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By
Greg Schulze, PGA Professional
07.27.2004
02:34 pm (ET)
Practicing on the range is a great idea, but it's wasted time if you do not learn something from every ball. There are three areas of potential FEEDBACK within each golf shot -- ball flight, the divot and the finished body position. You need to practice with a 6 iron through wedge in order to produce (or not) the "evidence" provided by the divot. The divot is something every golfer should focus on and try to understand during practice sessions. The divot has three properties: its directions, its depth and its starting location. What can you learn from each? Direction:
Evidence: Tells you the path at which the clubhead was moving during impact.
So What: Try to think in reverse. If, for instance, the divot was aimed to the left of the target line, this tells us that the clubhead swung across the target line on too straight a line. So if you correct the downswing, you will eliminate the problem right? WRONG!! The downswing is most often an effect of the backswing good or bad. The early stages of the backswing most likely swung the club on too curved a line and your downswing simply completed the circle and swung in a look causing the divot you see. Depth:
Evidence: Tells you the angle from high to low as the clubhead entered the impact area.
So What: Gravity and first grade taught us that things that go up must come down. If the divot is too deep, the clubhead most likely was swung up too much in the backswing, which will cause it to come down too much in the downswing. Again the downswing is an effect NOT the cause of the problem. What might have caused your backswing to be too low during takeaway? Well, do you believe that you should swing the club back "low and slow?" Are you trying to swing "straight back," which can lead to your continuation too high into the sky? Starting Location:
Evidence: Tells you the low point of the arc and where you weight was at impact.
So What: Since we played most golf shots with the ball beginning on the ground, wouldn't it be nice to understand where your club has a tendency to bottom-out? Using irons as an example, the divot should begin slightly PAST the ball with its center (from front to back) located a few inches forward of the center of the stance. Why? Because the body should be creating a "pivoting weight transfer" towards the target side throughout the downswing. I'm afraid that over 80 percent of the players I see reach the low point of their downswing arc too early, before they get to the ball. We look again to the backswing for the answer. If your upper body tips towards the target during the backswing, which way do you think it will tip in the downswing? And if that happens, where will the clubhead bottom-out? Why would you "tip" towards the target in your backswing? Reason 1: trying to keep the head to still and eyes on the ball. Reason 2: the hips sliding beyond the brace supplied by the back leg. When the lower body slides back, the upper body slides forward towards the target. I hope you are understanding the message. You downswing may be the problem, but it would be highly unlikely Think of your downswing as the reactor, not the actor and find the real root of your errors. Practice with "divot-taking" irons to gather more evidence about what just happened and let the ground teach you about your swing! Copyright 2004 by PGA.com. All rights reserved.
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