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Question: From Chris Giddings:
Dear Ozzie,
Please can you give myself and many other frustrated golfers a simple way to
eliminate, or at least, minimize ‘casting’ the club. This action has given me
nothing but wayward shots and a nagging case of golfers elbow on my right arm?
Incidently, your video tip about pre-setting your hips towards the target when
aligning is a god send. No other teacher has mentioned that!
Ozzie Answers: Dear Chris,
‘Casting’ is a feel of delivering power – albeit way too early in the downswing. Question: where should your club be traveling the fastest during your swing? Most players answer: on the downswing or at impact. Neither is correct! To produce powerfully accurate shots, your clubhead must be accelerating at impact and therefore reach maximum speed BEYOND THE BALL. Try this: turn your 3 wood upside down – holding it at the clubhead end. Start swinging, listening for where you hear your “whoosh.” Keep at it until you can deliver your whoosh beyond your front foot, i.e. from ball to target.
Let’s understand what physically happens to create your whoosh. Your whoosh occurs at that moment when both of your arms and your club shaft form a straight line. That is: your arms and clubshaft thrust to straight. When you ‘cast’ this thrust to straight occurs very early in your downswing. Rather, your trailing elbow should still be loaded (slightly bent) at impact so it can trust to straight from ball to target – BEYOND the Ball! You will find that as you learn the feel of ACCELERATION through the region of impact – your ball will go straighter and farther. Your trailing elbow is the key to this feel. Work in super slow motion so that you can see and feel when your arms/shaft thrust to straight! Check out my video clip: Whoosh to Your Target. Let me know how it goes!
All the best,
Ozzie
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
30 Mar 2011
Question: I see all kinds of waggles on tour. Is there a purpose or benefit I could get from learning to waggle?
Ozzie Answers: Starting a swing from still – in a relaxed rhythm - is much more difficult than starting from motion. So the first purpose of the waggle is to get the feel and flow of the rhythm of motion you will deliver. Rhythm is perhaps the most important ingredient in the recipe for ball flight consistency and predictability. So learn to waggle, if for no other reason than to relax the tension in your hands/forearms/shoulders. This will help you to feel the flow of motion that is the RHYTHM of your swing. Sam Snead always felt that rhythm was the “glue” that connected all parts of his body into a beautiful sequence of motion.
But there’s so much more you can get from a ‘useful’ waggle. I see many waggles on tour that indeed get the player loose, but that are otherwise ineffective. What do I mean? An effective waggle, in addition to rhythm, rehearses footwork, swing path, sequence of delivery, proper wrist cock and perhaps most importantly the lead up to release – the feel of posting up and the hand action that will deliver the clubface to produce the shape of shot you are preparing to produce.
So the waggle for a controlled fade or a controlled draw would FEEL very different, though to the camera (the unpracticed eye) they might look very much the same. Take a look at my video tip on THE WAGGLE to better understand and learn to feel the benefits of an effective waggle.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
Question: I always seem to be out of balance. Sometimes in my backswing, but most often in my delivery. Try as I might I just can’t seem to pose my finish. Would better balance make me more consistent?
Ozzie Answers: Balance is critical to consistency in two important ways: body balance and delivering a balanced club through the region of impact. Swinging a balanced club is the one most ignored fundamentals in teaching this great game. It is important because it is so crucial to delivery of path and face - the two determinants of direction, but it also contributes to a loss of body balance. So let’s deal with this one first.
Deliver a Balanced Club: Through the region of impact the handle must be pointing to your lead pivot (the ball joint at the top of your thigh bone). This is one of the most important connections in the golf swing. When you allow the handle to come up (point above your waist), i.e. allow the clubhead to drop, the centripital force travelling from handle to clubhead (upwards of 80 mph) will pull you out of balance and thus alter your swing arc at the most critical moment in your swing – the moment you deliver your clubhead speed. Tiger was doing this during his entire tenure with Hank Haney. It’s the principal reason he missed so many fairways with his driver. His learned compensation was to drop his head during his downswing in an effort to control shaft steepness at impact.
The better fix: Try getting the feel of “spearing” the inside of your lead thigh with the handle as you post/spin and fire.
Body Balance: Please click on the Video Tip: Maintain Your Spine Angle to learn how to set-up properly balanced and then to maintain this balanced posture throughout your swing.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
16 Mar 2011
Q: Why do I keep hitting the ground behind the ball and how do I fix my problem?
A: This is one of the most common problems in the game, yet its cure is rather simple.
First: Check your set-up: do you feel stretched tall at address? By this I mean have you maximized a) the distance of your groins from the ball and from the ground, without locking your knees straight; and b) the distance from your chin to your hands. When you address the ball with this s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d feel, while your arms are hanging straight down from your shoulders in a totally relaxed or “dangling” position, your clubhead simply cannot get “too deep” on the way down – so long as you maintain this stretched feel throughout your swing. Thus you have eliminated the first reason for hitting the ground behind the ball.
Next: Check for spine angle and or head bob during your swing. I watched Matt Kucher on Sunday at Doral hit a 1/2 wedge shot fat because his head dropped about 6″ during his backswing. So you see, even the tour players are not exempt from the basic fundamentals. You must not allow your head to drop down either during your backswing or your downswing. Simply maintain the feel of maximum distance from chin to hands throughout your swing. Also, your chest must remain DOWN, i.e. facing the ball so there is no change in spine angle back, down or through. These two feels of motion help you to maintain a constant width of arc so your clubhead will return to brush the grass.
Next: Your groins must continue to feel up and away from the ball and the ground throughout your swing. So, as you start your downswing, maintain the feel of pushing your feet against the ground sufficiently to push your groins up and away from the ball. This feel will also help you to maintain a constant spine angle and stretched feel throughout your swing.
Finally: All parts of your body, along with the handle of your club must get to your DOWN line, your lead heal line prior to striking the ball. The big tendency for those who hit the ground behind the ball, is to deliver the clubhead to the ball while their weight is still on their back foot and/or their trailing elbow is “stuck” behind their trailing hip. Bobby Jones said it best, “once you have turned fully behind the ball, you must get back up against it.” He called this the “Magic Move of Golf.” So I suggest practicing “the move” of leaving the torso and club in backswing position to wait patiently for you to get both sides of your body and both elbows to your down line (your lead heel line), BEFORE you deliver your down and through.
In summary: get stretched, stay stretched and get to your down line BEFORE you deliver your down and through.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
9 Mar 2011
Q: When I’m in a bunker I panic!
I’m deathly afraid I’ll leave it in there or skull it over the green. Help!!!
This all too recurring scenario, frankly, ruins way too many good days on the course.
Let’s understand the problem: You’ve read or been told to focus two inches behind the ball. Now, you’re already in trouble. Why? Because, when you focus 2″ behind the ball, your club generally enters the sand 4 – 6″ inches behind the ball. So now, you have to “plow a whole field of sand” before you even get to the ball. All this resistance from the sand makes you have to swing much harder and faster than you would for a chip shot of the same distance. Your intelligence kicks in, knowing that if you hit the ball that hard it will go sailing. So you subconsciously slow down as your club enters the sand, for fear of hitting the ball way too far. Now you’re cooked! The sand stops your club. You’re still in the bunker and you have to do it all over again.
Let’s understand the solution: The ball travels out of the bunker on the cushion of sand from beneath and beyond the ball, not the sand from behind the ball. Since that is the case, the deepest part of our divot must be just BEYOND the ball. So, get into a practice bunker, draw a line in the sand that represents the position of the ball. Set up so that your lead foot is 1 – 2″ beyond that line. Tilt your spine so that your tailbone points down into your lead heel and put most of your weight on your lead foot.
Let’s Feel the motion: Now, swing smoothly (as though rocking a baby cradled across your forearms without waking her up), but steeply upward and downward ( a “V” shaped vs. a “U” shaped swing), thus entering the sand on a steep enough angle so that the deepest point of your “sand splash” occurs just beyond the ball line.
Let’s Focus our Attention: Once you learn the feel of swinging downward to that point beyond the ball, you must continue TURNING on through until you can consistently splash the sand from beneath and beyond the ball out onto the green – without waking the baby! So the focus of your attention must be: where do I need to finish to splash the sand from beneath and beyond the ball out of the bunker and onto the green.
Watch the tour players: Notice how smoothly and effortlessly they play these shots. Observe how much they turn their hips and shoulders away and through and therefore how their arms stay soft and in front of the chest (cradling that baby). When you see it in slow motion, note that their angle of attack is steep enough to deliver the deepest point of their divot beyond the ball. Note their finish and their sand splashing up onto the green.
Once you know what to look for, you gain a better understanding for this shot. Now you need to get into that practice bunker and teach yourself the feel of motion that gets you out consistently and confidently. Enjoy!
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
2 Mar 2011
There seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding about proper weight transfer in the golf swing. So let’s clear it up.
Bobby Jones perhaps said it best when he said “anything you don’t get turned behind the ball, you don’t get to use as a source of power back up against it.” Remember, Bobby had an Engineering degree in addition to his English Literature degree and his Law degree. Jones may well have been the most brilliant of minds ever to play this game at its highest level.
During the backswing our objective is to coil (springlike) or windup up our body machine in order to deliver a powerful force from the ball to the target. What we learned from Jones is that the more of ourselves we get coiled behind the ball, the greater the potential force we can deliver. By Bobby’s account then, it would make no sense whatever to leave weight on the lead side (fail to get our lead side turned fully behind the ball) during the backswing.
So what do we see all of the best players doing? Turning fully behind the ball and loading (coiling) against a resisting drive leg. Once fully coiled behind the ball, they make an agressive move to get back up against it, BEFORE they deliver the force of the blow. It is this move to back up against the ball that Bobby Jones deemed “The Magic Move of Golf.”
In making the turn fully behind the ball and “the move” back up against it, we are transferring substantially all of our weight from foot to foot. What we must understand is that while doing so, we must learn the feel of turning our Center of Gravity (CoG) in place. Which in simple terms means: we must keep our spine tilted into our lead heel throughout our swing. To see and feel this motion, stand in front of a mirror and observe your spine tilt as you swing back, down and through – transferring all your weight from foot to foot, with your arms across your chest. To best learn this feel of motion click on “Warm-Up your Swing” above.
Golfstruck – Better Golf -Right Now!
23 Feb 2011
Asked about my Tour Analysis of the Northern Trust Open, specifically regarding left (lead side) side control, the following is the why and then the how we fix the problem.
First the why: without lead side control through the region of impact the player loses both width of arc (extension from ball to target) and swing path (direction of motion). When we lose path and extension, we must resort to applying force and steering (both are right sided motion) to make up for loss of power and accuracy. This is what we are seeing Tiger, Vijay, Stricker, Goosen, Senden and a whole host of players tending to do to control their ball flights.
So what is lead side control? Through the region of impact (from knee high to knee high) the most consistent players, over time, delivered the blow with a slightly bowed left wrist, a still loaded (slightly cocked) right wrist and rotating forearms (both elbows turn inward toward one another and downward – pointing to the ground, or more precisely, to the left groin.)
When both elbows rotate inward and downward we achieve extension from ball to target, which serves to deliver the clubhead on path toward the target. [we avoid starting the ball left of target]. When the left wrist supinates (bows slightly) as we approach impact, it serves to retain our wrist cock long enough to keep the clubface square through impact and release our clubhead speed from ball to target. Thus we avoid an early release (hearing our whoosh prior to impact) and a tendency to close the face, prior to impact [avoiding turning the ball left of target].
By avoiding both starting the ball left of target and turning the ball left of target, we have solved the feared/errant ball flight problem in a very positive and reliable (easily repeated), confidence building manner. Which is much more effective (predictable) than trying to ’save” our ball flights by steering and forcing them with our right side.
How do we achieve lead side control? The short answer is: practice hitting half-swing shots, left side alone (and also right side alone), always observing your waist high finish position. At your finish the handle should still point to the left groin, the clubhead/shaft should have rotated approximately 45 degrees, your arm should be extended with elbow pointing downward to the left groin. The back of the left hand (or the palm of the right hand) should have rotated to fingers up and still be facing the target. When you then put both hands together, the heel of the right hand should still be pressed firmly against the left thumbpad.
Note: When the arms are “naturally” extended, they are relaxed eg. when hanging at your sides. Try to achieve this relaxed state in your observed half swing finish position, which I call THE DELIVERED POSITION. I believe the delivered position to be the most critical in the entire swing and therefore where our attention should be focused when playing shots. Getting our attention focused well beyond impact serves to deliver our motion from ball to target.
Finally, when working on the feel of getting to your intended half swing finish position, you will need to feel the delivery of your swing motion along the ground, beyond the ball (past a braced left post) and along the target line. Once you achieve this FEEL, you have gainied left (lead) side control.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
16 Feb 2011
We all want it! More Power! So let me respond to your questions about power by starting with my own 2-part question. So where does more power come from and how do we feel it? A recent study done by a biomechanical engineer, working with top players on a wired “force sensitive” mat, found that foot pressure against the mat increased throughout the swing. So now I ask you to guess – at what point during the swing was the foot pressure against the mat, the greatest?
Let’s think about that for a moment. Consider – at what point in your swing do you want the clubhead to be travelling the fastest: a) On the way down; b) At impact; or c) From Ball to Target, i.e. somewhere beyond the ball? The correct answer is c) beyond the ball. Why?
When your clubhead is still accelerating at impact you gain the benefits of 1) centripital force and gravity helping to keep your club in the arc = consistency! 2) You also squash the ball against the clubface (compress it) better so it goes farther. 3)You gain the benefit of the coefficient of restitution (the collapsing/springboarding of the driver face as it meets the resistance force of the ball) allowed to be built into the face of drivers ever since Arnold Palmer was found to be using an “illegal” driver. The “springboarding” of the face of the driver adds significantly to distance. 4) And finally, with the compressed ball riding against the springboarding face of the driver just a little longer, you actually get to direct the ball to go somewhere in particular = better accuracy (you gain the benefit of delivery of the combination of path/face from ball to target).
I created a term for the moment we deliver maximum clubhead speed. I call it the moment of ARRIVAL, which is the REAL MOMENT OF TRUTH in the golf swing. Arrival occurs at that moment when the arms and club thrust to straight (become a straight line), which occurs at one and only one very defining moment in every quality golf swing. In order to deliver an accelerating clubhead at impact, this thrust to straight must occur beyond the ball.
So when would the force of our footwork pushing against the ground have to be the greatest in order to deliver an accelerating clubhead at impact? You will want to experiment with this, barefooted on your carpet at home with a “whoosh stick,” or turn your hybrid upside down gripping just below the clubhead. Listen for your whoosh – along the ground, beyond the ball. Try to maximize your whoosh (clubhead speed) by pushing harder against the carpet: a) during your backswing; b) as you start your downswing; c) as you approach the ball; d) at impact; and e) just beyond the ball.
Let me know what you discovered! What footwork pattern generated the greatest whoosh just beyond the ball? Scroll down to the end of this post to leave your comment. As Ben Hogan was fond of saying, when you “dig your game out of the ground” you discover that those lessons of gaining the feel of motion are often the most valuable.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
9 Feb 2011
I was asked what I thought of the swing analysis (by top 100 teacher – Mike Davis) of Phil Mickelson’s swing in the March 2011 (Driver) Edition of Golf Magazine. If you subscribe, it will help if you are looking at Phil’s 16 frame sequence on page 50 as you read this. Here goes.
As I view Phil’s sequence , I zero in on his rather severe change of spine angle as he transitions from backswing to downswing. Notice the change from frame 6 to frame 7. When I asked Sam Snead, when he started his downswing, why he always looked slightly bowlegged (like he was riding a horse); he responded thusly: The biggest mistake I see, even among the young tour players is a tendency to change spine angle (stand up) as they start their move back to the ball. This change in spine angle necessarily causes a change in shaft angle, which in turn causes a loss of accuracy and consistency. So to start my downswing, I always push my butt back into an imaginary wall behind me. I call this my power squat. It keeps my chest pointing down at the ball and makes room for my shaft to return to impact at the same angle it was at address. I believe this move is important to delivering both power and accuracy.
So you will notice, comparing frames 1 and 8 (using the trees in the background) how much Phil’s hips and knees have moved closer to the ball as he starts his downswing. Then, comparing frames 2 and 10, how much higher his hands are at impact than at address. This failure to push his butt up and away from the ball causes a rather severe “rounding” of his spine angle at impact. If you will look at frames 11, 12 & 13 you will see Phil’s hips in a position that Snead always tried to avoid. Said Sam, I never want to be in a position where I would “shit in my shoes.” I always want to “shit behind my shoes.” Sam’s colorful teaching always left a lasting impression!
The telling frame regarding Phil’s problem with direction control is frame 12 where we can see the handle pointing back at the camera – meaning that the force of motion has been delivered well right of the target. At waist high in the follow through, the handle must be pointing at Phil’s right groin. When he consistently delivers with that connection, Phil will hit more fairways and “knock down” more flagsticks – provided he quits lining up closed to his target at address.
As Sam taught me, if you can learn to swing maintaining a perpendicular relationship between spine angle and shaft angle throughout your swing, you won’t need to worry about trouble either right or left. You will hit more fairways, and you will be more powerful.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
Following Darren Clark’s consecutive chunked chips on Sunday in the Bahrain Volvo, I was asked what causes a chunked chipshot, and if the pros also have this problem, how can we mortals expect to cure it?
Here goes! Your set-up is one of two keys to your success. Your swing motion is the other.
The chunked shot is nothing more that hitting the ground behind the ball. Skulling is nothing more than missing the ground completely. So I ask you: where should your clubhead strike the ground in relation to the ball – behind it, underneath the ball or beyond the ball? The answer for all but bunkers and ”birdnested” lies is just beyond the ball!
So what determines where your clubhead strikes the ground? You must set-up to establish your DOWN (where you intend to strike the ground) just beyond the ball. How?
Set-up: Standing at the proper distance from the ball (see Video Tip), place your handle and lead heel approximately 1 inch ahead of the ball. Tilt your spine (tailbone) into your lead heel. Place ALL your weight on your lead foot. Bring your trailing foot up next to you lead foot and turn both toes 1/2 way toward your target. Push your groins and chin up away from the ground to feel “stretched” in your set-up. Connect both elbows to your lead pivot. And finally, rotate both hands slightly toward your target when you grip the club so that you see only one knuckle on the back of your lead hand. It helps to develop a routine so than you don’t miss one or more of these KEYS to a PROPER Set-Up. Darren Clarke simply had the ball too far forward in his stance for both chunked shots, which is an all too common mistake when playing from an uphill lie!
Swing Motion: Keep your motion simple and connected. How? The fastest way to teach yourself the feel of a connected swing is to place (2) objects 5″ – 6″ high about the length of your sand wedge apart behind and ahead of your golf ball. Then practice chipping your ball over the object placed in front of your ball. As you practice, be sure to note that you are “stretched” in your set-up, that you have established your DOWN 1″ beyond the ball and that you are actually brushing the grass – just beyond the ball.
To consistently feel where you will land your shot, before you swing, you must get connected to your SWING TARGET, which is your intended finish position. Focus your attention ONLY on where you WILL finish so that you simply swing, at pendulum speed, away from and through to your swing target by turning your left pivot back and through – so that your arms stay connected to your pivot – like spokes to the center of a wheel.
Click on: Video Tips and scroll down to: Chipping – Feeling your DOWN.
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
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