Winter Check-up

The winter is a great time to incorporate changes into your game. Here are set-up keys you can practice now and use when the weather warms up.

Forward Bending
Tour players average 34 degree forward bend from the hip joints. What is your forward bend?

Side Bending
Tour players average 9 degree of side bending away from the target. If you play right handed, your right hand fits below your left, which drops your right shoulder and tilts your spine away from the target.

Shoulder Alignment
Tour players average 5 degree open to the target. Most golfers will have their shoulders even more open. If you slice the ball, set up with your shoulders square to the target. If you are not sure about your shoulder alignment, check your forearms. Imagine a board laying across your forearms being parallel to the target line.

Ball Position
Tour players average 3 inches forward of their sternum. With the proper side bending, the ball should be forward of your sternum. This allows the club to square up before impact.

Preshot Plan
Tour players have a preshot routine they execute before each shot. What's yours? Here's mine.
Once I've chosen the type of shot and the club I want to use I do the following;
1. Face the target with the ball between me and my target.
2. Choose an aiming point. My aiming point is usually a distant point. If your dominant eye is farthest from the target, use an aiming point close to your ball.
3. Place my hands on the grip.
4. Walk up to the ball, bend over from the hip joints, and place the club behind the ball, aiming the club face at the target.
5. While looking at my target, move my feet and settle into my stance.
6. Double check the aim of my club face.
7. At all times during my preshot routine, something is moving. It is either shuffling my feet, waggling the club or checking my target. Once I stop moving, I begin to swing the club.
This entire routine takes about 10 seconds.

Feel free to personalize it to focus on areas you struggle with, being careful not to make it more complicated (or slower) than necessary. Rehearse your routine until it becomes second nature.

Thanks,
Mike

How to adjust to fast greens

While playing a quick nine yesterday afternoon, I realized how much different it is to play during the winter. The lies are tighter and the greens are much quicker. Here are the adjustments I make to compensate.

1. Soft Hands
Whenever I give a putting lesson, I show the student how tight I hold my putter by holding their arm with the same pressure. The student is always surprised how lightly I hold their arm. Fast greens require attention to speed. The softer my hands, the better I can control speed.

2. Play more break
As I watch amateurs putt, they never seem to play enough break. As the greens get faster, the more the putt will break. Yesterday I had a 6 ft. putt and I played 12 inches of break. Get on the practice green and hit some putts. Pay close attention to how your ball reacts to slope.

3. Play your putts to die at the hole
A putt which runs a foot by the hole in summer, may run 5 or more feet past in the winter. Now we pay attention to stopping the ball as close to the hole as possible. You can practice this on the putting green by hitting putts from outside of 10 feet and seeing how close you can get to the hole without going in. Sounds crazy to try not to make a putt, but it will really help you control your speed.
On really fast putts, I will choose a spot short of the hole and try to stop the ball on that spot. This really helps those who tend to hit putts past the hole. On really slow putts, this spot moves beyond the hole.

4. Plan ahead
Every shot I hit, I'm always thinking of where I want to play my next shot from. There are times when it's better to be 30 feet short than 4 foot long. When greens are fast. you want to be below the hole as often as possible. Earlier I told you about a 6 foot putt with 12 inches of break. I didn't tell you I was trying to be short of the hole and didn't execute.

Hope you find this helpful.

Mike Hurley

Greetings
Hope your Thanksgiving was joyous. I noticed the 50th anniversary of Ping is coming next year. Have you wondered what golf would be like without the input of Karsten Solheim?
If you play with a set of perimeter weighted clubs, thank Karsten. If you putt with a putter with heel and toe weighting, thank Karsten. I remember seeing the original Ping putters and irons and thinking they were the ugliest things I'd ever seen. However, I have come to tolerate and use clubs which follow his design principles. I used a Ping Rite-In putter to win several college tournaments and the 1976 Michigan Amateur.
The Ping website has a complete history of Karsten and his road to changing the way Golf is played.
Until next time, thanks.
Mike Hurley