The 1964 U.S. Open Championship was the stage for one of the greatest comebacks in golf history. Ken Venturi, who had enjoyed such a brilliant amateur and professional career, was fighting to shake the effects of a slump so severe that many thought his career, once so bright with promise, was over. Venturi proved them wrong with a brilliant display of shot-making and courage, played out in the withering heat and humidity of Washington's Congressional Country Club. On the final day, over 36 holes, Ken fought off exhaustion and intense pressure for one of the most popular and inspiring victories in U.S. Open history. Today Ken is one of America's top teachers. Here now is Ken Venturi's better golf now, taped on location at Eagle Creek Country Club in Naples, Florida. Hi, I'm Ken Venturi and I'd like to thank you for buying this video and give a little background on me and why we did the tape. I was born in San Francisco and started playing golf there at an early age and I didn't have any instruction. I didn't have anybody to teach me. I used to caddy and watch people swing and I had a lot of flaws in my swing but I practiced so hard that I could make the flaws work. In 1952 I was fortunate enough to meet Byron Nelson. I played around the golf with him without him saying anything and I shot 66. I thought that was pretty good until the master himself said to me, well I'll meet you out here tomorrow morning, there's eight or nine things we got to work on. And he broke my game down and from that day on I started listening to Byron Nelson and making notes of everything he said. In 1957 I turned pro and immediately I was successful. Won St. Paul, Milwaukee right off the bat and went on to win more and more. By 1962 I went into a slump. I had an accident and back injury and in 1963 I was at a very low ebb. So I decided the only way if I was going to make a comeback was to have to go back and break my game down. I went back to all the notes that Byron Nelson gave me. I went from day one where I started the take away the whole thing and of course in 64 I had my best year. Everything I've learned from Byron Nelson and what I've learned over the years I am putting on this tape. You'll have to study it over and over and there'll be a lot of things you'll see that you didn't see the first time out. What I feel about it is that there are no gimmicks to this tape. There are no theories. It's all fundamentals. It's basics. Things I've tried and things that I have done since 1952 and have stood the test of time. They've stood the test of time because I've learned from the greatest from Byron Nelson playing with Hogan and watching some great players play. You watch this tape and I think one thing you'll be better than you ever thought that you could be. Of all the fundamentals I'd have to believe the grip is the most important. It is one that can cause success and failure. Fluctuation in ups and downs in your game. Why I say this is I met Nelson in 1952 and that time I was the California State Amateur Champion and I had a poor right hand grip. Very strong. Nelson recommended the first time he said you have to correct your grip. You have to make your right hand a little weaker. I said I can do that. He said I know you can. I said how long you think it will take me to do it? He said I would think about two years until you don't have to think about it anymore. Now that's a long time after being a fairly good player. If I had a young person starting golf today I would make sure that they work on their grip before they think about their swing. There's three types of grips though. There's the interlocking grip which has been used by Gene Saracen and of course Jack Nicklaus. There's a ten finger grip which has been used by Bob Rosberg or Art Wall. It's not too popular today. The one I recommend is the Varden grip or the overlapping grip with the right hand. The little finger of the right hand overlaps the index finger of the left hand and the V's formed by the left and right hand point over the right shoulder. In the left hand I've drawn a line and it crosses from the finger of the left hand into the palm and when you close your palm the V from your thumb and forefinger point over your right shoulder. The left hand only has two functions. One it's told on and the other one is not to break down. The V forming right over the right shoulder. Some better players maybe have a little bit weaker point at their chest but that's the only function that there is with the left hand. Holding on and not to break down. Then comes the right hand. The most important part of the swing. The most important part in the game of golf. It dictates your whole swing. The right hand is the most difficult hand to get on the club. Everybody wants to grab a strong right hand because throwback from playing baseball. It feels good, feels powerful but that's not right. It's a finger grip. The club fits in the fingers of the right hand and the groove in the right palm fits against the thumb of the left hand. You've heard many times these three fingers are the pressure points. The two middle fingers of the right hand is the pressure point. That's not true. If you put the palm of your right hand against your thumb your hands will work together making your hands go back in one piece. For example how to get your right hand on is not that difficult. I know you've held a pistol in your hand. You put your hand around the butt of the gun, your finger on the trigger and your thumb down the left hand side. What do you do now? You just take the gun out of your hand, open your fingers and there's your right hand grip. About the pressure, I know you've all gone fishing. You grab it just like you do the gun. The fingers, the index finger and the thumb. It's all the easiness of it. You don't grab a fishing pole like that. Why do you grab a golf club like that? It's all in the wrist and easy. The tension. There's as much tension on a club as there is on a fishing pole. So remember whether you have a ten finger grip, interlocking or the Varden grip, the keys to a good grip are, grip the club in the fingers and the palm of the left hand with the V formed by the thumb and forefinger pointing towards your right shoulder. Grip the club with your right hand just as you would grip a pistol. Gripping the club in the fingers and not in the palm. This is for better feel. And finally, grip the club tightly enough to control it but not so tight as to create tension in your arms and upper body. I would have to believe that almost every shot that is missed is because of alignment and body position. The average player approaches the ball from the wrong direction. He approaches it from the side which is almost impossible to get yourself in good alignment or body position. You put the club down behind the ball and then you try to find where you want to go and now how many times have you seen people do that? Because it's almost impossible to get lined up in the right direction. The best players in the world line themselves up from behind. You watch Jack Nicklaus. Ben Hogan did it. I tried to do it. I never played a shot in my life that I didn't visualize first what the ball was going to do. You have to visualize where you want the ball to go. Look at it and memorize it. You start in from behind the ball. You look across the ball down to where you want the ball to go and then you approach it from behind. You put the club down which is aiming where you want to go and then you work your body around the club. The average player works the club around their body because they can't find it. What you want to be able to do is to come in from behind so that every time you're looking down the fairway you're visualizing what the shot is going to do. You never look at the shot when you're aiming. You never look up over like this. Always look under and visualize in your shot. And after you get all that down the most important part is is the ball in the right position. Let's talk about the basics of the stance. I think your feet should be approximately shoulder width. This gives you a good solid base from which to begin your swing. If your feet are too close together you may lose balance. If your feet are too far apart your swing may be restricted. Your weight is toward your heels. This promotes the correct inside to down the line swing pan. If you can't wiggle your toes your weight is too far forward. Keep your back straight. Do not bend to meet the ball. Flex your knees. This is really important. Your flex knees help to keep your balance and shift your weight to generate maximum power. Your hips, knees and shoulders must be parallel to the target line. You need to stand far enough from the ball that you can swing free and easy. Now what about the ball position? I recommend that you play the ball somewhere around your left heel. And though traditional instruction says that the ball moves back in your stance as the clubs get shorter I say it stays the same because the bottom of the swing remains constant. Good players do not get out of swing they get out of position. You put them back in position and their swing comes back. There are three faults that I look for in every player whether it be an amateur or the best of the pros. One problem is when you address the ball and you're finally set too many people put their weight on the balls of their feet. They lock their knees and they bend from the waist. Look where I can hit that golf ball from, from that position. Without changing my stance all I will do now is put my weight on my heels, flex my knees and then drop my nose or the bill of my cap and I'm in my position to hit the golf ball. Most of the time when you find a fault coming and after you got into your best position nobody ever works closer to the ball and more open. They will work farther away and more hooked. You know why? Because it feels powerful. It feels powerful but you're out of position again. You have to constantly check position. If you're not in the same position every time what good is it to practice hour after hour if the next time you come out to play you're in the wrong position again and you practice again. So you're only compounding the faults. What you have to do is you never bend to meet the ball. You always flex to meet the ball and in that way you'll always get in the best position. Let me show you how I check position. I check it with a five iron. No matter if you play once a week or once a month you'll be able to check your position. Now I'm not saying that my stance is set for you but we all have our own stance. We have our own width. We have our own position because everybody's not built the same. Tall, short, stocky, wherever it may be. I get my position to where I feel that this feels comfortable to me. And now how do I check it? Like this. If my feet are about the width of my shoulders or the correct width that I like what I do I put down my eight iron and my right toe should come inside this farrow and my left toe just inside the grip. Now if I have the ball correctly placed in the right distance from me I use my seven iron and if that's being correct when I put it down the ball will be just inside the farrow and the shaft will be just inside the grip. Now if I got it in the right position it is right off my heel. I put my club down behind the ball and then I drop down the club and I have no angles. None whatsoever. I am lined to where I want to go. My hands are in the position that I want. If they're too far ahead I would have this angle. Too far behind I would have that angle. You want them right over the ball so you're like this. So when you come down you can set it down like that. So now you've reached your position and you find that you're now hitting the ball very, very well. What you do then is take out two tees. Put one at your left toe and one at your right toe. Now go back and take the ball off the tee and measure how far it is from this tee to this tee and how far this tee is from the shaft. And whether you play once a week or once a month you'll be able to go out and practice in the same position that you were when you were striking the ball well. And I guarantee you if you do this, your progress will improve so fast you won't believe it. Okay, let's talk about the golf swing. We're looking at some film of me from my plain days on tour. But my fundamentals are still the same. The golf swing is shaped like an elongated U, nice and wide at the bottom. Always keep it smooth in good tempo. A good swing will never leave a player out of balance. You swing the club on an inside to down the line path. This enables you to return the club face to a square position when you hit the ball. What is the inside to down the line swing path? It's very simple. Draw an imaginary line from your ball to your target. When you swing you take the club back inside that line and return it to that line as you strike the ball. A good thought on the takeaway is that you should maintain the triangle formed by your arms and chest. If you take it back in one piece, this will help you put the club on the correct inside path. Take the club back to parallel. Don't over swing for this will produce a multitude of problems. Your knees should remain flexed throughout your swing. I would like to recommend that you keep your left heel on the ground during the swing. This will help with balance. You won't sway. As you start down a lateral slide drops the hand on the inside and on the line to impact. Finish high and imagine resting your head on a pillow. And there you have it, the golf swing. The most important part of the swing, whether it be a short shot of 50, 60 yards or a full driver, is the first 18 inches. It goes back to there. Club head, hands and shoulders in one piece to here. And it's 18 inches through. But going through is really a happening. It happens because you've made a good takeaway and you've made a good downswing. It would be impossible to finish up here if you were coming over the ball like this. So the swing and the end of the swing is really a happening. And how to test this, I learned this, oh it has to be in the late 40s. I was watching Olin Dutra give a clinic and he said, you know how you learned to take it back in one piece? You take club head, hands and shoulders back in one piece to waist high. Now to check that I would put a golf ball exactly 90 degrees for my swing. If I take the club head, hands and shoulders back in one piece to here I could turn around, drop the club and hit the golf ball. I'm in line all the way around. If I took the club head first, look where I'd be. If I took the shoulders first, look where I'd be. It's club head, hands and shoulders in one piece to waist high and turn around. And again, the only thing wrong with that, it doesn't feel powerful, but it's the best position. And the best position you get into and when you hit the ball the farthest is when you have good timing and you're in good position. There is no force. So remember it's club head, hands and shoulders in one piece. Now everybody gets so tense of trying to hit the ball. You get tense when you have a fly rod in your hand or holding a pistol. I like to think of it like a paint brush. Ever paint a house like this? It doesn't make any difference if it's a paint brush or a driver. If I'm going like this, I can throw the paint brush away. That all this is is a paint brush in your hand, it goes back and it goes through. You go from this position, you go from that position and you're passing through. Remember, the ball is not something you hit, it's something that gets in the way of your swing. In making a golf swing, there are three gaps that have to change. The gap of the left shoulder to the chin on the backswing, the right shoulder to the chin on the follow through. That's mainly to give you that elongated U. And then the most important gap in the swing is the elongated U. And then the most important gap of all is this gap right here. The gap when you're sitting here, this gap. This gap has to close to there. The left knee and the left hip is the culprit of all bad shots. For instance, if you fall away, the gap changes larger. To the top, coming up, spinning out, all the gap change and left knee goes straight. What you want to do is when you come into the ball, you close that gap. You know what it's like? It's like tug of war. If someone was holding the club, you wouldn't try to pull it out of their hands like this. No. What would you use? Your legs. The most powerful thing you have. There's your gap. There's your change. So when you go back, you think of your left shoulder going to your chin on the backswing. You think of your right shoulder going through to your chin on the follow through. But this gap and left knee are the most important. In fact, if there was anything that I had when I was playing, my last thought would be, do not lose the flex in your knees and close the gap of your left hip. Music Music Music Music Now we're going to get into the part of the game where you can really start to save strokes. Chipping and pitching the ball. I became a pretty good pitcher and chipper of the ball because of my father. As a young man, I always wanted to play the front tee so I could reach the green. He made me play as far back as I could get. I couldn't reach the greens. I was able to hit two shots, my long irons, and then I learned to chip and pitch. It was kind of like survival, trying to make the best score you could. Pitching the ball is like throwing the ball. It's eye and hand coordination. You pitch pennies to a wall, your eye tells your hand it must go that hard. If I was going to pitch this ball up at the pin, I'd take some loft and I'd throw it up to the pin. If I had to put the ball farther back, I'd throw it this way. My eye tells my hand I must throw it that far. What determines good chipping and pitching is the fringe. The one thing we do is we use one swing, but we use different clubs. If I had these three balls and I had to go to the hole and I had to clear the fringe, I would take a nine iron. Now if I had to go farther back, I would take the eight iron. And still again, if the pin was farther back than that, I would take my seven iron. I've got three distances, but I've used one swing. I know a lot of players, and I know you do too, that have a favorite club around the green, like a nine iron or a pitching wedge. And if you have four or five different lengths, you have to use four or five different swings. Not me. I have four or five different clubs and I only use one swing. Now let me walk you through the fundamentals of this chip shot. First of all, the most important is getting the right grip. And here's how you go about it and check it. Take a pencil, put it in your glove like this. If you have the right grip, the pencil will fit firmly against your wrist and forearm, like so. If you don't have the right grip, it's easy to check. Hands are too far back, you have this gap. Hands are too far forward, you have that gap. Hands are too weak, another gap. Hand is too strong, the pencil will move over here. All those four points are checking. If you can put the pencil against your hand and your wrist, you are in the perfect position. Now let's see how we go about the fundamentals of the ball position and the swing. You take an open stance with your weight on your heels. The ball is off your left heel and your hands are ahead. This way here, you move the club head with the shoulders. There is no hand motion and very little body motion. It's all done with the arms and the club head, like so. Now if I have this shot, if I was going to go to this hole, I would choose a nine iron. Seven, eight, or nine, six, doesn't make any difference. I use my fundamentals, correct grip, and make my chip shot. Remember, using all these fundamentals will enable you to do one thing, to hit the ball solid every time you are around the green. We have just seen chipping around the green with some good lies. A lot of times when you get around the green, you don't always have a good lie. A little bit in the rough. It requires a little different technique than chipping with a seven, eight, or nine iron. We talked about being very firm in the wrist with that shot. This one here is most of a pick up. This grip is very loose. You can almost pull it out of your hand. That's how loose you get. The secret of this though is that you never want to come out of your flex. You never want to get up out of it. Keep your flex all the time. Club open, and then you just drop the club on the ball. What you want to do here is a looser grip. Pick it up because you want the ball out of the rough. You don't want to try to go through it. The bunker shot probably scares the average player more than any other shot in golf. And yet, why do pros say I'd rather be in the bunker than be in the rough? It's not that difficult if the fundamentals you go after are correct. One reason being we've heard so many times to hit bunker shots you must hit two inches behind the ball. Well that would be all right if all the sand was the same. If the sand is soft or hard, silicon sand, they're all different. Everywhere we go is different. But we can use one swing and play all kinds of sand. Here's the reason. What you want to do is you want to get a wider stance. It's a lower swing under here, under the ball because what you're doing is you think about going under a door jam. If you were going under a door, you wouldn't pick it up. You'd try to slip it under the door. The one thing you want to think about in this shot is that you take the same backswing. The length of the shot depends on the follow through. You take a wide stance, weight on your heels, get very low, and think of going under the ball. Now what do you think about? Let me show you. If I took this tee and I put it in the sand and I said clip the tee out of the sand, there'd be no desire to hit down at the tee. You can clip the tee. So you stay here and you clip the tee. Now you visualize the ball being on the tee. All you want to do now is clip the tee out from under the ball. Therefore, you're not thinking of two inches behind the ball. All you're thinking about is getting under the ball and letting the sand help the ball out of the bunker. Wider stance, the same grip that you would use when you're playing. The same grip that you would use when you're playing. Open the blade and now just clip the ball off the tee. Both divots are the same. No digging, no helping, or I thought that ball was sitting on a tee. Clip the tee and forget the ball. Wedge play. The sand wedge and the pitching wedge set up more birdies than any other clubs in the bag. Long par five, short par fours. You need to know how to play the wedge. A question asked me so many times, how can I put bite on the ball? How can I back it up? It's not that easy to do, but you have to have the right conditions. And again, there are times you don't want it to back up. You want the ball to land soft. But let's consider this. You have to have three things in your favor. One, you have to have a good lie. You have to have a green that you can back the ball up on. And plus, you have to have conditions. Nobody is proficient enough to back a ball up out of the rough and downwind. There's no such thing. But there are times when you play the shot, you have to weigh the conditions. I'm going over water. I got a mound there. I don't have much green to work with. This one I want to stop very fast because I don't have that much green to work with. But then again, I don't want it to back up a lot because it'll come right back off the green. You have to weigh when it's time to back it up and when it's time not to. And the way of doing this is in your swing. It's with your right hand and right knee. The faster you work your right hand and right knee, the more spin you put on the ball. If the pin was in close and I didn't want it to back up, I would work my hand and my knee much slower. This club, from a hundred yards on end, takes a lot of imagination. It takes a lot of practice. And it takes many different swings. You can draw it down, hit it high, but you've got to weigh the situation. I could do hours on doing wedge play. But the way to play the shot the best is to think about taking your stance as you normally do, weight on your heels, flexing your knees, hands ahead, and now the faster you work your right hand and your right knee, the more spin that you'll put on the ball. The grip pressure is the same. The take away is the same. Everything we've gone through is still the same. Watch the right knee and right hand. You land the ball soft, very gently. You want it to back up, very abruptly. All spin on short shots is determined by the right hand and the right knee. But swing plane, swing tempo does not change. When I was a teenager growing up in San Francisco and playing golf at Harding Park, I used to practice putting hour after hour. I used to wait for times to go on the golf course. While I waited, I would practice my putting. By my standards, I became a great putter. But since then, I wanted to be a shot maker. I gave up practicing putting. And since then, these are only just a few of the putters I have gone through in that time. As I've learned over the years, the putting stroke is nothing but a miniature golf swing. My best advice to you is to become comfortable over the ball. Putting is very individual, but the best putters do have a few things in common. First, they putt from a square to slightly open stance. Very few putt from a closed stance. Second, they grip their putters in a way that lets their hands work together as a unit. I use the reverse overlap. As word, the index finger of the left hand overlaps the fingers of the right hand. This does not allow my hands to break down. Third, good putters put their eyes over the ball, or maybe slightly inside of the target line. If your eyes are outside the target line, you are likely to pull most of your putts. I believe that the best stroke is made with your arms and shoulders using the big muscles. There is very little wrist break, and no matter how long the putt, there is no lower body movement. And as good putters will tell you, you must accelerate the putter through the ball. This is crucial, because if you accelerate through the ball, it will keep your putter head moving right on target line. What I like to do in practicing putting and give you something to work on, is I put down two tees on either side of the ball. And I put one tee down in the ground that I am trying to make the putter go over. What I am doing now is I am really changing my priorities. I am not thinking about hitting the golf ball, I am thinking about making my stroke. I am trying to get the putter from over this tee and through those tees on the line so the putt will break left to right. Now I hit that a little bit easy, but the stroke wasn't that bad. You do not have to make the putt. What you have to do is you have to make a good stroke. I would rather miss a putt and put a good stroke on it, than almost make it and put a bad stroke, because the bad strokes won't last. So again, all I want to do now is move the putter from this point here over the tee and between the two tees, making it go from backswing to finish. I got a piece of the hole, I had the right speed, but moreover, I made a good stroke. The rules say you can have 14 clubs, but you can choose what 14 clubs you want to use. I would suggest for the average player to leave out the two, one, three iron, any one of the long irons, put in some woods. Put in the four, five, and six wood, maybe even a seven wood. Until you get proficient, then take the woods out and maybe go to your three iron, or your two iron, and the better you get, the more you'll enjoy your long irons. But the one thing about it is choosing the right equipment, is choosing the right grip, the right shaft, and the right head. For instance, the grip. I like in my left hand, my fingers just to touch the palm of my thumb, the pad of my thumb, right there. If I have to put my fingers in like that, the grip is too small. If I hold the grip and my fingers don't touch it at all, the grip is too large. In my right hand, I like the thumb and the forefinger just barely to touch. If they're that far apart, the grip's too big. If they're like this, the grip is too small. That's a very important thing. Shaft. Think about the shaft. There are so many different types of shafts. The pros, they experiment week after week, they experiment. I watch them on the tee. Never can find the right shaft. But think about this. If you're leaving the ball to the right, the shaft may be too stiff. If you're leaving the ball left and it's hooking, it may be too whippy. Now we get to the head. The head of the club depends a lot on your swing, really, and what you're doing. If the leading edge is right on the shaft, that is for really a very good player. And if you're fading, I would suggest an offset club. Something where the club is offset, investment cast, where the head is a little behind the shaft, gives you a little more time so you can draw the ball. And then getting into the woods. Well, a very popular one today, metal woods. I do know and I have found out that a metal wood and a solid ball goes farther. The weight is around the outside of the ball. The metal wood is probably to me one of the biggest changes and the best improvements I have seen in the game in many years. But if you like the metal wood or the wood, it doesn't make any difference. It's for you to choose. So get professional help, check your equipment, and when you get all your equipment right, then all your practicing will mean something. But right here, this is your start. And go out and do the best you can. The name of this video is Better Golf Now. So we've put together a little mini lesson for you to review before going out to play. I recommend the Barden grip. The Vs on the left and right hands point to your right shoulder. Remember, your hands work together as a unit and don't grip the club too tightly. To play good golf, you must get a good position. Ben Hogan said, once you've addressed the ball, the shot is 90% over. Approach the ball from behind and visualize the shot you are going to hit. This will help you to aim properly. The stance is simple. Keep your feet about shoulder width. Your weight is toward your heels. Your knees are flexed. Think of your swing as an elongated U. You take the club back smoothly in one piece, maintaining the triangle formed by your arms and chest. There are three gaps that you must close in the swing. On the back swing, you must close the gap between your left shoulder and chin. This assures a full back swing. Your lateral slide left closes the gap between your hip and an imaginary line running up from the outside of your left foot. This helps you deliver the club on the correct inside to down the line swing path. And finally, your right shoulder closes the gap with your chin. This ensures you acceleration through the ball and a complete swing. Stay with a smooth tempo. For a good swing, it will leave you well balanced. When chipping the ball, take a slightly open stance with your weight on the heels. Play the ball off your left heel with your hands ahead of the ball. Hit the shot with a crisp, firm descending stroke. There is no wrist motion and very little body motion. Remember, you use the same swing for every chip. You just change clubs depending on the shot. The fundamentals of sand play are very simple. Take a slightly wider stance than you would with a normal shot. Dig your feet in and get a good solid stance. Don't worry about hitting two inches behind the ball. Just imagine that the ball is sitting on a tee and you've got to clip the tee out from under the ball. Finally, let's quickly review the keys to good putty. I recommend that you putt with a square or slightly open stance. Your hands must work together as a unit. Keep your eyes over the ball or inside the target line if you want. Make the stroke with your arms and shoulders and most importantly, remember to accelerate the club through the ball. Well, I hope you enjoyed the tape as much as I enjoyed making the tape. I had a great crew, great people to work with, made it easy and it was a lot of fun. I gave you a foundation. I didn't give you the ultimate end. I gave you a foundation to build on, to work on your game. We're always searching for the perfect swings. Swings are like fingerprints though. They're all different but we have to know our own golf swing. We have to visualize what we want to do. We want to think about our game. Thinking about it is like when you get up to the ball and you take a practice swing, you take a picture of it and then you develop it when the ball is there. We've got to remember that it's just a game. It's fun. I've learned that some time back. There's enough tension in life and why bring it to the golf course? Relax and enjoy yourself. You can't have it any better than this. One thing, I can no longer say I have any secrets. I've given them all to you. I can't say I have any secrets. I've given them all to you. I can't say I have any secrets. I can't say I have any secrets. I've given them all to you. I can't say I have any secrets. I can't say I have any secrets. I can't say I have any secrets. I can't say I have any secrets.