Joe,
Are used golf balls any worse than new ones? Is there any way to tell when it is time to stop using a ball?
Ned

Hi Ned,
Sometimes used balls are worse, especially if they have been hit too many times. Do not use any balls having scuff marks, even small ones, because those can affect the way the ball flies. If the ball has no marks, you can do this rebound test to compare one new ball to one used ball. Find a smooth cement surface and hold the two balls together in the same hand, as high as possible over your head. Drop the balls together and see if they both rebound to the same height. If they do, they are both OK to use.
Joe

Joe,
I'm left handed. Don't hold that against me. I can hit the ball realistically 300 yards every drive. My problem: it is a crab shoot as to where it will go 200 yards straight 100 due east, 250 yards straight 50 yards due west. It looks good on the driving range but it kills me on the course and tight courses forget it. My 180 yard 7 iron goes pretty straight most of the time, but ego won't let me play golf with that off the tee and hitting 4th on the second shot. Please advise.
Rich

Hi Rich,
Since I have never seen your swing, there are a lot of possibilities here. If you hit a 7-iron off the tee and you still have the longest drives in your group, that should squash the egos of the others in your group, and in return that should help your own ego. I guess that means you also have this problem with fairway woods and lower numbered irons, or else you would be using them instead of a 7 iron, right? Have you always had this problem or only recently? Have you tried to shorten your swing? Have you tried a different set of clubs? It could be that your clubs are not matched to your swing. On the other hand, if you are able to hit most of your clubs straight, then try a different driver, because there is a good chance your current driver is not matched to your other clubs. There are so many different types available that will give you different results with the same swing. Even the same brand with a different shaft will make a difference. Try to attend some demo days where you can try out different types for free.
Joe

Joe,
Any tips for those of us who lose concentration when we get nervous?
Laurie

Hello Laurie,
Everyone gets butterflies in the stomach, so the trick is to make those butterflies fly in formation. In other words, accept the fact that you are nervous, don’t fight that feeling because it is not going to go away. Tell yourself that the more nervous you feel, the more you are going to focus on execution. You can only control what happens before the ball is struck. After that you are only an observer, so just make sure you finish your stroke completely before you look up. Most people who give in to nervousness cannot wait to see where the ball goes, so they look up too soon and never finish the stroke properly, whether it is a putt, a chip, or a full shot. Part of a game plan is to know ahead of time what you will focus on, whenever you get a case of the heebie-jeebies. Then when that happens, you are already prepared. The swing thought is to execute fully, and don’t cut it short.
Joe

Joe,
I thought it was a good thing to keep your head down, but now I am hearing it is not a good thing. Which is it?
Ken

Hi Ken,
Some people are so intent on keeping the head down that they hunch their head down between the shoulders like a frightened turtle. This will definitely interfere with your turn, so I prefer to say keep your head steady and stare at the ball spot even after the ball has been hit. Furthermore, push your shoulders down at address so you will be able to turn more freely. This will also widen your swing arc which will increase your clubhead speed. I hope this clarifies things.
Joe

Joe,
I am a beginner and I know that the lower numbered clubs are supposed to hit the ball farther, but I hit my 5 iron farther than my 3 and 4 iron, and I hit my fairway woods farther than my driver. Am I a freak of nature? What is going on here?
Lonnie

Hi Lonnie,
This is not a freak of nature. It is not always true that lower ball flight means longer shots. It is entirely possible to hit the ball too low if the ball does not stay in the air long enough, especially in wet conditions. In the old days conditions were a lot dryer and firmer, so the ball would roll forever, so low shots were preferred, but nowadays conditions are generally softer, so you get less roll, so the ball must stay airborne longer. My advice is to replace your long irons with hybrids and replace your driver with one that has 15 degrees loft.
Joe

Joe,
I understand the knees are supposed to be flexed before the swing, but when I do that I feel my turn is restricted. Is it OK not to flex the knees?
Kenny

Hello Kenny,
There is a term called an athletic stance, which is used in several sports like baseball, basketball, football, and more. The idea of this stance is to be in good firm balance and in a position that is ready for action. For golf, the knees should be flexed, but less so than other sports, because as you pointed out, it is possible to flex them too much which will restrict your turn. I do not think you will have much success with zero knee flex, just allow them to flex a little bit, and your turn should not be restricted by them.
Joe

Joe,
It is really cool when the pros can make the ball back up when hitting the green on an approach shot. What swing changes do I have to make in order to do that?
Becky

Hi Becky,
Be careful about making swing changes if you are already striking the ball consistently. It is never as important to get shots to spin back as it is to get clean contact on every shot. Even pros cannot make backspin work when the greens get "firm", and they get to play on the best greens while the rest of us have to play on public courses that have greens that are about as firm as a parking lot. So unless you are a single digit handicapper, forget the spin and just keep striking the ball better and avoid tips that cause fat or thin shots. If you are a single digit handicap, and you do want to get more spin, clean your iron grooves before every shot with a small wire brush, play the ball a little further back in your stance and hit down at it.
Joe

Joe,
I have been trying the X-factor theory to get more distance by turning the shoulders more and the hips less, and it works most of the time, but sometimes I block the shot out to the right. I do not feel like I do anything wrong, but it just happens too often and I don’t know why. Help!
Jonathan

Hello Jonathan,The X-factor requires perfect timing on the downswing between your lower body going forward and your shoulders trying to catch up. If your hips are too quick and your shoulders cannot catch up in time, a blocked shot is a likely result. Instead of the X-factor, you might want to try a one piece backswing which means the shoulders and hips work together so there is no timing difference. The golfer whose timing is best is Annika Sorenstam who seems to just flow into the ball, watch how her shoulders and hips work together without the X-factor.
Joe

Joe,
For the backswing, is it better to set the wrists early or at the top?
Ed

Hello Ed,
Although some people have success setting the wrists early, most people get inconsistent results with this because the wrists set a little earlier one time, and a little later the next time. Those who use the one piece backswing tend to have more consistent results because the wrists do not set until the top of the backswing. The important thing is to reach your best hitting position at the top of the backswing. If you can feel that strong position, then try both methods and use whichever method that gets you there.
Joe

Joe,
I would like to putt with my shoulders as you suggested . . .Sometimes this works great . . .But often times, I move my whole body with the shoulders with terrible results . . . .Is there something I can think of to use only the shoulders?
Ed

Hello Ed,
There is no single putting method guaranteed to work for everyone. Using the shoulders is only a common recommendation on the best chance for success for those who have not been able to find any other method that works for them. In your case, I can only guess that you tried the shoulders because you were not satisfied with your other methods, whatever they were. It may be time for you to try a belly putter, which forces your arms, shoulders, hands, and body to work together. Many golf stores have a putting area where you can try one. You can even make your own by cutting a hole in the top of the grip and inserting a broken shaft to any desired length, even a wooden dowel will work. Good luck to you.
Joe

Joe,
I cannot seem to get any consistency to hit longer chip shots and pitches, many times I will hit the ball thin or fat. I have tried to follow all the conventional ways to do these shots but I just cannot do it. What else can I try?
James

Hello James,
Most of the time this is caused by failing to keep your hands ahead of the club. If you allow your wrists to flip too soon, the likely result is a thin or fat shot. If the conventional methods do not work for you, you might as well try something unconventional to keep the wrists from breaking. For example, you may have heard of the term called a flying elbow. Usually this term is not recommended, but on putts and chip shots if this helps to keep your wrist locked, then it might be worth a try. Move your back elbow outward so that your forearm is more along the target line and feel how this bends your wrist. Now if you can keep the wrist in this position while you execute the stroke, your ball striking may improve. Again, this is a bit unconventional, but it might be worth a try.
Joe

Joe,
Firstly thank you for all the great tips. Hopefully you receive this email and respond. It would be highly appreciative of you. I've being playing golf for almost a year now and I'm hooked. I would like some advice on a good practice routine at the driving range.
Regards
Christopher

Hello Christopher,
First of all warm up with some stretching and some double clubber drills. To avoid wasting any balls, swing at a tee first. Always have a target. Start with wedge shots. Whenever you hit two good shots with one club, move up to the 9-iron, then 8, then 7, etc. until you have used all your clubs. Then try a few half wedges and when all this is done, pretend you are playing a hole by starting with a driver, then a short iron, then a half wedge. Then play another pretend hole by starting with driver or fairway wood, and a different iron. Do not hit too many shots with the same club. By alternating clubs you will avoid the problem of getting into a groove with one club and being unable to hit any other club. Good luck to you.
Joe

Question:
Tiger was recently criticized for saying he putted like a spazz. Do you think there was anything wrong with that?

Answer: What goes around comes around. Tiger was only trying to be funny, just like when Fuzzy Zoeller tried to joke about Tiger winning his first Masters, saying the food will be something like greens and watermelon. There was no intention of offending anyone, it was only a joke. The sad thing is that Fuzzy really took a beating for saying that, and I don’t remember Tiger coming to his aid, and as a result Fuzzy, one of golf’s most charitable ambassadors, was brought to tears. Just one example of how the press will do anything to get a story by creating unnecessary controversy.

Joe,
My swing on the range is fine, but on the course I cannot seem to repeat the good shots I left on the range. This is driving me nuts. What is going on here?
Ronnie

Hello Ronnie,
On the range there is no pressure, no penalty for a bad shot, so your mind is more relaxed. Also you are swinging every few seconds so it is easy to get into a good rhythm. On the course you only swing once every several minutes, and the mind knows there are potential penalties out there on every shot. The mind is a powerful thing. It can change the way you swing without you being aware. Sometimes in the middle of your stroke you could feel a little fear, and when that happens the stroke is usually ruined. You have to train yourself to execute a stroke with certainty, without any fear. If you can commit yourself to that and a bad shot still results, then you can be pretty sure your error was mechanical and you can take steps to correct it. You can already have good mechanics but a sudden fear thought can spoil a swing. If you don’t understand that you might be trying to correct mechanics that had nothing wrong in the first place. These are mental errors that you must be strong to overcome.
Joe

Joe,
I hear sometimes the pros get put on a clock for slow play. How is that fair to a fast player who must play with a slow player?
Kelly

Hi Kelly,
In my opinion, it is not fair to the faster player. That player is trying to hurry up while the slower player does not care, but both get the penalty for slow play. I think the time has come to use a shot clock for individual golfers, just like basketball, if you don’t get the shot off within a specified number of seconds, a penalty is assessed to you alone, not your playing partner. Another idea might be that when it is your turn, you can only line up a putt from behind your ball, walking elsewhere on the green should be disallowed. You would be able to do that either while first walking up to the green or while it is someone else's turn.
Joe

Joe,
If I want to make sure my hands are in the correct position at the top of the backswing, is there an easy way to feel this without having to stop and look?
Theo

Hello Theo,
One way to do this is to think about where your thumbs are. Usually you do not have to look to feel their position. At the top of your backswing if your thumbs feel like they are under the grip or on the swing plane, you are probably in a good position. You might want to stop at the top of your backswing and see where you natural position is, especially when you feel good about your swing. That way, the next time you get into a slump, you can do the same check to see if this position has changed.
Joe

Joe,
I am a pretty good putter on the practice green, but on the course I seem to lose my touch. I am aware that nerves can have something to do with this, so I try to put some pressure on myself on the practice green, but the results are the same. Can you suggest something?
Al

Hello Al,
I have seen this happen with people who like to use some wrist action for their putting stroke. On the practice green, even when you try to apply some false pressure, the wristy stroke can work OK, but on the course where the pressure is real, the wrists are more prone to The Yips. Hal Sutton explains that small muscles do not work well under pressure, so rely on the big muscles instead. That is why you see so many pros putt with their shoulders and not their wrists.
Joe

Joe, were you self-taught or did you learn from others? What was the most important thing you learned?
Sammy

Hi Sammy,
I am mostly self-taught, but I did learn some important things from others. In this game you never really stop learning because we all have slumps and we need to know how to get out of slumps. The most important thing I learned was while playing with my first 7-club set I was always faced with shots that were in-between distances, so I had to either swing harder with a shorter club or easier with a longer club. My results were always better by swinging easier with the longer club. Then when I was able to afford a full set of clubs my game was in pretty good shape because there were fewer in-between shots and I already learned the hard way that swinging too hard seldom produces good results.
Joe

Joe,
Can you tell me why is it that the pros take such a huge divot and the ball goes the distance, but when I tend to hit under the ball and get a divot my ball goes half the distance. Why ?
John

Hi John,
The pros are not hitting under the ball, they are hitting down at the ball, striking the ball first and then the ground. They do this on purpose because a downward stroke results in more backspin on the ball. The fairways they play on are very lush, so the divots are usually quite large. Public courses are usually not so lush, so with the same swing the divots are likely to be smaller. In your case, you are probably striking the ground before striking the ball. This is known as a fat shot and that is why it goes only half the distance.
Joe

Joe,
I hit the ball much farther than my buddies, but I cannot seem to beat them. This is so frustrating. I don’t think their short games are that much better than mine, so I am at a loss to figure this out. Any help would be appreciated.
Hal

Hello Hal,
You have got to chart you shots in order to identify which area of your game needs the most attention. For example, do you hit more fairways than you miss? With each of your irons, do you hit the green more often than you miss? When you pitch and chip, do you get the ball within 1-putt range more often than not? Do you 1-putt more often than you 3-putt? If you can answer yes to all these questions, then you should be able to beat your buddies unless they also are saying yes to the same questions. If that is the case, you will have to “raise the bar” on the same questions, you must specify how many times yes must beat no for each question. This is the great thing about golf, you can never be so good that there is no room for improvement. And for people who cannot hit the ball very far, like your buddies, the great equalizer is the short game, so they still have a chance to beat long hitters like you. Every shot is a circumstance that could turn out great or horrible. Your next emotion could be a great thrill or a stunning disappointment, you never know, you can only anticipate, and that’s what makes this game so fascinating.
Joe