A Few Odds an Ends

I was looking through a notebook I keep that contains notes from golf lessons I have taken. The last playing lesson I took emphasized the tee shot. My note says, "Tee shot is paramount to making par. Work on these." So work on your driver, but work on hitting it straight, not far. If you can hit your irons straight, but not your driver, get a lesson. You'll never figure it out yourself.

There are several other notes that pertain only to me, but another general note is, "Make your targets very precise from the tee and the fairway." Think not only of which direction you want the shot to go, but on what spot do you want the ball to land. And it's a spot, not an area.

You know the bottom of your swing needs to be ahead of the ball. How do you do that? I practice this indoors with a fairway wood. I set up and take note of the place where the leading edge of the sole is. Then I make a slow-motion swing and try to lightly tap the rug with the sole of the club ahead of that place when I swing through. Hint: if you're not getting your weight to the left in the forward swing, and early in the forward swing, you won't be able to get the club out there.

I've been playing around with a short stroke for short putts this past week. It started out as the old pop stroke, but I quickly found out that the rapid stroke and percussive hit the word "pop" suggests is the wrong way to go about it. I'm finding success with a rhythmic stroke that nudges the ball to the hole. That might be a better starting point for you if you want try this out. I should also mention my upper arms rest against my sides for security. The advantage of a short stroke (about six inches for a 10-foot putt) is that the clubface stays square throughout. I'm only using this stroke for short putts I think I can sink. For longer putts, I go back to my sweeping pendulum stroke and the TAP method.

I read a tip in a current golf magazine that I thought might help. So I went out and tried it. The results were terrible. What I realized very quickly is that I was already doing what the tip suggested. In trying to follow the tip I did more of it and that was too much. Beware of tips you read in golf magazines.