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John
Herlong, PGA
herlong@pga.com
* *
All tips are given with the assumption of a
right-handed golfer
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The Color Ball
Drill |
Learning Distance
Control First and Foremost
To attain short game success a golfer must
master a number of factors: accuracy,
trajectory, spin rate, turf and terrain
variations, club variations, shot
configurations and touch. The last of these is
the most important. Without "touch" a golfer
has no sense of distance control. Without
distance control no golf shot, regardless of
how well it is executed, can be effective. A
golfer might learn every shot in the book from
high, soft, easy, flop shots hit with a lob
wedge to long, low, hot, half-swing bump and
run shots struck with a 4-iron. It matters
naught if he doesn't have the ability to gauge
whether the ball will stop near or far from
the pin. Few golfers can sink sixty foot long
putts with any regularity.
An inaccurate golfer with a sense of touch is
the equal to a highly accurate one who has
little idea where the ball will stop. "Pin
High" equals "On Line" in importance. A twenty
yard putt from the back of the green is no
easier than a twenty yard putt from the side
of the green.
The Color Ball Drill is an easy way to instill
a sense of distance feel, whether it be with
chips, pitches or lobs. You will need three
distinctively marked groups of practice balls.
They can be white, yellow, pink, orange or
blue. If you only have white balls, buy two
markers and place black rings around one group
and red rings around another. Leave the last
group white.
To execute the drill, place three pins (or
markers) in a straight line on the ground;
space them 10 yards apart. Make your distances
20, 30 and 40 yards or make them 50. 60 & 70
yards. It doesn't matter. In golf, every
distance is important. Use 15 balls; use 99
balls; whatever you choose. Each pin or marker
will be designated to serve as a target for
just one color golf ball.
Using the same club, alternate between the
different colored balls with every shot. The
object is simple - don't have your final
patterns overlap. Your primary goal is to keep
the colored balls clustered around their
respective target markers. How you manage to
do that is of secondary importance in this
drill. Distance control is your objective!
As you keep alternating shots throughout this
drill you will find that you must come up with
some sort of memory system to remind yourself
of the subtle changes you are forced to make
to keep the balls from landing short or long.
Some players attempt to use the same swing
while choking up or down on the grip a
specified amount. Some make note of how far
back they take the club before descending.
Controlling the length of their backswing is
their key. Others try to manipulate distance
with changes in the shot structure itself,
i.e. they open their stance, try to cut the
ball more or move the ball forwards or back in
their stance. Whatever it is that you choose
to do, you will have to memorize a system that
allows you to attain consistency or your
struggles will prove to be in vain. Most
amateurs try a different combination of all of
the above elements on every shot and never
achieve desirable results regardless of how
long and often they work on this drill.
Simple variations on this drill may be done
for chipping, putting, sand shots or anything
other short game shot that might be imagined.
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Go One Club Up |
Practice with more club than you need.
If you are looking for more distance
with your irons, try an approach that is
pure "backwards logic" in its approach.
Let's say that you hit your 8-iron 130
yards and you are bound and determined
to increase that by 5 to 10 yards. If
you exhaust 100 range balls trying to
hit your 8-iron to the 140 mark, you
will probably never get there. Your
tendency would be to just to try to
swing harder and harder. You could end
up losing yardage.
Jack Nicklaus, and others, have
suggested the following effective remedy
for this endeavor. Instead of trying to
hit your 8-iron to the 140 marker, hit
your 6-iron. Your normal weapon of
choice would be the 7-iron, so the
6-iron is "one more club". Take full
swings and don't choke down on the grip.
You will soon find that you have to
swing very slowly to keep the ball from
flying past the pin. After a number of
slow, smooth swings you will probably
find that you unable to hit the ball
that short no matter how hard you try.
You will try to hit the 6-iron as though
you are hitting high, easy pitch shots,
yet still they go past the pin. It is
simply too much club. You will begin to
view the swing as a slow, easy entity.
You will find your sense of timing and
your awareness of the clubhead have
improved immensely. You will relax
because you are Over-achieving, not
Under-achieving.
You may want to shorten that pause at
the top, Mr. Miller.
Once you've reached the point of not
being able to keep the 6-iron from
flying far past the pin no matter what
you do switch to your 7-iron making
certain that you transfer the exact same
slow, smooth tempo. You should find that
the 7-iron goes easily past the pin as
well. Keep hitting the 7 until you are
unable to keep it short to the pin. Now,
pick up the 8-iron and put your normal
swing on it. With any luck you will find
that you have added at least five yards
to your previous standard. It may be
more.
If you had started your practice session
attempting to hit the 8-iron to that
distance you would have never been
relaxed enough to maintain that smooth,
even tempo.
The reason for this bit of convoluted
logic is that golf balls fly farther
when struck by a loose, long rhythmic
swing (think of Freddy Couples and Ernie
Els). Most of us tense up and swing
harder when we want to hit the ball
farther. HARDER DOES NOT MEAN FASTER.
Fast ball pitchers are never built like
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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The Shotmakers Secret |
The Three Tees Drill
Johnny Miller said that every
great shotmaker he had ever seen
had one thing in common: they
"stayed down" on the ball through
and after impact; that the
clubhead extended down the target
line for a fraction or two longer
than did that of the regular
golfer. As two of the greatest
examples of exceptional shotmakers
he cited Ben Hogan and Lee
Trevino.
It is no coincidence that Lee
Trevino is included for
consideration of shotmaking skills
alongside the great Ben Hogan.
When Lee was a struggling young
golf pro in his native Texas he
made a trip to watch Hogan
practice in Fort Worth. Sitting on
a hillside, he watched carefully
as the Legend went through his
practice regimen. Carefully
studying the famous Hogan
technique, Trevino picked up on
Ben's habit of "staying down" on
the ball for a few inches after
impact.
Trevino, addicted to
practice almost as much as was
Bantam Ben, himself, returned home
that evening with an idea. Lee
immediately began using a drill he
had devised which involved placing
three tees in the ground in front
of the ball on a direct line to
the target, the tees spaced out
over several inches. With each
shot he would first hit the ball
and then make certain that he
clipped each tee after impact. He
used the drill for hours on end.
The results of this creative
dedication can still be seen today
in Lee's distinctive swing.
Lee cites that
afternoon of Hogan-watching, and
the drill which was born from it,
as the turning point in his golf
career. He emerged from the
experience as the world class
player we know today.
Two things made this work
for Lee Trevino. First of all he,
he stuck with it. Drills are of
little use unless they are
executed repeatedly during many,
many sessions. Secondly, he
learned to feel as though his head
was actually moving backward
through impact. This keep him
"still" and "behind the ball". The
drill would have been detrimental
had it caused him to develop the
habit of "sliding" through the
shot.
Something For Everyone
This is a
drill which can perform miracles
for hookers and slicers. Some
golfers begin hitting better
behaved shots from the first hit
on. The ball has no choice but to
depart on a relatively straight
line when the head stays on line
for several inches through impact.
Remember three things when doing
The Three Tee Drill: You must
keep your head "behind the ball",
keep your hands from becoming too
active through impact and, lastly,
if you learn to stay down on the
ball as long as Lee Trevino does,
you will have back problems later
on. It is better to learn a
moderated version of the drill -
try two tees spaced out an inch
apart until you learn your comfort
level.
You may hit the ball off a low tee
with a long club or you may hit
from the turf with a lofted iron.
Stand behind the ball each time to
make certain that orientation is
correct. Few people can sight
accurately from beside and above
the golf ball.
A
peculiar thing happens to most
golfers, however; they quit on the
drill even though positive results
are apparent to them. Laziness is
the problem. It takes considerable
effort to constantly retrieve and
insert the tees into the ground.
The average practitioner of the
golfing arts will try the drill
for five minutes, say, "Yeah, that
really helps!" and then go back to
mindlessly banging range balls. A
week later they will return and
say, "I'm slicing the ball again -
that drill didn't work."
NO DRILL WORKS IF YOU DON'T STICK
WITH IT!!!
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The Putter's Follow-Through |
A very common problem with
many putting strokes is
'deceleration'. This is
generally characterized by a
long takeaway and a short
follow-through. With many
golfers this can become
quite exaggerated leading to
a fruitless stroke which
pretty much just 'baps' the
ball. These golfers try to
control the length of the
ball's roll with how hard
they come at the ball not
with the length and force of
their follow-through. The
roll they impart to the ball
is invariably poor. Putters
aren't designed to work well
with such a technique. The
ball needs to be 'rolled' to
the cup, not 'smacked'.
The
best putters in the world
share a common look at the
completion of their putts.
They make a long
follow-through towards the
cup, they hold the pose with
putter extended and they
don't look up until the ball
is well, well on its way.
Poor putters generally look
up early and have
follow-throughs which are
shorter than their takeaways
or have strokes which cut
obliquely across the line of
the putt.
An easy way to check out
your stroke's 'geometry' is
to buy and use a putting
track of some type and
practice within it making
note of where your stroke
stops and starts. A pure
pendulum stroke is centered
upon the ball's position. If
any deviation from this is
made it should be with a
long follow-through, not a
short one.
If you do not have a putting
track or training aid you
can easily make your own.
Place three tees into the
green aimed on a straight
line towards your target.
Insert the middle one
immediately beside your
ball. Place one on the
intended line of your
takeaway and the other on
the target line towards the
cup.
The spacing of the tees will
vary depending upon the
length of you practice putt.
The important thing to
remember is that the forward
tee should be at least fifty
percent farther away from
the center tee than is the
back tee. This exaggerated
spacing will help to train
you to extend out with the
putt as you practice.
As
you putt make certain that
you do not extend past the
back tee on your takeaway or
fall short of the forward
tee on your follow-through.
Adjust the tees in and out
to suit the length of your
practice putt - just keep
the spacing proportionate.
You might also run a string
along the three tees or you
may lay a shaft on the green
next to them. This will help
you keep your stroke online.
Keep putting balls with this
measuring device until you
feel that your stroke is
actually starting just shy
of the ball, is accelerating
gently through impact and
carrying forward to a proper
finishing pose. It could
take a few dozen strokes,
but more likely hundreds
will be required to ingrain
a new set of 'muscle
memories' into your golfing
psyche.
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» To feel the
spine angle remain
constant
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With nothing in your
hands, address the
ball with the proper
posture. Place the
left hand on the
sternum, keeping the
left forearm
parallel to the
ground. Rotate to
the back swing,
keeping the forearm
parallel to the
ground. This
movement forces the
hips to remain level
as the trunk rotates
back then through
keeping the arm
level to the ground.
The left arm should
move around, not up
through impact. The
sternum should still
be facing downward
as at address but
more open to the
target line at
impact. The result
is a back and
through motion that
has rotated around
the spine without
any up/down or left/
right bend.
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With golf club in
hand, address the
ball and make a back
swing motion,
bringing the club to
the top of the back
swing. Stop and move
the left foot around
90 degrees keeping
your arms in the
same place. The
resulting arm
position will be in
front of your
shoulders. Lower the
club straight down.
You should be facing
90 degrees from your
starting position,
but have the same
spine and body
position you had at
address.
To feel
hip resistance
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Place a large ball
between the knees.
Assume the proper
address posture.
Keep the hips still
while rotating the
upper body back.
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Address the ball.
Keeping your legs
stationary, push
outward with your
upper thigh. This
motion naturally
restricts your
swing. Hit shots
keeping the lower
body still.
Left hand and arm
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Hold a golf ball in
the middle joint of
the left index
finger, pressing the
thumb against the
ball. Squeeze firmly
and hold for 10
seconds while moving
your arm back and
through freely from
the shoulder.
Pretend to make a
tossing motion with
the ball while
keeping the elbow
loose and the arm
free from tension.
Imagine making a
full swing using the
hand as the face of
the club. Rotate the
arm from the
shoulder and square
the "club" at
impact. After
"impact," allow the
left arm to extend
and then bend,
folding up as the
body rotates around.
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Grab a Ping-Pong
paddle in the left
hand. Swing the
paddle back and
forth, squaring up
the face of the
paddle to the target
as if playing a
Ping-Pong game.
Right hand and arm
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Repeat Drill 6 with
right index finger
remembering to take
care not to guide
the arm, but instead
allow a free, fluid
motion toward the
goal.
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Grip the club with
only the right hand,
making sure the palm
is square to the
face of the club.
Swing the club to
the top of the swing
and hold the
position for a few
seconds before
returning it back to
the position of
impact.
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