BUNKER BUSTER
Tony Roberts
Am I just getting sloppier with my iron play or does it seem like there are more and more bunkers in play every year? The new courses spring up with record numbers of bunkers and course renovations seem to focus on bunkers as much or more than anything. After putting and driving, solid bunker play is as important a component of your game today as any other.
Greenside bunker play demands a basic understanding of the sand wedge. These clubs have a specific design to the bottom, or sole, of the club and has the area behind the leading edge actually hanging lower than the leading edge. This is called the club’s “bounce” and is the feature that allows the club to enter the sand and skim (or bounce) under the ball instead of digging too deep to power the ball out. When we hit the most common and essential sand shot in our arsenal, called an “explosion” shot, it is the cushion of sand that forces the ball out of bunker. The correct depth of sand removal is critical to the success of the shot. The bounce on the sand wedge helps create this correct depth.
You’ll hit the basic explosion shot on almost all of your greenside sand shots. To hit it properly you need to further expose the bounce of the club by opening the face significantly. Because you’ve opened the face you’ll need to aim left of your target as the open face will throw the ball to the right. Position the ball slightly forward in the stance. Make the swing along your body line (left of target) and enter the sand two inches in back of the ball. Force the club through the sand and make a full finish just as you would on a long shot from the fairway.
When performed properly the club will never touch the ball. The sand you removed will carry the ball forward and onto the green. For starters, try to make the same swing on all of your explosion shots and vary the distance and height the ball goes by varying the degree to which you open the club.
The more you open the face the shorter the ball will go and the more you’ll need to aim to the left. Later on you can vary the length of the swing to create another determinate of distance and height. Success with this shot will come quickly.
No other shot in golf affords the margin of error that the explosion shot does. You can enter the sand an inch and a half in back of the ball, or two and a half inches behind and have similar results. Try hitting a 4 iron from a tight fairway with an inch or two variance in where the club comes down and see how that works for you.
The standard explosion shot works for most greenside shots but let’s leave you with one other option for when golf, like life, throws those little curves at us. The fried egg or buried lie can strike fear in the hearts of best of players.
When the ball lies below the top of the sand you’ve got a couple of options. The younger, stronger and most talented among you can still keep that blade open, play the ball back a little, and through both pure strength and precision, fashion a mighty explosion shot that cuts under the ball and lifts it out not altogether unlike a standard explosion. But not many can play it like that.
The rest of us need to get a little gimmicky with this one. One of the most fun shots in golf is to take the buried lie, aim way right, and close the face to the point that the toe of the club is aiming almost back to the hole. Swing down into the sand in back of the ball and make no effort to bring the club out of the sand. Just stick it in the sand behind the ball and leave it there. The ball miraculously pops up and out, way left, and runs hard and long. You can get some of the worst lies you can imagine out of the bunker and on the green with this technique.
Try these golf shots at your local practice bunker before you hit the course. Sand play practice can be a lot of fun and will bring your scores down. Kind of funny isn’t it? One of first places we find ourselves playing as a toddler is the sand box, and here we are later in life doing it again.
Tony Roberts is the PGA Pro at WinterStone Golf Course
and MidWest Section PGA Teacher of the Year for 2001
PUTTING IS REALLY SIMPLE
Mark Nigro
Last year I went to Cog Hill in Chicago to train on the “SAM” Putting Lab that we had purchased for our academy. I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Christian Marquardt, the inventor, one-on-one.
He was a very interesting person in that he had no background in golf at all. Even to this day he does not play golf. He is a scientist that studies human motion and movement, the type of person that would study the hand movements of a concert pianist or why a person might get writers cramp.
Marquardt became interested in putting when he heard about the dreaded putting yips. He started his research on putting by going out on the European Golf Tour. His equipment was an apparatus that fit on the putter and read every movement that the putter was making during the putting stroke using ultrasound.
His findings were surprising. There were many different techniques and styles, but all were pretty efficient. The one common element was that they were very repeatable. Consistency was more important than the technique. It didn’t matter if they used a long putter, putted crosshanded, used the claw grip, or a belly putter. Consistency was the most common trait among the best players in the world.
This doesn’t mean that technique is not important, it just means that consistency is more important.
Dr. Marquardt’s first statement to me was, “Mark, putting is a very simple movement. There is very few moving parts and it takes very little strength or power.” My first question to him was, “Why is putting so difficult for most people?” His answer was that most people perceive it to be difficult. So if we think putting is simple and that is not difficult, and truly believe that concept, we are on the right track to becoming a great putter.
This really makes sense because in teaching the golf swing, there is so many moving parts and the club is going at a very fast rate of speed. The putting stroke requires very little athletic ability and does not require a great deal of strength.
The key to developing a good stroke is simplicity. At our academy, we always evaluate our students first. The most common problem we see, is that the putter does not fit them. Or should I say that the putter does not allow them to get into a setup that is mechanically sound that will allow their hands and arms to swing freely from their shoulders.
Most putters are too long and are too light. If the putter fits you right, you should be able to bend from your waist and get your eyes over the ball. Your arms should hang freely with a slight bend in the elbows. The ball should be positioned forward in the stance to allow a slightly ascending stroke. The power in the stroke should come from the right hand and arm. The left arm and hand should stabilize the path and face to keep it square to your target.
Wrist actions should be minimal but not necessarily eliminated. Length of stroke should be determined by how much speed is required to reach the hole. The ratio of backswing to forward swing is 1 to 2. Grip pressure should feel firm but not tight. There should be very minimal body motion. The legs and head must be very steady. Is this beginning to sound complicated? Remember, our perception is that this is a very simple movement.
Of course there is more to putting than just developing a simple stroke. How about reading the greens? Or how do you develop the proper speed? How about your mental preshot routines that are so important to developing focus and a relaxed state of mind when you putt?
As you can see there is a lot to putting. Much more than what I can write in this article. You just have to learn and feel the proper technique and get a putter that fits your stroke.
And remember, putting is very simple.
?One of Kansas City’s most popular golf instructors, Mark Nigro provides over 1300 lessons a year from his base at the Robin Nigro Golf Academy. Contact him at www.robinnigrogolf.com
OH NO! THE SHANKS!
Tony Roberts
I was walking through the shop on yet another cold “spring” Saturday morning and I made the mistake of asking one of our Annual Pass guys what I should write this article about. The gentleman responded with, “Well, I’ve never read a good article about curing the shanks.” I assured him he could probably say the same thing in another 30 days when this comes out but, by gosh, I was going to go tackle shanking.
Nothing scares me more on the lesson tee than the guy hitting it on the hosel. No single fault in the golf swing comes to us quite so mysteriously. Certainly nothing else can be as devastating to both score and the amount of fun we’re having while playing the game. If you’ve been cursed with this dreaded malady, you’ve undoubtedly been the recipient of many suggestions. Some wanted, but most are unsolicited. Seems like everybody’s a pro when you’re hitting them sideways, doesn’t it?
For those of you unfamiliar with the shank . . . put the magazine down now and walk away. You don’t want to finish the article, you don’t want to use the word and you don’t want anything to do with the whole subject. I’m not kidding you, walk away now. For the rest of you, I’m sorry. Let’s look at it and try to beat it.
You shank the ball when the hosel contacts the ball before the face has a chance to get there. The ball takes off almost straight right. Looking closely at the club you can see why.
I’ve seen and heard many explanations and theories on the cause of shanking and an equal number of possible cures. My best results have come by taking a three-pronged approach. If I can’t fix it within these three categories, then it’s a mystery to me.
Once in awhile it’s the easy fix. If you are just plain standing too close to the ball, you can see how your arms might ask for a little more room on the downswing and return the club extended outward ever so slightly. Doesn’t take much outward extension to move from the center of the face to the hosel. So unless you feel you’re a golfer that already stands far from the ball, back away from the ball a little and give it a try.
Not usually that lucky though, so on we go. The second thing to investigate is a spine angle change. You know from other instruction that we need to keep the spine angle constant (maintain the angle you set at address throughout the swing) in order to hit our best shots. Most of this work is done to correct people who lift up, “standing up out of the shot.”
The other spine angle change can cause a shank. If you lower your spine, you will scoot the club outward and potentially expose the hosel. This problem can occur on the backswing by exaggerating the vertical tilt of the shoulders or on the downswing by diving down to the ball. Spend time feeling the exaggerated opposite of this by hitting shots where you feel as if you are raising the spine instead of lowering it. You’ll know you are overdoing the correction if all you hit are ground balls. Just play with it a little.
If you yank the club too quickly and too much to the inside on the backswing, you’ll arrive at a position at the top of the swing that is low and behind you. From there it’s difficult to get to the ball without “throwing” the club out. Instead of turning through the shot and getting your body moving to the left, you’ve created force that moves the club away from you. Again, it’s not the face that approaches the ball now, it’s the hosel. Try taking the club back a little straighter, a little more upright. The downswing should take care of itself from a better spot at the top.
Each of these answers to the shank deals with the simple concept of returning the club to impact with the ball positioned in the center of the face. That’s what we’re trying to do with almost all shots, we’re just forced to look at it a little closer when we’re shanking. When all else fails, set up with the ball as far out on the toe as you can. Go ahead and hit from there; sometimes simple works.
Here’s hoping you never need to try any of this. The most devastating part of getting the shanks is what it does to our confidence and ability to hit even the simplest of shots. The psychological damage to our game when we get so gun-shy that we can’t even pull the trigger can be enough to make even the ardent player ponder hanging ‘em up for awhile. We can’t ever let that happen, now can we?
Tony Roberts is the PGA Pro at WinterStone Golf Course
and MidWest Section PGA Teacher of the Year for 2001
Get in the Groove
Karen Davis
Have you ever had the experience of starting the season strong, playing your best golf before you’ve had time to start working on your game? Then somewhere along they way it happens . . . a missed shot, a bad hole, or maybe a bad round. You begin to analyze what’s wrong and start trying to fix it. Pretty soon you’re tied up in knots wondering what happened to that great start. Here’s the good news – it doesn’t have to be that way!
Like so many things in life, playing great golf requires balance between the Yang (physical/technical) components of the game and the Yin (mental/emotional) components of the game. Most golfers put all the focus on the Yang, and the Yin tends to get much less focus, if any at all.
The Yang parts of the game include technique, equipment, physical fitness, nutrition, and even things like statistics and the analysis of the game. All very important, but only half the picture. These parts of the game should get half your focus, but for most golfers they get nearly 100%.
The Yin parts of the game include things like emotional management, creative thinking, decision-making, confidence, beliefs, and organized thinking. When things go wrong in the Yin side of the game, it shows up in the swing. Instead of addressing the root cause, most golfers immediately try to see what went wrong in the swing, putting the focus back on technique and failing to address the real problems.
Perhaps it’s harder to think about things like emotional management and clear decision-
making as skills the way you think of the skill of swinging the club. They are skills, and like any skill they require awareness, instruction, practice and focus to improve. These areas have just as much influence on the outcome of each swing in golf as the more visible Yang components do. If you learn to address them you can make quantum leaps in your results.
One area that is particularly under-addressed in golf is emotional management. If I were allowed to coach only one skill in golf, this is the one I would choose because I think players of all levels get a high return on investment here. Big results are possible with a small amount of practice-time investment.
Players who are great at emotional management see these and other
benefits:
- They make better and clearer decisions.
- They are more creative at finding ways to get the ball in the hole.
- They are better able to focus on the shot at hand, not letting what has happened previously in the round (good or bad) interfere with the current shot.
- They have more energy and perform better at the end of the round.
- They create their own confidence.
- They recover quickly when something does go wrong.
How do you become an expert at emotional management? The first step is to become aware of your emotional state at all times. Any negative emotion – from the low end of being a little anxious because of stress and frustration, to the high end of anger – will degrade your ability to play good golf. The faster you can identify a negative emotion and shift to a positive emotional state, the better your results will be. Speed of recovery matters immensely to performance.
There are some great tools available from a company called Heartmath that can help you take the first steps. They provide books (such as Managing Emotions: Golf’s Next Frontier) and tools like the emWave Personal Stress Reliever that allow you to see your state and practice shifting to a higher performing emotional state. Personal coaching can help you improve your skill and learn how to best utilize the skills and techniques while playing golf for great results.
For other ideas on how to balance the Yin and Yang components of your game, I recommend reading The Game Before The Game by Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson.
Keep your game in balance and enjoy your best golf ever!
—Karen Davis
Karen Davis is the owner of Full Circle Coaching (www.fullcirclecoach.com). She is a PGA Professional, LPGA Member, TPI Certified Golf Fitness Instructor, Licensed Heartmath Provider and a coach in the VISION54/Integrated Fundamentals program. You can reach Karen for instruction at 816-729-2000 or Karen@fullcirclecoach.com.
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