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Posted 19 April 2009 - 04:39 PM
Most people teach that and most Golfers try to do that.
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=wj0C0VbO_4g
I teach never to try and hit the ball straight and I got that from Jack Nicklaus. Who is to argue with the guy who has one the most majors.
I always want to hit the ball straight along a target line I pick out. Just never down the middle. That target line will be 5 or 10 yards left of the center of the green with a gentle fade back right to center, or 5 to 10 yards right of center with a gentle draw back left to center.
I am hitting straight allowing for a natural curve. If this was pool, then I am hitting a small masse on every golf shot.
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1QYAVw0I41k
http://agamegolfinstruction.com/golfinstru...-dead-straight/
http://vids.myspace....ideoid=11074084
I want distance only if I can hit the fairway. I don’t play many tour courses. My fairways at my country club are nice and wide and they keep the rough short. Most of the members are not that good and it keeps play going faster when players are not looking for lost balls. Show me a 40 or 50 yard fairway and I am hooking. Show me a 28, I am hitting a softer fade. Same thing if I can reach the fairway bunkers and it’s tight there, I will hit short of them and take more club into the green.
It the hole doglegs right I fade around right. If it doglegs left, I draw around left. I shape my shot to fit the hole. If the hole is straight away but the fairway slants right, I draw. I am always hitting away from trouble into the slopes. If there is only one big fairway bunker on the right, then I fade down the far left hand side. I don’t like hitting down the right and drawing, because if I hang it out, I am in the sand. But it can be done, both ways.
One of the advantages of belonging to a club is you get to know the greens. I have a chart where I have walked them off and know the hole is 40 deep and 30 wide. I know if it’s flat, or where it slopes off at. I have all those slopes diagramed. My eyesight is really bad, so I bought myself a really good strong pair of binoculars. I want to know where that pin is. If it’s in the middle and the green is flat, but slopes off right, I draw in, if it slopes left, I fade in. I never hit it straight at the pin. The reason I have had so many holes in one is this type of shot, working into the pin, will hit and kick towards it, or suck back into it. If I hit 5 to the side, or even 5 behind, I can still hole out or end up stiff. Hitting dead straight you are either long or short and your chance of holing it is slim and none.
I am at the 150 plate, it’s a two tiered green, and the pin is on the back. I hit a 7, 150 which would be to the middle of the green, it would take a 6 to get back to the pin. Here is a situation where I would rather have a 20’ uphill putt and a chance for bird and a sure par, than a 3’ slick downhill putt which gives me only 2 chances, a bird or a 3 putt bogey. So I would hit a cut soft 7, or a hard 8 to stay under the flag.
Being a scratch golfer that means I am hitting all my irons pretty crisp and solid and they are all going the exact distance I have charted them doing. I know my full swing will be 150 on that 7, I can hook and kill it to 160, but what, my accuracy tanks, I just take more club and hit the 6. I don't try and hit irons a long way. I view them as accuracy instruments. When I need more, I just pull out more club, I never force a club. I can cut it and land is softy at 140, but again why, I would be better off hitting the full 8 with more backspin. If the green is all downhill and the club could grab and spin off the green, then I might use the longer club and let it release with a draw so it won’t do the big backup.
You also want to pay close attention to what the other guys are hitting into that green when they are at the same distances, like on a par 3. You want to observe what the wind is doing to their shot, helping it, or holding it up. When my opponents caddy comes over to talk to me, or to my caddy, he is slyly looking into my bag to see which club I have pulled out. If I hit that green stiff with the 7, he will give his man the same club. When they would look in Sneed’s bag, when he was young and very long and strong, he would take one or two clubs short of what he needed, hood it, hit it with all he had, got on, and the opponents came up short in the water. You want to watch if he hoods and how hard he does swing.
In the 2009 Masters Michelson had shot 30 on the front 9 and was on the way to winning when he reached the 12th at Augusta. It’s called the hardest short par 3 in the world. So many have met their doom on that hole. Faldo said to JN once, thank God I only have to play this damn thing, once a year, if I had to play it every day, it would drive me to bloody drink. JN said, it already has me. It's been driving me nuts for 30 years.
I have played the course and the fans are not allowed over the Ben Hogan Bridge to get around or behind the green. I was shocked to see it was only 11 yards deep. Most greens are 40; you can hit 4 clubs into them. At the 12th there is only one club in. Where it gets sinister is the wind coming down the hill and over the tops of the pines. I would be sitting back of the tee and everyone would be hitting it with 7’s, the wind would pick up and everyone would be coming up short, then everyone would be hitting 6’s.
With no wind, the big hitters will hit 8, but most go with the safer 7. Tiger hits the green with an 8, that gave lefty his read, so what does he do, hit a full 8 like Tiger, no; he tries to punch a ¾ swing 9. When he pulled out that club, I said that was nuts, he's all wet, and I was right. He had just shot a 30, he was now buying into his own bull she-yit, and he thought he had become, fookin superman.
He dumps it into the water in Rae’s creek, stick a fork in him, he is done for the day. That one stupid, very stupid decision cost him the masters. So don’t get too clever, when you see the other guy hit 8, and you are his same length, hit 8. KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Go to school on those you are playing with. Don't ever try and show them you are better and badder than they are by hitting in with less club than they did to show them up. Shelf that ego, but proud to hit in using more club than them. The club you use means nothing. Who's gets closests counts.
Before I got long, I was very short. My brother in law used to like to play with me because he enjoyed beating me and driving the ball 75 yrs past me on the drive. He was an ex football player, very big, very strong, very powerful. I told him I was going to beat him and he said the way I hit the ball, that would not happen in a thousand years. I got him on Swope Park #1, which I knew well, it was short, very tight and took away all his length advantages. #1 I am short of the green, chip on, make putt. I hit the short greens on 2 and 3. #4 is 180 yards to a narrow little green. We are even. He hits it 6' away with a 5 iron. I hit the front slope short with a 2 iron, but bounced on the front edge of the green. When I dropped my 20' putt for a bird, he 3 puttted and I went on to beat him for the first time. I had learned to ignore and not be intimitated by his length and power. To just keep playing my game, and to just keep making pars.
He would never play that course with me again. He would only take me out to wide open places that were long. There, he had me. Then my game clicked, and I went very long overnight. As long as he was, and I would out drive him on some holes. When I beat him at dubs dread 3 times in a row, the ass hole never played me ever again. He could not stand the fact, I had become superior to him. He was such an ass hole, some gooba shot him in the head when he popped the wrong goomba in the mouth.
One day my pal, who was like me, mid 20's, very strong, very long, got matched up with 2 old geezers there. I said to Jug, they will never make 18, one of those old fookers will die on us. Jug said, you will see, try not to lose too much money to them. Neither one could barely drive the ball 200-220, but every drive was right down the middle. Every 2nd shot was always short, but right on the front edge. They were the greatest chippers and putters I ever saw. Chip up close, drop the putt, par. I kept saying, there is no way, they can keep that she-yit up. Famous last words, on 17 we are dead even. I had to par the 18th to win by one, but boy was that one a huge wakeup call and lesson on how to play the game.
You don't have to be long, to win.
Once you become a true shot maker, then the game becomes really fun as you shape the shots, pull them off and feel the true joy of this game. I once hit a full 5 iron into a top soft green, backed it up 6' for an eagle out of the fairway, my pecker got hard. The hair rose up on the back of my neck. I had been filing my grooves a little I admit. Got to keep em clean.
The middle and high handicappers need to accept a reality check. You are not scratch or pros which means you are going to hit a lot of irons on the toe and come in short. The course designers know this and that is where they put all the bunkers and trouble to catch you. Until you begin to hit your irons better and more consistent, learn to over club each green by one or two clubs. You are at the 150 marker, it’s a 7, no, you pull a 5, hit it fat and end up on the middle of the green. If you hit it average, you are on the top of the green and if you nut it, so what, you can still chip down for par. They usually don’t have the bunkers and trouble over the back. It’s all upfront and on the sides. You will always be better off long, than short most of the time.
http://agamegolfinstruction.com/golfinstru...-dead-straight/
Learning how to drive a golf ball well is a challenging task. It can take time and consistent practice to become effective at hitting this club. The reason why the driver is the toughest club to hit is because it is the longest club in the bag which makes it the most difficult one to control. Also any small flaws in your swing can result in big variations in the end result so the driver will reveal how finely tuned your swing really is.
Do not expect to become perfect at hitting a driver as even the best golfing professionals regularly mishit this club. Instead focus on developing enough consistency to allow you to hit enough fairways with enough distance so that you can then use your short game to make more birdies and shoot low scores. It is important to learn how to hit a driver far and straight because golf courses are getting longer and tougher so you need both distance and accuracy.
The good news is that there is a direct relationship between hitting a golf ball accurately and hitting it farther. If you consistently hit your driver straight then in time you will also hit the ball far. Remember that crooked drives do not go very far so the first step in hitting a driver further is to focus on accuracy first. You need to develop a swing that consistently strikes the golf ball solidly.
In order to develop an accurate golf swing you must have great control over the club. This means that you will need to develop a more relaxed swing where you do not use your muscles to try to force more club head speed in an effort to hit the ball further. Use your muscles and strength to support your golf swing but let the club do most of the work.
Remember that golf clubs are designed to hit the ball far if you make good contact so you do not need massive muscle power. You need to take advantage of leverage which is what will allow you to generate maximum club head speed. The best way to take advantage of leverage is to think of the club as a whip and to feel yourself whipping the club through the hitting zone. However this does not mean you have really force your downswing.
Rather have a swing that is relaxed both on the backswing and downswing. Always aim to finish in a balanced position. If you find yourself regularly losing balance in your finish then you need to back off a little and stop trying so hard. Most amateurs and even many pros are guilty of having a rushed backswing and this can affect your ball striking.
Also if you are deliberate with your swing both on the backswing and downswing you are much more likely to make better contact and if you do make a mistake then you will be more likely to find that mistake quicker. Another useful tip to help you generate more power is to think of your left shoulder exploding up on your downswing. This will help to keep the swing in the right plane where the club comes from the inside to out and will also allow you to create more leverage.
Grip pressure can also make a big difference to your swing and hitting it further. You want to use your left hand to apply pressure to the grip and your right hand should stay passive. If you try to get your right hand involved too much in the swing you will end up casting the club or coming from the outside to in which will result in hitting a lot of slices. Use some of these strategies to help you drive the ball better.
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ba...mp;extpar=devil
http://www.bbjmgolf....Big%20Three.pdf
And IMHO, off all the shots, all my tourneys, and I was standing right behind 17 watching this. This, was the greatest, it had the most emotion for me of anything prior to it, or since.
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=SqisX1ESLT8
They had this survey on tour, if you had a 10' putt for everything you owned, the ranch, the kids, the wife, the bank account, who would you have putt it. Almost everyone said, Jack. Today, that would be Tiger. When you can drive it long and straight, and putt, you are going to win a lot.
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