Tag: high handicap

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Hit More Fairways

How to Fix a Slice – Ball Flight Laws

By Shooting 90

Understanding the ball flight laws which govern why your ball is hooking and slicing is necessary to be able to build awareness of your own clubhead path and clubface angle. Knowing your own clubhead path and clubface angle enables you to easier make swing changes.

Our swing is determining how the clubhead path and clubface angle and the relationship between the two, at impact, create the ball flight pattern. What exactly is the relationship between clubhead path and clubface angle? Depending on the club, your clubface angle is 65 to 85 percent responsible for the direction your ball starts in. The clubhead path, specifically the relationship between the clubhead path and the clubface angle, is primarily responsible for the direction and amount of curvature in your ball flight.

In the video below, Andrew Rice explains the ball flight laws and the “Royal” relationship between path and face.

If you didn’t already, you now know that a slice is caused by the clubface angle being open relative to the clubhead path. The slice we’re all use to seeing is the one that starts on or left of the target line, curves way right landing well right of the target, usually so far right that you’re in trouble. The path moves from outside of the target line across to the inside of the target line. The clubface angle is pointing to the right of the path to some degree.

Many golfers try to compensate their slice by aiming more left, which doesn’t help. This move can increase the difference between your path and face, worsening your slice. Even if you can aim more left and not worsen you slice, there are just too many holes that you might not have the room to start that far left.

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Golf Practice

The Chipping Game

By Shooting 90

High handicap and beginner golfers lose a lot of strokes around the green. Yet it’s probably the area that golfers practice the least. How often do you see someone chipping by the practice green?

My 12 year old son started taking his golf game more seriously this season. Like many beginner golfers, he made quick improvements in his long game from tee to green, but still gives up too many strokes around and on the green.

We’ve identified the need to emphasize practicing chipping and putting, but chipping and putting ball after ball from the same spots is not the way. There’s been a lot written lately about the need to practice like you play in order to simulate real shots and golf round pressure.

My son and I play a game for our chipping practice. It’s simple, fun, and provides a large amount of chipping and putting practice.

Each player plays one ball. Players alternate choosing the spot off the green to chip from along with the hole on the practice green to chip to. The object is to get your ball in the hole in the less strokes than your opponent. No points are awarded to either player in a tie. The winning player receives three points if they chip it in with one stroke, two points for getting “up and down” in two strokes, and one point for getting the ball in the hole in three strokes. No points are awarded for four or more strokes even if you get in the hole in less strokes than your opponent. The winner of the match is the first player to reach ten points.

This chipping game is a great way to simulate real golf round pressure both with the match play aspect and the need to get the ball in the hole in three strokes or less.

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Hit More Greens

Uneven Lies – Ball Above Your Feet

By Shooting 90

In our first post on the challenges that uneven lies present on the course, we discussed the proper setup and technique for hitting a ball below your feet. This post tackles its counterpart, an uneven lie with the ball above your feet.

With the ball above your feet, your hands are closer to the ball. You’ll need to choke down on the club a bit, as if you swing with your hands in your normal position on the club, you’ll most likely hit the ground before the ball. Choking down on the club will cause you to hit the ball a shorter distance. You may need to take one club more than you usually do for the distance you are at.

The slope of the lie with the ball above your feet will try to make you lose your balance backwards. It’s important to keep your weight in the balls of your feet to help maintain your balance.

The ball flight, to some degree, will follow the slope of the lie. So for right handed golfers, your shot will want to go left depending on the severity of the slope.

Check out the video below from PGA professional Derek Hooper as he explains how to hit a shot with the ball above your feet.

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Hit More Greens

Uneven Lies – Ball Below Your Feet

By Shooting 90

You make be working hard on how to fix a slice and in turn hitting more fairways. Your second shot, the approach shot into the green, is a more difficult shot. Besides the fact that your ball isn’t on a tee, there’s a chance you are not on level ground.

Uneven lies are a big reason it is difficult for high handicap golfers to take their progress on the practice range to the course. Even the flattest of courses will present at least a few uneven lies per round. On other courses, you’ll have more uneven lies than even ones! High handicap and beginner golfers many times do not make the small changes in setup and swing necessary to hit a good shot from an uneven lie.

The first uneven lie we are going to cover is the ball below your feet. There are a few key things to remember when setting up for a shot with the ball below your feet.

First, you’re farther away from the ball. You’ll need to bend more at the hips and flex more at the knees to compensate for this and get closer to the ball.

Second, both the slope and bending more at the hips will want to put more of your weight on your toes and give you the feeling that you are going to fall down the slope. Keep your weight back on your heels to stay balanced.

Being bent more at the hips and knees will limit how much your lower body can move, so the shot will be more arms and shoulder movement. It’s important to maintain your spine angle and not come up during the shot. This is why many golfers end up topping the ball from this lie.

Lastly, the ball flight will tend to follow the slope of the lie. So your ball will go to the right (for righties) a certain amount based on the amount of slope.

Categories
Hit More Fairways

How to Fix a Slice – Stop Casting the Club on Your Downswing

By Shooting 90

We’ve previously discussed the key for a golfer looking for how to fix a slice is to create an in to out swing path. Many high handicap and beginner golfers have the opposite, an out to in swing path, which is the main reason for their slice. Many golfers with an out to in swing path also “cast” the club during their downswing. Casting refers to straightening your wrists and losing the angle between your left forearm (for righties) and the club shaft very early in your downswing which makes consistent ball striking very difficult.

One reason for casting is the tendency to lift the club up with your arms and hands to start the backswing. This sets up what is referred to as a narrow to wide to narrow swing. Golfers with this swing lift the club during the back swing (narrow), extend their arms and cast the club to begin the downswing (wide), and finally collapse their arms through impact with the ball (narrow).

Creating a wide to narrow to wide swing is a great way to stop casting the club.

If you watch any professional golf, you’ll notice that a professional’s swing is much different. In fact it’s very much the opposite, a wide to narrow to wide swing. A professional brings the club back wide with their arms extended, keeps a narrow downswing with their wrists still hinged, finally releasing the club by extending their arms and going wide.

The following video by Simon Weston is a great explanation of a wide to narrow to wide swing.

 

There are big benefits to a wide to narrow to wide swing.

The first is a more consistent in to out swing, helping you to fix a slice. Rotating your body with hip and shoulder turn minimizes you using your arms and hands to swing the club. It is difficult to build consistency in a swing with a lot of hand and arm movement.

Secondly, you lose club head speed and shot distance when you cast the club. By keeping your wrists hinged until later in the downswing, you create lag in your swing. Lag refers to keeping your hands in front of the club shaft and releasing the club right before impact with the ball. A wide to narrow to wide swing promotes more lag and gives you a higher club head speed at impact.

One of the keys to a wide to narrow to wide swing is getting your weight moving forward towards the target to start your downswing. This helps to drop your hands down inside to start your downswing. If you start your downswing by dropping your hands before moving forward towards your target, you are more likely to come over the top with an outside to in swing path.

Here’s a great drill from Karen Palacios-Jansen to help you start your downswing by getting your weight moving towards the target.

 

By not casting the club on your downswing, you’ll help eliminate your slice, create more consistent ball striking, and gain distance through increased club head speed.

Categories
Golf Tips

Fall is a Great Time for Golf!

By Shooting 90

It’s fall here in the northern hemisphere, and depending on exactly where you are, this may mean nothing to your golf or it may mean you have a week left of your golf season. Some of you live in places which allow you to golf year round. Some of us, myself included, live in a place where we have a significant winter. I thoroughly enjoy four distinct seasons, so while it does not bother me, the approaching winter means no more local outdoor golf for me.

So while fall means your local course may soon be closing, it shouldn’t mean you should not golf as much as possible up until then. In fact, with the exception of dealing with aerated greens and possibly making a new local rule to handle lost balls in leaves on the ground, fall golf has many things going for it.

  • Fall golf is inexpensive. Let’s face it. Golf is an expensive sport. Two local municipal courses I golf on, St. Germain Golf Club and Northwood Golf Club, cost $45 for 18 holes in the summer. Granted, even though these are town-owned, they are 4.5 star courses. Still, I don’t know about you, but $45 to golf is a significant cost for me. Today I teed off at 3 o’clock in the afternoon at St. Germain Golf Club, took advantage of their twilight all you can golf rate for $14, and squeezed in 18 holes in the 3 and a half hours of daylight I had. Every course has deals like this. They’re still open and want golfers.
  • On many days, it is more comfortable to golf in the fall than in the summer. For me, many days in the summer are just plain too hot for golf. I’d rather put on a layer of clothes and golf in the fall than to sweat it out in the summer heat. The weather for my round today was 52 F, sunny, and very little wind. The temperature was not too cold for my hands to get cold and I was very comfortable with a sweatshirt and light jacket.
  • There are little to no bugs in the fall! The mosquitos and biting flies of spring and summer are gone or nearly gone in fall.
  • The chance for severe weather in the fall is very minimal. If fact, in general, there is much less rain in the fall. There were several times this summer that my round was shortened due to severe weather. Watching the radar and not going out if there is a chance of storms is just not realistic. Too many times you don’t go golfing and no severe weather turns up. So you end up taking your chances and being forced off the course by severe weather. Never golf with lightning in the area. Golf is never as important as your safety.
  • The fall colors are spectacular. If you are lucky enough to have a local course with woods, the course is an excellent place to see the changing colors. Being out in nature is one of the great perks of golf and the outdoors are many times most beautiful in the fall.

While many of us are sad that another golf season is coming to an end, don’t stop golfing just yet. Take advantage of all the things that fall golf has going for it and golf up until your course closes.

Categories
Golf Equipment

Invest in the Right Putter

By Shooting 90

Last week was the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, a yearly showcase of new advancements in golf equipment. New advanced equipment comes out every year aimed at improving your golf game. Through equipment upgrades, golfers have the opportunity to immediately improve their game.

The most advanced equipment, however, is not always right for the high handicap golfer. Many high handicap and beginner gofers play with a Titleist Pro V1 golf ball. Although Titleist may tell you differently, a Pro V1 tour ball is almost always the wrong choice for a high handicapper. A less expensive two piece ball is most likely a better fit.

Many golfers also have no problem dropping several hundred dollars on the newest driver, a club they use 14 times a round at the most.

The club you do not see many golfers begging to show you the bright, shiny, new model they just bought is the putter. In fact, more than a few golfers probably use a $10 putter. Golfers take a majority of their strokes with their putter. We need to put some effort into making sure the putter we are using is best for our game.

Length is an important factor when choosing a putter. You need a putter that conforms to your stance instead of changing your stance for a putter. A proper putting stance has you bent at the hips with your eyes over the ball. Cutting a putter shaft that is too long down to size is not a good thing to do as the weight of the putter head is matched to its length. Your shortened putter will feel too light.

Your putter also has to match your putting stroke. Your putting stroke will fall into one of three categories – straight back straight through, slight arc, or strong arc. A straight back straight through stroke is just what it implies. The putter head goes straight back and then straight through impact with the ball, with the putter face remaining square to the target line all the way through. An arc stroke means the stroke travels on a path that starts inside of the target, moves out to the target line for impact, and then back inside. The putter face will be slightly open at the start, square to target at impact with the ball, and then closed at finish.

Putter heads are weighted differently. A face balanced putter, where the weight is equally distributed from the heel to the toe of the head, is ideal for golfers that have a straight back straight through stroke. A toe weighted putter, that has more weight in the toe of the head, assists the face in moving from open to closed through the shot, making it ideal for golfers with an arc putting stroke.

So how do you tell if your putter is face balanced or toe weighted? Balance the shaft of the putter in the palm of your hand. If the face points up and is horizontal, it is a face balanced putter. If the toe hangs lower than the rest of the putter head, it is a toe weighted putter.

Finally, should you use a blade or mallet putter? While personal preference plays a small role as you can get both face balanced and toe weighted versions of both blade and mallet putters, face balanced  mallet putters are best suited for straight back straight through strokes and toe weighted blade putters are best for arc strokes.

Go to your local golf store or pro shop if you’re not sure what type of putting stroke you have. They can analyze your stroke and make sure you have the right putter for your game.

Categories
Putting

Become a Better Lag Putter

By Shooting 90

There are a few areas that high handicap or beginner golfers should focus on to most quickly improve their game. Hitting the ball in the fairway off the tee might be the first and most important. Improving your pitching and chipping around the green is another one.

Today, we will be discussing an equally important area of focus for high-handicap golfers which is eliminating three putts. Of course while the goal is to eliminate three putts, no one ever does, but the point is to drastically reduce the number that you have. While hitting a ball out of play off the tee can derail your hole before it starts, nothing is more deflating than hitting a green in regulation only to three putt for a bogey. Worse yet is to three putt after struggling from tee to green and ending up with a blow-up hole. The ability to putt well can make up for earlier mistakes on a hole but there is nothing to cover up for bad putting.

The most important skill to develop when working towards eliminating three putts is effective lag putting. Lag putting is not trying to make the putt but instead getting it close enough to insure that you can make the second putt. So we’re talking about getting within a few feet of the hole. The chances of a high handicap golfer making a putt outside of 10 feet are low, while their chances of making one outside of 15 feet drop down to almost nothing. You obviously will make a long putt now and then but outside of 10-15 feet you are much better off to concentrate on getting the ball within a couple feet of the hole instead of trying to make it.

Quite possibly the biggest difference between the putting of a professional golfer and that of an amateur is the amount of feel that a professional golfer uses in putting. Many high handicap golfers have a very mechanical putting swing. While it’s very important to have proper mechanics while putting, there is a great deal of feel required in putting especially for distance control.

Check out the video below from Charlie King. He provides three great drills to develop your feel for lag putting.

There is another, just an important, skill required to be a successful lag putter. You need to be able to make short putts! A successful lag putt to within two to three feet of the hole is wasted if you don’t make the putt. The best way to make more short putts is too practice making more short putts! Check out this next video from short game guru Dave Pelz with tips for if you continue to miss short putts.

Change your practice routine if yours currently consists of putting a few 10 to 15 footers before your round. Dedicate regular practice time for working on your lag putting and you can drastically reduce the number of times you three putt.

Categories
Golf Equipment

The Real Best Golf Balls for Beginners

By Shooting 90

In the past posts Best Golf Balls for Beginners and Choosing the Right Golf Ball, we’ve talked about matching your golf game to the correct ball. By playing a two-piece golf ball, you’ll save money as the cost is only around one dollar per ball. You also gain distance and reduce ball spin off the tee which will help minimize your slice or hook.

However, the golf ball you play does relatively little by itself to improve your game. By comparison, the irons you play have a much greater impact on your game. For example, high handicap and beginner golfers should be play super game-improvement irons. Super game-improvement irons will give a golfer much more forgiveness than a golf ball ever could.

A golf ball does very little to mask major swing flaws. High handicap and beginner golfers should choose a two-piece ball brand and play it consistently, taking advantage of its cost, distance, and reduced spin.

So what are the real best golf balls for beginners? Of course the answer is the practice ball. The quickest way to improving your game is through practice, not equipment. Regular time at the practice range is vital for becoming a better golfer. It is important to not use your practice time to just whack ball after ball. Your time is too important and limited to waste practicing in a non-optimal way.

Too many golfers head to the practice range and hit ball after ball with their driver. While it is very necessary to learn how to hit your driver, you should split your practice time between full swing, short game, and putting. Spend one third of your practice time in each area. Addressing each area of your game in practice is required to improve your overall game.

Do long winters prohibit you from visiting your local course’s practice range for months at a time? Visit a local indoor golf facility and spend regular time on one of their simulators. The instant feedback you receive on club head speed, ball spin, ball flight path and more puts you on the fast path to improving your swing.

Categories
Golf Tips

2013 Travelers Championship

By Shooting 90

I spent a nice northwoods Sunday afternoon indoors catching up on some computer work. The bright side is that it gave me a chance to watch the final round of the Travelers Championship. It was an exciting back nine with Ken Duke, Graham DeLaet, and Chris Stroud all having a shot at their first PGA Tour victory. Ultimately it was Ken Duke sticking his approach shot to within three feet of the pin on the second playoff hole to setup his victory over Chris Stroud.

It was great to see the journeyman Ken Duke get his first win, but the tournament was Bubba Watson’s to lose as he got to the 178 yard par 3 16th hole. At the time, he held a one shot lead over Ken Duke. Bubba proceeded to hit a 9 iron short of the green with his ball bouncing off the hill fronting the green and into the water. A tense exchange with his caddie Ted Scott regarding club selection soon followed for the listening pleasure of the TV audience. He then hit his third shot over the green from the drop zone which prompted more words with his caddie. A poor chip and a two putt leads to a triple bogey essentially ending his hopes of winning the tournament.

There are a few things we can learn from Bubba’s meltdown on the 16th hole.

  • One bad shot does not cause a blow-up hole. Blow-up holes are caused by multiple bad shots compounded on top of each other. Bubba could have rebounded with a nice third shot from the drop zone or even a nice fourth shot from behind the green. Either would have avoided a triple bogey.

 

  • Concentrate on the current shot. This is easier said than done but previous shots are in the past and should remain there. If Bubba could have stuck his third shot from the drop zone close to the pin, everyone would be talking about his great recovery on 16 that led him to victory.

 

  • Remain calm. This is something many amateur golfers struggle with. Our natural tendency is to become frustrated. I believe Bubba would admit that it would have been best to talk it out with his caddie after the round.

 

We can look at Ken Duke on the 18th hole for an example on how to respond after a bad shot. He came to the 18th with a one shot lead but hit a terrible drive way right into the rough. You could tell his nerves really got the best of him. He did a great job of composing himself and instead of going for the green, took the shot he had, and hit a nice approach just off the left side of the green. From there, he was able to get up and down for par.

Blow-up holes are round killers for high handicap golfers and occasionally even for pros. Remaining calm and playing one shot at a time are the keys to recovering from a bad shot and avoiding blow-up holes.