Instruction: Bill Forrest, 2006 PGA Teacher of the Year
I am slightly confused in my backswing should the butt of the club point at the ball at halfway back or midway between ball and feet?
Also should my hands and club stay infront of my body in the whole swing.
Hope you can help. Thanks
gavin ryan
Gavin: Indoors, using a seam in your tile, seam in your hardwood floors, or simply a piece of rope, place your club on the line which is now your target line. Take the club halfway back so that your left arm is parallel to the ground, the shaft is at right angles to your left arm and your shoulders have turned about 45 degrees. At this point in time the grip end of the golf club should point at the target line. Some instructors like to have it pointing between toe line and target line. My experience with intermediate golfers is that their shaft is usually too steep (inside the line) not too flat. Work on this "line drill" where your swing in this half position points at the line on both the back and front of the swing. This means that the front side is a mirror image of the back side.
You will see when doing the above drill that your left arm points inward (30-45 degree angle) on the backswing and the right arm is inward to the same degree on the throughswing. This means that the club does get behind you slightly and may mean that your swing exceeds these windows.
Bill
Hi, i've had a problem with my head movement on the downswing as it gets caught behind and to compensate i fall back onto my right side which makes my ball flight high and my bad shot a hook, what drills could i use to get my head positioning forward on impact?
Jordan White
Jordan: A lot of people comment after a poor shot that they "lifted their head" or "looked up." I feel that this comment is a cop out and needs some explanation. Your head moving backward or looking upward is the product of a poor weight shift. This means that your body moves your head, correctly or incorrectly, your head doesn't move your body.
Practice going from a static starting position to a balanced finishing position........I call this my "start to finish drill." In your finishing position your chest and back should be vertical, not leaning backwards, with your weight over your left foot. Check this position by folding and lifting your right leg off the ground while balanced on your left leg. Address a ball with a 7 iron, the ball centered in your stance, move the ball 3 inches forward, return the club to center and hit it. Your eyes will trick your body into shifting to your left foot, otherwise you cannot get to the golf ball. Surely, falling back to your right foot would cause you to whiff it. Bottom line, your head needs to come forward with your body weight.
Bill
I am interested in some good drills to help maintain my lag before impact. It feels to me (and looks to my friends) as if I cast the club at the top to begin my downswing. The result is either a shank off the hosel of my club, or I am hitting the ball in the center, at a downward angle. Checking the lie angle of my club (with tape and a board) shows that the club is impacting the board slightly heel heavy, and at the the rear of the bottom of the club is hitting the board. Not the leading edge of my club! Please help, my 8.3 handicap is going up quickly with my high, weak, right shot (I'm right handed).
Thanks, Brent
Brent
Brent: In golf, wrongs are added to wrongs to make rights. This means that subconsciously our way of correcting things is sometimes to add a wrong that goes with another. Let's call these manipulations "go withs", as a teacher I had once said. Casting the golf club goes with falling back to your back foot, not shifting your weight forward and buckling your wrist at impact. If this makes sense to you, your problem is really the impact position. Use an impact bag or something similar (an old tire) to check your impact position and the use of your hands. The back of your left hand should be convex not concave, your right hand should have a little bit of indentation on the outside of your wrist. Hit some punch shots or long chip shots and try to keep that flat left wrist and bowed right wrist. When hitting the chip shots hold your finish and try not to let the clubhead pass your hands after impact. When hitting the punch shots, abbreviate your finish, finishing no higher than waist high. Lastly, take the club just in your left hand and work on really short little swings with some forearm rotation. After you make these little swings, left hand only, your wrist watch crystal should point down to the ground with your left elbow bent.
Combine all of these drills to improve your impact position, don't worry so much about the casting.
Bill
I'm having difficulty with my "tempo" and was I wondering if there is any good tips or drills to help improve this problem?
Jake
Jake: Your tempo is a part of your personality. If you walk fast, work fast, talk fast, eat fast....... you are going to swing fast. It's OK to swing fast, it's OK to swing slow, as long as your tempo has an EVEN PACE. The two key words to your tempo are even pace.
Practice hitting balls with some short irons at three different speeds. Hit one with a soft tempo, one with a medium tempo, and one with a strong tempo. With my students we like to call them 20/20, 40/40 and 60/60.........thinking in terms of miles per hour. You'll not only find out which tempo suits you best, you'll also find it beneficial in controlling distance. Try hitting 4 clubs the same distance or to the same target. Lastly, tee up 4 balls 6 inches apart and hit your driver 100, 150, 200, and 250 yards, all with full swings.
Practice different lengths and different speeds, even them out, and your tempo and distance control will both improve.
Bill
Rules: John Crumbley, Certified PGA Professional; Rules Expert
If a body of water maked as a hazard has increased out of the hazard line due to rainfall, is the additional water considered casual water?
Ray Presley
Ray,
Any water outside the margin of the water hazard is casual water, not part of the water hazard.
See Decision 25/2 from the USGA's Decisions on the Rules of Golf.
25/2 Overflow from Water Hazard
Q. If a pond (water hazard) has overflowed, is the overflow casual water?
A. Yes. Any overflow of water from a water hazard which is outside the margin of the hazard is casual water.
If you are on cart path and nearest point of "relief" is in bad thick foliage, woods or crappy rough. Do you have to take the drop in that crappy stuff? I contend you do. Others say it's where you can take a full, unobstructed swing-disregarding "nearest" if "nearest" if not preferable. Essentially, how is "relief" defined in "nearest point of releif"? Other question: You're on a cartpath with a red stake hazard right by. Nearest point of relief would have you standing in the hazard. Can you drop on the other, hazardless side of the cartpath? thx if you respond.
Mark Wesolek
Mark,
As you see from the rule on obstructions a poor lie or area of swing are not concerns in taking relief. Simply put you must drop within one club length of the nearest point of relief not in a hazard or on a putting green. As for your second question, you must find the nearest point of relief that is not in a hazard no matter what side of the path that works out to be.
See Rule 24-2b.
Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an immovable obstruction as follows:
(i) Through the Green: If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it without penalty within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green. When the ball is dropped within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the immovable obstruction and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.
