Ernest Jones on Creating Clubhead Speed

Ernest Jones is the source of most modern teaching on "swinging" a golf club as opposed to "hitting" with one. And most instructors tend to avoid his teaching, on the grounds that the classic swing uses centrifugal and centripetal force while the modern swing depends more on leverage.

But a swing by any other name is still a swing, and the two approaches do share some basics. So today I thought I'd pass on a thought from the Jones book Swing the Clubhead (originally called Swinging into Golf), which is generally considered a classic instruction text.

There's a truth in here that any golfer can benefit from learning, no matter what swing method he uses:

There are, to be sure, more ways than one to strike a ball. You can strike it by swinging the clubhead or by employing leverage. You can strike it harder with a swinging action than you can in any other way with the power at your command, and still retain reasonable control over your effort. The principle of centrifugal application of force guarantees this. But it is not likely that you will come to a realization of this of your own accord. To do so is not consistent with your past experiences. Your natural instinct is to try to turn the power on all at once.

A swinging action must begin smoothly and rhythmically, and the force producing it must be applied gradually. There can be no quick jerky movement at any stage of the procedure. As soon as the movement develops this characteristic, the swinging is destroyed. Steadiness, not speed, is the keynote in beginning the application of power in a swing. Speed is developed later. [p60-61]

That last paragraph -- and particularly the last two sentences -- is something that applies to any method of swinging a club. If you want to hit the ball a long way and still keep some kind of control over its direction, you have to stay SMOOTH. And Jones describes that smoothness with the word STEADINESS.

What does that mean? It means you don't try to suddenly jerk the club from the top, where it has basically stopped in order to change direction, and accelerate from zero to 100mph all at once. You have to get the club accelerating smoothly for the first foot or so of hand and arm movement. Then and only then can you try to let it go.

Or, in the words Jones uses, "Speed is developed later."

This is no different than what Hogan said when he wrote that he wished he had three right hands to create power in his swing. He made the point that you don't try to "hit" the ball until your hands are well into the downswing and your body is in position to unleash that power with balance and control. Both classic and modern swingers have to unleash their power SMOOTHLY, whether they do it through centrifugal force or leverage.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

A Quick Look at Shanshan Feng's Swing (Videos)

Shanshan Feng (aka Jenny Money) has moved up to #3 in the Rolex World Rankings this week, less than a quarter point behind long-hitting Sung Hyun Park.. I thought it might be instructive to take yet another look at one of the simplest yet most effective swings in women's golf.

This first video shows her swing from straight on, and it includes a slo-mo view of her hands at impact.



And this second video shows her swing from a variety of angles.



Let me point out a few simple things you can learn from Shanshan -- simple things that you can put into action immediately.

• Simple setup. Note that her lead wrist is bent a bit more than most teachers would recommend, but that's because she has the butt end of the shaft pointing at her belly button. In other words, she has the end of the shaft pointing at the center of her body, so it's pointing at her spine.
• She cocks the club a bit earlier than some players, but there's nothing contrived here. She just takes it back in a way that feels comfortable to her, so it's consistent.
• Her backswing isn't extremely long, even with a driver -- it looks more like a three-quarter swing -- but she gets a good shoulder turn and she doesn't slide away from the ball.
• Yes, she starts down by moving her hips forward... but no, she doesn't make some powerful forward thrust with her hips. Physics demand that your lower body has to move first in order to start your downswing, but Shanshan doesn't exaggerate the move. She just moves in a natural way, stepping from her trail foot to her lead foot as she turns toward the target.
• She really uses her hands, arms and shoulders, so her wrists uncock as she hits the ball. The shaft is pointing at her belly button at impact, just the way she set up to the ball. She isn't worried about getting her wrists in some special position; she just points the shaft straight at the ball.
• Her footwork is very simple during her downswing. Again, all she does is just step from her trail foot to her lead foot as her shoulders turn completely into her finish. Since she doesn't stop her shoulders from turning, the club doesn't flip over as she hits the ball. As a result, the ball flies pretty straight.

Nothing fancy, nothing that requires a swing monitor to keep it in check. Shanshan plays golf, not golf swing. She just worries about where the clubface is pointing at impact, and she controls that with her hands -- exactly the same way any other athlete aims a bat or racket or hockey stick.

And bear in mind that Shanshan is notorious for NOT PRACTICING. If you want a dependable swing that doesn't need a lot of attention, you could do a lot worse than copying Jenny Money!

A Different Take on a Toski Drill

Today I'm borrowing -- and altering -- a drill Bob Toski made popular in his book How to Feel a Real Golf Swing. The drill is called the "Hitchhiker Drill" and it's on page 33 of the book. Here's the illustration:



Toski uses this drill to teach proper hand motion during your swing. The drill focuses on your lead arm -- in this case, it's his left arm.

But today I want you to do this drill while focusing on your TRAILING arm. Why? Because if you do, the Hitchhiker Drill is a wonderful way to improve your footwork and help you learn to turn to a full finish.

To get your trailing hand into the same position as the illustration of Toski's lead hand, you simply MUST make a full release into your finish. For many of you, this drill will minimize your slices and hooks because you'll learn to swing your hands and arms in sequence with your body. Slicers tend to stop their swing before the clubface can square up. Hookers tend to stop their swing and then flip their wrists to square up the clubface. Two different problems with the same basic cause -- a body turn that stops too soon!

So give this variation of the Hitchhiker Drill a try. In fact, try it both ways! You might be surprised just how many problems this one little drill can help eliminate... and you don't even need a club to do it.

Clearing Your Hips -- An Update

As most of you realize, I keep the comments open on all my old posts in case somebody reads one and has a question. The blog emails me anytime somebody makes a comment, and then I can zip over and see if I can help. And it's a good thing I leave them open, since a lot of you do go back and re-read the old posts.

Back in 2010 I did a post called Clearing Your Hips. And a couple days back Paul left me a question that I tried to answer but the blog wouldn't accept it. Apparently my answer was too long! So I left Paul a note that I would do a new post today for him. (I've done that for a number of you, so this is nothing new.)

In the original post I was trying to get you folks to stop moving toward the target so much when you start your downswing, so your hips would unwind more naturally. Paul's question was simple enough, and it's a logical one:

If you're opening up your hips the right shoulder must come out thus the over the top, isn't there a lateral component to start first ? This I can get away with with my woods and hybrids but not irons !!

So first let me re-post a photo of J.B. Holmes that was in that post, since I referred to it in my answer, and then my answer will follow.



I understand why you're confused, Paul. I've made this mistake too, just like everybody else. And I've been trying to figure out a way to explain this more clearly so my answer will make more sense to you. Hopefully this will help you see what you're missing.

And I do mean see. You've forgotten about your spine angle. We have a tendency to think of our swing the way we see it in the Holmes swing sequence above -- from face-on. But there are also some important things we would only see from a down-the-line swing photo. So, in the interest of clarity, let's start with what we normally see, as in the photo above.

I want you to imagine that J.B.'s hips and spine -- and your hips and spine as well -- are connected like an upside-down T. There's a "crossbar" connecting your hips, and your spine sticks up halfway between them, like the tall line of the T, with your head at the top.

NOTE: If this were really your spine, the tall line would tilt slightly away from your target. That's because your trail hand (in your case, your right hand) is lower on the club than your lead hand, so your shoulders have to tilt a bit. But thinking of your hips and spine at 90° angles is easier.

So your head is roughly centered between your hips at address. Are you with me so far?

What you're forgetting is that your spine (the tall line) ALSO tilts toward the golf ball. You're bent over just a little.

Now, when you turn your shoulders away from the target during your backswing -- we'll say you make a standard 90° turn -- your trail shoulder (the right one) is now well behind your back -- behind your spine -- away from the ball. If you were to draw a swing plane, like the glass plane drawn in Hogan's book, your right shoulder would be well below that plane.

At the top of your backswing, your lead heel has come off the ground and your lead knee and hip have moved away from the target. But your head is still roughly halfway between your hips. Look at the first picture of Holmes in the post above; you can see that clearly.

When you start your downswing, the first thing you do is put your lead foot down flat on the ground and your lead knee moves over almost straight above it. That's your lateral move, but it isn't a big move forward. Rather, you pushed your lead foot DOWN and your hips turned back toward the ball. Your body moved DOWNWARD just a little.

And when your body moved down, so did your trail shoulder. Not out over the ball, but DOWN toward the ground. You're correct that your right shoulder is moving forward, but it was already below your swing plane and now your downward motion lowered it even more. In fact, it may still be a little behind your spine at this point.

From this point on, that trail shoulder will come at the ball from UNDER the plane, not over it, no matter how much you turn in your downswing. That's because your spine is still straight and your head is still basically halfway between your hips.

So why are you coming over-the-top? It's because of your trail knee (your right knee). I wrote about this in my book Stop Coming Over-the-Top because it happens so much. (And yes, I struggled with it for a long time before I figured it out. Like I said, it's a common problem.)

What SHOULD happen when you start down from the top is that your trail knee -- your right knee -- should stay slightly BENT. Your trail foot is flat on the ground at the top of your swing, then it rolls to the inside as you start down. That lets your hips move naturally and shift your weight to your lead foot.

But what most of us do is we try to hit the ball hard. And to do that, we STRAIGHTEN our trail knee. That pushes our trail hip UP, and that pushes our head TOWARD THE TARGET. Instead of your spine staying vertical, it leans toward the target and your head moves too far over your lead foot. That moves your right shoulder UP instead of down, so it comes over the swing plane instead of under it. Make sense?

If you want to practice the correct move, check out the "Body Movin'" drill in this post. You don't need a club and you can practice it anywhere. It's the best drill I know to teach you how the correct move feels.

So let me give you a new answer to your question above. You think, like so many instructors teach, that you start your downswing by moving laterally and then turning. THAT'S WRONG. You want to start your downswing by moving DOWN and then turning. Because of the way your hips naturally work, the downward movement creates all the lateral movement you need.

And the more you can use your body's natural movements, the easier and more consistent your golf swing will be.

Fred Couples on How to Swing Like Him (Video)

Here's an old Golf Digest video from 2013 I found where Fred Couples tells you how to swing like him.


Here are the three things he says.

• He makes sure he gets a full shoulder turn.
• But check this second one out. You've been told to focus on starting your downswing with your lower body. However, Fred says:
  

  "And once I get the shoulder turn back I don't think about the change of direction, it just happens. But once I start coming, my hips will come this way but my club does not follow my hips."

  I'll come back to this one. But when it comes to focusing on hip drive to start your downswing, note that Long Drive champion Jeff Flagg says the same thing (see Tip #3).
• And then he talks about releasing the club down the line instead of following his hips.

In a previous post I said that I believe hip action is almost automatic if you do your shoulder turn properly. Since a full shoulder turn pulls your lead hip back, you can't turn back to the ball without that lead hip moving forward, which creates your weight shift. And when he says that his hips "come this way," he means that his lead hip moves away from the ball because his lead knee straightens.

Also note that he says his club does not follow his hips. That means his club doesn't "go left" the way many instructors are currently recommending. The reason is simple: Fred doesn't exaggerate his hip move the way many players do these days. So if he jerked his club dramatically to the inside, he'd hit a duck hook.

Please note that Fred Couples doesn't need exaggerated hip drive to hit the ball a long way. He gets his distance by making a long full swing and hitting the ball solid. This may come as a surprise to many of you -- most instructors never mention it -- but the more you exaggerate your lower body motion during the swing, the harder it is to return the club face accurately to hit the ball. Fred gets added distance by releasing the club when his hands are above and even with the ball, NOT BEFORE.

Yes, folks, as hard as it is to believe, if you want to hit the ball like Fred Couples, you have to use your hands and forearms. I have a series of posts on The Route 67 Posts page called The Swoosh at the Bottom that can help you get a feel for what he means if you're interested.

At any rate, I know a number of you are fascinated by Fred's swing. Since this video is his, I thought you might be interested. Enjoy!

Brian Jacobs on Fixing Your Plane (Video)

I don't post a lot of in-depth instruction about swing plane. It's not that plane isn't important -- I just think we're too obsessed with it, and most of the drills are too nitpicky. But I don't mind putting up something that's both simple and useful.

GCA Coach Brian Jacobs did a really short video that gives you a simple drill to improve your swing plane. I especially like it because it doesn't require training aids, which means you can use it on the course during a round if necessary. Here, take a look:


All you do is take your finish position -- that is, your "pose" after the ball is long gone -- and then, without changing your arms or shoulders, turn 180° so you mirror that position at the top of your backswing.

I know it sounds ridiculously simple, but don't underestimate this simple drill. If your "top of backswing" position mirrors your finish position, and if you make sure they match when you make your swing from backswing to finish, you're on plane. It just doesn't get any simpler than that.

And you can use this drill anywhere you can swing a club, which means you can do it in a few spare minutes every day in your backyard. Just do the drill a few times -- pose your finish, mirror it to the backswing, then swing back to the finish -- then see if you can swing to that top of backswing position from your address position. Once you can do that slowly, gradually speed it up to your normal speed.

If your swing plane is off, this drill will help you. Just add it to your practice routine and see.

Swings Without Takeaways (Videos)

Some of you will find this post a bit strange, and that's okay. But it's about an interesting way to study how your swing behaves, and many of you might find that these drills will help you fix flaws in your full swing -- especially, they can help you make a steadier change of direction from backswing to downswing.

I'm talking about hitting balls with a swing that doesn't include a takeaway. And I have a couple of videos to demonstrate different methods for doing it.

The first is a recent video from GC's website. The instructor is Jason Birnbaum and he's starting his swing with the shaft parallel to the ground, which is where many instructors will have you check your shaft to make sure you're on a good plane.



The second is an old David Leadbetter video that starts the swing from what I call the "baseball position." That's where you have your lead arm parallel to the ground, as if you were standing at home plate and your wrists cocked, as if waiting for a pitch. Although I couldn't find it, I remember Leadbetter doing an article for one of the golf magazines (I believe it was even before this video was made) where he suggested that the "takeaway-less swing" could be the swing of the future.



What both of these drills have in common is the belief that the takeaway is primarily an excuse for getting your club in a bad position at the top. Both men are setting up normally and using your current setup to measure how far you are from the ball. Then you take the club back to the position they recommend, stop, and start your swing from there.

Either of these can be a useful drill to improve your swing. By getting yourself in a good position that will put the club on plane at the top, you can learn what a correct move to the top feels like. The key movement here is the extremely short backswing you make at the top when you restart your swing, which is the same way a baseball player swings at a pitch. (No, you don't have to step forward with your lead foot. That's a different drill entirely.) These drills allow you to feel that change of direction at the top, which can help your balance and rhythm a lot, as well as helping you learn how your legs and hips work when you don't exaggerate your weight shift.

Some of you may also want to try Leadbetter's original idea. Just set up to the ball and measure your distance -- you can see baseball players do this as well -- and then swing your arms most of the way to the top of your backswing, stop, and try hitting balls from there. Note that your lead arm may actually get a bit higher than parallel to the ground -- you may get more of a three-quarter swing. That's okay for this drill.

Remember: The idea with any of these drills is to learn a proper change of direction while staying steadier over the ball. A little practice on the range can really help you make solid contact more frequently.

Plus it's kinda fun. Trying to hit balls "baseball style" can put you in a different mindset that eliminates some of the apprehension you have about your regular golf swing. Just make sure you put the ball on a tee at first. It might be a bit embarrassing otherwise.

A Lesson from George Knudson (Video)

Actually, I have two videos. I found these on YouTube, from an old teaching DVD by George Knudson called The Swing Motion. Since Knudson is one of Canada's legends and this is RBC Canadian Open week, I thought you all might like to hear some of Knudson's beliefs about the golf swing.

The first video is on this YouTube page, and the second video is on this YouTube page. (Just in case the videos don't show up in this post for some reason.) They're both very short.





Although Knudson was a Hogan fan and most teachers compare his swing to Ben Hogan's, I think Knudson's approach was much simpler than Hogan's. I actually think it's closer to Bobby Jones than Hogan. He approached the swing more like the old hickory shaft players, in that he focused on centrifugal force rather than power to create clubhead speed.

You've got to love this: He says he divides the swing motion into two general categories -- voluntary actions you have to learn, and involuntary actions which happen naturally. (That's something Jones talked about as well. I quoted him saying almost the same thing in this post.)

And here's something you don't often hear nowadays: If you watch the slo-mo part of the first video closely, you'll see that he lowers his head and shoulders slightly during his backswing, then stays down in that position until the ball is struck. It's easiest to see in the "down-the-line from the front" view against the black & white grid. (Most modern players lower themselves during the downswing.) This helped him hit the ball solidly, because he wasn't changing height and trying to create clubhead speed at the same time.

You can also see how flat his swing is; his lead arm is actually slightly below his trailing shoulder at the top of his backswing. This makes his swing appear very short, and makes it feel a bit like swinging a very light baseball bat. (He actually takes the club back more to the inside to start his backswing, rather than a one-piece takeaway. Then he moves upward slightly, above his backswing plane, when he changes direction at the top. Those are more reasons his swing reminds me of Jones.) It's a very rotary action, and he creates it by bracing his trailing leg during the backswing. You can see that clearly in the face-on view against the black & white grid.

And here are a couple more points that are keys in his swing:

• There is no talk about keeping the head down. He says the head does nothing during the swing except rotate around with the body.
• And he divides the swing into two simple motions, back and through. He rolls his ankles on the backswing and downswing (that's the bit about the ankles being pivot points). This is probably why he also lowers his upper body during the backswing.

There is absolutely no talk about driving the lower body. HE DOESN'T NEED TO! If you brace your trailing leg during your backswing the way Knudson does, there's no way to avoid a forward weight shift during your downswing.

All-in-all, it's a very simple approach to the golf swing.

For those of you who want to see it, here's the Amazon link to Knudson's book The Natural Golf Swing. The DVD is out of print, although you can find it through the used book channels.

DJ's Unbowed Bowed Wrist (Video)

This is a video Hank Haney did for Golf Digest several months ago. It's a breakdown of Dustin Johnson's swing, with specific attention on that dramatically bowed wrist of his. But Haney makes a couple of points in this video that I think everybody should be aware of. Take a look:

Watch this on The Scene.

The first thing Haney mentions -- and I've never heard this before -- is that more women than men have this as a swing flaw. If you've been watching the instructors on GC lately, you've heard a number of them telling you how this position enables you to hit the ball longer AND straighter. This is true, provided you have a powerful swing. Bear in mind that DJ is 6'4" tall, which gives him a huge swing arc and -- according to PGATOUR.com's clubhead speed stat page -- a 122mph clubhead speed with a driver.

It's possible that you might increase your distance off a tee with this technique but, at least on every other kind of shot, the average golfer is going to have the problem that Haney mentions, which is not getting the ball off the ground.

But the most revealing part of this video by far is the proof that DJ actually flattens his wrist during his downswing, which means he isn't hitting the ball with that extreme wrist position at all! Compare his wrist position at the top of the swing (at around the :45 second mark) with his wrist position as he enters the impact zone (at around the 1:38 mark). There's still a little bow in his wrist -- and there should be, unless he's got too much tension in his grip -- but it's nothing like the top of his swing.

It's interesting to note that, in another article for Golf Digest on how to play a flop shot, DJ says that his bowed wrist makes that shot too hard. He says you don't want to bow your wrist at the top, as he shows in this photo. I know he's still got some bow in it, but look at the clubface just above and to the left of his hands. The toe points STRAIGHT DOWN, which is nearly 90° more open than his normal position.



All of this simply illustrates what we already knew, that DJ is a singular golf talent and a physical freak. And regardless of what you may hear, that extreme bowed wrist position isn't necessarily something you want to duplicate.

Brandel Chamblee and the Holy Grail

I couldn't resist that title -- especially since I can blame Golf Magazine for it!

Brandel Chamblee has a new book out called The Anatomy of Greatness, which looks at the things all the great players of the game have had in common. And Golf Magazine has done an article, with a video interview that's pretty interesting, at this link, and it focuses on the one thing that Chamblee believes most weekend players need to know to improve their golf games.

BTW, in the video Chamblee refers to a now out-of-print book called The Methods of Golf's Masters. If you happen to be interested in finding a copy, I've read the book before and you should know that there are two different editions. The original stops with players of the 1960s; Brandel mentions the second edition, which includes Seve and Greg Norman, among others. Make sure you get the one you really want!

I haven't read Chamblee's book but I like a lot of what he says in the interview. His 'Holy Grail' is lifting your lead foot and letting your lead knee move behind the ball during your backswing, which goes against the 'restrict your lower body' advice that is generally given to players today.

Chamblee blames this on Ravielli's drawings in Hogan's book Five Lessons, and he says Ravielli misinterpreted Hogan's words -- that Hogan actually did lift his lead heel. In reality, it's a bit more complex than that. Here is what Hogan says in the text of the book, from pages 74 and 75 in my paperback edition:

THE LEGS. When the hips enter the swing, as they are turned they pull the left leg in. The left knee breaks in to the right, the left foot rolls in to the right on the inside part of the sole, and what weight there is on the left leg rides on the inside ball of the foot. LET ME CAUTION YOU AGAINST LIFTING THE LEFT HEEL TOO HIGH OFF THE GROUND ON THE BACKSWING. IF THE HEEL STAYS ON THE GROUND -- FINE. IF IT COMES UP AN INCH OFF THE GROUND -- FINE. No higher that that, though -- it will only lead to faulty balance and other undesirable complications.

The body and the legs move the feet. LET THEM MOVE THE FEET. As regards the left heel, how much the left knee breaks in on the backswing determines how much the heel comes up. I never worry about the left heel. Whether it comes off the ground a half inch or a quarter of an inch or remains on the ground as a result of my body and leg action on the backswing -- this is of no importance at all. I pay no attention to it.

"This [lifting the lead heel] is of no importance at all." Hogan can't disagree with Chamblee much more than that! To keep his foot that close to the ground, he has to restrict his hips during the backswing. Hogan HAS been treated like a god -- that's Chamblee's description, but I've used it myself at times (I maintain that no one player is right about everything, not even Hogan) -- and Ravielli's drawings accurately depict Hogan's lead heel barely leaving the ground.

I found Chamblee's remarks about the Long Drive champs particularly interesting -- namely, that if restricting your lower body led to longer drives, they'd all do it. But they don't! (I should note that some of the longer hitters on Tour do keep their lead heels on the ground, but none of them routinely hit the ball over 400 yards. Yet many of them also struggle with back problems, which the Long Drive champs rarely do.)

It looks like I may have to pick up a copy of his book just to see what else is in it. I don't always agree with Brandel, but this book -- controversial as it will likely be -- may be just the thing the golf community needs.

The book cover photo came from classicsofgolf.com.

One More Look at Ha Na Jang's Swing

If you saw the photo of Ha Na Jang I used in the Bent Elbow Drill series (and how could you miss it? I had it in almost every post!), this is the video I snagged it from. And given the torrid winning streak Ha Na is creating on the LPGA this season, especially after that dominating win this past week, I thought I'd post the actual video. It's from a practice round at the 2015 LPGA season finale.



I just want you to appreciate how simple this swing is. And after those eight posts I did, you should now know enough to understand exactly how she does it. The video gets progressively slower as it goes on, and thus it's easier to pick out details. Take a few moments to watch it and learn from it.

And on the off-chance you missed it (just what were you doing this weekend?), here's Ha Na's Beyoncé-inspired celebration dance from her win this past weekend.



I know it's easier to enjoy yourself when you're playing this well, but Ha Na always seems to have a smile on her face, no matter how her day is going. You can learn from that as well, since it's easier to have a good day when you're having fun.

A Classic Tiger and Butch Lesson

Golf Channel has re-posted some tips from back in 2000 when Tiger and Butch were working together. This particular clip is a general summary of the variety of changes they made to Tiger's swing after he won the 1997 Masters.

I want to point out a couple of the key changes that I talk about frequently on this blog and in my books.



It's interesting to note how many 'faults' that trip up weekend golfers Tiger was still using when he won the Masters.

One of them was that he took the club back to the inside too quickly. Butch taught him a one-piece takeaway to counteract that move. In my mind, that was his biggest backswing flaw. It made it easier for him to keep the club out in front of him -- something else I've written about -- when he made the other changes.

The other big flaw was in his downswing, what he calls the "Ole Swing." Tiger drove his legs way too hard to start his downswing. Sometimes I feel I'm on a crusade to stop exaggerated leg drive! I've written about the problem a number of times, but this post included a video where Martin Hall teaches about using gravity to move down into the ball. In that video Sara Brown tried it and ended up using less leg drive -- despite Martin's continued emphasis on leg drive -- and it stopped her from pulling her shots. Compare Sara's smaller leg drive with Tiger's 'ole swing' and the difference will be clearer.

Anyway, the Tiger and Butch video above is an interesting reminder that even the greatest golfer in recent history made the same mistakes that the average weekend golfer does. The difference is that Tiger had hours and hours of daily practice, repeated over years and years, to make it work... and Butch still says in the video that it was a swing that wouldn't last.

And remember, it was AFTER he made these changes that he ripped off the four major streak we now call 'the Tiger Slam.' Clearly Butch was on to something!

How J.B. Holmes Hits Fairway Woods

Now that you've watched J.B. Holmes murdering golf balls for a few matches at the Presidents Cup, here's his most recent video tip on how to do that from Golf Digest. He does it with a 3-wood in this video but it's the same for any fairway wood.

Watch this video on The Scene.

Note that J.B. says this is more of a sweeping swing but he's trying to hit down on the ball. The reason for the apparent contradiction? If you make a full swing with a fairway wood, the longer shafts force your swing plane to be slightly flatter than an iron swing -- it's not something you try to do, it just happens -- so the angle of attack on the ball is shallower and therefore more of a sweeping motion. But that happens automatically; you're still thinking about hitting down on the ball.

Remember: don't try to help the ball up in the air with a fairway wood. Hit down on it, like you're swinging an iron, and the sweeping part of the swing will take care of itself.

A Variety of Quick Fixes

Today I want to give you a link to one of those slide shows with short lessons attached that Golf Digest is so fond of. This one is called The 9 Most Frustrating Golf Shots and it hits (forgive the pun!) a variety of skanky shots that we all fight from time to time. The list includes:

1. Shank
2. Pop-Up Drive
3. Topped Shot
4. Double-Hit Chip
5. Snap Hook
6. Skulled Pitch Shot
7. Toe Hit
8. Pull
9. Push

Remember, as with any other instructional tips you read, not all of them will work for you. But it's compiled from the teachings of some big name teachers -- Rick Smith, Butch Harmon (pictured above), Todd Anderson and Chuck Cook, among others -- so it's worth taking a quick peek.

And if one of the tips does work for you, you'll find links to more info on the fix from that teacher. Very useful!

Keys to Jordan's 3-Wood at the 18th

It seems like everybody is trying to explain the keys to hitting that 280-yard 3-wood that Jordan hit onto the 18th green Sunday. Golf Digest is no different; they talked to teacher Michael Jacobs and did a post about it.

What I like about this article is that it gives general advice that will help you with all of your swings, not just some magic key to hit a heroic shot like Jordan.



Matthew Rudy (author of the article) points out that Jordan isn't a power hitter -- hasn't everybody been marveling about that? -- and that he gets himself into contention by:

• hitting greens and
• focusing on hitting the best shot he can at the moment (that's all "determination" really is)

But there's an overall key Jacobs points out in Jordan's swing that I've actually mentioned on this blog and in my books before.:

"When he makes the transition into his downswing, he goes into a squat and his body lowers, but the center of his hips and the center of his upper body are still at 90 degrees to the ball."

Teachers often refer to the "Snead Squat" because that was the most prominent move in Snead's downswing. It's the basic lower body move in what we traditionally call "the modern swing," which was the way great players like Snead and Byron Nelson -- and yes, Tom Watson -- start their downswings with their lower bodies. They moved downward more than forward, and they rarely ever "got stuck."

Hogan's swing (which I guess I'll start calling "the postmodern swing" now) turned that move into an exaggerated forward move because he wanted to counteract a hook. As Jacobs notes, by making a downward move Jordan gets a more consistent swing. (And, we should note, Jordan's miss is a hook, the very move Hogan wanted to prevent!)

A downward, somewhat squatty move to start your downswing is a simpler and more consistent way to swing. It eliminates excess body movement that causes you to mis-hit the ball. If you want to try it, it feels almost as if you're falling from the top of your swing but it loads the club shaft just as effectively as that Hogan-style forward drive that causes you to slice.

And if you need proof that it still works, just look at Jordan Spieth.

One More Thought on Rickie's Umbrella Drill

Friday was a busy day and I didn't get much time to write, but I wanted to add something to yesterday's tip from Rickie Fowler.

While I mentioned how the umbrella drill helped Rickie stay connected at the top of his backswing so he wouldn't overswing, I forgot to mention how it helps his takeaway and downswing plane. Rickie has had a tendency to open the club face on the takeaway and then lay the club off on the downswing -- that is, he would drop the club shaft so it was more parallel to the ground as he started down. It caused him to be too shallow on the downswing and too much in-to-out. As a result, he often pushed the ball at impact and flipped his hands trying to save it. (Most amateurs would just hit a push.)

By using the umbrella image, Rickie doesn't twist his forearms so much on the way back, which keeps the club more vertical. (It's still tilted on plane, it's just not exaggerated.) Since the club is more vertical, the natural move is to keep the club more on plane as he comes down. In other words, he doesn't "wave" the club back and forth during his swing.

Using a one-piece takeaway (the basic drill is in this post) puts you in good position to use Rickie's umbrella drill naturally. And the two together will improve your swing plane tremendously.

How an Umbrella Improves Rickie's Iron Play

It's no secret that when Rickie Fowler went to Butch Harmon for help, Butch reportedly gave him three swing thoughts to help him tweak his swing. There's an article about those three thoughts over at golfdigest.com, called Get More Birdie Looks, and I wanted to point out one in particular that may help many of you.

Rickie now "pops an umbrella" at the top of his backswing.



As Rickie puts it in the article:

I used to suffer the same tendency that affects a lot of amateurs: My arms kept going back after I completed my shoulder turn. When the arms get disconnected from the trunk muscles like this, the club goes past parallel and can cause a bunch of issues... So to keep everything unified going back, my slow-motion rehearsal thought was, I'm holding an umbrella on my backswing. As in, I stop going back the moment I feel the shaft points straight up and down like an umbrella.

Rickie also points out that, despite what you may think, the club is going back much further than it feels like. (That little inset picture shows where his umbrella thought actually puts him.)

On a more humorous note, he says that sometimes the umbrella thought didn't work as well as it should... at which point Butch told him to pretend he was Steve Stricker. Stricks doesn't cock his wrists much during his swing, even with a driver, which helps him keep the club under control when he changes direction. (BTW, I have a short post series about that called The Deadhanded Approach Shot which you can find over on the Some Useful Post Series page.)

The purpose of this swing thought is to keep you connected at the top of your backswing, to keep your upper arms from moving too far away from your chest. That's why you overswing, which causes you to get a bit sloppy on the way down and keeps you from hitting the ball as solidly as you should.

As I said, Rickie tells all three swing thoughts in the article. There's one for the takeaway, one for the backswing, and one for impact... but I think this one is definitely the easiest to picture and put to immediate use.

UPDATE : I added one more thought about this drill at this post as well.

David Leadbetter's "A" Swing

No doubt you've been hearing about David Leadbetter's new book The A Swing, which he says is a simplified swing method that doesn't need as much practice. I've just received a pre-release copy of the book that I'm reading now and I plan to talk more about it after I've finished it.

In the meantime Golf Digest has put up an introductory article about the swing, complete with several short videos to help you understand what all the fuss is about. Here's the "most introductory" of those videos:



There are a number of small changes that the A Swing makes to your setup and motion. Primarily it's an attempt to simplify the backswing and get the club into "the slot" more easily in the downswing. Leadbetter says he's been using a number of these ideas in one form or another over the last few years with various players of different skill levels, and that he has written the book in hopes that it will shake up the teaching industry and simplify teaching.

The book begins with an intro by Michelle Wie and the first chapter -- which is what I'm currently reading -- is a biomechanical analysis by expert J.J. Rivet. And Leadbetter says that the swing can be maintained using a 7-minute practice routine performed several times a week. (That's near the end of the book, of course.) As I said, I'll be talking more about this after I finish the book.

In the meantime you might want to take a look at the "A Swing Starter Kit" article at golfdigest.com and get familiar with the basics of it. I don't know if the book will actually stimulate any change in teaching methods, but my initial impression is that there are some useful ideas there.

Lou Guzzi on Shortening an Overswing

Here's a quick video tip from Lesson Tee Live on how to shorten an overswing. It features Annabel Rolley and instructor Lou Guzzi.



The concept is simple enough. If you practice making chipping-length backswings and swing to a full finish position, you'll get used to making a shorter backswing. Then you can just use a mirror or video to learn how long to actually make your backswing.

If you're having trouble with overswinging, this sounds like an interesting drill to help fix it.

Chuck Cook Helping Charlie Rymer Could Help You Too

In case you missed Morning Drive on Monday, Chuck Cook -- who works with Jason Dufner and Keegan Bradley, among others -- gave Charlie Rymer a tip on how to straighten out wayward drives although I suspect it would also help approach shots.

A little background: Charlie is trying to get his game in shape to play some Champions Tour events but he's missing the ball both ways. Here's the 5-minute video:



I agree with Charlie. This is an incredibly simple image to keep in your head: Simply lay your club shaft against the wall halfway into your followthrough. Here are the simple instructions:

Imagine that you set up with your heels against a wall. Got it? Now...

Do you want to hit a draw? Try to "hit the wall" with the head of your driver on the way to your finish.

Want to hit a fade? Try to "hit the wall" with the grip end of your driver on the way to your finish.

And if you just want to straighten out your shot a little, try to "hit the wall" with the shaft of the club -- slam that thing flat against the wall so the grip and head "hit it" at the same time.

Watch the video a couple of times to be sure you understand the principle, then head for the range. A little practice might be all you need to get a better shot shape. Give it a try!