Entries Tagged as 'Wedges'
DRILL #1…If you hit thin shots to the right…This one is for you.
I know many of you love to use practice drills that will enable you to FEEL the correct way of making a change. I have used this drill not only for my teaching but I have also used it myself over the years.
Keep one thing in mind. When you hit a shot to the right you either hit the ground behind it OR you catch the ball on the upswing and hit it thin or topped. The reason you hit it thin is because the golf club is traveling too far from the INSIDE and is headed OUTSIDE.
When you swing the golf club on an arc it travels from INSIDE to SQUARE (at impact) back to the INSIDE on the follow through. The other thing you have to keep in mind is the flatter the club face the less divot you will have. When you hit a thin 4 iron (it hurts) you will never see a divot unless you hit the ground behind the ball.
Now, on to the drill. Grab a 7 iron and lay two straight edges on the ground, (one for the target and one for your body line). Lay a towel on the ground about 12 inches behind the ball. When you swing the club back make sure you miss the towel in the backswing and in the downswing.
Another way to think of it is the golf club has to swing UP in the backswing and DOWN in the downswing. When you hit it thin you swing to much UP in the downswing. Start with a 9 iron and progress through your set of clubs.
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #10-#11
Were beginning to close in on this backspin thing. Can you feel it? Number 10 and 11 are so closely related that I put them together so you can see the big picture. The angle of impact, length of swing and speed of swing are so important you cannot believe the role they play.
Let’s talk about angle first. The golf club can enter the back of the golf ball on three different angles, shallow, steep or neutral. You can impart backspin with all three angles. What is important for you to understand is that the angle that creates the most backspin is the one that matches the club face with the ball the cleanest. The most natural thing to think is the angle that is the steepest will impart the most backspin. That could not be the furthest from the truth. If you make contact with a steep angle and catch a little bit of turf between you and the ball, the ball will not have any backspin on it at all. One last thought on a steep angle, if the club head arrives too steep it takes the loft off of the clubface and the golf ball will probably have topspin instead of backspin.
On the other hand. You can impart a lot of backspin on a ball with a shallow swing. There are two major problems. If the fairway is mowed really low it is very difficult to get the club head underneath the golf ball without sculling the ball. If there is room for a club head the golf ball will have backspin on it.
Let’s continue on with the speed and length of the swing. The golf club has to be moving at a high rate of speed for maximum backspin. The slower the club head speed the less amount of friction will be created when the ball contacts the clubface. As far as the length of the swing is concerned it is a shorter backswing and longer follow through that will create more backspin than a longer and often times SLOWER downswing.
In a nutshell you have to work on a shorter and faster swing that makes a clean impact.
Join me tomorrow with a lesson on high shots over trouble.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Stop Double Hitting Your Wedge Shots
YOU WILL NEVER DOUBLE HIT YOUR WEDGE SHOTS AGAIN…
It happens when you least expect it. You can have an open pitch into the green and bam, it happens. THE DREADED DOUBLE HIT. For those of you that don’t know what we are talking about I suggest you stop reading this blog and come back tomorrow when I give a lesson on HOW TO MAKE MORE THREE FOOT PUTTS.
If you want to stick around I have to explain to you what a double hit wedge shot is. After you make contact with the golf ball you hit it again while it is in the air.
I am going to explain exactly what happens, why and how to fix it.
The reason you double hit a wedge shot is because the club head slides to shallow along the ground underneath the golf ball. While the club head is sliding underneath the golf ball there is a second problem going on. The club head is moving to slow. Upon impact the golf ball rolls across the face of the golf club and the club head continues to glide along the ground (slowly). At this exact moment the golf ball leaves the clubface (slowly) and begins to arc in the air. Unfortunately at this instant the club head catches up with the golf ball and strikes the golf ball again.
The main reason you double hit your wedge shots is the angle of the swing is too shallow at impact. The club head has to enter into the back of the golf ball on more vertical angle. When it arrives at the bottom of the golf ball on a steep angle the golf ball jumps off club face. The jumping versus sliding propels the golf ball away from the face. The clubface cannot catch up with the ball at this moment and you will never double hit the ball.
The combination of the shallow angle and the clubface moving too slowly is setting you up for a double hit every time. I am going to give you your lesson right now and you will never ever, ever, double hit another wedge shot.
#1. Place the golf ball in the center of your stance.
#2. Place 75% of your weight on your left foot.
#3. Make sure the grip of the golf club is across from your belt buckle.
#4. When you swing the club back: DO NOT SLIDE YOUR WEIGHT BACK TO THE RIGHT.
#5. Keep 75% of your weight on your left side during the entire swing.
#6. Swing the leading edge of the golf club into the ground. CHOP in the downswing.
#7. The number one pitching secret in golf: FOLLOW THROUGH LOW…CHOP IN THE DOWNSWING.
As a side note if you double hit a shot you have to count one stroke for the first hit, one stroke for the second hit and yet another stroke for hitting a moving ball. One shot equals three strokes. You don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Come back tomorrow for a lesson on you can start making more THREE FOOT PUTTS…
Don’t hesitate to contact me by hitting the CONTACT BOBBY tab above.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #9
Today I am going to spend some time on course management and how that relates to backspin. The pin placement plays a huge roll in whether or not you want to hit a spinning shot or not.
You have to be sure there is plenty of room in front of the pin as well as behind the pin. If you are attempting a spinning shot that takes two hops stops and either stops or backs up 10 feet, you have to make sure you have room on both sides of the pin for error.
If you a shot that you think is spinning and it doesn’t, you can wind up over the back of the green in a bunker, water or poor lie. On the other hand if you hit a spinner and it spins too much you can wind up in a pond in front of the green. Some of the greens today have false fronts and it does not take much for a ball to back up and roll all the way off of the front of the green.
Another thing to keep in mind is how you stand in the match you are playing. Maybe you don’t have to risk a spinning shot. A shot that lands in the center of the green softly and rolls a few feet might get the job done. You can take a high risk backspin shot out of the equation.
I want to touch on one more idea. How you are hitting the ball on that particular day is paramount. If you are making solid contact, then go for it. See if you can pull it off. However if you are not making solid contact the backspin shot becomes a very risky shot.
These are a couple of things to think about when you are trying to decide if you want to hit a shot that has some backspin on it. As you know by now there are some other factors that come into play from time to time when you are trying to decide what shot to hit. Make sure you consider the ones in today’s blog.
Feel free to join my tomorrow for a lesson on how to stop double hitting your wedge shots. If you want to contact me just hit the Contact Bobby tab above.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #6-#7-#8
From the beginning the next three steps may not appear to be related. However by the time you finish this blog you will see how they tie together. When you combine the firmness of a green, how windy the conditions are and if you used a tee or not they will make sense.
Putting green surfaces have to be the most inconsistent part of the playing conditions in golf. I am referring to how firm or soft they are. Obviously if it pours the night before you play they are going to be pretty consistent. On the other hand if it hasn’t rained in a month and the greens have to depend on the watering system to keep them alive they begin to live up to their own uniqueness.
For example, if a green faces the sun at high noon versus a green that sits in the trees and faces the west you are going to see a big difference in the two. This will play a huge roll in whether or not you can spin a ball on the green facing the noon sun. Usually a green that sits in the trees and faces the west is going to get less sun light to dry it out. As a matter of fact this is where it gets a bit complicated. The green might be softer but it won’t grow as much grass so it is faster than most of the other greens.
On a hot and dry day the greens are going to firm up and they will not accept a spinning golf shot. When the golf ball lands on a dry green there is not enough traction to grab the ball and help it spin backwards. The ball will take one big hop forward, lose its backspin and then roll to the back of the green.
Now let’s move on to windy conditions. Wind plays two rolls that affect backspin. The windier the conditions the dryer the greens become. The combination of a hot and windy day can play havoc on the greens. The greens not only become bone dry they also become crispy to putt on. The putting surface is mowed so low that once they dry out it makes scoring very difficult.
The second role the wind plays in backspin is the impact it has on the golf ball. If you are hitting a shot into the wind it exaggerates the spin on the golf ball. (As long as we are at it I might as well tell you this. It not only affects the backspin it has a tremendous affect on sidespin. Any shot that has left to right or right to left curve on it will get out of control quickly in windy conditions.) The key to hitting shots into the wind is simple. The HARDER you hit it the more it will spin backwards. If you really go after a pitching wedge into the wind (the higher it will fly-more backspin) not necessarily further. Keep this in mind. If you have a shot into the wind you might be better off using one club more so it won’t spin backwards as much.
Hitting shots downwind is pretty straight forward (no pun intended). There are two things you can’t do to a golf ball downwind. #1 You can create much backspin. #2 You can’t curve the ball left to right or right to left very much. You can try all you want but you are not going to back up a golf ball downwind. UNLESS…the green is soaking wet or you are VERY, VERY talented.
Let’s move on to a teed up shot. If you tee the golf ball up just right, you can create a spinning iron shot. If it is teed to high it will be more of a dead shot. For the golf ball to spin you have to catch the ball in the center of the clubface, if you catch it to high there isn’t enough force to create backspin. If you tee it just above the grass the club head will hit the ball clean and you won’t have any grass between the ball and clubface.
At the beginning I told you secrets #6-#7-#8 are tied together. Any combination can result in a ball with backspin. However if you tee up a ball on a par three, into the wind doesn’t always result in backspin when it lands on a hard green.
Join me tomorrow for a lesson on releasing the club in the downswing.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #4-#5
The next two secrets pertain to the conditions you are faced with. Although they go hand in hand I want to keep them separate for the time being. Not all greens are flat. Not in Kansas, West Texas or Arizona. Some have more slopes than others and there is one thing you have to keep in mind. MOST greens are designed with drainage in mind and most greens drain towards the front of the green.
The nature of our sport is that greens have to accept shots that are hit to it. In other words our game would be much more difficult if the greens were built high in the front and they sloped away from you (low in the back). Ninety-five percent of all greens are low in the front and high in the back.
That in itself is one of the 16 reasons you see shots on TV back up on the green. With that being said you have to remember this: the entire green isn’t always low in the front and high in the back. Some greens have areas where they are designed to fall towards the back part of the green. Sometimes you will see one ball land and stop and the very next shot will land three feet away from the first shot and back up off of the green.
Some putting surfaces have so much undulation in them that two inches can make the difference between a shot that takes one hop and spins back off of the green or one hop and jumps over the back part of the green. Most of the time were happy when our ball ends up anywhere on the green. The tour professionals play at such a high level they have the ability to land a ball within a two or three foot area.
Let’s move on to the next secret, the speed of the greens. This one is not rocket science. If a golf ball lands on a green that is mowed really low 7-8.5 on the Stimpmeter, the golf ball is going to spin backwards more than if it lands on a green that is 4.5 on the Stimpmeter. (The Stimpmeter is a device used to measure the speed of golf course putting surfaces. During the U.S. Open the greens can run 10.5 on the meter. I don’t care if Seve, Lee Trevino or Tiger hit a shot into a green that 4.5 it is NOT going to spin backwards.
We have a long way to go for you to wrap your arms around the whole spin picture but at least you can start figuring out what happens when you hit a shot and it doesn’t spin backwards 20 feet. Five down and 11 to go.
Come back tomorrow and I will have a lesson on why you hit thin BUNKER shots.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #3
Now let’s spend some time on the conditions that the tour players are faced with when they approach the green with their iron shots.
Unless you have walked the fairways of a professional tour event you cannot believe how tight they are mowed. All kidding aside they are in much better condition than the greens I grew up on. Of course that was 40ish years ago but I am serious. I will take it a step further.
The fairways they play on are better than most of the greens we putt on today. Let me tell you why this aspect of backspin is important to understand.
When you contact a golf ball the ball rolls up the face of the golf club you are using and the dimples of the golf ball dig into the grooves of the golf club. This action puts backspin on the golf ball. The dimples not only dig into the club face but the dimples are also there to make the golf ball fly up. That combination is great when a ball lands on the green. BACKSPIN!!!
Now let me carry on about the length they mow the fairways. At the moment of impact if there is any grass between the golf ball and clubface the grass fills in the grooves of the iron. Do you get it? The golf ball will not dig into the clubface. If the golf ball doesn’t dig into the clubface the golf ball will not spin backwards as it leaves the club head.
If this takes place the tour players will have a flyer shot. A flyer is a shot that comes out HOT. It acts more like a knuckle ball and it is out of control. NO BACKSPIN!!!
Here lies (no pun intended) the problem you and I are faced with. It’s a double edged sword. It takes a tremendous amount of ability to swing the golf club into the back of the golf ball on a tight lie. I mean it is really difficult. The fairways that most of us play on have a little cushion so our golf ball sits up and not flat on the ground. The tighter the lie the more backspin (if the contact is correct). The fluffier the lie the more chance you will catch a flyer.
It is a deadly combination for most amateur golfers. Tight lie=can’t make perfect contact. Fluffy lie=no backspin.
Remember even tour players find it difficult to hit a spinning shot out of the rough.
Come back tomorrow and I will give you a lesson on how to stop pulling your three foot putts.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #1-#2
Ok here we go again…Professional golf on TV. And to make things worse for you it is in HD. So why am I going on about this? It is simple. It seems like every Saturday when we sit down to watch a golf tournament the telecast starts off with a tour player hitting a really high shot that lands 30 feet past the pin takes two hops and spins back to within three feet of the hole.
And then…my inbox begins to fill up with “how do those guys do it”? Well in the next few minutes I am going to tell you everything you need to know about backspin. It will give you insight into how they do it and what you can do to improve your shots into the green.
Let’s start with equipment. Most professional golfers play with golf balls that are softer than the balls the average amateur plays with. The softer the golf ball the better chance you have of spinning your shots into the green. Now combine the soft golf ball with a soft club head. There are two types of metals that are used for making golf clubs. You either have a soft forged club head or a harder cast golf club. If you are using a hard golf ball with a cast club head, it is close to impossible to make a golf ball spin backwards when it hits the green.
Two secrets down and 14 to go. Check back in a couple of days and I will walk you through the different playing conditions and how they affect backspin.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
