By Andre Groulx
With April comes thoughts of spring and with spring, for many, comes thoughts of golf. Golf can be a frustrating game and that frustration can be traced back to a handful of common errors, many amateurs make.
“Golf is the toughest game to master,” said Tom Clark, CPGA professional and director of golf instruction at the Timberwolf Academy. “No one ever has been perfect at it and no one will be perfect at it.”
Although golf can be frustrating, it is also unique in that, golfers of all skill levels can play and compete against each other. All that is needed is a basic understanding of the fundamentals of the swing and of golf etiquette.
CPGA professional Clark goes through, what he believes to be the average golfers’ most common errors.
Short game:
One of the biggest errors the average golfer is guilty of, said Clark, is they don’t spend enough time on the short game.
The short game is where one can really take a lot of strokes off their score.
Chipping and putting are scoring shots. If one is talented around the greens, he or she can pick up a lot of strokes.
Clark recommended trying different shots around the green. There’s a lot of room for individuality in the short game.
Some people prefer the flop shot – which is a shot that flies high and stops quickly. Some like the bump and run – a shot that flies lower and runs most of the way to the hole. The trick is to practice and see what works best.
Pre-shot routine:
Getting a consistent pre-shot routine is very important, said Clark. Skilled players have a set routine they go through before every shot.
“That’s your glue that kind of keeps your whole swing and game together,” he said.
A pre-shot routine begins by analysing the situation, the lie and elements at play including wind and weather conditions.
Then pick a target and focus on it. The whole pre-shot routine should take the same amount of time to complete and follow the same steps, no matter the shot.
Sometimes golfers put themselves in the wrong mindset, Clark said.
A consistent pre-shot routine will help put the golfer in the proper frame of mind.
“Thinking of what you want to have happen, instead of thinking of what you don’t want to have happen.”
The address:
The grip and posture are the two major faults the average golfer has in the address position, said Clark.
For the grip, one wants to have two knuckles visible on the top hand and one knuckle visible on the bottom hand.
The V's, formed between the thumb and index finger, should be parallel and both pointing at the players right collarbone (for right-handed golfers). This is known as a “neutral grip.”
For posture, Clark said, too many golfers are too rounded with their spine, and they have too much weight on their front foot. Their spine is slightly tilted towards the target, instead of the ideal, a slight tilt away from the target.
He said one should have about 55 per cent of their weight on your back foot.
“If they (golfers) could lengthen their spine out and get it angled away from the target… that gets their body setup in a more powerful position,” said Clark.
The takeaway:
In the takeaway Clark said he’s seen many amateurs whipping their club “too far inside, too quickly, in what he called a “kind of baseballish” swing. This creates a swing plane that is too flat.
A drill that Clark finds useful, is to setup with a club parallel to the target line and behind the ball. Then visualize pushing the club back and away from the ball.
Clark also said that a good visualization is to think about swinging your lead arm, instead of swinging the club. When you start to swing with the lead arm, one should have a technically sound one-piece takeaway.
The downswing:
The most common cause of a slice (a shot that curves the ball from left to right, for a right handed golf) is caused by improper sequencing in the transition from backswing to downswing. Clark said many amateurs start their downswings with their hands, resulting in a “sort of casting motion. This causes them to cut across the ball, from outside to inside, and imparting a spin that causes the ball to slice.
Clark said the sequence of the downswing should go as follows: The big muscles of the body should initiate the downswing, followed by the arms, then the hands then finally the golf club.
Finally there’s etiquette. Even if one taking 10 to 20 more shots a round than their playing cohorts, one could still be a welcomed golfing partner, as long as they have a firm grasp of golf etiquette.
One of the most important parts of etiquette is being able to play “ready golf,” said Clark. This involves getting to the ball as soon as it is safe to do so – making sure not to be in the line of your playing partners’ golf shot.
While the playing partners are hitting their shots, one has time to assess the situation and determine what kind of shot to play.
This would help speed up play, Clark said, which is one of the biggest complaints most golfers have on the golf course.
