Golf Tips and Instruction-Mar. 20, 2006
===================================================
How To Break 80 Newsletter
March 20, 2006
“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
===================================================
***EDITORIAL NOTE****
I currently publish this newsletter every Monday evening. As of next
week, 3/27/06, I will begin to publish it on Wednesdays instead.
********************
In this issue we’ll discuss…
1) The High-Trajectory Bunker Shot
2) Curing Putting Problems
===================================================
1) The High-Trajectory Bunker Shot
===================================================
Most golfers dislike hitting from a greenside bunker. They dislike it even more when they have to hit a high shot that lands softly on the green to get out of the bunker. The key to hitting this shot is the angle of attack.
Achieving the appropriate angle of attack for this type of bunker is simple. Knowing the right bunker technique helps removes some of the fear players have of this shot.
Below are six keys to the high bunker shot:
• Dig in for a solid foundation
• Aim left and open clubface
• Take the right path
• Turn at the top of the swing
• Use an extra steep angle of attack
• Hit down and through
Use your basic bunker set-up. Start by opening the clubface and then take your grip, choking down on the club. This ensures that the clubface stays open during the swing and improves control. Align your shoulders, hips, and feet left of the target line. Digging in provides a stable base.
Normally, you’d keep your wrists passive as the club is swept away from the ball. Here, however, you need a steep angle of attack, so hinge your wrists as soon as possible and swing your arms up instead of low and around.
As the body turns, sense that the club is “cocked” to the sky, then hit down and through the ball with extra force. The path of the clubhead should run parallel to the alignment of shoulders, hips, and feet. The combination of left alignment and open clubface sends the ball straight while the angle of attack drives the ball high, landing it softly on the green.
To practice the high bunker shot, try the “head cover drill.” Place a head cover a few inches behind a ball in a steep greenside bunker. Take the club back without hitting the head cover, hinging your wrists during the takeaway as soon as possible.
Practice the takeaway several times without hitting the ball. Then, try some shots without hitting the head cover either on the takeaway or at impact.
===================================================
2) Curing Putting Problems
===================================================
Having the “yips” is gut wrenching. Just ask Germany’s Bernard Langer, twice afflicted by the putting difficulty.” The yips are generated by a breakdown of the left wrist, causing the right hand to dominate.
The cure is anything that locks the left wrist and encourages a pendulum like action in your swing—the key element of a sound, repeating, and successful stroke.
Langer employed the cross-handed grip to cure the first onset of the yips. Here are the five steps using this technique:
• Assume a normal putting stance
• Place the left hand below the right
• Lock the left wrist as you putt
• Swing back and through, low and smooth
• Keep the head down throughout the putt
This grip works well. Reversing the hands encourages the locking of the left wrist and creates a pendulum-like swing. Everything else—your pre-putt routine, basic posture, ball position, head position, and so on—stays the same.
Langer used the “clamp grip” to cure the second onset of the yips. With the clamp grip, the left hand reaches down the shaft while the right hand clasps the left forearm to the club to steady the left wrist. The clamp grip is considered the ultimate measure in preventing the left wrist from breaking down during the putt. It, too, encourages a pendulum like swing.
The clamp grip is an effective solution as well, although it’s not as popular as the cross-handed grip, used by pros that don’t even have the yips. Others cures include using a belly putter or a long putter instead of your a traditional putter.
Whatever the putting cure, you’ll still need to practice. And one of the best tools to practice with, as I say in my golf tips, is the metronome, a device for helping people keep tempo on a piano. The metronome helps develop a nice smooth stroke with great tempo, a stroke that will reduce your golf handicap and make golf more fun.
===================================================
If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros
and creating a more reliable and consistent swing,
check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com
Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most
recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog
Until next time, Go Low!
Jack
P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you
would like to subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank email to
htb80newsletter@aweber.com
