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It's Conquering Golf with Butch Harmon.
Let me show you a drill I've designed for you that will really help you figure out your
alignment.
As I'm always saying, if you aim at nothing every time, you're bound to hit it.
So when you practice, I've created a nice little drill that will help you always try
and start your ball on line.
I've taken three clubs.
I've put one out in front of me, which is my target line that I'm going to try and hit
this ball right through.
I've put two other clubs parallel to that line, just like a railroad track.
The outer club or the outer track is my club face line.
The inner club or the inner track is my body line.
My body needs to be parallel left to my club face line.
The biggest fault I see in most people is they tend to put their body on their target
line, which in turn means they're aimed way out to the right.
If you will use this simple little drill, it's the easiest way I know when you practice
to always be lined up properly.
I've got a club in front of me that I'm going to aim at.
I've got my two parallel lines that I'm going to square up on.
Aim my club face at the target in front of me, square up on the other two shafts, and
hit it.
If you will use this drill, I guarantee you'll start your ball on target, and that means
you're going to hit your ball at your target more often.
Frustrating shot, topping a ball, something that happens to all of us at one time or another.
Let me show you how to get out of it.
Usually when you top a shot, the problem is that your weight has stayed back as you started
down, causing your spine angle to come straight up.
You throw your hands at the ball, just hit on the top of it or blade it.
The easiest way to get out of this if you're topping is all you have to do is get off your
right side when you come through.
The best drill I can give you for that is as you start your downswing, just take your
belt buckle and turn through and face the target.
Let me show you what I mean.
You top the shot because your weight stayed back.
All I'm going to do from the top of my swing is turn through.
If you get off the right side or rotate your lower body, you're not going to top any.
I hate to even say this word, shanking.
Ooh, I cringe every time I think about it.
Most people when they start shanking on the golf course on full shots continue to do so.
The reason?
They don't understand what causes it.
Most of the time, people think they shank a shot because the club face is open.
Really on a full swing, the club face is closed.
And what happens, the golf club comes into the ball, toe over first, the ball hits the
hosel and shoots out to the right.
What I've got is a simple drill for you.
If you happen to be shanking, go to the practice tee.
Take your head cover, put it on the ground right next to the ball so that there's just
enough room for your club to come through and hit this ball in the middle of the golf
club.
You'll see the first couple, how much out and over you come and how you can hit it in
the hosel.
What this will do is give you the feeling of coming from just a little more on the inside
and going ahead and swinging.
Let me show you what I mean.
As you swing, you'll come out and over these shots, hitting the head cover, your ball will
hit the hosel and go off to the right.
That's a shank.
By hitting a few shots like this, you'll get the feeling of the club working a little more
from the inside and you'll stop shanking.
Let me show you what I mean.
Head cover just outside the toe of my club.
Good swing.
Never touch the head cover.
If you've got the shanks, I know this drill will work for you.
The dreaded fat shot.
Hit behind the ball, big divot comes up, ball goes nowhere.
What the heck causes this?
It happens all the time.
There's a couple things that will cause this in your swing.
Number one, at the top of your swing, if you let your arms break down like this, as you
come down, you're going to have to straighten your arms out.
This causes you to hit behind the ball.
You couple this with the fact that your weight stays on the back foot.
You throw your hands and club at it.
There's no way you can hit this ball solid.
Let me hit another ball for you and show you what I mean.
This is where I just came from on this fat swing.
What you do to get out of it, keep your width of your backswing much wider.
Don't let your arms break down.
Then as you start down from here, just get off that right side.
Let me show you.
Little wider at the top, off of the right side.
If you're hitting fat shots, this will get you out of it.
The 100 yard wedge shot.
Bunker in front of the green, little bit downwind.
Not as easy a shot as you think it might be.
If you listen to what I have to say, I think I can help you get those wedge shots on the
green and on line.
The most important thing is the length of your swing.
The biggest fault I see in most amateur players that I teach every day is that they make the
same length swing with this shot as they do their driver, which means they have to decelerate
on the way down.
They're not going to hit the ball solid.
They're not going to have any speed in their swing.
Thus they won't get any backspin on the ball.
What I want you to do for a little 100 yard shot, just make a mini swing here and follow
through.
The key is to keep turning through the shot.
Don't slow down when you come into the impact area.
You can control the distance the ball goes by the length of your back swing.
Let me hit one for you.
My stance is slightly open.
Ball's about the middle of my feet.
I'm going to make what I think is about half a swing.
Swing on through.
Ball lands up on the green.
It goes right up by the hole.
This is an area of the game that will really help your scoring, but you must practice it.
Go in the practice tee.
Pick out 100 yards and 90 yards.
Hit your various wedges.
I use a pitching wedge from 100 yards.
You may use a sand wedge.
You may use a nine iron.
100 yard shots.
If you practice them, you're going to shoot lower scores.
So for your shots around 100 yards, always remember, open your stance slightly.
Play the ball in the middle of your feet.
You're only going to have to use half a swing, but remember, follow through.
If you do this, if you get closer to the hole, you shoot better scores.
Have you ever found yourself in this situation, the pin's only about 15 feet or 20 feet on
the green, you're not feeling real comfortable with your wedge shot or your pitch shot?
Let me show you what the bump and run is.
Those of you who have played in Scotland or over in the UK have played this shot numerous
times.
Let me show you how we're going to do it.
Simply, I'm just going to make an exaggerated chip with my six iron.
What I'm going to do is pick out a spot along this grass that I want to land this ball on
that I'm just going to hit my normal pitch shot, and I'm going to try and roll this ball
around along the grass and get it to run right up by the hole.
Let me show it to you.
I'm going to play the ball about the middle of my stance, hands forward.
Weight's pretty much going to stay on my left foot because I don't want any movement.
I'm just going to play an exaggerated chip shot with my six iron.
Go on, go on.
The bump and run, you don't need it very often, but if you learn how to hit it, it'll help
save your scores.
Bump and run shot, pick a spot in front of the green where you want the ball to land,
play the ball in the middle of your stance with your hands forward.
Your weight's on your front foot, and just use your chipping motion.
It's a glorified chip shot.
One of the simplest drills I've ever seen for putting, I call it the wheel drill.
What I've done is I've taken six balls and I've put them around this hole the length
of my putter.
My putter's 35 inches long.
When I add the ball to it, that's 36 inches, three feet, a three foot putt.
A lot of times in your friendly games, those are gimmies, and all of a sudden you get in
the club championship and you get nervous as heck because you've got a three footer.
If you will use this drill every day when you're practicing your putting, I guarantee
you'll putt these short putts better.
Now there's one catch to the wheel drill.
Every time you miss one of these putts, you have to go back and start over.
So the thing I like about this drill is it really makes you concentrate on the aim with
your putter.
It makes your body stay nice and still because obviously if you move your body on a short
putt, you're going to miss the putt.
The other thing it does is it really makes your head stay still because if you move your
head on one of these putts, you're definitely going to miss it because the ball doesn't
have time to get back on line.
The other thing I like about this drill is it tends to get you a little nervous because
you don't want to go back and start over.
So as you get over here, and I've only got two more putts left and I'm saying no way
do I want to go back and start again.
So you take a little more time, make a good stroke.
Now you're down to the last one.
If you miss this putt, you've got to go back and start all over again and make six more.
The wheel drill, it's a tough drill.
Makes you a little nervous when you get down to the last one because you sure don't want
to start over again.
But if you'll practice this every day that you go play, I guarantee you're going to make
those short putts.
You make the short putts, you're definitely going to shoot lower scores.
Can you ever imagine seeing yourself make a swing that long and that hard on a shot
this short?
Sure you can.
You've seen Freddie Couples, Phil Mickelson, and Tiger Woods do this numerous times on
TV.
You've heard the announcers say the flop shot.
Well let me show you how to play the flop shot.
Number one, that's the reason this 60 degree sand wedge was invented for this exact shot.
The reason we use such a long lazy swing is because we can get the club at an angle where
we can really just slide it underneath the ball, throw it straight up in the air, and
it's going to come down very softly.
A couple things we do different than our normal wedge shots or our normal pitch shots are
number one, the pressure of your grip is going to be quite loose.
On a scale of one to ten, I'd say you're holding the club about a three or four.
This way you get a little play in your wrist.
You can make that long lazy swing, keep the club face open.
The motion of the swing itself is just a long pick the club up turn lazy swing, feel like
you're throwing the club with your right hand, letting your arms re-cock on the follow through.
The important thing is just to stay down on the shot.
You're going to see this club hit the ball and you're going to follow through.
Let me hit one for you.
Ball position, just a little front of center in the stance.
The width of the stance, just something you feel comfortable with.
Very light grip pressure, just a long lazy swing.
The flop shot, if you practice it, it works for those great tour pros.
I know it can work for you.
The flop shot, perfect situation for one of those 60 degree sandwiches.
Loosen the pressure in your grip, play the ball a little front of center and then I want
you to make a long lazy swing.
The lazy swing is the key, you'll like the results.
Fairway bunkers, they're just not here to make the hole look good, they're a hazard.
So let's talk about what we're going to do when we get in the fairway bunker.
This is a shot that the average player doesn't like and they have tremendous fear of.
Well I'm going to help you play them.
What I've got here is about 110 or 15 yard shot.
I might hit my pitching wedge normally, but when you have a fairway bunker shot, the one
thing you want to do is take one more club that you would normally use.
In other words, if I would normally hit a pitching wedge from this distance, I'm going
to use my nine iron.
The other thing we're going to have to do, because of the fact we get our feet down into
the sand to get some nice footing, I'm going to have to offset that by choking down on
the club just a little.
Now our goal for this shot is to try and pick this ball off the sand.
So for us to be able to do that, you can't have any driving knees into this shot, which
lowers your level and causes you to hit it fat.
Let me show you what I want you to do.
We've taken one more club than we normally would.
We're going to play the ball more back in our stance to help ensure that we hit the
ball first.
The last thing I want you to do, and the thing that's helped me the most in fairway bunkers,
is I want you to raise your chin up just before you're ready to make your backswing.
What this does is it gets your spine angle a little straighter and allows you to stay
taller because you're going to have to stay tall when you come in and hit this shot.
As I said, we can't use our knees and drive into it.
I've got one more club than I need.
I've anchored my feet in the ground.
I've choked down on the club.
Just before I make my backswing, I'm going to get my chin up and I'm going to swing easy.
The fairway bunker shots.
Remember, choke down on the club to offset the fact that you've buried your feet in the
sand.
Get your chin up so your spine angle is straighter.
Stay tall.
Take one more club and swing easy.
You get the ball out and on the green, maybe get it close.
This is the way you conquer golf.
The fairway bunker shot.
Always remember, use one extra club.
Set your feet in the sand firmly.
You're going to play the ball back in your stance.
You're going to raise your chin a little just before you start.
That will help you pick the ball off the sand.
Remember, swing easy.
That's the secret to getting out of the fairway bunkers.
Boy, this would really be irritating.
Drive the ball right down the middle of the fairway and you're in somebody's old divot.
Before I talk to you about how you're going to get this ball out of this divot, let me
explain something to you about the rules of golf.
Just because your ball's in this divot, you're not allowed to take this ball out of here.
This is just the rub of the green.
You were just unfortunate that you land in here.
Now having said that, let me explain to you how you would hit this shot.
Obviously, we can't play this like a normal shot because it would be hard to get the club
on the ball coming in at a shallow angle.
What we have to do is we have to create a swing that we pick the club up a little steeper
so that I can come down at a steeper angle and catch the ball and not catch the back
of the ground before it.
The other thing, to get this ball up and out of this divot, it's more of a cutting motion.
Club face is open and coming down, so I'm going to have to aim a little to the left
because the ball's going to have just a little left to right spin on it.
It's a frustrating situation, but it's not so difficult that you can't execute the shot.
Let me show you how we're going to play this shot.
I'm going to open my club face just a little bit.
To offset that, I'm going to aim just a little left of the target.
On my backswing, I'm going to pick this club up at a steeper angle, hit down on this shot,
and go on through.
I don't need as much follow through because I'm coming steeply down onto this ball.
It's more like a punch shot.
Let me hit it for you.
Club face open, aim to the left.
I'm going to pick the club straight up.
Remember, if you get unfortunate enough to land in a divot, play the ball in the middle
of your feet, pick the club straight up, beat down on it with an open club face.
It'll come out with a nice little left to right motion.
You get on the green.
Open your club face, play the ball back in your stance, and aim to the left.
Pick the club up a little steeper on the backswing, and beat right down on the ball.
The ball will come out with a little left to right action, and you'll hit a good shot.
Probably the toughest of all of these shots on the slopes is the downhill lie.
The reason being, it's hard to get the ball up in the air off of a downhill slope.
As I've talked about in all of these, gravity wants to pull you down these slopes.
Once again, we've got to take a very, very wide stance.
You've got to feel that our weight stays back into our right leg.
As you've heard me say before, our weight has to go into the slope.
The other thing, because of the fact we're swinging down this slope, we tend to deloft
the club.
So, for example, if this was a six iron shot, you could play it with a seven iron.
If it was an eight iron shot, you could play it with a nine iron, so on.
The other thing is, gravity really wants to pull us down this slope.
This is what makes this shot so difficult.
The most important thing is to get that wide stance, get that weight back into that back
foot.
Remember, always have your weight into the slope.
Now, because of the fact we're swinging down this slope, the club face will probably be
coming a little from outside to in.
That means this ball tends to go to left to right, so we must aim a little to the left.
So I'm going to take a much wider stance, I'm going to try and lean my weight into this
slope.
I've got one less club than I would normally hit from this distance, and I've really got
my body aimed out to the left to offset the fact that this ball is going to have a little
left to right curve.
As I told you before, this is probably the most difficult shot of all the slopes.
Let's hit one.
I've really got my body aimed to the left, lowering my center of gravity just a little,
very wide stance.
I'm leaning into this right foot.
Easy swing, nice little left to right slice.
The key on these shots is swing easy.
Don't go down the slope, make solid contact, play for the little fade, you'll have no problems.
Set an equal playing field by tilting your body on the same level as the slope.
Take one more club, aim to the left because the ball tends to come out left to right,
widen your stance, let your weight feel into the slope, and swing easy.
Now I want to talk to you about hitting a shot from left to right.
This doesn't matter whether you're going around a tree or trying to get a pin that's cut
way in the right side of the green.
The simple thing to do when we're trying to curve this ball is create a position at address
that all you have to do is make your normal swing and you'll hit this shot from left to
right.
What I'm going to do is set up squarely to my target, leave my club face on the ground,
and open my stance to the left.
My club face now appears wide open.
If I take this club back on the line of my feet and swing on the line of my feet, I'll
make a ball that comes out from left to right.
The other thing I'm going to do is move the ball just slightly back in my stance.
So normal address position, body aimed to the left, club face appears to be wide open.
I'm going to take the club back on the line of my feet and back on the line of my feet
on the through swing.
The other thing to assure that this ball goes left to right, I want you to feel that your
left hand never releases, that as you come through this shot, your left hand just holds
on, the toe of the club never goes over.
Let's see what we got.
Normal set up, aim our body to the left, club face is open.
Take the club back on the line of my feet, kind of hold on a little with my left hand.
Beautiful little soft fade.
A great shot if you have to get out of trouble around a tree or if you have to get at a right
pin that's tucked in behind a bunker and you don't have room to shoot at it.
If you hit a little fade like this, it's going to come down soft and you're going to learn
how to hit these little curves by using your same swing.
Aim your club face at the target, open your stance and aim to the left.
Take the club back on the line of your feet, hold on just a little with your left hand
as you come through, swing back on the line of your feet and follow through.
We hope you've enjoyed the highlights of Conquering Golf with Butch Harmon.
Conquering Golf with Butch Harmon is a four part video series that covers tape one, the
basics.
Tape two, the short game.
Troubleshots is tape three.
Tape four, on the course.
If you're interested in any or all of Butch's tapes, please call Graysdale Sports and Entertainment
at 888-GSE-3488.
Email us at graysdale.com.
You can order a single tape for only $29.95 plus shipping and handling.
Or you can order the complete set of four, only $99.95 plus shipping and handling.