An old pro told me that originality does not consist of saying what has never been said before; it consists of saying what you have to say that you know to be the truth.
3 most important clubs in the bag, in order: the putter, the driver, and the wedge.
It is a nice idea to try to pattern your swing after that of a professional player who is close to your own height and body structure, but only if you also study and imitate that player’s grip.
If the student comes to me as once-a-week player who has been playing for years without improving, all I have to do is put his hands on the club in a good grip — and after the lesson I will never see him again. He will hit the ball so poorly that he will think I am the dumbest teacher in the country.
Changing a bad grip into a good grip requires a great amount of practice. Unless the student is willing and able to do this, I would indeed be a a dumb teacher if I demanded a radical alteration from an ordinary player in one lesson.
The fact is, a top player can change his grip enough to cause a draw or a fade, a slice or a hook, and an observer can’t even see the change.
Texas boys were well known for their strong grips, which they develop because they play in the wind so often. They can hit a 7-iron so far you can’t believe it. Off the tee they get great distances with a 3-wood or 4-wood, but they can’t hit a driver. Their strong grips delofted the clubs so much that a driver face would be totally shut.
No matter which of the 3 grips you use, one fundamental is that the hands must be touching each other. They should be joined as one unit. They should feel like they are melted together.
If you keep fooling with your grip, you will find yourself making a mistake on your backswing to correct for your new grip and then making another mistake on your downswing to correct the mistake you made on your backswing.
Sam holds the club as if it is a live bird in his hands, with just enough pressure that the bird can’t fly away but not so tightly that the bird can’t breathe. Grip the club this way and you wont have calluses, either.
Golf should be learned starting at the cup and progressing back toward the tee.
I like for a child to use one ball, chip it at the hole and then go put it in. This is how the child learns to score.
For a child to chip a dozen or more balls at the same hole, one after the other, is a poor method. It gives too much room for mistakes. It does not teach the reality of playing golf, which is that you have to pay for your mistakes.
If you play poorly one day, forget it.
If you play poorly the next time out, review your fundamentals of grip, stance, aim and ball position. Mist mistakes are made before the club is swung.
If you play poorly for 3rd time in a row, go see your professional.
Students come to me with all sorts of weird ideas they have been taught. They try to swing with a towel under their right armpit. Their right elbow is practically strapped to their body.
The result is a swing that is too short and flat.
Let your right elbow to back freely, but return it to your side when you start back to the ball.
Once you address the golf ball, hitting it has to be the most important thing in your life at that moment. Shut out all thoughts other than picking out a target and taking dead aim at it.
This is a good way to calm a case of nerves.
A high handicapper will be surprised at how often the mind will make the muscles hit the ball to the target, even with a far less than perfect swing.
The expert player won’t be surprised. The expert expects to hit the target. The only surprise here is that the expert sometimes allows disorganized thinking to make him become distracted from the primary object of the shot, which is to hit the target.
I can’t say it too many times. It’s the most important advice in this book.
Take dead aim.
Make a point to do it every time on every shot. Don’t just do it from time to time, when you happen to remember.
Take dead aim.
Well, if you want to see a radical improvement in your game and cut off 5 strokes in a week or two, you must make a radical change in the way you practice.
For 2 weeks devote 90% of your practice time to chipping and putting, and only 10% to the full swing.
I can see the average player nodding his head and saying yeah, yeah. I know that’s what I ought to do.
But I don’t see him doing it.
Instead I see him on the range, swinging from the heels, hitting 40 drives in a row for the thrill of those 4 or 5 that might be well struck.
The reason he doesn’t hit the ball with his practice swing is simple: With his practice swing he doesn’t have to square his clubface on impact. He allows himself to swing freely. When there’s a golf ball in front of him, he knows — at least subconsciously — that he must square that clubface, and tension sets in, causing all sorts of faults.
When you are hitting a golf shot, a negative thought is pure poison.
I want you to believe with all your heart that the shot you are about to hit will be a good one. I want you to have total confidence.
Playing golf you learn a form of meditation. For the 4 hours you are on the course, you learn to focus on the game and clean your mind of worrisome thoughts.
Do this 4 times in a row. Don’t get impatient and speed up. Very slowly is the key.
Position of the ball is second in importance only to the grip.
Mistakes in grip and ball position are mistakes made before the swing that may ruin any grand plans you have for the shot.
The wrists play very little part in golf. The crossing of the forearms puts the punch in the golf shot.
If the hands are joined together as one unit, you will be surprised the amount of relaxation attained.
Let the ball get in the way of the swing instead of making the ball the object.
Don’t try to pick the ball up — the club is built for that purpose.
Slicing is caused by the hands leading the head of the club. Tenseness plays a major part. The face of the club is not flush at impact.
Be honest with yourself. What you would find out in 6 months of practice, your pro can tell you in 5 minutes.
Hit the ball, then the ground — that will assure you of getting down to the ball.
A slow-motion swing develops the golf muscles, implants the correct club positions in your golfing brain — and doesn’t smash the chandelier.
Except for unusually deep bunkers or for bad lies, the touring pro would rather hit a simple (for him) bunker shot than try to pitch the ball to the pin out of the high grass around most greens.
You have heard it from me many times by now, but I will say it again — to start your swing, let your weight shift to your left foot while bringing your right elbow back down to your body.
This is one move, not two.
Practice this move again and again. You don’t need a club to do it. Practice until you get the feeling and rhythm of it, and then keep on practicing. Be sure your eyes are trained on the spot where the ball would be. Your head will stay well back.
Choose a 7-iron or a 6-iron, whichever one you feel the most confidence in, and use it for 80% of all your full-swing practice.
The reason for this is I want you to develop faith in your golf swing.
The best way to learn to trust your swing is by practicing your swing with a club you trust.
A high handicapper who learns to hit a good 7-iron can build his game around that shot.
Don’t devote too much time to the driver. The driver is the most difficult club to hit, which is why they let you put the ball on a peg.
The first and foremost fundamental to learn about chipping is this: keep your hands ahead of or even with the clubhead on the follow-through. All the way through.
High handicappers should use their putters from off the green whenever it looks feasible. They’ll generally get closer to the hole this way.
The club is only 1 inch wide for a putt that is struck too hard. The club is 4 inches wide for a ball that dies at the hole.
An average golfer misses short putts because of fear or a lack of concentration. Instead of thinking about stroking the putt into the hole, he or she is thinking about any number of things — including the other players who are standing on the green watching for the result.
Negative thoughts and carelessness cause more missed short putts than any other factor.
Visiting with basketball coaches, I ask what they tell their players before a crucial free throw with the game on the line. Most coaches say they tell the player, “Be yourself.”
You must understand that it is your mind that will have the most to do with how you play in the big match.
That’s why you should avoid new or different things that will distract your mind from your normal routine.