The Facts of Golf

Back in 2007, this page started out as notes from golf class, but since then I've been watching golf lessons on youtube. Amazingly they are super effective!

Youtube - If I ran a golf school, we would watch these videos, pretty much in this order.

These are left-handed notes!

Golf Swing

  • Your job is to swing the club, not to hit the ball. The club will hit the ball.
  • Swinging the club is...

    • ... throwing a heavy object as far as possible
    • ... creating a pendulum-like motion with the club
    • ... hammering a nail into a door frame
    • ... allowing the club to gather the ball and fling it forward
    • ... transferring momentum directly forward, not too high, not too low

Counterintuition

  • When you're in the golf stance, you're unable to aim accurately. Use an external guide to line up correctly.
  • You don't add the follow through, either it's a natural extension of your swing, or you're not doing it right
  • If you can't hold the finish, you were compensating for an imbalance during your swing.
  • The swing is a balanced motion, that is generated by your hips. Your arms and the club are just happen to be hanging on to your body.
  • Your body will figure out the appropriate grip pressure.
  • Your body will give up balance, power, speed in order to reach for the ball. Figure out where your swing brushes the ground, put the ball there.

Grip

  • right hand's V points to left shoulder
  • left hands thumb is just to the right of the grip to avoid injury
  • right thumb must be locked into left hand
  • club must rest in the fingers, not in your palm
  • middle fings are doing most of the gripping
  • showing 4 knuckles on your right hand, is a super strong grip that will require less focus on closing the club face

Putting

  • the mark on the putter is indeed the sweet spot
  • Bermuda grass will curve your ball towards the setting sun.
  • aim from behind the putter
  • move shoulders, not your arms and wrists as much
  • follow through
  • a putter grip is square to better help you keep your hands on opposite sides of the club

Chipping

  • the shorter the club, the further back the ball sits relative to your sternum. the ball is the same relative to your front foot.
  • watch where your club hits the ground, that's where the ball needs to be
  • grip the club further down the grip for more control, further up for more power
  • narrower stance for shorter hits
  • no violence
  • sit the club on the ground ... that's where you grip it.
  • move shoulders, not your arms and wrists as much
  • but move you wrists a little for rhythm
  • follow through
  • right wrist and club should be straightish.
  • moving the ball forward in your stance can open up the club face more and pop the ball up higher.
  • it's all about brushing the grass.
  • a clicking noise means you hit the ball with the bottom of the club, bad news. you want brushing the grass noise.
  • you can open up the club face to get super-loft and back spin in order to drop the ball right one the green and have it sit. you will have to aim differently.

Irons

  • Chicken winging - a bad habit where your right arm elbows out like a chicken wing. Normally happens when you're trying too hard
  • Shifting hips back - a bad habit where your hips move back with your backswing. Concentrate on turning your shoulders. Hips twist, they don't sway.
  • Go for ultra smooth
  • You never hit a ball on the backswing. Be smooth.
  • make sure your arms are hanging straight down. this way your arms can easily return to the correct spot

General

  • The pitching wedge is the shortest club, each successive club is a half inch longer
  • The ball towards the back of the stance with shorter clubs, as the club gets longer the ball moves towards the front and further away from your body
  • The Ping factory will measure you for clubs for free, they're at I-17 and cactus.
  • measuring consists of the length of the club and the lie/loft of the club head.
  • Vans will cut your club to size and re-grip it for $4/club
  • back foot is closed so that it winds the spring when you turn your hips
  • front foot is open so that it allow the hips to rotate forward to end up pointing at the target
  • don't stand up
  • shoulder tilt and hip tilt should match (if left shoulder dips down, left hip dips down)
  • during your backswing, when the club is parallel to the ground, the clubhead should be over your back foot; thus also parallel to your feet. This ensures you'll have a more vertical swing; i.e. you're coming down on the all the ball.
  • get your right shoulder behind the ball during the backswing
  • turn all the way through your shot
  • The goal is not to hit the ball. The goal is to move the club head at high speed.

    • Pretend the ball isn't there. Just move the club head fast and if the ball happens to be in the way, it'll be launched.

      • 13m45s - Lisa: OK, then I'm going to start kicking air like this. [kicks] And if any part of you should fill that air, [kicks] it's your own fault.
    • To achieve high head speed, you must:

      • Ensure your body is out of the way of your arms when the swing.
      • Understand that the majority of your swinging happens at the hips, not from your spine.
      • Feel the weight of the club head at the top of the swing
      • Know that a club head is more like a rock at the end of a string
Posted: November 20, 2013 | | comments