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While teaching on
the lesson tee, I will often ask a student: “on a scale of 1
to 10, how solid did that shot feel”. I discovered that many
players are getting used to mediocrity, giving a 9 or 10 to
what to my eye and ear seemed slightly fat or thin, less
than perfect.
The topic of this article is solid contact, and how to
repeat it. Ask a golfer after a career best round how they
played, and the answer is often `I hit the ball solid’. I
would like to talk about what are the conditions of a solid
golf shot, the one that has a `click’, and feels like the
ball is not even there.
Harvey Penick, the great golf-philosopher, spoke about the
importance of getting the bottom of the arc in the right
place. When I taught in Bhutan, the juniors had a hard
packed bare-dirt range to practice on; they learned quickly
that the only way to hit a ball off the ground, was to
`pinch’ it, catching the ball first, with the club
continuing down to the ground after contacting the ball.
Modern technology proves that good golf shots occur when the
bottom of the arc is a good four inches past the ball. We
see good golfers shift their weight, and create lag in their
swing, but we cannot see what they are thinking to make that
happen. I can assure you that they are not thinking about
the ball, or even worse getting under it.
Another question I ask golfers during lessons is: “what were
you thinking about when you hit that shot?” The most common
answer is `the ball’, or `hitting the ball’. I follow that
question with an exercise: “point at the spot where you want
the bottom of the arc, that place where the club begins to
go upward”. High handicap golfers usually think they should
bottom out before they reach the ball, catching it on the
upswing. Even good golfers will point under the ball, which
is also incorrect.
You have all seen the pro’s take a divot on good shots. When
amateurs take a divot, it usually means a poor shot, because
the divot starts too soon. Make it happen later and you are
going to be a player.
Bobby Clampett, a golf commentator on TV and a former full
time tour player, did a study that he describes in his book
Impact. What he found is that a good player bottoms out
after the ball. Even with a driver on a tee, the club is
slightly descending. This completely blows away the advice
to hit the driver on the upswing, which I previously thought
was a set-in-stone law.
If you want to improve the quality of your shots,
IMMEDIATELY, just mentally boycott the ball, and instead
place your mind (not your eyes), 4 inches ahead as the place
to reach bottom.
Practice exercises:
On the Range: count out 10 balls with any club. Only the
ones you hit dead-solid-perfect count. See how many points
you can make - at first, 5 is good. Don’t worry
about direction, only contact. This is a self correcting
exercise; as the player gets more proficient, his or her
standards go up.
On the course: Do the same thing, but while playing the
course. Forget about score and direction, only solid
contact, including putts.
There are 2 balls in golf; the small ball is the one you hit
first. The BIG ball is mother earth. Hit the small ball
first, then the big ball, and you are on the way to the best
golf of your life. |
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