While Michael Block didn’t win the Wannamaker Trophy at this year’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York, he easily won American hearts and went back home with more than just a paycheck.

Image courtesy of CNN

While Michael Block’s road to the PGA Championship was not atypical, it certainly had a remarkable and unrivaled finish. Block is the PGA Head Golf Professional at his home course, Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California. He has played in over 20 professional tour events and even made the cut in the 2015 Barbasol Championship.

So how did he get there?

One of the great and unique things about the PGA Championship is that it offers a spot to the top 20 finishers of the PGA Professional Championships. Michael Block shot an 8 under for the four day tournament finishing in a tie for second place. That second place finish landed him an invitation to the 2023 PGA Championship. But this wasn’t his first time competing in the PGA Championship. This was his 4th. He is clearly a solid player and incredibly consistent.

This is a hard game. It’s even harder to compete against players whose sole purpose is to play golf. Professional golfers breathe, eat, and sleep golf. They practice sometimes 8 hours a day, work out with golf specific physical therapists and trainers, swing coaches, putting coaches, elite technology, and the best equipment money can buy. To be able to compete on that level and secure an invitation to the 2024 PGA Championship with a top 15 finish was really an incredible thing to be able to witness. Congratulations to Michael Block for the performance of a liftime. It’s not something we willl soon forget. Enjoy this video of Michael Block promoting is home course, Arroyo Trabuco Golf Course in Mission Viejo, California 12 years ago, before anyone knew he was going to be a star!

Why does the ball draw? Why does it fade?

If you have access to a launch monitor, you will have a lot of data to use to figure these things out. However, most recreational golfers don’t have this kind of technology so I hope to break it down in a way that’s easy to understand.

First, I want to explain the difference between swing direction and swing path. The swing direction is the direction of your swing plane. The swing path is the direction the club is traveling when it makes contact with the ball. So if you are hitting down on a ball (AOA is a negative number), your club path will always be to the right of your swing plane (for a right handed golfer).

So in the context of what we are talking about, angle of attack is really important. There are times, even for me, that the angle of attack (AOA) is inconsistent. So for example, I don’t usually habitually swing the club out to in. But sometimes I hit a drive where it appears that I have pull/hooked the driver and I can see on my launch monitor that I have hit up on the ball too much. When you hit up on the ball, the club is traveling left of your swing direction.

What are we going to do to figure this stuff without having the data on a launch monitor? First, let’s say that you are having trouble with the ball curving to the right. The longer the club, the bigger the curve. So we want to learn to feel the difference between a slice swing and a draw or hook swing. We have to practice exaggerating these swings. Remember, a slice is going to be an open club face with an out to in swing path. A hook swing is going to be a closed club face with an in to out swing path. What you want to eventually be able to do is practice this enough that your slices turn into more of a fade and your hooks turn into more of a draw.

Now have your focus on the club face instead of the swing path. With a pull slice, you want to feel like the hosel of the club is leading the toe at impact so focus for a moment on your club face. Now, focus on closing the club face by feeling like the toe of the club is leading the heel of the club at impact. As you practice these drills, start to notice which one you are better at or which one feels more comfortable to you. With practice, you will become more skillful at hitting these purposely shaped shots. Let me know how that works for you.