The perpetuation of the many myths in traditional golf instruction has led to countless injuries, inconsistent results and a world of frustration. Simply swinging the golf club in the way that the body is designed to move will lead to greater consistency and greater enjoyment for a significantly longer time. The eight myths covered in this story are the classics, and I’m certain that just about every avid player has read or been taught at least one, if not all, of them at one time or another. Understanding why these traditional pieces of golf instruction are wrong for you, and how to fix them, will free you of some major obstacles and allow you to improve both your swing and your ballstriking almost immediately. Read on and get ready to improve.
Fault: First of all, bones don’t bend, which is exactly what the hips consist of. Bending from the waist produces a curve or slouch in the lower back, severely restricting rotation.
Fix: A proper setup must yield two things: balance and range of motion. A setup that doesn’t allow for both to be maintained throughout the swing is flawed from the start. Range of motion is unrestricted when you bend from the hip joints. This puts the spine in a neutral position, which allows for maximum stability and mobility. If you sit on the edge of a chair with your back straight, you’re bent at your hips.
Drill: Begin by standing tall with your feet hip-width apart. Take one hand and put it in the small of your back with your palm open and facing out. Now place a golf club in your hand, holding the shaft near the clubhead so that the shaft runs straight up your spine with the grip end against the back of your head. Maintaining these contact points with the club, bend forward from the hip joints. If the grip end of the club is still in contact with the back of your head while holding the end of the club in the small of your back, then you’re bending properly. If not, it means you’re either rounding your shoulders or bending from the waist, not the hip joints.
When addressing the ball, bend from your waist or hips.
By now, you’ve probably seen footage of Tiger Woods snapping his 4-iron against a tree in the 2007 Masters. If you haven’t, it happened on the 11th hole when he found his ball at the base of a tree. Tiger had three choices: hit it backward or backhanded (two choices that would have probably led to a bogey) or advance it down the fairway. Of course, Tiger chose the latter, but to pull it off, he had to sacrifice his 4-iron.
As cool as it was to see him do that, I don’t recommend trying it (unless you have Tiger-like strength). After all, it’s expensive to break a club and easy to injure your hand.
To pull off a similar shot (without breaking your club or hurting yourself), you need to have a stable base—in particular, your legs and core muscles. Once you have that, make some half swings and try to feel your hands slap or explode into the back of the ball. After you make contact, feel your forearm and core muscles slow down the club’s acceleration so it recoils backward.
So what is Total Driving? According to the PGA Tour, it’s how long and accurate a player is off the tee. It’s not an easy stat to master, but I think it’s absolutely vital to master if you want to be a good player. After all, good driving will boost your confidence.
In early March, one of my students, Sean O’Hair, put on a master class in Total Driving at the PODS Championship. (The Tour computes Total Driving by “totaling a player’s rank in both driving distance and driving accuracy.”) For the week, Sean finished T15 in driving accuracy and 8th in driving distance, averaging 282.6 yards. Sean won that week—his second Tour victory—and earned a trip to the Masters. I couldn’t have been more proud.
Sean’s driving was key that week, in particular because Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course was playing incredibly difficult. By getting the ball in play, he could avoid the trouble that other players were getting into.
Although leading the Total Driving category doesn’t guarantee success on the PGA Tour, driving the ball long and straight (particularly, straight) will help players of all levels knock strokes off their handicaps. Although you could argue that the world’s best player doesn’t rank high in this category, Tiger does put his ball into play most of the time, and when he finds a bit of trouble, he gets out of it—fast.
The key point I want you to take away from this article is first to drive the ball in the fairway and then maximize your distance. After all, good drives allow you to play your next shot from a position that will let you make some birdies and pars.
1 Find The Perfect Posture
Stand Tall. The first step to good driving is to have a perfect posture. Without it, you’ll have to make compensations in your swing to deliver the club on its correct path. In this photo, I’ve taken my driver and am holding it parallel to my spine and flat against my back. I want the grip end of my clubshaft against my tailbone and the clubhead just above my head.
Bend From Your Hips. I often see my students misunderstand this next step, so I’ll be very clear: Bend from the hips while the club touches your back and head. If you round your shoulders or keep your legs straight, the club won’t stay in place, so flex your knees into an “athletic position.” If I were to let go of the club, I’d look like a shortstop awaiting a ball.
Perfect Posture. The club is back in my hands, but I haven’t lost my athletic posture. My back is flat, my knees are slightly flexed, and the angle between my chest and the club is 90 degrees. Also, notice how my belt and clubshaft are on the same plane. Use these references the next time you photograph or record your swing, or simply check your posture in a mirror.
To keep your putterface square, your hands must complement one another
It doesn’t matter if you want to hit a 250-yard drive or drain a six-foot putt, when it comes to playing great golf, nothing replaces solid fundamentals. Consider my putting grip. Notice how my hands complement one another and my thumbs point down the handle? I use this standard “reverse-overlap” grip because it keeps the clubface square through the entire stroke. With my right palm and back of my left hand facing my target, I don’t just ensure a square putterface, but a smooth, solid roll, too.
The clubface has the biggest effect on direction, and the position of your hands corresponds to the position of your clubface.
"A square clubface is absolutely vital. to keep it straight, make sure your hands complement one another."
Ball land in a divot? Don?t worry, Kevin Scheller will help you get it out and on the green.
We’ve all seen pros get upset when they get out into the fairway after a perfect drive only to find their ball in a divot. When this happens to you, don’t waste your time getting mad. Instead, think of it almost as you would a normal shot, but move the ball slightly back in your stance and select one more club than normal. Don’t attempt to swing down on the ball more than usual, but instead, think about tracing the depth of the existing divot. Let your arms be loose through impact rather than tense, and you’ll find they extend down and through nicely. Remember, solid contact is the key here, not muscle power.
"Extracting your ball from a divot isn’t that tough. Simply try to swing smoothly without getting too steep."
If you’re not familiar with the term “stacked,” as it applies to the golf swing, you should be. Basically, in a sound swing, the upper body should stay relatively balanced over the lower body without any significant leaning in any direction. At the far left, notice how my chest, shoulders and head are directly over my right thigh. I haven’t swayed in the backswing, but have simply coiled my chest over a flexed right leg. This is critical for loading up and creating power. At the upper right, you’ll see that my backside is sticking out rather than collapsing closer to the ball. This shows I’ve maintained my spine angle, which is also critical to a powerful swing.
"Allowing the majority of your body weight to move to your front foot at the top of the backswing is a huge mistake."
