Aug 26, 2010
At The Barclays at Ridgewood
Tom, I enjoyed our chat yesterday on the practice tee. You will find my article on reading Ridgewood’s green posted under published articles. This should help you to make better reads.
As a fellow Oakland University grad, I’d like to offer one little suggestion with your swing that will make a big difference in your feel of “target.” As Sam Snead always reminded me, your feel of direction is in your footwork.
This is why Sam so often practiced barefoot. When I watch your downswing, your weight is transferring from right toe to the outside of your left heel, i.e. well to the left of your intended target. This causes your tendency to come from the outside corner of the ball and pull your shots left of target. Which you, in turn, you try to correct by swinging your arms and hands down the target line. This is difficult to time, consistently.
Instead, if you would initiate your downsing by rolling across your right ankle (keeping your heel down longer) so that your weight transfers from the right heel to the left instep (digging in), the direction your right side then FIRES is directly toward your target. Once you feel the firing of your right side toward your target, you can simply allow your arms, hands and club to naturally follow – thus improving your consistency and eliminating the tendency to pull shots left of target. Now you will feel target better in your set-up, waggle and delivery – far more naturally.
Here’s wishing you well throughout the playoffs.
All the best,
Ozzie Carlson Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now
