Thin Lie

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!

Preconcieved Notions

What pre-conceived notions do you have about the golf swing?

Every time I teach a new student that’s one of the first questions I ask. Why? Because what we think and what actually is in the golf swing are two different things. The typical ones are, I need to keep my head down and my left arm straight (or right for left handed players). When was the last time you tried to throw a ball with your head in your chest and your arm straight? How about hitting a tennis ball or any sport for that matter?

Your head moves with your spine and your arms are relaxed, simple right? Then why is golf so difficult!Because those two notions have been going around for many years. When was the last time you watched the weekly pro tournament and heard the winner say, I won this tournament because I kept my head down and my left arm straight. NEVER!!!!!!!!! So why do you do it?

For many of you it’s a comfort zone, you’re afraid to see where the ball will go if you don’t have control over it. Remember where the ball goes is a reaction, not a forced action. That’s one of the main reasons the pros make it look so easy. TRUST!!!!!!!!! Michael Hebron wrote probably one of the best books ever written on the swing, See and Feel the Inside Move the Outside. When you play other sports that’s exactly what you do. You’re making the inside move the outside, so that makes your arms a reaction to your upper body’s action. This can’t happen if your arm is straight and your head is in your chest. So next time you practice, try doing it without forcing the outcome.

Keep your head up not down. This allows the head to move with the body, not fight it, and let your arms hang, not straight. Remember you’re gripping the club with the hands not the arms. By doing these two things you’ll find you’ll add distance and accuracy without even trying

Practice

How can practice be fun?

Sometimes practice can be boring or even seem like drudgery. It doesn’t have to be that way. I see so many golfers at the driving range pulling out their drivers and try to hit it as far as they can. Then they get out on the course and wonder why they can’t hit a knock down shot into the wind or a half wedge into a green. Well they never practiced the shot.

Just like anything we want to be good at we have to practice. Next time you go to the range, pull out your sand wedge and warm up by hitting twenty half shots. Then hit some ¾ shots, and then move up to full wedge shots. Now you are warmed up and you’ve just practiced your wedge game. Next pull out your nine and so on down the line. When you’re done with your driver pull that sand wedge back out and hit some half shots again. You’ll see how well you’ve maintained your tempo throughout your practice session.

After you’ve worked on your swing try playing a few holes on the range. Pull out your driver and pick out two poles at the end of the range. Pretend they are the boundaries of the fairway. Hit your driver and guess how much and what kind of a shot you have left into the hole. Hit that shot, whether it is a punch shot, a low shot under the trees, a hook or a cut. Now when you get out on the course you will have practiced the difficult shot you are about to hit.

Practice becomes fun when you hit the shot on the course that you’ve practiced, especially when you pull it off. Do this same concept with bunker play and putting. Don’t get caught in a rut of just going to the driving range and beating balls. Go to the course with just your putter and putt for a couple of hours. You’ll be amazed the next time you get over three footer for all the money. Be inventive with your practice. It will not only be more fun but also more rewarding.