Lower your handicap Strategies and techniques to help improve your game
Table of Contents Introduction...1 Driving Strategies Getting the most out of your driving game...2 Driving Techniques Stance, swing and power...4 Wedge play The keys to success...6 Finding your best putting One of the main keys to scoring...8
Golf has earned a reputation, and rightly so, of being one of the world s most challenging sports. Some of the world s greatest athletes have turned to golf because they enjoy chasing the unattainable Mastery of the sport Golf has a blend of physical and mental challenges that always yields a worthy opponent. Any area that is weak will be instantly exposed and reflected in the golfer s score. These multiple challenges also make a good score that much more gratifying. It can be done, but only through physical proficiency, strong mental focus, and sound strategic decisions over many hours of play. This brochure will address a number of key areas of the game, both on the mental and physical sides of golf. There is much more to be learned, but this will help you increase your knowledge in some of the most important scoring aspects of the game. Getting off the tee, wedge play and putting are all covered in a way that will allow you to improve immediately. Applying these instructions through practice will allow you to make great long-term strides toward playing your best golf. Some of the suggested techniques may feel different for you, but if you ve been struggling in these areas then change may be just what you need. Take the time to try the recommended techniques and you ll find your golf game blossoming in no time!
Driving strategies Getting the most out of your driving game You ll often see PGA Tour Professionals hit a 3 wood or long iron from the tee to minimize their chances of hitting the ball out of play. Are they exhibiting fearful play or a lack of confidence? Or is this an integral part of their driving strategy? Knowing when to lay-up from the tee and when to hit your driver is the key in developing a great driving strategy. The next two pages will help you identify what s a good gamble and what s not, and how to get the most out of your driving game. If you have to challenge a hole, don t challenge the tee shot! In every round of golf you will be faced with dozens of decisions on whether or not to go for it from the tee and leave an easier approach or play it safe from the tee, making the approach more difficult. What s the right choice? The game s best players average under 70% of the time in the fairway. As a general rule, it s far better to play the more conservative tee shot, even if the approach is slightly more difficult. If you try a bold tee shot and don t pull it off, you are often faced with having to hit the same shot over again. With a tougher shot to the green after a conservative tee shot, at least you ll leave the possibility for a good chip and a putt, significantly reducing the chance of taking a big number. A great example of this is the 7th hole at Friendly Hills Country Club (Figure 1). This 395 yard par-4 wouldn t be considered challenging from a distance standpoint. A nice driver from a good player will leave anywhere from 100 to 135 yards to the green (Position A). However, this hole has a narrow fairway with out of bounds only five yards from both sides, and the left side of the fairway slopes straight toward the out of bounds. A better alternative is to play conservatively from the tee with a 3 or 4 iron to the flat part of the fairway, before it gets to the slope toward the out of bounds (Position B). Your next shot will be much longer, around 180 to 200 yards, but at least the ball will be on or right next to the green in two shots. The green is large, so this will prove to be a much better play in the long run! Challenging the tee shot might seem like the brave thing to do, but clearly respecting a difficult tee shot yields lower scores! A B FIGURE 1 The seventh hole at Friendly Hills Country Club Whittier, CA YES NO NO 2
When should you go for it? We ve talked about keeping yourself in the game on every hole and not playing too boldly, but some situations have virtually no downside for making the bold play. A perfect example of this occurs at Fort Ord Golf Course (Figure 2), home of many PGA Tour qualifying tournaments. The second hole at Fort Ord is a backbreaking par four of 440 yards with an extremely tight fairway. The landing area slopes upward until about 250 yards from the tee, and then it slopes downward to the green. The first impression when looking at this narrow fairway is to use a long iron just to get the ball in play. This conservative play guarantees that you ll be playing a long shot from an uphill lie to a green that you can t see (Position A). Miss the fairway and it will be very difficult to punch the ball under the trees from this position. Either scenario is going to make for a tough hole. On the other hand, if you play boldly from the tee, a straight tee shot carries the hill and leaves a short iron to the green (Position B). The shot is no longer blind, effectively becoming a good birdie opportunity. Missing the fairway will still leave you a chance because you re now punching the ball under the trees downhill to the green. In this situation the bold play is clearly the percentage play. YES NO A FIGURE 2 The second hole at Fort Ord Golf Course Monterey, CA B Driving strategy do it by the numbers! Imagine a downwind par four of some 340 yards with a very wide fairway and the pin placed to the front of the green. To most amateur players, this is a great chance for the longest drive of the day. If you normally average 220 yards with your driver, then circumstances like this might yield a drive of some 280 yards. However, a downwind 60 yard approach shot is no bargain. You might be much better off playing a fairway wood or hybrid, leaving a long enough shot to get some spin on the approach, allowing your ball to stay by that front flag. The long drive would have been memorable, but this game is challenging enough when making the right decisions, let alone choosing a shot that takes you out of position when you hit it perfectly! Final thoughts Now that you ve gotten some insight into the driving strategies of the game s best players, you can start integrating those strategies into your game. Not only should you consider the results of a perfectly hit drive, you should also consider what may happen if you hit a not-so-perfect drive. Once you start making this part of your thought process, you can start getting the most out of your driving game! 3
Driving technique Stance, swing and power three areas to improve your driving! Many players are unaware of the fact that a driver must be hit differently than an iron. This lack of understanding leaves the player to swipe at the ball with the same descending blow that produces a wonderful seven iron, only to see the ball slice weakly into the trees. The other option is to go underneath the ball, leaving only a nice scratch on the top of the club. In just a few minutes, you can learn the changes that you may need to make to your normal stance and swing in order to hit your driver successfully. While you may not always hit perfect shots, you will have a clear understanding of what you re supposed to do. The concept of a good driver swing First, it is important to understand the difference between the impact of an iron, and that of a driver. Because the ball is sitting on the ground with an iron shot, it must be struck with a slightly descending blow to get to it clean. That s why you always see the game s best players taking divots when playing these clubs. More specifically, a successful iron shot is struck with the handle of the club slightly in front of the ball while the club head descends through impact (Sequence 1). This is not only the best way to catch the ball clean, it s the only way to hit the sweet spot of the club. The downward strike will help to create backspin, which is essential for the ball to stick on the green. This motion is perfect for an iron, but not so good for a driver. When hitting a driver, the ball is not on the ground, it s elevated on a tee in the air. That s why the same tour pros are never seen making divots with their drivers. In fact, your club must be traveling level to the ground or at a slightly ascending blow to get the maximum performance with a driver (Sequence 2). This different angle of approach requires a different stance, a different swing and a conscious effort to try to swing above the ground. SEQUENCE 1. Iron Shot with a Descending Blow SEQUENCE 2. Driver Swing with a Slightly Ascending Blow (Note: need to fix the arcs on these) 4
The shape of your swing Your driver is much longer than any other club in your bag. The longer the club you use, the farther you are going to need to stand from the ball at address. To help create a visual, imagine that the club is 5 to 10 feet longer than your driver. To hit a ball when you are this far away, you would need to stand really far from the ball and swing with a much flatter or rounded swing, similar to that of a baseball player. That doesn t mean you should wrap the club around your waist in your backswing, but you must be aware that the driver swing is flatter than any other club (Sequence 2). Practicing the proper swing Now that you have a clear understanding of the shape of your swing, there is a great drill for learning to hit the driver properly. The game s best players always leave evidence that they ve been there when hitting an iron by leaving a divot mark on the ground. A driver must also leave evidence that you ve been there, but not by making a mark on the ground. The tee should show some evidence that you ve been there by being displaced in some fashion, moving from its original position of straight up and down! The best way to learn this type of hitting motion is to swing at a tee by itself with no ball on it, listening for the sound of the club hitting the tee only. Once you can do this consistently at full speed at least eight or nine times out of ten, you should experience more consistent driving results! The power behind your swing The bulk of the this section revolved around the basic concept of how to swing a driver and get the most consistent contact, which should by itself help you experience a great deal more power. However, superb power is not only predicated on hitting the ball solidly, but in hitting with maximum clubhead speed as well. Think of the physics behind generating the maximum power in your golf swing as being similar to that of cracking a whip. The tip end of a whip is both completely loose, and slings forward with incredible force. However, no power whatsoever is being generated from the tip end itself. A good and powerful driving motion has the body moving powerfully and forcefully, while the arms, wrists, and hands remain very soft and free. You must make no effort to generate speed by applying force with the wrists! The stronger you move your body and the softer your wrists, the more clubhead speed you ll be able to generate. Even the best players in the world are constantly refining their already superb swings. They understand that changes don t come overnight and can actually take weeks before being fully integrated into their games. You too should realize that having the knowledge is the first step, and that a fair amount of practice may be necessary to add these changes to your game. THE PROPER DRIVER STANCE If you re someone who struggles with a driver, then a significant change in your stance might be necessary in order to facilitate the desired level strike with your driver. Here are some important points: Adopt a wider stance, placing you further behind the ball at address. Place the ball more forward in your stance, somewhere between your heel and instep. Make sure that your shoulders are square and still facing down the range. 5
wedge play The keys to success! Before you dive into the many nuances of wedge play, it s important that you establish a good basic motion. Without a good motion, practice will only ingrain those bad habits and serve as a reminder that you re likely to miss-hit most shots. You may be under the impression that you don t have very good feel, although this may not be the case. Most of the time, your feel is actually lost through poor contact. If your contact is good, then a bigger swing will make the ball go farther and a smaller swing shorter, enabling you to dial in the size of your swing for different shots. The proper swing and impact The proper swing requires you to move the club with mostly the turning of your shoulders and the swinging of your arms propelling the motion. It is important to keep your wrists very soft and passive. This means that your wrists should not be employed to make the club move in either your backswing or your downstroke. If your body movement and arms don t move the club, then your wrists will. Don t be afraid to turn yourself through to face toward the target with a little weight shift in the downswing on a chip shot. Standing lock-still is not a good fundamental of chipping. The right focus can also have a big influence on your ability to hit a solid shot. Your focus should simply revolve around hitting the ground after the ball when hitting with a wedge. It is not your job to get the ball into the air. That s the job of the loft of the club. Any effort to lift the ball in the air with your swing will simply cause you to miss-hit the ball. Get more height when chipping Once you find yourself consistently able to hit the ground in the right place, you re now ready for a more advanced technique to get more height on the ball. Simply move the ball more forward in your stance and open the blade of the club, so that the clubface is pointed more toward the sky. The handle of the club should be nearly straight up and down. As you open the clubface to the right it will also make the ball go to the right, so you ll need to aim a little more left to compensate. Once you ve adjusted your stance, make the same swing continuing to hit the ground after the ball. Remember that you are letting the club get the ball airborne and shouldn t be making any effort to lift the ball with your swing. You should notice the ball traveling a much shorter distance with the same swing due to the glancing blow created by the open clubface. This will simply require you to swing bigger, even if you re close to the green. THE PROPER WEDGE STANCE When making a proper stance, you will want to think of the impact of a full shot. This impact position will help you to hit the ball first, and then the ground, which is essential to solid contact. Here are some additional tips: Your feet should be closer together The ball should be placed closer to your back foot Place your club s handle slightly in front of the ball Your weight should be toward your front foot at impact Your belt buckle should be slightly toward the target at impact 6
Move your body when chipping! With a good stance and a little turn through on the swing, you re much more likely to hit the ball solid. To get maximum height, move the ball toward the left foot and open the club so the clubface faces the sky. Wedge design and bounce The design characteristics of wedges will also affect your game. The main focus of wedge design is broken down into two types: 1) Those that dig, and 2) Those that slide. Wedges are all built with a certain amount of bounce, which is the amount of metal on the back of the club. Those with lots of bounce resist digging into the ground, while little bounce means the club can dig. How can you identify which is the right amount of bounce for you? As a general rule, if your course has hard ground without much grass and bunkers that are firm with little sand, then you want a minimum of bounce. If your fairways are lush with deep rough, and especially if your bunkers have lots of sand, then maximum bounce will serve you much better. Bounce can also be used to create a more forgiving impact, even if you are playing from the fairway. When you lay the club open, you are exposing the bounce. A perfectly square club, especially with the handle forward, is not exposing the bounce at all. It is possible to lay the club open just slightly, exposing the bounce enough to get the club to slide, without worrying about drop-kicking the club into the back of the ball. This sliding impact will allow you to hit even a few inches behind the ball and still get a playable result, giving you a much bigger margin for error. A digging situation will not allow you to hit even the slightest bit behind the ball without getting a terrible result. Practice the final piece of the puzzle Once you have the right tools and the right technique, it s time to put it all together through practice. Your actual form of practice is not of great consequence as long as you find it interesting and you can maintain your focus. Below are two exercises that don t require a fancy chipping area to practice: 1. The leapfrog drill: Hit a short shot, just about as short as you can manage. Wherever that ball finishes becomes your next target. Try to land the next ball on top of that target, creating a new target for the next shot. Repeat this process for around 40 yards. Once you master this exercise, try altering trajectories while practicing this drill. 2. The triangle drill: Make a triangle out of three clubs on the ground about ten yards out, and another about twenty yards out. Alternate hitting to the two triangles until you re seeing more balls than not going into the ten yard triangle and at least one out of five going into the twenty yard triangle. Once you are hitting the targets consistently, try using different clubs and varying the trajectories. 7
finding your best putting One of the main keys to scoring! No matter what level golfer you are, there is always room for improvement when it comes to your putting game. To begin the search for your best putting game, you ll need the following items: a mirror, a ball with a stripe on it, a smooth putting surface (preferably a carpet) and a quarter. Where to begin Before you ever hit a putt, you should spend some time in front of the mirror to check your stance. You certainly don t have to have everything parallel to the target line to putt well, though it s probably not wise to have your feet pointing to the north forty and your shoulders pointing to the south forty if you ve been struggling. If you re interested in a square stance, the mirror will help you find out how you re doing. Even if you are used to a closed or an open stance, the mirror may show that you ve deviated from your desired position. Either way, seeing your stance can be a great start. The shape of the putting stroke Once you are set up correctly, you re ready to make some good strokes. A good putting stroke involves simply allowing the club to swing naturally around you. The common misconception among amateur golfers is that the putter head needs to travel straight along the target line. In actuality, you should make no effort whatsoever to make the putter head go straight along the target line. This type of manipulation to your stroke will make your putting inherently inconsistent. Instead, let the club swing around you on a natural arc, as illustrated in Sequence 3. This doesn t mean that you should turn the club wildly around yourself to make it swing on an arc, as this would also be a manipulation of your natural swing. You should simply swing the club back and forth without thought and the putter will go to the right place. To check the shape of your stroke, step over to a wall and place your putter ¼ of an inch from the base. As you swing the putter back and forth you should notice the putter pulling away from the wall slightly in the backstroke and again on the way through the ball (Sequence 3). If you are having issues with your putting stroke, this exercise will show it immediately. The proper putting stance Before you ever hit a putt, you should spend some time in front of the mirror to check your stance. You can imagine that it s probably not wise to have your feet pointing the opposite direction of your shoulders, or the handle leaning way forward or back! Here are some additional pointers: Your feet, knees, hips and shoulders should be parallel to the target line Your clubface should be perpendicular to the target line Bend from your hips and let your arms hang comfortably 8
SEQUENCE 3. The Shape of the Putting Stroke Striking the ball properly Now it s time to make use of the stripped ball. Place the ball on your perfect surface so that it will roll on the stripe. You don t need to set up a target at this time. You are simply going to see if the ball is being struck properly. Set up your stroke with the putter face perpendicular to the line on the ball. Now make your stroke and see what happens to the line as the ball rolls. If you ve set up properly and made a good stroke, then the ball will roll right on its line. If the putter is sliding across the ball incorrectly, then the line will either wobble or not be visible at all. Putting to a target Once you ve shown that you can hit the ball solidly and with a good roll, you re now ready to putt to a target. Put the quarter on the ground five feet away and aim the stripe on the ball right at it. When you make your stroke, the ball should roll right on its stripe over the quarter. This will be a great confidence builder as you do this over and over. Remember that a hole is much larger than the quarter, so if you can do this consistently, you ll find putting to be almost easy. Your mindset If you are not used to a consistently positive result when putting, you may have developed a negative mindset. Now that you know how to roll the ball properly with a good stroke, you re very likely to experience a positive result when you re on the green. It s also time to change your mindset that something good is going to happen when you swing the putter. If you continue to anticipate a negative result, you won t be able to make your same relaxed stroke without some tension when you get out on the course. The more you stoke the ball while anticipating a positive result, the better you ll find yourself putting. 9
about the author Roger Gunn, www.golflevels.com Roger Gunn has spent the last 18 years perfecting his game and analyzing the golf swing. He s rated as a Top 100 Golf Instructor in the United States by GOLF Magazine and has also been honored by the Southern California Professional Golf Association as the PGA Teacher of the Year in 2001 and the PGA Clubfitter of the Year in 2000. Roger has been a contributing writer for numerous golf publications, including Golf Illustrated and Golf Magazine. Roger has also instructed such notable golfers as Tom Lehman and Steve Pate. In fact, they ve been quoted as saying that Roger is one of the game s premier teachers. Roger is a great player and has turned into an even better teacher. Tom Lehman, 1996 PGA Player of the Year & 1999 Ryder Cup Member Roger is one of the very few people that I will allow to watch and help me with my swing. Steve Pate, 1999 Ryder Cup Member For more information, please contact your financial advisor or licensed insurance agent or call 1-800-445-SUN2 to request a prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. The prospectus contains the investment objectives, risks, fees, charges, expenses and other information regarding the contract and underlying funds, which should be considered carefully before investing. The SunAmerica Variable Annuities are issued by AIG SunAmerica Life Assurance Company and may not be available in all states. The purchase of this variable annuity is not required for and is not a term of the provision of any banking service or activity. Distributed by SunAmerica Capital Services, Inc. 21650 Oxnard Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367, 1-800-445-SUN2 Not FDIC or NCUA/NCUSIF Insured May Lose Value No Bank or Credit Union Guarantee Not a Deposit Not Insured by any Federal Government Agency M4745BR3 (4/09)