Category: Hit More Fairways

Categories
Hit More Fairways

Should You Try to Hit a Straight Golf Shot?

By Shooting 90

This post is a followup to a post I wrote entitled Master Your Straight Golf Shot where I advise against purposely shaping your shot with a draw (right to left for righties) or a fade (left to right for righties) and encourage you to hit a straight shot. I watched a YouTube video tonight from Joseph Mayo (@TrackmanMaestro) and Grant Waite (@grantwaite) of Waite Mayo Golf. The video was made for a beginner or high handicap golfer audience and discusses grip, stance and weight shift.

In the segment on stance, they discuss the common problem of slicing the ball which many beginner and high handicap golfers have and how these golfers are told to hit the ball straight. Joseph and Grant argue against hitting the ball straight, citing it’s nearly impossible, and even pro golfers could not do it consistently if they tried. Rather than trying to teach high handicap golfers something even pros cannot do, they recommend hitting a predictable curve. A predictable curve is either a draw or a fade. Since many golfers have a problem with slicing, learning to hit a draw would not only give you a predictable ball flight path but would also correct the slice.

I encourage everyone to watch the video. Joseph and Grant provide great tips on a level everyone can understand. I know it has changed the way I think how high handicap golfers should setup and hit the ball.

 

Categories
Hit More Fairways

Let’s Drive

By Shooting 90

Many golfers get more enjoyment from hitting their driver than any other club in their bag. The distance, sound and feel from crushing a ball with your driver is unmatched by any other club. But with the thrill that comes from hitting your driver, there comes a huge amount of responsibility. There is no other club that can take you out of a hole as quickly as the driver can. Some high handicap golfers will avoid using their driver. I disagree with never using your driver. You’ll benefit from the length and it will be the correct club off the tee on several holes during a round. Every golfer needs to be comfortable hitting their driver off the tee.

Since most courses do not have a par 3 as their opening hole, there’s a decent chance driver will be the right choice off the first tee. It’s very important that you warm up and get loose at the practice range before you start your round. Remember time on the practice range before a round is warm up time and not practice time. You shouldn’t work on your swing during warm up time before a round. If you do not have time to hit the range before a round, make sure you thoroughly stretch and take plenty of practice swings. I know for me personally that there’s a good chance I will pull my drive left off the tee if I am not properly warmed up and loose.

You are allowed to tee up your ball anywhere between, but not in front of, and up to two club lengths behind the tee markers on the tee box. There is a preferred side to tee off from but it is more important that you tee off from a flat area. This is not an issue on many courses as the tee area is completely flat. However, there are some courses I like to play that have at least a few unleveled tee boxes. You have a huge benefit starting each hole being able to tee up your ball. The last thing you want to do is give yourself an uneven lie!

Provided you have a flat area, you want to tee off from the same side of the tee box as the trouble you are trying to avoid is. It’s simply easier to hit away from the trouble by teeing up on the same side it is on.

I see a lot of amateurs who do not account enough for the wind during their round. Granted a driver is not going to be affected as much as a wedge shot, but many of us get more air under our drives than we should so they are still going to be affected by the wind. Be sure to check the wind direction and strength before your shot and take it into consideration while lining up.

You’ll need a consistent pre-shot routine before every shot, especially your drives. A consistent routine of visualizing your drive, taking a practice swing and correctly lining up your drive will help you hit more fairways.

Your driver is one of the most used clubs in your bag. Learning to consistently hit the ball in the fairway off the tee with your driver is crucial to avoiding trouble and scoring well on the hole.

Categories
Hit More Fairways

Master Your Straight Golf Shot

By Shooting 90

A response by Hank Haney (@HankDHaney) to a question on Twitter recently caught my eye.

Hank replied “Straight” to the question of the one shot all golfers should learn. Hank helps amateurs with their golf game everyday on Twitter. He is a golf professional who coached Tiger Woods from 2004 to 2010. He is also author of The Big Miss and host of The Haney Project on The Golf Channel.

I enjoy watching professional golf on television. While there are many things you can pick up to improve your game from watching the pros, their ability to shape their shots with draws and fades is not something you should try to emulate until your games requires it.

You must master hitting your straight shot before you purposely curve your ball to the left (draw for right handers) or to the right (fade for right handers). Notice I said “hitting your straight shot” as opposed to “hitting the ball straight”. Your regular swing may produce a slight draw or fade which is perfectly natural and not a problem as long as your flight path is consistent. Keep in mind I’m not saying to work around a hook or slice. Hooks and slices are severe draws and fades which have too much movement to effectively manage. You should work on your swing to eliminate hooks or slices.

The fact is you can easily break 80 on a consistent basis without shaping any of your shots. I enjoy when I get the change to golf with older golfers. Many of these golfers lose a considerable amount of distance as they age, but their ability to consistently hit the ball straight enables them to continue to enjoy the game they love.

There is one shot, the punch shot, that you really need to go along with your straight shot which will help you get to shooting 90 and beyond. A punch shot has much less elevation than a normal shot. Low handicap and scratch golfers use a punch or knockdown shot to keep the ball down out of the wind while hitting their approach shots into the green. That is not what I recommend a high handicap golfer use a punch shot for. A high handicap golfer should know how to pull off a punch shot so they can go under tree branches and still get decent yardage on shots where they can not take a full backswing.

Play the ball back in your stance and choke down on the club to setup for a punch shot. You will also want to use a club or two more than you usually would for the yardage. Shorten both your backswing and follow through as you “punch” the ball.

Practice the punch shot next time you are at the practice range. It is a valuable tool to help get you out of troublesome spots. Keep enjoying watching the pros on TV. Just save trying to shape your shots until you are a low handicap golfer.

Categories
Hit More Fairways

Create a Proper Pre-Shot Routine

By Shooting 90

You may be like me and enjoy watching professional golf on television. At the very least many of you watch at least part of the majors. Professionals spend an incredible amount of time working on their game. There are not many things you can watch pros doing on TV that can be directly applied to your game. There are a few however, and the pre-shot routine is one of them.

Take an hour or two to watch a professional event on TV. Watch the players’ pre-shot routines. You’ll notice they differ from the pre-shot routines of many amateurs. Many amateurs take a few practice swings along side the ball and then address the ball. Unless they need to test the lie by the ball, professionals do very little along side the ball besides addressing and hitting it. Most of the professional player’s pre-shot routine is spent behind the ball facing the hole. They are visualizing their perfect shot and aligning their target.

After selecting the right club, stand a few yards behind the ball facing your target and visualize the shot. Visualization is imagining the ball flight of the shot you have planned. Professionals know their confidence grows with the positive affirmation of visualization. With so much of the game of golf being mental, visualizing every shot is important to your success.

After visualizing your shot, take a practice swing. One practice swing, a few yards behind the ball, is plenty if you have a good lie. The only time you need to take a practice swing next to the ball is when you have an unsure lie, which includes sidehill, uphill and downhill lies.

Next, you need to line up your shot with a target in the distance. Depending on the lie and the wind, the target may be the flag, a tree, a sand trap or just about anything. Standing a few yards behind the ball, draw an imaginary line through the ball to your target. Pick a spot on the imaginary line three to five feet in front of the ball. Address the ball by placing your club face behind the ball in line with the spot you just picked three to five feet in front of the ball. Line up your feet perpendicular to the imaginary line. Keep a relaxed grip and take the shot.

Developing a repeatable pre-shot routine is an important step in consistently hitting quality shots. A consistent pre-shot routine will improve your scores.