A Lesson Learned

Watching both Jonathan Byrd and Tim Clark closely at the John Deere Classic gave me many ideas to write about this week, but I was able to narrow it down just two.

Until late in the final round Tim Clark was a model of playing conservatively while swinging confidently. He hit it in the fairway and played to the middle of the green or away from trouble. How was he able to do that under pressure? His key was actually his putting. He made his fifth birdie of the day at #13. His putting distance control was spot on and beautifully managed. No need to aim at tucked pins. His strategy was to hit it safely on the green and at worst end up with a par. At no.15 and no. 17 he didn't stick with the plan and it cost him the tournament.

Want to be a better ball striker? Hit more fairways and greens? Then think about heading to the putting green to practice. Think about it. Poor putters are always putting pressure on their swings to try to knock it close to pins they have no business aiming at. They take too many chances trying to cut off doglegs and swing too hard trying to kill their tee shots. This can all lead to those holes during the round that just ruin your score.

Let's see how better putting leads to better ball striking by starting at the green and working back to the tee. If you have confidence in your putting you don't feel the need to take dead aim at every pin on the course. You can plan a more conservative approach. Pin tucked left over water? No problem. You aim for the middle of green or even the opposite side. With that approach you've taken all of pressure away and now you can make a more confident swing. The pin tucked left was a difficult shot to begin with. Aiming at what made you nervous. That's a recipe for disaster. But if you're three-putting a lot, hitting the ball to a spot thirty feet or more away from the pin doesn't sound very appealing. With better iron swings you don't feel the need to reach back for that extra ten yards on your driver so you can hit one less iron into the green. You can swing within yourself and hit more fairways.

Jonathan Byrd is similar to a lot of young fit players on TOUR these days. Fitness and strength allows them to able to hit what would called "cut-off" shots. Those are swings you see where they don't go into a full finish. They tend to stop with their hands chest high. To accomplish this swing players are using an aggressive body rotation, plus hand and arm strength to keep the clubface square to the swing path through impact longer. The conventional swing uses more forearm rotation to square the clubface and the club spends less time square to path leading to an increased margin for error that is accentuated under pressure. Tiger Woods started this trend and I saw a number of players using this method on Sunday. Before you run out to try it you need to have the attributes I mentioned above. Hand and forearm strength and aggressive rotation. Strong core areas of through the hips, legs and oblique muscles are needed to pull this off. It's not for everybody. Get more golf fit and you might want to try it starting with short, less than full-swing wedges and progress from there.

John Fiander has been the PGA Head Golf Professional at Sleepy Hollow Golf Course since 1992. He is a Master PGA Professional with a specialty teaching certification from the PGA. He was the 2003 Northern Ohio PGA Teacher of the Year and has been cited numerous times by various media publications for his teaching prowess. He has also written for several golf media outlets including USA Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and PGA.com. John can be reached at jsf@clevelandmetroparks.com.