Joe,
I thought it was supposed to be a Fundamental to have the club pointing at the target at the top of the backswing, but I see photos of Phil Mickelson, John Daly, and even the great Bobby Jones pointing the club way across the line. How do you explain that?
Pete

Hello Pete,
In my opinion, that is a mannerism, not a fundamental. It sure does look picture perfect when someone can point the club straight at the target, but that is no guarantee to result in a good shot. Starting from the top of the backswing, what happens next is an inside-out swing path, which the body turn brings to a square path at the point of contacting the ball (like the knob on a swinging door). When you think about the plane for an inside-out swing path, pointing it across the line at the top only helps to put the club on that plane, so I do not see anything wrong with that, as long as your position is consistent and your results are good. If, however, you have a hook problem, then you might be pointing it too far across the line, but most people slice, so this idea may help to cure it. However, one good thing about pointing the club at the target at the top of the backswing is this. It establishes a consistent point of reference which you can photograph and go back to if you get into a slump. If you go across the line, this point of reference is a little harder to view because you cannot be sure how far over the line is good for you. In the final analysis, I think it is more important to view the position of the clubface no matter how far over the line you go. The clubface should be parallel to the angle of your leading arm.
Joe

Joe,
I can hit the ball better than my buddies, but they usually beat me because they putt better. I don’t understand why I cannot putt as well as my buddies if they are not as athletic as I am. Help!
Harold

Hello Harold,
Sometimes we overlook the little things. Any one of the following points might make a difference. For example, are you more like Golfer A or Golfer B?

Let’s assume Golfer A and Golfer B have similar putting strokes and they can both read a green equally well, but Golfer A makes more putts and 3-putts less often than Golfer B. How can this be?

Golfer A uses a putter design that is weighted at the toe and at the heel, but not in the center. Golfer B uses a straight blade. Since they both have similar strokes, they both miss the sweet spot on the putter by the same amount. Golfer A gets better results due to a larger sweet spot.

Golfer A has confidence in the read and can concentrate fully on executing the stroke. Golfer B changes the read as he/she stands over the ball (why bother with the original read in that case?). This can result in a tentative stroke due to worrying about the read instead of executing the proper pace of the stroke.

Golfer A aims at a spot on the green on the way to the hole, a spot that is close enough to hit every time. Golfer B does not use an intermediate target.

Golfer A improves touch for distance control during practice by noticing how far the backswing goes for certain distances, and then steps off those distances. Golfer B just relies on feel without thinking about the exact distance. As a result, Golfer A’s second putt is usually 1-2 feet long, while golfer B’s second putt is usually 3-4 feet long.

Golfer A’s putter has a fat grip, Golfer B’s putter has a skinny grip. In both cases, any accidental hand rotation will cause the putter face to rotate off line. Due to the fatter grip Golfer A’s putter face will rotate less off line than Golfer B’s putter.

Golfer A observes the terrain while walking up to the green from 100 yards on in, and can see which way water would most likely drain off the green, because this is the way all putts will break if you are not sure of other reads. Golfer B only reads putts after he/she gets on the green.

Both golfers have the Yips, but Golfer A uses a belly putter, which reduces the effect of the Yips.
Good luck Harold, I hope this helps!
Joe

Merry Christmas - here are some free things to have some fun with. If the links do not work, just copy and paste to your browser window.


http://www.stmulligan.com

http://www.orbitzgames.com/puttputt

http://www.cincinnati.com/golf/golfquiz/html/brand.htm

Joe,
I cannot sink a 3 foot putt for the life of me. I have heard about the yips but this is ridiculous. I have tried just about everything. I need one more idea please.
Blane

Hello Blane,
Never fear, here is an idea that works so good you can do it with your eyes closed. First with your eyes open, take the clubhead back about 2 or 3 inches and stop. Before you complete the stroke, make sure the clubface is pointed directly at the hole, and convince yourself that your forward stroke is going to keep the clubface square to the hole all the way during the follow thru. The reason this works is because some twisting may be taking place during a continuous backswing and forward stroke. By stopping after the backswing you can be fairly sure that no twisting has taken place, and you can remind yourself that you are not going to allow any more twisting during the forward stroke. If you can get your mind to believe it can feel keeping the clubface square, you can close your eyes before the forward stroke and you will make the putt just about every time because there are no visual distractions that might be causing your yips. In other words you cannot look up too soon if you are not looking at all. Just feel the clubface staying square.
Joe

Joe,
My buddies and I like to make silly little bets on trick shots. I am two down to them so I am counting on a sly dog like you to give me two ideas on how to get back at them.

Answer: On the putting green, bet that you can get two balls into the hole from 20 feet with only 3 strokes. They will think you must hole one of the putts so they will take the bet. Then you put both balls together against the face of your putter, so a single stroke will send both balls close to the hole, and hopefully from there you will have two tap ins. Next, bet that one swing with your wedge can make a ball pop straight up in the air and you will catch it in your hand. Then stack one ball on top of another, since balls have dimples this is not hard to do. Then hit the bottom ball with your swing and the top ball will pop straight up in the air and it should be easy to catch. OK readers, now it is your turn, have you got any other trick shots to share with us?

Another Season Comes To A Close
This is a sad time of the year in the northern midwest. Where did the summer go? How did time slip by so fast? The cold air is already slipping down from Canada. The fall colors have gone. We probably have already played our last round of the year. No more Indian Summer, even global warming is not helping. Even if it were warm enough one more day, there are so many leaves fallen to the ground that it is hard to find your ball in the middle of the fairway, but then most of us are not used to being in that position anyway. All we have left of the season are memories of some remarkable shots, like the awesome majesty of a moon-shot popup drive, the graceful curve of a banana-peel slice, the feeling of helplessness as the ball heads toward the water hazard, the perfect symmetry of ever-growing circles of ripples created by your ball, the impressive rooster tail from the morning dew being ripped apart by a sizzling worm-burner, some almost-good rounds, and plenty of laughs with good friends. That last part is the best. There is no better therapy for life’s daily stresses. Hurry, 2008.

Point and Counter-Point:

Purist Point - Prayers are not allowed on golf courses. If you call on God to improve the results of a shot while it is still in motion, you are using an Outside Agency and subject to appropriate penalties under the rules of golf.

Counter-Point – So penalize me. Let us pray. May thy ball lie in green pastures and not in still waters. Amen.

Joe,
I like my long irons but people keep telling me hybrids are better. I do have occasional bad shots with my long irons but I figure the same thing would happen with a hybrid. Do you agree?
Lem

Hi Lem,
I suspect your bad shots with a hybrid will be better bad shots than those with your long irons because there is more mass behind the ball with a hybrid. If you look closely at all your irons you will notice that the mass gets smaller and smaller as the number of the irons gets lower, making the sweet spot smaller as well. Hybrids have a much larger sweet spot so your off center hits should still produce decent results, while an off center hit on a long iron usually loses too much distance.
Joe

Question - is golf a dying sport?
Well I hope this does not happen, but here is a nightmare scenario. In this ever changing world there are times when things must adapt or die, and golf purists refuse to adapt by trying to make the game more fun for the masses. Once upon a time, golf was a sport only for rich people. Today it is for all people, but I see municipal courses closing because the land is very valuable near cities, so new courses must be built in the boonies, and it is becoming more expensive to play, not to mention the price of gas to get there. What few courses remain near cities are already overcrowded because they are the only places people can afford to play. The pace of play is horrible, so with these factors there is danger that many people might give up the game. If overcrowding gets bad enough, we might have to do what other countries are already doing, and that is to prove that your game is good enough to qualify to be allowed to play at certain courses. This leaves out lots of people who enjoy the game but are not good enough to qualify, which is the opposite of growing the game. As a result, golf may go back to being a game only for the rich, and then it will be even more difficult to grow the game. Today there are admirable programs that are trying to get kids involved, but will these same kids be able to afford to play later on? And when Tiger retires, will anyone else be able to capture the interest of the fans as much? If not, this downward spiral may begin. Prize money will come down, and the popularity of the game will decline. Then more courses might close. Somebody stop me before I start to cry. We need more ideas on how to grow the game, and we need them quick. Insanity is expecting things to get better while you continue to do things the same way.

Joe, I read in a magazine recently that if you start your swing and while you are swinging the ball happens to move either by wind or soft grass giving way, that you are deemed to have moved the ball and therefore it is a penalty. What do you think about that?
Answer: It takes a lot of wisdom to say you are deemed to have moved the ball when you clearly did not, so by the same logic I think the rules makers are deemed to be idiots.

Joe,
I am bigger and stronger than my buddies and I can hit a softball farther than them, but they hit a golf ball farther than me. How do you explain that?
Big John

Hi John,
There is a big difference in the weight of a softball and bat versus golf club and golf ball. Since you are stronger, you are more able to drive the heavier bat thru the heavier ball, more so than your smaller buddies. You probably have more of an arm swing than your buddies, and it might be harder for you to generate any extra speed with a golf club. Since a golf club and ball are much lighter, your buddies can use more wrist action to generate speed, especially if their timing is right. This can best be illustrated by using a ping pong ball and paddle. If you swing very hard with your arms, but with no wrist action, the ball will not go very far. If you swing with all wrist action, but no arms, the ball still will not go very far. So obviously the answer is the combination of arm and wrist action. However, timing makes the biggest difference for distance. If you use the wrist too soon, you end up with only arm action at the point of impact, hence the term "hitting from the top", and you get poor distance. You can send the ping pong ball the farthest by swinging your arms first, and delaying the wrist action until the last possible instant. This timing of the wrist snap is most important because it does not just ADD arm speed plus wrist speed, it actually MULTIPLIES them. Think about swinging easy with the arms and hard with the wrist at the last possible moment. Try this with the ping pong ball and paddle and you will see how this will increase distance, then use the same idea with a golf club. Watch the slow motion replays of the pros on TV, this is exactly how they get great distance with a seemingly effortless swing.

Joe,
U think u are so smart, how come we never see ur name on leaderboard eh?
(name withheld)

Dear no name,
I never said I was on the same level as Harmon or Leadbetter, neither are my fees. That being said, be sure to let us know whenever you see their names on the leaderboard, OK?
Joe

Bob writes about Denis Watson losing the 1985 US Open due to the ten second penalty, which I said was an atrocity:

Joe, if you knew the rule, perhaps your comments would hold more water. Many times your humorous replies are not only demeaning to those of us who play by the rules but your answers are incorrect, thus further confusing those who read your rants on the rules. The ten seconds does not start until the player reaches the ball, without undue delay. If the ball is not holed within that 10 seconds, it is deemed to be at rest (which is the part of the rule Denis violated). If it subsequently falls into the hole the player is deemed to have holed out with his previous stroke and must add ONE penalty stroke to his score. It is interesting that you use Denis Watson as his example. Following this incident, the USGA changed the penalty for this infraction because they felt two strokes was too severe.

Response: They changed something? What a concept, I thought that was not allowed. I guess losing the US Open on a technicality does seem a bit severe. Using the same logic, maybe all 2 stroke penalties are too severe, right?

Bob continues: When any part of the ball overhangs the lip of the hole, the player is allowed enough time to reach the hole without unreasonable delay and an additional ten seconds to determine whether the ball is at rest. If by then the ball has not fallen into the hole, it is deemed to be at rest. If the ball subsequently falls into the hole, the player is deemed to have holed out with his last stroke, and he must add a penalty stroke to his score for the hole; otherwise, there is no penalty under this Rule.

Response: Was an official Olympic stopwatch used to time the ten seconds or how many seconds constitute an unreasonable delay to reach the hole? If not, how do you know if it was not 9.9 seconds when the ball fell in the hole? Furthermore, if you try to beat the ten second rule, and the ball really was moving while you tap it in, that should also be a penalty, right?

Bob continues: Additionally, there are only 34 rules and the "Rule Book" is no where near 150 pages. The rule book will easily fit in a small pocket on a bag or even in a back pocket.

Response: I do not know which version of the rule book you are holding. I am holding the USGA 2006-2007 version, and the text with Appendices goes up to page 140 followed by the index which goes to page 164. Geez what a complicated game. No wonder some new people are too intimidated by this to stay with this game.

Bob continues: It takes no longer to play by the rules than is does not to, and to many of us it is very enjoyable to do so.

Response: Tell that to the recreational golfer waiting on the tee while the group ahead marches back to the same tee to replay a shot instead of dropping at the spot where a ball was lost. Bob, I mean no disrespect. Obviously you are passionate about the game, so all your comments are appreciated and should be discussed. I just think the rules are overly complicated and could use a good dose of common sense.

Your putt stops at the lip of the cup. When you about to tap it in, you notice it is still moving slightly and you mention this to your opponent, but your opponent says you only have ten seconds to tap it in. You cannot hit a moving ball, so you wait an extra moment, and then the ball falls into the cup, and your opponent calls a two stroke penalty on you for taking longer than ten seconds. What would a rules official say about this?


This actually happened to Denis Watson in the 1985 US Open. The rules official imposed a two stroke penalty, and Denis lost the tournament by one stroke.

My Opinion: The ten seconds should begin at the point where the ball comes to rest. If the ball is still slightly moving, the ten second rule should not have been imposed. You cannot say it is ten seconds from when the putt was stroked, some long putts take longer than that to get to the hole. Besides, ten seconds is nothing compared to how long it takes some people to line up their putt and then freeze over the ball. Maybe there should be a time limit for that instead, after all, that is what holds up the pace of play much more than the ten second rule.

Losing the US Open because of this is an atrocity, and one of many reasons why the rules need to be updated and simplified. The object of the game is only to hit a ball into a hole, so unless you love beaurocracy, there is little reason for the rule book to be over 150 pages long.

This is about hypocrisy, and what should be done about it. The USGA has recently sent out a message stressing the importance of keeping a good pace of play, but then in the same message it states courses or committees cannot waive a rule for pace of play. Well, I guess it must not be that important after all. To them it makes more sense to follow illogical rules than to have good pace of play. The message says courses or committees should not allow a drop area near a water hazard that happens to be closer to the green than the point where a ball would enter the water. Nor should it be allowed to establish a stroke limit on a hole. Well I guess some poor hapless soul who is having trouble getting the ball airborne is going to have to stay there all day until a shot clears the water hazard or he runs out of balls, too bad about the pace of play for everyone else. Then the message said wooded areas should not be marked as a water hazard because it does not fit the definition. So if you lose a ball in the woods and did not hit a provisional, you must march back to the spot where the original stroke was played and hit again, instead of just dropping where the ball entered the woods, which would save a lot of time. So what should be done about this? Revise any rule that hurts pace of play. For example, create a new rule called Ball Out Of Play, which would replace the separate rules for water hazards, out of bounds, unplayable lies, and lost balls. Think about it, if a ball is out of play, and you are already getting a penalty for that, why should it matter how or the ball went out of play or what color the stakes are? In all those cases, just drop at the nearest point where the ball went out of play, one stroke penalty, and play on. So what if the drop has to be a little closer to the hole, you already have suffered a penalty so big deal, it is not going to affect anyone’s score. This would help pace of play because there would never be a need to replay a shot or to hit a provisional.

Joe,
I am right handed and I have read and heard so many times that the putting stroke is supposed to keep the right hand out of the stroke. I do not understand why. That is like telling me if I want to roll a ball, not to use my right hand. Please explain.
Tony

Hi Tony,
I like your analogy, you raise a good point, why should you not use your dominant hand? Because the back hand supplies power to a swing, this power sometimes creeps into the delicate touch needed to putt on very fast greens. That is why you see some pros use the claw grip so there is no chance that the back hand can overpower the other hand. This does not mean you cannot roll the ball with the back hand. Look at the way Zach Johnson putts. He leans the handle of the putter back behind the ball. This does two things for him. It allows a better view of the clubface to square it up to the target line, and it also reduces the tendency to flip the back wrist, because it is already in a flipped position. This allows a feeling of rolling the ball with the back hand without extra power creeping in to ruin the stroke. By the way, I also use this method and it seems to work well. Good luck and roll on.
Joe

Sometimes I am asked why I criticize the logic of the Rules Of Golf. That was the same question asked to our founding fathers about the rules of taxation in 1776, but they chose to fight injustice rather than just live with it. Good thing they did, or else you would be having tea and crumpets every day instead of Starbucks. Then I am asked to give an example of injustice. OK, if you are in the middle of your swing, and the ball happens to move either from the wind or from soft grass giving way, whatever, the rules say you caused the ball to move, so it is a penalty, even if you stop your swing. But you did not cause the ball to move. Is that justice or injustice? If you think that is a just penalty, then I think you are incapable of rational thought. There are many more examples of similar injustices that, in my opinion, have no business imposing penalties for reasons that have nothing to do with the skill of the game. How people can honor such nonsense is a mystery to me.

A Bit of Golf Trivia:
Every year, the USGA provides its members with an 18 question quiz, which is an open book quiz with no time limit, so anyone can take their time and look up the answers. In the years 2005 and 2006, there were about 2500 people who provided answers for this quiz. Can you guess within 500, how many people got all the answers correct?

Answer:
In 2005 only 21 people got all the answers correct. In 2006, only 6 got all the answers correct. In 2007, although the year is not over yet, over 1200 entries were submitted, and so far NOBODY has gotten all the answers correct.

Jody, my Evil Twin, stop laughing and tell us what you think about that?
Answer: That just goes to show how ridiculous some of the rules are. Come on people, wake up and smell the coffee. Some of the rules are outdated and unnecessary. This is the enlightened 21st century. The concept of continuous improvement dictates that we should fight to amend the rules so people can understand them. The game should not be so complicated. All you are doing is hitting a ball into a hole. Is there any other sport where such a low percentage of people would pass a rules test? NO, so use a little logic and figure out which are reasonable rules and which others are illogical because they have nothing to do with the skill of the contest, and fight to get those fixed. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. And that is the name of that tune.

For many years I have wondered why woods had to have a rounded shape. It made no sense to me because any off center hit will have less mass behind the ball. Consider how irons are perimeter weighted to help an off center hit. I saw no reason why the same concept would not also work for woods. Recently I tried an off brand square driver called a Blockhead since the price was very reasonable, and if it did not work I was just going to donate it as a prize at our next outing. Anyway, I took it to the range and compared results with my regular rounded driver. First few shots were comparable, alternating clubs. Then my rounded driver, as it sometimes does on the course, would hit an occasional hook or slice, but the Blockhead stayed straight, almost every time. I had to tell myself, OK, do not get too excited until it proves itself under playing conditions, and so I used it on the course, and to make a long story short, it is now my first string and second string driver (I bought another one), the rounded one is now third string. The moral of the story seems to be this. Club with curved shape produces curved shots. Club with straighter shape produces straighter shots. Next I think I will look for similar fairway woods and hybrids. Do you think Charlie Brown can guess what my new nickname is?
Regards,
Blockhead Joe

Joe,
Sometimes on a short putt I feel like I am sure that I made a good putting stroke, but the ball sometimes reacts like a pull or a push and it misses the hole. Could it be the dimples on the ball?
Drake

Hello Drake,
You are correct. The Zen putter manufacturer has done some experiments that show striking the ball on the edge of a dimple can send the ball as much as two degrees off line, which can result in a miss from 5 feet. Zen then claims that their putters correct for this because of the way the face is designed, but I do not buy that. I do not see how a milled or grooved face is going to strike the dimple any differently. It was not that long ago when all golf balls had a visible seam where there were no dimples. Golfers used to line up this seam so the putter could strike the ball on that seam where there were no dimples, resulting in a true roll. Today’s ball designs have eliminated the seam in favor of better ball flight on full swings. Then I saw another ad for a ball with no dimples at all, and it was very pricey. However this ball is probably only intended for putting because ball flight will be erratic without dimples, and for competition you cannot switch balls for putting. The only solution that I can think of is to use a ball that has smaller dimples. Anyone else have any ideas on this?
Joe