Are You A Good Player or Bad Player?

WHICH ARE YOU?????

You can learn a lot by comparing the same swing position of good and bad players. Below is Ryder Cup player Boo Weekley, one of the better ball strikers on the PGA Tour.  There are several things to note that are instructive.

 

 [1] Because Weekley started his downswing by transferring his weight to his left side, he simply continues the process until the weight is on the outer rim of his front foot toward the heel of his foot.

 

[2] The second thing to note is how fully released his core is – Boo is thick around the middle but still makes sure to keep his mid-section moving freely through the ball. Please remember: The core is the drum major in the weight flow parade.

 

[3] As part of his full body rotation, Weekley keeps his right shoulder chasing his left, assuring that he will not ‘run out of right arm’, an error that our amateur has fallen prey to. When this young player stops his shoulder rotation and simply hits with his arms, the trail arm is also stopped and that causes the club to wrap around the body, per Photo 2.

 

 

 

In addition to the arm wrap this golfer is on his toes, a sign he’s had trouble shifting his weight to his left foot to start the downswing. Weight on the toes triggers the neural program for jumping and to prevent falling over he will snap his spine upright – he’s now wrapped tight.

 

Note also how his chest, pelvis and shoulders appear frozen- the only body part he used to hit the ball was his arms and that’s not good enough when you play in the Honda pro-am at the very difficult Champions course at PGA National. 

A few years ago scientists discovered the mimic gene -- it controls our ability to learn by copying using a major tool i.e. the visual system. The morale: be careful who you watch.

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FEEL THE HEEL

 

A good golf grip activates the muscles you want to use in the golf swing while an incorrect grip encourages use of the wrong muscles.

 

By placing the grip under the heel pad, you free your wrists to hinge properly throughout the golf swing. To encourage the correct thumb length, take your grip with your arms fully extended in front of your chest and close your left hand [opposite for lefties] around the club handle. You should find that your left thumb falls slightly to the right of the top of the handle.  This places your wrist square to the clubface, which is important because when centrifugal force straightens your arms through impact, your wrist joint, elbow joint, and shoulder joint seek alignment.  Therefore the clubface must be set at address to prepare for the inevitable alignment of those joints.  (Note: Ignore the markings on the grip - they are not meant as guides for your hands).  

 Your target thumb [the thumb of the highest hand on your grip] plays a major role in the rotation of the clubface through impact. In addition to its anchoring capabilities, the position of your top thumb on the club handle determines the direction in which force is applied to the shaft during your release and therefore how much the face of your clubface will rotate through the impact. When your thumb is on the top of the shaft at address, the pressure exerts down the middle of the club shaft reducing clubface rotation through impact -- and unless there is compensation, you'll hit a fade or a slice. With your target thumb down the back of the shaft the direction of the force causes your clubface to rotate aggressively through impact imparting the characteristic spin of the draw shot.

         I use the medium thumb because it best fits the swing length I want.

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WEEK SEVEN

Below is the seventh week of your ‘When to do What” improvement calendar. You should spend this week thinking about your past golf shots – not simple reminiscing but something far more powerful – creating a bin of best shots that you’ll use to improve every swing you make in the future.

Greg Norman describes his Catalogue of Best Shots: "You want to file the good ones away for future reference. That way you'll be able to bring them back as part of another reinforcement technique--visualization. You envision the ideal shot, in detail. Then you recall successful similar shots from your past and draw confidence from those earlier successes. I can think of favorite shots for every situation I face and I call them forth each time I play."

You should compile a Catalogue of the Best Shots you have ever hit, just as Norman does.  Write down one for each club -- the best driver, the best wedge, where, when, how did it feel?   Further enhance your catalogue by listing best shots in challenging situations -- in a tight match, against a heavy cross-wind, over trees...  Then when your plan calls for a high five-iron, you can mentally reference your Catalogue of Best Shots and relive it as you retrace it. Science tells us that the central nervous system can’t tell the difference between a perfectly imagined/recalled experience and a real one so if you learn to recall the image of the most perfect five iron you ever hit with full imagery and then, with the feeling fresh in your imagination, let your body execute the current five iron free of any verbal conversation or instructions.

Vivid imagery is a skill a player can learn and I will cover this as part of next week’s colander.  In this regard choose your representatives carefully.  The most effective images are multi-sensorial -- shots that make you recall the rhythm of the swing, the sound of contact, the sight of the ball in flight, or any other feature that’s makes the memory vivid.  Whenever you play, be on the lookout for better shots with sharper images that are better than those currently in your catalogue.  Replay your best shots in your mind until you burn them into your memory.

  When your catalogue is complete, and your recollection vivid, you’ll have a brain stocked with the images necessary for you to play your best golf.  All you have to do is step out of the way.

Best drive

Best putt

Best sand shot

Best trouble shot

Best long iron

Best middle iron

Best short iron

Best chip

Best pitch

And so on

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Unfolding Process

Week 6:

 

    In a game where score is a benchmark of success it’s surprising how many golfers believe that their score is in direct relation to how well they swing the club; good swing = good score; bad swing = bad score. This concept excludes the idea of scoring well when you are swinging poorly, a must skill in a game where the best ball sticker ever, Ben Hogan said he expected to make only six good shots a round. Of course Hogan’s concept of good was a bit different than everyone else but none-the-less the point stands – the swing ain’t the only thing!

    This week cultivate the concept of golf as an unfolding process: As you progress from the tee, where by rule, all positions are equal, you either increase or decrease your positional advantage until you hole out -- the ultimate positional advantage.  This is the same process for every hole you play and to maximize your performance you need to develop a plan that maneuvers the ball to favorable positions just as the good billiard player controls the cue ball to run the table.  Thus the strategy for scoring golf is POSITION and those who consistently gain positional advantage consistently score well.

    POSITIONAL ADVANTAGE

    Like your swing concept, your golf game will never be any better than your concept of what a good golf game should be. If your concept of the game is hitting pretty shots, having fun or hitting it farther than the next player then you will focus all your energies toward your goal and scoring will become an afterthought.

    You may not even be aware that you're doing this and if somebody asked you, you'd say that score is most important, but subconsciously your priorities drive your behavior.  Scorers prioritize for low scores and use the swing as a vehicle.  How the shot effects their position is the important factor for scoring.  This way they keep a clear mind that can focus on their most important goal -- scoring.

 

If you can get on the golf course this week focus on the process of your play rather than your swing. If you’re snowed in watch one of the many tournaments on TV, pick a player and after you’ve watched them play, track them on PGAtour.com where their round is outlined shot by shot. You’re not looking at their swings but how they position the ball around the course.

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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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