Instruction -- Bill Forrest, 2006 PGA Teacher of the Year
I seem to having trouble with my putting lately. Late last spring i almost perfected it at our high school regional tournament in Spokane, Washington. A scratch golfer told me that i need to stiffen my wrist even more than before. Is this true?
J. Thomas
Joe: I assume that the wrist that the scratch golfer wanted you to stiffen was your left wrist, being a right handed golfer. Zach Johnson, just won the Masters with a broken down left wrist. Without seeing your address position or your putter, I am going to recommend your try left hand low or make a putter change. It appears that you have lost your confidence and by changing one or both you may gain a new confidence. I would not stiffen my wrist. Let me know what you decide.
I have always fought this: when I am coming thru the ball, I swing too far inside to out and shank it -- or flip my hands to quick and hook it. Any ideas on getting rid of that?
Nick
Nick: Ask your nearest golf shop for a golf club box to do the following drill. Go to the range, address a ball with the golf club box lying on the ground one inch away on the opposite side of the ball, parallel to the target line. This will help to shallow out your backswing and force you to swing to the inside on the forward swing. If you continue to swing inside out you will destroy the box. This drill can be done with any club......driver included. Let me know how you make out.
Bill
Fitness -- Dave Phillips, PGA Professional, Titleist Performance Institute
What are the best warm-up stretches prior to a round?
For a general warm up you need to hit three major areas, shoulders, hips, and spine. These are usually the areas of limited mobility that hurt most golfers.
Try doing the following warm ups:
1) Arm Circles - keeping your right arm straight, make big circles keeping your arm close to your body. I like to do this for 15 seconds and then repeat on the left. The closer you keep this to your body throughout the exercise the better!
2) Hip Circles - this is performed by getting onto all fours, and then distribute your weight evenly between your arms and your left knee. Take your right leg and make bug circles with your hip (like a dog on a fire hydrant). Repeat circles without stopping for 15 seconds and then try the other leg.
3) Windmills - Get into a 5-iron golf posture and extend both arms out from your sides (90 degrees from the shoulder). Then rotate your trunk back and forth at least 15 times in each direction.
This short routine should get you started before the round! Good luck - Dr. Rose
Any exercise to increase club head speed?
Bill Hall
That is a loaded question. The true answer is it depends on what is causing you to lose your speed. There are so many reasons why people lose club head speed, but lets go over two of the most common causes:
1) Limited Spinal Rotation - this is probably the most common reason people lose yardage. If you lose the ability to rotate your upper body, independently of your lower body you will limit your power output (reduced X-Factor). Muscles are like rubber bands, you can create elastic energy in your muscles if you pre-stretch them before you fire them. Your oblique abdominals are the muscles responsible for turning your trunk on the backswing and downswing and if you can't pre-stretch them, you are in trouble. To pre-stretch your oblique abdominals it requires spinal rotation. To increase your spinal rotation, try an exercise called Step Change of Directions. This is practicing hitting balls with a step towards the target during your backswing. This will force your upper and lower body to separate more than normal. This is how Happy Gilmore hit 450 yard drives!!
2) Limited Width in the Backswing - this is caused by limited shoulder range of motion combined with limited spinal rotation. Believe it or not, speed is mostly created by width not length of swing. To get good width or extension in your swing work on lat and shoulder flexibility. Try getting into your golf posture standing next to a golf cart or a bar your can grab onto. Turn your upper body and grab onto the bar or cart with both hands. Now, keeping your arms fully extended try to rotate your lower body towards the target. You should feel a big stretch in the back of your shoulder and lats. This should help give you more range in your swing.
Equipment -- Tom Henderson, PGA Professional, Master Club Fitter
This past winter I bought a new putter because I wanted a new upgrade. I had been using my friends ping with a half shaft offset. Now I have one with a full shaft offset. I cant seem to master my new putter. Does the offset have anything to do with it?
J. Thomas
Joe:
I'm guessing that your original putter has less offset than the new one. If this the case, you may be experiencing an "aim" problem. As a general rule, offset in a putter helps a person who has a problem aiming too far to the right of the intended target. Conversely, non-offset will help someone who tends to aim to the left of the target.
How will the new square backed drivers improve my game without emptying my pocket? Secondly, how long can I keep new golf balls before they go bad?
Bud Freedman
Bud:
Great to hear from you!
The new square drivers have a high moment of inertia (MOI). What this means is that the head will twist less on off center hits, making it harder to curve the ball. If you're looking for "straight", give one of these new drivers a try. The pricing of these new clubs is pretty much in line with the other drivers in the marketplace.
Regarding your golf ball shelf life question, today's two-piece and three-piece balls will virtually last forever. The wound balls of yesterday were more susceptible to going "bad", especially when exposed to extreme temperature.
Hope this helps. Good luck on the links this season.
