"ช่วงนี้ผมไม่ค่อยเสถียรว่ะ.... " คำพูดติดปากของน้าอ้น(พี่รุ่นเพื่อน..เอ๊ย..เพื่อนรุ่นพี่)ที่มักจะพูดอยู่เสมอๆ ผมมักจะแอบคิดติดตลกในใจว่า....มันอะไรวะ ไอ้ความไม่เสถียรเนี่ย.. แต่พอมานั่งนึกย้อนดูดีๆูอีกทีก็ได้รู้ว่าี ไอ้เรามันก็เคยเกิดอาการนี้มาแล้วสองครั้งนี่หว่า มันเป็นยังไงเหรอ...สำหรับตัวผมแล้วมันก็คืออาการหวิวๆในท้อง จะอ้วก แปลกๆ ร่างกายไม่ค่อยสมดุลย์ แตไม่ใช่เพราะปัญหาเรื่องอะไรนะครับ เพราะไม่ว่าเรื่องอะไรสำหรับผมแล้วมันก็เหมือนกันทั้งนั้น วันนี้แก้ไม่ได้ พรุ่งนี้ค่อยว่ากันใหม่.. แต่ไอ้เรื่องที่ว่ามันก็คือเรื่องของหัวใจของผมเอง..ซึ่งมันก็เกิดขึ้น ณ ตอนที่มีความรักนั่นเอง
ไอ้อาการนี้นะ...ผมว่าเป็นกันทั้งบาง ตั้งแต่เด็กไปจนถึง ผู้ใหญ่ที่เริ่มจะหาสีดำบนหัวไม่ค่อยเจอแล้ว มันก็ต้องเคยเกิดขึ้นกับตัวเองมาแล้วทั้งนั้น
ด้วยการนึก คิด ถึง...คนๆนั้น อยู่ตลอดเวลา ณ ช่วงใดช่วงนึงของชีวิต จนลืมนึกถึงตัวของตัวเอง ผมเองโดนเข้ากับตัวเองเต็มๆถึงสองครั้ง..(แทบบ้า),(แต่มันก็มีความทรงจำดีๆให้ได้นึกถึงนะี) สุดท้ายพอผ่านมันมาได้ มันก็รู้ว่าต้องรักษาตัวเอง และดูแลหัวใจตัวเองให้มากขึ้น อย่าไปเป็นแบบนิ้... อย่าไปรักใครง่ายๆจนทำให้ไม่เป็นตัวของตัวเองอีก.. จนมันทำใหผมกลายเป็นคนปิดตัวเองและไม่ค่อยกล้าที่จะไปรักใครอีก ..และก็ดำเนินชีวิตโดดเดี่ยวสุดเหงาของตัวเองต่อไป..
"แต่ของอย่างนี้มันไม่เข้าใครออกใครหรอก" แมร่งงงง.. กลับมาอีกแล้วครับ คลื่นความรักระลอกล่าสุด เข้ามาฮิตเต็มๆ(ยังไม่สามารถระบุได้ว่าสาเหตุเกิดจากอะไร) ตกลงไปในหลุมอย่างจังเบอร์ ระบบในร่างกายเริ่มกระพริบเตือนถึงความไม่สมดุลย์...เริ่มไปคิดถึงใครอีกคนอีกแล้ว(แต่อาการอย่างนี้ผมก็ชอบนะ บางครั้งมันก็ช่วยกอบกู้หัวใจในยามที่อ่อนล้า เหนื่อยหน่ายและต้องการใครซักคนได้ดีเหลือเกิน)
แต่ด้วยเวลาของชีวิตที่เพิ่มขึ้นทกๆวัน มันได้สอนให้เริ่มที่จะรักใครได้โดยใช้แค่้ความคิดถึงที่มี นึกถึงเพื่อทำให้ใจมีความสุข เป็นกำลังใจและผ่านแต่ละวันไปได้โดยดีไม่มีความคาดหวังอะไรทั้งนั้น (ถ้าจะบอกว่าไม่คาดหวังอะไรเลย มันก็เกินไป.. อย่างนึงก็คือคาดหวังให้เค้าได้ดูแลตัวเองเยอะๆ พักผ่อนให้มากๆ ยังไงซะจะทำงานให้ดีได้ ร่างกายมันก็ต้องได้รับการพักผ่อนที่พอเพียงด้วย...จริงมั๊ย)
มีความสุขจัง....มีฟามสุขจัง
น้าอ้นครับ " ผมแม่ง..ไม่เสถียรว่ะ "
um0612 07/04/2007
10 years of Tiger Woods
In his first decade as a pro, he changed the game. Now what does he do?
By David Owen
Golf Digest
August 2006
A telling measure of how dramatically Tiger Woods has changed golf during the 10 years since he turned pro is the many ways in which he now seems old-fashioned. The game's most recent equipment revolution was fueled in part by the yearning of lesser players to catch up to him, yet his irons have the same specs as the irons he used when he was 14, meaning that his 9-iron has more loft than Phil Mickelson's pitching wedge. Woods' miles-long drives have been a major contributor to the obsession with distance off the tee, but he will surely be remembered less as a power hitter than as a shotmaker, a species once thought to be extinct. His work ethic, in the gym and on the practice range, is responsible for the hardened pectorals and diminished social lives of his competitors, yet he has managed to build a fulfilling private existence, and has found the time to take two-week ski vacations with his wife and various childhood buddies, to dive without scuba tanks above the Great Barrier Reef, to spearfish off the Cayman Islands, and to bungee-jump in New Zealand, as well as to compete in tournaments all over the world, to help run a major charitable foundation, and to assemble a portfolio of business interests worth hundreds of millions of dollars. When his career began, he was notable for the educated respect he paid to his athletic forebears--Nicklaus, mainly, but also Palmer, Hogan, Nelson, Jones and others, whose battlefield tactics he had studied since childhood, and whose deadliest weapons he has borrowed for his own arsenal; nowadays, history-minded youngsters think only of him.
Last November, I attended a big junior tournament in Georgia. Every talented teenager in the field was a child of Tiger Woods: The best players, boys and girls, played his game, with big drives, dazzling approaches, creative recoveries and fearless short games, and they looked like athletes because he looks like an athlete. (Nicklaus, early in his career, was called Fat Boy, Fat Jack, Blob-o and Whaleman.) On the PGA Tour last year, players named Charles Warren, Wes Short Jr. and Jeff Brehaut missed a combined 36 cuts, finished in the top three just three times among them--and won more than a million dollars each. They owe their jumbo mortgages to Woods, who is the main reason that the tour's total purse today is 3 1/2 times the size it was in 1996. When teenage LPGA stars Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel strut before the television cameras, announcing that victory is the only outcome that interests them, they are channeling Tiger Woods. The effect extends to Woods himself. On "60 Minutes" last March he said that when he plays alone, for fun, he likes to imagine that he's on the final hole in the U.S. Open, with a chance to win: Even Tiger Woods, it turns out, pretends to be Tiger Woods.
The next generation
The last part of the game to be transformed by Woods will be the one that almost everyone thought would be the first: In 1996, he became the first black American to earn his first PGA Tour card since Adrian Stills in 1985; a decade later, we're still waiting for the second. "It takes time," Woods told me in January. "In the inner cities, where a lot of the kids are underserved and are minorities, golf is still not a realistic sport. You can always find a basketball hoop, anywhere, but if you're in Harlem you can't say, 'Let's go hit some balls; let's go play Winged Foot.' " This is undeniably true. The paradox is that Woods, who has done more than anyone to broaden golf's constituency, has also, by extending the game's appeal among young people of all backgrounds, pushed the biggest prizes further out of reach. Because of him, the game's next superstars will almost certainly be gifted athletes who started early and had years of high-level competitive experience and intensive specialized training, as he did. That means that the next Tiger Woods is more likely than ever to emerge from the world of private clubs and sports academies, rather than from the inner cities or the caddie yards.
Even so, Woods has cracked golf all the way through. When Tiger won his first Masters, in 1997, Lee Elder said, "After today, no one will turn their head when a black man walks to the first tee." Elder was talking about that tournament in particular, but his comment applies to all first tees. Post-Woods, the indefensible is considerably harder to defend. Truly changing the ugliest parts of American country-club culture will take time--but it will take less time than it would have taken if he hadn't come along. Six years ago, Earl Woods told me, "Tiger has already transcended the game of golf. The next step is for him to be someone on the world scale who makes an impact on humanity, and that is what he is going to be doing."
"The Earl of Woods," as he sometimes called himself, was never one to make modest predictions for his son, but that doesn't mean he was a flake. Of all the many lessons he taught Tiger, the greatest was his insistence--which he repeated virtually from the cradle onward--that outsize natural gifts carry outsize moral obligations. How many other great athletes (or their parents) can honestly claim to believe the same thing? In 1993, some members of the American Ryder Cup team threatened to boycott a pre-tournament visit to the White House to protest President Clinton's tax plan, which increased the top marginal income-tax rate to 39.5 percent. That's what passed for social awareness among professional golfers in the pre-Tiger era. Woods, in contrast, seems determined to leave the world a better place than he found it, and not just for himself. He is also that rarest of modern sports superstars, one whose athletic records and private life are untainted by even the rumor of scandal. The worst his critics can say is that he has a penchant for swearing after bad shots and placing the occasional wager, and he employs an overzealous caddie. Earl Woods also often said, "As good a golfer as Tiger is, he's a better person." Given how good a golfer he is, that almost has to be a stretcher--but who knows? Earl wasn't wrong about a lot.
Mainly, of course, Tiger's gift to the rest of us has been his golf. For 10 years, he has dominated the game in a way that, at this stage in its history, ought to be mathematically impossible. (On the World Golf Ranking, the difference between Woods' points average and that of the No. 2 player exceeds the points average of all but three players--meaning that Woods has enough points to simultaneously be ranked as both the best and fifth-best golfers in the world.) Even his record during his two so-called slumps--the months-long periods when he was renovating his game, treating history's best swing as a tear-down--would constitute a highly respectable lifetime career for the vast majority of the guys who have ever played on tour, because even when Woods is struggling he manages to make cuts, contend in the majors and win the occasional tournament. Comparisons across athletic generations are always unfair--there is simply no way of guessing how Hogan or Nelson would have played if they'd been born in 1975, or what Woods' record might have been if his principal rival had been Paul Runyan, the tour's leading money-winner in 1934--but they're irresistible nevertheless. Here are two historical facts to think about: Nicklaus played most of his career at a time when professional golf was a comparatively tiny game (the world's best players in his prime were mostly American, whereas 14 of the 20 top golfers in the world today were born outside the United States), and he rarely had to endure the suffocating public attention that has followed Woods from the beginning (only a small fraction of the shots that Nicklaus struck in his PGA Tour career were even shown on TV). Yet Woods has been so dominant that sportswriters have sometimes accused his rivals of not trying hard enough.
Can it really have been a decade? In 2000, at an event in Oklahoma City sponsored by his foundation, Woods looked back on the opening day of his professional career. "That first tee shot is always difficult, I'm telling you," he said, before a crowd that consisted mainly of children. "When I first turned pro, I'll never forget, in Milwaukee, I teed up my golf ball, put my club down, and thought: I'm fine, no big deal, I can do this. I took the club back, and, I swear, it felt like it took about 15 seconds for that club to get to the top of my swing. It was so heavy. I have never experienced anything like that in my life. But I got through it, and, luckily, my ball went out there 330."
And so on, for 10 unforgettable years.
By David Owen
Golf Digest
August 2006
A telling measure of how dramatically Tiger Woods has changed golf during the 10 years since he turned pro is the many ways in which he now seems old-fashioned. The game's most recent equipment revolution was fueled in part by the yearning of lesser players to catch up to him, yet his irons have the same specs as the irons he used when he was 14, meaning that his 9-iron has more loft than Phil Mickelson's pitching wedge. Woods' miles-long drives have been a major contributor to the obsession with distance off the tee, but he will surely be remembered less as a power hitter than as a shotmaker, a species once thought to be extinct. His work ethic, in the gym and on the practice range, is responsible for the hardened pectorals and diminished social lives of his competitors, yet he has managed to build a fulfilling private existence, and has found the time to take two-week ski vacations with his wife and various childhood buddies, to dive without scuba tanks above the Great Barrier Reef, to spearfish off the Cayman Islands, and to bungee-jump in New Zealand, as well as to compete in tournaments all over the world, to help run a major charitable foundation, and to assemble a portfolio of business interests worth hundreds of millions of dollars. When his career began, he was notable for the educated respect he paid to his athletic forebears--Nicklaus, mainly, but also Palmer, Hogan, Nelson, Jones and others, whose battlefield tactics he had studied since childhood, and whose deadliest weapons he has borrowed for his own arsenal; nowadays, history-minded youngsters think only of him.
Last November, I attended a big junior tournament in Georgia. Every talented teenager in the field was a child of Tiger Woods: The best players, boys and girls, played his game, with big drives, dazzling approaches, creative recoveries and fearless short games, and they looked like athletes because he looks like an athlete. (Nicklaus, early in his career, was called Fat Boy, Fat Jack, Blob-o and Whaleman.) On the PGA Tour last year, players named Charles Warren, Wes Short Jr. and Jeff Brehaut missed a combined 36 cuts, finished in the top three just three times among them--and won more than a million dollars each. They owe their jumbo mortgages to Woods, who is the main reason that the tour's total purse today is 3 1/2 times the size it was in 1996. When teenage LPGA stars Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel strut before the television cameras, announcing that victory is the only outcome that interests them, they are channeling Tiger Woods. The effect extends to Woods himself. On "60 Minutes" last March he said that when he plays alone, for fun, he likes to imagine that he's on the final hole in the U.S. Open, with a chance to win: Even Tiger Woods, it turns out, pretends to be Tiger Woods.
The next generation
The last part of the game to be transformed by Woods will be the one that almost everyone thought would be the first: In 1996, he became the first black American to earn his first PGA Tour card since Adrian Stills in 1985; a decade later, we're still waiting for the second. "It takes time," Woods told me in January. "In the inner cities, where a lot of the kids are underserved and are minorities, golf is still not a realistic sport. You can always find a basketball hoop, anywhere, but if you're in Harlem you can't say, 'Let's go hit some balls; let's go play Winged Foot.' " This is undeniably true. The paradox is that Woods, who has done more than anyone to broaden golf's constituency, has also, by extending the game's appeal among young people of all backgrounds, pushed the biggest prizes further out of reach. Because of him, the game's next superstars will almost certainly be gifted athletes who started early and had years of high-level competitive experience and intensive specialized training, as he did. That means that the next Tiger Woods is more likely than ever to emerge from the world of private clubs and sports academies, rather than from the inner cities or the caddie yards.
Even so, Woods has cracked golf all the way through. When Tiger won his first Masters, in 1997, Lee Elder said, "After today, no one will turn their head when a black man walks to the first tee." Elder was talking about that tournament in particular, but his comment applies to all first tees. Post-Woods, the indefensible is considerably harder to defend. Truly changing the ugliest parts of American country-club culture will take time--but it will take less time than it would have taken if he hadn't come along. Six years ago, Earl Woods told me, "Tiger has already transcended the game of golf. The next step is for him to be someone on the world scale who makes an impact on humanity, and that is what he is going to be doing."
"The Earl of Woods," as he sometimes called himself, was never one to make modest predictions for his son, but that doesn't mean he was a flake. Of all the many lessons he taught Tiger, the greatest was his insistence--which he repeated virtually from the cradle onward--that outsize natural gifts carry outsize moral obligations. How many other great athletes (or their parents) can honestly claim to believe the same thing? In 1993, some members of the American Ryder Cup team threatened to boycott a pre-tournament visit to the White House to protest President Clinton's tax plan, which increased the top marginal income-tax rate to 39.5 percent. That's what passed for social awareness among professional golfers in the pre-Tiger era. Woods, in contrast, seems determined to leave the world a better place than he found it, and not just for himself. He is also that rarest of modern sports superstars, one whose athletic records and private life are untainted by even the rumor of scandal. The worst his critics can say is that he has a penchant for swearing after bad shots and placing the occasional wager, and he employs an overzealous caddie. Earl Woods also often said, "As good a golfer as Tiger is, he's a better person." Given how good a golfer he is, that almost has to be a stretcher--but who knows? Earl wasn't wrong about a lot.
Mainly, of course, Tiger's gift to the rest of us has been his golf. For 10 years, he has dominated the game in a way that, at this stage in its history, ought to be mathematically impossible. (On the World Golf Ranking, the difference between Woods' points average and that of the No. 2 player exceeds the points average of all but three players--meaning that Woods has enough points to simultaneously be ranked as both the best and fifth-best golfers in the world.) Even his record during his two so-called slumps--the months-long periods when he was renovating his game, treating history's best swing as a tear-down--would constitute a highly respectable lifetime career for the vast majority of the guys who have ever played on tour, because even when Woods is struggling he manages to make cuts, contend in the majors and win the occasional tournament. Comparisons across athletic generations are always unfair--there is simply no way of guessing how Hogan or Nelson would have played if they'd been born in 1975, or what Woods' record might have been if his principal rival had been Paul Runyan, the tour's leading money-winner in 1934--but they're irresistible nevertheless. Here are two historical facts to think about: Nicklaus played most of his career at a time when professional golf was a comparatively tiny game (the world's best players in his prime were mostly American, whereas 14 of the 20 top golfers in the world today were born outside the United States), and he rarely had to endure the suffocating public attention that has followed Woods from the beginning (only a small fraction of the shots that Nicklaus struck in his PGA Tour career were even shown on TV). Yet Woods has been so dominant that sportswriters have sometimes accused his rivals of not trying hard enough.
Can it really have been a decade? In 2000, at an event in Oklahoma City sponsored by his foundation, Woods looked back on the opening day of his professional career. "That first tee shot is always difficult, I'm telling you," he said, before a crowd that consisted mainly of children. "When I first turned pro, I'll never forget, in Milwaukee, I teed up my golf ball, put my club down, and thought: I'm fine, no big deal, I can do this. I took the club back, and, I swear, it felt like it took about 15 seconds for that club to get to the top of my swing. It was so heavy. I have never experienced anything like that in my life. But I got through it, and, luckily, my ball went out there 330."
And so on, for 10 unforgettable years.
Create a powerful back swing
Do this
Not this 
What you should do instead
Turn with your chest
As you take away the club, focus on turning your chest away from the target—your arms, hands and club are just along for the ride. This creates the controlled coil you need for big drives.
Keep your left arm firm
Overswinging and power loss occur when you collapse your elbows on the way to the top, which drops your hands toward your head. Instead, maintain a firm left arm and try to keep your hands as far away from your head as possible to create maximum width.
The Drill to Make it Happen
How to make your backswing more compact and create more coil
The story is for you if...
* Your driving is inconsistent
* Your distance doesn't match your swing speed
* You make contact on the toe or heel more than in the center
The Problem
In an attempt to create more power you swing for the fences and bring your club way past parallel at the top.
Conventional wisdom and why it's wrong
Everyone tells you to make a three-quarter swing. Problem is, when you shorten a bad swing, you get a short bad swing.
1. Your backswing can only be as big as your flexibility allows, but that shouldn't stop you from creating maximum width. Start your swing by keeping both arms straight until the shaft is parallel to the ground (hands at waist height).
2. Stop your swing and cock your wrists (keeping your left wrist flat) until the butt of the shaft points just inside your target line.
3. Without lifting your arms or bending your left elbow, turn your chest away from the target and fold your right elbow 90 degrees. Check that your hands are far away from your head. Now you're coiled and in control.
Not this 
What you should do instead
Turn with your chest
As you take away the club, focus on turning your chest away from the target—your arms, hands and club are just along for the ride. This creates the controlled coil you need for big drives.
Keep your left arm firm
Overswinging and power loss occur when you collapse your elbows on the way to the top, which drops your hands toward your head. Instead, maintain a firm left arm and try to keep your hands as far away from your head as possible to create maximum width.
The Drill to Make it Happen
How to make your backswing more compact and create more coil
The story is for you if...
* Your driving is inconsistent
* Your distance doesn't match your swing speed
* You make contact on the toe or heel more than in the center
The Problem
In an attempt to create more power you swing for the fences and bring your club way past parallel at the top.
Conventional wisdom and why it's wrong
Everyone tells you to make a three-quarter swing. Problem is, when you shorten a bad swing, you get a short bad swing.
1. Your backswing can only be as big as your flexibility allows, but that shouldn't stop you from creating maximum width. Start your swing by keeping both arms straight until the shaft is parallel to the ground (hands at waist height).
2. Stop your swing and cock your wrists (keeping your left wrist flat) until the butt of the shaft points just inside your target line.
3. Without lifting your arms or bending your left elbow, turn your chest away from the target and fold your right elbow 90 degrees. Check that your hands are far away from your head. Now you're coiled and in control.
Putting to die for
Try this less aggressive approach to sink more putts
The young Tiger was an aggressive putter who often faced comebackers from tricky distances. Today he's much more of a "die" putter, and the ball tumbles into the hole with its last gasp. This slower speed means he has fewer long comeback putts if he misses, and ups the chances that he'll lip instead of lip out.
Good die putters like Tiger hit their putts with minimum pace necessary to get the ball to the hole, so it's slowing down as it reaches the cup. Only by hitting the sweetspot consistently can you program how much speed and velocity you need to make the ball go the correct distance--ideally, 17 inches past the cup should the ball miss the hole.
Don't peek
During the stroke, nothing moves from the neck up or the belt line down. Tiger's head doesn't budge until the ball is gone. There is no unnecessary body movement that might cause him to miss the sweetspot. The face stays square to the arc longer, promoting solid contact.
Drills
Heads or tails?
When you putt, pretend there's a coin underneath your ball. After you've stroked the putt don't look up until you've determined whether the face of the coin is heads or tails. Then swivel your head and look. By focusing on the coin, you're sure to keep your head still.
Find the sweetspot
Practice putting with two Band-Aids stuck on your putterface as shown, leaving the sweetspot uncovered. This will give you instant feedback on whether you're hitting the sweetspot or not. If you hit either Band-Aid the ball will travel only half the distance you expect it to. The more consistently you're able to hit the sweetspot, the better pace and distance control you will have.
Darrell Kestner, a GOLF MAGAZINE Top 100 Teacher, is head professional at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, NY.
The young Tiger was an aggressive putter who often faced comebackers from tricky distances. Today he's much more of a "die" putter, and the ball tumbles into the hole with its last gasp. This slower speed means he has fewer long comeback putts if he misses, and ups the chances that he'll lip instead of lip out.
Good die putters like Tiger hit their putts with minimum pace necessary to get the ball to the hole, so it's slowing down as it reaches the cup. Only by hitting the sweetspot consistently can you program how much speed and velocity you need to make the ball go the correct distance--ideally, 17 inches past the cup should the ball miss the hole.
Don't peek
During the stroke, nothing moves from the neck up or the belt line down. Tiger's head doesn't budge until the ball is gone. There is no unnecessary body movement that might cause him to miss the sweetspot. The face stays square to the arc longer, promoting solid contact.
Drills
Heads or tails?
When you putt, pretend there's a coin underneath your ball. After you've stroked the putt don't look up until you've determined whether the face of the coin is heads or tails. Then swivel your head and look. By focusing on the coin, you're sure to keep your head still.
Find the sweetspot
Practice putting with two Band-Aids stuck on your putterface as shown, leaving the sweetspot uncovered. This will give you instant feedback on whether you're hitting the sweetspot or not. If you hit either Band-Aid the ball will travel only half the distance you expect it to. The more consistently you're able to hit the sweetspot, the better pace and distance control you will have.
Darrell Kestner, a GOLF MAGAZINE Top 100 Teacher, is head professional at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, NY.
The righty recovery
One of the tougher recovery shots you're bound to run into is when your ball sits in such a way -- for example, up against the wrong side of a tree -- that you can't make your normal left-handed swing. You don't have to take an unplayable or twist into a pretzel to get out of the jam. Instead, go for a safe recovery by turning the club over and playing the shot "righty."
To play the right-handed recovery, reverse what you do for a left-handed shot. This is easier said than done, but here are a few tips.
Grip: Reverse the positions of the hands, placing the right below the left, using whatever grip feels most comfortable. The baseball grip may be the best bet since you're not trying to make the fingers mesh or overlap. Hold the club firmly but don't choke it.
Address: Set up square and assume your normal posture. Concentrate on using both hands to bring the club back and through in a rhythmic motion; don't stab at the ball. Imagine the same action you'd make to hit a backhand shot in tennis. Most important, keep your head still and make contact. The worst thing you can do is "whiff" the ball: It counts as a shot and leaves you the same tough lie. So concentrate on hitting the ball; even a topped shot should move it far enough from the obstruction to let you swing normally at the next one.
The club you use depends upon the situation. If it isn't important to get the ball in the air, use the back of a straight-faced club, such as a 3-iron, or, if you have a blade putter, the "wrong" side of that. If loft is important, turn your wedge over: The high face will give you a broader surface to make contact with. Turn the club in your fingers until you get the amount of loft you want.
Finally, don't try to hit the righty shot without first practicing it.
Good player's nemesis
As a better player, solid ball-striking generally isn't a problem for you. Your body instinctively knows how to get the center of the clubface on the ball. That's what makes hitting from downhill lies so frustrating: Your natural instincts don't automatically kick in and ensure solid contact. The downhill lie is a difficult situation that confounds even the best players, but a few rules of thumb will help your consistency.
BALL BACK IN STANCE
To compensate for the downhill slope, you must make a steep downswing into the hitting area. On a moderate downslope, play the ball about three inches farther back in your stance than normal; this encourages the steep downswing angle you need. But be aware that this also delofts the clubface; for example, it may turn a 7-iron into a 5-iron.
DON'T HIT LESS CLUB
Despite the reduced loft, stick with the club you would ordinarily hit. There are a few reasons why. First, the downhill lie is best handled with a three-quarter swing to promote the descending blow. Second, it's a good idea to choke up on the grip for added control. And third, it's important to swing easy, since the hill magnifies any deviation from a square clubface and an easier swing provides your best chance of squaring the face at impact. Add these things together and you've compensated for the reduced loft.
BACKSWING: STAY COMPACT
There's less margin for error on a downhill lie, so it's important not to move your center of gravity much during the backswing. Anchor your weight on the left leg at address, match your shoulder line to the angle of the downslope, and keep your weight right as you swing back. Take the club back with the arms, make an abbreviated turn with the shoulders, and feel as if you haven't moved much behind the ball. Your hands shouldn't reach much higher than the left shoulder and the clubshaft should be well short of parallel at the top.
DOWNSWING: SMOOTH EXTENSION
The downswing on a downhill lie must be as smooth and controlled as the backswing, even though the impulse is to let everything go and swing hard. If you fall victim to this, you'll lunge at the ball and invariably mishit it.
Here's a better plan: Without feeling like your entire body is drifting down the hill, let your weight transfer to the downhill leg and drop the clubhead into the back of the ball. Let gravity do most of the work; it's a good way to stay smooth. Through impact, focus on extending your arms as far as possible down the hill, pointing the club at the target as you follow through. The more you extend your arms without letting your upper body move down the hill, the longer you'll keep the clubface square to the target.
BALL BACK IN STANCE
To compensate for the downhill slope, you must make a steep downswing into the hitting area. On a moderate downslope, play the ball about three inches farther back in your stance than normal; this encourages the steep downswing angle you need. But be aware that this also delofts the clubface; for example, it may turn a 7-iron into a 5-iron.
DON'T HIT LESS CLUB
Despite the reduced loft, stick with the club you would ordinarily hit. There are a few reasons why. First, the downhill lie is best handled with a three-quarter swing to promote the descending blow. Second, it's a good idea to choke up on the grip for added control. And third, it's important to swing easy, since the hill magnifies any deviation from a square clubface and an easier swing provides your best chance of squaring the face at impact. Add these things together and you've compensated for the reduced loft.
BACKSWING: STAY COMPACT
There's less margin for error on a downhill lie, so it's important not to move your center of gravity much during the backswing. Anchor your weight on the left leg at address, match your shoulder line to the angle of the downslope, and keep your weight right as you swing back. Take the club back with the arms, make an abbreviated turn with the shoulders, and feel as if you haven't moved much behind the ball. Your hands shouldn't reach much higher than the left shoulder and the clubshaft should be well short of parallel at the top.
DOWNSWING: SMOOTH EXTENSION
The downswing on a downhill lie must be as smooth and controlled as the backswing, even though the impulse is to let everything go and swing hard. If you fall victim to this, you'll lunge at the ball and invariably mishit it.
Here's a better plan: Without feeling like your entire body is drifting down the hill, let your weight transfer to the downhill leg and drop the clubhead into the back of the ball. Let gravity do most of the work; it's a good way to stay smooth. Through impact, focus on extending your arms as far as possible down the hill, pointing the club at the target as you follow through. The more you extend your arms without letting your upper body move down the hill, the longer you'll keep the clubface square to the target.
Easy sand shots
What's worse than hitting an approach shot into sand? Stepping into the bunker and flailing away with words like "dig," "blast," or "explode" in your head. The last thing you want is for sand shots to become an exercise in, well, exercise. With the proper technique, your basic sand shot can be just as smooth and relaxed as an easy half-wedge from the fairway.
The key to easy-swinging sand shots is taking less sand. But rather than making contact closer to the ball, take a shallower angle of attack. One adjustment in your set-up should do the trick: Don't aim your feet so far to the right. Lay the face of your wedge open, so it points left of the target, and play the ball forward, opposite your front foot. Make a smooth swing along your stance line, holding the blade open through impact. Rather than exploding through the sand, you should feel as if you're "nipping" the ball off the surface. Done correctly, the ball will stop quickly after landing.
The key to easy-swinging sand shots is taking less sand. But rather than making contact closer to the ball, take a shallower angle of attack. One adjustment in your set-up should do the trick: Don't aim your feet so far to the right. Lay the face of your wedge open, so it points left of the target, and play the ball forward, opposite your front foot. Make a smooth swing along your stance line, holding the blade open through impact. Rather than exploding through the sand, you should feel as if you're "nipping" the ball off the surface. Done correctly, the ball will stop quickly after landing.
Handling "The Dunes"
You don't always get a flat lie when your ball finds a bunker. Hilly lies in the sand require adjustments in technique to help you get the ball close to the hole.
UPSLOPE
When the ball is on an upslope, a normal explosion swing is risky: It's easy to take too much sand and pop the ball up without enough carry to reach the pin -- or even the green. Counter this by adjusting your stance to fit the slope. With an open clubface, stand open with the ball slightly farther back than usual. Drop your left shoulder lower than your right: This allows you to swing up along the slope with your arms, so you cut a shallow divot and get the carry you need. The ball will still come out higher, so don't expect much roll.
DOWNSLOPE
Although hitting the ball off the downslope is a more difficult shot than off the upslope, the idea is the same: Adjust your stance to fit the hill. Your stance and clubface should be a little more open than usual, and the ball slightly forward in your stance. Keep your left shoulder high and make a steep, upright backswing by lifting the club with your hands and arms. On the downswing, focus on two things to avoid hitting the ball thin: Maintain your knee flex and try to dig sharply behind the ball. There's little chance of taking too much sand off the downhill lie.
BALL ABOVE FEET
The key to sidehill lies is adjusting your stance and setup to make your swing as "normal'' as possible.
When the ball is above your feet, don't lean back or try to swing on a flatter plane. Stand as you would for a normal lie, but choke down to the bottom of your grip to counter the change in elevation. With an open clubface, take the club back outside the target line and then swing through along the line of your open stance. If you let your left hand pass over the right, the slope will send the ball right, so keep your hands quiet as the club cuts through the sand.
BALL BELOW FEET
Like the downhill lie, this one is the more difficult shot. For the most normal swing, avoid bending excessively from the waist to reach the ball. Instead, grip at the end of the club and flex your knees to lower yourself. With an open stance and clubface, swing the club back with your arms, then swing through along the line of your feet. To make sure you stay down, drive your knees toward the target through impact. The slope will send the ball to the left if your hands are too lazy, so concentrate on releasing the club as you splash the ball out.
UPSLOPE
When the ball is on an upslope, a normal explosion swing is risky: It's easy to take too much sand and pop the ball up without enough carry to reach the pin -- or even the green. Counter this by adjusting your stance to fit the slope. With an open clubface, stand open with the ball slightly farther back than usual. Drop your left shoulder lower than your right: This allows you to swing up along the slope with your arms, so you cut a shallow divot and get the carry you need. The ball will still come out higher, so don't expect much roll.
DOWNSLOPE
Although hitting the ball off the downslope is a more difficult shot than off the upslope, the idea is the same: Adjust your stance to fit the hill. Your stance and clubface should be a little more open than usual, and the ball slightly forward in your stance. Keep your left shoulder high and make a steep, upright backswing by lifting the club with your hands and arms. On the downswing, focus on two things to avoid hitting the ball thin: Maintain your knee flex and try to dig sharply behind the ball. There's little chance of taking too much sand off the downhill lie.
BALL ABOVE FEET
The key to sidehill lies is adjusting your stance and setup to make your swing as "normal'' as possible.
When the ball is above your feet, don't lean back or try to swing on a flatter plane. Stand as you would for a normal lie, but choke down to the bottom of your grip to counter the change in elevation. With an open clubface, take the club back outside the target line and then swing through along the line of your open stance. If you let your left hand pass over the right, the slope will send the ball right, so keep your hands quiet as the club cuts through the sand.
BALL BELOW FEET
Like the downhill lie, this one is the more difficult shot. For the most normal swing, avoid bending excessively from the waist to reach the ball. Instead, grip at the end of the club and flex your knees to lower yourself. With an open stance and clubface, swing the club back with your arms, then swing through along the line of your feet. To make sure you stay down, drive your knees toward the target through impact. The slope will send the ball to the left if your hands are too lazy, so concentrate on releasing the club as you splash the ball out.
Mind your V's and U's
There are two shots that nearly every golfer can use some work on: the long and short explosions from sand. Mastering these shots can save par when bogey seems likely and prevent an occasional bad shot from launching you on a string of bad holes.
SHORT EXPLOSION: PICTURE A "V"
Most players have trouble with very short explosions because they are scared of hitting the ball too long. The result is a tentative, decelerating swing that results in a mishit. Or, abandoning any hope of getting the ball close, they blast to a safe spot on the green nowhere near the hole. There is a better option.
Take your sand wedge, or better, a 60-degree wedge, and lay the face wide open, so much so that it points straight up to the sky. Set up as you would for a normal explosion-open, with the ball just ahead of your right heel, except with your feet a little closer together than usual-just inside shoulder width. To swing the club on the proper path and pop the ball up high and short, picture a large letter "V," with the ball at the bottom.
Concentrate only on making the clubhead travel abruptly upward and downward, along the line of the "V," and striking the sand two inches behind the ball. You don't have to follow through by completing the other side of the "V"; you don't even have to worry about powering the club through the sand. As long as you accelerate firmly downward behind the ball, you will generate enough force to produce a steep, but short trajectory.
LONG EXPLOSION: PICTURE A "U"
A shallower, more sweeping swing is required for a long explosion, so picture a wide letter "U." Use your pitching wedge, which has less loft and will make the shot fly lower and longer, and open the face. Take a slightly open stance, your feet shoulder-width apart. Swing back along the path of the "U": low and shallow. Swing forward on that same path, contacting the sand about an inch behind the ball and sweeping it forward.
In this case, follow-through is important: Make a full finish to guarantee that you get the club through the sand and send the ball forward on its low, long flight.
SHORT EXPLOSION: PICTURE A "V"
Most players have trouble with very short explosions because they are scared of hitting the ball too long. The result is a tentative, decelerating swing that results in a mishit. Or, abandoning any hope of getting the ball close, they blast to a safe spot on the green nowhere near the hole. There is a better option.
Take your sand wedge, or better, a 60-degree wedge, and lay the face wide open, so much so that it points straight up to the sky. Set up as you would for a normal explosion-open, with the ball just ahead of your right heel, except with your feet a little closer together than usual-just inside shoulder width. To swing the club on the proper path and pop the ball up high and short, picture a large letter "V," with the ball at the bottom.
Concentrate only on making the clubhead travel abruptly upward and downward, along the line of the "V," and striking the sand two inches behind the ball. You don't have to follow through by completing the other side of the "V"; you don't even have to worry about powering the club through the sand. As long as you accelerate firmly downward behind the ball, you will generate enough force to produce a steep, but short trajectory.
LONG EXPLOSION: PICTURE A "U"
A shallower, more sweeping swing is required for a long explosion, so picture a wide letter "U." Use your pitching wedge, which has less loft and will make the shot fly lower and longer, and open the face. Take a slightly open stance, your feet shoulder-width apart. Swing back along the path of the "U": low and shallow. Swing forward on that same path, contacting the sand about an inch behind the ball and sweeping it forward.
In this case, follow-through is important: Make a full finish to guarantee that you get the club through the sand and send the ball forward on its low, long flight.
Customize your putting grip
In some situations, the most effective way to break out of a slump is with a slight tweaking of fundamentals. The putting grip is a good example: Traditional instruction recommends a reverse overlap grip, with the entire left hand on the club and both thumbs running down the center of the shaft. It's a great grip for most golfers, but if you're having trouble finding the hole, deviating from this grip position may be exactly what you need to put your putts on the straight and narrow. Here are a few possibilities to consider.
SPEED CONTROL: DOUBLE-REVERSE OVERLAP
If you are running putts well past the hole or leaving them consistently short, emphasize the left hand. Most golfers use the left hand to control the speed of the putterhead during the stroke. Hit a few putts holding the club in the left hand alone and you'll notice that the through-stroke feels very natural and it takes only subtle changes to control distance. You might even try playing a few rounds this way, but it's tough on short putts. For a happy medium, try the double-reverse overlap. It's similar to a reverse overlap, but let both the middle and forefingers of the right hand overlap the left and, instead of running the right thumb down the shaft, rest it on top of the left thumb. This will give you just enough right hand for a sense of stability while placing most of the control in the left.
DIRECTION CONTROL: MODIFIED RIGHT-HAND LOW
Traditionally, the end of the putter grip rests in the palm of the right hand while the back of the right hand is parallel to the clubface, facing the target line. If the right hand turns, the clubface does, too. If you're having problems keeping the clubface square, working on the right hand may be the answer.
To feel this work, grip the putter in the right hand, the back parallel to the clubface, and set the clubhead behind a ball. Without making a backswing, push the ball toward the hole. You'll find that wherever the back of your right hand goes, so does the ball.
A good way to increase right-hand control and clubface stability is with a modified right-hand low, or cross-handed, grip. Hold the club in the palm of your right hand, about four inches below the end of the grip, the thumb running down the center of the shaft. Put your left hand on the grip above your right (the reverse of a normal grip), with the palm facing the target. To keep the right hand in control, run the forefinger of the left hand down the shaft, across the fingers of the right, then wrap the thumb and remaining three fingers of the left hand around the base of the right wrist. This grip is similar to that used by Bernhard Langer, except that instead of extending the right hand down to the shaft, his hands remain together.
SPEED CONTROL: DOUBLE-REVERSE OVERLAP
If you are running putts well past the hole or leaving them consistently short, emphasize the left hand. Most golfers use the left hand to control the speed of the putterhead during the stroke. Hit a few putts holding the club in the left hand alone and you'll notice that the through-stroke feels very natural and it takes only subtle changes to control distance. You might even try playing a few rounds this way, but it's tough on short putts. For a happy medium, try the double-reverse overlap. It's similar to a reverse overlap, but let both the middle and forefingers of the right hand overlap the left and, instead of running the right thumb down the shaft, rest it on top of the left thumb. This will give you just enough right hand for a sense of stability while placing most of the control in the left.
DIRECTION CONTROL: MODIFIED RIGHT-HAND LOW
Traditionally, the end of the putter grip rests in the palm of the right hand while the back of the right hand is parallel to the clubface, facing the target line. If the right hand turns, the clubface does, too. If you're having problems keeping the clubface square, working on the right hand may be the answer.
To feel this work, grip the putter in the right hand, the back parallel to the clubface, and set the clubhead behind a ball. Without making a backswing, push the ball toward the hole. You'll find that wherever the back of your right hand goes, so does the ball.
A good way to increase right-hand control and clubface stability is with a modified right-hand low, or cross-handed, grip. Hold the club in the palm of your right hand, about four inches below the end of the grip, the thumb running down the center of the shaft. Put your left hand on the grip above your right (the reverse of a normal grip), with the palm facing the target. To keep the right hand in control, run the forefinger of the left hand down the shaft, across the fingers of the right, then wrap the thumb and remaining three fingers of the left hand around the base of the right wrist. This grip is similar to that used by Bernhard Langer, except that instead of extending the right hand down to the shaft, his hands remain together.
Putt stock still
Most off-line putts can be traced to the same simple fault: Allowing your head to move during the stroke. When your head moves, because you're either watching the blade or the ball, your body also moves slightly, changing the path of the clubhead so the ball is either pushed or pulled off the intended line. Take heart, even the pros wrestle with this fundamental mistake.
Some players move their heads because they want to watch the ball roll the entire way to the hole. There are several ways to hold your head still until after impact: Retain the position of your spine throughout the stroke while your shoulders swivel around it (if the spine stays still, the body and head will, too). On short putts, listen for the ball to drop in the hole instead of trying to watch it. Keep your head in place until the putterhead has moved past your right ear.
Head movement also may be the result of trying to watch the putterhead swing back and through. Shift your focus from the putter to the ball. Turn the ball so the label is in back and stare at it until after contact.
Another cure for the bobbing head is not to look down at all, but to swivel the head so it's trained on the target throughout the stroke. This is a radical solution -- Tom Kite was using it earlier this year -- but one that might work as a way to freeze your head and body while also ingraining good rhythm and tempo in your stroke.
Some players move their heads because they want to watch the ball roll the entire way to the hole. There are several ways to hold your head still until after impact: Retain the position of your spine throughout the stroke while your shoulders swivel around it (if the spine stays still, the body and head will, too). On short putts, listen for the ball to drop in the hole instead of trying to watch it. Keep your head in place until the putterhead has moved past your right ear.
Head movement also may be the result of trying to watch the putterhead swing back and through. Shift your focus from the putter to the ball. Turn the ball so the label is in back and stare at it until after contact.
Another cure for the bobbing head is not to look down at all, but to swivel the head so it's trained on the target throughout the stroke. This is a radical solution -- Tom Kite was using it earlier this year -- but one that might work as a way to freeze your head and body while also ingraining good rhythm and tempo in your stroke.
Use different club for chiping
Which club do you grab when your ball is sitting just off the green? Do you always chip with the same one? Using the same club from a variety of distances off the green has a big drawback: You have to change the force of your stroke from soft for short chips to hard for long ones. A more reliable way to get the ball up and down is by varying the club rather than the force of the stroke.
Think of the chip shot as a long approach putt, the main objective being to get the ball on the green as soon as possible and running it up to the hole. If the ball rests a few feet from the surface -- so there's little fringe to fly over -- a low-lofted club such as a 4- or 5-iron will do the trick. Use a more lofted club as you move farther from the green. Using different clubs lets you make the same stroke, with little variation in force, for more consistent results.
The chipping motion should resemble your putting stroke in the amount of arm, shoulder and wrist movement. The one significant difference is the stance: Set up narrow and open for the chip, with the ball centered between the feet and your hands even with or slightly ahead of it. For crisp contact, keep your hands ahead of the clubhead through impact.
Crisper Irons
Typically, mechanical sloppiness will manifest itself in your iron play. Nothing dramatic perhaps, but greens in regulation seem to drop as scores start to rise. Everything may feel the same, but your medium- and short-iron approach shots aren't as crisp as they used to be. Over time, the swing tends to loosen up a bit; in this case, it's probably too loose. Here's how to tighten the screws and return to a crisper feeling on your approach shots.
"TRAPPING"
The key to crisper irons is "trapping" the ball: making contact on a slightly descending path so the clubface pinches the ball against the turf. This produces a lower trajectory that rises toward the end of its flight before falling softly to the green. Small, shallow divots are preferred; they indicate that a descending blow was made while the clubhead approached impact from the inside. When that action is lost on approach shots, it usually means one of two things: the clubhead is sweeping into impact, indicating that you are too far behind the ball; or impact is more of a chopping motion, indicating that your hands are too far ahead of the ball, substantially delofting the club.
STAY ON TOP OF THE BALL
Good iron play requires your body to be centered over the ball throughout the swing, with very little lateral motion away from the target on the backswing or toward it on the downswing. Take your swing through a checklist to make sure there's no unnecessary movement:
ADDRESS: Weight is evenly distributed between left and right foot; on shorter irons, you may even favor the right side a bit.
BACKSWING: Work on turning your back to the target while keeping your right foot flat on the ground. Your left leg and hip should brace you at the top of the swing, but your body stays "on top," directly over the ball.
DOWNSWING: Rotation rules here; clear the right hip out of the way and let your hands swing right of the target after impact. Finish with your body erect and your weight on your right foot.
DRILL: DOWNHILL LIES
To learn to stay on top of the ball, take practice swings or hit actual shots from downhill lies, where your front foot is lower than your back. The slope will naturally keep your body over the ball; work on unwinding, rather than sliding, on the downswing, and swing the club down the target line into impact.
"TRAPPING"
The key to crisper irons is "trapping" the ball: making contact on a slightly descending path so the clubface pinches the ball against the turf. This produces a lower trajectory that rises toward the end of its flight before falling softly to the green. Small, shallow divots are preferred; they indicate that a descending blow was made while the clubhead approached impact from the inside. When that action is lost on approach shots, it usually means one of two things: the clubhead is sweeping into impact, indicating that you are too far behind the ball; or impact is more of a chopping motion, indicating that your hands are too far ahead of the ball, substantially delofting the club.
STAY ON TOP OF THE BALL
Good iron play requires your body to be centered over the ball throughout the swing, with very little lateral motion away from the target on the backswing or toward it on the downswing. Take your swing through a checklist to make sure there's no unnecessary movement:
ADDRESS: Weight is evenly distributed between left and right foot; on shorter irons, you may even favor the right side a bit.
BACKSWING: Work on turning your back to the target while keeping your right foot flat on the ground. Your left leg and hip should brace you at the top of the swing, but your body stays "on top," directly over the ball.
DOWNSWING: Rotation rules here; clear the right hip out of the way and let your hands swing right of the target after impact. Finish with your body erect and your weight on your right foot.
DRILL: DOWNHILL LIES
To learn to stay on top of the ball, take practice swings or hit actual shots from downhill lies, where your front foot is lower than your back. The slope will naturally keep your body over the ball; work on unwinding, rather than sliding, on the downswing, and swing the club down the target line into impact.
Perfecr wrist cock
When a player's backswing is shorter than normal, creating power through hand action becomes more important. Your wrist cock, therefore, demands perfection. Because it plays a major role in your swing, there is no room for extraneous or unnecessary movement. The three-step drill is a popular way to ensure that your wrists reach the proper position at the top of the swing, so they can uncock with maximum force.
Assume your normal address with a 5-iron. First, without changing your spine angle, lift the club and let the shaft rest on your left shoulder. Then make as big a turn as possible so the clubhead points at the target.
Lastly, lift your arms in the air to reach a top-of-the-swing position. If you follow all three steps, your wrists will be fully cocked. Try this drill several times, then try to reach the same position making a normal backswing. If you can, you'll have an efficient, power-producing wrist cock.
The key to swinging hard
After some painfully off-line drives you may think that you can't swing hard and keep the ball in play. That's not exactly true. You can swing as hard as you want -- if your head stays behind the ball from address through just before the end of the follow-through.
IMPACT PROVIDES THE CLUE
Look at a photograph of a Tour player at impact and you'll see his clubshaft and right arm form a nearly vertical line from the ball through the right shoulder; the clubface is square and the clubhead is sweeping along the ground. Because the right shoulder is outside of the torso, the head must remain behind the ball for the shaft and right arm to be in this good position at impact: If the head moves even with or in front of the ball, it is very difficult to square the clubface.
SHOULDERS MUST STAY BACK
When your head moves ahead of the ball, it's your torso that's taking it there. When the torso slides forward -- as it tends to do on hard swings -- the shoulders unwind too soon in the downswing, creating momentum that pulls the body toward the target. So the answer is not swinging easier, but resisting the temptation to start the downswing with the shoulders.
Focus on holding the shoulders back at the beginning of the downswing. Let the arms drop and the hips rotate, and then, at the last moment, whip the shoulders through. Whip as hard as you want: By holding back the shoulder turn, you keep the torso-and your head-from sliding ahead of the ball.
Anchor yourself with the left foot
Have you noticed that if you try to hit the ball really far it usually finds trouble? This is because trying to crush the ball often means a big lateral lower-body slide toward the target. The body races ahead of the ball and the hands can't catch up in time to square the clubface. It's either open, resulting in a slice, or closed, producing a hook.
The pivotal part of this lateral slide is made by the left foot. Usually it spins up onto the toe as the club comes into impact. This may be done in an effort to rotate the hips, but instead it causes the hips to slide laterally. If you've ever struggled with a reverse weight-shift, spinning with the left foot may be a result of your effort to make sure you get over to your right side.
Whatever the reason, your hips must move in harmony with your arms and the club; if the left foot has spun onto the toe, the hips are ahead of the game. To counter this tendency, focus on keeping the left foot flat on the ground coming through and just past impact. Anchoring the left foot prevents the left hip from making a big lateral move, giving your hands and arms time to square the clubface. Once impact is made, the foot rolls onto the inside of the sole, then onto the toe for the final position.
Practice swinging the club with the left foot anchored on the downswing, both with and without a ball. But keeping the left foot flat doesn't mean keeping your weight on the left side. Your weight should transfer as it always does. If it doesn't, you'll create a new series of problems.
DRILL: PLANT BOTH FEET
Try hitting your driver without allowing either foot to lift throughout the swing. Focus instead on slightly rolling your feet to the left on the backswing and starting the change of direction to the downswing with a little roll to the right.
At no point should your heels lift off the ground. Keeping both feet planted will give you an exaggerated feeling for what it's like to slow down the hips and allow the hands and arms to catch up.
Smash it Three-Quarters
The long, cranked-up swing you might use to produce monster drives can cause problems on approach shots. The shorter shafts of mid- and short irons weren't designed to be swung like a driver. The result is a lack of accuracy, which can be frustrating after a huge drive down the middle. Standard advice tells us to ease up on the shorter clubs, but some folks don't have one easy-swinging bone in their body. If that's you, here's an alternative: Don't swing easier, swing shorter.
Making a three-quarter swing with your mid- and short irons (6-iron and down) allows you to take a healthy rip at the ball while employing a more compact, controlled motion. Much of the difference between this and a regular swing occurs in the set-up: Instead of having your weight evenly distributed, favor your front foot and set your hands slightly ahead of the ball. Then make a full turn, with the right shoulder under the chin at the top of the backswing, but don't fully cock the wrists.
Instead of shifting most of your weight to the back foot, as you would on a normal swing, try to stay centered over the ball at the top. The club will probably be a foot or so short of horizontal, although it might feel like it's pointing straight up to the sky. Coming down, lean toward the target and pull the clubhead down into the hitting area. Work on pushing the palm of the left hand toward the target through impact to prevent the clubface from snapping shut. If you keep the clubface square, you'll hit a low, boring shot, and you can swing with as much force as you want.
"Laid Off " vs. "Crossing the line"
You've no doubt heard somebody make a reference to the club being "laid off" or "crossing the line" at the top of the swing. Do you know what these terms mean? More importantly, do you know what they say about your swing? Visualize standing behind a golfer, looking through him toward the target. At the top of a perfect swing, the clubshaft points directly at the target. That indicates the club is on-plane and in position to come down into impact directly along the target line. If the clubshaft points right of the target, it is "laid off." If the clubshaft points left of the target, it is "crossing the line."
LAID OFF
From a laid-off position, the club has to swing out and over into impact, cutting across the ball on an out-to-in path. If the clubface is open to the path at impact, the result is a slice. If the face is aligned in the direction of the path, the result is a pull to the right. Getting laid off happens for one or more of the
following reasons:
1) the arms lift the club during the backswing;
2) the body turn is abbreviated or restricted;
3) the right-hand grip is weak (rotated too far counter-clockwise on the club).
CROSSING THE LINE
This swing crime is only a misdemeanor, but if unchecked, it can cause major problems. When the clubshaft points left of the target at the top, it is most likely going to come down into impact from the inside, a power position that often produces a nice draw. Therefore, it's okay if your club crosses the line a bit at the top. However, if the clubshaft points way left of the target, it indicates that you're either tilting your body instead of turning it or your left elbow is very high at the top of the swing, "flying" away from the right side. Both positions encourage an over-the-top move on the downswing and the same out-to-in clubhead path that produces a slice or pull (depending on clubface alignment at impact). Again, focus on turning the torso during the backswing and keep the left elbow close to the body as you swing to the top.
Level it out for control
The struggle to keep the ball on the short grass may cause you to tinker with your swing, shortening it, tightening it, anything to gain more control over your ball. Problem is, little swing "tinkers" are often like quick fixes -- here today, gone tomorrow -- and in the long run, cause more problems than they solve.
Before changing your swing, look at your setup -- it's where most problems begin. In this case, if you want to hit the ball straighter, level out your setup. You'll make a more controlled swing without manipulating the club.
BUCK TRADITION
To assume a level setup, you've got to go against traditional instruction, which says that your address with a driver should be well behind the ball, and your right arm and club should form a straight line. In a level setup, you want to feel more centered over the ball.
Although you should still play the ball opposite the right heel to encourage a slightly upswing hit, distribute your weight evenly between both feet. Instead of dropping your left shoulder well below your right, keep them as level as possible. Your hands, instead of being pressed forward and even with the ball, should be opposite your belt buckle. These adjustments will cause your shoulders to point slightly right of target. That's good, because the shoulders will point that way at impact as well.
AND NOW THE RESULTS...
Starting with level shoulders and hands behind the ball encourages a one-piece takeaway -- in which you maintain the triangle formed by the hands, arms, and shoulders. Less handsiness means fewer moving parts, so less can go wrong during the swing. Because your shoulders are controlling the backswing, you swing on a shallower plane, producing a lower ball flight and more control.
Before changing your swing, look at your setup -- it's where most problems begin. In this case, if you want to hit the ball straighter, level out your setup. You'll make a more controlled swing without manipulating the club.
BUCK TRADITION
To assume a level setup, you've got to go against traditional instruction, which says that your address with a driver should be well behind the ball, and your right arm and club should form a straight line. In a level setup, you want to feel more centered over the ball.
Although you should still play the ball opposite the right heel to encourage a slightly upswing hit, distribute your weight evenly between both feet. Instead of dropping your left shoulder well below your right, keep them as level as possible. Your hands, instead of being pressed forward and even with the ball, should be opposite your belt buckle. These adjustments will cause your shoulders to point slightly right of target. That's good, because the shoulders will point that way at impact as well.
AND NOW THE RESULTS...
Starting with level shoulders and hands behind the ball encourages a one-piece takeaway -- in which you maintain the triangle formed by the hands, arms, and shoulders. Less handsiness means fewer moving parts, so less can go wrong during the swing. Because your shoulders are controlling the backswing, you swing on a shallower plane, producing a lower ball flight and more control.
Unleash your wrist power
Why do some golfers hit the ball much farther than others? Size, strength and agility play important roles. But few golfers can hit for good distance without uncocking the wrists through the impact zone.
If you've made a full backswing turn and started down by shifting your weight onto the right foot, you've got the makings of a good release. Your legs and hips unwind your torso, followed by your shoulders, arms, wrists and hands. The "delayed hit'' keeps the wrists cocked until the bottom of the downswing.
There are two mistakes you can make: Releasing your wrists too early or not at all.
Most golfers release their wrists too early, giving into the "hit impulse" at the start of the downswing. Instead of starting down with the legs, they initiate the downward action with their shoulders and arms, forcing the wrists to release while the club is still in the downswing. Distance is lost when you throw the club prematurely with your shoulders and arms.
You can't "make" your wrists release at the perfect moment -- the downswing happens too fast. But you can build the centrifugal force that makes it happen by starting the downswing with a shift of your lower body.
"Frozen" wrists that never release usually result from mistrusting your swing and consciously blocking or steering the clubface and the ball toward the target. You may be hitting fairly accurate shots, but your club-to-ball contact feels wooden and lifeless and you're losing 20 to 30 yards on tee shots.
Start your corrections on the practice tee. Loosen everything up, lighten your hold on the club and relax your entire body as you prepare to swing. After reaching the top and making your weight shift to the right foot, just let the shot go!
When you begin doing this, your shots will fly farther -- and probably to the right of the target as well. Expect it because you've probably been aligning your body well right of the target, giving the old no-wrist swing a chance to "block" the ball on line. Combine your new releasing swing with a square alignment and you'll be longer, straighter and more consistent.
The straight ball-take away
If you're hitting your drives a long way but spraying them from side to side, the cure may lie in your takeaway -- specifically within the first foot-and-a-half from the ball.
For many golfers, how the club approaches the ball at impact mirrors the takeaway. Power hitters tend to pull the driver sharply inside the target line in the takeaway. Consequently, the clubhead approaches impact from the inside, moves down the line and returns to inside on the follow-through. This inside-to-inside path promotes power for two reasons. First, the clubhead comes to the ball on a level path; second, the inside takeaway fans the clubface open in the takeaway. On the return the face moves quickly from open to square to closed, putting left-to-right spin on the ball for more distance.
At least that's the theory. You'll get the booming tee shot only when your timing is perfect and the club travels down the line at impact with a square clubface. But perfection is elusive: If either the clubhead path or clubface is off by even a hair, the result will be a mix of erratic shots, mostly hooks and pushes. One of the best ways to keep the clubhead closer to the target line and reduce the chance of a misaligned clubface is by adopting the straight-back takeaway.
PULL CLUB BACK WITH RIGHT SIDE
The first 18 inches of the takeaway is the key. Envision a foot-and-a-half line straight back from the ball and pull the clubhead slowly over that line with your hands. Your right hand, arm and shoulder move as a unit in setting the club in motion. Move the club back as slowly as you can to promote balance in the lower body and also to encourage a strong turning of the upper body in the backswing.
Starting the club straight along the target line should mean the club will return straight along the line for that crucial one foot on either side of the ball. Also, because the clubface won't fan open quite as much on the takeaway, you won't have to force a release of the hands to square up at impact.
This "straight-ball" takeaway alters the plane of your driver, making it more upright. The clubhead will come into the ball on a steeper angle, so ball position must be just right if you're going to hit the ball "dead level." You may lose a few yards if you catch the ball a shade on the downswing or upswing, but the increased accuracy more than outweighs any small distance loss. Remember, too, that a drive in the fairway rolls much farther than one in the rough.
For many golfers, how the club approaches the ball at impact mirrors the takeaway. Power hitters tend to pull the driver sharply inside the target line in the takeaway. Consequently, the clubhead approaches impact from the inside, moves down the line and returns to inside on the follow-through. This inside-to-inside path promotes power for two reasons. First, the clubhead comes to the ball on a level path; second, the inside takeaway fans the clubface open in the takeaway. On the return the face moves quickly from open to square to closed, putting left-to-right spin on the ball for more distance.
At least that's the theory. You'll get the booming tee shot only when your timing is perfect and the club travels down the line at impact with a square clubface. But perfection is elusive: If either the clubhead path or clubface is off by even a hair, the result will be a mix of erratic shots, mostly hooks and pushes. One of the best ways to keep the clubhead closer to the target line and reduce the chance of a misaligned clubface is by adopting the straight-back takeaway.
PULL CLUB BACK WITH RIGHT SIDE
The first 18 inches of the takeaway is the key. Envision a foot-and-a-half line straight back from the ball and pull the clubhead slowly over that line with your hands. Your right hand, arm and shoulder move as a unit in setting the club in motion. Move the club back as slowly as you can to promote balance in the lower body and also to encourage a strong turning of the upper body in the backswing.
Starting the club straight along the target line should mean the club will return straight along the line for that crucial one foot on either side of the ball. Also, because the clubface won't fan open quite as much on the takeaway, you won't have to force a release of the hands to square up at impact.
This "straight-ball" takeaway alters the plane of your driver, making it more upright. The clubhead will come into the ball on a steeper angle, so ball position must be just right if you're going to hit the ball "dead level." You may lose a few yards if you catch the ball a shade on the downswing or upswing, but the increased accuracy more than outweighs any small distance loss. Remember, too, that a drive in the fairway rolls much farther than one in the rough.
Crisper chips and pitches
If your shots regularly sail off-line between tee and green, it's to your advantage to be able to get the ball up and down. Some players have few problems hitting the ball solidly (though wildly) on full-swing shots, but sometimes they have trouble making solid contact with finesse shots -- chips and pitches. The combination of an errant approach with a thinned or chili-dipped short shot is bound to produce at least a bogey, if not worse. The following tips may help you make crisper contact on chips and pitches.
DOWNWARD BLOW PREVENTS FAT SHOTS
Hitting a short shot fat (so it falls well short of your target) may be caused by several faults. One is trying to help the ball into the air by scooping under it.
To get the ball airborne on a short shot you have to hit down on it with a descending blow, hitting the ball first and trusting the club's loft the same way you would with a full-force shot.
First, be sure your setup promotes striking the ball with a firm, downward blow. Your stance should be narrow (about three inches at the heels for chips; six inches for pitches), with the ball no farther forward than your right heel. Choke down on the shaft to increase clubhead control. Hands should be even with or slightly ahead of the ball--not behind it. Finally, focus your attention on the front of the ball, not the back, and let the hands lead the clubhead through impact.
CROUCH MORE TO STOP THINNED SHOTS
A "thin" chip or pitch happens when the club's leading edge hits the ball just below its equator, causing the shot to fly lower and harder than normal. A thinned short shot comes from the same source as a thin full shot: The upper body rises as the club swings forward, lifting the downswing arc so the leading edge of the club strikes high on the ball.
Rising on the shot usually is caused by standing too straight at address. Be sure to get into a good crouch, flexing your knees and bending well at the waist. Weight should be balanced between the feet as well as between the heels and balls of the feet. Imagine resting your chin on a shelf and keep it there -- don't lift it -- as you swing back and through. Also, be sure the ball lies between your right heel and the center of your stance and isn't too far back.
RIGHT HAND ONLY DRILL:
Although the short shots require only short swings, you still need all the clubface control you can get. To build control and feel, choke down and practice hitting chips and pitches using your right hand only. Hit a few shots, then use both hands again. Club control will feel much sharper and positive.
DOWNWARD BLOW PREVENTS FAT SHOTS
Hitting a short shot fat (so it falls well short of your target) may be caused by several faults. One is trying to help the ball into the air by scooping under it.
To get the ball airborne on a short shot you have to hit down on it with a descending blow, hitting the ball first and trusting the club's loft the same way you would with a full-force shot.
First, be sure your setup promotes striking the ball with a firm, downward blow. Your stance should be narrow (about three inches at the heels for chips; six inches for pitches), with the ball no farther forward than your right heel. Choke down on the shaft to increase clubhead control. Hands should be even with or slightly ahead of the ball--not behind it. Finally, focus your attention on the front of the ball, not the back, and let the hands lead the clubhead through impact.
CROUCH MORE TO STOP THINNED SHOTS
A "thin" chip or pitch happens when the club's leading edge hits the ball just below its equator, causing the shot to fly lower and harder than normal. A thinned short shot comes from the same source as a thin full shot: The upper body rises as the club swings forward, lifting the downswing arc so the leading edge of the club strikes high on the ball.
Rising on the shot usually is caused by standing too straight at address. Be sure to get into a good crouch, flexing your knees and bending well at the waist. Weight should be balanced between the feet as well as between the heels and balls of the feet. Imagine resting your chin on a shelf and keep it there -- don't lift it -- as you swing back and through. Also, be sure the ball lies between your right heel and the center of your stance and isn't too far back.
RIGHT HAND ONLY DRILL:
Although the short shots require only short swings, you still need all the clubface control you can get. To build control and feel, choke down and practice hitting chips and pitches using your right hand only. Hit a few shots, then use both hands again. Club control will feel much sharper and positive.
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