forward, but only enough that your neck does not feel rigid.

Your swing is primarily a hands and arms swing. It should be easy for them to carry your body around to a ninety degree angle from address. The elbows should stay close together in their address relationship throughout the swing to keep the swing from becoming too loose.

Your swing is going to be more upright, feeling like it starts back and up from the ball instead of back and around.

Because your swing is longer, it takes more time. Let it. Do not rush it, especially the forward swing. A slower tempo will allow all of its parts to come together in their proper time.

There is a tendency for a tall golfer to slide the lower body through through impact rather than turn. This leads to pushing the ball because your arms are blocked from swinging the clubhead straight toward the target.

To counteract that tendency, begin the forward swing with a turn of your hips, followed by the swing of your arms, as two separate movements.

Pay extra attention to balance. It will be easier for a tall golfer to get out of balance while swinging a golf club than someone who is not altitudinally gifted.

In general, tall golfers have swings that appear graceful, flowing, and effortless. I get compliments on the appearance of my swing almost every time out. We get the same job done with much less effort. Enjoy it.

*I’m using the male pronoun given the likelihood that few of my female readers are six-and-a-half feet tall.

commentary

Three Questions for Phil Mickelson

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Here are three question reporters at the U.S. Open should have asked Phil Mickelson yesterday.

1. You accused the PGA Tour of “obnoxious greed.” How would you characterize the $200 million that you accepted from the Saudi government?

2. You have said several times that playing on the LIV Tour is an opportunity to help to grow the game of golf. In what ways is the LIV Tour growing golf that the PGA Tour is not?

3. You once referred to the Saudis as “scary mother****ers.” What caused you to say that?

putting

Incremental Putting Drills

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I have been doing this new putting drill for the past few days, something that I just fell into doing when I wasn’t paying attention.

In my back room there is an 8′ carpet on the floor. I started putting from two feet, then began moving the ball back a slight bit for each successive putt.

I thought I would formalize the drill, so the ball gets moved back one ball-width each time, out to about 7½ feet. If you measure it strictly, that’s 39 putts.

I doesn’t take too long to complete the drill, and you get a lot of good practice at making the same stroke every time.

Years ago I did a drill going in the other direction. It takes about 20-odd golf balls to do this.

Putt a ball to about six or seven feet a way. It doesn’t matter where it ends up. Putt the next ball so it j-u-u-st touches the ball you just hit. Continue.

What you should end up with is however many balls in a straight line, all touching each other.

This is a great drill for short putt distance control, something that is more important than you might think.

playing the game

Golf Is a Language

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This morning I was taking my weekly six-mile hike in the hills south of town. Six miles up hill and down dale. When I’m out there, my mind wanders to places I never expect. This morning it struck me that golf is a language.

When we study a new language, we learn vocabulary and the rules of grammar. But at the same time we learn how to apply those things to speaking the language.

Because, knowing a set of words and the rules for putting them together is not enough for expressing a coherent thought in the new language. We have to learn how to speak in sentences that mean something.

In golf, shot-making skills are analogous to vocabulary and grammar. They are what allow us to play the game.

But still we have to learn how to play. We have to learn, for particular situation, what shot to hit, with what club, and to where. And if conditions are unusual, we also have to know how to hit the shot.

Playing, in my analogy, corresponds to speaking.

Conditions at the driving range are pretty normal. You just aren’t going to encounter all the different situations a golf course will throw at you.

Only by playing can you learn how to take out of your bag of tricks the right one at the right time.

Golf then is a matter of (a) developing skills and (b) learning how to use them on the golf course.

All this sounds obvious, but let me ask you. How much attention do you pay on the course to what works and doesn’t work, compared to doing the same thing at the range? Not as much, maybe?

It doesn’t matter how good you look at the range. The only question is, when you take your range skills to the course, how well do you use them to get the ball in the hole?

How well do you speak the language of golf?

playing the game

One Change to Lower Your Golf Score Guaranteed

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I’m going to present you with some information that you can’t argue with and which points the way to shooting lower scores without having to hit one pracice ball.

The main reason why recreational golfers have a hard time making par when they get up to the green is that they didn’t get up far enough. They don’t arrive.

The chart below shows that over 80 percent of approach shots by recreational golfers finish short of the center of the green, and over one-third of approach shots never get as far as the green.

https://blog.trackmangolf.com/performance-of-the-average-male-amateur

To have your best chance at a par, your shot into the green has to get there. It has to arrive. We will always have problems with hitting the ball to the right or left, but we should never have a problem with being too short.

For shots you fly into the green, play the ball to end up past the pin.* This is the scoring zone. Why?

First of all, if you play for going past the pin, mishits will still land on the green. Second, you avoid trouble, which is usually in front of the green. Third, you make up for a general tendency to underclub.

When I mention this on forums, some people respond by saying they play short to avoid the trouble behind the green. But to hit the ball over the green you have to flush it. And how often do you do that?

Any shot into the green has to get there. Instead of your best 7, hit an easy 6. O.K.?

*Except, obviously, pins that are in the back.

Little Differences That Make a Big Difference in How Well You Play