This is a great visual and feel drill to help with your chipping. I’m using a paint brush attached to a shaft to demonstrate how the motion and position of painting is very similar to chipping.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Anti Shank Drill
This is a simple drill which will really help improve your path and prevent a shank!
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Which Backswing Drill is for You…it Depends
I have two favorite backswing drills and both are totally different even though you end up in the same place at the top of your swing. It’s just two different ways to get there. The backswing should be a blend of arms working up and down and the torso rotating. This blend would keep the club on plane and lead to more consistency in ball striking.
But some golfers tend to take the club outside the target line in the take away then lift the arms up getting in a very steep or upright position. This golfer would need a bit more torso rotation to get the club on the proper plane and get the club a bit more behind them at the top of the swing. This picture would be an example of being too upright and steep!
The drill I use to feel more backswing rotation is below. The goal is to keep the club and chest moving together on the backswing. There is a short pause at each key point to insure you’re in the correct position. In sequence you set the hinge of the wrists, make a small rotation of the chest and club together, continue turning turning to the top, then drop the arms and go to the finish. This drill eliminates the club moving outside or steep going back.
Monday, April 10, 2023
Other Sports and Golf
Other sports which involve “impact” with an object such as tennis, baseball, ice hockey and even boxing can also relate to golf. In particular it’s the similarities in body movement heading to impact. There has to be a weight shift to the lead leg as the downswing starts. The fact that the golf ball is just sitting there and not moving toward us tends to make us think too much of hitting at the ball instead of swinging thru it. The end result is a huge percentage of golfers fail to move off their back foot and this can lead to all kinds of issues.
I will always ask a student about a sport they may have played or still play and show them how it relates to golf. In the following pictures you can see how in his initial swing, not much weight transferred forward.
Thursday, February 2, 2023
My Short Experience in Golf Course Architecture
When I was in high school I was always drawing golf course layouts. I enjoyed envisioning what my layouts might look like in real life. So much so that I was going to choose that as my career. I took architectural drafting in high school and did show some potential in that area as well. I was an average student in high school and never really applied myself to studying. I was on the golf team and spent my time practicing and playing. When it came time to sit down with the high school counselor and learn what it took to get in the school of architecture I could see it would take seven years of college and lots of math!
So I changed career paths and decided on General Business…boring! I wasn’t a great college student so ended up leaving school and worked for my dad for a handful of years before then getting in the golf business. I made the correct choice as I really enjoyed my career. I worked at some of most famous clubs and resorts and some of the most respected professionals in the nation!
My longest stint as a head golf professional was at the TPC at The Woodlands. I was there from 1988-2001 and was host professional to 14 PGA TOUR events. In 1998, we were going to do a greens restoration and hired Houston architect Carlton Gipson to complete the job. Carlton had several original designs and restoration projects in the Houston area. It was a great learning experience to see how greens are constructed and shaped. I would go on the course with Carlton on a regular basis and he thoroughly explained the process. For the most part the greens were just being returned to their original design and size. But one day Carlton indicated to me he would like to do something different to the par 3, 14th hole. It was a very wide green in a horizontal hourglass shape surrounded by 4 bunkers. The green itself was fairly flat. If the hole location was left or right it made for a difficult shot with a long iron. The water wasn’t really more than a visual issue.
He asked my opinion on changing the shape of the green. This is where my short stint in golf course architecture began. I told him it would be interesting if the water was more in play. I thought it would be cool to have a sort of bowl shape in the middle so a hole location could be near the water at the front of the green. If you hit a shot long to avoid the water, you would have a fast putt coming down the hill. In addition if the green was closer to the water you could lose the right bunker and have another great hole location over the water. As he was listening to my idea I could tell it intrigued him. So long story short, he used my idea!
I don’t have an actual picture of the finished green but this is from the yardage book. So here it is 25 years later and the same green exists. Although the course is no longer a TPC it does host the Insperity Invitational on the PGA TOUR Champions.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Commit to your Target
I came across this picture from Golf Digest and it reminded me of a statement I heard years ago…”give life to your target”.
Mr. Hogan would take his shag bag full of balls and my cart attendant then head to the Little 9. The Little 9 was a short course at Shady Oaks with eight par 3’s and one par 4. The par 4 hole fairway was a perfect place to practice and Mr. Hogan would only hit balls into a right to left wind. He would position my attendant appropriately and begin with short irons progressing to driver. By hitting to my attendant he was giving the target life. But, Mr. Hogan frowned upon the attendant catching the ball, he wanted to see it land. Mr. Hogan might be out there for 2 hours or more practicing.
One of the stories I like to tell is one day after a long practice session my attendant came in the shop and pulled his shirt up to his chest. There were two huge welts on his chest and I asked what happened? He said he had lost the ball in the sun and Mr. Hogan pegged him with a 7 iron shot, then, before he could get up, he hit him again😂😂😂! On days I didn’t have a “shag boy” Mr. Hogan would take one club and hit shots as he walked the course.
On occasion he would practice on the range and he always signed a ticket for the range balls he hit!
That’s me in 1982! Anyway, the point is, hitting practice balls to a live target is good for your focus. This is pretty much impossible to do now days but I recommend to use your imagination as you practice. I promise you will see increased concentration and visualization of your target.
Monday, January 30, 2023
Swing Thoughts
Whatever swing thought he used this week worked well! It seems professionals don’t really give away their trade secrets very often. They like to keep their edge private and their coaches and caddies are the only ones privy to that secret. There was a book published in 1993 titled “Swing Thoughts” which revealed some swing thoughts from various players from the 1980’s and early 1990’s. These swing thoughts were used to win various tournaments from both the PGA and LPGA tours. There are as many swing thoughts as there are players.