Today's Golf - Troubleshooting Your Swing

Doug Tanaka Divot Tools
Offering very unique, hand-sculpted regular and cigar holder divot tools made from rare and exotic materials – tusk, horn, bone and the hardest, densest woods in the world. divot tools


TODAY'S GOLF - Thursday, August 11, 2005
"Tips... News... And More... All For The Love Of The Game"
------------------------------------------------------------

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Ask The Pro
2. It's Good For Your Game - SOLID IMPACT REQUIRES
STABLE SPINE
3. The Golf Doctor - Troubleshooting Your Swing

ASK THE PRO

Q: I take really deep divots, but I hit the ball pretty
good (9 handicap). Is there something wrong with my swing?
-- Don, from the Web

A: It depends. Based on the type of divot they take,
golfers can be divided into two categories: diggers and
pickers. The diggers' leg action keeps the club head
driving down into the ball, while pickers level out more
through impact. Both types hit the ball before the ground,
but the digger's angle of attack is steeper than the
picker's, so diggers take more turf. Neither is better
than the other, just different, and great players are
found in both categories. Once you've identified your
divot type, you can learn a lot about your swing. If your
divots point to the left of the target, your club head is
moving across the ball in a slicing action. If they point
to the right, you're coming at the ball too much from the
inside. Given a level lie and a normal shot (i.e. you're
not trying to work the ball), the correct divot is uniform
from back to front and points directly at the target. If
your swing is such that your club head looks at the target
for a long time through impact, the target side of your
divot may curve ever so slightly to the left, but the
trail end of your divot will still be square to the
target.

IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME

SOLID IMPACT REQUIRES STABLE SPINE

On the practice tee, you should spend a lot of time work-
ing on keeping your spine angle constant. To hit solid
golf shots, the spine angle set at address must stay
stable, both on the backswing and the downswing. If you
straighten up at the top of your backswing, you change
the effective length of the club and then you have to
dive back down to reach the ball -- a nearly impossible
task to time correctly.

THE GOLF DOCTOR

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SWING: PART 2

If you understand the basics of ball flight, you can self-
correct on the golf course, a valuable skill in a game
where your swing can desert you without notice.

THE PUSH

When your ball starts to the right of the target (assuming
you're right-handed) and stays there with no side spin,
you've pushed the ball because you're swinging too much
from the inside with the face of your club square to the
path. Here's what to do: In between shots, lay a club along
your toe line. Take a practice swing and stop during your
downswing when your left hand is over your right foot.
Chances are the butt of your club will be pointing out
toward the target line and that's wrong. At this point in
your swing, the shaft of your club should be parallel with
your target line. Now take another practice swing to pro-
gram in the correct shaft position. Do this pre-program-
ming before every swing the rest of the round.

THE PUSH HOOK

The clue here is that the ball starts to the right of the
target line and curves back toward target. If it curves
too much, it ends up to the left of the target; if it
doesn't curve enough, the ball finishes to the right.
You can get away with a ball that starts right and hooks
for a while, but sooner or later it catches up with you
because the hook move is too hard to time. The problem is
that both your club face and your path are wrong. Your
path is too much from the inside plus the face of your
club is closed. You need to change your path and quiet
down your hands and forearms because you're rolling the
club face over at the ball. To cure the push hook, use
the path drill as above, but focus on keeping your hands
quiet to cut down on the "flippiness." Take practice
swings where your forearms don't roll at all.

Next week: The slice.

To SUBSCRIBE visit: http://www.gophercentral.com/sub/sub-golf.html

More Fun and Amusement by emailL: http://www.gophercentral.com
More F-R-E-E Newsletters
Here's what you've been waiting for:

ARCHIVES: http://archives.gophercentral.com
____________________________________________________________
END OF TODAY'S GOLF
Copyright 2005 by PENN LLC. All rights reserved.
Please forward this, in its entirety, to others.