Branson Golf Guide

Today we begin the backswing… The shape of the full backswing is half of an elongated U. The most critical part of the backswing to create this shape is the first eighteen inches of takeaway, here your club head must go straight back along the target line practically skimming the ground.

Accomplishing this first step of a proper backswing will have the shaft of the club, your left hand and arm remaining in an unbroken unit. Your club is now on the right track and the only body parts that have moved are your hands, arms and shoulders. The lack of lower body movement may seem rigid or uncomfortable but is critical for the coiling of the hips to develop a powerful downswing.

As the club gets farther back from the ball, you must lift and extend it upward. When the hands get to waist-high, the right hand cocks the wrist in such a way that the right palm is facing straight ahead at a 90-degree angle to the target line. This is where we first take note to keep the right elbow pointing straight to the ground.

In order to achieve complete extension of the club in the backswing, you must set the rest of the body in motion. Your right hip and shoulder turn as if on a swivel. You must keep some “give” in the lower body to develop a free flowing motion. This “give” comes from allowing the left knee to flex to the right until it gets about even with the golf ball.

This brings us to one of the major flaws that strike the average golfer on their backswing… the left heel. The tendency for most players here is to allow the left heel to come up off the ground at this point to “increase” the length of the backswing, and thus they believe, their shot distance. Although this may in some cases be true, what it ultimately does is change the center of our golf swing if the left heel does not return to the exact spot from where it came. This move can be accomplished or even perfected through much practice… take Jack Nicklaus for instance, he played pretty well didn’t he? However I expect that no one reading this article will be putting in the kind of hours, days and years of practice it takes to accomplish this, so “our rule” will be keep the left heel on the ground on the backswing.

These movements should all be slow and deliberate; we should never rush to get the club to the top of our backswing. After all we are not hitting the ball with our backswing, we are getting our body in the position it must be in in order to hit a golf shot. A well timed and properly formed backswing can easily be compared to the pulling back of the hammer of a gun… it won’t fire until you do so.

Next week the downswing and impact…

Fairways and Greens!

Grip, Stance and Posture… We are moving towards the sound elements of a golf swing. Today we put them together to actually get into our address position and aligned towards our target.

How we approach the ball is one of the most important elements in our game. The process of getting into the address position creates both a psychological and physical mood vital to the success of each shot. Far too many golfers approach the ball from a 90 degree angle, or directly from the side. This practice makes us twist our head and look over our left shoulder to see the target line and address the club to it. This disorients them and results in the endless “jiggle and twist” you observe as they try to get comfortable.

Another problem created by this type of approach it the tendency it produces to stand too far from the ball and “reach” for the ball. As you remember “reaching” promotes the three main faults at address: weight on toes, knees locked and shoulders slumped.

The only completely reliable way to get into address position is to start from behind the ball. This gives you the proper perspective on where you want to go. Your eyes, the ball and the target are all on the same line. Approach the ball from the side on a shallow arc to the target line.

The first “solid” position in the address is taken with the right foot, which should be placed square to target line slightly behind the ball. Next, put the club head behind the ball with the clubface square to the target. Finally step into the ball with the left foot, keeping in mind your ball position. You are now in the prime address position.

There are many poor shots that are hit during every round of golf that are due in large part to a poor address position. It is impossible to hit a good shot from a poor position!

Our natural tendency is to swing the club to where you are looking, not to where you are aligned. I see many players who line up well to the right of the target, while keeping their eyes on the target. They then “swing the club from the top” causing them to cross over their target line and pull the ball well left or their target. They then automatically line up further right on their next shot, believing they are correcting the problem, while actually only compounding it.

Remember these few simple tips before you prepare to hit your next shot and after some “retraining” of your eye you will see great improvement in your ball striking.

Next week we begin the full swing…

Fairways and Greens!

Since everyone spent last week perfecting their grip, today we will move into our address position….

Address to most people consists mainly of being square to their target line; this is of course a major factor, but not the only element of a sound address position. The other elements are foot spread, knee flex, posture, and the one that affects all other elements more than most people realize – the distance you stand from the ball.

Since I believe this is the most important factor in developing a good address position, and thus hitting good golf shots we will begin here. Standing too far from the ball causes a number of things detrimental to good shot making. First, your weight moves out towards the toes, which creates poor balance. Second, you’ll tend to stiffen your knees, which destroys good leg action. Finally your posture will be poor. You will almost always slump forward with the shoulders, rather than flexing at the knees.

The most recognizable signs of standing too far from the ball prior to swinging are; if both arms are rigid or if the butt end of the club is more than six or seven inches from your body. You are also too far from the ball if you cannot wiggle your toes at address, meaning you have too much weight on your toes. The fascinating and confounding thing about all of this is that most of the poor positions I just described “feel good.”

Most players have the tendency to spread the feet too wide, once again because of the false sense of strength and stability. I believe it best for most players to go with the tried and true measurement of the heels no further apart than the width of the shoulders. Should you depart from this I would only recommend going narrower, as being too wide severely restricts the proper use of the legs during the swing.

Assuming the correct foot spread, the ball should be played slightly ahead of center (to the left for a right handed golfer.) If you play the ball too far to the right, you will strike the ball with a descending blow, causing teed shots to be “skied” and balls played from the fairway to be hit “fat”. Too far left can be even worse. If you play the ball off the left instep or beyond, which is common among most golfers as they believe this will help the ball into the air, and you will hit too much on the upswing producing a very low flight and lack of force.

The knees should be flexed just enough to keep them from straightening during the swing. With a straight back you then bend at the waist until your club comes into contact with the ground, making sure that you remember how far you are away from the golf ball.

There you have it… the proper elements of a sound address position. Next week we will work on getting into this position on the golf course making sure to emphasize our target line and the proper alignment of our body to allow us to produce solid well struck golf shots from our new address position.

Fairways and Greens!

As promised last week, today we begin on our mythical journey towards developing a reliable and effective golf swing. Over the coming weeks we will touch on subjects from club selection to hitting a draw and a fade, but today we begin with the most elemental portion of everyone’s golf swing regardless of their skill or ability… “the grip.”

From the outset everyone who attempts to learn this game should put every effort into acquiring a sound grip that can be used for the rest of their golfing life. Developing a poor grip early in golf will severely limit your playing potential. With a good grip, you have a solid foundation on which to build the rest of your game, and be able to play good-quality golf all your life.

What is the basis of a good grip? I subscribe to the time honored rule of having the “V’s” formed when you close the thumb and forefinger of each hand point toward the right shoulder. Accomplishing this configuration provides the right amount of flexibility in the hands, plus the necessary control over clubface alignment at impact.

To create this union of hands and club, you should hold the club with the fingers of the left hand. Specifically the club runs from the juncture of the palm and the last two fingers, across the lowest section of the middle finger and the middle section of the index finger. The left thumb should ride just to the right of the center of the grip. The ideal position of the right hand has the palm facing the target. This will have the club lie in the fingers for the right hand. The right thumb will lie diagonally across the grip with only the inside in contact with the club.

To make our hands work in unison they must be joined together. This is where we get the interlocking grip or the overlapping grip. You connect your hands with the little finger of the right hand and the crevice formed by the index and middle finger of the left hand. There is no proven “better” choice between the two, a players hand size and strength will play a factor into which one will work best, but you should select the one that feels most comfortable to you.

Even the best hand placement can be ineffective if hand pressure on the grip is too great. An overly tight hold on the club is far more common that an overly loose one, and is due for the most part to anxiety. When we worry about the consequences of our shots we tend to tense our muscles. That tension almost invariably centers on our hands and thus our grip. Relax your hands on the club and your results will greatly improve.

No great swing actions were discussed in this week’s column, but none the less this is critical information into our progress as a golfer. After all none of us learned to drive without first learning to put the key into the ignition. Spend some time on your grip this week and I look forward to taking another step with you next Tuesday.

Fairways and Greens!

This being my first year in the Ozarks, and the recent weather patterns has caused me to now twice acknowledge the coming of spring and with it Golf Season. I cannot say I am certain, but I hope this beautiful weather in finally here to stay.

Spring is the best time to be around a golf course, with the trees blooming and the grass taking its first deep shades of green for the year. It is easy to forget the climate it has just been through for the past several months, and the care it must be treated.

This year has been particularly bad with the warm temperatures early and then the recent dip back into freezing weather; our golf courses suffer tremendous stress, not to mention our superintendents. Whether maintaining a golf course like my new friend Travis or growing one in like my superintendent Toby, they need our patience and respect.

Think for a moment the work that you put into your own yard. We mow, edge, weed flower beds, water, fertilize and the list goes on and on. It can seem like our weekends are not long enough too accomplish everything. Now imagine that your yard is 200 times the size it is now? That is what it is like to be a Golf Course Superintendent.

I challenge each of you, who play what I consider to be the greatest game ever invented, to take a little more action in bettering your own golf course. Think about your last Nassau game where you hit that “perfect tee shot” only to have it come to rest in a divot? Or how many ball marks do you have to fix on Wednesday afternoon in order to try and make that fifteen foot birdie putt to tie up a pocketful of skins? Try a little harder while you are out there, just because a ball mark is not in your line, does not mean that you can not fix it while you wait your turn to putt.

Even in this modern era of golf course technology, remember a superintendent is only just one man. There a whole lot more of us out there tearing up the golf course everyday than there are of them to fix it. Let’s help out.

As a member of the PGA, I may have given this topic too much press. I am looking so forward to spending the coming months with you giving you tips to help you with your golf game and answering any queries you send me, I just do not want to spend all season explaining the best way to hit a three iron out of a divot.

This week join me in thanking your local superintendent, and trying to help him out. Next week it will be all golf!

Fairways and Greens!