April 2019 -- Some Instruction thoughts, especially for the novice golfer:
A good buddy of mine recently asked me to meet with his recently widowed brother-in-law for a few golf pointers. His brother-in-law, who is in his early 80's, had not played golf for at least 15 years, and had only played about 15 times prior to that, so pretty much a novice. Let's call him "Bob."
So we met yesterday at Chicago's Diversey Driving Range and I went over some basics with him. Today, I sent him a follow-up email to review some of the many concepts we covered, and I have reproduced that email below, with some modifications to make it more understandable. But I think some of this discussion is fairly useful, especially for someone who is just getting started or just getting back to the game of golf. (((I will insert some paranthetical comments using three parantheses and bold italics to help readers here understand certain references that you might not follow as you weren't actually with us yesterday!!)))
Here's what I told him:
Bob, ----There were a few thoughts that I did not have time to articulate for you at the end yesterday. So I will fill you in on those now, and also review the key points from yesterday in case it was too much to absorb at the time. I know it was a lot of stuff covered!!
A key point that I was about to state at the end of our meeting was that once you go through your “pre-shot routine” (Posture, Grip, Alignment (“PGA”)) and you are about to hit the ball, I recommend at that point, your only thought should be “hit that damn little ball -- and solid.” Maybe you have ONE more thought at that point, such as “hit the ball under the bench.” More thoughts than that leads to “paralysis by analysis.” Not good.
(((The "hit the ball under the bench" idea was one taught to me by my former teacher, Jeff Bruckner, who I worked with in the late 1980's and early 1990's at Wilmette Golf Club. It was his instruction that took me from a 13-14 handicap to a guy who shot 65 on July 2, 1993. His instruction was epic, but unfortunately for me he moved to Las Vegas around 1994. Jeff wanted me to have the sensation of "driving the ball" at contact, so he suggested I picture a small bench about six feet in front of me. This also helped with keeping my "lag" as I approached the hitting zone (think Sergio Garcia). He was actually also trying to cure me from trying to "lift the ball" at impact. To emphasize the idea, he would also step on a few golf balls on the practice tee and make be hit down on them and dig them out of the ground. The bottom third of the golf balls would be down in an indentation, and the best way to get them out was to "hit down" on them.)))
Also, on that thought of hitting the ball “under the bench,” that is a “special” swing thought for you to address what I saw as your main “swing flaw.” Your tendency, as you bring the clubhead into the hitting zone, is to try to “lift up” the club to lift up the ball. This tendency is very common with novice golfers. Interestingly, if you can train yourself to “hit down” on the ball as if you’re hitting it under the imaginary bench six feet in front of you, the design of the golf clubs will actually cause the ball to go up in the air. That is one of the counterintuitive facts of golf. Hitting down makes the ball go up.
Now to review some of the things we discussed yesterday.
A lot of what we were doing was “pre-shot routine”, or what you do before you actually start the swing to hit the ball. The key concepts we covered were based on the acronym, “PGA,” -- Posture, Grip, and Alignment. The sequence I recommend is this:
1. Stand behind the ball and look down the line to the target.
2. Pick out an “intermediate” target (we used the three tees I laid out about three feet in front of the ball) to help get your line when you step to the side of the ball. When playing on an actual golf course, your intermediate target will be whatever you can find on the ground -- a divot hole, a leaf, a divot, a broken tee, a worm, whatever…... ((( --I had thrown down three tees in front of Bob so we could use these as intermediate targets as he worked on his alignment.)))
3. Then go to where you take your stance and use PGA -- but sort of in reverse order -- Alignment, Grip, and then Posture.
First, get aligned by getting your feet in position and setting the face of the club behind the ball perpendicular to your intended ball flight. Remember the idea of the two “railroad tracks,” one track from the ball and the other from your feet.
Then, take your grip (with the “Vs” of both thumbs and forefingers pointing towards your right shoulder. Grip the club fairly lightly. (Sam Snead always said grip it as you would hold a baby bird in your hands. Remember, this lightness of grip will allow you to “Release” the clubface through the “hitting zone.”
Then, adjust your posture, sticking your butt out to the back, bending at the waist with back fairly straight (not rounded), and, in your case, lifting your chin up a bit.
Then, without too much delay (a matter of a few seconds) smash the little white bastard sitting on the ground, finishing with the club going over your left shoulder and your chest and belt buckle facing in the direction of the ultimate target. As I said yesterday, Rory Mcilroy is flexible enough to get his chest and belt buckle facing directly at the target at his finish. You and I are not flexible enough to quite do that. (A point I did not mention yesterday, is once you are set to go, you want to go, because if you stand too long over the shot, you freeze a little bit and get tight.) You freeze and get tight because (probably) you are thinking about too many other things that are not relevant to hitting the ball. All you want to be thinking is --”Hit this ball under that damn bench.” Later, when you advance in your mastery of hitting that ball under the bench, maybe you will change your thought to something like, “Hit the ball and finish the swing” (or whatever flaw you need to address at that time.)
4. Another concept we discussed yesterday was ball position. Remember, we basically said:
For the driver, the ball placement would be just inside the left foot instep.
For a full wedge shot or nine-iron, the ball placement would be in the vicinity of the center of the stance. The other irons would likely be just an inch or two forward of center. A hybrid or fairway wood would be two or three inches forward of center. These are generally accepted, but ultimately these ball positions are a matter of personal preference based upon what works. Also, a golfers become more accomplished, they may move the ball position around based on the type of shot they are trying to hit. For example, and a fairly simple example, if you had to “punch out” from behind some trees to get back to the fairway, to keep the ball low, you might move it back to just inside your instep of your right foot..
Finally, we spoke briefly about making the “turn” in the backswing. I explained how a top amateur might turn their shoulders about 90 degrees in the backswing, while their hips might only turn 20-30- percent back. While making this turn, the right leg should remain fairly stable and should not sway backwards. That would lead to poor balance. But the idea is that the “torquing”of the upper body versus the hips is the method of creating power, along with the unwinding and the moving of the weight to the left leg and left side. This is very similar to a baseball player’s moves in swinging a bat, as we discussed. Sometimes, this torquing of the upper body versus the hips is called “the ‘X’ Factor.!!”
Oh, guess what, there’s more….
Always try to remember what I said about the “physics” of the golf swing. The key to hitting good golf shots is repeatedly hitting the ball as close to the center of the clubface as possible, while also having the clubface facing the ultimate target at the moment of impact. Good golf shots are not the result of swinging like a madman and only making “good contact” once out of every 20 swings. I was happy to hear you say that you understood that trying “to kill the ball” is not the path to good golf shots (unless, I guess, if you are Justin Thomas, whose skill level is off the charts!)
I really enjoyed the time we spent on this yesterday, and I am happy to help you any way I can, although I think it is a great idea to visit with an experienced teaching professional.
Best regards, GSB