Editors Note: Each week, we receive hundreds of questions for our PGA Experts. Though we can't answer every one of them, we will take some of the most illuminating and beneficial questions and have one of the top authorities from the PGA of America to answer them for you. We are in the process of finding ways for more experts to answer more of your questions! Thank you for your support and keep the questions coming!
Instruction -- Bill Forrest, 2006 PGA Teacher of the Year
I am a High School golf coach and this year I do not have a club pro to fall back on and I need to Teach the team how to properly hit a punch shot or stinger for a shot into the wind. I have told the parents that I am not a PGA Pro and that they should seek out a PGA pro for there kids to excel at this sport. Pro's that have helped tell me I am instructing just fine. I think I know how to show the shot I Just like to be proper.
Rocky Huston
Rocky: Start your team off by learning this shot -- using short irons first. With the short iron position the ball back of center in the stance, lean the handle forward, and put a little bit more weight on the forward foot. Making a normal half to 3/4 backswing strike the ball with a descending blow and finish with the club pointing at the target below waist high. The blow must be descending as the weight shifts forward as opposed to ascending as the weight shifts backward. "Down and forward", would be a good mantra for your students to use. Simply apply the same address position and finishing position to the longer clubs but increase the length of the backswing appropriately. The feeling of the downswing would be one that abbreviated and accelerated simultaneously.
Our Section (Southwest) hosts High School Coaches Golf Clinics semi-annually for dedicated coaches like you that are willing to learn. Perhaps you can talk your Section into doing the same.
I have lost the ability to hit my fairway woods with any consistancy. More often than not I'm topping the ball. I don't have this problem with any other clubs. What are the most common causes for this type of problem?
K Lokmor
K. Lokmor: Your three areas of concern, with little information, are the ball position, swing shape being too shallow or round, and/or an improper weight shift. With your feet slightly wider than shoulder width, position the ball forward of center and opposite your forward armpit. Put a ball on your target line about 18 inches behind and make some practice swings with the toe of your fairway wood going over top of the ball. Lastly, to address the weight shift issue put a tee in the ground, address the tee only as described above, make some swings and try to pop it out. You should feel a slight downward motion on your way to a balanced finishing position on your forward foot.
Checkpoint
1. Ball position
2. Swing shape
3. Weight shift
Ultimately with your fairway woods you need all three of these ingredients along with a long, smooth, sweeping motion.
Fitness -- Dave Phillips: PGA Professional, Titleist Performance Institute
How much effect does significant weight loss have on your golf swing and what can be done to compensate for it?
Eric Petoff
Eric weight loss can effect your golf swing in both a positive and negative way. Positively you can create more speed but if the speed is not created in the correct sequence with the lower body leading the downswing followed by the trunk, arms and club, then you can actually feel off balance and have trouble creating solid contact. Some players that carry more weight but retain their flexibility can actually feel more in balance as their center of gravity has more mass and can actually help stabilize them. Many women golfers actually play well when they are pregnant as they retain their flexibility and the added weight gives them more stability. That is not usually the case with men as the more mass we carry the more inflexible we get which can lead to a lack of speed and mobility. I would suggest you try and find someone to physically assess your mobility and strength. On our website at www.mytpi.com we have a find a fitness professional map. If you find a TPI certified fitness professional they can do a full physical assessment on your body and tell you where your strengths and weaknesses are and how they relate to your golf swing.
Rules -- John Crumbley: Certified PGA Professional, Rules Expert
I have some confusion with the movable and inmovable objects rules.
About movable, if my ball rest, out of a hazard, above a big tree leave, can I mark the spot, lift the ball and the leave, clean the ball and replace the ball where I marked without penalty?
About inmovable, if my ball rest, out of a hazard, back or above a tree root, can I have relief? I know I can't have relief from a tree or from a non-movable stone, but I'm not sure about a tree root in the fairway or nearby the fairway.
Thanks,
JC
JC,
If there is a secret to understanding the Rules of Golf it is a good knowledge of the definitions located at the front of the rule book. The definitions section defines key words as they pertain to the Rules of Golf. Let's look at the definition for Obstructions and for loose impediments -
Obstructions
An "obstruction'' is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured
ice, except:
a. Objects defining out of bounds, such as walls, fences, stakes and railings;
b. Any part of an immovable artificial object that is out of bounds; and
c. Any construction declared by the Committee to be an integral part of the course.
An obstruction is a movable obstruction if it may be moved without unreasonable effort, without unduly delaying play and without causing damage. Otherwise it is an immovable obstruction.
Note: The Committee may make a Local Rule declaring a movable obstruction to be an immovable obstruction.
Loose Impediments
"Loose impediments'' are natural objects including:
- stones, leaves, twigs, branches and the like,
- dung, and
- worms and insects and casts or heaps made by them,
provided they are not: - fixed or growing,
- solidly embedded, or
adhering to the ball.
Sand and loose soil are loose impediments on the putting green, but not elsewhere.
Snow and natural ice, other than frost, are either casual water or loose impediments, at the option of the player.
Dew and frost are not loose impediments.
From the definition we can see that the leaves from a tree are not an obstruction but that they are loose impediments if they are not attached to the tree. By knowing the definitions we know to look at Rule 23, Loose Impediments, for a ruling. Rule 23 tells us we may remove the loose impediment as long as the ball and the loose impediment are not in the same hazard. If the ball move in doing so you are subject to penalty. Other than on the putting green you can not lift a ball to remove a loose impediment. So in your case you would not be able to remove the leaf under a ball without penalty because the ball would move.
In your second case, the tree root, there would be no relief. A tree or tree root (unless it has cut down for removal) is not an obstruction or a loose impediment. They are part of the golf course like the grass on the fairway. The committee could mark the roots as ground under repair if they feel like the situation is unusual and should be fixed.
If you break a club during play, are you allowed to replace it?
Bob Sturgeon
Bob,
If the club is broken in the course of play (hitting a shot) then you may replace the broken club as long as you don't delay play. If the club is broken in anger or any other way than fairly striking at the ball then you may not replace the club. Rule 4-3 covers this.
4-3 Damaged Clubs: Repair and Replacement
a. Damage in Normal Course of Play
If, during a stipulated round, a player's club is damaged in the normal course of play, he may:
(i) use the club in its damaged state for the remainder of the stipulated round; or(ii) without unduly delaying play, repair it or have it repaired; or(iii) as an additional option available only if the club is unfit for play, replace the damaged club with any club. The replacement of a club must not unduly delay play and must not be made by borrowing any club selected for play by any other person playing on the course. PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULE 4-3a:
See Penalty Statement for Rule 4-4a or b, and c.
Note: A club is unfit for play if it is substantially damaged, e.g., the shaft is dented, significantly bent or broken into pieces; the clubhead becomes loose, detached or significantly deformed; or the grip becomes loose. A club is not unfit for play solely because the club's lie or loft has been altered, or the clubhead is scratched.
b. Damage Other Than in Normal Course of Play
If, during a stipulated round, a player's club is damaged other than in the normal course of play rendering it non-conforming or changing its playing characteristics, the club must not subsequently be used or replaced during the round.
