The Myth Buster Series

Myth #1

“Do not dip your head.”

We are starting out the three part series with one of the biggest myths of them all.  This is largely due to the fact that this myth is heard on TV from all the commentators.  So, if they say it on TV it must be true right?  Wrong.  Moving your head down is an extremely important part of hitting the golf ball solid.  The “dip” (to a certain extent) has nothing to do with hitting the ball bad!  Here is why all the tour players head’s go down: players engage their lowing body and midsection, deepen their hips during the backswing and follow through, and deepen the angle of their midsection.  Why?  This does two very important things: first, you are going to hit the ball farther because you are using the big muscles of your body to help you hit the ball, and second, if you head is not moving downwards anywhere throughout the swing this will cause your hands to get stuck and you will struggle with the direction of your shots.  So that is interesting…straighter and farther if you dip?  If you have any questions about this check out some of the greatest golf swing of all time, they all dipped!  I could go on and on with all the great players that moved their head down but here is a great example of the newly crowned Masters Champion Adam Scott.  What a great golf swing!  If you think his head was steady throughout his swing…think again.

When your ball is up against a tree, instead of hitting the shot left handed, or taking an unplayable penalty, here is an easier option for advancing your ball.   When hitting this trouble shot, make sure to take a higher lofted club such as an eight iron or a pitching wedge to get the ball up in the air.  Take your grip in only your right hand and stand backwards to the target, with the ball next to your right foot.  Place your left hand at your side or in your pocket, and try to create a straight angle from your right arm all the way to the club head.  Next, pretend the club has become a hammer; hinge the club straight up and back down into the ball, much like if you hammering a nail!  You will be amazed at how easily the ball will rocket up in the air and back in the fairway.  I promise, after trying this shot you will never attempt a left handed shot again!

Get Fit in 2013!

Literally millions of club combinations may be created because of all the different club companies, styles of heads, and thousands of shafts.  Making an investment in new clubs sometimes may seem to be a daunting task.   Before you take one-step further, make one more investment that is important: a custom clubfitting.  Modern fitting is much easier and more effective than ever.  With today’s technology, including sophisticated launch monitors that track and measure a ball throughout its flight, it is possible to identify a favorite club and match it with every other club in the set.  Customized clubs are in.  Off-the-shelf clubs are a thing of the past.

Every golfer is a bit different in size, body shape and the shape of his or her golf swing.  A custom club fitting looks at an individual’s height, strength, club head speed, and swing characteristics, which results in combinations of shaft length, loft, lie angle (upright-flat), grip and swing weight.  Off-the-shelf golf clubs are one-size-fits-all, and designed for the “typical” golfer.  What is “typical”?  Well, that varies per company, so you might get lucky, but most will find themselves ill suited for an off-the-shelf set.

3 Clubfitting Myths:

1.  Less Loft equals more distance:  Most golfers need to play more loft to keep the ball up in the air longer, and sometimes spin more.
2.  Going to a softer shaft flex will increase distance:  Every player swings a club differently, and every shaft could react a different way for their swing. 
3.  A closed or upright clubface will make the ball draw and an open or flat clubface will cause a slice:  This might be the biggest myth of all!  The path and plane in relation to the face angle is what causes the curvature on the ball.  Good players who draw the ball play with an OPEN clubface in relation to the target!

There is no substitute for using clubs that fit your swing.  Get Fit in 2013!

If you are struggling to either start the ball at your target or your golf ball is curving too much the first thing you can do is check your club face.  Here is the key to checking your club face:  find out what the club looks like in relation to your left forearm at the top of your back swing.  The reason why many players play great golf with a closed club face and an open club face is they get the leading edge of the club face parallel with their left forearm at the top of the swing.  A player with a strong or closed grip needs to cup their wrist at the top of the swing.  On the other hand, a player with an open or weak grip needs to have a flat or bowed wrist at the top of the swing.  Remember that no two players swing alike, but you have to find what works for your own game, and makes your ball go straight!

The most common style of chip we learn is called the “leading edge chip shot”.  This is done by placing the ball well back in your stance and leaning the handle and weight forward.  This is an easy way to make sure your club is descending into the ball and consistently hitting the ground, but not a very good way for a player to control distance and consistently hit the ball solid.  Instead, place the ball in the middle of your stance, keep your weight evenly distributed between your feet and do not lean the handle forward.  This new chipping style makes distance control easier, and also utilizes the bounce on your club, which allows for forgiveness.

If you are a low handicap, and would like to take this shot a step further, through impact and into the follow through rotate your right hand under the club while making sure the club is being swung a little inside out.  This will create a sweep of the ball, keeping the face open and in front of you, and utilizes the bounce even more!

Wander by one of the chipping greens the 2^nd week in April at the course off of Washington Road and you will see this shot being done to perfection!

There are many different ways to swing a golf club, but only one way to hit a golf ball.    Turn on the television on a Sunday afternoon and try to find two players that swing alike….it is going to be quite a hard task to accomplish!  So what are the players doing that is similar?  The answer is impact.  There are a few key factors that lead to great impact postions.

Grip

Many of the great players in the history of the game placed their hands on the club in a slightly strong to a very strong manner.  A strong grip encourages the hands to lead the club into the ball.  This is an extremely important part of a great impact position.

Shoulder Turn

When turning the shoulders, instead of moving them around your body and feeling your left shoulder over your right foot, turn the left shoulder down.  This will allow the downswing to be effortless and there will be less searching with your body to get the club to return to the ball consistently.

Weight Shift

At impact your weight should be noticeably on your left side.  Your right foot should be starting to roll inward or slightly up in the air, and your hips should be over your left foot.

Try incorporating these elements in your swing next time you practice.  This is the secret to better golf!

An easy way to become a great ballstriker is to keep, or maintain your posture from your address postion through impact.  In fact, to take it a step further, the best ball strikers in the history of the game did not maintain their posture, they actually increased the angle in their posture, or address postion.  In other words, their spine angle lowered towards the ground.  This is done for two reasons; first, increasing the angle in your posture will allow you to have more angle and compression with the club head into impact.  Second, this enganges your midsection and allows you to hit the ball further with more ease.  An easy drill to acheive this is find a chair at the driving range, and place the chair a few inches behind you.  Make small, slow swings, hitting the chair with your backside in your takeaway.  Keep your backside on the chair until past impact.  Eventually, you will find yourself maintaining your posture longer,  which will directly lead to better ballstriking.

An interesting question that I have been running into lately is:  “Do I turn my hips hard on my downswing to create more speed?”  Many people feel and truly believe that beginning the downswing you should turn your hips as hard and as fast as you can, and the faster you can turn them the more power you will have.  Now, I will be the first one to say that this is clearly what it looks like on TV.  But, if you actually break down the swings of all the greatest players of all time, this is NOT what clearly is happening.  In fact if you try to turn your hips as fast as you can on the downswing there will be way more problems than good things that will come out of it.  This will more than likely destroy your golf swing and cause you to hit it more off line and shorter than you ever have!  That does NOT sound like much fun!  This is what should be happening…

After moving to the top of your golf swing, the first move towards the ball should be a reconnection to the pivot by way of a hip bump, slide, or whatever is politically correct.  “The LAWs of the Golf Swing” by Mike Adams, TJ Tomasi, and Jim Suttie talks about this move in great detail.  The more vertical your swing, the more exaggerated of a hip bump you will need for the reconnection of your hands and club to your pivot.  The more flat your swing is, the less of a hip bump you will need to reconnect your hands to your pivot.  So basically you have to find the correct combination to suit your swing!

“Golfers who have read Hogan’s advice to clear the hips as fast as possible on the downswing, as a way of generating power, have been thrown way off course.  They spin their hips around so abruptly that they get way out ahead of the ball and mishit the shot.  The slow hand-arm-club releasers block the ball, while the fast releasers hook the ball.”  Johnny Myers, Golf Magazine Top 100 Instructor.  My advice would be if you are being taught to clear your hips fast as to generate power, run the other way!

Ben Hogan put great emphasis on hip action in “Five Lessons”.  He explained how he would turn his hips from the top of his backswing hard and fast.  Being the number one selling golf instruction book of all time, maybe that is why people believe that is what is right!  In the book “The Hogan Way” it says, “As far as what Hogan mentions in Five lessons, he left out the most important point:  that he shifted his hips laterally toward the target before rotating them to the left in a counterclockwise direction.”

If you have any more questions about this topic and want to find out how to implement this in your golf swing do not hesitate to call me!

Here is an easy way to learn to control your distances when hitting in greenside bunkers.  For a long bunker shot, feel as though you are swinging a 20 pound dumbbell, instead of your golf club.  Think about the different muscles, and how they would be used when moving the dumbbell back and through.  Your core would be engaged, creating enough force capable of moving this much weight.  Do the opposite for a short bunker shot.  Feel as though you are swinging a one pound dumbbell.  Think about how much you do not need to engage your muscles to move the dumbbell back and through.  While swinging the weight you will want to have a very lose feeling, which will allow the ball to come out very short, soft, and will stop very quickly.

Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year!  

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you all so much for your support in 2011 – I could not and would not do what I love to do without you.

2012 is going to bring many changes!  The first one is an email based newsletter.  In this email based newsletter I will be giving free golf tips, ideas, and most importantly, keeping everyone up to date on the some of the highlights/scores and tournaments some of my students are playing in.  The second one is the formation and branding Drew Belt Golf Instruction.  You will learn more about this in the future!

My goals for 2012 are directly focused on improving your golf game and I will do so by improving the 4 cornerstones of the golf game:

• The long game:  Your ball striking and the full swing.
• The short game:  100 yards and in, including putting, chipping, pitching, and bunker play.
• The course management game:  Having the knowledge and discipline to manage yourself on and off the course.  
• The mental game:  This is developing firm control of your mind and your emotions on and off the course.  

What are your goals for 2012?

Currently there are 7 junior golfers in the top 150 of their respective class working and training with Drew Belt Golf Instruction!  Many of us don’t know which tournaments we are all playing, or what were the results?  Let’s keep each other informed!  If you are playing in any tournaments, shot a new best score, or simply overcame an obstacle please email me!