On a recent golf outing, I got my game handed to me in a cute box of “Mmm, lunch is so much better when someone else is buying.” In my defense, I haven’t played for nearly 2 months but that’s not really an excuse. The truth is I haven’t been to a driving range since a gallon of gas was below $2. I’m over-exaggerating of course but it might as well as been my fault for trying to practice on the golf course in the midst of a game involving wagers and getting no strokes. Waah! Nevertheless, I did (re)learn a valuable lesson in my loss. Square the face and the ball will follow!

Most high handicappers hit the ball like military cadence: Left! Right! Left! Right! Leeeeft! And just like someone giving their stalled vehicle the once over and not being a certified mechanic, it’s not a good idea to try and fix something without knowing something about it. In this case it’s simple. It’s the position of the hands at the bottom of the swing arc that causes our line to the clubface to close or open resulting in enough wayward shots to put you over 100 for the day.

I pulled and pushed shots all over the course so much it had the local homeowners worried. It isn’t easy to adjust during play as an amateur because there are other factors like swing speed, tempo, and course management running through the mind. It is vital to square the face of the club so that it is inline with the target through the impact zone. I was not executing this. If I simply slowed down my speed/tempo to get the back of my left hand facing the target at impact, I would have saved myself a lot of scrambling which in effect, took away easier shots at par. I wasn’t conditioned to do this. My mind was aware but my body went rogue cutting at the ball like a Yakiniku chef. So how do I program my body to square the clubface?

Use an Impact Bag!

If you can’t get your mitts on an Impact Bag, use an old tire. The basic fundamental here is to learn just how your left hand controls the face of the club. Grip the club with your left hand, take the club back, and tap at the bag or tire (for right-handed golfers). Note the position of the clubface as it hits the bag or tire. Is it open or closed? Next, look at your left hand and see if your grip is strong, neutral, or weak. These two factors are relative to the behavior of your ball flight. If your left hand is in too much of strong grip, chances are your clubface will be open causing the ball to head right. Continue practicing on the bag or tire until you grasp the concept of  the drill and then try a controlled swing from your usual address position.

DO NOT SWING FOR THE FENCES ON YOUR IMPACT BAG OR TIRE! You could cause your wrist and/or hands serious damage. Learn control through this drill and use the same patience when executing your shots on the course.

We’ve all seen a PGA tour pro tee off on television. We’ve witnessed that beautiful right to left draw into the fairway or green. Who hasn’t tried to duplicate that on the golf course only to watch helplessly as it meanders into someone’s living room via the picture window? I know I have, and yes, a picture window. It happens. I was ill prepared thinking that I could imitate a golf swing just by watching the pros. The swing has to be understood, practiced, understood, and executed. There are some basic mechanics to hitting a powerful draw that can have you looking like a pro.

The amateur golfer often overlooks the importance of the swing plane. By understanding the swing plane, you can make the ball behave and hit textbook power draws and fades. For the draw, your club should move from inside the target line on your takeaway. The swing plane should naturally flatten out your back swing. This will take some time to develop but you must do it repetitively so that there are no thoughts while you are doing it. A clear mind always helps an effortless golf swing.

When drilling on the draw shot at the driving range, take the shot by the numbers. Use a practice tee instead of a range ball. Pull the club away until the shaft is almost parallel to the ground, stop, check your club head position. It should be behind you, your wrist should be pointing behind you as well. That is a good sign that you have brought the club inside the swing line.

Slowly bring the club down from your set position at the top and notice the natural outside line it follows.

Go through the tee and continue slowly until the finish position. Your hands should finish higher than a normal shot. This will help your muscles remember the kind of shot you are practicing so that there is no tension when you speed up your swing.

If you are a visual person, lay a club down at the driving range in line with your target. Simply bring the club across and inside that line. Then on the down swing bring it back to that line and finish high.

Practice the concept over and over and watch the behavior of the ball in flight. Make adjustments according to your swing style until you get the desired result. Do not force it! Allow it to come naturally. Don’t swing for the fences, maintain a slow pace while practicing and the swing becomes smooth. A lot of amateurs forget that golf is not so much a physical game, it’s a mental game.

One of the biggest obstacles that I’ve had to overcome is shooting for the hole. What I mean is playing every shoot towards the hole. Since I don’t have a controllable fade or draw I cringe at going for spot right of the hole or left of the hole. My guess is so do you.

Playing on island courses and some of the most difficult in the world (slope and rating wise) I have learned you don’t always need to go for the hole. A lot of times the smart shot is to the right away from the bunkers 150 yards short! Most of the time I would take out my 3 wood and go for the glory. It was hard for me to justify hitting the ball short on my second shot into a par four and then trying to chip the ball close. That isn’t even laying up in most golfers books.

But it works! My scores have dropped quite a bit since I began to shot for a wide open patch rather than between two trees. Here’s some of the thoughts I go through when selecting a shot.

Play It Short on a Par Four

One of the most helpful things I’ve done to improve my scores is to not go for the hole every shot on every hole. On Par fours where my tee shot has left me a horrible angle into the hole, or in a position where if I over shoot the hole it’s going to go long, dribble down a hill and end up OB, I lay it up. Of course I have worked also on improving my short game in the process, but laying up has shaved at least three strokes off some rounds.

Too often us duffers hit a tee shot to the left and leave ourselves behind a patch of trees that we need to either draw the ball around or shoot a perfectly straight shot dropping, with backspin. Both shots I don’t have in my repertoire quite yet. Instead, why not pull out a 4 iron take a half swing and pooch the ball low under the tree and out in the middle of the fairway. Chip the ball close you could save par, two putt and you get bogey. On your way to a 90!

Why Not Roll it Up

Another shot that you should add to your bag-o-tricks is the seven or eight iron from 40 yards away. If there aren’t any bunkers in front of you why do you need so much air under the ball? Do you have the skill to drop the ball next to the hole? If I am within about 10-20 yards of the fringe with nothing in front of me I often take out my eight iron and look to get the ball just high enough to create some roll and get it on the green going towards the hole.

My guess is that most of you take out those brand new wedges you bought and skull the ball shooting it straight over the green and into the bunker on the other side. If you watch Big Break IV you noticed that a lot of them shot old English pitch shots where the ball would land 10 yards from the green but roll up in a good position. If you have no obstacles, some decent fairway in front of you, don’t work on your short game. Pull out the 8 or even 9 iron and use the much easier controllable pitch shot.

Long and Straight or Short and Open

If you are like most you pull out your driver and go for the glory of hitting the long ball dead down the center of the fairway. Unless your playing from the back tees, you don’t need to let the big dog eat every single time. Especially if there is a patch of trees hanging over the right or left edge of the fairway.

On a lot of the island courses here in Hawaii there are short par fours but the designers placed a few trees about 100 yards out from the tee box blocking your route to the hole. You could hug the trees and go over them long or take out a 5 wood and shoot short to a big open patch. Hmm. I usually go hugging trees and shooting long, or at least try. Too often I find myself in the bushes trying to punch my ball at the hole (see previous). Might I suggest the 5 wood next time. 150-170 out is a lot better than 200 out and under a bush.

The biggest take-away you should have from this is to not always go for the glory. Trust me. Look ahead to where your shot could be and then look at what some other options are. Start playing for bogey’s on every hole rather than playing for pars. You’ll begin to see the game in a hole new way and look towards scratch golfing like a reality instead of a dream.