drop_10_storkes_in_10_minutes.pdf - BIGHORN Golf Club

00 G O L F T I P S www.golftipsmag.com

www.golftipsmag.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 1 00

DROP

IN MINUTES!

1010

STROKESBY TOM STICKNEY, PGA,WITH RYAN NOLLPHOTOS BY RYAN NOLL

It’s a new year. It’s a new you. It’s timeto kick those bad swing habits and make 2011 theyear you play your best golf ever. I’m here to helpyou do just that, only this time, I’m going to helpyou make some immediate fixes that don’t requirelong hours at the practice facility. Nope. I’ve got10 fixes for you that, in a matter of minutes,ought to help you drop those unwanted strokesand shatter your scoring barrier.


1STROKE 1:THE TOPPEDTEE SHOT

Most golfers who top their teeshots (you know, the ones thatbarely make it past the ladies tees)do so because they try to hang backand hit up on the ball. Ironic, isn’t it?Sometimes the harder you try to hitthe ball higher, the more you’ll topthe ball and drive in straight into theground. In fact, some golfers top theball so often, that they don’t realizethe ball careens off the ground a fewinches in front of the tee before itgingerly flies down the fairway. Tocure the topped shot in a hurry,imagine you’re hitting two golf ballsat the same time. The first is whereyou normally tee it up. The second isa few inches in front toward the tar-get. By concentrating on the secondball you’ll be more inclined to makea sweeping motion through the firstball, thus preventing the toppedshot. And in case you’re wondering,a good drive is the result of a slight-ly ascending arc—something thatwill naturally happen when playingthe ball forward in your stance witha driver. Don’t force it.

DON’TLEAN

BACK!

www.golftipsmag.com A P R I L 2 0 1 0 00

STROKE 2:THE BIG SLICE

It’s awful, isn’t it? Sometimes a slice comesout of nowhere, and when it does, it usually getsworse by the end of the round. A great way to killa slice right away is tomonitor your grip pressure.If you grip the club too firmly, your hands won’trelease quick enough, and you won’t be squaringthe face at impact. So loosen your grip pres-sure—just don’t go so loose that you can’t holdthe club securely. Second, as you can see in thephotos, I like to wear a watch when I play. Itreminds me that the back of my left hand (thewatch face) ought to face the target at impact. Ifthe watch is facing up or to the right, a slice isimminent. Wearing a watch is a great way to trainand remind yourself where the hands should beat impact, thus killing that nasty slice.

2

WATCHUP!

WATCHUP!

TARGET!

WATCH AT TARGET!


STROKE 3:THE POP-UP

This shot is particularly frustrat-ing because not only is it weak andembarrassing, but it’s likely toleave what’s often called an “idiotmark” on the crown of your driverjust above the face. Nobody wantsthat. Most golfers who pop up theirtee shots do so because theyswing too hard with their upperbody and, as a result, hit the golfball at a very steep angle. The trickto stop the pop-up shots is to relaxthe upper body and initiate a big-ger and better rotation of the lowerbody. By doing that, you’ll effec-tively shallow-out your plane, andyour arms will follow your bodyinstead of leading it. The result? Amore level swing plane and nary anidiot mark ever again. Relax thosearms and use more body!

3TOOSTEEP!

WIDERARC!


STROKE 5:FAT SHOTS

Hitting it fat? Like a thin shot,you’ve got to stop trying to lift theball into the air! Allow the club’s loftto handle the lifting, and concen-trate on getting your weight off yourright side on the downswing. To dothis, initiate your downswing with aslight bump of the hips toward thetarget. By doing this, you’ll centeryour body’s rotation more over thegolf ball, helping to avoid hittingthe turf before the golf ball. If you’rehanging back, you’ll be hitting it fat!And by the way, let’s say you’remaking a good swing and still hit-ting it fat. Sometimes a simpleadjustment in ball position (move itback) will make all the difference.Get that ball just in front of the low-est point on your swing arc.

STROKE 4:THINNING IT

A thin shot is generally better than a fat one, but not ifthere’s trouble looming behind your target. In any case, hit-ting it thin isn’t unlike topping your tee shots with a driver. Inmost cases, it’s because the golfer is trying to lift the ball offthe ground and into the air. This is the last thing you want to

do! A successful golf shot is one that hits down into the turnand uses the loft on the iron to lift the ball upwards. Also,check out my left side around impact. See how my left arm isnot only straight (indicating I haven’t tried to lift the ball up),but also stacked over my left leg. This is what you want tolook like at impact. So think “stack your left side” and you’llthin it less often.

BAD!

GOOD!

45

STRAIGHTLEFT ARM

DON’TLIFT

UP!


STROKE 6:NASTY SHANKS

Hitting a shank is one of the worstshots in golf. It not only can send theball a mile offline, but it reeks havocon one’s confidence, often causingthe golfer to tense up with the yips—thus making a shank even more like-ly. Most shanked-pitch and short-ironshots can be avoided if you remem-ber one simple tip: Keep the headand upper body from leaning too fartoward the golf ball during the swing.Because you’re using a shorter ironand your spine angle is greater thanwith a longer iron or wood, excessive-ly leaning toward the ball becomes alot easier to do. When this happens,you have little to no hope, as theclubhead is most likely to strike theball on the heel, or worse, on or nearthe hosel. The next time you findyourself shanking the ball, try stand-ing more upright at address, andretaining a more upright upper-bodyposture through the shot. This maysteepen your swing a bit, but it willalso keep that hosel away from thegolf ball at impact.

6THESHANK!

DON’TLEAN

FORWARD

STROKE 7:CHUNKEDPITCH SHOTS

Having a short pitch shot ought tobe an easy one, right? Not if you havea tendency to chunk ’em. In mostcases, chunked pitches come froman improper spine tilt at address. Ifanything, most golfers have toomuch negative spine tilt (the rightshoulder is lower than the left). Thiscauses the low point of the arc tomove too far back in the stance, andyou’ll hit the turf before the ball. Tocorrect this fault in a hurry, consider amore level spine tilt at address, i.e.,don’t raise your left shoulder so farabove your right. A more level shoul-der position will move your low pointforward to help you hit the ball first,then the ground.


7GET LEVEL STAY LEVEL

STACKIT!


STROKE 8:BLADEDCHIPS

Bladed chip shots are neverpretty, especially when you’retrying your best to get up anddown to shoot a low score. Likea few other flaws I’ve covered inthis article, bladed chips usuallycome from trying to lift the ballfrom off the ground. Again, thisis a big no-no. To stop this non-sense once and for all, practicehitting a few shots with a teeabout three to four inches infront of the ball. As you makeyour stroke, make sure witheach chip, you clip that tee andpop it up off the ground. Thismind/body memory trick willhelp you staydownand throughover your chips and stop blad-ing the ball and wasting strokesaround the green.

STROKE 9: BADDIRECTIONALCONTROL

The best way to control thedirection of a short chip shot isto use your putter. But if theshot doesn’t call for a flatstick,make sure you have good aimwhen using your wedge. Thesimplest way to do this is toretain the Y-position formed bythe arms and the clubshaftthrough the stroke. This mini-mizes the opening and closingof the clubface and helps youmimic a putting stroke. Bymak-ing this type of stroke you cansimply set your aim and thenconcentrate more on distancecontrol—which, in most cases,is more important that direc-tion anyway.

98


STROKE 10:BAD LAGS=THREE-PUTTS

What’s the root of most three-putts? It’s not necessarily that golfersmiss a lot of short putts, ratherthey’re lag putts aren’t that great andtheir short putts are longer than theyought to be. And the secret to betterlag putting? Confidence and distancecontrol. First, you need confidence toget the ball to the hole (short puttsnever go in). And second, you needto know how tomanage the right dis-tances to set up easier second putts.A great drill for this is to practice fromvarying lengths around the greenand use a club about two feet behindthe hole. As you practice, try to makeevery putt, but also try to keep yourmisses between the hole and theclub. If you can consistently keepyour misses one to two feet behindthe hole, not only will youmakemorelong putts, but you’ll also find your-self with shorter short putts andfewer three-jacks!

� Tom Stickney, PGA, teaches at BighornGC in California and The Club atCordillera in Colorado. For more informa-tion, visit tomstickneygolf.com

10

drop_10_storkes_in_10_minutes.pdf - BIGHORN Golf Club

Documents