THE TOTAL GOLF EXPERIENCE

Transcription

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Start With the Right Grip For Your Body Type...........................................................................................3
The Three Basic Golf Grips....................................................................................................................3
The Two Golf Grip "Laws" That Every Golfer Ought to Know.............................................................4
The Two Knuckles Law......................................................................................................................4
The Lifeline Law................................................................................................................................4
The A, B, C's of Address and Ball Position.................................................................................................5
The TOTAL GOLF Power Move.................................................................................................................6
Learn The 7 - 8 - 9 Pitching Method............................................................................................................7
The 7-O'clock Position.......................................................................................................................7
The 3 Keys To a Great Pitch Shot...........................................................................................................8
Learn The 6 - 8 - 10 Chipping Method........................................................................................................9
How to Easily Develop a Killer Putting Stroke.........................................................................................11
The Push Drill: Push Yourself To Peak Performance!...............................................................................13
Week 1 ..................................................................................................................................................13
Week 2 ..................................................................................................................................................13
Week 3 ..................................................................................................................................................14
How to Stop Topping the Ball Once and For All ......................................................................................15
How to Finally Stop Coming Over the Top...............................................................................................16
How to Prevent the Dreaded "FAT" Shot ..................................................................................................18
Message From Mel Sole........................................................................................................................20
About Mel Sole.....................................................................................................................................20
Copyright Mel Sole Golf School, 2011. All rights reserved. www.ritson-sole.com
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Part 1: TOTAL GOLF FUNDAMENTALS
Start With the Right Grip For Your Body Type
A good golf grip is fundamental to the mechanics of a solid golf swing, yet it's also one of the
most neglected elements of a golfer's game. As a golf instructor, I see more bad grips than bad
swings. And, I've never seen a good player with a bad grip.
The problem begins when you're unsure of which of the three grips is best for you. Start by
determining your body type:
1. Do you have strong hands and arms, or are you weak in that area?
2. Are your fingers long and thin, or short and pudgy?
The Three Basic Golf Grips
For reasons of clarity I will be referring to top hand and bottom hand rather than left or right.
This is so the article can be understood by both left or right handed golfers.
The Baseball Grip, or 10 Finger Grip, is good for women and
seniors who do not have a lot of strength in their wrists and
forearms. This allows the lower hand to be a little more active
through the hitting area, helping rotation and resulting in straighter
shots as well as more distance.
The Overlapping Grip, or Vardon Grip (named after Harry Vardon),
is the most popular grip and is suitable for most golfers with strong
arms and wrists. This grip unifies the hands and helps them work as
one unit.
The Interlocking Grip works well for people with short fingers and
pudgy palms who find it difficult to get the small finger to overlap
correctly or sufficiently. The small finger and index finger of the
opposite hand interlock again unifying the hands in order to work as
one unit. Jack Nicklaus uses this grip.
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The Two Golf Grip "Laws" That Every Golfer Ought to Know
Regardless of which golf grip you choose, there are two "laws" that are fundamental to a good
grip:
The Two Knuckles Law
The Lifeline Law
The top hand needs to be placed on the
club so that as you look down you can
see two knuckles. The line formed by the
thumb and the back of the hand is pointing
to the right shoulder (or left shoulder for lefthanded golfers.)
The bottom hand is placed on the club
with the palms adjacent to one another,
so the lifeline of the bottom hand fits
snugly over the thumb of the top hand.
The lines formed by the thumbs and the
back of the hands are parallel to one
another. The thumb and index finger of the
bottom hand form a slight "trigger grip" with
the tip of each finger touching.
You'll squeeze better performance from your game if you start out with the right golf grip.
Determine your body type, choose the right grip for you, and be sure to follow the golf grip
laws, and you'll be well on your way to better scores!
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The A, B, C's of Address and Ball Position
The most important - and frequently overlooked - full swing fundamental
is the setup. The setup sets the tone of your swing and ultimately, your
scores. So what makes a great golf setup? It starts with address and ball
position.
For reasons of clarity (because there are left and right handed golfers) I
will refer to front and back rather than left or right. The front foot would be
the left foot for right handed golfers.
A) Address Position
Width of Stance: Your stance should be approximately the width of your
shoulders for the mid-irons. Go slightly narrower for the shorter clubs and
slightly wider for the longer clubs.
Posture: The knees are only slightly bent. Too much bend causes all
sorts of problems with the backswing. The arms hang down vertically
from the shoulders. This helps keep any tension out of the arms at the
address position. Tension in the arms at address also causes problems
with the backswing. The spine should be relatively straight, and the chin
held slightly away from the chest.
Hand Position: This is an often neglected position at address. It is
important that there is a straight line from the top of the front shoulder to
the ball, as in picture #2. This sets the hands in the correct position
relative to the ball position. Note that the butt of the club should be over
the middle of the front thigh regardless of the club in your hand.
B) Ball Position
The Irons: The ball position for all regular iron shots (not
low/high/uphill/downhill lies) is about 2" inside the front heel. This
automatically sets the hands slightly ahead of the ball and helps give the
desired "slightly downward" blow that is required for crisp iron shots.
The Fairway Woods: The ball position for the fairway woods is directly
off the left heel. This automatically sets the hands even with the ball and
helps give the desired "bottom of the arc" blow required for lofted
fairways shots.
The Driver: The ball position for the driver is off the instep of the front foot. This automatically
sets the hands even with the clubhead and helps give the desired "slightly upward" blow
required for good tee shots.
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The TOTAL GOLF Power Move
The TOTAL GOLF Power Move is executed at the all-important start of the downswing, and
allows you to unleash your swing power at the point of impact with the golf ball. How exactly is
this done?
In photo #1, I'm at the top of the backswing.
Photo #2 shows the first move of the
downswing, starting with the left side (for right
handed golfers), and not with the arms as is
so common among high and medium
handicap golfers. The weight has started to
shift across to the front side and the angle
created by the shaft and my left arm has not
changed. This indicates the downswing has
not been started with the hands.
Any attempt to start the downswing with the hands and arms will immediately cause two things
to happen: 1) you will "come over the top" and, 2) you will instantly lose the shaft angle and get
what is called "casting," because it is like casting a fishing rod. This results in instant power
loss, and direction loss as well.
In photo #3, my hands have already passed
hip level and the angle is still the same as it
was at the top of the backswing. The weight is
now approximately 60% across onto the front
side. In photo #4, I'm in the impact position. In
comparing photo #3 with #4 you can see that
my hands have moved approximately 12
inches in the same time that the clubhead has
moved 5 feet, obviously creating tremendous
clubhead speed. At impact, my weight is
approximately 70% over to the front side and
the arm and shaft are in a straight line. At this
moment, all the power that has been stored
up during the downswing is being released
right at the point you want it - at impact!
Any golfer wanting to improve their distance has only to look to these areas to see where the
power is being lost. A golf lesson with the use of a video camera will quickly illustrate this.
Once you understand the principals involved in creating the TOTAL GOLF Power Move, you'll
be pleased to see your drives increase and your shots come down.
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Part 2: TOTAL GOLF SHORT GAME DOMINATION
Learn The 7 - 8 - 9 Pitching Method
Most of the amateurs I play with hit the ball well from tee to green, but when they get within 50
yards of the green they seem to struggle. "I don't have time to practice these shots", they tell
me. If that sounds familiar, this lesson is for you. The 7-8-9 Pitching Method requires a little
practice initially, but once you've established your distances you'll be able to rely on it in the
future.
The 7-O'clock Position
As you address the ball, imagine that you have a large clock in front
of you. Learn to swing your left arm (right arm for those who are lefthanded) to the hours of the clock.
Notice there is a slight wrist cock. This is important as you need to
cock the wrist to help deliver a slightly downward blow through the
shot. Practice hitting shots like this until you can consistently hit
shots a certain distance. This will become your 7-o'clock shot.
Practice hitting shots swinging your left arm to 8-o'clock and note
your distances. This will become your 8-o'clock shot.
Practice the same as the first two shots, while swinging your arm to
9-o'clock.
Finish off swinging the arm to 10-o'clock and you'll now have four
specific distances that you can consistently pitch the ball. (Distances
will vary from player to player as in full shots.) When you find
yourself 40 yards from the flag on the course you can say to
yourself, "OK, this is my X-o'clock shot." and you know for sure that
if you swing your arm to that position, the ball is going to go about 40
yards.
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The 3 Keys To a Great Pitch Shot
1. Notice that at address the majority of my weight is on my front
foot. This help you keep your body steady during the swing, and also
powers the downward blow that is important in creating the backspin
you want on this shot. You will also notice looking at the other
positions during the backswing that my weight does not shift to the
back foot at any time. I keep my weight on the front foot even at the
top of my backswing. (This is only for the pitch shot - not for full
shots.)
2. It is important that the pace of the swing be consistent
throughout. It is no good swinging slowly through one shot and
quickly through the next. You’ll get very inconsistent results. Try to
imagine a pendulum and the way it moves backward and forward at
the same pace. Try to fell this in all of your pitch shots.
3. Lastly, follow through. Do not stop your follow through on this
shot or you will constantly come up short. The follow through should
finish at about 3 o'clock.
Make sure that the follow through is directly at the target and not
around your body. The hands should finish in about the middle of your
chest.
With just a little practice to establish your distances and pace, you'll
find playing these shots a lot more fun. You'll also get a lot of
comments from your playing partners like "Where did you learn to
pitch all of a sudden!?"
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Learn The 6 - 8 - 10 Chipping Method
The golden rule in chipping is:
Fly the ball as little as possible and roll the ball as much as possible.
With that in mind, it's important to understand the air-time/ground-time ratios of shots hit with
different clubs. The selection of the correct club is vital. You can chip with anything from a three
iron to a sand wedge depending on the situation, but you must know the following formulas to
decide which club is required.
1. When you chip with a 10 iron, or Pitching Wedge as it is commonly called, the ball will
fly 1/2 the distance to the hole and roll 1/2 the distance.
2. When you chip with an 8 iron, the ball will fly 1/3 and roll 2/3.
3. When you chip with a 6 iron the ball will fly 1/4 and roll 3/4.
Now these formulas are based on a normal paced, level green--a situation we don’t often find
on the course. So, if you're going uphill you would need to go up one club, and downhill
requires going down one club. If the green is fast you again will need to go down one club and
if the green is slow you will go up one club. This may sound confusing at first, but once you
understand the basic formula it's really just common sense from then on.
CLUB
LEVEL
UPHILL / SLOW
DOWNHILL / FAST
6 iron
Fly 1/4 Roll 3/4
4 iron
8 Iron
8 Iron
Fly 1/3 Roll 2/3
6 Iron
P/Wedge
P/Wedge
Fly 1/2 Roll 1/2
8 Iron
Lob Wedge
Always try to land the ball about 3 feet onto the putting surface (dotted line) and let the ball roll
the rest of the way.
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At the address position, keep your weight on your front foot, with the ball position in the middle
of your feet. Your hands should be slightly ahead of the ball.
Besides choosing the right club, the most important aspect of chipping is making sure the left
wrist (or right wrist for left-handers) does not break down during the chipping motion, because
the moment the wrist breaks down two things happen:
1. The loft on the club changes, changing the trajectory, which in turn affects the roll of the
ball. Inconsistent distances will result.
2. The arm breaks down as well, causing bladed shots that go screaming across the
green.
To ensure that neither of these things happen, work on keeping your arm straight and your
wrist firm during the shot. If you find this difficult to achieve in practice try this, it will give you
the correct feel: Take a thick rubber band and place it around your wrist. Slide the butt end of
the club under the elastic band, keeping the butt end of the club close to the wrist.
If you wish to lower your handicap, skip a few sessions on the driving range and head for the
chipping green instead. You’ll love the results to your game – your opponents won’t!
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How to Easily Develop a Killer Putting Stroke
Short putts - those between 4 and 6 feet - are the ones we expect to make most of the time.
But research tells us that the touring pros make only about 50% of 6 foot putts, so the average
golfer should not get too frustrated when their percentage is lower. However, with intelligent
practice we can do something to increase that success.
Take 10 balls and line up a straight putt of about 4 to 5 feet as I am here:
Practice a straight putt, because then you need only focus one the stroke and not on the
break. Now, start putting these putts with two objectives:
1. Make sure the putter head is going straight back and straight through.
2. Make sure your putter face is square to your line at all times. This is the most common fault
with poor putters and takes the most work and concentration, but will pay off handsomely if you
have the determination to get it right.
Set yourself a goal for the number of putts that you can hole in a row. Gradually increase this
goal until you can get up to 50. Remember, if you miss one you have to start at one again!
This teaches you how to putt under pressure, because as you reach 45, 46, 47, 48 - you don’t
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want to start at one again - so you must make a good stroke.
The secondary benefit of this practice method is to your subconscious. As you hole putt after
putt at this distance, your confidence escalates and you have less and less fear of these putts.
If you don’t have time to go to the course, remember - you can practice this at home on the
carpet. Especially those of you who are stuck indoors for the winter, this is a great way to work
on your putting stroke and get it nice and solid for next spring.
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The Push Drill: Push Yourself To Peak Performance!
The Push Drill is designed to help you kinesthetically feel the correct movement of the arms
and hands throughout the putting stroke. The overall objective is to allow absolutely no
breakdown between the forearm of the leading arm and the putter shaft. This ensures a perfect
pendulum stroke. It also helps tremendously with distance control because the hands are
completely passive and will not get involved in "hitting" the ball, which causes loss of distance
control. This drill takes six weeks to perfect, but you can practice at any time, at the office or at
home for just a few minutes a day.
Week 1
Put the putter directly behind the ball as in photo #1. Without taking the clubhead back, simply
push the putter head through, keeping the putter face square and the putter head low to the
ground, as in photo #2. Do not use a target, just make sure you feel the upper part of the
leading arm controlling this movement - no hands are to be involved at all. Notice that the
angle between the leading arm and the shaft has not changed between photos #1 and 2. Do
not progress to week 2 until you can keep the putter head path going straight through and able
to hold the putter face perfectly square on the follow through.
Week 2
This week, place the ball at the 6" mark, and the putter head at the 3" mark, as seen in photo
#3:
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Now push the putter head through to the 12" mark, again making sure that you feel the upper
part of the leading arm controlling the "push" with no breakdown between the forearm and the
shaft. The toe of the putter must stay parallel to the ruler, and the putter face must remain
square. As you see in photo #4, I have a "very slight" breakdown myself when I do this drill,
and so I will continue to work on The Push Drill until I have it perfected.
Week 3
Finally, put all of this together by making a continuous putting stroke, still using the ruler, still
taking the putter head back half the distance of the follow through.
Week 4, 5 & 6 are the same as 1, 2 & 3 but with a target.
Work diligently and these drills will make you a much better putter than you ever dreamed of!
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Part 3: TOTAL GOLF SWING CLINIC - FAULTS & FIXES
How to Stop Topping the Ball Once and For All
Most times when a golfer tops the ball, their spouse or playing partner will say, "You lifted your
head!" However, this is probably not the case. The most common cause of topping is the
collapsing of the left arm (for right-handed golfers) causing the distance between the golfer and
the ball to shorten, and a topped shot is the result.
The Solution? Practice pitch shots.
Address Position. Ball
slightly forward of center,
hands ahead of the ball.
The butt of the club is on
the left thigh.
Take the club back to a 9o'-clock position, keeping
the left arm straight.
At impact, the hands still
This is the most important
lead the clubhead. The left position. The arms are
arm is straight.
extended out in front of
you at the finish. At no time
should the left arm
collapse.
After several practice sessions in this manner you’ll have obtained the feeling of straight arms
through impact. Do this with all of your clubs and topping the ball will no longer be a problem
for you!
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How to Finally Stop Coming Over the Top
Once you are in the correct position at the top, the very first move of the downswing is a small
lateral slide of the hips towards the target. This will automatically let the hands drop down
vertically.
In photo #1, you can see that I've started the downswing with the lateral slide causing the
hands to drop down vertically. In photo #2, I 've started by rotating the hips, causing the hands
to move away from the body in the classical "over the top" move.
From the front view, by comparing photos #3 and #4 you’ll see that my hips have slid laterally
about 6° towards the target - without turning the hips!
This is the critical issue here. The moment you turn the hips too early or turn them at the start
of the downswing the hands will move out and over, causing a pull or a slice (depending where
the clubface is at impact) as in photo #5.
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From the back view once again, in photo #6 note the correct position of the hands in relation to
the body, and also the clubhead in relation to the hands. Notice the hands are fairly close to
the right thigh and the clubhead is behind the hands. At this point the hips have still not turned
out of the way. It's only from this point that the body starts turning (rapidly.) Compare that to
photo #7 when the downswing was started with the rotation of the hips.
In photo #8, I'm at the impact position and ready to deliver the clubhead squarely to the ball.
The clubhead path should travel along the target line for as long as possible.
Combined with The Dagger Drill, this drill will help you pay attention to the lateral hip slide, and
coming over the top will quickly become a thing of the past!
17
How to Prevent the Dreaded "FAT" Shot
Hitting the ball "fat", or behind the ball, can be caused by one of two things or a combination of
both:
1. Starting the downswing with your arms instead of with a
lateral weight shift. The very first move of the downswing is a slight
lateral slide of the hips moving the weight from the right side (for
right handed golfers) to the left. Failure to do this means the arms
come down before the body has shifted to the front foot, causing you
to reach the bottom of the arc before the ball which results in a "fat"
shot. At impact, the weight is still on the back foot.
2. "Casting" or un-cocking the wrists too early on the
downswing. This is also caused by starting the downswing with the
arms, but the golfers loses the angle between the right forearm and
the shaft early on the downswing, again causing the club to reach
the bottom of the arc too soon resulting in a fat shot.
The Solution? Make sure to start the downswing with a lateral slide of the hips
and ensure that most of your weight is over onto the front foot before impact (the right
heel should be off the ground by impact).
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Also, ensure that the angle between the right forearm and the shaft stays as delayed as
possible.
The Dagger Drill will help you correct both problems that cause the fat shot.
The additional benefit in doing this drill correctly is that it also increases your distance!
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Message From Mel Sole
I hope you enjoyed THE TOTAL GOLF EXPERIENCE collection of golf improvement tips! If
you have questions about any of these articles or any another aspect of your game, please
feel free to get in touch with me via email ([email protected]) or call me toll free at 1800-624-4653.
If you're serious about becoming a better golfer, I invite you to take advantage of all the free
golf improvement resources I publish online:
 Subscribe to my free monthly newsletter to find out about new contests and
giveaways, member-only specials at our golf schools, and a summary of the latest golf
tips and articles on my website.
 Subscribe to my YouTube channel for free monthly video golf tips.
 Subscribe to my RSS feed to get notified of fresh golf tips and blog posts as they're
published on my website.
 Come connect with me and a growing community of golfers on Facebook.
 Follow me on Twitter, or connect with me directly on LinkedIn.
See you on the tee!
About Mel Sole
Mel Sole is the Director of Instruction and Owner at the Mel Sole Golf School.
His dedication to golf instruction has earned him many awards, including:
 "Top Teacher" by GOLF Magazine, every year since 2001
 "Best Teachers in Your State" by Golf Digest, 2009
After a playing career on the South African PGA Tour, Mel turned his focus to
teaching back in the 1970s. His coaching of Junior Golf Teams in South Africa
produced two National Champions and several Junior Champions. In 1988,
Phil Ritson asked Mel to head up a golf academy in Myrtle Beach, USA.
Renamed the Phil Ritson - Mel Sole Golf School in 1991 (and again in 2013, to
Mel Sole Golf School) and relocated to nearby Pawleys Island. We now also
have several locations in the U.S. and México.
Mel authored the golf instruction book, Golf Step-by-Step (Chrysalis Books) in 2003. He's a teaching editor
with Golf Tips Magazine, and his golf lessons have also appeared in Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and Golf
Illustrated, as well as GolfInstruction.com.
20

THE TOTAL GOLF EXPERIENCE

Transcription

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