Week Five

In week five it’s time to explore one of the most basic mechanisms of your golf swing – SWING PLANE – you cannot build a correct swing without it. Most golfers find swing plane a confusing topic so to clear up the confusion lets be clear about two terms. The first is the shaft plane which is the angle the shaft forms with the ground at address. Each of your clubs has a different shaft angle but once you assume the correct set up, you don't have to consciously adjust your swing because the correct progression of shaft angles is built into your clubs at the factory - it’s called the lie of club.

The second concept is the swing plane angle, the angle of your shaft while the club is in motion. Thus while the shaft plane at address is chosen for you, the swing plane angle is your own creation so it can go wrong in a hurry. Here’s the rule of thumb: If your ball flight is inconsistent, one time left, one time right, sprinkled with some fat and thin then chances are you have a swing plane problem. Too steep usually spells slice [open at impact] while too shallow usually results in hook [face closing at impact]

To track the correct plane for your swing put a ball in place then position two clubs forming a target line, one in front and one in back of the ball. Now take your address position in front of a full-length mirror using a six iron so the mirror is reflecting a down-the-target-line view. Using an erasable marker or colored tape, have a friend draw a line over the reflection of the shaft and extend that line from the heel of your club up through the reflection of your body. This is the shaft plane angle of address and to achieve maximum consistency your goal is to return the club on the same shaft angle at impact.

         

Now swing and stop to check your swing halfway back, halfway down and halfway after impact to make sure that the shaft angle [your swing plane angle at that point] points at the target line.  

Understanding swing plane means that you can self-diagnose and that’s the key to consistency – it doesn’t mean you won’t hit bad shots but you will be able to get back on track quicker so it’s worth the week to get your arms around this concept.

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YOUR TIMEFRAME CALENDAR

 
WEEK FOUR

Short Game Week

The great Bobby Jones once said a player who can string together “three of them and one of those” is a match for anyone. So while the long game is glamorous, the short game is the great equalizer. Thus at least 60% of your practice time should be devoted to chipping/pitching, putting and bunker play using the following model of learning.

First review your short game – write in your journal all you know about each part  -- for example the How-I-Chip technique -- then graduate to actually using that technique by adjusting your touch from a number of real-lie situations. Then return to your journal and write down any problems or additions uncovered by your self-assessment. Anything you can’t fix or figure it out should send you on a trip to see the wizard i.e. get some help.

During short game week take the Technique/Touch paradigm below for a spin to learn its ins and outs – you will then use it as the learning model anytime you want to learn something.

Stage One: Technique

With your journal as a guide [bring it to the range] run through your check list of fundamentals such as ball position, weight distribution, when and how to set the wrists, etc. then hit a few shots with no particular target in mind – the focus is “did I do it correctly” rather than “where did it end up.” You may hit 35 balls from the same spot, not caring about results because only the form of your swing is important at this stage. Once you are confidant with your technique, it’s time for stage 2 where you develop your touch.  [By the way if you’re a faithful reader of this column you’ll know all about short game technique -- if not assess yourself a two shot penalty then see my book “Play Better Golf” at www.tjtomasi.com .]

 Stage Two: Touch

To have a good short game you must be able to move your focus from Technique to Target. In this stage your concern is not “how you do something” but how close you come to your target. Take a handful of balls and toss them over your shoulder then play them, one at a time, until you hole each one out. Play the ball as you find it, hit it to your target, putt the ball in the hole, then go back and play the next ball. This is the way you do it on the course and it should be the way you practice. Keep track of your ability to get it up and down from different lies, and then focus on those lies until they become strengths.

From now on: When you’re hitting to a target, there’s no mechanics; when your practicing mechanics there’s no target.

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Week Three

This week should be devoted to a basic that precedes all other basics: You have to determine your dominant side in your putting stroke – your right or your left. This doesn’t have anything to do with whether you putt right-handed or left-handed -- it’s about which arm has more control of your putting stroke.  It truly is an overlooked "super basic"- something many players neglect or have never even considered, yet it influences everything else in your putting game so this is the week to get it under control.

DO THE DRILL, HONE YOUR SKILL

Here’s a simple drill you can do to determine which arm is the dominant arm in your putting stroke: Hit 10 putts with just your right hand holding the putter; then hit about l0 putts with only your left hand.  The dominant side will feel fairly solid to you, and you won’t have any trouble controlling the clubhead, that is to say, keeping it square.  The non-dominant side (or for the sake of simplicity, the wrong side) will feel as if you must struggle with the clubhead to keep the face square to your putt line so the putts go in the direction you aim them.  You have to admit, that's pretty simple. Once you know which side is your dominant side, here's what you do with that information:

IF YOU'RE A LEFT-ARM-DOMINANT PUTTER. . . [Right handed putter]

. . . your left armpit should act as the "center" of your putting stroke.

. . .you should use a heel-shafted putter designed to swing open and closed like a gate

. . .you should play the ball forward of center in your stance, somewhere around the inside of your left heel.

. . .you should stand tall at the ball with your arms hanging fairly loose but straight.

. . . even though the face of the putter swings open and closed to the target line it stays square to the putter arc.

IF YOU'RE A RIGHT-ARM-DOMINANT PUTTER. . .

. . . the top of your spine should act as the "center" of your putting stroke.

. . . you should use a center-shafted.

. . . you should play the ball in the center of your stance.

. . . rather than hanging straight, your arms are folded because you are bent over. 

… the clubhead moves away from the ball on a straight line and returns through the ball on the same line.

 

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IMPROVE YOUR GOLF

Your Improvement Golf Calendar

When I know a student is serious about improving and has the time to devote to a program I give them a calendar – a “when to do what” guide for improvement. To give this guide some sense of chronological order, I've broken it into weeks—13 of them—which gives you roughly 90 days to reach your goal – here is week 2.

DIGITIZE YOUR GAME

Review the relative strengths and weaknesses of your game in preparation for creating your strength and weakness profile. Take a yellow pad and draw a line down the middle then label the two columns Strength and Weakness.  Down the left side list all areas of your game from chipping/pitching, lag putting etc.. Also list each club in your bag. Down the right side honestly evaluate each entry by annotating the appropriate columns. Keep a running list until you have a handle on your playing profile.

DEVELOPING A STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS PROFILE

Rate each of your clubs using 3 for weak, 2 for average, and 1 for strong.  If you like, add decimals as in 1.5, to create a more sensitive range. In addition to rating your clubs, it's helpful if you keep a journal where you record important golf experiences and observations.

What do you do with this information? You use it to play the game by evaluating each situation and then choosing a club that is on the strength side. Plus it tells you what to practice to improve. For example keeping your stats you discover that you're a not very accurate with your short irons. When it’s time to lay up on a par five you use this information to govern your lay-up choices i.e. lay-up so you have a six iron [a mid-iron you hit well] vs. a nine iron you have trouble with.

The Takeaway: A major aspect of playing your best golf is fitting your Strength and Weakness Profile into the defenses set up by the architect.  To do this you must make an accurate assessment of your playing skills, which are often different from your practice range skills.  For this reason I encourage you to develop both a practice and a playing profile, and be sure you never confuse the two.  You’re playing profile reveals how well you perform when shot selection depends not only on the conditions but also on your ability to execute under the one-ball-success-rate, that is, a situation where every swing counts.

90 DAYS TO IMPROVEMENT

Your Calendar for Improvement: 90 Days

When I know a student is serious about improving and has the time to devote to a program I give them a calendar – a “when to do what” guide for improvement.

To give this guide some sense of chronological order, I've broken it into weeks—13 of them—which gives you roughly 90 days to reach your goal. And please keep one thing in mind as you proceed; it's best to approach each task separately because it gets too confusing if you try to do many things at once. Every self- help book that says the same thing-- make a plan, divide it into manageable tasks, then focus on one task at a time until you reach your goal.

 Week One: Sometimes it’s the Arrows not the Indian

The first topic on the calendar is to review your arsenal.

 --Check the loft on your driver. If the loft isn't stamped on it somewhere, have a pro measure it for you. Remember, too little loft is a big mistake—unless you have a very high clubhead speed [e.g. over 105 mph] nothing less than 10.5 degrees works. If you don't like what you have, hold an "audition." Try out all kinds of demo models. Ask for some impact tape and check how often you hit each driver in the center of the clubface. Do the same with your irons. Remember solid contact in the center of the clubface is the key to good golf shots.

 --Consider dumping the long irons and replacing them with hybrids. For most hybrids are easier to hit and very versatile.

 --Check your wedges. If you don't have an L-wedge (58-60 degrees or more) add one to your set. If you can’t afford it, have your sandwedge bent to 58.

 --Have a clubfitter or golf professional check the shafts in your club for two things: [1] Are they the proper flex for you? [2] Do they match throughout your set? (Not just the irons, but the woods as well.] Another way of doing this is to hit various demo clubs and hit the clubs of some of your friends. Try all of the basic flexes: regular, stiff, extra stiff, seniors. If you're a female, ask about women's flexes – you should match your swing speed to the correct flex. And while you're at the club-fitter, have the lie of your irons checked as well.

 --Are your grips the proper size? If you think they're too small, wrap some gauze around and hit some practice shots.  And if you haven't changed your grips in the past two year spring for new ones.

 --Vet your ball. Buy three major brands and take them to a practice area. Play some pitch shots, hit some chips and roll a bunch of putts, all the time monitoring them for feel and control. They'll all perform nearly the same distance-wise but from close in you may detect some difference in the feel. Use the one that feels best.

So start the ball rolling: You have a week to get this done just make sure that at the end of the week there is a big X signaling completion.

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Forms Cue Up Your Golf Swing

  

Instead of swing mechanics and negative thoughts, at some point in your development you need to occupy your mind with success images [forms] RE your swing -- and this week I’d like you to spend your golf time thinking about circles.

The Image

One way to think about your golf swing is that there are four circles that must be completed each in their own time. The smallest circle and the one that finishes first is the circle or rotation of your hips. The next circle is your shoulders which is slightly larger than the hips. Following that is the circle of your hands and it finishes next to last behind the largest circle, the clubhead. And they must complete their respective circles in that order.

Now your clubhead, hands and body don't really transcribe exact circles but the point is clear -  to keep everything on its appointed arc of rotation, in sync and on time -  one most allow the circles to do their thing.

This is what I call “form learning” where instead of focusing on swing mechanics I ask the student to tap into the power of the form. Here “form-ulate” and “calculate” are different levels of recognition. Most golfers focus on learning swing mechanics [calculations] vs the pure form of the swing itself. Oliver Sacks in his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, discovered this form power in two Idiot Savant twins who were so retarded they could not calculate 2 x 8 but they could form-ulate at a very high level as demonstrated by the following:

“A box of matches on their table fell, and discharged its contents on the floor: '111,' they both cried simultaneously… I counted the matches -- it took me some time -- and there were 111. How could you count the matches so quickly? I asked. “We didn’t count them, they said, we saw 111.”

 Unencumbered by normal mechanics they embraced the form of 111 i.e. 111-ness instead of calculating it. Perhaps we all have such wondrous powers running sub-rosa but they are obscured or sealed up by the exigencies of survival – to be kept safe from matches and their fire there is little use in knowing the form 111-ness. Savants have had the normal human powers used to navigate the world, ripped away by disease or a cruel roll of the DNA dice leaving the lone power that remains free to dominate by default.

For this week, focus on the form of your swing using the four circles as a guide. I believe that while you must learn the tangible mechanics of the swing such as grip and weight shift, you must play the game by allowing forms to cue your up your motor responses.