How you will be taught
Throughout the year I teach many groups of golfers who have gathered from all over the world to improve their golf game. On the first morning of such a school, I sometimes perform a little demonstration on the lesson tee that always seems to capture the students’ attention.
First I ask a volunteer to step forth from the group. I ask for someone who has played the game for some time but who I have never before seen swing a club. Then I step to the forward part of the tee and off to one side. Facing down the range with my back to that pupil, I ask him or her to hit some shots down the range in full view of the entire class. I watch only the flight of the ball, not the player’s swing, for one or two shots. Then, while I continue to look away from the pupil, I will ask one of my assistants to see that the student makes one or two simple adjustments.
Inevitably, the pupil’s shots improve immediately. Someone who has sliced his drives all his life suddenly hits a shot that draws from right to left. Others who have frequently lobbed tee shots high into the air a relatively short distance now drive the ball forward on a much more penetrative trajectory an additional 20 or 30 yards.
The reason for this demonstration and my purpose in describing it here, is simply to show that the golf ball itself is your best instructor. It is the teacher extraordinaire for two reasons (apart from its obvious availability).
First, the ball is extremely truthful and candid, often brutally so. It never lies or misleads (as golfers do, inadvertently, to themselves). It tells you straightaway on every shot exactly what your clubhead was doing at impact.
This is extremely vital information. Above all else it forms the basis for any meaningful, lasting improvement in your game.
The messages that we take from the golf ball are visual. We see its direction of takeoff. We see its direction and degree of sideways curve. We see its upward and downward trajectory and the distance it travels.
One of my main objectives is to help you translate these visual images. I hope to explain how you can learn from what your golf ball does. I will also suggest how to apply this knowledge, not only to improve your shots generally, but also to avoid those extended periods where they go from bad to worse.
It is an unfortunate fact of golf that one bad shot frequently causes us to make incorrect adjustments. These lead to other, even more disastrous bad shots. This compounding of the original error is, indeed, a curse that all too often plagues the relatively unenlightened weekend player.
The best golfers also make bad shots. However, because the ball’s flight alerts them to the true problem, they can usually correct the error early on, before it becomes compounded.
The second reason why the golf ball teaches so well is that it is free of preconceived notions about golfing technique. It does not care if you hold the club ‘weak’ or ‘strong’. It doesn’t know or care if you align to the left or to the right. It isn’t concerned if you play it forward in your stance or back. It doesn’t even care if you keep your left arm straight or retain your wrist-cock late.
No, all that matters to the ball is what your clubhead does to it. Your shots, for good or bad, are determined by your impact conditions. Was your clubhead moving to the left or right, or straight down your target line when it encountered the ball? Was the clubface facing to the left or right, or straight down that path? Was the clubhead moving down, up or parallel to the ground at impact? Was it travelling at a relatively fast or slow speed?
This is not to say that we do not determine our impact conditions by the way we hold the club, set up to the ball, and actually swing. We certainly do. The point I’m stressing is that the ball can help enormously to show you what you should change in your own technique in order to improve your shots. It is a far more personal guide than some rigid gospel that is meant to fit all players into the same mould. Thus I feel I shall be in partnership with the ball to help you improve, just as I am when teaching face-to-face.
Each of the following lessons contained in this chapter follows the same format – diagnosis, explanation, and correction. Since I cannot be on hand to observe your shots, you will need to diagnose yourself to some extent. To help you do this, I will start each lesson by describing a certain pattern of shots or a certain shot making situation. If this diagnosis fits your particular situation, then the accompanying explanation and correction will apply to you.
The explanation portion of each lesson will, again, deal primarily with the influences of the club on ball. I try to make your task of understanding and applying the correction portion of each lesson as easy as possible. I often include a shortcut practice tip that will further simplify your efforts. Finally, where applicable, I will also describe the pattern of shots that will result if you do, in fact, overcorrect.
Feel free to refer back to the text and illustrations on pages 26–32 in this book showing the ‘flight of the ball’ which will help your appreciation of the advice in this section.
The slice
Diagnosis: Long shots generally start left and then slice to the right. The slice is most prominent with the longer clubs. Your full shots with the short irons tend to start left and continue in that direction with little or no curve to the right, as does the occasional shot with a longer less-lofted club.
Explanation: Because we stand to the side of the ball, we must swing the club forward on an in-to-in path. It must move from the inside – your inside – of the target line during the downswing and then arc back to the inside during the followthrough. Thus it must be moving towards the right of target on the downswing and the left of target on the followthrough.
The fact that your shots start to the left indicates that your clubhead is not reaching the ball until it has already begun its return to the inside in the followthrough portion of its arc. The contact is too late in your swing. This late contact will occur if you are playing the ball too far forward, too far to the left, in relation to yourself.
The fact that your long shots curve to the right is further indication of a forward ball position. When shots curve to the right we naturally tend to start aiming the club to the left. Aiming left automatically sets the handle end of the club farther to the right, behind the ball, when the club is soled. Since we tend to position ourselves according to where the handle is, we thus place ourselves too far to the right of the ball as well. Thus the ball is too far left, or forward, and late contact is all but assured.
Moreover, with the ball forward we are forced to address it with our bodies, especially our shoulders, aligned too far to the left of target. This alignment makes us grip the club with our hands also turned too far to the left. This is a grip position that leaves the clubface open to the right of its path at impact and thus reinforces the tendency to slice.
Correction: Play the ball farther back – less to the left – in your stance. This change of position might well need to be several inches. As a result of this change, your shoulders will automatically want to align more to the right. Encourage this. Similarly, your hands will want to be returned farther to your right (clockwise) on the club. Again, make a conscious effort to let this happen.
From this new address position you should be able to see the path along which your clubhead should return to the ball – that being a path that is from your side of the target line. See that path before you swing on every shot. Thereafter, merely swing the club freely, up and down along that path, with your arms.
If your shots should begin to start out to the right of target, you will know that you have overcorrected and that your club is now reaching the ball too early in your swing. Simply set up to future shots with the ball a bit more to your left, until you find the position that sends it off toward your target.
… and the hook
Diagnosis: Long shots tend to start out to the right and then hook sharply to the left. Full shots with more lofted clubs also fly from right-to-left but with less curve. Shots with any club may occasionally start to the right and continue on that line without curving. Your drives may fail to get airborne, thus forcing you to use a more-lofted club on tee shots.
Explanation: Remember, because we stand to the side of the ball, during the forward swing the clubhead must arc from the inside during the downswing and then back to the inside during the followthrough. Thus it will be moving toward the right of target on the downswing and back to the left of target during the followthrough. It will be moving on target for only a brief span between downswing and followthrough.
The fact that your shots usually start to the right of target tells me that your contact with the ball occurs too early in your forward swing. Your clubhead is still moving to the right during the downswing portion of its arc, before it has had time to reach its on-target phase.
This early contact may well occur because you are playing the ball too far back (too far to the right) in your stance. The fact that your shots generally curve left further indicates this possibility. Setting up with the ball too far to the right is typical of golfers whose shots have tended to finish to the left of fairways and greens.
These golfers invariably aim the club farther and farther to the right to offset the expected hook to the left. Aiming to the right, however, automatically sets the handle end of the club farther to the left, ahead of the ball, when the clubhead is soled. Since we tend to position ourselves according to where the handle is, these players automatically place themselves too far to the left of the ball. Thus the ball is too far right, or rearward. Early contact, with the clubhead still moving to the right, will occur unless the player somehow alters its path during the swing.
Moreover, with the ball positioned rearward the player is forced to turn his body, especially his shoulders, to the right as he addresses the ball. This alignment to the right also forces him to grip the club with his hands turned too far to the right. This is a grip position that tends to close the clubface to the left of its path by impact and thus reinforces the tendency to hook.
Correction: Play the ball farther forward – more to the left – in your stance. This change of ball position will allow you to align your shoulders more to the left, as you should do. It will also allow you to turn your hands a bit more to the left when setting them on the club as, again, you should do.
Your new address position should give you a somewhat different view of your target line as you address the ball. This line should appear to extend somewhat to the left of where it had been. Keep this new target line in mind and try to swing the clubhead along it through the impact area.
If your shots should begin to start out to the left of target, you will know that you have positioned the ball too far to the left, so that your club is reaching it too late in your swing, by which time it has already started arcing back to the inside. Merely address future shots with the ball a bit less to the left until you find the positioning that starts your shots off toward your target.
Slices and skies
Diagnosis: Your long shots have a general tendency to slice from left-to-right, and occasionally you chop under the ball and lob it upward – especially when it is teed – or top it along the ground to the left. Also, there is a general lack of distance, especially on your long shots.
Explanation: If your shots follow this pattern, I would wonder if perhaps at some time in your golfing career you had been warned against ‘casting’ the club from the top of your backswing – ‘hitting from the top’. Or perhaps you were encouraged to ‘lead with your legs’ or hips in your downswing. Or maybe you have tried to emulate the famed ‘late hit’ position that we see in the photos of good players as they near impact with their wrists still cocked.
Such advice is fine for some. It is possible, and harmful, to uncock the wrists too soon. The legs and hips do have an important role to play. The late hit position is ideal, if you also have the ability to square the clubface at impact.
However, almost any piece of golfing advice can cause trouble if carried to an extreme. In recent years the emphasis on using the legs and lower body, along with dire warnings against hitting from the top, has had just this effect on all too many players. Such advice has led to general overuse of the legs and body and too little appreciation of the hands and arms. Thus I find that most of my first-time pupils tend to swing themselves instead of the club.
The pattern of your shots tells me that you are one of those players. Your shots start left because your clubhead is moving across your target line in that direction, on an out-to-in path, at impact. Your long shots thereafter curve to the right because your clubhead is facing to the right of its path. You chop under tee shots and top other shots to the left because your club’s angle of approach to the ball is too steeply downward, an inevitable result of swinging out to in. Your lack of length of long shots indicates a relatively slow clubhead speed, apart from its obvious mishitting of the ball.
These problems of impact all result from the way you start your downswing. Instead of swinging the club freely with your arms and hands, you are clinging on to it with your hands while your legs and body unwind to the left. Unwinding while clinging, instead of swinging, forces your club to move outward before it can start downward; hence the out-to-in path and the resulting steepness in the angle of approach.
With the hands locked and without the arms swinging, neither can do their part in squaring the clubface at impact. Instead, it must lag too far behind the legs and hips and thus arrive at impact with its face still open to the right.
Swinging yourself instead of the club robs you of length because your clubhead cannot move at its own maximum speed. Instead, that potential becomes limited by its too-close association with your slower-moving body action.
Correction: Hit practice shots with your feet together, actually touching. Make sure you initiate your downswing with your hands and arms. Even feel that you are casting the club, swinging it freely without overusing your body. In your case this is not an incorrect feeling to cultivate. It will give you the free swinging of the arms and free release of the hands that all good players have developed naturally, almost without effort, early in their careers. You too must develop this free swinging if you are to ever transmit fully the power of your body to the clubhead and the ball.
Once you can feel yourself swinging the club freely with your arms and hands – you will no longer be falling off balance through overusing your body – then gradually widen the stance. If your old shot pattern returns, go back to this feet-together drill until you recapture this feeling.
The push
Diagnosis: Drives start out to the right of target and curve farther right thereafter. Shots with the shorter irons also push to the right, but with little or no curve. Contact on iron shots tends to be either fat, with turf taken behind the ball, or thin, with no turf taken at all.
Explanation: I would say that the shots just described are fairly prevalent among nearly good golfers. I see two or three players in this pattern every time I walk up and down the line at my golf centres. Occasionally, you see the same pattern even among very good players.
The problem usually stems from the misconception that the path of the golf swing swing should be from in to out, with the clubhead moving toward the right of target at impact. With this idea in mind, the player makes such an effort to swing into the ball from the inside that he leaves his left hip in the way. His left leg and side stiffen and block, making it impossible for him to ‘close the door’ so that the clubhead can return on line at impact, with the clubface squared to that path and that line as well.
The ideal clubhead path through the hitting area is not in-to-out, but rather in-to-in. The clubhead should move from the inside, then briefly along the target line, and then back to the inside.
When the path is in to out instead, shots start out to the right because the clubhead is moving in that direction at impact. The blocking and stiffening of the left side that so often coincide with swinging in to out impede the arms from freely squaring the clubface, hence the open face at impact and the resulting curve to the right. Because the in-to-out path also causes a very shallow angle of approach, with the clubhead reaching the bottom of its arc relatively early, contact is often made with the ground behind the ball (fat shots) or with the ball after the club has already started moving upward (thin shots). The tighter the lie of the ball in the grass, the more damning the in-to-out path becomes.
It is only natural that many golfers feel the swing should be in to out. At some stage of the downswing we all reach a ‘black out’ point, a time when everything is happening so fast that we lose recognition of what is actually taking place. Because this occurs during the downswing, when the club is ideally, still moving from the inside, we tend to assume that it continues moving toward the outside after impact.
It is also natural that golfers who think ‘in-to-out’ will fall into an additional trap when their long shots start bending to the right. These golfers may assume that slicing results from an out-to-in clubhead path, as in fact, it often does. Naturally these players then make an even greater effort to swing even more from in to out. This makes ‘closing the door’ even more difficult and further aggravates the problem.
Finally, golfers who think of the swing as being in to out also tend to play the ball too far back to the right in the stance. This rearward positioning of the ball allows them to align their shoulders to the right so that they can more readily swing from in to out. Unfortunately, with the ball too far back in the stance, the clubhead reaches it too early, when the clubface is still open and the path is in to out. The player has not had time to turn and clear his left hip to the left, which would bring the path from inside to straight and the face from open to square.
Correction: Bear in mind that the golf swing is in to in, not in to out. Set up with the ball a bit farther forward in your stance. Then make a conscious effort to turn and clear your left hip to the left early in your downswing. In other words, ‘close the door’, so that at impact your swing path is from inside to on line, rather than in to out. The clubface, which is allied to the swing path, will thus square up at impact.
If your shots should begin starting to the left and, perhaps, curving to the right thereafter, you will know that you have begun to play the ball too far forward in your stance and/or failed to swing the club freely down and through with your arms and hands, as you cleared your left hip. You should then consciously swing the club down as you clear the left hip.
Topped fairway shots
Diagnosis: You occasionally top your fairway shots along the ground and somewhat to the right of your target line. Sometimes you catch turf behind the ball. You make your best shots when the ball is teed or sitting up well on fairway grass. Distance is not your worry, but you probably hit some of your chip shots and many of your sand shots ‘thin’. In fact, the short game is where you suffer the most.
Explanation: Unlike the golfer who tops shots to the left because of an out-to-in clubhead path and a steeply downward angle of approach, the shot pattern just described indicates an in-to-out path and an angle of approach which is too shallow. The clubhead reaches the bottom of its downward-upward arc before impact and is actually moving upward when it contacts the ball. Thus it has scraped the ground behind the ball and/or caught the top of the ball while moving upward.
Because the clubhead is moving upward by impact, these golfers make their best contact when the ball sits on a tee or high on fairway grass. They hit behind or top the ball that rests low in grass or sand.
Correction: Play the ball slightly farther forward in your stance – a bit more to the left. This will allow you to address the ball with your hips and shoulders aligned more to the left as, in your case, they should be.
This alignment will make you more conscious of your ball-target line. During the backswing, swing the club up along this line with your arms, making no effort to pivot. Clear your left hip as you swing the club down to the ball with your arms.
These adjustments will make your clubhead path on line, rather than in-to-out, at impact. Thus its angle of approach will be level or slightly downward rather than upward. The bottom of your arc will occur at the ball, rather than behind it.
Also, bear in mind that an in-to-out path is usually the result of a previous tendency to hook. Should that tendency reoccur, adjust your grip by turning both hands to the left at address.
The shank
Diagnosis: You frequently shank shots sharply to the right with the shorter iron clubs. The shots you do not shank usually finish left of target.
Explanation: The shanked shot is struck on the hosel (neck) of the club, rather than on the clubface. The club has moved outward during the downswing, farther away from the golfer than it had been originally positioned at address.
This outward movement on the downswing occurs because the overall swing is too flat. During the backswing the club has swung too far around and behind the player and insufficiently upward. Thus, during the downswing, it has moved too much around the player and forward – beyond the ball – instead of sufficiently downward.
The flat swing originates from the golfer’s address position. He has seen or heard that good golfers hit their shorter irons from an open stance – as, indeed, they often do. The left foot is set farther back than the right from the target line.
Mistakes occur, however, when the shoulders are similarly aligned far around to the left, rather than parallel with the target line. This alignment also forces the ball to be too far forward in the stance, to the left of where it should be.
Since so much of this game is reaction, the address position I have described leads to far too much effort being made to get the club back to the inside so as to avoid hitting to the left where the player has aligned. This effort to get inside is bound to result in a backswing that is too flat. The club finishes the backswing while moving around and behind the player. Then it rebounds around and outward, beyond the ball, during the downswing. This creates the shank.
If the shot is not a shank, it is invariably a pull or a pull-hook to the left of the target. The shot flies left because the ball is positioned too far left in the stance. By the time the clubhead finally reaches impact, it is already moving back to the inside, to the left, on the followthrough portion of its in-to-in arc. The clubface may also be closed to the left at impact, because the flat swing often makes it turn to the left too abruptly through the hitting area.
Correction: First bear in mind that the correct backswing is not only to the inside, but upward as well.
Play the ball farther back to the right in your stance so that you can align your shoulders on target, rather than far to the left. This alignment to the inside will also eliminate the need for any conscious pivot to the right during your backswing in order to swing the club to the inside.
It will also allow you to visualize a path extending from the ball to the inside of your target line. Merely swing the club freely upward and downward with your arms and hands along the path that you have visualized.
Hitting off the toe
Diagnosis: Many shots are struck on the toe, or outer end, of the clubface.
Explanation: There are two distinctly different causes of hitting the ball off the toe of the club. The direction that your toed shots curve will tell you which explanation and correction apply in your particular case.
If your toed shots curve to the left, you will know that your clubface is closed – facing to the left of its path – at impact. When the face is turned to the left, the toe leads the heel into the ball so that contact is made on the former.
If your toed shots curve to the right, you know that your swing is too upright. In that case your situation is the converse of the flat-swinging player who tends to shank shots off the opposite end of the clubface. As I explained in that lesson, the flat-swinging golfer over-pivots during the backswing. Thus his club swings too far around behind him going back and, in reaction, too far outward in front of him going forward. The club moves out beyond the ball so the contact is made on its hosel.
Conversely, the upright swinger whose shots are hit on the toe does not swing the club far enough behind himself going back. Thus it does not move sufficiently outward in front of him going forward. Only the outer, toe portion of the clubface, gets back to the target line and the ball.
Correction: If your toed shots curve to the left, you will need to adjust your grip to eliminate the early closing of the clubface. Set your hands on the club with each turned a bit farther to the left.
If your toed shots curve to the right, you will need to modify your posture at address so that you can swing on a less upright plane. Increase your knee flex slightly and decrease the amount that you bend your back and neck forward. This posture will allow you to turn your right shoulder away to the inside – rather than rock it upward – during your backswing. As you turn to the right, swing the club up and inside so that it finishes above the point of your right shoulder rather than over your head.
Fat or thin contact on pitch shots
Diagnosis: Inconsistent contact – fat or thin – is made on short approach shots.
Explanation: Of the four impact factors, the most important on these shots from around the green is the clubhead’s angle of approach to the ball.
On these relatively simple strokes, most weekend golfers can swing the club on more or less the right path and align the clubface more or less square to that path. (And even an open clubface is not likely to spin the ball sideways an appreciable amount on these short shots.)
Now, most mishit shots occur because the clubhead reaches the bottom of its arc before it gets back to the ball. It may touch down and snag in the grass behind the ball – the fat shot; or it may skim the middle or top of the ball while moving upward – the thin shot. In either case it is the club’s level or upward, rather than downward, angle of approach that causes the poor contact.
While the obvious solution is simply to swing the
clubhead somewhat downward to the ball, this is difficult for many golfers to do consistently until they first eliminate any need, conscious or subconscious, to ‘help’ the ball into the air by swinging the clubhead upward to it.
Correction: Always visualise the shot you want to play before you choose a club. Consider the lie of the ball in the grass, and the distance and terrain between it and the flagstick. Decide where you want the ball to land. ‘See’ the trajectory that would fly the ball to that spot and, thereafter, cause it to bounce and roll to the hole.
After thus visualising the shot, decide which club would most likely create it. Do not choose that club, however. Instead select a club with more loft than you think you need, one that will fly the ball higher than you want the shot to fly.
In short, eliminate beforehand any need to help the ball into the air.
Finally, set up to the shot so that you can contact the ball with a downward moving clubhead. Play the ball far enough back in your stance (to the right) with your hands far enough forward of it (to the left) so that you must catch the ball during your downswing, before the clubhead reaches the bottom of its arc.
The ball will fly into the air, even with the clubhead moving downward, because you have chosen a club with more loft than you really need.
Poor putting
Diagnosis: Generally poor putting. Seldom do your long putts approximate the right distance. No confidence on the shorter putts.
Explanation: If your putting fits the above diagnosis, it almost follows that your technique will be at fault. To show you what I mean, I would ask that you stand and face a wall. Position yourself about arms’ length from it.
Extend your arms towards the wall and start clapping your hands as you do when applauding. As you clap, gradually widen the sweep of your arms. I’m sure that this will all feel natural. Even a small child can clap his hands soundly together.
You will also notice that, as you swing your hands farther and farther apart, they also move farther and farther away from the wall. This, too, is natural. And this movement away from the straight wall should similarly happen whenever we swing from alongside a target line, as we do on golf shots.
Because we stand relatively close to the ball when putting, the distance that our arms, hands, and putter-head should swing to the inside of our target line is very slight, even on very long putts. It is, however, natural – and therefore vital – that the putter does swing somewhat to the inside on all except the very short putts.
To prove this to yourself, merely clap alongside the wall once again. This time, however, make sure that your hands do not move away from the wall as they swing apart. You will immediately feel inhibited. You will feel muscular tension. You will find it more difficult to make your hands clap soundly together.
Swinging the putter on line throughout your putting stroke similarly takes away from your natural gifts. One of these natural gifts is to square the putter-face to your putting line by the time contact occurs, just as you squared your palms to each other when clapping. Another natural gift is to swing the putter-head into the ball on a relatively level angle of approach, so that the ball will roll smoothly forward without first hopping or skidding. Another natural instinct is to release the putter freely into the ball at the right speed to make the putt go the correct distance.
All of these natural and correct instincts tend to lessen whenever we contrive a putting stroke that is unnatural. As clapping alongside the wall has shown, the putting stroke that is on line throughout is, indeed, unnatural.
Correction: First hold the putter with your palms facing each other and aligned with the putter-face, just as they would be if you had clapped them together. Also stand ‘square’, aligned parallel to the line on which you intend the putt to start.
Next practice making strokes in which the putter-head gradually moves inside the line during the backstroke, retraces that path back to the ball and, thereafter, continues forward along the line. (On long putts the putter-head will, eventually, return inside on the followthrough.)
I suggest that you practise these strokes alongside the base of a wall. There it will be apparent when your putter-head fails to swing to and from the inside. Outdoors you can do this same drill alongside the shaft of another club that you have laid on the ground. You will eventually find how much you need to be inside on the backstroke in order to swing on line through the ball position.
As you make these strokes, learn to feel the difference between a natural and correct stroke from inside to along the line, and the unnatural on-line or across-the-line strokes. Accept the fact that the natural stroke, though correct, may feel unnatural for a time if your previous stroke was unnatural.
Finally, I would add that the face of the club should remain square to the clubhead path – not the target line – throughout the stroke. This, too, will happen naturally, as in clapping, with a little practice.
Inconsistent bunker shots
Diagnosis: Inconsistent bunker shots. Some stay in the sand, many fly over the green.
Explanation: Straightaway I should warn you against trying to pick the ball clean from the sand around the green, as many weekend golfers attempt to do. This approach presents a problem that even expert golfers avoid. The problem is simply that these are short shots. Thus they require a minimal amount of clubhead speed if the contact is to be clean. If any sand is taken, as usually happens, the club is not moving fast enough for the ball to carry forth from the bunker.
The wise golfer avoids this whole situation by making a fairly long and authoritative swing, even on extremely short bunker shots. His shots do not fly too far, however, because the clubhead never actually contacts the ball. Instead, it swings into the sand well behind the ball. It displaces a cushion of sand which, in turn, displaces the ball. The ball flies free of the bunker while riding on this cushion. It does not fly too far because this same cushion, interfering as it does between the clubhead and the ball, also deadens the force of the blow.
While swinging the clubhead into the sand behind and under the ball’s position is the preferred technique, it does require a steeply downward angle of approach. If the approach is too shallow, it may not displace enough sand to cushion the blow; the ball will fly and roll too far. Or the shallow approach can cause the clubhead to skim into the sand too far behind the ball and then rebound upward into the top of it. The topped shot rolls only a few feet forward.
Remember golf’s impact factors and the relationship between clubhead path and angle of approach. The more the swing path back to the ball is from the inside of the target line, the shallower the angle of approach tends to be. The more the path is from out to in, the steeper the angle of approach becomes.
Thus, since the steep angle of approach is best for penetrating sand behind the ball, the out-to-in clubhead path is best on most bunker shots. A normal swing path, such as might be ideal on drives and most fairway shots, creates an angle of approach that is simply too shallow for the normal sand shot.
If your sand shots vary from being too short or too long, especially if they tend toward being too long, it is quite possible that your clubhead path is too much from the inside, thus making your angle of approach too shallow.
Correction: Address the ball in the sand as you would for playing a fairway wedge shot, but align your shoulders farther to the left of target. Also, aim the clubface to the right of target.
Aligning to the left will help you swing in that direction, as you should do. This out-to-in clubhead path will help provide the steeper angle of approach.
Aiming with the clubface open offsets swinging to the left; the shot flies on target. Also, the open clubface allows the lower back flange of your sand iron to readily glide forward through the sand, much like a rudder, without cutting too far in despite the initially steep penetration.
There is an angle formed between the lines that indicate shoulder alignment to the left and clubface aim to the right. As a general rule you will find that the larger you make this angle at address – i.e., the further you align left and aim right – the shorter distance the ball will travel with a given force of swing (refer to illustration on page 94). Thus by increasing this angle you can actually swing quite aggressively, even on very short greenside shots.
Summing up: Clubface open, shoulders open at address. Swing the club up and down along the original shoulder line with the hands and arms. Clear the left hip to the left while swinging through to allow room for the arms to swing on the desired out-to-in path.
Bunker shots come up short
Diagnosis: Bunker shots from around the green often finish short of the target. Clubhead cuts too far into the sand.
Explanation: If cutting too far into the sand is your problem, I would first ask if you do, in fact, use a sand-wedge on these shots. If not, the club that you do us is probably a large part of the fault.
The bottom edge of the sand-wedge angles upward slightly from back to front. The bottom edge of the pitching-wedge angles downward, as do the soles of all other fairway irons. It is the upward angle of the sand-wedge that keeps this club from penetrating too far downward into the sand when it is used correctly. Because it can displace a relatively shallow cut of sand, it loses relatively little clubhead speed in the process. Enough remains to readily displace both sand and ball.
The downward angling of the fairway iron, however, makes it cut too deep into all sand except that which is exceptionally hard-packed or wet. The deep cut leaves too much sand between club and ball, and too little clubhead speed to displace either readily.
Thus the sand-wedge can be a valuable tool, especially if you must play often from bunkers that are filled with soft sand.
If you already use a sand-wedge but still cut too far under the ball, it will be a closed clubface that is largely responsible. Even the raised leading edge of the sand-wedge becomes turned downward when the clubface is closed to the left. In effect, the sand-wedge then becomes a pitching-wedge.
Correction: You may be able to avoid the closed clubface and its penetrative effect if you merely aim the clubface to the right of target while aligning your shoulders – and then swinging – well to the left.
If you should continue to cut too far under the ball, however, you will also need to stress clearing your left hip to the left while swinging through. This will bring your clubhead through the sand trailing your hands and with the clubface still open. This open clubface will keep the sole angled upward. Thus, after initially penetrating the sand, it will gradually level out and glide forward instead of continuing downward.
Poor contact on putts and half shots
Diagnosis: Occasional spells of poor contact on less-than-full approach shots and putts. These shots usually finish well short of the hole.
Explanation: Length of backswing, while not a particularly significant measure of good golf on the full shots, is an important factor on these shorter shots.
On full shots we tend to make about as much backswing as we sense we can comfortably control. This seldom requires much conscious attention. We simply swing our normal length.
On less than full shots, however, we need backswings of more specific lengths. The length should be such that, with normal acceleration thereafter, the ball will go the correct distance.
A backswing that is too long will, of course, send the ball too far if the contact is solid. More often, however, a too-long backswing breeds a decelerating forward swing that misconnects with the ball.
A backswing that is too short – the more common situation – invariably causes a quick overuse of the body during the forward swing. We tend to apply ourselves to the shot to make up for the lack of backswing that we sense. Solid contact is all too rare.
Correction: First you must discover if your backswing on these shots tends to be too long or too short. If it is too long you will, upon reflection, be extremely aware of having made a backswing. If your backswing is too short, you will have absolutely no recollection of your swing from the time you started the club away from the ball. I promise that this is true.
Another way to detect if your backswing tends to be too long or too short is to reflect upon the shape of your full shots. If your long shots usually curve to the left, it is quite probable that you misconnect on short shots because your backswing is too long. If your long shots usually curve to the right, beware of too little backswing on your short shots.
Once you pinpoint whether or not your backswing is too long or too short – don’t be afraid to experiment – merely hit some practice shots, including putts, with backswings of corrective lengths. Your contact should improve straightaway.
Also, on these shots I suggest that you form the habit of making several, smoothly accelerating practice swings beforehand. Try to find and sense the length of swing that will make the ball go the distance in question with the club you have in your hand. You will not find, and then duplicate, the perfect length every time. You will, however, strike more solid shots closer to the hole than you had before.