We know from practice and watching golf on TV that controlling where the ball goes is difficult. Here’s a video to help explain what is going on with the clubface direction that you may not have thought of.
Post comments below if you have any questions.
There was a lengthy discussion today on Twitter about this question: “Does the par of the hole have any influence over your decision making?” This was basically a teaser question intended to start a discussion about how players value par vs. how they value a single stroke. For years, I have preached to my players that the each shot has a value of one and that a 4 on a par three has the same value as a 4 on a par 5. In both cases, it is 4 strokes out of your total. Yes, one is a birdie and one is a bogey and the internal belief system we place on those words will effect us mentally.
I urge you to try and break out of that belief system. A 235 yard shot to a green surrounded by trouble is the same shot if it’s a par 5 or a par 4. Each of us has to decide what should I do to give me the best chance to shoot the lowest score possible. If you think you should lay up on the par 5 than you should lay up on the par 4. The only reason you would lay up is because you believe it provides you the best opportunity to shoot the lowest score on that hole. If you lay up on the par 5 and go for it on the par 4, you are not valuing your shots equally. You are valuing your shots based on the par of the hole you are playing which I don’t believe is a good idea.
Would the situation change if there was no such thing as par and at the end of the day you turned in your scorecard with just the total on it. Looking back on that shot from 235, does it look different now? In both cases, it is a shot from 235 yards with trouble all around. The par of the hole does not change that. Your attitude toward that shot does change because of the par.
I am not an advocate for always going for the par 5 in two even though going for it is a leading indicator of lower scores on the PGA Tour. All I am saying is don’t let par make your decision for you. Look at the bigger picture and see how this situation fits into the round as a whole.
Here’s a little skills test (made up by me @golfdonaldson and @jasonhelmanpga)to see if your skills are good enough to go for it. Take 10 shots from 100 yards from a green. Measure the distance each shot is from the pin and total the distances to get one number. Next take 10 more shots to the same green from 235 yards away. Go to where each of those shots landed and hit it again. Could be a putt, chip or pitch. Determine your distance away from the hole for each set of 2 shots and total the distances from all sets of 2 to get one number.
Compare the numbers. Which one gets you closer to the hole? Make sure you do it to greens with different severities of difficulty so you have more confidence in whichever decision you make on the course when the situation arises. I think it is a great skills test and be sure to include different starting distances from the hole to see how they compare.
Go back to the first coin and place your ball next to it. So you should have in front of you two 6 foot zones indicated by the boundaries of the three coins. Your goal is to see how many putts you can fit in the second zone with each putt being longer than the last.
For example, you hit your first putt into the second zone a little bit. Let’s say 1 foot passed the second coin or 7 feet away from where you started. Mark the balls location. Now your next putt must be past the coin at 7 feet but inside the coin at 12 feet.
Your goal is to get 12 putts that fit in that zone before you run out of room. Anytime you leave one short or run out of room, start over and ties got to the putter. The 6 to 12 foot zone is one in which we think we should make some. Because speed has such a direct link to break, it is vital that when you are in that range, you hit the putt the exact distance you want so it will break the way you expect it to.
Give these ideas a try and appraoch every putt with one goal.
Gravity Torque is a phrase coined by Damon Lucas. Damon Lucas is a member of the Brian Manzella Academy and teaches at Lake Presidential in Marlboro, Maryland.
Basically, gravity torque is a torque on the clubhead which tends to encourage an open clubface. It helps explain why so many people have such a hard time returning the club face to a square position. So here’s how it works. If you look at the club at the top of the backswing, the clubface will probably be somewhere between facing the sky and toe straight down. We know that a ‘square’ clubface position is one where the face lays on the plane or is 90 degrees open to the plane. A clubface that is toe down will be more than this. If you relax your grip at the top of the swing, you’ll notice that gravity pulls the clubface down to a toe down position. Opening the club face the whole way.
For a majority of the downswing, gravity is acting upon the clubhead and the left arm in an opening manner. For example, if you are watching a swing from down the line, any time the clubhead is further away from the target line than the grip, gravity is pulling on the head in an attempt to rotate open the left forearm. Also, because the clubface is on the left side of vertical(while looking from down the line) gravity is also trying to rotate the face open. Only if the face gets on the right side of vertical(while looking from down the line) will gravity aid in the closing process of the clubface. This doesn’t usually occur until somewhere around when the club is parallel to the ground for the last time before impact. If the clubface has not made it to right side of vertical by this point, consistently squaring the clubface will be a challenge.
It is for this reason that maintaining a feel of trying to get the clubface right of vertical(when looking from down the line) after the last time the club is parallel to the ground is critical for proper face closing and control. I’ve mentioned many times how important it is to get a good feeling of where the clubhead is and how it feels. Only through proper focus can one begin to learn how the weight of the clubhead and clubface are reacting with gravity.
Take some time and analyze this information with a club in your hands. You’ll quickly see what is being referenced here and how the pull of gravity works against you and works for you. Here is a video companion for this topic.
© 2012 John Graham Golf · Proudly powered by WordPress & Green Park 2 by Cordobo.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS 3
