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 Week
by week
Dr Potter cures
your golfing ailments
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Week
1 - Building a solid grip. See
the video - |
| Week
2 - Free up your head, encourage your rotation
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| Week
3 - Create dynamic tension. See
the video - |
| Week
4 - Learn to free up the hinge. |
| Week
5 - Learn the value of linkage. |
| Week
6 - Create and maintain good angles. |
| Week
7 - Feel the benefit of a firm left side. |
| Week
8 - Improve your touch. |
| Week
9 - Get set for a rock steady stroke. |
| Week
10 - Control the acceleration. |
| Week
11 - Focus on your spine angle. |
| Week
12 - Take extra club = better results. |
| Week
13 - Longer putt, longer stroke. |
| Week
14 - Add distance. |
| Week
15 - Pre-set for perfect impact |
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Pre-set
for perfect impact
Continuing the pitching
theme in order to strike your pitch shots solidly your
body MUST be open to the target, while your hands should
be ahead of the ball.
The best way that I know to ensuring that these conditions
are met on a regular basis is to pre-set them at address.
Accordingly, take a fairly narrow stance, and set your
lower body a little open with the ball in about the
middle of your stance.
This set up is essentially the position that you want
to achieve at impact. Rehearse it in front of a mirror,
get used to the feeling of impact. Taking it from here
you can then swing confidently and hit quality pitch
shots.
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Add
distance
As a draw can add distance to a shot, a few other
simple changes can also help.
- Tee the ball a little higher than normal.
- Widen your stance slightly, and settle at least 60
per cent of your weight on your right side. Your head
and hands should be placed slightly behind the ball.
- Maintain a light grip pressure - relax your body,
and don’t ground the clubhead.
Combined, these adjustments will make it a lot easier
for you to make full and free shoulder turn, create
a wide arc and get your body fully turned behind the
ball at the top of your swing. You should be aware of
an increase in the amout of coil you create. |
Longer
putt, longer stroke
One of the golden rules in putting is that the length
of your stroke should always control the distance you
hit the ball.
A relatively long putt requires a relatively long stroke,
and vice versa. But there’s a clause that you
must adhere to: no matter what the length of the putt
your tempo – that is, the time it takes you complete
your stroke – should remain constant.
Thus, the pace of your stroke on the short putt will
appear appreciably slower than on a longer putt.
Good putters who seem to regularly hit their putts the
proper distance have great tempo. With this in mind
practice putting to random targets to increase awareness
for the length of the stroke. |
Take
extra club = better results
Good players always seem to swing within themselves.
They are in control of their actions, and thus maintain
control of the clubhead.
One of the reasons they are able to do this so consistently
is that they know exactly how far they hit each and
every club in the bag (usually about 10 yards increments
between irons).
So they never have to hit an iron shot too hard. If
they need a little extra distance, they simply take
an extra club. Thus, the first rule of good course management
is know how far you hit your clubs.
Get that information to hand, and make good use of it
out on the course.
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Focus
on your spine angle
One of the biggest keys to repeating swing, and a fairly
steady head, is to focus on maintaining the spine angle
(as established at address) until just past impact.
In order to facilitate the correct rotation of your
trunk, your head must be allowed to rotate a little
as well.
If your head position were to remain static, your ability
to turn your body and subsequently transfer your weight
would be greatly inhibited.
- First, place a cushion between your head and a wall,
then fold your arms across your chest and adopt you
normal address posture. Sense that your trunk rotates
around a fairly steady head, but allow your head to
swivel slightly to help rotation.
- Now turn around, adopt yout normal posture, but this
time rest your rear-end against the wall. Keep it fixed
in place as you repeat that pivot motion back and through.
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| Control
the acceleration
To achieve consistent
results from a greenside bunker, you must understand
that virtually every shot you play requires that you
take a similar amount of sand – a slice of about
six inches long and three inches wide is your objective.
Given a reasonable lie, aim to make contact with the
sand a couple of inches behind the ball – that’s
a good guide. Then, to determine the distance you hit
the ball, the only variable you need to worry about
is the speed which you swing the club to displace the
sand, thus controlling the force with which the ball
is thrown on to the green.
Slow your tempo for short shots; quicken it to hit the
ball further. To regulate the speed at which you release
the club, aim to make the same length backswing on every
shot, but vary the length of your follow-through.
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Get
set for a rock steady stroke
I believe that the shoulder controlled, pendulum-type
stroke is the most effective for consistent putting.
But for this method to work, your posture must allow
your arms complete freedom of movement.
Let’s build it from the ground up. In front of
a mirror, take a comfortably wide stance, and flex your
knees a little, as if you were just about to sit down.
Feel that your weight favours your left side a touch,
and keep your elbows relaxed and spreadto the point
where your upper arms rest lightly on your rib cage.
Your eyes should be directly over – or slightly
inside – the ball to target line; the ball itself
should be opposite your left eye.
Aim the putter face squarely to your target line, and
then try to align your body parts – ie. your feet,
knees, hips, forearms, shoulders and eyes – parallel
to it.
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Improve your touch
On facing a putt of up to 40ft make the most of positive
mental imagery – not only the line of the putt
but also by visualising a bigger final target.
Imagine a circle with about a two-foot radius painted
around the hole, and simply try to roll your approach
putt within that circle. If you do, the longest putt
you can have left will be two feet. Be conscious that
pure technique here on these lengthy putts is not a
prerequisite for feel.
Stand a little taller at address and encourage a long,
free stroke back and through, and allow a little wrist
action to help with acceleration. Your left wrist should,
in fact, be a little cupped at the completion of the
stroke.
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Feel
the benefit of a firm left side
In order to hit the ball solidly and
consistently, it is important that through impact you
hit into what we describe as a firm left side. In other
words, for the position that you achieve at impact to
be effective, the left side of your body must be firm
enough to support and resist the release of the clubhead
as your trunk unwinds. A weak or ‘soft’
left side affords no resistance as there is nothing
to hit against.
Although you feel inhibited at first, turning your left
foot slightly inwards when you practice will serve to
eliminate any tendancy that you have to slide your left
side through impact, and encourage a much better rotation
of the upper body. |
Create
and maintain good angles
To start with stand upright then turn
your feet outwards slightly (for most clubs, the distance
between your heels should be no greater than the width
of your shoulders). Now flex your knees a little until
you can feel your weight moving forward on to the arches
of your feet; stick your rear end out – keeping
your lower back straight – and keep your chin
up.
Now let your arms hang down as if holding a club, and
feel your upper arms resting lightly on your chest.
Finally, tilt your left hip and left shoulder up slightly,
and at the same time relax your right side, dropping
your right shoulder a fraction.
That’s it. Your spine angle and centre of gravity
are now correctly positioned.
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| Learn the value
of linkage
Learn to apprecitate the value
of linkage – My hope is that now you appreciate
that successfully linking your arm and body motion together
is the ultimate in building a co-ordinated, rhythmical
swing.
To that end, the sensation
you must strive for is that of the pressure being maintained
between your upper arms and your chest, at least to
the halfway stages in your backswing and follow-through.
The left arm should lie diagonally across your chest
on the backswing; the right arm in a mirror image position
across your chest on the backswing.
1.Tuck a
headcover under each armpit, and work on keeping them
both in place as you make easy, three-quarter-length
swings with a nine-iron. Concentrate on rotating your
body and swinging your arms in unison; synchronize your
overall movement, and pretty soon you’ll be striking
the ball consistently. . |
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| Learn
to free up the hinge
From a free standing position,
bend forwards – allowing your arms to hang freely
in front of your body – and notice the way in
which your palms naturally tend to point inwards. Now,
maintaining this arm position, take a club and place
it in your left hand, making sure that the leading edge
of the clubface and the back of your left forearm are
parallel.
As you do this, try to position
your left thumb so that it points straight down the
shaft, slightly to the right of centre, and also keep
it short on the shaft.
1.Having taken this new grip, hold
the club out in front of you and look down at it.
You should be able to see two to three knuckles on the
back of your left hand and generally be aware of a increased
sense of feel for te clubhead.
2. The real difference, however, lies
within. Open your grip again and you’ll see what
I mean. This time the shaft should run diagonally from
the base of your little finger through to the middle
of your index finger.
Although still primarily a ‘palm’ grip,
you will sense that it’s more in the fingers.
This improved hold on the club will increase the flexibility
in your left wrist, and so encourage the free-hingeing
motion that is necessary to create the maximum clubhead
speed through impact.
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Create
dynamic tension
‘Bump’ to the right
– Ideally, at the top of the backswing your upper
body should have turned on top of your lower body. That’s
what creates dynamic tension and a powerful coil as
Kane is demonstrating (below).
But a little lateral movement can be of benefit.
To measure this, you need a point of reference. Stick
an umbrella in the ground just outside your right foot,
and angle it toward you just a little.
1. Now, as you start your swing, shift
your weight across so that you bump the umbrella with
your right hip.
It’s exactly that – a bump not a sway to
the right, which as we have mentioned can be disasterous.
Now complete your turn.
2. At the top you should find that
you have moved away from the unbrella again. In the
correct position you should feel more centered at the
top of the backswing – both the upper and lower
halves of your body now more closely in line, the spine
close to vertical.
This simple exercise will give you the proper feel:
making sure that your left knee resists a little –
and the the right – hold your left hip with your
right hand and pull it in and across. You’ll feel
your hips move underneath you.
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Free up your
head, encourage your rotation
Allowing your head to turn
to the right as you swing the club back encourages your
spine to rotate, and gets your weight moving in the
right direction.
In the proper backswing movement, your left shoulder
should then turn comfortably beneath your chin, so that
your chest is aligned more on top of your right knee.
As long as you keep your left arm “soft”
and relaxed you should find that you swing easily into
a powerful position at the top.
A good tip to get the hang of this
move is to look at the ball out of your left eye at
the top of the swing. Take a look in a mirror –
it doesn’t look as bad as it feels does it?
At first you may feel as if you are swaying, or moving
off the ball, but don’t worry about it. As long
as your weight remains supported on the inside of your
right foot (see picture) you’re okay.
Test yourself: at the top of your backswing, try to
lift your left foot off the ground for a fraction of
a second. If you can do this fairly easily, your weight
is moving correctly. If you can’t you are still
reverse pivoting.
- As an exercise adopt your address position, then place
a club across your shoulders. As your turn back allow
your head and spine to rotate and sense your balance.
1. Ensure that shoulders
have turned 90 degrees
2. Ensure that hips
have turned 45 degrees
3. Keep right knee
flexed to create resistence in the swing
4. Majority of the
weight remains on the right foot |
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Building a solid
grip
The legendary champion Ben
Hogan summed up perfectly the importance of the grip
when he said: “A player with a bad grip does not
want a good swing.” The way the hands are place
on the grip determines the shape of the swing and, more
importantly, precisely where the clubface is pointing
at impact. And that dictates the direction in which
the ball flies. To hit accurate golf shots, it is essetial
to build a good grip. |
 1.
The hands must be in a neutral position on the
grip; palms facing one another, square to the taret line.
Bring the left hand from its natural hanging position
and, holding it flat against the grip with the back of
the hand facing the target, lay the club diagonally across
the palm |
 2.
Close the hand around the grip so that the butt of the
club rests against the fleshy pad in the palm of the left
hand. Looking down it should be apparent that the left
thumb is sitting fractionally to the right of centre on
the grip. Once in place, waggle the clubhead back and
forth to ensure a snug, secure fit. |
 3.
Now place the right palm on the grip which should face
the target. Check in a mirror that the ‘Vs’
formed by the thumb and forefinger on each hand point
up somewhere between the right shoulder and right eye.
Ideally, two knuckles should be seen on each hand. |
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