Andrew Rice on Clubface Control (Video)

This is one of the short Revolution Golf videos that GC is putting up at their website, and this one was posted Thursday. It focuses on keeping control of your clubface at impact, which can help you if you're working with the swing thoughts from the Bubba post earlier this week.



Rice says that you want to make sure you keep your spine angle at impact. That doesn't mean that you have to "keep your head down"; rather, it means that you don't want to "stand up" when you swing down. How is this different from "using the ground"? When "using the ground" only your lead knee straightens at impact, while when you "stand up" BOTH KNEES straighten at impact. Simple, right?

If you "stay down" as Rice suggests, you'll be forced to turn your shoulders and hips into your followthrough, which will help you square the clubface at impact.

Now, you may not realize it, but what Rice is teaching here isn't something new to you. In fact, if you've been following this blog for a while, you will probably recognize his drill as yet another version of the multipurpose L-to-L drill which I frequently recommend. Here's a link to my most recent post on a specialized version of the L-to-L drill, and that post has a link to another post with more basic versions of the drill.

Rice's version will teach you how to use the L-to-L drill with another swing thought. And the more things you can learn from a single drill, the simpler your practice becomes and the more likely you are to develop a simple, easily repeated swing.

Annika on How to Get Your Hands and Arms Aligned

It's not unusual to hear instructors talk about using alignment rods to improve your aim. But how do you check how far you should stand from the ball, or doublecheck your shoulder alignment when they're so close under your chin? Here are a couple of quotes from Annika Sorenstam, one of the most accurate shotmakers of all time, from her book Golf Annika's Way.



First, how do you make sure you're not too close to or too far from the ball at address? Annika has a simple test for that:

Are you the right distance from the ball? Here's how to check: Take your right hand off the club and let it hang by your side. Your palm should hang so that when you move it back into place, it fits your left hand without any twisting or repositioning. If you hand moves behind the grip when you return it to the club, you're standing too far away; if it moves in front, you're standing too close. [p32]

That's actually a double test. The first part helps make sure your trailing hand isn't too strong or weak on the grip -- Annika says "right hand;" for you lefties out there, it's your right hand -- and the second part checks how far you are from the ball. The first part's pretty clear; the second might need a bit more explanation.

When letting go of the club with your trailing hand, you just let it hang straight down. When you move it back to the club, DON'T swing your hand closer to or farther away from your body. Just move it sideways, across your body. The idea here is that someone who leans over a bit more at address will have their hands farther from their body, while someone who stands more erect will have their hands closer to their body. When the grip of the club is the correct distance from your body, your hands will hang almost directly beneath your shoulders.

The other neat quote from Annika concerns your shoulder alignment at address:

Because your arms swing along the same path as your shoulders, it's critical that you align your shoulders correctly. That's why, after aiming the clubface, I start aligning my body from the top down, starting with my shoulders and working to my feet.

Because it's very hard to see where my shoulders are pointed at address, I look to the fronts of my forearms to see if they're parallel to the target line. If my arms are hanging naturally, my forearms will be on the same line as my shoulders. You can check this by having someone hold a shaft up against your forearms and then stepping away to see if the shaft is parallel to the target line. It's a great way to train your shoulders to set up square to the target. [p41]

This is a great little trick. Once you get used to seeing what "square forearms" look like, that's a much easier visual checkpoint for your upper body alignment than your shoulders are.

By combining both of Annika's tips, you'll be able to get your upper body in the correct position to hit shots along your target line more easily, even when your footing isn't completely level.

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!

"Feel" Fred Couples's Swing for 38 Seconds (Video)

The Champions Tour posted this video of EVERY full swing Fred hit on the back 9 at the Chubb Classic on Sunday. If you want to get a good sense of how smooth his swing is, this will definitely help.

Every full swing from Fred Couples' Sunday back nine at the @ChubbClassic. pic.twitter.com/4WrmQeLxMq

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) February 23, 2017

Bear in mind that Fred hits the ball a long way WITHOUT shoving his hips way out ahead of his upper body. His spine doesn't bend backwards at impact. And he never looks to be straining.

Want to hit the ball better? Copying the rhythm and tempo of Fred's swing is a good place to start.

How Bernhard Langer Putts without Anchoring (Video)

When I saw this GC clip on Wednesday morning from Bernhard Langer, detailing how he putts without anchoring that long putter, I knew I had to post the video as soon as it was available.



The key is his posture. By making sure his spine is straight and pulling his shoulder blades back to create a very erect posture -- perhaps even a bit more erect than you would normally want to stand -- he's able to stabilize his upper body and make a turn that keeps the putter on line.

This is a case where Bernhard's demonstration will tell you more than all the words I could write. For those of you who really want to keep using a long putter, this video should be all you need to get the technique down and maintain it.

Leave it to Bernhard Langer to figure this out. I wonder if Scott McCarron is using the same technique with his long putter?

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.

Andrew Johnston on How to Stay Unstuck (Video)

Any opportunity to see Beef is probably a good idea!

Andrew Johnston was on The Golf Fix recently. He told Michael Breed how he keeps from "getting stuck" on his downswing. This is extremely simple, but it's usually the simple things that mess up our swings.



Beef talks about two things.

• The first is spine angle. You want to keep your spine as straight as is reasonably possible from setup to finish. I stress the words "reasonably possible" since your hips are going to move backward and forward some during your swing... but you want to avoid exaggerated moves. Just think about standing tall during your swing and that should help a lot.
• The second is "covering the ball with your chest," sometimes referred to as "keeping your hands in front of you." Basically it just means that you create a triangle with your arms and shoulders at setup -- which you already do -- and then you maintain it as long as reasonably possible during your backswing and downswing. This sounds tricky but it's actually a pretty normal move. If you were holding a tray of drinks in front of you with both hands, most of you would have no problems keeping the tray centered in front of your chest as you turned to either side while serving guests at a party. That's all this is. And that's all a one-piece takeaway is -- just another way of thinking about making the same move.

Beef has a very natural-looking swing, don't you think? That's because he doesn't overthink things, and he doesn't try to make technically perfect moves when he can just swing the club and hit the ball. I'm not advising you to be sloppy with your swing. I'm just saying that the less you try to manipulate your swing, the less you try to be too perfect, the better you'll probably hit the ball.

How Bobby Jones Hit Longer Drives

Bobby Jones distinguished himself, not only as perhaps the greatest amateur to ever play the game, but also as one of golf's most famous teachers. Who hasn't seen some of his How I Play Golf or How to Break 90 films, made in the early 1930s by Warner Brothers? (Many of you may not know that Jones gave up his amateur status when making the films. Otherwise he wouldn't have gotten paid!)

Jones wrote a tremendous amount of golf instruction for newspapers as well -- author Charles Price estimated that those articles were equal to five average-length novels -- and many of them have been collected and reprinted in book form.

I found this particular driving tip in a book by noted Jones biographer Sidney L. Matthew simply called Bobby Jones Golf Tips. (My copy includes the subtitle Secrets of the Master and was published by Kensington Books, in case you're interested.) This tip comes from pages 48-49, from an article called An Easy Solution to Extra Yards, and I'll just quote a couple of key paragraphs:

If one will take the trouble to observe, he will notice certain things which are characteristic of all true swingers of a golf club. First, that the posture of the body at address is fairly erect and that the location of the ball is near enough so that there is no need to stretch out for it; second, that the feet are not separated so widely that the movement of the hips is restricted and that they are not rooted into the ground. The whole picture will be one of apparent ease and comfort, entirely free from strain of any kind. And this is the beginning of a swing which will get distance and control.

… It is not a good idea to strive for the ultimate length off every tee, but it is a fine thing to be able to produce a few extra yards when they are needed. But this additional can never be had by stretching and slugging. On the contrary, it is obtained more easily by increasing the turn and use of the hips and shoulders.

When Jones wanted a little more distance off the tee -- and he was considered a fairly long driver in his time -- he focused on addressing the ball in a way that let him stay relaxed and flexible. He stood fairly tall with his feet a comfortable distance apart and the ball close enough that he didn't have to reach for it.

The idea was to make it as easy to turn back and through as possible. This allowed him to turn his hips and shoulders freely, thus making it easy to swing the club quickly without trying to "slug" the ball.

That's pretty clear, don't you think? It's a technique that's available to any golfer at any skill level, and you can practice it for free in your backyard (just stick a tee in the ground in place of a ball). I like that kind of tip!

The photo came from the Atlanta History Center website.

Getting Your Spine Tilt at Impact Correct

I found this video by Brian Manzella over at the GOLF Magazine site and was absolutely fascinated by the concept it teaches. (Manzella is one of their Top100 teachers.) Here, take a look at it and then I'll discuss it. (And if the video didn't embed properly, just click on the link at the beginning of this paragraph. That will take you to the original video at golf.com.)



One of my pet peeves on this blog and in my books is the way weekend golfers tilt their spines away from the ball too much during their downswing. As a result, they tend to hit push-slices. Manzella talks about that, and then suggests the drill in this video to help prevent it.

The whole idea of using the position of your lead hand and lead knee to prevent this problem is a creative one. It forces you to push your lead hip back, away from the ball, as you make your downswing rather than sliding it toward the target and leaning away from the target. Instead, as your lead knee moves toward the target, you're forced to keep your head and shoulders more over the ball.

But it does more. If you keep your lead hand on or close to your lead knee, you won't stand up during your downswing. That means you keep your knee flex and therefore keep your distance from the ball more consistent throughout your swing. No more thin shots!

Try doing the drill a few times without hitting balls; you're just trying to get a feel for your body position as you near impact. Next, take your normal grip and make some easy practice swings while feeling you're swinging with the same posture. Finally, try to hit a few balls this way. Again, please start off swinging easy; you may have some balance problems at first if you've been standing up during your downswing.

This may feel really awkward at first, but it should help you learn to keep your spine angle more consistent throughout your swing... and that should translate into more solid shots.