Blast

I Headed down to Blast Motion this week again.  A few weeks ago I went to Blast to become certified with the Blast Motion Censor. It’s a device that fits on the end of your putter or club and then paired with your phone or tablet. When you make a stroke or strike it gives the user metrics of the stroke or swing. For putting it tells us of the timing of the stroke, how much the club opens and closes back and thru, whether we add or decrease loft and lie. When one practices with this improvement happens very fast.  You could get on a Samm Putt Lab which costs 8-10 K or use this which is only 150! And it does most of the same thing. You can even make a game out of it to try to make the perfect stroke. Guys on the Champions Tour are playing games amongst themselves to see who can make the most perfect stroke. One of the key things that will help you make a better stroke is posture. I have had poor posture in the past. I tend to leave the putter open at impact. So if the club opens 2 degrees on the backstroke it may only close 1.5. This leaves the putter open and the ball to the right. My hands drop, I decrease lie and I add loft. This is a result of posture. So if I keep my spine angle in the same position those faults fix themselves. If you're in the Seattle area and you want to pick up a Blast sensor, shoot me an email and pick one up. It is the best aid for feedback that you can get for $150... 

Chili Dip

What do you do when the grass is thin and the ground is muddy?

If any of you have played lately you know that the grass is a little sparse, especially up here in Seattle. Even bumping the ball doesn’t help all the time. You can put your ball up on a nice little clump and still hit it just enough behind the ball to come up short. Once your club hits that soft, perhaps a little muddy ground it doesn’t go through as smooth as you’d like. Even if you do catch it clean, your ball might land on another clump and send it on a sideways journey!

So what’s the solution? Don’t miss the green! But seriously, there are several options you can take. The first one is taking out a putter if you’re close enough to the green. Even if you’re back a-ways you might consider putting. You might not get it as close as chipping but you probably won’t chunk it. There use to be a guy at Brookside golf course in Pasadena called the “chilly-dipper”. He could chunk it with the best of them. Back to the solution. You need to take pride out of the shot also. So many times golfers think they’re Phil Mickelson and they try to hit this beautiful flop shot even if they have grass under their ball. The result a lot of times is a “flop”.

The second option is to take out a seven or eight iron and play the bump and run. You might hit a clump, but you probably won’t chunk it. You’ve heard it before, weight on your forward leg, (left for right handed hitters) ball back in your stance, hands ahead, and then pop down on the ball sharply. You might even want to hood the club slightly to get the ball rolling when it lands. This is probably the safest shot to play. It seems that like every week on TV you hear Ken Venturi talk about hitting this shot. “Get the ball on the green and let it run to the hole”. Remember the LA Open last week. They said Tiger should have landed his third shot on the front of the green and let it run to the hole. Well, under that situation he probably would have had a better chance to get it close and keep it below the hole.

Then there’s always the first club you want to grab, the sand wedge. You need steady nerves and a lot of practice to be effective with this shot. To quote Ken Venturi again “don’t pull out the sand wedge unless you have to”. That’s great advice especially where it’s still cold and spring hasn’t turned the corner yet. Get the ball on the green and let it roll to the hole. I know there are situations when you have a mound in front of you ball, or you have to hit over a bunker. Try then to hit it past the hole, so if you do catch it a little heavy you’re still OK!

One thing’s for sure though, don’t try to hit a shot you haven’t practiced! And in your practice be creative. Try taking a three-wood and use it as a putter. It gets the ball airborne just enough to get it rolling. You might hole one out like Tiger! Be inventive. Take a wedge and blade it. It bounces the ball out of the bad lie. Whatever you decide, don’t be too hard on yourself. Just try to reduce your room for error. Remember, Spring and Summer are just around the corner!