Greg Norman Stirs The Pot
(click picture for Huff Post Sports article)
Leave it to the Shark to try and stir up some controversy before the upcoming President’s Cup competition in Australia. He’s made it very public that if he were captain of the US side he wouldn’t have picked Tiger. With one comment he’s verbally face slapped both Freddie Couples and Tiger Woods. (read the full story HERE at Golf.com)
Greg is no dummy, so why would he put that out there? I suspect it’s not Greg the golfer we’re hearing, but rather Greg the businessman. As good as he was as a Tour player, you could make a very strong case that he’s been more successful building a business empire that includes golf equipment/apparel, wine, restaurants, beef, course design, and real estate development to name a few. A savvy entrepreneur knows hype before a big match can do a lot for ratings and get you buckets of free publicity.
Golf has always prided itself on being a gentlemanly game. When speaking about the competition, you don’t hear pros putting one another down or saying how they’re going to kick someone’s behind. Golf is too unforgiving for trash talkers to last very long. There are Golfing Gods out there and they don’t take kindly to fingers in the chest.
Greg should know better than to talk about the other Captain’s picks. Maybe he’s been watching too much NFL, NHL and NBA and has forgotten golf’s unwritten code of conduct. Or, maybe, he’s just trying to stick it in the face of the Golfing Gods that took so many Green Jackets from him!
How to Hit 120 Yard Golf Drives
I know some of you are looking to be really obnoxious and wanting to hit those 300+ yard monster golf drives to wow your foursome friends but what about a more modest goal like trying to hit it 120 yards?
As you might have guessed, I’m being a little “tongue-in-cheek” but not without an ulterior motive.
So why would you want to try to try to hit 120 yards drives? Simple, so you can figure out your swings really works and feels. This was actually a drill Davis Love Sr. used to give Davis Love Jr. when they were first learning the game.
“One drill the senior Love mentioned was to have the boys take out a driver and with full swings hit the ball 100 yards, then 150 yards, and then 200 yards, and before finishing with their longest hits.
He had them do that to develop the importance of rhythm in the golf swing and it’s much more difficult to do than you might imagine. We get so accustomed to one tempo with our Driver and this exercise demonstrates the manner in which the hands, arms, and body together with our turn create the proper speed to hit the ball certain distances.
By becoming more aware and attuned to your body and its flow, you have better control over the golf ball.”
This is actually a drill that Tiger has used repeatedly to get his rhythm back. Must of been very odd to see Tiger hitting his drives about 75 yards or so!
I did this drill numerous times this year and it really helped to get “feel” back in my golf driving (which I had a few problems with this year) but my logic has always been “If you can’t get it right at 120 yards, how are you going to get it right at 200, 250, etc. etc?”
I think you’ll be really surprised what is revealed to you when you try this drill. I mean you goal is to still hit it solid and straight but by doing this at a different speed you bring a lot more consciousness to your swing. You feel it it in a different way.
You’ll also be surprised how difficult this is at first. It will feel completely foreign. But stick with it . . until you start to hit it consistently at 100-120. Then try to move to 150, 175, 200, etc. etc.
Really try to feel your inherent rhythm to your swing. Everybody’s is unique and by really slowing your swing down you will begin to feel your swing differently, feel the clubbed going back, feel the easy transition as you easily “drop it in the slot”, then on to a full and balanced finish. Each part should flow effortlessly into the next part.
Give it a try. I think you’ll gain some really valuable insight into your golf swing and before you know it you’ll be ripping drives farther than ever.
Jack Nicklaus on Golf Course Architecture
Recently I have been getting very interested in golf course architecture. Not that I haven’t before but I’m reading more, studying more about it and hope to share more of my finds with our GolfDash friends.
I posted the video above just give a glance at what golf course architects actually do. It just a short clip of Jack Nicklaus discussing various holes on a recent project.
What is getting me really intrigued is the art of course design. You get a certain set of conditions and you have to work with them. Much like an artist working with oil paint. Oil paint intrinsically has much different properties than acrylic, watercolour, tempera, encaustic or any of a number of different kinds of paint – so you need to know what you’re working with to bring out the best inherent properties.
It’s fun to hear Nicklaus talk about certain holes. It’s sort of like 3 dimensional chess – you have to think on a number of different levels at once – for the average golfer, the senior player, the skilled player, etc. etc. and what would make it a fair test for all and what options were built in.
I hope it’s going to give you a new appreciation and enjoyment of this great game. I know learning more about it has really opened up a new insight into golf. I hope it does for you to.
I’m going to share a few books I have really enjoyed on golf course architecture. They all go to Amazon. You can’t help but enjoy them 
A classic – The Spirit of St. Andrews
The Anatomy of a Golf Course: The Art of Golf Architecture
Expensive but a great investment – Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
Loved this one! – Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes, Revised and Expanded
Nike Lunar Control Shoes Are Keepers
The local pro comes up to me yesterday and says, ‘Great looking shoes, what are they?’ Pretty impressive when a 30 year PGA pro sees something new on the course.
This year, right before the Masters, Nike sent me a pair on their Lunar Control golf shoes with Master’s green highlights in the sole (check them out at Nike HERE). Unfortunately, my wife and I were in the midst of moving at the time. They got packed away and I forgot about them, until this week when they were discovered in a box we were unpacking. Now that I’ve worn them for 45 holes, I’m sure glad they showed up.
Let me assure you this is not a paid piece. Doug and I have tried out many products and we pride ourselves on calling them as we see them. We’re not about to damage our reputation for honesty and accuracy just because we got a product to try out. Having said that, I love these shoes. They just got promoted to ‘every day’ status.
My favorite shoes until now were old Etonics. I mean old as in 10 years old, before they went under and were subsequently resurrected by another company. Why did I like the old Etonics? Because they fit my feet. I have a wide forefoot and narrow ankle and haven’t found a golf shoe that really fits since those Etonics. The closest I came was in an Ecco, but even they pinched my little toe and the sole/platform didn’t feel stiff enough for me. Because of these issues, when I wasn’t wearing the Etonics I was in a trail running shoe.
I’m also an odd size -12.5 – which no one really makes. Normally 12′s are too small and 13′s are too big. Because of all my ‘fit’ issues I wasn’t expecting much from the Nike’s.
Man, was I surprised. The first time out I decided I’d walk 9, I didn’t want to commit to 18 and have my feet screaming in pain. No problem with the Lunar Control shoe, not even a break-in period. They felt great on the first tee and just as good today after 18.
There’s a lot of technology that goes into a modern high-end golf shoe, but in the end it’s how they feel. This is a comfortable shoe, about like my house slippers in that regard. They’re also extremely light and there is no foot fatigue after 18 holes, which I do get even from my old trusty Etonics. When I’m finished walking, the first thing I usually think about after the last putt is getting out of my golf shoes. If the Nike Lunar Controls didn’t have spikes, I’d wear them home, they’re that comfortable.
Besides comfort, these shoes keep you low to the ground and create a great connection with the earth. I feel more securely anchored with these shoes than anything else I’ve ever worn on the course. The shoe comes with Scorpion Stinger spikes which are great out of the box. If they wear well, I’ll use them on my other shoes at replacement time.
The outer sole looks like it’s plastic, so it should last a long time. It really isolates the foot from all of the little undulations, stones, twigs and what have you that you step on during the course of a round. I’m sure part of the comfort comes from the full length contoured sockliner. Whatever it is, it works. I wish I had a pair of sneakers that felt as good.
I haven’t tried the shoes in really wet conditions yet, but the one piece plastic soles should really help in that regard. They also come with a 2 year limited waterproof warranty, but that’s to be expected with a shoe that lists at $190. While that price may be a bit steep at first blush, it’s well worth it if they perform for 3 or 4 years as they have so far. If you’re like me, you’ve bought too many pairs of $100 shoes to save money, only to have them last one season before the footbed is shot or they start to leak.
If the Nike Lunar Control fits your foot, I highly recommend you give them a try. I’m confident after the first 9 holes you’ll know you made the right choice. Now if I can get my wife to let me buy a pair in black…..
Get your very own pair here: Nike Lunar Control Golf Shoes
Lab Rats, Peanut Butter and Your Best Golf Game – Ever!
In my opinion, today’s mainstream golf teacher is very one-dimensional and can only help players wishing to improve in a very limited way. I know a lot of pros will highly disagree with this view but hear me out.
I’m not saying it’s they’re fault, per say, but a LOT more goes into playing excellent golf than trying to flatten someone’s golf swing or having them line up square.
What if you go to a golf lesson and the instructor wants to to complete a fuller turn but come to find out your body cannot get into that position easily? it might be more of a biomechanics issue than a swing issue. If you don’t have that knowledge how can you assess it.
What if you typically have excellent front nines but in the middle of the round you never fail to produce a number of double-bogeys? Well, could be any number of things including proper nutrition. Did you (or do you) have on a regular basis a couple of sugar coated cider donuts and a large coffee before your typical round? Uhhhh, maybe a peanut butter protein bar and a banana might be a better choice. Maybe that’s your answer (or certainly part of it)
What if you just cannot shake the dreaded banana-slice despite seeing your golf pro repeatedly? Maybe your golf clubs need to be custom-fitted to your unique swing speed and style. I don’t think once, in all the lessons I have taken in the past fews years that any pro has even looked at my equipment. I mean, it might be as easy as changing the weights slightly on your driver.
What is just went through a trying divorce and you’re trying to compete at the highest level? What if you have “unfinished business” that you need to take of to set your mind (and body) free to play your best golf ever? (and coincidentally, have your best LIFE ever!)
I mean who’s looking at the big picture? Who is looking at YOU as an individual golfer who has strengths, weaknesses, challenges, hopes, goals, etc.
What I truly think is missing is a new kind of golf professional. Someone that has a more holistic view of the game. That can assess at a “big picture” level.
What has lead me to this conclusion? Well, I have happily been the Tim Ferris of the The 4-Hour Body
And the more I have explored the more I have found such a big “disconnect” between all these professionals. One has no idea what the other one is doing. They all work in their own silos. You have to piece this all together but if you had someone who had at least a knowledge about this information could really propel your game to (I believe) unheard of levels.
See, it’s the compounded power of all these that make a difference. It’s not just one thing. It’s all of these often small changes working synergistically that produce HUGE improvements in your golf game.
This is big. Really big. 2 years ago a wrote a post about Jon Fitzgerald’s wonderful film, called : Best Golf Film of The Year: The Back Nine.
Sure, you could go out and hire each of these specific knowledge professionals separately but for the average golfer or even the serious amateur it is just not time or cost-effective. So what’s one to do if you want to make a serious commitment to your game?
My answer is: I don’t know. It’s missing. John and I (of GolfDashBlog) have been fooling around with trying to come up with a thorough assessment process to help diagnose some of the issues we’ve seen and how to identify certain patterns in golfers who are seeking excellence in their golf game and who want that extra edge. Patterns that would be unique to YOU. Nothing canned or generic. It would never work that way.
Nothing is really finalized at this point but I’m curious if I’ve totally lost my gourd or if others are interested in hearing more. Let me know.
Tiger’s Path Back To The Top
There’s probably only one thing in golf that Freddie Couples knows more about than Tiger Woods, climbing back up to the top. Tiger knows only playing, winning and almost winning. He doesn’t like to go to tournaments these days knowing he may not make the top 20, or 50 or even miss the cut.
Since he was 5, Tiger won or almost won everything. If he narrowly missed, he came back next time and destroyed the field. That’s been the one constant in his game…until now. That’s the unfamiliar, uncharted territory he has to cross to get back to where he was and his friend Freddy Couples is trying to tell him that. I can imagine Freddy telling Tiger, ‘I’ve been down so many times that I know a lot more about coming back than you do. Take it from me, you’ve got to go play tournaments – lots of tournaments – to get back to numero uno. Practicing in obscurity is not going to cut it’.
I just experienced this in a minor way in my own game. I used to play in leagues for many years, but then life came along and I haven’t competed in much of anything other than scrambles and the occasional four ball. My wife and I recently moved and now belong to a classic Donald Ross course where I’ve just started playing in friendly competition. There’s not really anything at stake, but the fact that it’s competition changes everything. A 3 foot putt looks a lot longer. A tight fairway looks as wide as a sidewalk with your opponent or partner watching. But, the more you play the easier it gets because you get used to it.
Sort of like flying in a plane. Don’t fly for 5 years and then see how you feel about getting on that first flight. You’ll be looking for valium or a double shot. Start flying every week and in a couple of months you can fall asleep before take-off and not wake up until you land.
Somebody in Tiger’s camp besides Freddie has to step up and tell him the truth. Tiger, if you want to get back on top then go play tournaments. Swallow your pride and play your way back. You don’t like coming in fiftieth, too bad, suck it up and go do the hard work. Tiger’s used to the hard work being the 8 hours a day he practiced, now it’s about getting back on tour as often as possible, even if that means eating some humble pie for awhile.
If I’m Tiger’s manager and he really is healthy, then I tell him he’s got to start 2012 in Hawaii and keep his foot on the gas. Go out and get in the ring again. You’ll get hit a few times, but you were the best and it won’t take long before you’ve got your chops back.
Right Shoulder Points at Target
We’ve talked a lot about the golf swing this season and various keys that make it work. Doug gave you his take on keeping the knee of your back leg flexed and pointing in. I’ve also been reading Hogan this summer and have found that to be a great tip. It helps you coil and store power and keeps you from swaying. Now, I want to give you a great tip that applies to the other end of the swing, namely the finish.
Sit back for a moment and reflect on the golf swing. Forget the intricacies and see it in its basic elements. It’s primarily rotational with the spine as anchor point. It works best when it’s relaxed and, you might even say, whippy. I wrote last week about keeping the wrists relaxed or supple. In that way they’re free to move from open to close at the greatest speed with the club face squaring roughly at impact. Throw in Doug’s back knee anchor and you’ve got a basic, flexible, rotational swing that can generate speed more through relaxation than effort.
So far so good. However, all that is not enough. There’s a key point missing that’s obvious yet so overlooked by the average amateur. Before I tell you what, let me tell you why. For most of us hitting the ball in the desired direction is the target. Just like the spot on a log or tree trunk is the target for an axe blow. We feel like our job is to drive the axe down that target line, just like we try to drive the golf ball down the target line. The result is a premature end to our golf swings. We don’t finish them and therefore we actually slow down when we should be speeding up.
Alright, enough guessing games. A full, powerful, consistent swing won’t happen unless your goal is to get your right shoulder (RH golfers) to point at the target. Now you may not get it all the way there depending on flexibility, but that’s the goal. That’s right, the goal isn’t driving the ball down the target line, it’s getting the right shoulder to point at the target. Do it and you’re going to feel like someone took the brakes off your swing.
Why is this free follow through so difficult. Because it feels counter-intuitive. Your trying to control your golf shot avoiding out of bounds left and water right so it’s natural to feel restrained. You want the ball to move forward and someone is telling you to throw the club behind you ultimately. Crazy, right? Wrong, it’s exactly what you have to do. Anything less and you start limiting your swing instead of freeing it.
A golf swing is just what it says…a swing. It’s not a hit, or throw or punch or smack. It’s a full rotational swing that moves more like a pendulum, with a mind of its own. You let it happen more than you make it happen. By getting your right shoulder pointing to the target, you are forcing yourself to swing freely, eliminating all the tension that you add in during the process because you’re trying to control it. Let it go and watch your game improve. You’ll hit it farther and straighter and you’ll play with less fear, which only messes up your game.
Look, I know from personal experience that it’s hard not to want to control your swing when you’re looking at a 30 yard wide fairway with trouble on both sides. But that’s the challenge of golf isn’t it? You’ve got to relax and swing with abandon when your brain is telling you to hold back. All golf shots work better when there’s no fear, when the swing happens freely. Why is the second 3 foot putt so easy after you missed it the first time when it counted? Because the fear is gone, your swing is free and that’s what getting your right shoulder to the target will do for your full swing!
Out of Position Right Knee in the Golf Swing
Keeping your right knee (in my case, left, as I’m a Southpaw) properly flexed is such a major key to a solid, repeatable golf swing that I cannot overemphasize it’s importance.
This has, hands-down, been my most successful golf swing tip for this season. Prior to keeping my back knee flexed (and somewhat “tight”) I was hitting mostly weak golf shots with no crispness or pop whatsoever. Just a weak, slappy kind of hit.
I was, oddly enough, reading the book, The Secret of Hogan’s Swing (see our post, The Last Word on Hogan’s Swing) and there was an image highlighting one of Hogan’s “keys” which was a slightly turned-in right knee at address.
I just thought it was kinda odd to be honest. I thought, “What the heck difference would that slightly turned in knee produce” Well, I found out – it meant a lot!
Back to the roots of this fundamental. It is critical to coil into your right knee in the process of making a backswing. The right knee is the anchor which resists the powerful winding of your core.
Any straightening or slack or collapse in this knee lessens the resistance and often results in what was happening to me – glancing, weak blows producing a variety of bad golf shots.
Now there are 2 basic things that can happen when the knee is not properly flexed. First, the right knee can “lock” so that the left knee shoots out toward the ball. And two, you can have a buckling of the knee where your weight will move to the outside of your right foot – producing a sway in your swing.
By doing either of these 2 moves it’s easy to see how they will undoubtedly produce inconsistent results at impact.
Again, I didn’t necessarily set out to focus on my left knee (again I’m a lefty) but in my practice sessions I felt I needed a strong anchor and so really tried to overemphasize this by turning my left knee slightly in (a la Hogan above) and really gripping the ground with the inside of my left foot. This really has a feel of setting or anchoring my swing.
This almost instantly had a feeling a power to it. I think mostly from the feeling of resistance it produces when you reach the top of your coil.
So I recommend you really try to retain this flex in your knee at address at keep it all the way to the top. You will really feel the “athletic tension” in your thigh. Even try to over emphasize it. Really sit down into it and feel that tension build and you move into your backswing.
A great drill to really feel this move is to turn your back foot a few degrees inward at address then make some swings. You will immediately feel that sense of resistance in you back knee and your back leg really “anchors” the swing using the solidity of the ground.
You will immediately feel a new type of power in your swing if your back leg has been a bit “lazy.” Once you’re coiled at the top you can then release the stored up tension powerfully through the ball.
I am thankful this has worked so well for me and causing me to hit powerful, piercing golf shots. I know, it’s a rather “unsexy” fundamental but all I can tell you is it works! nuf said.
Get the Hogan book at Amazon: The Secret of Hogan’s Swing
Relaxed Wrists
Let me say that relaxed may not be exactly the right word. To hit any shot well, including putts, your wrists need the right level of tension.
I believe that the intent of all the advice about holding the club loosely (like holding a live bird, for instance) is aimed at letting the wrists hinge freely during the swing.
Here’s another way to look at it: When your shots start straying left and right, there’s a natural tendency to try and ‘control’ the club via your hands/wrists. When you do this it only makes the matter worse. Scientific analysis has proven that the muscles in the wrists cannot control the physical forces that build up in the club-head during a full swing.
You’re never going to get the release consistently right. If you’ve ever tried to be a pitcher in baseball you’ve heard this expressed as ‘stop aiming and just throw’. Or, as Obiwan Kenobe would say, ‘Trust the force Luke’.
In a good swing with the right wrist tension, centrifugal forces are going to close the club-head correctly at impact. As long as the other parts of your swing are right you’re going to make the contact you hoped for. You’re also going to get more distance – a lot more. This free hinging and unhinging of the wrists creates a tremendous whip effect which accelerates the club-head through impact.
Lag in the golf swing means keeping the wrists hinged as long as possible before letting them release. This isn’t accomplished by keeping tension in the wrists, but rather by eliminating tension. A proper downswing is crafted to keep the wrists relaxed and, therefore, hinged as long as possible before the release freely.
The later this happens in the swing, the more power you’ll generate all other things being equal. It’s not something you do so much as something you let happen.
A good place to start building the right wrist feeling is with chipping and then pitching. To be good at either of these, the wrists need to move smoothly which means freely and without tension.
As you lengthen your swing on a chip, feel your wrists begin to cock and release more. If you get it right, the forces built up in the club-head will cause this to occur naturally. You’ll also find that you use your large trunk muscles a lot more than your arms.
A good image here is a pendulum. Once you start it moving, it moves smoothly through an arc as long as you get out of the way. Once you get your club head at the top of it’s arc you want the motion to occur via the large muscles with the smaller ones in your wrists and hands left to release freely.
If you have the correct grip pressure and don’t tense your wrists you will be able to feel the club-head. If you grip tight and flex your forearms you’ll lose your touch. Once you give up trying to control the club-head you’ll be surprised at how much control you have! Think about that one.
Quick 9 with Hogan Author, Tom Bertrand
1. Why did you decide to write a book on Ben Hogan? (The Secret of Hogan’s Swing
My main purpose was to give John Schlee more credit for his time with Ben Hogan and to bring to light some of Hogan’s fundamentals and principles that have been miss-represented over the last twenty years.
2. Why does Ben Hogan still continue to have a mystique after all these years?
I believe it was his guarded personality and how he carried himself. He always felt that people were going to say what they wanted to say no matter what. So he never gave anybody an opportunity to dig deeper. He gave out very little so everybody wanted more.
3. There is so much information/mis-information on the Hogan “Secret” Can you shed any light on exactly what the “Secret” is?
The “secret” is really a combination of actions in the swing along with the grip setting. First, you have to have the proper grip for all the actions to work perfectly. Mr. Hogan called it a ‘proper’ grip, everybody else called it an extremely weak grip.
Even in her new book Kris Tschetter
Then the arms can work correctly in the backswing and downswing allowing for the left elbow to turn toward the left hip. Simple.
4. What can an amateur golfer learn by studying Ben Hogan’s swing?
One can see and imitate Hogan’s “chain action”. From the top of the swing the unwinding starts with the lower body all the way through to the finish. Don’t copy his lateral motion. He really didn’t like that part of his swing. He felt it was unnecessary to move from side to side like that but he was to old to change. Takes too much practice, to time the strike in the impact area.
5. What couple of “sure-fire” golf tips would you give your neighbor amateur golfer?
I would suggest first – to keep the core of your body still and rotating. Try not to sway. Too many amateurs feel they can get a running start when they sway back away from the ball.
Next I would have them keep their backswing more compact. I believe there is no reason to get your hands above shoulder level on the backswing. Once you get your hands shoulder high it’s easier to initiate the downswing with the lower body.
6. What do you know now that you didn’t know before studying Ben Hogan?
The golf swing is simple. We just make it complicated. There are a lot of variations based on body types – no two swings will look the same, but the fundamentals will apply to all golf swings.
7. What mistakes do you see amateur golfers making over and over?
The main problem most golfers have is the inability to start the downswing with their lower body. A lot of people think they do, but most want to slash the club with their hands like a sword.
8. How important is practice to improving one’s golf game?
The human body needs to feel comfortable when trying to perform a task. The more we try the more comfortable we feel and the better we get. Just make sure you are following the proper procedures.
9. Where can we get your terrific book, “The Secret of Hogan’s Swing” and any other resources you would like to share?
My website is TheSecretofHogansSwing.com. I have a variety of books and DVD’s to help any level golfer with their swing. I invite all your readers to take a look.
Also, get the book here on Amazon: The Secret of Hogan’s Swing
