Is Tiger like Vlad?

What Makes Them So Prickly?

Do famous people have an innate right to be prickly? Let me define by way of an example: When an average citizen attending a town hall meeting asked powerful Barney Frank chair of the House Financial Services Committee how he thought it possible to add 30 million people or so to the health care roles and not increase the cost or decrease the service, he responded “what planet do you spend most of your time on?” That’s prickly -- and it usually happens when the big deal who is suppose to be the expert gets a question they don’t want to answer.  It’s known on the street as “copping a-tude.”

Some Other Famous Pricklers

Donald Rumsfeld coped-a-tude about almost everything during his tenure as Secretary of Defense including how he let Osama Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora.

Alan Greenspan copped-a-tude when asked if it was his policy of deregulation that made possible the out-of-control trading of toxic assets that almost ruined our country.

And of course there is the most prickly interview perhaps of all -- Vladimir the Impaler who lined the road leading to his castle in the mountains of Transylvania with impaled bodies so that by the time you arrived for the audience all the questions you had about taxes etc. dissolved into “I just came up to tell you what a great job you’re doing.”

Vladimir was a tough interview

In golf Tiger Woods can be a prickly interview. A few years ago a TV commentator who had a reputation of ‘I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em’ made some comments on Tiger’s new swing and to teach him a lesson Woods refused to give interviews with the announcer, a big time threat to his career. Shortly thereafter the announcer fell into line with all the other “speak not a word of evil about Tiger” and the Tiger Correct interviews now composed of “softball questions” resumed. Vlad would have been proud of Tiger.

Now that Tiger has some non-golf problems it will be interesting to see how prickly he remains.

Golf's Greatest

From the Mind of Golf’s Greatest Player

A few years ago I asked a number of PGA tour players what they thought about while they swing and their responses ranked all the way from ‘nothing’ to four swing keys -- one during the takeaway, one at the top, one at impact, and one at the finish—a lot of thinking for a second and a half. The majority had two thoughts or guides, one during the backswing and one through impact.  

Its always been known that the best player ever, Jack Nicklaus, saw a video in his mind of the shot before he hit it – he called it going to the movies. But recently he’s expanded on his thinking. Here is what he said about how he almost holed his tee shot on 16, the year he won his 18^th Major at age 46.

‘My [thought pattern] was, I've got 175 yards, I've got to hit the ball high in the air, I need to hit it softly. Make that swing. Some people think about what they're mechanically doing through the ball.  I think about what I want the clubhead to do through the ball to make the ball do what I want.  People look at things differently. … I didn't play by swing mechanics; I played by feeling things that would make the mechanics happen."

So first you learn the swing mechanics such as left elbow or right knee then on the golf course you focus, not on those mechanics, but on what has to happen at impact to make the shot you just saw in the your mental video.

RAY'S CREEK

The Pull of Ray’s Creek

Winning any tournament takes a combination of skill and good luck and that was the case when Phil Mickelson won his first Masters in 2004. Phil played great golf but came to the last hole needing a par to tie Ernie Els and a birdie to beat him. Mickelson knocked it on the green about 18 feet behind the pin leaving him a tricky downhill putt. Chris DiMarco was in the front bunker and blasted out about 12 inches farther than Mickelson but exactly on his line to the hole.  It’s well known that putts break to Rays Creek, the lowest point at Augusta, but the question of course was how much?

DiMarco shows the way

DiMarco’s putt was almost perfect, missing a fraction on the low side by virtue of the pull of the creek.  As soon as DiMarco hit the ball Mickelson positioned himself directly behind the line of the rolling putt to spot the break.  He factored in what he had learned from DiMarco’s attempt and calmly rolled his putt down a slightly higher line and into the cup.

Luck had opened the door by giving him a “teach” but it was skill that allowed Mickelson to walk though that door to his first Major.

THE PULL

Ball Flight and Your Swing: The Pull

 A shot that flies left of the target [to the right for lefties] with no curve is called a pull. It is a very powerful shot and there are a number of tour players, past and present that play this way, most notably Sam Sneed who in his hay day was one of the longest drivers of the ball especially into the wind. But to be successful you must aim to the right of target and then pull the ball just the exact amount to hit the target. This can be a dangerous way to play if you don't know what you’re doing so it’s usually best to rid yourself of the pull.

What Causes The Pull

When you pull the ball the face of your club is square to your club path at impact but the path points to the left of target. There are many causes of an out-to-in path but a bad path most often comes from a problem with synchronizing your body and your hands. If you’re pulling the ball start with your hips because the odds are they are not operating correctly.

Since the ball is going to the left it may be that your hips have turned too late during the downswing. This most often comes from a failure to keep the right side rotating through the shot. When you stop or slow your hips too much, your upper body turns back to the ball too soon and the club is routed on an out-to-in approach path where the hands get to the ball too early.

To cure this there are several adjustments you can try. The first of which makes your hips rotate earlier so the clubhead can come directly onto the target line. Increase the flare in your back foot and move the ball back one ball width to make impact sooner. If that doesn’t work, put the things you changed back in place and work on the other partner in the hips/hands package, your hands.

Since, for the pull shot, the clubhead gets to the ball too early, let your hands swing up higher and position them a bit deeper at the top of the swing by using more of a one piece takeaway with more shoulder turn. This in effect, makes your arms/hands slower because they have to travel farther and this gives your body more time to get into position. When your hips turn properly from this ‘high-handed’ position, your clubhead should arrive at impact on the correct path.

BALL FLIGHT AND YOUR SWING CONTINUED!

Ball Flight and Your Swing - Part 4: The Pull-Slice

Probably the most common mistake in golf, the one you'll see the most on the first tee of most golf courses, is the pull-slice where the ball starts wide of the target and curves back toward the target. However rather than a total error with no redeeming feature, it's a tribute to the average players ability to adjust from a very bad position at the start of the downswing.

The pull part of the pull slice is caused when the back shoulder pushes out towards the target line and the chest spins around to start the club back to the ball. Whether this is due to impatience or simply bad mechanics, it sends the club on an outside-to-in path that's on course to start the ball wide of the target [to the left for right handers]. Now comes the admirable part of the pull-slice; the slice part. This is caused when the face of the club is open to the path i.e. the face is pointing toward the target, a situation that puts side spin on the shot, curving the ball back toward the target.

Now because it curves it finishes somewhere around the target and herein lies a benefit laced with a bit of danger - yes it's in play but the slice costs you distance and in the wind it becomes unmanageable. Here is a scenario to rid yourself of the pull-slice.

Fix the path first. Take your address position using a five iron and then place a ball on the ground opposite your back foot approximately three clubheads away. This is your guide ball. Now hit a bunch of balls and practice bringing the path of your clubhead in over the guide ball. This will give you the correct path. Using the correct path your ball should start at the target and as soon as it does a high percentage of the time then you go to work on the face.

To learn to square up the face of your club at impact do this drill: address the ball as you normally do and then pull your back foot away from its regular position so that your back toe is in line with your front heel. Now flare your back foot about 45 degrees. Hit balls from this stance and feel your forearms turn over through impact. Granted it’s an awkward position but it will teach you to release the club, something you didn't do when you were a slicer.

BALL FLIGHT AND YOUR SWING - PART 3

How to Fix Your Push Slice

When you put curve on the ball it’s due to side spin produced when the clubface looks in one direction while the clubhead path looks in another. For example for a right hander when the path of the club is pointing to the right of the target at impact and the face of the club aims to the right of where the path is pointing, then the ball starts to the right and spins or curves even father right - its called a push slice and its one of the worst errors you can have.

Please note that the actual path of your clubhead and the target line at impact are not always the same. If you think you are swinging along the target line but you are actually swinging across it from inside-to-out then your mis-understanding will make it difficult to choose the correct fix.

Ball Flight:  Push Slice

Some ball flight mistakes are ‘better’ than others - like the push hook where the ball ends up moving back toward the target. But the push slice is the one of the worst errors in golf, [right along side the dreaded pull hook] because the spin carries the ball away from the target. With the push slice if your clubface is 30 yards off line and the slice spin carries the shot another 40 yards off line then the combined error is 70 yards. This is the infamous right-to-right shot that few golf courses can contain  -- especially when the wind blows making the error even greater.

Where to Begin

You have two problems with the push slice i.e. [1] the path of your club is too much inside-to-out and [2] the clubface is open to the path. There are far too many causes of path and face problems to deal with them all here, but below is an example of how to proceed.

Fixing the path: Delay or slow your body turn during the downswing to give your clubhead the time it needs to move out from behind you and onto the target line. One way to do this is to make a setup change by increasing the flare in both feet. The more flare, the more hip turn and more hip turn makes your hips "effectively" slower because they have to travel farther.

Once the path is repaired its time to focus on the face using match ups that affect release. A video tape or a friend is handy to check if your clubface is open [toe pointing towards the ground] at the top of your swing. If it is, strengthen your top hand grip until you can swing to the top with the face pointing between the horizon and the sky [a square face]. If your face is correct and you are still slicing increase the amount of forearm rotation through impact – a little at first and then more if needed. And lighten your grip pressure a bit to make sure you’re letting your forearms rotate as they should.

BALL FLIGHT AND YOUR SWING -- PART 2

In the past it was commonly believed that path is related to the direction the ball starts in while the clubface position at impact determines the curve of the ball, but the newest research shows that clubface has a much greater influence on overall ball flight than does path by a 85%/15% ratio.  Even with this departure from accepted belief, the flight of the ball is most helpful as a general diagnostic tool since it requires no special equipment and is present in every shot, except the whiff. The ball flight under analysis here is the push hook where the ball starts to the right of target [left for left-handers] and somewhere in the last third of its flight it bends toward the target.

The fact that your ball is going to the right then hooking suggests that you have two problems: your clubface is closed to the path, and the path is to the right of target. It is my recommendation that you fix the path first because the brain "understands" path better than it does face. It is my experience that sometimes when you fix the path so that the ball starts at the target and then hooks to the left, the face will fix itself after a few swings. You can live with a push hook because the ball eventually moves toward the target but since you can't live with a ball that hooks away from the target, you brain tries to find a way to fix it.

Where To Begin

First fix the path as described last week: turn your hips later which will delay impact giving your clubhead the time it needs to get out from behind you and onto the target line. The best way to do this is to make a setup change by increasing the flare in both feet. The more flare, the more hip turn and more hip turn will make your hips "effectively" slower because they have to travel farther. And make sure to check your ball position – you may have to move the ball forward to stop it from starting to the right.

Next focus on the clubface. The closed face problem could be caused by several factors. To cut down on the hook make sure you have enough flare in your front foot. Then check your grip: if your top hand is too strong [three knuckles showing at address] you'll hook it; if both hands are too strong, you'll push hook it, so weaken both hands.  The other common cause of a closed face occurs when you lose your posture at the top of the swing by straightening your spine. This flattens your shoulder turn and shuts the clubface.  The answer to this one is to keep the spine angle you started with at address all the way to impact.