Shortgame - Land the Plane

Whenever you struggle with chipping and pitching you’re not making solid contact with the ball. The strike is off. This could take the shape of sticking the club in the ground or completely whiffing the ground. Landing the plane is an analogy I came up with many years ago that refers to how we should get the sole of the club to interact with the ground. There should be harmony. Watch….

A checklist to help you improve the quality of strike when wedging:

·      Feet should be narrower rather than wider

·      Weight should favor the front foot – slightly

·      Keep your chest rotating through the strike

·      Feel that you elevate slightly throughout the downswing

·      Avoid trying to stay down

·      Limit the hand and wrist action

One of the big no-no’s I see with golfers who struggle with the club to ground interaction is this over-riding objective to STAY DOWN. Stay away from it. It will wreck your ability to repeatedly land the sole of your wedge harmoniously on the ground through impact. So many of the world’s best wedgers actually lengthen the radius of the motion by elevating in some form or another.

Practice helps, but the correct concept is always the best starting point. Start with a few practice swings keeping the plane on the runway for as long as you can. Clip a few shots and then get to work on taking ownership of the motion.

Thanks for reading/watching and I sincerely hope this information in some way contributes to your enjoyment of this awesome game.

My 3 Keys to Great Wedge Play

If you dread any form of pitch or chip shot then this article is expressly for you. If you feel like you could save a few more strokes around the greens then this article is for you. Utilizing better technique will literally make these shots easier. Here are a few straightforward improvements that will get the job done. Watch...

Key #1: Set Up

• Feet should be close together. The most common mistake I see is a stance that's too wide.
• Alignment should be square. Yes, square.
• Ball position is centered to slightly forward.
• Weight distribution is slightly favoring the front foot.

The Proper Set Up...

Key #2: Wrist Action

• Wrists should be relatively quiet in the backswing.
• Avoid excessive cupping in the lead wrist. The left wrist for you righties out there.

Key #3: Body Pivot

• Keep the chest rotating through the strike in order to shallow the attack angle.
• Extend the lead side through impact.
• Avoid thoughts of "stay down", "hit down" or "pinch the ball".

As you work towards better technique be aware that your results are not going to transition from bad to good instantaneously. Taking ownership of the upgrades will take time and patience. Get the set up correct, use the wrists properly and shallow the angle of attack with good chest rotation. Now we're talking!

If you'd like to learn more about improving your wedge play check out the Wedge Project.

Two Shots for Sand Success

In order to be a great bunker player you need more than one shot.  How often have you found yourself in the sand, twenty feet from the hole, and you need to hit a high, soft, spinnning shot to have any chance of getting up and down?  Or found yourself sixty feet from the target and you now need a lower, running type bunker shot in order to reach the hole?  You need to learn these two shots!

The first shot is a high velocity, high trajectory, high spin shot.  It is most often struck with the most lofted club in the bag.  In this situation the ball needs to come to a screeching halt very soon after landing, due to the fact that you have very little green to play with.

Here is how to play the shot:

• Using your most lofted club, open the face as much as possible.  You should feel as if you could balance a glass of water on the face of the club at address - take note of the picture above.
• The velocity and speed in the swing is what gets the ball high and spinning, so even though this may be a short shot it requires an aggressive approach.  Hit it hard!
• Going through impact try to feel the hands scoop under the ball.  The club head releases under and thus the club face stays open through the hit. This is an important element to this shot as it allows the golfer to hit hard, yet when releasing the club properly, the ball goes up versus far.
• Practice this shot from good lies off of a slight up slope in the sand.  While hitting the shot as hard as you can try to see how high and short you can make the ball travel.

The other shot is a low velocity, low trajectory, low spin shot.  It should most often be played with the second most lofted club in the bag.  If you have an LW it would be the SW, or if you only have an SW then you should use the PW.  In this situation the shot needs to traverse a large portion of either flat or downhill green.  There is ample opportunity for the ball to roll like a putt!

Play the shot this way:

• Using a lesser lofted club the stance should be of average width and the ball position is still forward of center.
• The clubface remains open, yet to a lesser degree than the above shot.
• This shot is played almost in slow motion as there should be very little speed in the swing. I often call this the 'dump and run' shot, as it should just get out the bunker, land early on the green and roll to the hole as if it were a putt.
• The hands should be light throughout the swing and it is okay to actually roll the face a little through impact.  This serves to lower the shot further and causes the ball to release more.
• Do not attempt this shot when your ball is lying on an upslope! An upslope requires a more aggressive swing and that robs the ball of  its ability to stay low.
• Practice is vital for this shot as it tends to take a few tries before sensing the correct speed of the swing.

With a few minutes spent experimenting with the above suggestions in the sand you will soon start to lose some of the angst we have all experienced when stepping into a bunker.  Give it a try and please feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Additional Resources:

How to Hit Great Bunker Shots

Luke Donald's Buried Lie

Setting Up for a Great Impact (Part 2 of a Four Part series)

So often I read that it is important to be "behind the ball".  While this statement is almost correct I would prefer for a golfer to be "over" the ball and this sense initiates with the set up position.

 The set-up encompasses ball position, stance width and spine/shoulder tilt.  Let's take a look from the ground up.

With the irons I would like to see the ball played from the middle of the stance - keep in mind, that in order to hit down on the ball, a must, the weight must be in front of the ball.  Notice that I said weight and not body or head!  When the ball is centrally located it is that much easier to hit down on.  As you get to the longer clubs(woods) slide the ball up toward the inside of the left heel.  In the Ben Hogan illustration you'll notice how his ball is not quite in the center but a little forward.  This is due to his pronounced hip slide into impact which still allowed him to be able to hit down on a more forward ball position.

As far as the stance width goes, I prefer a narrower stance than a wider one and here's why.  A narrow stance allows for the weight to get to the front foot easily - that's why you should be chipping and pitching with a narrow stance.  Too wide and you'll have a hard time getting onto the front foot without excess movement.

Head position and spine tilt is the most important factor in the set-up!  I read an article yesterday pontificating about if you tilt away from the target you'll reduce your slice.  Well, you might reduce the slice, but you'll have a hard time making solid contact with the ball.  All the best ball strikers set up as Hogan has here, with the head positioned between the feet, the left eye over the ball and the spine just about vertical.  There should also be a minimal amount of shoulder tilt when the spine is vertical.  Make sure you avoid any excess tilt into your back side as this will make it almost impossible to get "over" the ball at impact.

Set yourself up to get into a great impact!

Things to ponder:

• Harbourtown and the TPC Louisiana are both Pete Dye golf courses. They look like they are from different planets!
• Can Steve Stricker finally get the job done on Sunday? It's been a while!
• Tiger Woods is a great champion, but does he play golf the way it was meant to be played? Does modern equipment let him play the game "his way"? I offer Greg Norman and Nick Faldo as contrasts.
• I was going to ask, " When will Sergio grow up?" but I'm not sure he ever will.
• Will Sergio ever grow up?