50 Years of Golfing Wisdom

The clubface looks to the left of, or is closed to, the swing path resulting in an oblique contact with the ball that creates anticlockwise sidespin.

As the ball’s forward momentum decreases, the anticlockwise sidespin curves the ball more and more to the left.

The more closed the clubface and/or the more in to out the swing path, the stronger the sidespin and the more pronounced the hook.

Also, the more in-to-out the clubhead path, the shallower the angle of attack, thus the greater the risk of the clubhead catching the ground before the ball, resulting in either fat or thin contact.

Assuming clean back-of-the-ball impact, the combination of lower flight and additional roll resulting from a slightly closed clubface and slightly in to out clubhead path – i.e., a draw as opposed to a full-blooded hook – produces more distance for a given amount of clubhead speed than any other impact configuration.

THE PUSHED SLICE: ball starts right of target then curves more right.

The swing path is from in-to-out across the target line.

The clubface looks to the right of, or is open to, the swing path resulting in oblique impact with the ball that curves it even further in its starting direction, i.e., to the right.

The type of in-to-out swing path necessary to produce this impact geometry invariably results in reduced clubhead speed and, therefore, poor distance.

It should be noted, as an aside, that today’s excessive fear of swinging ‘over the top’ makes this type of shot very common at most levels of the game. The cure lies in allowing the clubface to square automatically at impact by swinging the clubhead through the ball from in-to-in, relative to the target line.

When the clubhead swings on target

THE STRAIGHT SHOT: ball starts and continues on target line.

The swing path at impact matches or exactly coincides with the target line.

The clubface looks squarely or directly at the target.

Because the clubhead path and the clubface alignment ‘match’ perfectly, i.e., there is no obliqueness, the impact is flush and the trajectory is correct, resulting in optimum carry and roll for the amount of clubhead speed delivered to the ball.

THE FADE: ball starts slightly left of the target line then curves back to target towards end of flight.

The clubhead path at impact is slightly across the target line from out to in.

The clubface looks squarely at, or very slightly to the right of, the target. This slight mismatching or obliqueness of clubhead path and clubface alignment produces just enough clockwise sidespin to drift the ball to the right, while delivering the clubhead at a sufficiently shallow angle for the blow to be forcefully forward rather than weakly downward or upward, as in the slice.

Extra height and fast stopping, for relatively little distance loss, make the fade a popular shot among stronger tournament-level golfers.

THE DRAW: ball starts slightly right of target line then curves back to target towards end of flight.

The clubhead path at impact is slightly across the target line from in to out.

The clubface looks squarely at or very slightly to the left of the target.

The slight mismatching or obliqueness of clubhead path and clubface alignment produces just enough anticlockwise sidespin to drift the ball gently to the left late in its flight, as the strong forward momentum resulting from the shallow angle of clubhead delivery diminishes.

The lower flight and additional roll resulting from the slightly closed clubface make this the shot of choice for the majority of the world’s golfers. Indeed, repeatedly producing the impact geometry that draws the ball creates all the best set-up and swing habits and mechanics, from which players can then much more easily learn to play all the other ‘shapes’ of shot.

Why knowing golf’s geometry is so important

Being able to identify the ‘geometry’ of impact from the flight of the ball is fundamental to playing golf up to your maximum potential. Given that ability, everything you do in learning, building and maintaining a golf swing is directed towards achieving the game’s number one fundamental: correct impact. Without that ability, each swing lacks focus; occurs in a vacuum; is little more than a hit-and-hope experiment.

Once you completely understand the ‘geometry’ of the game, all you have to do to analyse your swing – to decide how to correct it or improve it – is to think about the way the golf ball reacts when you hit it. And because that exercise is purely a mental one, you can do it anywhere: sitting at home, even, as well as on the golf course or driving range.

Pupils are amazed that, once they have described their basic shot patterns to me, I can give them a lesson over the telephone. The reason is that the flight of the ball tells me everything I need to know, both to diagnose their swing faults and to formulate the cure.

The flight of your shots will provide you with that information also, if only you will let it. And letting it will make golf a much easier game than you ever believed possible.

Square your body to the clubface

Because they can see their foot alignment but not how their upper bodies are aimed at address, many golfers find it easy to stand square but hard to align their shoulders parallel to the target line consistently. One way to check your body alignment is by ‘reading’ the first part of the ball’s flight when you hit practice shots, before sidespin affects its direction. Given solid understanding of golf’s impact ‘geometry’, shots consistently starting left tell you that you are probably aligned too much that way, or are too ‘open’ at address. Conversely, shots starting right indicate that you are aligned too far right, or are too ‘closed’, at address.

Aim the gun

Study the top professionals and you will see them constantly working with teachers or friends on their address angles. The reason is, of course, that a gun aimed incorrectly never hits the target.

Pattern your grip thus …

Exactly how the club nestles into your palm and fingers will depend on the size and flexibility of your hands. Seek a hold with the left hand in which your last three fingers can press the club firmly, but not rigidly, against the fleshy pad below your thumb. Every time you take your grip, remember that you must relate your hands to your target through the clubface.

The club will naturally sit a little more in the fingers of your right hand than it does in your left, and you will probably secure the club most comfortably by holding it firmly, but not tightly, with your two middle fingers. ‘Wrap’ your right hand snugly against your left, so that the pad below your right thumb caresses the top of your left thumb. By more-or-less matching the direction of the Vs formed by your thumbs and forefingers, you set your hands parallel to each other, which encourages them to work as a unit during the swing.

Aim the ‘Vs’ somewhere between your right eye and shoulder, experimenting to see what works best for you.

… but experiment between these extremes to discover what works for you

The correct grip for you is the one that delivers your clubface square to your direction of swing during impact. The grip pattern that does that for Jack Nicklaus or Lee Trevino may not do it for you, so face up to the need for some experiment. This will probably be uncomfortable at first, but if you skip it you can forget ever becoming a good golfer, because your repeated misalignment of the clubface at impact will consistently create faults in your set-up and swing.

Take great care in forming your grip, so that it is repeatable.

Start with your Vs pointing midway between your nose and your right shoulder. If the flight of your shots tells you that you are delivering the clubface to the ball looking to the right of your swing line, move both your hands gradually towards a strong position – i.e., so the Vs point more away from your nose and to the outside of your right shoulder. If your shots tell you that the clubface is arriving at the ball looking left of your swing path, move both your hands gradually towards a weak position – i.e., so the Vs point more at your nose.

Your grip is right for you when your shots fly straight, even though you may be pulling the ball left or pushing the ball right of target. No curve on your shots shows that your clubface alignment and swing direction are matched.

Hover the clubhead for a smooth start

One distinctive feature of Greg Norman’s game is how he hovers the clubhead of his driver above the ground at address. It’s one of the things that he picked up as a young man from a Jack Nicklaus instruction book. Greg claims that it keeps tension out of his hands and arms, which promotes a smooth, wide one-piece takeaway and good overall rhythm in his swing. That makes sense. He also says it enables him to maintain a constant grip pressure, removing the tendency to re-grip the club at address. Again, sound advice, since a lot of club golfers have a habit of re-gripping which not only results in grip flaws, but also upsets the clubface alignment before the swing has even started.

I think hovering the clubhead at address has another very important benefit. It encourages you to stand a little bit taller at address, rather than hunch over the ball, and that improvement in your posture helps promote a better turn.

Simply Peter

With his appointment as the professional at Sandy Lodge, I would sometimes practise with Peter Thomson. This was in the 1950s, when the Australian was picking up one Open Championship after another. He once went out to Sandy Lodge specifically to get me to look at his set-up – just that, his set up to the ball, nothing else. Satisfied that he was standing well to the ball, he then drove back into the centre of London. I draw an important lesson from this: ‘70 per cent of all the bad shots which are hit are due to a faulty set-up to the ball.’

Back to basics refresher

The grip controls where the clubface looks at impact, which determines the final direction or curvature of the shot through its interaction with the path of the clubhead.

The alignment of the body relative to the target line largely controls the direction in which the clubhead is swung through the ball, which determines the starting direction of the shot – and, if there is no curvature, also its final direction.