things you should do, but don`t

 butch harmon
/ lesso n tee /
How to tame your 3-wood
Move the ball back, and take a little divot
I see golfers in our schools play
these perfect 5- and 7-wood
shots, but give them a 3-wood
and they can’t hit it.
First, they play the ball up
in their stance, like a driver,
and try to help it in the air. As
a result, they top it or skim it
along the ground.
Second, they swing too hard.
The green is usually out of
reach, so they think, The longer
I hit this, the better. But those
hard swings rarely end well.
For better 3-woods, position
the ball a few inches inside
your front heel. And then don’t
be afraid to hit down on it. Ben
Hogan used to take a little
divot with every fairway wood
he hit, and so does Tiger.
When it comes to tempo,
think of your 3-wood as any
other club: It has a distance
maximum, whether yours is
250 yards or 150. Use the same
tempo you would for an iron
shot—don’t try to squeeze out
that extra 10 yards. ‹›
too far forward
This is the most common
fault I see with amateurs.
With the ball up this far,
you’ll catch it thin or top it.
butch’s basics
Make sure your 3-wood has
enough loft, 15 or 16 degrees.
A lot of golfers are carrying
13-degree models, which just
scream for you to help them get
the ball up. When you hit range
balls with your 3-wood, tee it
up sometimes. You need to get
used to the idea that you can hit
down on the ball and get plenty
of height on the shot. You need to
learn to trust the club’s loft.
by Butch Harmon
Golf Digest
Teaching Professional
Ranked No. 1 on Golf Digest’s 50 Greatest
Teachers, Harmon runs the Butch Harmon
School of Golf, at Rio Secco, Henderson, Nev.
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june 2008
P H OTO G R A P H S B Y
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J.D. Cuban
/ L E S S O N TEE /
david leadbetter
2
1
move your right arm the right way
Think ‘on top then under’ as you take the club back
The right arm’s role in the backswing is underrated and often
misunderstood. In fact, many
amateurs do the opposite of what
they should do.
Simply put: The right arm should
be on top of the left arm (1) as
you start the backswing, and then
it should move under the left arm
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(2) as you swing the club to the top.
Many amateurs fold and shorten
the right arm too early as they
snatch the club away. What you
really want is a relatively straight
right arm during the initial part of
the backswing as this promotes
width and good pace—keys to
hitting solid shots.
As your right arm continues
toward the top of the backswing,
november 2008
it should start to fold and move
under your left, which encourages
your wrists to set and load correctly
and helps your upper body to
make a full coil. This combination
of width and the proper body turn
sets you in the ideal position for
the downswing.
So remember, when it comes to
the right arm, think “on top then
under” as you swing back, and
you’ll have a great start to the
whole swing. n
by David Leadbetter
Golf Digest
Teaching Professional
Based at ChampionsGate near Orlando,
Leadbetter runs 30 academies worldwide.
For more tips, click golfdigest.com/instruction.
P H OTO G R A P H S B Y
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DOM FURORE
lesson tee
david
leadbetter
learn from the legends
a small man
with big power
Gary Player, despite his 5-foot-7
frame, was always a solid striker
of the ball. In his era, there was a
lot of talk about the rolling of the
ankles to shift the weight. You
can see that here. As with many
players back then, Gary had an
active, “kneesy” lower body as
he transferred his weight on the
downswing. This is not something
you commonly observe with
today’s players. There’s more
focus now on stability, where the
left foot stays flat on the ground
throughout the swing.
SNAP IT
chips: Keep
your left
wrist firm
Use a putting-style grip
to ensure solid contact
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C
hipping, especially
from longer distances,
requires a lot of feel. You need
some wrist action to control
the distance, spin and trajectory of the shot. Unfortunately,
many golfers overuse their
wrists. The left wrist breaks
down at impact, causing them
to blade or chunk the shot.
Your goal should be to keep
your left wrist relatively firm
through the swing, which
helps you hit down crisply on
O C TO B E R 2 0 1 0
the ball and keep the clubface square to the target. It’s
much easier to keep the left
wrist solid by chipping with
a putting-style grip, which is
a variation of the common
Vardon (or overlapping) grip.
Simply invert the pinky and
index fingers that connect
your hands (above) so your left
index finger rests outside your
right-hand fingers (called the
reverse-overlap grip). You’ll
keep your left wrist firm.
Everything else is standard
for chipping—slightly open
stance, ball position well back
of center, a little hinging of the
wrists in the backswing, etc.
But the grip change will stabilize that left wrist for more
predictable contact. ♣
Dav i d L e a d b e t t e r is a
Golf Digest Teaching Professional
based at ChampionsGate near
Orlando. He operates 26 golf
academies worldwide.
P H OTO G R A P H S B Y
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stephen szurlej
golf digest resource center
tipsplus To see
video on this lesson,
click golfdigest.com
/go/tipsplus. Or visit
gettag.mobi from
your current smartphone and download
the free app to
snap a photo of this
coded image. For
help, go to golfdigest
.com/go/tag.
rick smith
/ l e ss o n t e e /
HOW TO STOP
THE CHIP FLIP
This drill will help you hit crisp shots around the green
Don’t
touch
To get a feel
for a good
chip, don’t let
the butt end
hit your body.
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Too many amateurs hit poor
chips and pitches, but don’t
beat yourself up if you’re one
of them. The problem is that
the shot is counterintuitive. It
seems logical that to get the
ball airborne but hit it only a
short distance—as is usually
required with a greenside
shot—you’d have to make a
short stroke with the arms
only and then help the ball in
the air with a flick of the wrists.
But to hit this shot properly,
the opposite is true.
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o c tob e r 2 0 0 7
The swing needs to be fairly
long, and the wrists quiet, then
the arms swing down as the
body rotates toward the target.
Honing this technique can take
some time, especially when
fighting the instinct to help the
ball up with a wristy swing. But
this drill will help speed up the
learning process.
Grip an iron about midshaft
so the butt end is pointing up
and just outside your lead hip.
As you take the club back,
hinge your wrists slightly so the
butt end of the shaft doesn’t
hit your side (above, left).
Now start your downswing by
rotating your body toward the
target, maintaining the wrist
hinge. The goal is to avoid
having the butt end of the club
touch your body (above, right)
during the swing. If the club
hits your side, you either let
your wrists break down or you
failed to make a body turn.
You can try this drill with all
sorts of things, including a pool
cue or a broom handle. It’s the
fastest way I know to learn
how to hit good short shots. ‹ ›
by Rick Smith
Golf Digest
Teaching Professional
Ranked No. 8 by his peers among Golf Digest’s
50 Greatest Teachers, Rick Smith is based at the
Treetops Resort near Gaylord, Mich., and Tiburón
in Naples, Fla. For more tips, click golfdigest.com.
P H OTO G R A P H S B Y
/
dom furore
4 things
you should do,
but don’t
by dave stockton
with ron kaspriske
D
d o me a favor and sign
your name on a piece of
paper. See how quick and
easy that was? Now try
to slowly duplicate that
signature. Not so easy.
The reason is, you’re
thinking about it and not
tapping into your subconscious, the way you did
when you signed the first
time. Putting is no different. The best putters
see their target line and
then roll the ball on that
line, just like you saw the
paper and then signed
it. The lesson is, keep
it natural, and don’t let
yourself get bogged down
by anything. ¶ With the
help of my sons, Ron and
Dave Jr., I’ve developed
a philosophy that focuses
on this notion but also
incorporates basic tips for
improving your setup and
stroke—the same tips I’ve
given major champions
like Phil Mickelson and
Yani Tseng. Our method
might really differ from
what you do now, but it’s
the most effective way to
roll the ball into the hole.
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o c to b e r 2 0 1 0
1
Lead with your left
If you shot a free throw with your right hand only,
you’d realize you need your left hand as a guide.
The same is true on the greens: The left hand is the
direction hand, and it’s just as important as the
right. Practice putting left-hand-only (above), or
have someone hold a club in front of your hands on
the target line. Bump the grip with the back of your
hand, not your fingers, like Dave Jr. is doing (left).
p h oto g r a p h S b y
/
w a lte r iooss j r .
USe your
fingers
3
Grip the putter any
way you like, as long
as it doesn’t hinder
your left hand’s role in
the stroke. But make
sure to grip the club
in your fingers. The
shaft should run up
the lifeline of your
left hand for clubface
control, but your fingers must contact the
grip (above). You can
drop the right forefinger down the shaft,
but don’t steer with
it. Forget about what
your palms are doing.
Fingers equal feel.
2
think roll, not hit
The key to distance control is to roll the ball, not hit it. To do this, take an open
stance, your weight slightly favoring your left side and your putter shaft leaning
toward the target (above). The open stance makes it easier to feel the left hand
going out and down the target line. The forward lean offsets the 4 degrees of
loft I recommend for a putter and helps the ball roll smoothly. ¶ When you make
the stroke, keep the putterhead low to the ground past impact, like Ron is demonstrating (left). The putter will ascend slightly, but don’t try to hit up on the
ball—whoever told you to do that was wrong, because it makes the ball hop.
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o c to b e r 2 0 1 0
4
SPOT THE SPOT
If you stare at the ball too long at address, it’s easy to get brain-locked and
hit a bad putt. To avoid this, I don’t even look at the ball. Try looking at a spot
just in front of the ball on your target line and rolling the ball over that spot.
Put a tee in the ground in front of the ball when you practice (left). This gets
you thinking about the target line instead of the stroke—the opposite of what
most golfers do. ¶ Another trick to free your mind is to picture the ball going in
on the high side of the hole on a breaking putt. Most golfers miss low. For this
left-to-right putt (below), I want the ball to enter the cup well left of center.
Do you get
ball-bound?
Look at a
spot just in
front of it.
MORE LESSONS
Based in Southern
California, Ron,
Dave Sr. and Dave
Jr. have been teaching
together for several years
and have worked with Phil
Mickelson, Justin Rose,
Adam Scott, Yani Tseng
and Morgan Pressel, among
other tour players. Now it’s
your turn. Go to golfdigest
.com/go/putting to watch
Dave demonstrate his preputt routine. You also can
attend one of their schools,
including events at the
Grand Del Mar in San Diego
on Oct. 1, Oct. 29 and Dec. 10.
o c to b e r 2 0 1 0
/
G O L F D I G E S T. C O M
/
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4 things
you should do,
but don’t
by dave stockton
with ron kaspriske
D
d o me a favor and sign
your name on a piece of
paper. See how quick and
easy that was? Now try
to slowly duplicate that
signature. Not so easy.
The reason is, you’re
thinking about it and not
tapping into your subconscious, the way you did
when you signed the first
time. Putting is no different. The best putters
see their target line and
then roll the ball on that
line, just like you saw the
paper and then signed
it. The lesson is, keep
it natural, and don’t let
yourself get bogged down
by anything. ¶ With the
help of my sons, Ron and
Dave Jr., I’ve developed
a philosophy that focuses
on this notion but also
incorporates basic tips for
improving your setup and
stroke—the same tips I’ve
given major champions
like Phil Mickelson and
Yani Tseng. Our method
might really differ from
what you do now, but it’s
the most effective way to
roll the ball into the hole.
74
/
G O L F D I G E S T. C O M
/
o c to b e r 2 0 1 0
1
Lead with your left
If you shot a free throw with your right hand only,
you’d realize you need your left hand as a guide.
The same is true on the greens: The left hand is the
direction hand, and it’s just as important as the
right. Practice putting left-hand-only (above), or
have someone hold a club in front of your hands on
the target line. Bump the grip with the back of your
hand, not your fingers, like Dave Jr. is doing (left).
p h oto g r a p h S b y
/
w a lte r iooss j r .
USe your
fingers
3
Grip the putter any
way you like, as long
as it doesn’t hinder
your left hand’s role in
the stroke. But make
sure to grip the club
in your fingers. The
shaft should run up
the lifeline of your
left hand for clubface
control, but your fingers must contact the
grip (above). You can
drop the right forefinger down the shaft,
but don’t steer with
it. Forget about what
your palms are doing.
Fingers equal feel.
2
think roll, not hit
The key to distance control is to roll the ball, not hit it. To do this, take an open
stance, your weight slightly favoring your left side and your putter shaft leaning
toward the target (above). The open stance makes it easier to feel the left hand
going out and down the target line. The forward lean offsets the 4 degrees of
loft I recommend for a putter and helps the ball roll smoothly. ¶ When you make
the stroke, keep the putterhead low to the ground past impact, like Ron is demonstrating (left). The putter will ascend slightly, but don’t try to hit up on the
ball—whoever told you to do that was wrong, because it makes the ball hop.
76
/
G O L F D I G E S T. C O M
/
o c to b e r 2 0 1 0
4
SPOT THE SPOT
If you stare at the ball too long at address, it’s easy to get brain-locked and
hit a bad putt. To avoid this, I don’t even look at the ball. Try looking at a spot
just in front of the ball on your target line and rolling the ball over that spot.
Put a tee in the ground in front of the ball when you practice (left). This gets
you thinking about the target line instead of the stroke—the opposite of what
most golfers do. ¶ Another trick to free your mind is to picture the ball going in
on the high side of the hole on a breaking putt. Most golfers miss low. For this
left-to-right putt (below), I want the ball to enter the cup well left of center.
Do you get
ball-bound?
Look at a
spot just in
front of it.
MORE LESSONS
Based in Southern
California, Ron,
Dave Sr. and Dave
Jr. have been teaching
together for several years
and have worked with Phil
Mickelson, Justin Rose,
Adam Scott, Yani Tseng
and Morgan Pressel, among
other tour players. Now it’s
your turn. Go to golfdigest
.com/go/putting to watch
Dave demonstrate his preputt routine. You also can
attend one of their schools,
including events at the
Grand Del Mar in San Diego
on Oct. 1, Oct. 29 and Dec. 10.
o c to b e r 2 0 1 0
/
G O L F D I G E S T. C O M
/
77