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.

Series -- How To Trouble Shoot Your Golf Swing

This is the first article in a series on how to trouble shoot your golf swing using the flight of the ball. This way the ball becomes your teacher, first on the practice tee, and then on the golf course where you can fix your swing while you're playing. Note: that to trouble shoot effectively you must first make sure your aim and alignment are correct. In addition what follows assumes that your contact is in the middle of the clubface.

The Ball Flight Laws

It has been said that the "ball only knows impact" meaning that its flight characteristics are produced by five physical parameters of your golf shot: the path of the clubhead; the angle of approach the clubhead takes to the ball; the velocity of the clubhead; where on the clubface the collision takes place; and where your clubface is looking at impact.

The Straight Push

The first shot I'll describe is the straight push, the shot that goes to the right [straight left for left-handers]. When the ball is pushed off line with no curve to the ball, the implication is that the path of your club is moving in-to-out in relation to the target line and the clubface is square to the path. Now there are several reasons why a ball is pushed but I will deal with one of the most common to demonstrate how to trouble shoot the problem.

When your hips rotate too early during the downswing, your right elbow doesn’t have the time to get in front of your right hip and therefore your club is prevented from getting into the correct downswing slot. You’ve got a path problem that pushes the ball off line because your hips turn early making your hands and the clubface late for impact.

The adjustment is to 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 effectively" slows your hips " because they have to travel farther.

Takeaway: The block is fixed by the flair

FIX IT NOW!!!

  

Fix It Now

What your club is doing at impact (its face position, angle of attack, club path, the squareness of contact and the speed of the clubhead), determines the spin, speed and trajectory of your golf ball.

For example, if the face of your club is in the process of closing relative to the path of your club at impact, your ball will curve [draw]. When the angle of approach of your club is too steep the tendency is for the face of your club to open causing a high slicing shot. If the path of your club is across the target line, outside to in with the face of your club square to your path, you'll hit a straight pull shot. When you contact the golf ball one quarter of an inch off the sweet spot of your clubface, you'll lose about 10 % in distance.

From these examples you can see that there are many combinations of these four conditions [plus the speed with which your clubhead is moving] when you contact the ball. Mis-matches cause bad shots but when these five are correctly matched you’ll hit the perfect shot.

Thus not only can you use the flight characteristics of your ball to figure out what was going on at impact between your face and the ball, but you can also infer the swing mechanics involved. This helps you to trouble shoot and then repair your home base swing without resorting to the laborious trial and error method that has lead golfers down so many blind alleys. Understanding ‘what causes what’ by using the ball flight as feedback also provides you with a skill that is essential to any golfer – you can fix your golf swing on the golf course while you play!

There are three stages to this skill: [1] Identifying a poor shot – this is easy when the shot is really bad, like a top or a shank, but not so easy when the shot is just a little off. The question is, is this mini-miss a harbinger of a bad day and therefore something that must be fixed before it gets out of control or is it just a loose shot with no long term consequences [2] Understanding what is going on at impact to produce the unwanted ball flight i.e. what is the mismatch between club and ball   [3] being able to intervene by making a correction in your swing that fixes the ball flight so you don’t have to write off the rest of the round – you can fix it immediately rather than waiting for your next lesson or practice session.

In golf your goal is to be part of the “Fix It Now’ generation so don’t miss next weeks column where I show you how to add this skill to your play kit

Gage was No Longer Gage

 

 I have recounted the story of Phineas T. Gage before and even though it happened in 1848 it was an important event in that it was the first case suggesting that damage to specific regions of the brain might affect personality and behavior. Some of the best clues to how the normal brain operates come from studying the results of injuries to various locations in the brain and the Gage case was a benchmark. In 1848, Phineas T. Gage, a railway worker, suffered a horrific injury when an explosion sent an iron rod slicing through the left frontal lobe of his brain.  Miraculously, Gage, a kind and well liked person before the accident, regained his health and well being -- with only one major exception.  After his recovery Gage's personality changed so dramatically that, as his close friends said, "Gage was No longer Gage."  He went from friendly and helpful to angry and quarrelsome; a person who was once reliable, trustworthy, and socially gracious became unreliable, vulgar and an all-together belligerent man with nothing to be belligerent about. In 1860, 12 years later he died of a seizure at the age of 37.

For Gage, the normal system of checks and balances, the finely tuned No / Go System that allows us to make our way though this world was shredded.  But this was just one early case.  Since then, a bulk of research [see Antonio Damasio's book Descartes Error] supports the fact that "something in the brain was concerned specifically with unique human properties, among them the ability to anticipate the future and plan accordingly..."

Thus part of your brains planning mechanism is the system of signals used by your subconscious to endorse or nullify a particular plan. Take for example a plan that involves hitting a high, 220 yard hook over water. Even though your conscious mind wants to do it, your subconscious mind can cast a veto in the form of a NO signal if you don’t have that shot in your repertory–  the NO/GO is not in words but in feelings. You may feel unsure or decisive, uneasy or calm, worried or confident, distressed or relaxed about the plan you are about to execute.  This message system, an important skill of a healthy brain, modifies your plans enough so they become effective in reaching your goals – it’s an important skill to be able to turn NO’s into Go’s. In the example above you’d put away your three metal and lay up with a nine iron.

The oracle sayith and you payith

 

You often hear it said "there is no secret to golf" or put in a slightly different way "The secret to golf is there is no secret." Well there is a secret - many secrets in fact- if the true meaning of the word carries any sway. A secret, according to Webster is "known to only a few - something that is hidden from most." and if there is any sport that is "hidden from most" its golf with the myriad of swing theories festooning the learning landscape, the ever growing flock of swing oracles who with great regularity contradict each other much to the confusion of their subjects who don't realize that oracles are in the secrets business and business is good - very good.  

From Olympus to the Golf Channel

We have always paid our oracles well - with cash, high status and the ultimate respect due someone who has the "divine breath" the term describing the wisdom dispensed by the mother of all dispensers - the Delphi Oracle. Booked years in advance, priestesses in flowing white robes laid around all day answering questions of great import put to them by kings, warlords and the scions of industry -- answers that starting in 1400 BC markedly influenced the course of world events for over 1000 years.

The problem was they didn't just tell you straight-out stuff like "don't declare war on Rome" or "buy salt futures." When the oracle opined it was a stream of convoluted and arcane statements more confusing then an Enron audit. But not to worry - To make the information more user friendly there were priests who did nothing [at least during office hours] but translate the cryptic answers for their high paying clientele. But if you’re an oracle talk is not cheap – you are well paid, but in 67 AD, Emperor Nero, who was just 30 years old and had killed his own mother in 59 AD was told by the Oracle:

‘Your presence here outrages the god you seek. Go back, matricide! The number 73 marks the hour of your downfall!’

Nero never one to suffer bad news well, had her buried alive. His reign came to an end after a revolt by Galba who was 73 years of age at the time. I guess if you look hard enough for 73 to verify the prediction, the guys age will do but it’s a stretch.

Why did the babes babble so? The newest research confirms what had been speculated for centuries - the priestesses were stoned on the underground natural gases emanating from the ground at the foot of Mt. Parnassus, in Greece where the oracle was located. It was a good gig – find a mountain, get stoned, babble and get paid for it.

Today there are a growing number of oracles in golf - gurus who dispense their brand of the 'divine breath' wisdom. Instead of Mt. Olympus they are on the Golf Channel and on infomercials, CD’s and videos.

They form cult methods based on 'proprietary knowledge' which they defend with fanatical zeal. One such teaching method is based on 'physics' and the bible their use is so convoluted it needs priests to translate it, priests whose reason for being is based on the opaque nature of the material. Another uses a video tape of your swing explained to you by local operators located in strip malls who teach from a one-size fits all computer program based on dubious assumptions. Another guru does card tricks symbolic of his professionalism. Still another basis its entire marketing program on one golfer. His pronouncements about the golf swing rival the prattle from the ancient stoned-heads. The modern priests tell you that you need special high price clubs and a special swing - not like Ben Hogan's, winner of all four majors, unlike Tiger's,  and not even close to Sam Snead's who won more PGA tour titles than anyone. In this method everyone must swing exactly like a player who never won a tournament on the PGA Tour and that nobody who plays for a living has ever copied.

The moral of the oracle: if you want to play better golf beware of the 'divine breath' crew - they need you but you don't need them.