The hybrid club is such an incredibly versatile club to have in your bag that we decided to break down three very different shots in which you can use your hybrid club.

Hybrid from the Tee

• Tip #1 - You really have to practice the shot

  • We always see so many people working on their driver on the driving range. But when someone gets on the course and they see trouble left and right, this is absolutely NOT the time to try to figure out how to hit your hybrids. This takes practice and you really should spend a good bit of time practicing teeing off with your hybrid before you start to hit it on the course.

• Tip #2 - Tee up the ball just a slight bit above the ground

  • You need to incentivize yourself to swing the club well and that means hitting it the way it was designed…from the fairway.

• Tip #3 - Ball position should be a little bit more forward than a long iron but less than your driver

• Tip #4 - Envision the ball flight you want to see as you go through your pre-shot routine

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Hybrid from the Fairway

• Tip #1 - Practice the shot on various lies

• Tip #2 - Ball position is going to still be forward in your stance

• Tip #3 - Swing within yourself. What does that mean? That just means that you really want to be conservative with the speed in which you swing the club. If you try to “overswing”, you run the risk of becoming too handsy with the club and topping the shot.

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Chip with your Hybrid

• Tip #1 - Practice Practice Practice this shot.

• Tip #2 - Choke down on the club - you should grip the club almost down to the bottom of the grip, right above the graphite

• Tip #3 - Ball position should be more center of your stance

• Tip #4 - Putting stroke and knock it in the hole

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Was there anything we missed? Any shots that you can think of that you want to know more about. Drop us a line, comment, or email your questions!

Lauren and I spent the afternoon at Drive Shack one Sunday and we played with a group of friends who don’t play much golf. The subject came up about the “rescue club” which is the hybrid club. We thought this would be a great topic for a video since some beginner golfers don’t know what they are.

What is a Hybrid?

A hybrid club is just like the name says: a hybrid of an iron and a wood. It’s meant to replace your longer irons.

Does everyone need a hybrid?

Yes, probably everyone could benefit from having a hybrid in their bag. The reason is a long iron doesn’t have a wide sole and there’s not a ton of material down low so it’s hard to get the center of gravity of the club below the equator of the ball. So when you catch the ball thin, you are catching the club on the way up a little bit. When you hit a hybrid club on the same shot, it has a shallower face and so much of the weight of the club is back and back behind where the ball would be so even if you catch it a little thin, all of the weight low and back on the club will still help you get the ball up in the air. Generally, the hybrid club is going to get the ball in the air much easier than a long iron. The manufacturers of clubs have essentially taken the guesswork out of it so that a 4 hybrid would be the club to replace your 4 iron. Theoretically, those clubs are intended to be hit the same distance (if they are hit solidly). That being said, you are more likely going to hit your 4 hybrid farther because you are likely not hitting your 4 iron solidly.

Which clubs should you replace with hybrids?

Once you get past your 7 iron, you are better off moving to a hybrid club especially for a recreational and beginner golfer. So anything 6 iron or longer. The higher handicapper or the newer you are at golf, the closer to the 6 iron you will want to replace. In other words, if you are a beginner golfer or have a handicap over 16, you should consider replacing your 6 iron and longer with a hybrid type club.

How long have hybrids been around?

When I was a kid, a company named Browning used to make a set of irons that looked like hybrids. They went away and then in the 90’s, Taylormade came out with the Rescue Club. In 2004 about 10% of golfers had hybrids in their bag, as of now, it’s a much bigger percentage. Even tour players are starting to use hybrids now as well.

Finally, if you are resistant to using hybrids because you believe you hit your long irons really well, I think if you give yourself a chance to hit some hybrids, you will find that you are playing the game better and enjoying the game more. Try to let go of your preconceived notions and biases that you may have because it is proven that hybrid clubs are so much easier to hit.

In the next few weeks, we will go over 3 different shots you can execute with your hybrid.

What are the worst things you can do on the golf course???

Remember the difference between rules and etiquette violations in golf…rules violations will cost you strokes and etiquette violations will cost you playing partners, and friends. So here’s the list of the top 10 breaches of etiquette on the golf course in our own personal order. We have had a TON of suggestions and recommendations to add to this list but here’s what we came up with the start with:

#10. Giving yourself a gimme

Don’t ever assume your putt is good, especially if you are playing for money.

#9. Playing out of turn.

The general consensus is whoever is further from the hole or whoever had the best score on the previous hole typically goes first. There is one caveat here and that’s if you are playing “ready golf” to speed up the pace of play. However, you never want to assume that you are playing ready golf without talking to your playing partners. So if your playing partner had the better score on the last hole, but you are ready to hit, just ask if it’s okay. Don’t assume.

8. Unsolicited Advice

Don’t ever give advice on the golf course if someone hits an errant shot or is struggling with their swing. It’s not usually helpful or productive when someone is having trouble.

#7. Slow Play

Once it’s your turn to play and no one is in your way, hit your shot in less than 24 seconds. More than 2 practice swings is excessive and stay on task. Don’t lose track of whose turn it is by being distracted by other things (especially cell phone use). You want to try to play a round in under 4 hours and 15 minutes.

#6. Shadows or Movements in someone’s shot

You don’t really want to be anywhere that someone can be distracted by your movement. Your shadow should not be crossing the line of someone’s putt. Be aware of your presence when it’s someone else’s turn to hit. Try not to be distracting with movement.

#5. Playing Loud Music on the Golf Course

Be aware that some people really want to be out in nature and may not want to hear your music. Music also does carry across water so you want to make sure that other people aren’t forced to listen to music.

#4. Golf bag on the green

Make sure you don’t ever place your golf bag on the green. This can cause damage to the delicate greens and it’s also inconsiderate to the other golfers you are playing with.

#3. Disrespecting the Golf Course

Always leave the golf course in better shape than you found it. Pick up litter, fix your ball marks on the green as well as others, rake your bunkers, and generally keep the golf course in good condition.

#2. Talking or making noise in someone’s swing

Be very mindful to making noise in someone’s back swing or if they are about to hit a shot. Be very quiet while they are playing!

#1. Walking in someone’s line

We equate this to wearing white to someone else’s wedding. You need to be very aware of where everyone else’s ball is on the green and never walk between their ball and the hole. The history is that when people used to wear metal spikes on their golf shoes, they would change the grain of the grass and could cause someone’s putt to go off line. When you step on the green, there might be a slight indentation where your foot mark was and could change the roll of the putt. You will accidentally do it at some point. Just acknowledge it and apologize. Simply noticing that you did it will go a long way with your playing partners.

So there you have it…

Our top 10 etiquette violations in golf. We are talking more about this on Friday, June 10th at 4 pm live on Youtube and Instagram. We hope you will join us and give us some of your own suggestions on the things that drive you crazy on the golf course. Comment below with your suggestions!

Here’s the situation.

You are around the green and you have a basic little pitch shot. You want to loft it on the green and have it roll out very little. Most people will take out their sand wedge for this shot but how do they feel about that. Probably very little confidence. If you are lacking confidence with this shot, you may want to change your strategy a little bit.

Ideally, remember the less loft you use, the less skill you need. So, if you can putt it, putt it. If you can’t putt it, you should probably chip it. But if you need to get the ball up in the air higher or maybe have a higher skilled shot, you may have no other option than to pitch it. Most recreational golfers are going to pull out a sand wedge attempting to hit a higher lofted shot that will land softly and roll out very little. However, when executing that type of shot, the golfer is going to need to put a lot of energy and acceleration into the shot to get it to go high enough. With this amount of energy being put into this particular shot, if you make less than solid contact, the results can be catastrophic!

There’s an easier way to do this…pull out your gap wedge.

The gap wedge is what the pitching wedge used to be. The gap wedge is actually preferable to get the ball on the ground sooner and have it roll out a little bit more. You might notice that if you make less than stellar contact, you might still not be in terrible shape. The idea is that with a less lofted club, we are going to see less catastrophe with our misses. Remember, nothing beats practice. Take a dozen balls out to the range and practice chipping with the different lofted clubs. You may notice that your misses are much better with the gap wedge than the sand wedge. Let us know if this helped.

We have a lot of students who come out for golf lessons or classes who are brand new to the game and don’t know the difference between their clubs. Additionally, we have a ton of seasoned golfers who often get confused by the amount of variations of wedges that they might have in their bag. Your wedges might have a letter or a number on them. The varying degrees of loft can be quite overwhelming. Here’s a standard chart of the typical wedges you might have in your bag:

• Pitching Wedge - 43-47 degrees

• Gap Wedge - 47-52 degrees

• Sand Wedge - 54-56 degrees

• Lob Wedge - 58-62 degrees

First of all, as a new golfer, make sure you don’t have redundancy in your bag. You might have multiple clubs that are so close in loft that it’s completely unnecessary to have both. So check your lofts on your clubs. If your club has a letter instead of a number, you can have your club checked by someone who builds or repairs clubs to ensure that you have what you need in your bag.

The reason why this topic is so confusing is because of marketing.

It used to be that a pitching wedge was 50 degrees of loft, a 9 iron was 46 degrees, and an 8 iron would be 42 degrees. That pitching wedge would be enough loft that you would be able to hit a nice high shot that lands softly (known as a pitch shot) hence the name pitching wedge. Then you would have a sand wedge that would normally be 56 degrees. Just from your pitching wedge to your sand wedge would be a little bit of a stretch (*or gap) between the lofts. The manufacturers were trying to sell more golf clubs and probably sitting around the room trying to figure out how to sell more clubs by giving golfers what they want.

What do golfers want? They want more distance.

So they said, if we start making the lofts a little stronger, people would think they were hitting the clubs much longer. This continued happening until the pitching wedge became generally around 46 degrees which then popularized the club known as the gap wedge (also known as an alternate or utility wedge). It is a wedge that’s in between the pitching wedge and the sand wedge.

So what wedges do we need in our bag?

You absolutely need a 54 to 56 degree sand wedge in your bag. It’s an absolute necessity. You also should have a gap wedge. And then more than likely you will have a pitching wedge which hits more like an iron now than a wedge. You might also be tempted to have a 60 degree lob wedge in your bag. The actual area to effectively hit the ball solidly on a 60 degree lob wedge is very small so it becomes extremely tricky to hit well. You would do well to take the 60 out of your bag which will also help with some indecision you might have on which club to use.

Feel free to respond with any questions about wedges. Don’t forget, we go live on Youtube on Thursday, May 26th at 4 pm EST to talk more about this topic.

Most golfers, when they have been playing for a little while, come to me with the hope that I can help them hit their driver better. I am going to give you a drill that will help you start hitting your driver better but it does require practice and a certain amount of discipline. The goal is to take a full swing with the driver but only 50% speed. So if you normally hit your driver 220 yards, during this drill, you will only hit it 110 yards. During the drill, the goals are to make center face contact and for the ball to be relatively straight.

It’s actually much harder to do than it looks. When we tell our students to swing 50%, it usually ends up being more like 80-90%. If you can manage to swing slower, it will help you get a feel for the club face, the path, and most importantly making center face contact.

There are a few ways to use an impact bag but I would like to talk about one of the ways I like to use it. First off, I want to talk about why we use the impact bag. The first impact bag was invented by a guy named Dr. Gary Wiren. Written on the first impact bag was the words “The Moment of Truth”. What this means is that when you are using the impact bag, the moment of truth is when we strike the ball, right at impact. We really like to use the bag mostly for those who tend to “scoop” the ball, both during little shots and full shots. This is usually what happens when golfers, sometimes unconsciously, try to lift the ball in the air by trying to get under it. What we actually want to happen is to strike the ball with our handle (and hands) leading the clubhead at impact. When you see pros hitting shots on the range and during a round, their club is still descending when they make contact with the ball which is why their divot is ahead of the ball.

One of the most important principles to adhere to while using the impact bag is to swing the club slow and intentional in order to get the correct impact position. I also would recommend aiming for the center of the impact bag with your club head.

Good Impact Position!!!

Poor impact position

There are 3 drills I would recommend to do while using the impact bag. Image and description of each drill below.

Lead hand on the club only with the wrist bowed or flexed.

2. Trail hand only drill where the trail wrist is cupped or extended.

3. Both hands on the club swinging slowly and intentionally to create good impact position and weight transfer.

Ultimately, the purpose of this drill is to get you transferring weight into your lead leg early and also get a feel for good impact position.

If you’d like to purchase an impact bag, click here.

Here’s another great drill to work on indoors during the winter months or rainy days. This is something that a lot of people don’t like to work on and only really gloss over this major problem. The reverse pivot is a huge problem and can’t seriously affect your ability to get the club on the correct swing plane. The reverse pivot is when your secondary spine angle changes and causes your back hip to slide back and the orientation of your spine become the reverse of what it should be. When you look at a really good player, if you put a line on the back side of the player, when the shoulders turn back, the hips stay in place and a bit later, the hips turn. There is no lateral slide to those hips. When we laterally slide, we have to make some compensations to get back to the ball. So how do we fix this?

We are going to learn this one piece at a time. First, we want to be able to feel what the correct motion feels like. So start this without a club and a ball. We are going to bump our hips toward the target and let our head drop back behind the ball. But you still want to be vertical. Then we are going to put our club across our chest. When we turn back away from the target, we should feel some resistance in that rotation. We can feel some pressure between the ball and the heel of your foot. This is really helpful if you can use a mirror to see what’s going on in your body. When we make that turn, we should maintain the integrity of our spine in that secondary spine tilt. So first, let’s make sure you can rotate those shoulders 90 degrees around your spine. Practice the rotation in the mirror for about a week and make sure you can do this without sliding those hips.

Next, we add the primary spine tilt which is the bend at the hips so that we can hit the ball from the ground. When i bend at the hips, I want my hips to be directly between my ankle bones. When I bend forward at the hips, I want to make sure the club is 90 degrees to my spine.

Watch Video!

Finally, this is a great drill to do on the Perfect Motion app. I am going to start the app and I’m not going to take a full swing, I am going to cross the club across my chest and go through the swinging motion with the club across my chest. You can use the feedback on the app to see what’s going on in your swing. Position one is position at address, position two is the top of my backswing, and position three is impact position. We are focusing on position two with this drill to make sure we are getting into a nice pivot position.

Fix the reverse pivot and golf will become a lot more fun!

This is a great drill you can do to help with slicing. Slicing can be one of the most frustrating things in golf. Two things are going on when you are slicing. First, your club face is open meaning that the club face is pointing right of your target line for a right-handed golfer and left of the target line for a left-handed golfer. You are also swinging out to in. When it comes to the path of the club, you must swing the club with a little bit of side bend. This is what we call a secondary spine tilt. If you are coming through with your swing and you don’t have enough side bend, the club will come from out to in on its path. You can use the Perfect Motion app to really see your secondary spine tilt. The app allows you to see where the center of your chest is at impact and can really help you with fixing your side bend problem. You can do this drill without a ball and you can even do this drill without a club. When looking at the PerfectMotion app, the numbers on the app show you the position of the center of your chest at set up, at the top of the backswing, and at impact. Another cool feature when looking at your motion maps is the “Pro Overlay” feature to see what a professional golfers motion map looks like on top of your own for a comparison.

So the drill we did in this video was a one arm swing where our focus was to initiate my downswing using my lower body and simulate skipping a stone. Try this drill to increase side bend at impact and help you stop slicing the ball.

During the winter months while you are stuck inside, there is a way you can work on your short game. Every person can do this to work on your chipping inside your home. Here’s a great tip to work on your chipping.

Tip #1:

Starting off, don’t use a ball or any technology, just your club. We are going to start off with an alignment stick or some type of stick that you can use in place of it. I am going to take it underneath the grip of my club and I am going to hold the stick and my club together at the same time. When I set up, the end of the stick is out ahead of me. I am going to make my chipping stroke and practice making that stroke without allowing the stick to hit me in the side. We call this the punisher drill. You can do this without a ball and without a hitting net and you will see a dramatic improvement in your impact position in your chip shots. The trick with the punisher drill is to keep your weight in your front side throughout the swing to avoid having that stick hit you in the side at impact.

Tip #2:

Great Chipping with At Home Practice

This tip is going to require the use of some technology and some equipment. We are going to use a ball in this drill. You can use a foam ball which will allow you to avoid the use of a net. However, if you have the ability to use the Net Return and real golf balls, I highly recommend it. It will last you a long time. You can also download the PerfectMotion App. You can get the first two weeks free on the app and after that it is $6 per month. Under the PerfectMotion app, you do an evaluation session for chipping with no ball. I will also check mark video snapshots and start at Skill Level 1. Hit start session. You can choose 5 or 10 swings to capture but for the purposes of this video, I chose 5 swings to capture. Also keep in mind when using the app, especially if you aren’t using a ball that the app recognizes the completion of your swing based on your head position, so make sure you follow the ball the same way you would if you were hitting a real shot. On purpose for the video, I created a swing flaw and I was trying to move away from the ball at impact. You can look at each one of your motion maps to see what your motion is doing during the swing and look at the comparison to the motion map of a tour pro. So now I am moving into working with a ball and I have changed the skill level to 3. You will be able to look at the snapshots of your actual shot to analyze anything you think you might be able to do better. This is a way for you to have some really productive practice and really focused practice sessions especially if you are having to work on your game inside.

Today we worked with Kadyn to help her hit her iron shots more solidly by using the V1 Pressure Mat.

Kadyn asked me why she kept hitting behind the ball and what that had to do with her pressure. When we put her on the pressure mat and took at look at her pressure on the pressure mat. We found that she started off with 54% of her weight in her front foot which is just about perfect. When she took the club back, her weight started moving forward instead of moving back. Typically when this happens, the golfer would start moving their weight back as they start to swing the club through. However, Kadyn never actually got her weight into her back foot but her impact position was really good. In order to create a more dynamic swing for her, we had her pick up a medicine ball to help her move her weight back and then forward.

When we use a tool that’s heavier than a golf club, it helps us keep the synchronization of our body through the golf swing. We are more likely to use our entire body as a unit to move the club. We also want to try to get our weight more into our front heel. Using the medicine ball, take the ball back into your backswing and keeping your back pointing toward the target, start initiating your weight into your front foot.

If we can get our weight moving forward before we even initiate the downswing, we are more likely to hit the ball before the ground which will give us more solid contact every time!

If we are able to get the swing coming back on plane by working on your takeaway at home or in your garage, you are on your way to correcting that slice. Now let’s talk about the swing path on the way back to the ball so we can start moving away from that out-to-in swing path.

If you can’t get your ball to start left, start by hitting some small shots. Make sure you are checking your finish position to make sure your club is closing through impact.

In this video, we used the V1 Pressure mat. Looking at the screen, the blob on the right side of screen is the right foot and the left side is the left foot. We need to get the pressure to our front side much earlier in order to get the club coming from the inside of the target line on the downswing. Utilizing the ground forces is going to be critical. I need to get my weight shifting into my front foot before my club even finishes the backswing. This is going to help get the shaft of the club on a more steeper plane on the backswing so it shallows out on the way back to the ball. Another cue is to keep your back turned to the target longer.

If you have a pressure mat, this is a great feedback device to get you moving weight earlier. If you don’t have a pressure mat, get set up in your golf posture (no club required) with a secondary spine tilt (right shoulder lower than left for a right-handed golfer) and your hands across your chest. Take your backswing, maintaining that secondary spine tilt and start moving your weight into your front foot while your back is still pointing toward the target. One common trait in really good golfers is that they get weight into their front side really early.

If I couldn’t play golf for several months in the cold weather, having a great feedback device will help you continue to improve your game.

Now that the weather is getting colder and it’s getting darker earlier, you have the opportunity to improve your golf game at home with very little equipment.

We have the advantage of the Net Return golf net and the Skytrak launch monitor. We know that most people do not and we want to help you improve your slice at home with just a golf club and a little bit of space.

In our golf studio, we are able to work with our students during inclement weather. For some people, it makes sense to deck out their space with all the gadgets but for some people, this may not be an option.

If you are struggling with a slice, your club face is probably open relative to your swing path. Most of the time this means that the club face is open and the path is moving to the left. The first thing we want to do is make sure we have a good grip. A strong grip means that the V between my thumb and forefinger on my top hand points toward my back shoulder. For someone who has had a chronically weak grip, this may be something that you have to work on for awhile to get comfortable. Once you have committed to that strong top hand, we can move onto the next thing. If the grip is strong and you’re still struggling with a slice, we may want to start looking at the next thing which would be swing path.

We need to keep our hands in front of our chest for as long as possible. Visualize yourself holding a 50 pound sandbag. We are going to need to rotate our torso in order to get that bag to swing. We want to mimic that same body movement when we hold our club, keeping our hands and arms fairly inactive. At home, you can also use a soccer ball or basketball to try to keep your hands in front of your chest during the swing. Once you put the club in your hands, try to keep the club parallel to the ground when it’s parallel to the target.

It’s helpful to have something to swing into but if you can get started off correctly, working on those things at home, when you get to the range, you will be able to use what you’ve been working on at home. In our next instructional blog, we are going to talk about how to start your downswing inside while you practice to have a better chance to swing the club in-to-out and hit the ball straighter. Click the picture below to watch the video.

Click Here

To watch our instructional video

Now that it’s starting to get colder and we must find ways to work on our golf game indoors. In this blog, I will show you how to use the Skytrak Launch Monitor to help fix your slice indoors.

First, let’s talk about setting up the launch monitor. To set up, you are going to click on Session Settings. Set the camera angle to first person. You can play around with the settings to have it set up exactly how you want it but I like to see my main distance view to be set up as “carry”. Of course I make sure that it’s set up for a right handed golfer and I like for my ball spin to be set up as “spin axis”. Spin axis is going to show you the curve of the ball in the air.

I am using the Net Return in this video and this is particularly helpful in the winter months and rainier season. I have used the Net Return for 10 years and I have been very pleased with the customer service and the quality of the product. I have carried the Net Return around the country for golf events, it has seen literally thousands of swings. It has been packed up, shipped out, banged around, and driven over by a van and I would never go with another product. It comes with shank guards on the sides as well.

In this video, I was looking for a particular shot. This is a very common ball flight, something I see in a lot of my students. If you are having trouble with a slice or you are thinking about getting one of these indoor set ups, this may be the video for you. If you are seeing a consist situation where you have this 14 degree tilt to the right, you may be struggling with this. You may have an open club face with an out-to-in swing path which is causing the ball to go off to the right. Before we even begin, we may want to see where you are hitting the ball on the club. By putting some foot powder on your club face, you can see where you are hitting the club. If your path and face are both square to the target at impact and you hit the ball on the toe, your ball will hook. If you hit the ball on the heel of the club your ball will go off to the right.

So if you have seen a consistent trend of ball flight to the right and your club face is open, the first thing you may want to check is your grip. With the grip, make sure that the “V” between your thumb and forefinger on your left hand (for a right-handed golfer) is pointed at your back shoulder. The palm of your right hand should be perpendicular to the target.

If you’ve adjusted your grip so that you have a nice strong grip, and you are still seeing an open club face, the next thing you may want to work on is your swing path. First, with a very slow and short swing, you want to watch your club face to make sure that it remains square to the arc of your swing. As you take the backswing, check to make sure that club face is opening, squaring up through impact, and then closing on the follow through. This is much easier to do when you are slowing down the swing. Quiet down your hands and let the club swing. Once you start to see a spin axis that is consistently to the left, you can start to make a bigger and faster swing and see if you can maintain that leftward spin axis.

Practice this drill using the Skytrak to see if you can get your slice under control through the winter time and you will have more fun and see lower scores in 2021!

Check out the video here!

To purchase the Skytrak or Net Return Click Here!

Let’s keep this super simple. When you are practicing indoors, if you don’t have feedback as to where the ball is going, things can become difficult. When it comes to finding the latest and greatest in technology, understanding what is important on a screen full of numbers is also confusing and overwhelming. So today we are trying to keep it simple when it comes to comprehension of the numbers on your screen.

To watch the full video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URKSZlTXg8o&feature=youtu.be

We were on the third take of our instructional video when Lauren peered over the camera and said to me, “You’re making this too complicated. I don’t understand what half of these numbers mean. Give it to me straight. Which numbers are important when it comes to understanding ball flight?” The result was the final cut of the video.

In a nutshell, when I hit a ball indoors, possibly into a net, I want to make sure that the numbers I am seeing are giving me an accurate depiction of what my ball flight would do if I were on the range. Here are the important things to know on your launch monitor: how far you are hitting the ball and whether the ball is going left, right or straight. The Skytrak gives you a shot tracer so you can have a general idea of what your ball flight would look like. But there are also some other numbers to look at when it comes to ball flight. In this video we looked at spin axis and side angle. Spin axis, provided there’s no wind, will tell you if your ball would be curving right or left. Side angle will tell you which direction your ball launched in relation to the target. Next week we will dive more into some of the more common swing flaws and what they might look like on the Skytrak. In general though, if your spin axis is tilted to the right, you probably have an open club face and you are probably swinging on an out to in path. This is often true especially if your ball launches left with a spin axis to the right.

If you are practicing indoors and you can’t see where the ball is going, you may be in for a rude awakening. It’s very important to understand what is going on with your ball flight. The Skytrak is a fantastic product with a reasonable price point and is a very durable machine. We have used our Skytrak Launch Monitor for 6 years in a commercial setting and it still works great. If you have any questions about what you are seeing on your Skytrak, please reach out with questions. If you are interested in purchasing the Skytrak, click here for more information.

You probably know the situation. You hit a shot that lands just behind the bunker. Your next shot should be easy but it goes straight into the bunker instead of over it. How can you stop dumping those shots into the bunker?

In order to quit dumping those pitch shots directly into the bunker instead of getting over it, you need to practice the shot. That’s the number one tip I can offer is to practice the situation as much as possible. It is usually better to miss this shot long than short. In order to do this, you want to visualize the ball landing in the hole. This will help you overshoot your target rather than undershoot it. Depending on your lie, this may make a bit of difference how you approach the shot. Generally speaking, you will probably find yourself with a pretty good uphill lie if you have a bunker between you and the green. The result of having an uphill lie will naturally give more dynamic loft to your club. This will require you to swing a little bit harder than you normally would with a flat lie. With an uphill lie, you will need to angle your shoulders a little bit more to match the incline of the hill you are hitting on. Take a practice swing before you execute the shot and try to get your divot ahead of the ball. Swing aggressively with the shot and visualize your shot landing in the hole.

What if you have a less than ideal lie? If the ball is positioned in the weeds or deep in the rough, it may be difficult to make contact with the club. I would play this shot a little more like a greenside bunker shot. Instead of trying to hit the ball first and then the ground, I am going to try to make contact with the ground first and carry the turf and have the ball come out with the turf. I am also going to open up my stance a bit just like I would with a greenside bunker shot. When the ball comes out with this kind of shot, it is going to come out a little bit lower and it’s not going to want to stop. In other words, you want to hit this ball fat on purpose. We want to swing aggressively on most of these shots. If you hit it long, chances are, you will be in good shape.

When it comes to trying to get over a bunker or hazard, it’s really important that you practice the shot. Find a place where you can practice the shot at a range or practice facility. Get used to the shot and it will be much easier to execute.

The CutterGolf Cutter Wedge was used in the making of this video. The low center of gravity and wide sole makes these types of shots much easier to execute. You can purchase yours at this link:

https://www.sullivangolf.net/clubs

The link to watch the full video:

https://youtu.be/wuOIh-5y_P0

Thanks to a suggestion from our viewer, Jeffrey, we are discussing the problem of early extension in your downswing. If you’d like to watch the full video, the link is below. Jeffrey, who is a low handicapper, is struggling with early extension in the downswing. This is something we want to avoid. So what’s happening is that for some reason, rather than maintaining our primary spine angle, we see movement toward the ball. This often happens with better players who are trying to swing the club on a nice path from inside the target line, down to the target line and then back around inside. What usually happens here is that the player’s shaft often gets back behind them a little bit and if they stay on that swing path without adjusting something, they will catch the club on the hosel. We want to get the club more in front of our chest throughout the swing to make sure we are on the correct swing path. Here’s a great drill in order to rectify this early extension.

Set up in your golf posture and take a small back swing. Feel as though your hands are dropping down in front of your chest but keep the hinge in your wrists so that the club is parallel to the ground when your hands hit the low end of your swing (see photo to the right). At that point, turn through the shot. Notice that my hands are dropping straight down below my shoulders. As you swing through the shot, try to feel like your weight is getting into your front heel on the way through. Maintain that primary spine angle all the way through the shot.

Another drill you can do to try to resolve the early extension is the hockey drill. This makes it very easy for us to keep our hands ahead of chest. Grip the club like a hockey stick (see photo below). Take your normal set up, take the club back and keep your back turned toward the target. If you’re early extending, you’re probably getting the club caught back behind you on the way down. This hockey drill enables you to keep your hands in front of your chest while keeping your club on the correct swing path.

We have golfers come in to see us on a regular basis and their biggest struggle is slicing their driver. They tell us how they feel they have a pretty good handle on the irons but for some reason, they can’t find consistency with the driver.

Generally when someone comes in with this problem, we will put them on the Flightscope to see what’s going on with their numbers. We specifically want to look at both the swing path and the club face. When I put myself on the Flightscope while hitting my wedge, I noticed that my ball flight and impact seemed really solid. When looking at the numbers, it showed that my club face was 7 degrees open. This chronically open club face is what we see all the time. On the screen we could see that the ball flight was a little bit to the right but not enough for it to hurt us too bad on the golf course. However, the same swing with our driver would get us slicing into the woods, pond, or out of bounds. Why is that? It’s because of the loft of the club. My pitching wedge has 46 degrees of loft and when you hit the ball with a lot of loft and an open club face, you’re not going to see a big tilt axis on that ball. My driver has less than 10 degrees of loft. When the club has less loft, the tilt axis becomes more extreme. So how do we fix this?

The first thing is, you want to try to make sure that you are spending some time working on getting your club face square relative to your path. If you are slicing the ball, you should even try to get your club face closed. The first thing we look at when this is happening with one of our students is the grip. We want to make sure that the top hand is rotated on top of the club so that the V in between the thumb and forefinger is pointed up toward your back shoulder. This is going to make it much easier to rotate the club through impact. Your bottom hand should match up to the club face so that your palm is pointing down the target line.

Now the grip is looking good and you’re still slicing. The next thing we have to do is become skillful with the club face. In order to get that club face square at impact, you should start with smaller swings. Take a look at your club face on the back swing. Try to get the club face somewhat pointing at the ground as you take it back. Believe it or not, most people who struggle with a slice tend to have their club face pointing at the sky on that backswing. Your intention with each of these swings should be to have that ball flight go either straight or to the left (for a right-handed golfer). As you become more skilled at manipulating that club face through impact, move up to a longer club with less loft like a 7 iron. Try to get those balls starting left and curving left. This is a skill game and you’re building skills with each one of these drills. Feel free to comment below with any questions.

I have been teaching golf for more than 20 years and in my experience, there is no greater fallacy than the idea that you need to keep your head down during the golf swing. So the next time someone tells you to keep your head down, tell them Mike Sullivan says “You’re not lifting your head"!

In a lesson that I had earlier in the week, I had a golf student who made less than solid contact in his swing. He told me his problem was that he lifted his head. The reason he thought he lifted his head was because the ball flight was very low, what we might call a “worm burner”. But what is actually going on in the golf swing when we keep our head down? Keeping our head down during the golf swing makes it very hard to transfer weight to our front side. The reason we need to transfer weight to our front side is because we need the low end of our swing to occur ahead of the ball, not behind the ball. When we hit the ground before the ball, we strike the ball as our club is coming back up which causes a topped shot, chunked shot, low trajectory flight (skulled shot) or extra high flight due to added loft at impact. There are many things that feed into this problem. Intuitively, most amateur golfers will grip the club weakly which encourages an open club face. Why does an open club face match up with someone topping or chunking the ball? The reason this correlation occurs is because the golfer knows instinctively and possibly subconsciously that their club face is going to be open at impact so it often makes them flip or scoop their hands through impact, letting the club face pass their hands. Setting up with a weak grip and encouraging that weight transfer early will inevitably lead to the ball going off to the right. So how do we resolve all of this? First, don’t worry about what your head is doing. You’re not lifting your head and you shouldn’t try to keep it down. Next, you should check your grip. Your lead hand (this is your left hand for a right-handed golfer) should be slightly strong. When we say “strong”, we don’t mean to grip tighter. Your lead hand should be slightly rotated on top of the club so that the V between your thumb and fore-finger is pointed toward your back shoulder (right shoulder for a right handed golfer). The palm on the trail hand should be facing the same directionas the club face. Finally, make sure that when you transfer weight during the golf swing, 100% of your weight should be on your lead foot at the end of the swing. In junior golf, we tell the young golfers, they should be able to tap their toe at the end of their swing.

The number one fundamental that we see in a beginner golfer is a weak grip. The number one concept that we see with newer golfers is this idea that they must keep their head down. Don’t fall into this trap! Strengthen your grip and transfer your weight. Pretty soon, you’ll be making better contact and have more consistency in your golf shots.