Welcome to Golf Preseason Day 9 The Approach Game.

Today we will start to work on the approach game. Most golfers, when in
the fairway looking at the green only have one thing on their mind, what club to hit. Though that is important, it is not the only consideration needed for success. So they pick a club and hit. They are then frustrated because the results is not good.

To achieve success in the approach game, the golfer first has to
determine the distance. Most golfers select a club for the exact
distance from them to the flag. This assumes a perfect shot each and
every time. This is why most amateurs miss the green short. Many
golfers will improve by just adding one club length more. It is better
to miss long in most cases.

The next thing the golfer must determine for his approach shot is the
shape of the ball flight. I can not emphasize this enough, you must
decide this. This decision will determine your setup. The preshot
routine must take into account the desired ball flight. Ball flight
will also influence club selection.

Your strategy for approach shots should be to err with a straight shot.
Example: The flag is on the right side of the green. Your play is to
start the ball for the center of the green and play the ball to move
toward the flag, a fade for the right handed, a draw for the left
handed. If you get proficient in your preshot routine, your miss will
more often wind up straight, still on the green and not that far from
the pin. I know to some of you this sounds like only a pro should be
thinking like this. Wrong, the only way to know what went wrong is to
know what you set up for. We will cover this more in the next post.

The last thing you must know before you select a club is how far you
hit each club for the desired ball flight. Example: You may hit your 7
iron 150 yards straight, which translate into 140 yards for a fade and
160 yards for a draw.

Recapping this session, first we determine the distance to th flag.
Next we visualize the ball flight we want to play. We then select the
proper club for this approach shot.

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Golf  Equipment:

Golf equipment is an important part of your golf game. Having good
tools always give you an edge. This reminds me of an occasion some
years ago when I was getting into tennis. A friend of mine offered to
let me use one his old rackets while he was teaching me the game. For a long time he beat me like a drum until I got myself a new Bancroft
racket. I notice he stop playing with me shortly thereafter. The racket made a big difference. The same is true in golf. I see too often a person’s progress is hindered by their equipment.

I have chosen to represent Rock Bottom Golf because a new person to the game can get a great set of clubs for a great price. This eliminates the need to use garage sale clubs or knock offs. You can get some of the best clubs on the market for a steal because they are last year’s or discontinued. A good set of clubs will last a life time. I have had my set for over 10 years and they are still good and performs well.

I will let The Cave Man tell you in his own words about him and his
company:

So you want to know more about me and my Company… Me… I’m the wild and crazy type. I love to have fun at the local tavern, er ah, cave… a couple pops, a dozen wings, and dancing on the bar is a pretty typical night for me. For some reason the ladies dig me… must be my big bushy red beard, long hair, and malnourished body. No…it’s the big bone through my nose..they just love playing with it!

O.k. enough about me! Let me tell you a little bit about RockBottomGolf.com and how it got started. Back when I was a poor young lad in high school I would occasionally sneak into the local country clubs in the dead of the night, throw on some scuba gear and hunt for golf balls. Back in the day, those balls were worth a lot of money to a snot-nosed kid with no job. After a couple of weeks, I ended up recruiting a bunch of my shady friends and we would stumble into the ponds every weekend. Oh the stories I could tell…Johnny law, snapping turtles, strange rashes, leaches, etc. Believe it or not, those white pearls paid for six years of college!!!

After college, I figured it was time to clean up my act and go legit. I started buying used/demo equipment from the very same country clubs that so generously paid for my tuition. I started out selling equipment at flea markets and at golf trade shows. It was fun but there was not enough traffic to allow me to do it full-time. Then one of the greatest sales platforms ever invented hit the web… eBay!!! After a couple of months selling on eBay, I knew I could turn my part-time hobby into a full-time business. I walked away from a
consulting career, leveraged all of my credit cards, hired Toad, and
the rest is history.

Rock Bottom Golf has evolved into one of the top discount golf retailers in the world. Our core philosophy is to provide golfers with incredible deals on top quality golf equipment. How do we do it? We buy huge lots of closeout merchandise, keep our overhead as low as humanly possible, leverage technology and then pass the savings to the consumer. We may not have everything that you are looking for, but the prices on the items that we do have are the cheapest that you will find… guaranteed! Check in with us often, because when our products are gone, they are gone forever!!! Rock Bottom Golf your FIRST choice for the greatest DEALS in GOLF!

I invite you to visit Rock Bottom Golf – Your FIRST Choice For The GREATEST Deals In Golf!

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Golf Preseason Day 8 The Short Game

Welcome to Golf  Preseason Day 8 The Short  Game. Today we will focus on bunker play.  Bunker play is very simple. It is a pitch shot with  a complete follow through. This shot can quickly become one of your favorite. You may have noticed the pros sometimes actually plan to play out of the green side bunkers, especially on some par 5’s. This shot is easy when you understand what you’re trying to accomplish. So let’s get rid of the fear and get good at this shot.

Aim:

Since the club face is so opened you will need to aim your body left of the target if you are right handed or right of the target if you left handed. This will determine the club head path.

Weight:

Your weight must be on your lead side. You can accomplish this by moving your upper body forward. The ball should be just off the lead heal and your head over the ball. This will get your weight over the lead side.

Distance:

There are two ways to vary the distance of your shot. The length of the swing is the best way for shots to close flags. Closing the club face is the other for shots to a flag that is farther away. Closing the face will also cause the ball to run more. Practice will give a feel for what is best for each situation.

Follow through:

Follow through is usually hindered by swinging too hard, so getting a good pace in your swing will solve many of the problems in the bunker. Many golfers do not trust the sand to kick the ball out of the bunker, so they swing hard which causes them to sway back off the ball. This causes hitting too far behind the ball leaving it in the bunker.

This video will give you a good idea of this shot.

Practice drills:

Practice at the green side bunker using varying targets. Spend some quality time at this. Make sure you get comfortable, build your confidence until this shot become easy to you. Set up for each shot. This will help you take your improvements onto the golf course.

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Welcome to Golf Preseason Day 7 The Short Game.

Your arsenal would not be complete without a good pitching game. I see so many amateurs use either all chips or all pitches around the green, but different situations call for different shots. You should always consider the chip first, minimum air time and maximum roll but there are times when a pitch shot is the better choice, example: you have very little green to work with or the chip would be to a down slope. The pitch shot will stop quickly.

Many golfers use only the pitching wedge for this shot but the sand wedge and the L wedge can be good options in certain conditions. There are two variations of this shot, the pith and run and  the pitch and stop.  This shot can be used as far away from the green as 60 yards. The key difference between a pitch shot and a regular shot is the  leg action. Just as there was no leg action on the chip shot, this shot is only a slight weight shift.

This shot is similar to the chip shot. The one difference is in the setup. The other is the grip pressure. The weight is going to be just slightly to the front and the ball position will be more forward in the stance. The grip pressure is light.

There are a few technical points you need to know at this time. This information applies to pitch shots, approach shot and tee shots.  Distance. Distance is a function of club head speed. Club head speed is a function of the length of the swing  and when the angle created by cocking the wrist is released. Most ametures swing their arms too fast. This causes the wrist to uncock early and a break down of the arm extention usually results in a very weak hit. Swinging too fast also causes the golfer to grab the club too tight which also prevents full release through the hit zone. Most of this is because many golfers are told to pull down with their lead arm. There should be no pulling at any time. The golf swing is a back swing that creates coil and the forward swing is a results of allowing the coil to unwind. The arms just stay with the shoulders on the back swing and the forward swing. I see so many golfers that hit their 7 iron about 120 yards when with less effort they can hit that club 150 yards and more accurately.

One more technical issue, the transition from back swing to forward swing must be smooth. The speed of the swing must come to zero at the top of the back swing. The forward swing starting from zero, should be a gradual acceleration. This allows for the angles set in the wrist to stay put until the bottom of the swing.

You will progress quickly with the pitch shot if you learn to take the club back to three different positions, 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock.

Setup:

1.   Visualize the shot you want to play.

2.   Pick an intermediate target about 2 feet in front of the ball that lines up with the target.

3.   Line up the club face to the intermediate target.

4.   Line up your back foot perpendicular to the intermediate target.

5.   Line up the front foot about 2 inches from the back foot for a high shot. Farther back for a low shot.

6.   Move the back foot to inside the shoulders width.

The Grip:

The grip should be light throughout the swing.

The Back Swing:

The back swing should be the shoulders leading taking the arms back. Arms should stay connected throughout the swing. To understand this put a tee underneath your arm pits. The tees should not fall during the swing. You should feel like you are hold the tees in place. The arms should be fully extended  with the “V” formed by the arms maintained in the same position throughout. In other words, you would need a full shoulder turn to get to the 10 o’clock  position.

The Transition:

Remember you want the top of the back swing to come to zero, a slight pause. This allows the weight shift to occur before the downward swing starts. For this pitch shot this is very little.  The weight shift will start the forward swing. All you have to do is allow the uncoiling to happen.

The Forward:

Keep the arms extended and connected. The “V” should be maintained until at least 3 o’clock. The way to accomplish this is to allow the  shoulders  to continue turning well past the bottom of the swing.

Watch it on video:

Practice Drills:

At the practice area walk off 30 yards place your ball bucket as a target. Choke down on the pitching wedge( about 2 inches down). The back swing  position you will be using for this shot is the 9 o’clock position. Most of you will hit the ball farther than 30 yards when you start. Reduce the amount of leg action until you can consistently hit the ball 30 yards. When you are comfortable with this move 10 yards closer. Reduce the back swing to 8 o’clock and so on.

Back off after each shot and go through the preshot routine every time. Think of the bucket as the spot you are pitching to on the green.

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Welcome to Golf Preseason Day 6 The Short Game.

Today we are going into the golf swing. This is the chip shot, a miniature golf swing. This shot is hit just onto the green. The ball checks slightly then releases an roll to the hole. This shot is used around the green when the putting stroke can’t be used. There are other uses for this shot that will be covered in the scrambling  segment. For this segment,  we are instructing from a good lie. The focus here will be the fundamentals of a good chipping technique.

I know you know by now, the first thing we must do is to read the green
to determine the path we want the ball to roll to the hole. The next thing is to select a spot we want the ball to land on the green. Finally, we need to select a club that is best suited for the situation.

We need to keep in mind the chip shot checks and kicks to the right if you are right handed or left if you are left handed. This needs to be considered when you pick the landing area. You also need to pick a reasonably flat area to land the ball other wise the ball may take breaks you may not want or take off  if landed on a down slope.

Picking a club will depend on the flight distance and the roll distance. You can chip with many different clubs, but I am going to recommend that you start out using the 9 iron, 7 iron and the 5 iron. To make things easier,  I also recommend that you learn 3 back swing lengths, 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock and 9
o’clock.

Flight and Roll Characteristics:

9 Iron – Flight distance is approx. 2/3 of the distance, roll 1/3.

7 Iron – Flight distance is approx. 1/2 of the distance, roll 1/2.

5 Iron – Flight distance is approx. 1/3 of the distance, roll 2/3.

The Setup:

1. Choke down on the club about 2 inches.

2. Line up the club face with the spot you want to land the ball.

3. Feet should be about 6 inches apart with the ball near the back part of the   stance.

4. The lead foot should be drawn back slightly to allow you to slightly face left of the your target, or right if you are left handed.

5. Your trailing ear should be over the ball. This will place more of your weight forward.

6. Hands are forward  near the lead leg. The grip is firm but not squeezing.

7. When you are set up properly you should have a “V”  from the grip to your shoulders.  The bottom of the “V” should be slightly forward.

The Stroke:

The upper body is going to do this stroke the lower body will support and react. This stroke is a simple one unit take away and a one unit back through. The best way to feel this motion is feel your shoulders turn back carrying every thing, the arms, and the club. There is no reason to move the arms independently.

There is only a very slight choking of the wrist. This is to impart back spin. Turn the shoulders back , slight pause to allow for a smooth transition then turn the shoulders forward at least equal to the amount of the back swing. The only thing you need to get use to is keeping the club going down the target line. This will keep your arms from turning over. This will increase the backspin on the ball.

Watch this video:

Practice Drill:

Get a good feel for each club. Back away after each shot and go through the setup each time. This will help you to take your improvements to the course quickly. Practice with many different targets. This will give you feed back which you can use on the course.

Take one club at time and a target. Practice getting a high percent of the balls in a 5 feet  or closer circle around the target. Getting good at this will take pressure off of your approach game. Good chipping.

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Welcome to Golf Preseason Day 5 The Short Game.

Many instructors define the short game as 60 yards from the green and in, but for the duration of this course we are defining the short game as 30 yards and in. Our goal is to decrease strokes from our game, the farther we are
from the green our risk factors go up, so bare with me for now. You will
understand later.

For the shots just off the green, our goal is to get the ball just onto the green and roll it like a putt to the hole. The reason this is the best strategy is because the more the ball is in the air the higher the risk. That risk begins with the amount of swing you must make. The less swing you make the better. Example: A putt is less risk than a chip, a chip is less risk than a pitch and so on. So in any situation we find ourselves  around the green we need to take a risk assessment first, then opt for the least risk shot. In most cases just off the green, this  would be a  putt with the putter or an iron. Any club can be used with the putting stroke. Club selection depends on how much air distance and roll needed. Example: A sand wedge for 5 yards air and 3 yards roll or a 5 iron for 5 yards air and 10 yards roll. Practice with all the clubs so you will know the flight and roll characteristics for each club. The putting stroke is the most controllable stroke in golf, so when you can, use it.

Use your green reading skills to pick a spot just onto the green for the ball to start rolling. So your objective becomes much easier. Pick a club that will
get you to that spot and enough roll to get to the hole.

Off the green another factor comes into play, the lie. The lie is the
condition around the ball.  If the ball is sitting up so that the club can make contact with the ball without obstruction(on the apron or on the fairway) this would be a good lie. If the ball is sitting down in the grass so that grass would be between the club and the ball, this would be a bad lie or a flier lie. These lies will influence the reaction of the ball to the stroke. The good lie is reasonably predictable. The flier lie is not. Caution: There is an instinct to hit at the ball harder when it is in the rough(high grass) but resist this. Instead
take a bigger back swing and allow the club to flow through the ball allowing  for the increased distance and roll.

Remember to go through the preshot routine. The setup for this shot is a little
different when using an Iron. Your eyes will not be over the ball, so you will need to pick an intermediate target about 2 feet in front of the ball. The intermediate target can be anything that lines up with your target(like the end of a rifle). Use this intermediate target for you alignment. First align
the club then your feet, then the rest of your body.

The stroke is the same as the putting stroke. With practice you will get a feel for how long the back swing should be. Allow the club to fall through the ball just as a putt. This will eventually take many strokes off your game, so practice this until you are proficient with it.

Practice Drills:

Take your 9, 7, and 5 irons and a few balls to the chipping green. Use each club a few feet off the green with your putting stroke. Pay close attention to the air distance and roll distance. Move a few feet farther away from the green repeating the drill until you feel like you are pressing the swing to get the ball to the green. Make a note. Feed back from this type of practice will give you the visionary skills you need on the course. If possible practice these shot out of the grass as well.

Take the same clubs, but now with targets. Pick targets in all areas of the green. Using 10 balls try to get all 10 within the 5 foot circle around the hole. This drill will give you the best club for different parts of the green.

Your goal around the green is to be in the hole with a maximum of 2 strokes.

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Golf Preseason Day 4 On The Green

Welcome to Golf  Preseason Day 4 On The Green.

Today we are going to review the fundamentals of reading greens. Before we
do that I want to address the issue of transition. The transition from the back swing to the forward swing. This is the number one cause of missed putts. The best way to think of it is a pause before the forward swing. If you achieve the feeling  of  a minor pause then a gradual ecceleration through the ball you will have it. You do not have to pull on the club. Just keep up with it as it falls through the ball.

Ok, back to reading the green. Grain and slope are the major factors in putts greater than 5 feet. So, what is the grain? The grain is the direction the grass is growing or cut on the green. How can I tell which direction it is growing? The grass will have either a shiny or dull  look. If it is dull it means the grass is growing toward you. If it is shiny, it is growing away from you. If you are putting into a dull look you need to add speed. If you are putting into a shiny
look you need to subtract speed.

Slope on the other hand is a  learned skill. The more feed back you get the better. Practice putting as much as you practice the other parts of your golf game. Remember putting by design accounts for 50% of the golf game.

Now that we understand the slope and grain, let’s move away from the hole on the practice green about 10 feet. Note: When on the practice green guess at the distance then walk it off. This way you will get very good at judging distances. Why is this important? Remember that exercise with the ruler?  Once you know how far,  you have a good clue as to how big of a back swing you will make. We must learn to add on uphill putts and subtract on down hill putts. Example you may want to play a 10 foot uphill putt as a 12 footer or a 10 foot downhill putt as a 8 footer.

If there is a lot of slope near the end of the putt you may want to pick a spot to putt to and allow the slope to carry the ball the remainder of the distance. Allow for more break. If you are putting into the shiny look on the green, the putt will be faster than normal and break less. If you are putting into the dull look, the putt will be slower than normal and break more. Practice will give you the feed back you need.

A good strategy on the green is to play to make all putts 20 feet and in. I would play the 10 footers to 20 footers to die into the hole. You do not want these putts to get away from you. Putts greater than 20 feet I would lag them within the 5 foot circle around the hole. That is why you need to be confident about the 5 footers.

Practice Goals:

Always practice 10 ball drill from 3 feet and 5 feet. Add  a 10 foot drill with 4
balls. Place the 4 balls around a hole in the flat area of the practice green. The next drill is to use 2 balls and at random select a hole on the practice green. Guess the distance, walk it off then determine the length of the back swing. Using the preshot routine to visualize the putt path and setup. Make the practice fun and be faithful.

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Golf Preseason Day 3 On The Green

Welcome to Golf Preseason Day 3 On The Green. Today we are going to setup about 5 feet from the hole still on a flat area of the practice green. We are going to complete the preshot routine by including the reading of the green. The last part of the preshot routine is the setup which we have already covered.

There are a few factors that need consideration with these short putts.  First there are cleat marks. This is the area that gets a lot of traffic because everyone comes here to get their ball out of the cup. Next is the cup maintenance. On public courses, the cups are not always placed in the hole properly. Sometimes the area around the cup is raised. Last, but not least is the direction of the grass growth(grain).  This brings us to the first step in the
preshot routine, determine the speed of the putt. On 3 footers this is easy, play the putt as a 4 footer.  On 5 footers,  play the putt as a 6 footer.  On uphill putts you can be even more aggressive, but on down hill putts use caution.

The next step is to determine the slope. We need to view the putting path from all sides. Some of us even plumb bob.  Only practice will give you the feed back you need for reading the slope. Now we have enough information to pick an intermediate target. An intermediate target is a line that allows for the break(the slope).

Before we put all this together in a step by step lets talk about distance. The best way to get good at judging distance is to use part of your practice time to estimate then walk it off. Once we have the distance we now know how  much back swing  to use. Remember the back swing exercise with the ruler? To put the two together all we have to do is practice putts with a 2 inch  back swing. Measure the distance.  Repeat this exercise at 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. example: 2 nches equal  4 feet, 3 inches equal 6 feet and 4 inches equal 8 feet , and so on. Yours may be different.

Putting Preshot Routine:

1.   Visualize the putt.

2.   Pick an intermediate target.

3.   Practice the length of the back swing.

4.   Line up the putter to the intermediate target.

5.   Line up your body to the target.

This is flexible, but you need to develop a routine that is the same on every putt. Putting is probably the most personalized part of golf, but don’t give up the basics. The eyes over the ball, rotating the head to line up the putt are important keys. Taking the putter back only a few inches and allowing  the club to flow through the ball and toward the target is the most important key.

Practice Goals:

Set up 10 balls around a hole in a flat area of the practice green. Place the balls about 5 feet from the hole. The goal is to sink 10 of 10. Practice the preshot routine with each putt.

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Welcome to the golf preseason day 2 on the green. Please spend a little time on the session from day 1. If you make sure you get comfortable with the prior session you will find that it will make this session easier. Today we will
cover the putting stroke.

Place a ball about 3 feet from a hole on the flat area of the practice green and keep a ball ready to drop to make sure your eyes are over the ball. To make sure of your aiming, rotate your head down the line instead of lifting and turning. When you lift and turn what you see is an optical illusion. So make
sure to rotate.

Remember the setup I gave you in day 1 was for a straight back straight forward putting swing. Now assume the address position over the ball, line up so that your lower body is a bit open. take the club straight back about 2 inches and allow the club to flow through the ball. You should feel like the lead hand is leading and the trailing hand is following. Your shoulders should feel like they are following and only responding to the stroke.

If you noticed we are only taking the club back a short distance. This is the best putting method because it promotes a flowing swing without the need to decelerate. When you take the club back too far your body will automatically adjust by decelerating. This causes the club face to close or open missing the putt left or right. For the rest of this session you should get use to that free flowing putting motion.

Practice Goals

Our goal for today is to repeat the 3 foot putting drill from day 1. Tonight at home, put a ruler on the floor and practice taking the putter back 2 inches, 3 inches, 4 inches and so on until you can feel how for back 5 inches or 12 inches without the ruler. This exercise will be very important for day 3.

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Day 1: On The Green

Welcome to  golf preseason day 1 .  Today we are starting on the green with putting. We will begin with posture and alignment. Most of this session can be done at home. A mirror may help with feed back. Lets get started.

Posture:

You may see the pros with many different setups and grips, they work for
them. So lets build a setup for you. If you are tall, you either need a longer putter or you will have to bend over a lot. If you are short then you may need to choke down on your putter(grip the putter further down the shaft).

The posture we want is a athletic ready position with knees slightly bent. Weight should be slightly forward on the balls of the feet, not on the heels. There should be bending at the waist. You should have the feeling you are sitting on stool. This position is called an athletic ready position because it gives the feeling of flexibility and springiness.

Setup:

For this we need two balls. One on the ground to setup to and one to check our setup. Next we need a target, on the practice green  pick a hole on the flattest area. Place a ball about 3 feet from the hole. If you place your putter behind the ball aimed at the hole, it will be easier to line up your body. Move your body so that you have your eyes over the ball. Your  feet should be shoulder wide. Apply a putting grip to the putter. Right now use what you like we will discuss the grip later. Next we want to open our stance a little. This means to move your front foot(closest to the hole) a little a way from the line. This makes it easier to take your arms and putter toward the hole.

Once you are set up take the second ball, place it on the bridge of the nose

between the eyes. Allow the ball to fall. The ball should land just behind the ball you are addressing and inline with the target line. Watch this video by Kevin Scheller

The setup I have given you above is for the strait back  strait forward method.

Putting Grip

The grip you saw in the video is a good grip. the only thing I will add is that the grip should not be wristy, but firm. The arms do not have to be fully extended, but should be stay the same though out the swing.

Practice goal for today

Place  10 balls around a hole on a flat part of the green 3 feet from the hole.

Each time check your set up. The goal is to sink all 10 balls without a miss.

See you tomorrow.

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