10/9/08
By Butch Bundy
It can become difficult writing articles on golf instruction without being too repetitive. Sometimes I rely on my experiences on the golf course to help both my readers and my students. I figure if I struggle, I can’t be alone. What have been my biggest adjustments in my recent rounds? That was easy, it has been quite windy my last few times out and one of those times it blew over 15 miles an hour. That can really hurt if you don’t understand how to change things a bit.
1.) Ball position: If you play your ball position in the right place to begin with and have it towards the front of your stance, moving the ball back to the middle is the first change that needs to be made. This tends to take loft off of the golf club at impact and keeps the ball down provided you do the next couple of steps properly.
2.) Change clubs: A huge mistake that most golfers make is that they take their normal club for a certain distance and make a harder swing and try to fight the wind. Taking 1-2 more clubs (depending on the strength of the wind) and making a smoother golf swing will help keep the ball down too. Swing speed and club selection are probably the two biggest elements to having more control in the wind. Hitting the ball hard imparts more spin and makes the ball go even higher which is never a good thing whether you are hitting directly into the wind or into a cross wind. 3.) Choke down on the golf club: Choking down on the golf club after taking the extra club will keep the ball down. Shortening the length of the golf club as well as taking less loft will give you even better control of your trajectory.
4.) Practice: I advise you to try these adjustments in practice. What I have found is that even on non-windy days, hitting a shot with a lower flight is the better option. You also need to have an idea of how far the ball flies and reacts once it comes down. Be patient when these kinds of conditions happen. Even if you have a good plan and you are hitting shots properly, it is still just a guess as to how much the wind will help or hurt shots. This is also when it becomes even more important to pay attention to where you want the ball to end up if you don’t hit it perfectly.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Some Common Swing Reminders
8/8/08
By: Butch Bundy
True recreational golfers almost all make the same adjustments when the going gets tough and they lose their confidence. Teaching beginners is a good way to help me keep my teaching methods very simple. If you do several key things right, no matter what your skill level might be you will see noticeable improvements in your game. Here are a few things that I always look at when I’m working with my students.
Balance: This is always number one on my check list no matter what a golfer’s skill level might be. When I say balance, I am looking at whether your weight is towards your heels or your toes. This is a must to make a consistent golf swing. If your weight is towards your heels, which in my experiences is far more common, you will tend to get the club going too much around you on the back swing which will encourage you to either push the ball to the right or to "come over the top" and pull the ball to the left. It can also cause consistently thin or topped shots. If your weight is towards your toes, it will cause you to get too steep on your take away and will lead to pull slices or fat shots. In either case, you can’t properly time your body rotation with your arm swing.
Distance from the Ball: This is directly related to balance. Players that are too close to the ball are typically on their heels, while players that are too far away from the ball will tend to be on their toes. Most of the time when I change balance it is also necessary to change distance from the ball.
Ball Position: Again, this directly relates to the first two. Players that are too close to the ball and have their weight on their heels will tend to play the ball too far back in their stance. These types of players are making the compensation that they will not use their body rotation and will not shift their weight to their forward foot. Players that are too far away will tend to play the ball too far forward and will look as though they are reaching for the ball. These players are making the compensation that they will get ahead of the golf ball on the downswing. The proper ball position for all full swing shots is in the front half of the stance.
Golfers don’t always have all of these faults, but the tendency is to develop them over time if you have one of the above problems. This is also why if you don’t have someone watching you while you try to change your golf swing, you will get a bit lost and will change things that probably aren’t the true cause of the problem. These three flaws when corrected will almost instantly clean up off center hits and wayward direction of shots.
Professional Golf in a Dangerous Place
6/26/08
By: Butch Bundy
All seemed to be right with the golfing world last weekend. Here was Tiger making putts from everywhere, one of which was a downhill ten footer to get into a play off on the 72nd hole. Seemingly like always though in a major, the putt to get into a playoff wasn’t to tie one of the world’s other great players. It was to tie what would have been the highest ranked player to ever win a major since the Official World Rankings were introduced in the mid nineties. Don’t get me wrong, I have long been a fan of Rocco and his great attitude on the golf course. Frankly, he deserved to win the tournament based on his consistent brand of golf during the week as compared to Woods. However, it isn’t realistic to think that a 45 year old with 5 career wins, who almost gave up competition due to back problems, can play at the level to be a consistent challenger to Woods. What we are missing are other top players in the world consistently challenging Woods week in and week out, especially in the major championships. Woods not only was rehabbing from knee surgery back in April and hadn’t played a tournament since the Masters, he had a torn ACL and two stress fractures in the most important leg in a right handed player’s golf swing. Throw in also that he has been privately hurt for most of the year and had to drastically cut back his practice and there should be room to close the gap, right? Wrong.
He has entered 6 tournaments on tour this year, won four of them and finished second in the other one which was the Masters and that isn’t counting the win in a very good field in Dubai. His first tournament back is the U.S. Open which is the most grueling test even if you are competitively sharp which he wasn’t and the closest any other member of the top 10 in the world can finish is 5 shots back (Geoff Ogilvy at 5 over par)? That isn’t good for the tour no matter how good Tiger is for golf.
I love the fact that golf has a dominant player that is a great role model due to his hard work on and off of the golf course, but the rest of the tour, especially the other top players, need to close the gap and challenge him consistently. The game can’t be all about one guy when the tour consists of hundreds of players.
By: Butch Bundy
All seemed to be right with the golfing world last weekend. Here was Tiger making putts from everywhere, one of which was a downhill ten footer to get into a play off on the 72nd hole. Seemingly like always though in a major, the putt to get into a playoff wasn’t to tie one of the world’s other great players. It was to tie what would have been the highest ranked player to ever win a major since the Official World Rankings were introduced in the mid nineties. Don’t get me wrong, I have long been a fan of Rocco and his great attitude on the golf course. Frankly, he deserved to win the tournament based on his consistent brand of golf during the week as compared to Woods. However, it isn’t realistic to think that a 45 year old with 5 career wins, who almost gave up competition due to back problems, can play at the level to be a consistent challenger to Woods. What we are missing are other top players in the world consistently challenging Woods week in and week out, especially in the major championships. Woods not only was rehabbing from knee surgery back in April and hadn’t played a tournament since the Masters, he had a torn ACL and two stress fractures in the most important leg in a right handed player’s golf swing. Throw in also that he has been privately hurt for most of the year and had to drastically cut back his practice and there should be room to close the gap, right? Wrong.
He has entered 6 tournaments on tour this year, won four of them and finished second in the other one which was the Masters and that isn’t counting the win in a very good field in Dubai. His first tournament back is the U.S. Open which is the most grueling test even if you are competitively sharp which he wasn’t and the closest any other member of the top 10 in the world can finish is 5 shots back (Geoff Ogilvy at 5 over par)? That isn’t good for the tour no matter how good Tiger is for golf.
I love the fact that golf has a dominant player that is a great role model due to his hard work on and off of the golf course, but the rest of the tour, especially the other top players, need to close the gap and challenge him consistently. The game can’t be all about one guy when the tour consists of hundreds of players.
Summertime is for Junior Golf
May 22, 2008
By: Butch Bundy
I remember getting my first set of golf clubs. I didn’t ask for them and as an avid baseball player I thought it was a stupid waste of time. As most 10-12 year old kids tend to do, I rolled my eyes when my dad told me that I would one day pick the game up because I couldn’t play baseball forever. Funny how things work out isn’t it? I actually quit baseball a year or so later and took up golf. A little later it took me to college and now I teach the game for a living. All that my dad did was introduce the game to me and let me make my choice as to when I took it up. Summer is a great time to introduce the game. Kids have free time and the days are long enough so that parents can go after work to the golf course with them. Also, take advantage of the opportunity to let your junior participate in summer golf camps whether it is mine or someone else’s. I enjoy working with kids because you never know which ones will turn out to be life long golfers. The key for me is to make learning the game fun and not to muddle them down with 20 different thoughts on how to hit the ball. Showing them how to hold the club, how to address the golf ball and how to keep their feet still can be plenty in most cases. There is always time to fine tune the golf swing as the child develops.
Beyond that the only thing I am pretty intent on is teaching them how to act on the golf course. Teaching them where to stand when others are hitting, how to take care of the course and when to hit their ball is as important as making them a good player skill wise in my opinion. It doesn’t take a bit of skill to act like a golfer. I look forward to seeing some of you at the golf course this summer.
By: Butch Bundy
I remember getting my first set of golf clubs. I didn’t ask for them and as an avid baseball player I thought it was a stupid waste of time. As most 10-12 year old kids tend to do, I rolled my eyes when my dad told me that I would one day pick the game up because I couldn’t play baseball forever. Funny how things work out isn’t it? I actually quit baseball a year or so later and took up golf. A little later it took me to college and now I teach the game for a living. All that my dad did was introduce the game to me and let me make my choice as to when I took it up. Summer is a great time to introduce the game. Kids have free time and the days are long enough so that parents can go after work to the golf course with them. Also, take advantage of the opportunity to let your junior participate in summer golf camps whether it is mine or someone else’s. I enjoy working with kids because you never know which ones will turn out to be life long golfers. The key for me is to make learning the game fun and not to muddle them down with 20 different thoughts on how to hit the ball. Showing them how to hold the club, how to address the golf ball and how to keep their feet still can be plenty in most cases. There is always time to fine tune the golf swing as the child develops.
Beyond that the only thing I am pretty intent on is teaching them how to act on the golf course. Teaching them where to stand when others are hitting, how to take care of the course and when to hit their ball is as important as making them a good player skill wise in my opinion. It doesn’t take a bit of skill to act like a golfer. I look forward to seeing some of you at the golf course this summer.
My Take on the Masters
Congratulations to Trevor Immelman first off. I am a huge fan of guys in their twenties winning major championships, especially when Tiger Woods is at least in the hunt. I think golf is to the point where it has its dominant figure, but now it needs young challengers to step up and knock him down so it doesn’t get common place to have Woods winning without a fight. This article however isn’t about who wins or loses, but more about how the powers at Augusta have seemingly changed what made this the best tournament in the world.
As a 34 year old my first real memory of the Masters is Jack Nicklaus shooting 30 on the back nine in 1986 to charge from behind to win. Next up for me is Nick Faldo shooting 65 in the final round in 1989 to come from behind and beat Scott Hoch in a playoff. After that it is Tiger Woods making history in 1997 in every way imaginable. When Mark O’Meara won in 1998, he was at even par after Friday and shot 9 under on the weekend to win. Sadly, it looks like those days are over.
I’m sure they won’t call me for my opinion, but they have taken away what made this tournament great. As a kid I was drawn to golf by watching the Masters and the drama that almost always unfolded on the weekend at Augusta. The back nine on Sunday was when the tournament really got going because anyone within five shots was still in the hunt due to the opportunity to make eagles and birdies on holes 13-17. If we fast forward from 1986 to this past Sunday and put Nicklaus on the tenth tee five shots back, could he shoot the necessary score on Sunday to win? Not on this golf course today he couldn’t. Will the average kid look back one day and say that watching these last two Masters tournaments drew them to the game? It might get a few, but the drama of Sunday at the Masters has certainly been changed for the worse in my opinion.
As a 34 year old my first real memory of the Masters is Jack Nicklaus shooting 30 on the back nine in 1986 to charge from behind to win. Next up for me is Nick Faldo shooting 65 in the final round in 1989 to come from behind and beat Scott Hoch in a playoff. After that it is Tiger Woods making history in 1997 in every way imaginable. When Mark O’Meara won in 1998, he was at even par after Friday and shot 9 under on the weekend to win. Sadly, it looks like those days are over.
I’m sure they won’t call me for my opinion, but they have taken away what made this tournament great. As a kid I was drawn to golf by watching the Masters and the drama that almost always unfolded on the weekend at Augusta. The back nine on Sunday was when the tournament really got going because anyone within five shots was still in the hunt due to the opportunity to make eagles and birdies on holes 13-17. If we fast forward from 1986 to this past Sunday and put Nicklaus on the tenth tee five shots back, could he shoot the necessary score on Sunday to win? Not on this golf course today he couldn’t. Will the average kid look back one day and say that watching these last two Masters tournaments drew them to the game? It might get a few, but the drama of Sunday at the Masters has certainly been changed for the worse in my opinion.
Learning Distance Control
By: Butch Bundy
One of the things that the better players truly excel at is hitting their approach shots the correct distance. Outside of hitting short shots around the green so consistently solid, the thing that I am amazed at by tour players is how often they hit the ball pin high.
Here are a couple of tips on how you can figure out distance control.
Nick Price once made a comment that stuck with me. He said that he didn’t care if he could occasionally hit his 7 iron 165 yards, but that he was more interested in hitting it 155 yards every time. Obviously having better swing fundamentals is the first step, but there are some pretty good players that have trouble controlling distances because they don’t practice hitting shots to yardages. I encourage the average player to start with their wedges learning to fly shots 20, 30 and 40 yards. I do this by actually walking off the yardages and dropping towels at each number. I then work on hitting shots to those different targets by adjusting the length of my swing, not by changing speeds. That is the key to hitting these short shots the proper distance while also hitting the shot consistently solid. Most average golfers try to slow down their swing instead of shortening it to hit these shots, which leads to deceleration.
Once you have gotten the hang of the wedges, move on down through the rest of the irons in the bag. Almost all driving ranges will have distances measured to the targets on the driving range. Step these off and see how far you are hitting each club. What I find the most reliable though is to actually play practice rounds and drop balls down by the different yardage markers and the sprinkler heads that are marked. This gives you a very precise idea while using you own type of golf ball. Sometimes range balls don’t give a very good idea of distance because they might be worn out or they aren’t the same type of ball that you use on the golf course. A good tip is to use one kind of golf ball consistently instead of just playing random ones. The few yards difference might not sound like a big deal, but when you are hitting to a tight pin with trouble short or long it can make a huge difference.
One of the things that the better players truly excel at is hitting their approach shots the correct distance. Outside of hitting short shots around the green so consistently solid, the thing that I am amazed at by tour players is how often they hit the ball pin high.
Here are a couple of tips on how you can figure out distance control.
Nick Price once made a comment that stuck with me. He said that he didn’t care if he could occasionally hit his 7 iron 165 yards, but that he was more interested in hitting it 155 yards every time. Obviously having better swing fundamentals is the first step, but there are some pretty good players that have trouble controlling distances because they don’t practice hitting shots to yardages. I encourage the average player to start with their wedges learning to fly shots 20, 30 and 40 yards. I do this by actually walking off the yardages and dropping towels at each number. I then work on hitting shots to those different targets by adjusting the length of my swing, not by changing speeds. That is the key to hitting these short shots the proper distance while also hitting the shot consistently solid. Most average golfers try to slow down their swing instead of shortening it to hit these shots, which leads to deceleration.
Once you have gotten the hang of the wedges, move on down through the rest of the irons in the bag. Almost all driving ranges will have distances measured to the targets on the driving range. Step these off and see how far you are hitting each club. What I find the most reliable though is to actually play practice rounds and drop balls down by the different yardage markers and the sprinkler heads that are marked. This gives you a very precise idea while using you own type of golf ball. Sometimes range balls don’t give a very good idea of distance because they might be worn out or they aren’t the same type of ball that you use on the golf course. A good tip is to use one kind of golf ball consistently instead of just playing random ones. The few yards difference might not sound like a big deal, but when you are hitting to a tight pin with trouble short or long it can make a huge difference.
Focus on Balance for a Consistent Golf Swing
February 14, 2008
By: Butch Bundy
The biggest difference between a good golfer and a novice golfer is pretty easy to see. Watch the amount of effort that each one exerts when hitting a shot. The bad golfer is seldom in balance and looks to be working much harder than the good golfer. A basic teaching tool of mine is to get a player to hold their finish. Where your balance and momentum goes after the swing will go a long way in telling you what went right or wrong in your golf swing.
A common drill that I use is to have players hit balls with their feet very close together. I am a firm believer that if a golfer can’t feel what they are doing wrong, they will never get better. This does a few things, it makes the player use the right tempo and it also encourages the right muscles to move the golf club to start the golf swing. For a player that overuses their lower body, it will quickly give them the feel of allowing their arms to get more involved. Conversely, if a player uses only their arms or torso in the golf swing it will encourage the golfer to use the proper leg action.
Start out with the ball slightly teed up with an 8 iron. Put your feet about 3 inches apart and place the ball off of your front foot. Begin by making very short swings from about waist high to waist high at about 50% of your maximum effort. As you get comfortable, add length to you swing, not speed. As you do the drill get into a habit of holding your finish. You will quickly be able to feel what parts of your swing are out of sorts.
By: Butch Bundy
The biggest difference between a good golfer and a novice golfer is pretty easy to see. Watch the amount of effort that each one exerts when hitting a shot. The bad golfer is seldom in balance and looks to be working much harder than the good golfer. A basic teaching tool of mine is to get a player to hold their finish. Where your balance and momentum goes after the swing will go a long way in telling you what went right or wrong in your golf swing.
A common drill that I use is to have players hit balls with their feet very close together. I am a firm believer that if a golfer can’t feel what they are doing wrong, they will never get better. This does a few things, it makes the player use the right tempo and it also encourages the right muscles to move the golf club to start the golf swing. For a player that overuses their lower body, it will quickly give them the feel of allowing their arms to get more involved. Conversely, if a player uses only their arms or torso in the golf swing it will encourage the golfer to use the proper leg action.
Start out with the ball slightly teed up with an 8 iron. Put your feet about 3 inches apart and place the ball off of your front foot. Begin by making very short swings from about waist high to waist high at about 50% of your maximum effort. As you get comfortable, add length to you swing, not speed. As you do the drill get into a habit of holding your finish. You will quickly be able to feel what parts of your swing are out of sorts.
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