Carmel Magazine

TAKE YOUR BESTSHOT BY DAN PASQUARIELLO AND LAIRD SMALL s many golfers know, there are many misleading ideas about the game: from the golf swing and how to hit the ball. We've all heard them: "head down," "keep your eyes on the ball," "shift your weight," "lead arm straight," "golf is a game of inch- es…the ones between the ears," "swing hard to hit short," "golf is a game of opposites," "swing down for the ball to go up, swing up and the ball goes down, swing to the right for the ball to go to the left, swing left for the ball to go to the right," and don't forget, "you try to shoot the lowest score possible, other sports shoot the highest score, and worst of all when you win, you have to buy drinks for your playing partners!" I'm sure you can add to the list. Most golfers have these ideas in their head while they are trying to hit the ball, so let's unwrap a few, add some clarity, and hopefully increase the fun of playing the game. Keep your head down: This is usually told to players that are missing or topping the ball; essentially it is telling you that if you keep your head down, you'll hit the ball! This assumption is almost universally wrong, however. We actually want to keep our spine stable, which allows our body mass to turn around the spine. Trying to keep your head down only increases your body stress and takes away your athleticism. Shift your body weight: In our opinion, the pursuit of weight shift has hurt more golfers than almost any single idea. Don't get us wrong, your weight does shift in the golf swing—yet it does so in response to, and in support of, the move- ment of your arm swing around your body on the correct arc. Your body weight or pressure between your feet will shift when you swing the club around your body on the correct arc. Give this a try: Take your normal golf posture, and then swing your arms around your body as if you were toss- ing a pillow to your right. You will feel your body weight or the pressure shift. If you do this in both directions, you start to feel the movement of your feet in support of your arm swing. Swing down or hit down for the ball to go up: As a player, you are swinging the club toward the ball—so it is moving downward. What most players do is try to get the loft of the club under the ball; they are trying to scoop the ball up. What really launches the ball up in the air is the loft of the clubface. Allow the club head to travel tan- gent to the ground and allow the collision of the club, ball and ground to happen. When it does, magically it seems the ball is launched in the air toward the target. Most players are afraid to hit the ground with the club head—don't be! Swing to the right for the ball to go left: A real opposite! This is all about spin— for the right-handed player we're trying to create counter-clockwise spin to draw the ball. We are trying to create a repeatable ball flight, as one that curves slightly in one direction or another is more repeatable and easy to do than trying to hit the ball straight! Golf is similar to some other games we have played, like swings in baseball and softball or groundstrokes in tennis and hockey. These are all sports that are played to the side of the object being struck, creating a circular motion. To curve the ball to the left, the right-handed golfer must swing the club out and away from the body in an arc—much like a discus throw, skipping a stone on a lake, a top-spin forehand in tennis, or a low outside pitch in baseball and softball. All of these movements work to capture a feel for the correct movement. Look at the myths we hold onto about our golf game—we hope to have busted some of them for you! Give some of these ideas a try, and we welcome you out to see us with our team at the Pebble Beach Golf Academy to continue the conversation. Make golf fitness a priority to start the 2015 golf season. If you would like to schedule your own TPI fitness evaluation and AMM bio-mechanic session, and learn how to maximize efficiency and achieve peak performance for your best game yet, contact the Pebble Beach Golf Academy & Practice Facility at 831/622-8650. Trying to keep your head down only increases your body stress and takes away your athleticism. 98 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 5 Golf Mythbusters A

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