Category: Playing Tips

This tip is a simple drill I use frequently when I get out of sync. It mostly helps my rhythm – feeling the club go back and through – and clears my head of any real swing thoughts. Others say it helps them with weight shift.

Set fix or six balls on the ground a foot or so apart. Take your stance as if you were addressing a ball one foot left of the far left ball. Swing back and simultaneously step forward with your right foot. As you begin your downswing, step forward with your left foot so that you’re in a good position to hit the first ball. Hit it, finish your follow through, and then take a step with your right foot again, bringing the club back down and through and into another backswing. Step forward with the left foot and swing through the ball.

Keep stepping down the line, hitting a ball with each step. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to groove a comfortable, free-flowing swing and make solid contact each time.

Today’s tip is really, really simple: if you’re suffering from a slice, cure it by learning to hit a hook.

If you walk up and down the driving range, watching people hit slice after slice, my hunch is that most of them couldn’t hit a decent hook if you offered them five bucks and five tries.

A straight shot is halfway between a hook and a slice. If you’re at the extreme right edge, try to the extreme left edge. It will give you a better sensation for the middle.

Each of your clubs is different: your 3I is longer than your wedge, and your driver has an entirely different shape than your 7I. Some may have graphite shafts, some may have different grips, and some may be made by different manufacturers.

One way to improve your play is to match the swingweights of your clubs to your swing and to each other. Clubs with different swing weights have a different “feel” to them. Swing weight is a measurement of how the weight is distributed in a club. The shaft, the weight of the head, and even the size of the grip can affect the swingweight of a club. The lighter your swingweight, the lighter the head of the club will feel.

About.com answers the question “what is swingweight?” but an important distinction is this: swing weight and overall static weight are not the same.

You’ve made a great approach, but your ball rolled just off the fringe and finds itself against hte collar. It’s tough to judge these shots because your ball is effectively “sitting down” as far in as it can get, making contact iffy at best. There are several different ways to play this shot.

• A lofted wood (3, 5, 7, 9) or a utility club will glide through the grass easily, contacting the ball cleanly. Play club more upright, on its toe, a little more than normal and grip down. Use your putting grip and a narrow stance. Expect the ball to hop and pop and then roll to the hole.
• You can use the toe of a putter. Grip firmly to resist twisting and use a firm stroke to guarantee getting through the grass. Fred Couples likes to employ this stroke, but it’s difficult and only works through thinner collars.
• My favorite shot is to use a sand wedge and intentionally blade the ball. The bounce and weight of the sand wedge help it to glide through the grass, and the blade provides topspin, guaranteeing the ball will get going. Make a putting stroke with a putting grip, and hit the ball’s equator with the leading edge of your wedge.

Your 3W, your putter, and your wedge can all be used to play this shot. Choose whatever shot is most comfortable for you, and execute it with confidence.

Downhill Lie
Transfer more weight to your back (the uphill) foot and play the ball a bit more forward in your stance, as your swing will bottom out later.

Uphill Lie
Transfer more weight to your front (again the uphill) foot and play the ball a bit further back in your stance.

Ball Above Feet
These shots tend to draw. Open the clubface a little and balance your weight towards the toes of your feet.

Ball Below Feet
These shots tend to cut. Close the clubface a little and balance your weight towards the heels of your feet.

One of the quickest ways to improve is to practice shots you don’t normally hit. If you normally play a cut, can you play a draw? Can you hit a low drive and keep it straight, or a high drive? Can you knock down a 5-iron?

Nobody knows your game better than your favorite opponent. Here’s a little game you can play to improve your game and try new things at the same time. Set up a match with your pal and call each other’s shots. If your pal normally hits a draw, ask him to hit a low cut. If he likes to fly the ball back to the hole, ask him to run the shot up. He’ll be doing the same to you.

Keep it friendly and don’t get too nutty – asking for a 60-yard slice or a 7I from the tee on a par 5 isn’t “fair.” Keep your own score, and if you want to bet, mix in a penalty shot for failing to hit the called shot.

The next ten “Tip of the Day”s are being taken from an article by Dr. Bob Rotella for Golf Digest, titled “Inside the Golfer’s Mind.” We’re paraphrasing, changing the language a little, and condensing his typical three to four paragraphs into one or two. This is tip ten of ten: SCORE!

Tour players and scratch golfers don’t just “get up and down” a lot – they put the ball in the hole a lot too. And when they miss, they leave themselves tap-ins or manageable putts. When a pro misses a green, it usually takes him out of birdie contention, but it rarely results in a bogey. When a pro has a shot from 100 yards or less, he’s more likely to get up and down than anything else.

Your scoring clubs – your wedges and your putter – are designed to score. Many don’t take advantage of that. Many dread a chip shot or a long putt. To score with these clubs you need to understand them. If a driver is 10 yards offline it’s not a big deal. If a wedge is, it’s a tremendous deal. You need to understand the spin, trajectory, and distance of each of these clubs and from various positions, to different kinds of pins and green conditions.

You score with your wedges and your putter. Learn to trust them, and you’ll soon be scoring too.

The next ten “Tip of the Day”s are being taken from an article by Dr. Bob Rotella for Golf Digest, titled “Inside the Golfer’s Mind.” We’re paraphrasing, changing the language a little, and condensing his typical three to four paragraphs into one or two. This is tip nine of ten: the butterflies are your friends.

People get butterflies all the time. Before their first child is born. When they’re up for a promotion. When they need to hit a shot 215 over water to win a $5 nassau.

Butterflies are good. They demonstrate that you care. That you want to do a good job. That you’ve put yourself in a position to do something great. Nobody gets butterflies doing routine things.

Butterflies can be bad if you let them overcome you, if you let the fear overcome you. Fear alone is not bad either – being overtaken is what kills ya. Learn to make the butterflies your friends, and you’ll have a lot more blue skies in your future.

The next ten “Tip of the Day”s are being taken from an article by Dr. Bob Rotella for Golf Digest, titled “Inside the Golfer’s Mind.” We’re paraphrasing, changing the language a little, and condensing his typical three to four paragraphs into one or two. This is tip eight of ten: just trust.

Athleticism is often about reaction. Often you’ll hear a player say he “overthought” something; athletes are at their best when they simply “do” without a lot of conscious clutter. Golfers “in the zone” are so “unconscious” in a way that they may not notice a fly landing on their ball during their swing, a change in weather, or even – as in my case a few years ago – a huge gash on my cheek from a tree limb.

To “go unconscious,” players must trust their swing. It must be intuitive and instinctual. A mis-hit shot should not shake the foundation of trust, nor should it send a player into a tizzy of thought. Phil Mickelson shot 59 recently and hit only five of fourteen fairways. Had he stopped to ponder “what’s wrong with my swing?” on the second tee he’d have never broken 70.

Trust your swing. It’s the only thing you’ve got, after all.