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In the decades from the 1930s to the 1980s, the game of golf produced some of its finest champions.
You watched them play and might have wondered how your play would improve if you could learn from them.
Well, now you can.
Eighteen of the greatest golfers ever to play the game welcome you to Liberty Mutual's 18 tips from 18 legends of golf.
Join us in learning the game from Sam Snead, Julius Burrows, Gene Sarazin, Gene Littler, Tommy Bolt and other legendary players.
Each of these men who helped create the game as we know it today will give you their personal suggestions on how to improve your play.
Joining them for each lesson will be our host Bob Golby, an 11 time winner on the regular tour and the 1968 Masters champion.
And now let's begin with one of the most underestimated fundamentals in the game, the grip.
Showing you the details of a sound grip will be Mike Suchock, who won 16 times on the PGA Tour and was twice a member of the Ryder Cup team.
Mike, what's the biggest mistake the weekend golfer makes when he picks up that driver on Saturday morning?
One big mistake is that they don't work hard enough on a good grip, Bob.
You know, the only connection you have with the ball is through the club.
And I think if you don't put your hands on the club properly, you're going to have a terrible time playing golf.
You know, when I play in the Pro Ams, I find most of the average player, he's fiddling with his grip.
He doesn't seem to ever get comfortable with it.
Well, you know, the reason for that, I think, Bob, is the fact that they don't check their grip visually.
I think they try to get a feel.
But I think visually checking your grip by checking the two V's, you know, in your right and left hand,
if they would look at it and not depend on the feel, I think they would be more successful.
So use those checkpoints before you hit any shot.
Absolutely.
Mike, why don't you show us how an accomplished player forms the basis of a good grip?
You start by placing the club diagonally across your left palm from the middle joint of the first finger back to the heel of the palm.
Be sure to place a good portion of the heel of your hand on top of the grip.
Now, when you close your hand, you can hold the club firmly between the heel of your hand and the last three fingers without having to grip too tightly.
For the average golfer, the left thumb should point just to the right of the center line of the shaft.
You must have the proper amount of tension in the last three fingers of the left hand or your grip on the shaft will loosen at the top of the backswing.
This is one of the most common faults of all golfers, and it leads to hooks and slices.
Here are the points in the fingers and the palm where you should feel firm, even pressure in the left hand.
To bring the right hand into place, you reach under the left hand and place the right hand against the club.
The grip in the right hand is with the two middle fingers.
The hollow at the base of the right thumb should fit snugly over the left thumb.
The right thumb will point slightly off to the side, contacting the right forefinger.
In the right hand, you'll feel pressure in the two middle fingers and in the hollow of the right thumb.
Most golfers join the hands together in one of three ways.
In the overlapping or the Varden grip, the right pinky wraps around the left forefinger.
This is the grip that most golfers use.
However, golfers with smaller hands may prefer the interlocking grip which Jack Nicklaus uses.
Here the right pinky and the left forefinger intertwine.
You may find that this gives you a more secure grip.
A third possibility for people with very small hands is the full finger grip.
Here, all eight fingers and the thumbs are in contact with the grip.
You'll have to experiment to see which works best for you.
When your hands are properly joined together, the thumbs will work like a bridge between them,
helping them to work together as a single unit.
Bob, there's one other thing you should remember.
That when you grip the club, you should make sure that you don't take the club all the way to the top of the grip.
You should always leave just a little bit there and you'll get a much more secure grip in your left hand.
A good way to check your grip to see if it's working properly and staying together and working as a unit
is when you waggle the club, if the grip stays on the club firmly throughout all the fingers and the hand,
you realize then that you have a pretty good grip.
Be careful that you don't grab it too tight because you'll lock those wrists.
You want a little play in those wrists when you waggle the club.
Mike, a good grip also influences the club face position. Why don't you tell us about it?
When you grip the club, the back of the left hand and the palm of the right hand should both face the target.
If you grip the club in that manner, you'll find that the inverted V's formed by your thumbs and forefingers
will point somewhere between the chin and the right shoulder.
This is called a neutral or normal grip.
However, some golfers cannot hit the ball straight with a normal grip.
If you slice consistently, you may need to try what is known as a strong grip.
You should rotate your hand slightly to the right on the shaft.
The inverted V's will now point more towards your right shoulder than they did before.
This is a strong or a hook grip.
When you hit the ball with a strong grip, the club face will close slightly at contact.
This puts a right to left spin on the ball, which counteracts your slice.
By the same token, if your tendency is to hook the ball, you should take a slightly weaker grip on the club.
Rotate your hand slightly to the left on the shaft.
The inverted V's will now point more towards your chin than they did with the neutral grip.
This is the weak or the slice grip.
The hands cannot roll over as much at contact as they did with a neutral grip,
so you'll hit the ball with a more open club face.
The ball will spin left to right, which counteracts your tendency to hook.
We've all played in hundreds of Pro Amps. We've seen the average player.
He seems to grab that club so tight he takes a death grip on it.
What's the proper tension in a grip?
Well, Bob, I think you need to hold it firm enough to control the club.
But the people who grab hold of it with the death grip,
this is one of the reasons why they freeze the wrist, they freeze their arms, especially the right one,
and they get so much tension in it they have no flexibility and they can't take a back swing.
And consequently, when they come down, they have little or nothing to hit the ball with.
No club head speed?
Absolutely zero.
You know, the other side of that grip now, when you get to the top of the swing and you get a loose grip,
that's just as bad as the too tight a grip, isn't it?
Well, it really is, Bob, because you're going to lose control of it and it'll be like a piece of spaghetti in your hand.
You don't know where it is at any point in time and it'll go whichever way.
You deliver the club, open or shut, they hook or slice or maybe even the top.
And now Bob has some suggestions on how to practice improving your grip.
You know, you have to practice every day to perfect that grip.
The further that along, you know, you can always practice every day if you can put your hands on those clubs
and take a few practice swings in the yard or anywhere will really help.
Also, while you're watching TV, if you're trying to change your grip and pick up some of those pointers and put them to use,
get yourself a short club, have your pro saw one off, just put a grip on it.
You can sit in the lounge chair, watch TV by the hour and you can practice your grip just swinging this club,
strengthen your hands a little bit and you can really get those hands so they feel like they're molded on there.
Now, there's also a training aid out.
This is a molded grip and it shows you just how to put your hands on it.
It'll only fit on there one way the correct way.
Your PGA Pro can buy this for you.
It's not expensive.
Slip it on one of your old clubs and you can hit balls with it.
You'll notice when I put my hands on there, they just fit right on there.
They fit right on there.
They're in the right position at all times.
So don't discard this.
It's a good training aid.
But the biggest aid that I can give you is a weighted training club.
All of the professionals use them.
All top players use them, whether pros or amateurs.
You swing this a couple of hundred fifty hundred times a day,
you're going to strengthen your forearms, strengthen your wrists,
and you're going to improve your grip and strengthen those fingers.
And that'll help produce distance.
Remember, you're going to see this club throughout these tips.
And believe me, it's an important part of your golf swing.
Every golfer, professional or amateur, needs to practice his alignment and ball position.
This golfer has an excellent procedure that you'll want to learn.
He's the five time British Open winner, Peter Thompson.
Peter, the average golfer, he doesn't have any idea of where to put the ball in his stance,
alignment, how to aim.
How important do you think that is?
I think it's the most important part of the game.
I pay particular attention to it.
And you've got to aim yourself like it's a ball.
You've got to aim yourself like you aim a gun at the target.
Otherwise, it won't get there.
You know, I see the pros, including yourself, on the practice tee.
They're putting down clubs.
They have someone stand in their position and they get back and look where the ball was.
They need help. They can't see themselves.
And certainly if the greatest players in the world need help, I'm sure the amateurs do.
Oh, you're absolutely right about that. They certainly do.
You know, I've always marveled at you.
You set up to the golf ball about as well as anybody I've ever seen.
Why don't you go through it and show us how to do it?
All right, I shall.
The key to getting the correct address position is to think about where your body has to be
when you strike the ball and work back from there.
At impact, you want your feet and shoulders square to the target line,
so you can swing the club directly at the target.
You want your left arm and the club in a straight line.
Your head and body should be behind the ball for power and control.
You can use this technique on the practice tee to help you learn correct alignment.
Pick a target, stand behind the ball, and visualize a line from the ball to the target.
Then place a club on the ground about where your feet will go.
Put a second club on the ground parallel to the target line about two inches to the right of the ball.
Now place your toes up against the shaft.
Your shoulders, hips, and feet should now be parallel to the target line.
Next, you want to check your posture.
Stand in a relaxed position with your knees slightly bent.
Your weight should be evenly distributed between the heels and the balls of your feet,
and for the driver, your feet should be spread as wide as your shoulders.
You should feel relaxed and balanced.
Once you have the correct posture, grip the club in your left hand
and extend the left arm and the club in a straight line.
Be careful bringing your right hand to the club.
The proper way to do it is to tilt your left shoulder up,
and while keeping your right shoulder back, reach under and grip the club.
Your right arm will then be slightly bent and a little inside the left arm.
That is, your right arm is a little closer to your body than the left.
Your left arm and the club will now be at a right angle to the club on the ground.
If they're not, you may be playing the ball too far forward or back.
A simple way to check this is to place a third club on the ground
at right angles to the target line, pointing from inside your left heel to the ball.
Now you know the ball is in the right place, just inside the left heel.
Peter, I was watching the clinic you were giving one day,
and you were talking about keeping your left shoulder high at address.
I was very interested in that. Would you tell us about that?
Well, I do this because I need to keep my shoulders square to the target,
and I do it by raising the left shoulder like that,
and of course the right shoulder is lower.
But this is the only way I can keep my shoulders square to the target.
Peter, you're showing us the alignment and ball position with the driver.
Now why don't you show us how that works with the rest of the clubs in the bag?
Well, I like to position the ball for the driver shot
right opposite my left foot in this position.
But as I go down my scale of clubs, I move the ball back between my feet,
so that for the long fairway wood shot, the ball is in this position.
And as I go down further to the long irons, it's in this position.
And then for the short irons, again it moves back further towards the right foot,
and of course it comes nearer to me.
This is the position for the seven iron.
And then for the pitching clubs, I position it well behind the center point of my feet,
near towards my right heel.
Now I couple that with another little principle that
the nearer the green that I get, the closer together my feet come.
So for the driver, my feet are positioned well apart,
but as I get down to the short shots, my feet are quite close together.
Peter, you're showing us how meticulous you set up to that golf ball
and how important it is.
You know, we talked earlier in the show that the average golfer,
he just gets up there and starts adjusting according to what trouble is out there in front of him.
Well, you should remember that this set up, this aiming,
it's not just the aiming, this is the starting point of your swing,
and that's why it's so important to get it right,
because if you do get it right, then you'll make a good swing.
Let's go to a shot for the legends and watch how the great pro set up to the ball.
Let's see how Kal Nagel lines up a shot at the Legends of Golf Tournament.
He may seem very casual about it, but he's not.
He's picked a target in the center of the fairway,
and he's set up perfectly square to the target line.
Once he's found that line, he only needs to hit the ball
with the club face square to hit a perfect shot.
Here's Bob with a practice tip.
Peter Thompson gave us some excellent tips on ball position
in relation to the feet with the driver correspondingly on down to the pitching wedge.
Now, here's another method.
Here's a map that you can acquire at pro shops or golf facilities.
You'll notice that the ball position for the driver and on down through the short irons
and also the foot position.
And here's the driver position, the fairway woods, you move in there,
you keep your feet basically in the same spot.
Now, when you get to the middle irons, you'll notice that the right foot comes closer together
and the club is shorter, so the ball is here.
The ball is still basically in the same position.
Now, when we get to the short irons, you'll notice that the right foot comes very close to the left,
and the ball gets closer to you, and there's the ball position.
And right here on this map are all these footprints that show you exactly where to put your feet
for the actual club that you're going to use.
And believe me, with a little practice on this, you'll really help your golf.
Once you know how to set up, you'll want to do it all in one smooth motion at address.
This fellow can show you how to avoid freezing over the ball.
He's a true stylist and a four-time winner on tour, Butch Baird.
Butch, I noticed when you address the golf ball, you always go through the same routine,
and you never vary it.
Also, when you put that club in your hands and you're ready to hit it,
you seem like your body, your feet, your arms, and your hands,
you're waggling that club, you're always in motion.
You want to have a planned idea how you want to hit the shot.
And the way you do this is you keep the motion going.
You have an idea as to how you want the shot to go out there.
If I have a routine when I am ready to hit a shot that I go through,
I'd like to have the chance to let everybody watch this.
I think it's very good.
Start by estimating the distance and the direction you want to play the shot.
Choose your club and tee up the ball.
Next, you want to visualize the shot.
Have a complete mental picture of what you want the shot to look like
before you step up to the ball.
Now draw an imaginary line between the ball and your target.
Look for a spot on that line a few feet from the ball that you can easily recognize.
It could be a divot, a leaf, a broken tee,
anything that's already on the ground and is on your target line.
Let's call this your intermediate target.
Now aim the club at the intermediate target.
Find your correct ball position with your left foot,
then spread your right foot to get your proper stance.
Your feet, hips, and shoulders should now be parallel to the target line.
You can check this by looking at your intermediate target.
Take your waggle, make a forward press, and with one smooth motion,
go into your backswing.
If you have a consistent plan that you follow when addressing the ball,
you'll be more confident and you'll play more consistent golf.
I've never seen a good player without a forward press.
It's a little motion, but it's probably the most misunderstood part of the golf swing.
I agree, Bob.
It's a little motion that everything goes to the left just before you begin the backswing,
and it kind of rocks to the back,
because if it does rock to the back,
now you get everything working together in a smooth, easy swing.
It's almost like catching a baseball in the outfield.
We've all played ball.
As you're ready to catch a ball and throw it a home plate or second base,
the weight is always going to the left, just like the forward press.
You catch the ball, now you swing back to the right,
and as you're going to throw it for power,
then you swing back to the left as you swing your arm.
Now, that's just like the forward press in golf.
You push to the left a little bit.
Just as you're going to throw the ball, your weight goes back to the right.
Then on a downswing, the weight goes back to the left,
and it's really just an unconscious move, that forward press.
It just has to be there.
Once you get into that area where you've gone through your last little waggle,
everything is unconscious.
You've gone through your plans, your preparations.
You shouldn't have anything on your mind except a swing.
But what about the player who's practicing this?
He can't really practice it on the golf course.
He has to do that on the practice tee, doesn't he?
Yes, he has to practice it out there in the practice tee,
and once you learn the routine there,
then you can get on the golf course with it.
To tie this all together, let's watch Mike Suchok as he goes through his address.
Notice that he's always in motion over the ball.
He takes the same number of waggles before each shot,
and he makes a strong forward press, which leads him right into his backswing.
And now, here's Bob with a practice tip.
Staying in motion over the ball before you hit the shot, very important.
Remember, we want those feet to keep moving as we waggle the club.
This is something you can't go to the pro.
He can't put his finger right on it.
It takes concentration.
You'll have to do this on the practice tee.
So when you get over that ball the next time on the practice tee,
keep those feet moving as you waggle that club.
This will put rhythm back in your golf swing
if you can learn to stay in motion over that ball.
The first three tips have shown you how to prepare to hit the ball.
Now, we'll give you some suggestions on how to increase your power in a full swing.
This man can show you how to sweep the club through the ball for extra distance.
He's the former Masters champion, Doug Ford.
Doug, a lot of people have a misunderstanding of how to get power.
They think you have to hit with the hands and hit at the golf ball.
You and I both know that you have to hit through the golf ball with a sweeping action.
You know, you gave me a tip when I first met you and I've never forgotten about.
With the broom action, a little bit of tip, but think that you have a broom.
And I have a broom here, and I'd like you to tell the folks what you told me 30 years ago.
Well, it's an old tip that an old pro, Gene Sarazin, gave me.
And he told me the first thing that you can't hit with a broom,
and if you try it, you stick it in the ground.
His idea was to sweep with the broom, and it gives you a full arc,
and you use all parts of your body, your legs, your arms, and your wrists and hands,
and you generate the maximum power.
This can be done in your backyard or in your living room.
It gives you the feeling of what we're trying to teach you here today,
is to generate power, you do it with all parts of your body.
Very good, Doug. Now, you've shown us with the broom,
how about showing us with the golf club with that good full swing of yours
and how to produce power with the golf club.
It would be my pleasure, Bob.
Without hitting, you must sweep through.
Right.
When you swing a golf club, you rotate around your swing center and create an arc.
The wider this arc is, the more club head speed you will produce on the downswing.
However, the golfer who takes the club back with his hands and wrists
produces a much narrower arc.
He feels his strength is in his hands,
so he has no way to develop power on the downswing.
With both arcs superimposed, you can see for yourself that beginning the backswing
with a wrist cock creates a much smaller arc than that produced by the full body turn.
Let's see how Doug creates this wide arc.
On the backswing, he sweeps the club back low to the ground,
extending the arms and maintaining the triangle formed by his arms and shoulders.
The long sweep of the club allows him to make the widest possible arc.
He shifts his weight to the right and makes a full turn with the hips and shoulders.
At the top of the backswing, the left arm is straight.
On the downswing, he drops the left heel and begins turning the hips.
The body unwinds and the weight shifts naturally back to the left foot.
When the hands have dropped to about hip high,
he keys on sweeping the club through the ball to a full free finish.
Doug, a lot of confusion in people's mind about the right hand.
When do you use it? Is it a right-handed game? Is it a left-handed game?
Well, I definitely think it's a right-handed game,
and I think proof of the pudding is in the younger players today,
how much longer they are.
I can talk about all the technical improvements,
but I think that they've become right-handed players definitely.
When we started, we were told to be left-handed players,
and the left hand brings it down into position so you can apply the right hand
and square the blade to the ball.
At the top of the downswing, you make a lateral move to the left
and pull the club head down without uncocking the wrists.
As you sweep the club head into the hitting area,
the right hand comes into play delivering the power.
The left hand leads, but it never breaks down.
At impact, the hands are released and the club head is squared.
The right palm is now facing the target as it was at address,
adding power to the swing.
When you release the hands, you release the whole right side.
This adds the final touch of power to your swing.
You'll now finish fully turned to the left and balanced on the left foot.
I noticed when you were hitting the ball with the full swing and a lot of speed
that it was arm speed that did the job.
It didn't even look like you were using your hands.
No, the hand here is an unconscious movement at impact.
You're never conscious of your hands.
You're more conscious of the arc in your arms creating that arc.
In other words, to produce power, you don't want to use those hands
and hit at the ball.
You want to use the big muscles and swing with the arms with a sweeping action.
If you just use hands, you're using one-tenth of your power.
All the great players seem to chase that ball with the right hip
and the right shoulder all the way through that ball.
You're right. They all do.
They get that right hip through the shot facing the target
and the same with the right shoulder.
Everything is squared to their finish.
They get that power and they chase that ball right to the hole.
Let's take a look at four legends who really chase that ball with the right side.
These four players, Littler, January, Thompson, and Crampton,
all have exceptionally fine finishes.
The right hip keeps turning through the end of the follow-through,
adding power to the swing.
Here's Bob's practice tip to tie up this lesson.
If you remember when we talked about the grip,
I introduced you to the training club or the weighted club.
This particular club weighs about 25 to 30 ounces.
The average golf club weighs 13 ounces.
This club is great for getting the sweeping action, training yourself,
take it back low, and get a great extension.
The average golf professional will swing this club three or four hundred times a day.
It gives them strength in the forearms, it strengthens their hands,
their shoulder muscles, and all the golf muscles, and gives you a great extension.
That's what you really need to produce power.
Also, another method is what we call the donut.
We can actually carry this in your golf bag.
It's a small piece of lead surrounded by plastic, and it's not really too heavy,
but it slips right onto the club.
You can slip it on the club when you go to the first tee,
and you can also get the sweeping action and a little bit of extension,
and also stretch those muscles before you hit the ball,
and you're bound to improve your game three or four strokes just by
bringing up and using those golf muscles and stretching them out.
As you play this game over a lifetime, you may find out from time to time
that you're losing distance off the tee.
If so, this fine player can show you how to regain that power with a one-piece swing.
He's a man who has combined earnings of over three million dollars
on both tours, Miller Barber.
You know, Miller, a lot of golfers have problems,
especially when they get a little older, a little thicker, and a little tight and stiff.
Today, I've lost power off the tee. What's wrong?
Bob, I think it's because they lose their hip turn,
and you know, to hit a good golf shot, you've got to make a good hip turn.
I think what happens to the majority of us, and I'm a good example of that
by being a little overweight, is you begin to sway off of the ball
instead of make a hip turn, and also what happens there is when you sway back like that,
you have a tendency to pick the club straight up off the ground,
and again, that's not making a turn.
So I think that's basically what happens when we lose our power,
and to show you what I'm talking about, I'll try to demonstrate here a little bit.
Address an imaginary ball without moving your hips.
Turn your shoulders as far to the right as you can.
They won't turn very far.
Next, try turning the hips at least 45 degrees to the right when you turn your shoulders.
You can now turn your shoulders twice as far as before.
Now try the same experiment with a golf club.
If the lower body doesn't turn, you're forced to lift the club up with your hands and arms.
You'll try to compensate by bending the left arm at the top of the backswing.
You can only hit at the ball with your hands and arms on the downswing,
and the result is a swing without any power.
Now try the same swing with a full hip turn to the right.
You'll get a good turn with the upper body without bending the left arm.
You've stored power in your legs and hips.
You start the downswing by shifting the weight to the left and turning the hips to the left,
unwinding the power you've created in the backswing.
When you're in contact, your hips are turned out of the way,
making room for the arms, hands, and club to swing through the ball.
As a result, you'll have all the power you need.
Miller, it sounds like the solution for the average golfer is just turn the hips.
Well, Bob, that might be true, but if we just think of that,
we're going to lose our rhythm in the golf swing.
So what I try to do, and I'll show you in just a minute,
is try to start everything back in one piece.
The key to the one-piece takeaway is to keep the wrists firm at the beginning of the backswing.
If the wrists are firm for the first 18 inches or so,
then the shoulders and the right hip are forced to turn almost immediately.
The left knee points in behind the ball, and the upper and lower body rotate as a unit.
You'll have made a complete turn at the top of the backswing without having to think about it.
So, Miller, we've got the slow, low takeaway, the one-piece takeaway.
That produces that good hip turn.
Now we get to the top of the swing, the moment of truth, that key word pause.
Right, Bob, I think every good golfer who plays this game,
they must have that slight pause at the top before they start their downswing.
I do it in this manner.
I make my big turn, and then, by making my pause, I let my right elbow drop in,
and when that happens, I plant my left foot and my right hip,
drive through the golf ball, and there is where I gain my power back again.
Miller, let's talk about that golfer who thinks he's turning,
but he's cocking those wrists too quick, and then he's breaking that left arm,
and that makes him feel like he's getting back, but he's not in position at all, is he?
No, he certainly isn't, Bob. What happens there is this.
The fellow who cocks his wrist too soon, you'll notice that he has a tendency then to sway,
and when he does that, that left knee goes out, and you know when you make a good golf turn,
the left knee doesn't go out, the left knee comes in.
So the fellow who does this, you see, he's here, he feels like he's making a turn,
but then when he starts down, there is just no power, there's no hip turn,
and as a result of it, there's no power.
You know, you mentioned something, that knee. That's a key for a lot of golfers to remember.
When it goes out, you're not in position. When it goes in, you've got a lot better chance.
Exactly right.
Watch Roberto DiVincenzo's perfect form with the driver.
His motion away from the ball is long and low.
The left knee kicks in behind the ball, and he makes a pronounced hip turn.
Everything moves to the right. He has a strong lateral movement to the left side on the downswing,
which gives him tremendous acceleration through the ball.
A classic demonstration of the one-piece swing.
And now, a practice tip.
This tip is easy to practice. Remember the weighted training club?
Use that for this. The one-piece takeaway that Miller talked about.
It's a stiff wrist to take away using your arm and shoulders,
never breaking your wrist early and breaking that left arm.
You'll notice when you do that, that the right hip turns automatically,
and the left knee faces behind the ball.
And that is a key in the golf swing.
On the backswing, the left knee should face behind the ball.
On the follow-through, the right knee should face the target after you've swung the club fully.
Now, if you practice this tip five minutes a day, remember the one-piece takeaway.
With this heavy weighted training club, you'll regain that lost distance off the tee.
To play golf, you must have control.
The player who tries to crush the ball often hits it out of bounds because he over-swings.
When professional golfers study the golf swing, this is the swing they're trying to learn.
One of the greatest champions of all time, and a two-time co-winner at Liberty Mutual's Legends of Golf Tournament, Sam Snead.
Sam, over the years we watched thousands of golfers play, and they all seem to want to overpower that ball.
But that sure doesn't do much for their game, does it?
That's the worst thing I think happens in golf.
You know, golf is rhythm. You've got to swing sort of like the old fellows used to teach by Waltz time.
They don't do that anymore. Golf is a beautiful thing to watch.
It's timing and rhythm. You've got to have timing and rhythm.
If you have that, you don't over-swing.
Tell us what happens when you over-swing.
Bob, when you over-swing, you're usually off balance, and now the club has gone past parallel.
And when you get back, it's very, very difficult to get back into the hitting position. Very difficult.
Over-swinging is murder. When you over-swing, timing and rhythm has gone out of the window.
You know, you told me one time that back in the 30s when Hogan first started, he had trouble over-swinging.
Well, there was Hogan. He over-swung, and old red grains would pop up about every third round.
And he went back to the shorter back swing and a little more farther through.
And you know, he cut his swing down, and then he went on to be one of the greatest players we ever had.
Sam, what's a simple solution for the average player to stop from over-swinging?
Well, Bob, over-swinging is very difficult to stop.
And I found out one way that you can stop that. Take your shoes off and hit a few barefooted.
And that's one good way to cut your back swing down, so then you swing within yourself about 85%.
You mean you can hit a golf ball with your shoes off?
Heck, I learned barefooted.
When you practice without your golf shoes, you can't over-swing.
Without the spikes to anchor you, your feet are in direct contact with the ground,
and you can feel your balance at address and during the swing.
You'll know how big a back swing you can make without losing your balance.
You'll also feel the leverage you create as you shift your weight to the right foot on the back swing,
and then to the left foot on the down swing.
When you put your shoes back on, you'll find you've cut back to about 85% of your maximum power.
Sam, I noticed when you were in your stocking feet there, you still had good foot action.
A lot of people, they get confused and they only swing with their arms and hands,
and they don't get the lower part of the body coordinated with the upper part. How do you do that?
Well, actually, Bob, you don't. You can stand on one foot and hit a golf ball,
but good foot action, you get together, it gives you a little bit more heat down at the bottom.
It's a one-piece swing. A lot of people don't even really understand what that means.
I think you're a prototype on the one-piece swing. Could you show us what that means?
That's all I think about. When I take the club back, all goes together.
At my address, I have the forward press. That starts the whole business.
The feet and the hands go back together. You roll off the inside of your feet, like on your backswing.
You roll off the inside of your left foot, and then in the follow-through, you roll off the inside of your right foot.
It's common sense. It's just nice rhythm. All goes together.
If you get it all together, brother, you can play some golf.
But you've got to coordinate those arms coming down with that lateral movement, don't you?
You know, most people, they hit at the ball, but you hit through the ball.
And that will accentuate your swing by rolling off that inside of the right foot.
The swing and the feet and the weight go together.
What about the term play within yourself, swing within yourself? What's that mean to you?
Well, playing within yourself, you have control. But when you're trying to hit the ball as hard as you can,
you lose your balance, the timing is very poor, very poor.
That's where you start hitting the ball, left, right, left, right, and very seldom do you hit the ball actually the way you want to hit it.
Playing within yourself, you have control. That's the whole thing in golf, is having control of your golf swing.
Almost like you in the stocking feet. You have a little more control with that tempo.
Well, see, I can't use too much feet and I can't turn, but so far. And if I did, I'd break my toes.
Let's watch Sam Snead hit some golf shots. You know, he has the greatest rhythm, one of the greatest golf swings in the history of the game.
And when the pros watch him play, they learn something. So you people certainly can emulate the great Sam Snead. Let's watch him.
Sam has always had exceptional strength and agility.
He couples those two abilities in a picture perfect swing that's both rhythmic and powerful.
As a result, he has distance and control from any position on the golf course.
And now here's Sam's advice on how to warm up.
Sam, you've always been in good shape physically, but when a fellow gets a little bit older, should he warm up or how does he warm up? How do you do it?
Well, you know, the first few holes for the guard, just get on the tee and swing away. They wasted three or four bogeys, first three or four holes before they loosen up.
No matter what the age you should loosen up, especially the older people. You know, it happens to your club. It happens to my club.
You walk out of the locker room with your shoes on. Come on, Joe, hurry up. They're waiting on you at the first tee.
But he doesn't have time to loosen up or anything. But before you start to play, before you tee that ball up, I have a little thing that I do.
I swing two clubs. That helps to loosen you up. You see the batters put that weight on the back to loosen up so that the bat feels lighter and they can swing a little bit better.
And another good one after you do that is put the clubs behind you in this manner and then turn that loosened up all your muscles, your leg muscles, every muscle almost in your body.
And boy, you feel like you can tear it up when you get on that first tee.
When we hit the ball offline, we often wonder what happened. If you don't know, then your education as a golfer is incomplete.
This golfer can fill you in. The 1959 Masters champion Art Wall.
Art, what can we teach the average player to help him learn how to control the golf ball better?
There are a couple things, Bob, that can influence the flight of the golf ball. One is the position of the club at impact and the other is the playing of the golf swing.
Well, you know, I watched you win the Masters in 1959. You birdied five of the last six holes to win the championship on Sunday.
Anybody can do that under pressure, certainly knows club face control. How about showing us how to do that?
It would be a real pleasure, Bob.
To control the flight of the ball, you must understand how the plane of the swing or the swing path, as it is often called, influences the shot.
If you line up your body parallel to the target line, then on the downswing, the club will swing down from inside the target line, strike the ball squarely and come back inside the target line on the follow through.
This is known as an inside to inside or inside to down the line plane.
Now, when your club face is square to this plane at contact, you hit a straight shot right down the pipe.
However, if you turn your body to the left at address in an open stance, you'll swing the club head down from outside the line to back inside the line on an outside in plane.
When you hit the ball square to that outside in line, you'll pull the ball to the left because your club face was facing that direction at contact.
When you aim your body to the right at address in a closed stance, you'll bring the club head down from inside the target line to outside the line at impact.
This is the inside to out plane. Striking the ball with the club face square to that inside out plane pushes the ball to the right.
Remember that the plane of your swing starts the ball on its way in relation to the target line.
Where the ball finishes its flight depends on what kind of spin you put on it.
When your swing plane is inside to inside and the club face is square at impact, the ball has only backspin.
Backspin makes the ball rise and helps it fly straight at the target.
However, if you line up parallel to the target line and hit the ball with the club face open, then the ball receives a clockwise spin as well as backspin.
So it rises and curves to the right, the classic slice.
And again, if you swing on the same inside to inside plane but hit the ball with a closed club face, the ball will start straight, spin counterclockwise, and then hook to the left.
When you learn to adjust your stance and the club face position at impact, you can learn why the ball goes where it does.
Here are some possibilities.
An inside to out plane with a slightly closed club face will start the ball to the right and then draw it back to the left.
If you swing from an open stance and swing outside to in with the club face closed at impact, then your shot starts left and it hooks even further to the left.
When you swing the club on an outside to in plane with the club face slightly open, you hit a controlled fade.
The ball starts left and finishes right.
And an inside to outside swing plane with an open club face starts the ball right, the classic push slice.
Remember, you give direction and curve to the golf ball by controlling the plane of your swing and the position of the club face at impact.
Art, in some of our earlier lessons, we talked about the grip.
We talked about the strong grip, the weak grip, and the normal grip.
And now you know, if you actually take a normal grip, your left hand is this position.
If you turn it a little stronger, that's what we call a hook position.
It allows the club face to roll over at impact and you can impart a little right to left spin, a hook spin.
Now, conversely, if you put the left hand weaker, that keeps the club face open throughout the swing, and you can put a left to right spin on there or a little slice.
Now, once you learn that the club face is controlled by the position of the left hand, you're on your way to understanding the golf swing and becoming a better player.
I agree with you, Bob.
And one other thing that I try to do is I try to think hook when I'm going to hook the ball and I try to think fade or slice when I'm going to try to slice the ball.
Art, I've seen you play many types of shots while we're playing in golf tournaments.
And behind us here, we have a tree and a shot of about 160 yards to a green.
Now, that tree is directly in line with the flag.
Now, you either have to hook the ball right to left around or slice it.
You can't go in there straight.
Now, I know you can play this shot, but give us some inside and out pointers on this shot.
If I were going to play this shot from a fade angle, I would open my stance, weaken my grip, and open my shoulders,
and just take the club a little outside and play it back in my stance a little and cut across it.
Now, if I were going to play the other shot, I hook, I would strengthen my grip, I would close my stance, and make my shoulders the same angle as my stance.
And when I come through, I would try to roll over with my forearm, let my right arm take over a little bit more.
And turn the ball from right to left.
That's correct, Bob.
You know, if the average person can go by strengthening the grip to hook the ball, weaken it to slice the ball,
and then you showed us great alignment there by aiming to the right with your body and your shoulders, and the inside-out plane produced the hook,
you opened your body, you aimed to the left, and the swing plane was outside in to slice the ball.
Now, if people go out and practice that, I'm sure that they can improve their golf game very much.
That's right, Bob. The mechanics are so important in both of these shots. If you get the mechanics, you can go a long ways.
All right, that's true. And let's go to a great shot under tournament conditions, one that you just demonstrated.
Now, let's watch Lee Elder demonstrate the draw shot at the Legends tournament.
He wants to avoid the trees on the left side of the fairway.
Notice how he aims his 7-iron well to the right of the pin.
The ball starts right, then hooks back on to the green.
An excellent shot.
Here's a tip on how to practice ball control.
Practice this tip by first working on the grip. Strengthen the left hand to produce the draw, the inside-out swing, and roll those hands over.
Weaken the left hand on the club to keep the club face open throughout the swing.
Take the club outside and cut across. That produces the slice or the little fade.
Now, work on the plane for this same shot. You square up your shoulders and your hips to the right and get an inside-out plane for the hook.
Roll those forearms over. Now, for the slice, we open the shoulders, open the hips, open the feet.
Pick the club up outside, cut across, hang on firmly with the back three fingers of the left hand, and that'll produce a little left-to-right position of the ball or a slice.
Now, when you follow these basic fundamentals and understand that this club face is in relation to this left hand and produces hooks and slices or straight balls, you're on your way to a lot more enjoyment in this game.
It's recognized that many golfers leave themselves short of the pin and even the green on approach shots.
Why do they regularly choose the wrong club? Let's ask this golfer. He won the U.S. Open in 58. Tommy Bolt.
Tommy, why is it that so many golfers leave their balls short on approach shots?
Professionally speaking, we know exactly how far each club will go, and amateurs don't really put that much into it.
They don't know how far each club will go, and they haven't given the game enough practice and hit enough golf balls to hit the ball as far as professionals do.
You've been a great senior player. What happens to golfers when they get a little older?
Well, you don't hit them. Your old muscles tighten up a little bit, and you can't hit the ball quite as far as you did before, so you must hit one more club in order to compensate for that.
So the obvious thing to do is to take more club, but the average golfer is scared to death of those two, three, four arms with that straight face.
For the average amateur, they're really hard to get up in the air. This is probably the reason, and they want to swing hard at them to get them up, and this is the mistake that they make.
You should keep the same tempo through the entire set of clubs. Don't try to increase because you have a three or four iron in your hand.
You know, you told me one time when I just started, you said, Bob, I was hitting low, long irons, and you said, think of a five iron, and just think you're hitting it with a five iron and you won't swing quite as hard.
That's right. Keep the same five iron tempo with the two iron in your hand. They put the loft on the club to get that distance. You don't need to try to get it out with your swing. You get it out with the loft of the club.
Tommy, you hit that long iron so well, I'd just love to see you do it again. Why don't you show us?
Okay, Bob, I certainly will.
Set up for the long irons with a ball an inch or two inside the left heel in a square stance. The trick to hitting these clubs is to swing with the same tempo and rhythm that you use with the shorter clubs.
Because the shafts are longer, the arc of your swing is longer and wider. This longer arc is what produces club head speed and gives you distance. You must also remember to hit down on the ball to get the shot up in the air.
When you try to hit the ball hard, you destroy the rhythm in your swing. As a result, if you open or close the club face on the downswing, you'll miss hit the ball.
However, if you use the same swing for a two iron as you would for the five iron, you'll have more control of the club head at impact and you'll get the greater distance of the two iron.
Tommy's swing with the two iron has exactly the same rhythm and tempo as his swing with the five iron.
Another thing, Tommy, that gives a lot of players troubles are uneven lies when you're below the ball, above the ball and the ball is down below your feet, uphill and downhill lies.
They usually never practice the shots so they don't know how to go by. No, the practice teams, most of them are all level and so they never go to the side hills or the down hills or the uphill lies, which they should practice.
Why don't you show us how to hit those side hill and downhill lies? I certainly will, Bob.
For an uphill lie, you set up a little differently. You flex the left knee so as to approximate as level a lie as possible and align your shoulders with the contour of the hill.
You play the ball back a bit more in the stance and take one club more than you usually would.
Aim a little to the right of the target because you'll tend to hook. Be sure to swing along the ground so you don't hit behind the ball.
When playing from a downhill lie, you do the reverse. You flex the right knee and play the ball a little more forward in your stance.
You take one less club and aim to the left of the pin. You'll tend to fade the ball from this lie.
When you're playing from a side hill lie with a ball above your feet, start by choking down on the club because the ball is closer to your hands.
You'll also move the ball back a little in your stance because you'll tend to swing with the weight on your heels.
This causes the club face to close slightly, hooking the ball. So play the ball back and aim to the right.
Dig your feet in and put your weight a little more on the balls of your feet.
If you're playing from a side hill lie and the ball is below your feet, you grip the club at the end of the shaft and play the ball forward in your stance.
You bend your knees a little more and stick your back side out. This gets you closer to the ball and gives you better balance.
You should have more of your weight on your heels for this shot. Aim to the left. As you swing, you'll tend to lean forward and cut across the ball, which will produce a push or a weak slice.
Tommy, those shots were beautiful. You still have that great tempo that you always had.
Well, Bob, the swing's not quite as long as it used to be, but I try to work on my tempo all the time.
Talking about tempo and good shots, let's go and watch a great legend hit a good shot.
Jim Furee is setting up a very difficult shot where the ball is quite far below his feet. He's exaggerated his knee bend and he keeps his weight on his heels.
He pushes the ball a little to the right but lands it nicely on the green. It rolls a little too far, but still a very good effort.
Now here's Bob with a practice tip.
When practicing the long irons, it's a difficult club to get airborne. Think of the five iron in your hand.
Think five iron when you've got a two, three, or four iron in your hand. A lot of the pros use this tip.
It gives you a lot better tempo and you won't try to hit or force the ball if you think five iron when you've got a long iron in your hand.
A lot of golfers never know how far they can hit each club. The yardage, they hit a seven iron or, say, a six iron.
A good way to practice that, take a big bag of balls, go out to a field by yourself, hit ten balls with the nine iron, find out how far they go.
Take the average. Don't take the long one or the short one. Hit ten balls with each club and take the average distance they go and you'll find out how far you can hit each club.
Another good tip for a golfer on his local course, if he goes out and measures from a sprinkler, say it's 140 yards to the middle of the green from that sprinkler or a front of a bunker or a telephone pole,
get the yardage on every hole, write it down on your scorecard, keep it in your pocket.
And when you're out playing your next opponent, you'll know exactly what club to pull out on every hole because you'll know the yardage.
A great many golfers are intimidated when they encounter water, bunkers, or other obstacles on their approach shots.
You need confidence to get the ball over these hazards with enough backspin to stop it on the green.
This player can stop the ball on a dime. He won the U.S. Open in 61. He's a three-time winner of Liberty Mutual's Legends of Golf, Gene Littler.
A simple looking shot from 120 yards, a good lie in the fairway, the green looks easy to hit, but all of a sudden we put bunkers, sand, water, a trap behind the green, very little green to stop the ball on.
The average golfer, he gets scared. He doesn't know how to put backspin. He started to lift, help, or scoop the ball in the air.
And this is wrong. In order to hit a golf shot up, you have to hit down. And that's very difficult for the average golfer to comprehend.
I think what you say is absolutely true. The thing that bothers them mostly is the fear of getting the ball up over a bunker or water, onto the green, and having it stop.
They try to help it. They get kind of laid back and get their wrist into the shot and try to scoop it up into the air, which is absolutely the wrong thing to do.
You must hit down on the ball to make it go up and put backspin on it. Let me show you what I mean.
When a golfer tries to scoop this shot, he makes several mistakes. He places the ball forward in his stance, he drops his right shoulder, and he hits with the weight on his right side.
His club face hits the ground first, and he hits the ball fat. Or the club bounces off the ground, and he tops the ball.
Instead, you should do this. Play the ball farther back in your stance, almost in the middle. Place your hand slightly ahead of the ball.
Shift your weight to the inside of your right foot going back, and start down with your lower body, shifting your weight to the left and striking down on the ball.
You want to hit the ball a little before the bottom of your swing. You contact the ball first, and then the ground.
Hitting the ball first puts backspin on the ball and helps it stop quickly on the green.
Let's compare both strokes. On the left side, Gene has the ball forward. His weight is right, and he hits the ground first.
On the right, the ball is back in his stance. He starts the downswing with the lower body, and he shifts his weight to the left.
In both shots, Gene has just contacted the ball. On the left, he is well past the bottom of his swing arc. On the right, he is just reaching the low point, and the ball is well up in the air.
Now, if you're closer to the green, say 40 or 50 yards, you may want to make a few adjustments in your basic stroke to get a little more backspin, particularly if you're hitting to a tightly guarded green like this one.
You start by taking an open stance, aiming a little to the left of the pin. Then open the club face a little.
Take the club back on the outside, swing slowly and smoothly, bringing the club down on an outside-in path.
Bring the club down sharply, contacting the ball first, and then the ground. Let the left hand lead you through the shot.
Keep your head down and follow through. The ball will float up high over the water and the traps, fade a little to the right, and stop quickly on the green.
Gene, the average golfer, he has trouble with this particular shot you were just showing us because he loses confidence. He gets scared, and he just doesn't think he has the ability to do it.
I think that's true, Bob, and even the pros. We all have trouble from time to time with any given shot. So the thing you want to do is go out and practice it. And the more you practice, the better you get.
That's right. The more holes you win. You know, a lot of people, I don't think they really realize how hard the pros practice.
They think that they're good players, and they stay good players. But I've seen some of the greats, the Sneeds, the Doug Fords, the Arnold Palmers, practice three and four hours around the green at one time with that short little shot.
Sure. You want to go out and practice the basics until you get the shot down. You know, you want to, with this particular shot, you want to go out and practice until you can hit down on it, trusting the club to get the ball up and stop.
And just like you hit that last one, down and through and went right up by the pin. And of course, when you talk about beautiful shots, let's take a look at this one.
Sam Sneeds, a hundred yards out. He has an open stance, his club face is open, and he takes the club back outside and brings it down sharply with the left hand.
The ball has so much spin on it that it actually rolls backwards after it hits the green.
Here's Bob with a great practice tip.
I'm going to show you a little drill that illustrates what we've just shown you, how to catch the golf ball on the downward blow, the descending blow.
First of all, I put a golf bag out here in front of me. This is a little drill that you can use in your yard, about four feet in front. I put some golf balls out here.
I'm going to take an open stance, put the weight on the left, hands forward. The reason I have an open stance is that it allows my hands to clear my left side because it's a short swing and I don't have a lot of time.
Weight on the left, hands forward, open stance, catch the golf ball down and through. You'll notice that my left wrist never breaks down.
This left wrist and left arm is firm at impact, trusting the loft of the club. Now if you try to help lift or scoop it, you're going to hit a shot something like that.
You're going to catch hit behind the ball, catch the ball coming up, and you're going to hit it into the golf bag. Remember, weight on the left, hands forward, stance slightly open, trust the loft of the club, hitting down and through.
Now you don't really need a golf bag. You can do this in your yard, over a bench, over a tree, a small bush. But remember, to hit the golf ball up, you must hit a descending blow.
The Wedge is a versatile club, one you can use in many situations on the golf course. Master its fundamentals and it can save you lots of strokes. You can learn the basics from this fellow, the 67 PGA champion and a three-time winner of Liberty Mutual's Legends of Golf, Don January.
I know we've played in many, many Pro-Ams around the country and when we watch the average golfer, they get up around the green and they're scared of that wedge. They try everything, the putter, the seven iron, they just don't want to put it in their hands. Why is that?
Well, Bob, I think there's two reasons. One, I think they're scared of the loft. I think they've used the wedge enough times, they've made enough bad shots. They've either bladed it or dumped it and it's cost them scoring.
The other thing is, they're all set up to take a big full swing at a golf ball and around the green with the wedge in your hand, it's a finesse shot. It's a specialty shot. So you have to kind of open up. You have to play it like a violin and you take a shorter swing.
In other words, you go through a few little details and basic fundamentals to be able to play that shot.
But definitely, I know I'm one that it just has to. My swing is set up for a long swing. Consequently, I get around the green. I've got to do absolutely different from what my normal swing is.
Don, when the golfer is scared of the wedge around the green, he goes to the pitch and run and bounces into the bank. That's a little inconsistent, isn't it?
Well, I think it is, Bob. First of all, between him and the putting surface is grass of all heights. It could be very thick. It could be very hard or very soft. And he doesn't really know whether it's hard or soft when he's trying to play that shot.
So that makes it inconsistent. He's better off taking a loft in his hand and carrying it to the putting surface each time because the putting surface has been kept very well and it's going to be more consistent than it fairways.
The long wedge shot, say 80 or 90 yards, is played no differently than the other short irons. You simply address the ball from the center of a slightly open stance and use your normal swing. Be sure to hit down on the ball.
However, as you get closer to the green, you need to cut down the length and width of your swing. The best way to do this is to choke down on the club and for a shot of 70 yards, you would choke down an inch or so.
On very short pitches, your right index finger should be at the bottom of the grip or even on the shaft.
Here's a shot of about 20 yards. On the shorter pitches, you want less body action than for normal shots. You should key on swinging with the hands and arms. This gives you a narrower swing with less weight shift than the full shots.
You should progressively narrow your stance as the shots become shorter and open the hips rather than setting up square to the target line as you would do with a full shot.
Although you're not shifting your weight as much on the shorter shots, don't make the mistake of freezing the legs. The legs must always initiate the downswing so that your hands lead the club head into the ball. If you're stiff-legged, you'll top the ball or hit it fat.
As your shots get longer, say 30, 45, and 60 yards, you put more lower body action into the shots. You also take a wider stance. And if you practice with a wedge, well, sometimes this will be the result.
Don, the accomplished player, the average player, all golfers I think get confused on how far to take it back from 100 yards on the end. They just can't make up their mind. They may take a big swing and then soften because they're scared they're going to hit it long.
Most of them do that.
Do you have a rule of thumb or any tips that you could give our viewers?
Well, I guess the only example I could come up with, Bob, is if you were going to throw a golf ball underhanded and you wanted to throw it, say, 10 yards, you'd throw it with that kind of motion. Now if you want to throw it 20 yards, you increase that motion.
Now you want to throw it 30 yards, you just make it longer.
So really what you need to do is take these ideas and get out and get a bunch of balls around a practice green and find out how you can do it the best because it's a very individual shot. It's a very finesse shot. And everybody's going to do it a little bit different.
So a rule of thumb would be there. A short shot, shorter back swing, shorter follow through.
That's right.
And progressively a little longer both ways as the shot gets longer.
Exactly right.
And you know the pros like you mentioned practice. I've seen Jerry Barber and Sam Snead practice two or three hours on those pitch shots around green.
Just one shot.
Just one shot to get perfect.
That's exactly right.
One shot when you're around the green that the average player has no idea how to play it. You know, grass about four or five inches tall and the ball is nestled down in there. They're dumbfounded. They swing real hard and have no idea what to do.
Like Bailey and Hay I guess. Well on most courses that they play they don't see that kind of grass. That's tournament type grass.
And the easiest way I think for them to do again is get those balls and get out in it and find out how to play. But you need a good sand iron.
And that bounce on that sand iron with the face open will help get this club out of that deep grass.
Normally deep grass is very juicy and thick. So when you put a club in it it's going to shut the blade and stop the acceleration of the blade.
So if you'll open the blade take good advantage of this bounce that's on this sand iron and go ahead and finish the shot.
The ball will come out by itself. You have to follow through. Oh yes. Show us how to do it Don. OK.
You play this shot about the way you would if the ball were in loose sand.
You position the club face open playing the ball well forward in an open narrow stance.
You keep your hands well forward and grip a little more tightly with the left hand.
The key to this shot is to take a long lazy backswing and hit down about two inches behind the ball just as you would in a bunker.
Don't let the club face close at impact. You must follow through on this shot as the thick grass will slow the club head down.
This shot will not have much backspin on it. So expect it to release.
Don do you swing a little harder when that ball is down in that grass? Does the average fellow have to get his mind programmed to swing firmer?
Oh I think you have to. The grass is that thick and it's really juicy and has been fertilized and is taller.
Yes you have to swing a little harder. And how about that follow through? If you don't follow through the ball is not going anywhere.
And let's watch one of the great shots from the legends of golf. Billy Casper is playing his wedge shot from about 60 yards.
He hits it perfectly on line.
Catching the high side of the green and stopping the ball next to the pin.
Here's Bob's suggestion on how to practice the wedge.
When practicing this tip remember keep that head steady throughout the swing.
But also have a little less movement below the body. On a big swing we move those knees and we have a lot of lateral motion.
But in this little short shot from 100 yards in the lateral shift below the waist is not as much.
So remember you have to have a little movement in the knees. This is basically an arm and shoulder and hand swing.
So keep that movement below the waist minimal.
Two things every golfer should know are how to hit a golf ball high and how to keep it low.
This golfer can show you how to hit it over, under and around any obstacle.
He's a top notch teacher, two time Ryder Cup member and along with Sam Snead won the first Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.
He's Gardner Dickinson.
Gardner from time to time even the best golfers in the world find themselves in trouble.
You know off the tee they may hook it or slice it and there's a grover trees right in front of them.
Now they really have a problem. What would you do in a situation like that?
I think first of all Bob you have to assess the situation. See if you have that shot with you.
I think the first rule of thumb is you don't want to get more trouble.
But if you feel that you can play the shot I think have a go at it.
Otherwise take an 8 or a 9 iron for the extra height. Get over the tree and get on next time.
And if maybe there's a little opening underneath you try to go under.
Well that's more of my shot than the high one.
I know you can hit that low shot.
Why don't you show us how to play this shot from behind the trees.
Okay let's have a go.
To hit a high shot you play the ball an inch or two forward of its normal position in your stance.
The higher you have to hit the ball the more forward you should position it.
Open the club face and set your hands behind the ball.
Put a little more weight on the right foot than usual.
When you swing take the club back slightly to the outside.
After playing the ball forward in your stance you're now in a position to catch the ball later in the swing arc than usual.
You hit the ball at the very beginning of the upward swing catching it with the maximum loft of the club.
You must be sure that you shift your weight back to the left side on the downswing.
The result is a shot that goes up very quickly clearing the tree.
Gardner once you make the decision to play the high shot how do you decide on what club to play?
Well having hit so many trees trying to go over them I make sure I take the lofted club that will get me over that tree.
I think you have to count on one or two more clubs and you put loft on the club by either opening the face or backing your hands up.
At address you put your hands behind the address position.
So you put a little more loft on the face.
Gardner when the situation is reversed and you have to play a low shot and I've seen you play a lot of good ones why don't you show us how to do that.
To play the ball low under a tree you start by choking down on the club in order to shorten your backswing.
The key to this shot is to position the ball back in your stance.
How far back depends on how low a shot you need.
The farther back you address the ball the lower the shot.
Keep your hands in front of the left thigh.
This hoods the club face.
Keep your weight on the left side.
Your turn will be shorter than usual.
You hit the ball with a descending blow catching the ball first.
You don't roll your wrists over on this shot.
All you have to do is punch the ball and hang on with your left hand.
The club will have very little loft and the ball will stay low to the ground flying under the branches.
Gardner club selection for the average player for this shot could be a little difficult.
Could you suggest how we should select this club.
Well Bob formerly I used to take a two or three iron maybe even a full iron.
And try to knock the ball down low with the natural absence of loft on the club.
I found that too many times I would drill it right into the ground the ball didn't go anywhere.
So I learned how to take loft off of a six or a seven which gives me a little cushion and still keep the ball low.
You move it back in your stance?
I move it back in my stance.
I have my head in front of the ball and almost all of my weight on my left side and I leave it there.
Gardner wind is something that bothers all golfers.
I know you have to make some adjustments.
Can you show us and tell us how to do that?
Well it's shooting into the wind Bob.
As I showed you in the low shot I'm trying to hit the ball lower.
So I grip the club shorter.
When I address it I move the ball back in my stance and I put more weight on my left side and I leave it there.
I also drop my left shoulder so that I swing the club up in there very abruptly and down on it.
Now if I want to hit it very very low I'll stop the swing about there.
You know some old scotsman said high finish high shot low finish low shot.
Not bad stuff.
Show us how to do it.
Alright.
Gardner first chokes down on the club and he plays the ball farther back in his stance.
He punches the ball stopping his follow through very quickly.
You'll need to practice this technique before taking it to the golf course.
Very good.
Gardner one thing we talked about the weight on the left side.
Now you keep it on the left side and address it all the way throughout the swing.
I never shift it to the right.
And one thing that you mentioned earlier I heard you said when you choke up that actually shortens your swing down enough.
Makes it more abrupt yes.
Shorten it back and through.
Right.
Bob one more thing I think is very important when shooting into a strong wind.
It's human nature for us to swing harder.
The harder you swing the more you flex that shaft and the higher the ball goes.
So I try to make a conscious effort not always successfully to swing easier into the wind than I would if it were no wind.
Now let's watch another legend show us how to hit one.
This is Jerry Barber at the Legends Tournament with an 80 yard shot over a tree.
He's played the ball well forward in an open stance which gives him plenty of height to clear the tree.
The ball then drops perfectly on the green.
And now the practice tip.
Two simple points to remember when you're hitting a high shot keep the weight on the right side.
When you're going to hit a low shot keep the weight on the left side throughout the swing.
And this will improve your high and low shots.
A great many golfers like to chip with the wedge for the soft shot with lots of stopping power.
This player has great timing and rhythm around the greens.
He's a colorful competitor.
Doug Sanders the former Ryder Cup star.
I think the average person doesn't realize of how many greens that they miss.
So therefore they really have a chance here to really improve their score and keep their handicap down a lot lower.
And it's it's relative simple.
There's nothing about this it's so unusual it takes very little physical strength.
And let me show you here what I mean about this shot.
I think the most important thing here first of all is choosing the right club.
Now I have chosen a pitching wedge for this particular shot because using the seven iron or eight iron I couldn't get the ball on the green.
And stop it quick enough and taking a sand wedge trying to carry it over.
I do not have enough room to do so.
So therefore choosing the pitching wedge now on this sliding my hands down from the grip three or four inches having a little open stance.
Basically the weight even distributed just a little bit more on my left side here.
My left knee out of the way.
This enables me now to have a little more freedom going through cheating just a little bit with my left side.
Putting my hands a little more forward bringing it back basically arms and hands just a very little risk trying to keep a nice smooth swing.
So again checking out what you need to do here is moving your hands a little in front of the ball.
Having your left knee out of the way.
Little open stance just arms and hands nice and smooth.
Hands forward that's important on this shot especially when you want it to roll isn't it.
It really is the thing that I think that you want to do Bob is to be able to visualize the type role that you want and the forms of consistency.
Because your brain tells you of how hard you want to hit it.
And one of the key things that I have seen so many of the players do that's wrong is that once that they start back their left hand opens up.
So therefore the club face opens up and once that happens they get to try to hit it with their right hand and never being able to get the right forms of consistency on the roll.
So even if they know how hard to hit it and don't catch it solid then the results is not going to be very good.
And they put more spin on it by more club face.
That's right.
Now Doug demonstrates a different shot one in which he must stop the ball quickly once it hits the green.
Here we are again off the edge of the green about 20 feet from the edge of the green with a sand trap and a little down slope.
Now the purpose of this shot here is to try to get it up in the air bring it down soft enough but be sure remember one thing.
If anything at all if you're going to do anything carrot on the green even though it might go a little too far because if you hit it short the results is not going to be very good.
I'm going to hold the club very lightly in my hands moving the ball forward the club face a little open and a little longer swing.
Now for the good player let me suggest to you that you might want to open your left hand a little bit make it a little bit weaker.
This enables you for the club to slide lower and longer and being able to pop the ball a little bit more in the air.
Again the ball a little forward longer swing nice and smooth.
Bringing it down nice and soft.
You too can do the same thing just by keeping it nice and soft in your hands moving a little forward.
Taking a nice loose long swing you'll have a lot better results.
Doug you know you've shown us some of the mechanics for two different shots around the green.
A lot of higher handicappers they really can't make the right club selection when they're two foot off the green ten feet eight feet six feet and they're confused.
Do you have a rule of thumb that you use?
Bob there is because what I normally try to do is to get to choose the club that will carry me on the green three or four feet and have enough roll that continue to get a lot of good consistency.
Now as you go back a little bit further then take a club with a little bit more loft but never try to take a club where you're going to try to help the ball in the air.
You want to be able to choose one but don't never try to use the same club.
A lot of times I talk down to her as he said well I always either use a seven iron or the pitchy wedge.
He shouldn't necessarily do that.
There's a lot of other clubs in there that he can do and do even better.
Doug thank you very much.
You know you've hit a couple beautiful shots for us today and it's shown us a few things and talking about beautiful shots let's take a look at this one.
Here's a great example of a little chip shot.
Billy Casper has his hands way down on the club for extra control.
He keeps the ball low by shortening his backswing and it releases on the green rolling within five feet of the cup.
And now here's a good practice tip.
This is an easy shot to practice.
You don't really have to be at the golf course to do it.
You can do it in your backyard as long as you've got some object to chip to a tree a post a little bush a bird bath or anything like that 30 40 feet away.
Try different clubs and chip until you're good enough where you can hit the post hit the bush or the chair.
And when you take it to the golf course you really cut down on your score.
Club selection around the green can be confusing at times but you can save strokes if you know which club to use.
This golfer can clear up any doubts you might have by showing you the fundamentals.
He won the PGA championship in 1961 Jerry Barber.
Jerry how do you decide what club to use on these short shots around the green.
Bob as soon as you determine what kind of a lie you have how far you are off the green.
Then you make up your mind about how much green you've got to work with.
How far you have to chip the ball onto the green to make it roll to the pan and then you make your selection.
Usually for the average person it's better if they use a less lofted club.
The average player when he gets off the green he just grabs a wedge and he just goes up to it.
A wedge for a lot of people is a dangerous club because either they hit it in the center of the ball what we call bellying the ball and they knock it across the green or they leave it right in front of them.
It's much better to use a less lofted club for the average player if they have some green to work with and they're not coming over water over a bunker or they're not coming out of heavy rough.
You know I want to watch you hit we're going to start out from a short distance off the off the edge of the green and then we're going to move back 10 15 20 feet and you're going to show us club selection.
We've set up three shots from different distances for Jerry to hit from the fringe.
For the first shot the ball is about six feet off the edge of the green. He's chosen a five iron which will carry the ball onto the green and allow it to roll the rest of the way to the pin.
He chokes down on the club playing the ball forward in an open stance.
You catch the ball with an upward stroke and that puts overspin on it.
In the second shot the ball is twice the distance from the green 12 feet with the same 40 foot carry to the pin.
Jerry's using a seven iron to give the ball added loft carrying it over the fringe.
He takes the same open stance choking down on the club.
He takes a little more swing at it this time getting the ball up in the air and safely on the green.
Here the ball is 20 feet from the putting surface and Jerry uses the nine iron rather than the wedge because he wants the ball to release when it hits the green and roll up to the pin.
He'd use the wedge for a tight pin placement.
He takes an open stance playing the ball forward and he hits the ball crisply.
You know I noticed when you're around the green you're one of the best but you also always seem to choke up.
Oh yes the lower that you get your hands on the club the more control you have over the club face.
So many people go up to the to the ball with their hands clear at the end of the grip.
That's all wrong. You've got to choke down here and get some feel of the club head so that when you hit the ball you feel like you have a lot more control over and the club face.
Jerry on these short shots around the green a lot of people just hit the shot.
They never take in consideration the break of the green.
They certainly do not. You have to play a chip shot just like you would a putt.
If the ball is going to break left aim the ball to the right of the cup.
If it's going to break right aim it to the left of the club.
If it's uphill hit it a little harder. If it's downhill use a more lofted club.
Don't hit it quite so hard but you must read the green before you get the shot.
If you don't you're going to be 10 or 12 feet away and you'd rather be one or two.
A rule of thumb for the average player. Now to sum up what we've talked about.
Bob around the green the least amount of loft on the club that will comfortably clear the edge of the green and roll the ball all the way to the flag.
That's what you're after and get the ball close.
If it's a five iron fine use a five. If it's a seven iron use a seven.
Nine or pitching wedge if you're farther back.
Just make it easy on yourself but be sure that you use a club with enough loft to get the ball onto the green.
Because there's nothing like having to play that second shot from still off the green.
Jerry we talked about three little simple shots off of the green on a good level lie.
Now we have a lot of shots that's a lot more difficult. You have a bunker in front of you.
You only have about 12 foot of putting surface to drop the ball on.
This calls for a cut shot or a flop shot. Takes a little more talent a little more practice.
It takes a lot of practice Bob and you have to know where to play the ball which is up front.
You'd be able to take the end of the club the toe of the club and lay it back to put more loft on the club.
This is a 52 degree wedge. Now I've got about 56 or 58 degrees of loft on it.
You take a little longer swing because the ball is going to go higher and cut the ball a little bit by drawing the club this way on the shot.
And just lob the ball up in the air as you hit it. So that it won't have any problem getting it up to the hole.
Jerry what about the left wrist from impact on follow through.
Very firm. When you get right here and hit that ball you keep that wrist very firm to keep from turning over with the right hand.
If you turn over with the right hand you're going to knock the ball way past the hole and maybe clear on the other side of the green.
There's really only one way with the right fundamentals it takes a lot of practice doesn't it.
It does take practice which most people don't want to do. It's like work. They can lie down beside it never bothers them.
Now let's watch one of the legends show us a chip from the fringe.
Arnold Palmer is about to execute a variation of the cut shot that Jerry just demonstrated.
He has to get the ball up not only over the edge of that little pot bunker but also past the first level of this two tiered green and then stop it quickly.
If you can learn this shot it'll do wonders for your confidence. He takes a good long backswing and lays the ball up with plenty of backspin right at the hole.
Now here's Bob with a tip to improve your chipping.
The key to this shot is the left wrist. Actually you take this shot back with the left arm.
The little swing with the left hand is controlled with the left arm and left wrist.
You don't break the left wrist much on the backswing and definitely not on the follow through.
You just put the club face square there stiffly back and catch it down and through and never break that left wrist.
This is one shot you can practice around your house even indoors. You can practice on a carpet up against the wall and you can find out how high the golf ball will go with an 8 iron with a 7 iron or a 9 iron.
And you can take this knowledge to the golf course when you go out to play and it'll help you a lot.
If you want to do some stroke saving with a sand wedge you need a good basic technique.
Here's Bob Goldby to show you how to play these shots with confidence.
If there's one shot in golf that bothers or frustrates the average golfer it's the bunker shot or the sand shot around the green.
First of all he probably hasn't hit a very good shot if he's in the bunker. Therefore he goes in there he's a little frustrated and he's scared.
Now if he makes a mistake, a mental mistake in there he's allowed to compound his problems, blade it over the green or dump it.
Now he's going to have a high score. To play this shot you need a particular club, a sand wedge.
This club was designed in 1932 by the great champion Gene Saracen.
Recently I talked with Gene and asked him why he designed it and how he designed it.
I was a terrible player out of traps. I'd always get one hole where I'd chalk up a 7 or 8 on the hole.
So I started taking flying lessons. I had a stinson plane down there in Miami and I noticed that when I pulled the stick back the tail went down and the plane took off.
And something flashed into my mind. I said, you know if I did that to a Niblic it would have the same reaction in the sand trap that the flange would hit the sand and bounce out.
So I couldn't get out of that plane quick enough to try it.
And I wired Wilson, I said send me a dozen Niblics. Didn't call them sand irons those days.
And I bought all the solder that they had in town. And I soldered every one of them and I bought wraps, files and everything and went out to this little 9 hole course all by myself for about two months.
And I'd rasp, get that thing just right. When I got through there I'd bet you even money I could go down and two every time.
And I kept that club hidden. So I was all set for the British Open.
And when I went to the British Open I never left it in the bag. I'd put it under my coat and take it to my bedroom.
So after I started the Open I was in three traps on the first nine and each time they were up about a foot or two and all of a sudden right through the crowd they say, I say have you seen that new weapon of Satisans?
Well then it was too late to bar it. See? And I won the Open hands down. One time I was leading by nine strokes and I wound up five strokes ahead.
You know Gene talked about a Niblic. Now a Niblic was a nine iron. It there's, you know, just like we know as a nine iron today it has a leading edge that's fairly sharp.
They tried to get out of bunker years ago with those and it was hard to do. That leading edge would dig in.
Now what he did, he added solder to the back of the club here. He caused a little bit of a bumper. You see it's a little higher in the back.
Now this would ride through the sand and like a rock on water it would just skid through there and it would puff the ball up and come out very softly.
Probably the greatest invention the game has ever known. Let me show you how it works.
Place the club in your right hand with the face open about 30 degrees. Then place your left hand on the shaft the way you normally do.
Finally move your right hand up to meet your left. You're holding the club with your normal grip and the club face is open about 30 degrees.
As you take your stance open your hips about 30 degrees to the left. You play the ball off your left heel with an open stance.
Dig your feet well into the sand. The reason I dig my feet into the sand, first of all we have to keep our lower part of our body stationary.
And by digging in that gives me a good foundation so that I don't slip. If I slip I'm going to hit a disastrous shot.
Secondly while I'm digging in you can't test the sand in golf it's against the rules. But while I'm digging in I'm getting a little feel for the sand.
I know whether it's hard or firm and this gives me a clue on how hard to swing as I'm going through the sand.
In all other shots in golf you try to hit the golf ball with the club face. In the sand shot you actually hit behind the ball about two inches and sort of puff the ball out.
Now I'm going to give you a little tip here of how to do this. I'm going to draw a line about two inches behind the ball.
When you take your stance you open your club face. We try to enter the sand on this shot about two inches behind the ball with the club face open.
Now with this line that gives you an idea where to hit. Now you cannot do this while you're playing but you can certainly do this while you're practicing out by yourself somewhere trying to improve your sand play.
On the backswing you take the club back outside the target line quickly cocking your wrists. You hit down and through using the wrists and arms without trying to scoop the ball into the air.
Keep about 70% of your weight on the left side. Follow through on this shot. Because you're hitting down and through with an open club face the ball pops up in the air quickly and comes down softly on the green.
If you always draw a line in the sand when you practice you can analyze the shot after you've hit it. Here Bob hits behind the line. The wedge bounces off the sand catching the ball on the upswing.
He sculls the ball off to the right. In the second shot he closes the club face on the downswing. He enters in front of the line bearing the club face and leaving the ball in the trap.
Let's review the principles of the bunker shot. First when practicing always draw a line in the sand two inches behind the ball.
Second position the club face open 30 degrees. Address the ball off your left heel. Keep about 70% of your weight on the left side.
Open the hips about 30 degrees. Dig your feet in. Bring the club back outside the target line with an early wrist cock. Bring the club down from outside the line in a shallow arc contacting the sand first.
Be sure to follow through.
We've just shown you the sand shot when the ball is a nice lie, clean and an easy shot. Of course now you find yourself once in a while in a plugged lie, a buried lie, a fried egg.
Now this shot is also easy if you go at it right. It just takes a little few adjustments of the club face and where you're going to enter the sand and you can get out of this shot too.
When you practice this shot draw the line in the sand. Set up with the club face square instead of opening it as you did before. Set up closer to the ball and play it back a bit in your stance.
Open the hips and keep your weight on the left side. Use the same outside in swing as before hitting down two inches behind the ball.
The square club face enters the sand and digs down under the ball more than for the shot from the good lie. You need very little follow through.
The ball will come out with overspin and it will roll further than the shot hit with an open club face.
Now with all of these bunker shots the main thing is confidence. If you don't have any confidence you can't play them. The only way to get confidence is practice, practice, practice.
You must go out by yourself, put a hundred balls in the bunker, draw that line and practice hitting that line, hitting that line.
When you miss the line you'll be able to see what you're doing wrong and see where the ball goes so you'll be able to train yourself and practice and that will breed confidence and you'll improve tremendously out of the bunker.
Watch Julius Burrows play this bunker shot at the Legends Tournament. Look how far he's opened his hips at address.
It almost looks as though he's going to hit the ball way to the left of the pin and yet he has such sure control of the club face with his left hand that he blasts the ball out on target.
Here's another practice tip from Bob.
Now when you work on this swing, work on tempo.
Tempo controls distance for the short shot out of the bunker you take a little shorter backswing and a little softer tempo.
But remember to follow through on a little longer shot. You take a little longer backswing, a little firmer tempo and a little longer follow through and that'll produce a little more distance.
Remember when you do practice, draw that line. You can't do it when you're playing.
But while you're practicing draw that line and then after you hit the ball, look back and see where you entered the sand so you know how to improve your sand shot.
Every golfer has trouble from time to time with putting golfers will try almost anything to get the ball into the hole.
This player has a little different technique and it won him more than 50 titles including a Masters and two U.S. Open titles.
Billy Casper.
If there's one area of the golf game where everyone has problems, even the professional, it's putting.
We all try different grips, different stance, different clubs. We do everything trying to get that ball in the hole.
You know most of the great stars today, they use what we call a pendulum stroke.
They use their shoulders and their arms, very little wrist.
But a couple of the great stars in the past and even present, Miller Barber, Doug Ford, Arnold Palmer, they use a little wristy action.
We call it the square to square stroke. They go back square and come through square and they use a little more wrist.
It might be worth a try.
Billy, why do you use the wristy or square to square stroke rather than the pendulum stroke?
You play the game with lines and the whole idea is to keep the blade square to your intended line that you wish to hit the ball.
So therefore you not only line up with your body, your feet, your hips and your shoulders, but you line up with the blade of the club.
And you work that blade of the club with your hands so that that blade of the club stays square to that intended line.
That gets the ball started on line. Now as to whether it stays on line depends on how pure a stroke you put on the ball.
You've been recognized all over the world as one of the real great putters. You set up to the golf ball very well.
And I'd like you to just to tell us how you set up with hand position, weight distribution, ball position.
You bet, Bob. You know I've got about a three footer here and these are known as a knee knocker.
This is probably the dread of all golfers is a three footer.
Well what I try to do is I try to get my line as I'm standing here in back of the ball.
Now that I've got my line what I'll do is I'll position myself over the ball with my weight on my feet that are quite far apart.
I position the ball two to three inches in back of the left heel.
I place my hands directly over the ball as are my eyes directly over the ball.
I've lined up my feet, my hips and my shoulders to the line I wish to hit the ball.
Now what you do is use a smooth and hurried stroke keeping the putter low to the ground on the backswing
and carrying it through with the left hand and letting the right hand add the power.
And that'll get you a lot of money.
Billy you're looking at a 30 foot putt now. That's a different stroke than you had on that three footer, isn't it?
You know with the short putt you sort of anchor yourself over it. You don't use much hand action.
The left hand sort of rides on the left thigh. It looks like it's anchored on it but it just sort of brushes it.
With a long putt you have to have a longer stroke on the back stroke and a longer follow through.
The idea is try to get the ball close to the hole. You don't make too many of these but get it close to the hole.
Try to get it within a two or three foot circle. You want to get close so you don't have those three putters.
That's right. I don't want any three putts.
Okay. We're going to use a longer backswing and a longer follow through.
It seems to me like just listening to you and your stroke that'd be a lot better stroke when your nerves get a little shaky as you get a little older.
Do you think that'd help the older guy?
I would think that my stroke would be better for the older guy rather than this long flowing open and closed stroke
because I think as you get older the nervous system just isn't as good as it was when you were younger.
You know that brings to mind our old friend Sam Snead. You know he completely changed his stroke.
He was one of the good putters in the game the conventional way but he went to that old side saddle.
Well that certainly is an interesting form of putting and one that he does quite well with.
Why don't we listen to what Sam has to say about the side saddle style.
Sam you know you were a good putter in the conventional way for years and years.
You won 100 championships in about 15 years ago. You changed your style and you got an unusual style now.
Could you tell us why and how?
Well Bob first when I was over in England I saw this guy putt croquet style.
Well I tried that a few times but you know then I forgot it.
Now I'm playing in the PGA championship and on the 10th hole I double hit a putt from oh I'd say a foot.
And that upnerved me so much the very next hole I started to putt croquet style and made it from about 6 feet.
Then I made several more and from that on I've never gone back to the regular way of putting.
What about the croquet style? How did you do that?
Well croquet style you know it's been outlawed.
I played in the PGA seniors championship and I won by 15 shots by putting croquet style.
But then right after that USGA outlawed the croquet style so it said you cannot straddle your line of putt.
Then I had to shift the ball outside of my feet where I didn't cross the line of putt.
And I crossed it over here. It's a little more awkward but I tell you at times it's effective.
You know let me ask you one quick question.
Now if someone was going to try your style, the side saddle, what do you have to look out for?
You've been doing it for 15 years, you must have come up with a few little things that you can't do and you can do.
Well actually you set the club to the ball first.
Now you step up and leave the club in that position and put your hands on the putter.
A lot of people get over anxious and they get the hand way forward like this and try to putt.
You can't putt that way because you top the ball and miss hit it.
So set the putter to the balls perpendicular.
And then get, I always said it, how much break you going to get.
If it's going to break five inches from left to right, I set the blade five inches to the left of the hole
and try to make the putter finish five inches to the left of the hole.
And you putt strictly with your arm. Don't use your hand, just use your arm.
It's much better than putting conventional way for older people as they get older.
That's why they quit playing golf.
They're shaky nerves.
They get in an awful state and this way they can last maybe ten, fifteen more years.
Billy, I guess after watching Sam and his method you could say that there's a lot of ways you can putt.
Whatever works for you and you can get that club working square through that ball, that's the way you should putt.
Well whatever works, use it.
And you know it just takes practice to develop those features that make you a good putter.
Repetition, right?
Repetition is so important.
Well you know one great champion that had the wristy stroke was Gene Sarazen.
Let's watch him in action.
Yeah, let's watch the squire.
This great legend, Gene Sarazen, playing here at the Legends of Golf, won many tournaments using a putting stroke similar to Billy's.
And he still plays fine golf even though he's now in his 80s.
Here's another practice tip from Bob.
There's no doubt about it, the biggest fault in putting is when we move our head.
We get a little anxious and we track the ball with our eyes and the head will go forward.
And you just cannot putt when you move your head.
You must keep that head constant.
One fellow who has self-discipline and works at it is Gary Player.
We've watched him a hundred times on television.
He stands over that putty, locks in there, and he takes his stroke and he hits the ball and he never looks up.
He listens for it to fall into the cup.
And that takes self-discipline, but I'll tell you, he's one of the best putters in the game.
If you can practice that, it'll help you.
A good way to practice this tip is when you get up over a ball, just do everything natural.
Lock your head in there, good position with your feet, hands a little forward.
And just before you take the club back, close your eyes and go ahead and hit the ball with your eyes closing.
You'd be surprised how steady that head will stay.
And you make more putts than you think you will this way.
It's a good practice tip, but naturally you're going to open your eyes when you go ahead and play.
You are limited to 14 clubs by the rules, but a good player can make each club serve several purposes.
One player who can make 14 clubs play like 16 or 17 is the 67 Masters champion, Gay Brewer.
Gay, there's an obvious use for every club in the bag, from the driver to the putter.
I know you can take a club and make it do certain things that the average player may not even think of or may not have enough confidence to even try.
That's right, Bob. One time you may want to rethink your club selection is out of the rough.
Rather than hit a long iron, you might want to go in there with a five wood.
I think it's a little safer shot at times.
The fairway wood can often be a better choice from the rough than a long iron because the club head is less likely to tangle in the grass closing the club face.
Use a four or five wood and position the club face slightly open.
Take an open stance, play the ball an inch farther back than normal.
You must hit down on the ball with plenty of follow through.
The club will cut through the grass and get the ball airborne.
Gay, when a golfer goes in a fairway trap, he's scared to death.
He doesn't know what club to take. He doesn't have any idea.
What club would you take out of a fairway bunker?
Well, Bob, if I hit approximately 190 to 200 yards, I would rather use a five wood because I can get the ball in the air a little bit higher and swing smoother and have more of a tendency to hit the ball solid.
Gay, wait a minute. A five wood out of a fairway trap. I can see the average player putting their hands up and saying, wait a minute, you better explain that to me.
Well, I'd play the ball forward.
I'd hit it with an open face, take the club outside and come across it and make sure that you hit the ball first.
Gay, what about a shot the average fellow sees way too many times?
He's out in the rough, way offline, he's behind a tree, obviously can't reach around it and hit it.
What would you do?
Well, with the 14 clubs in the bag, I think that there's a possibility I might even want to use a putter.
Hit it backhanded, left handed, if I'm solid dead, I may have to just take something and chip it out the fairway to try to salvage a bogey and go on down the road.
But far too many of the average players, they try to hit it too far, don't they?
Right, and they end up getting in a lot of trouble.
A putter is a versatile club in the bag. When would you use it other than on the green?
Well, actually, there's many times that I've had to use a putter out of the bunker, especially if it doesn't have a lip.
If it's smooth, solid sand, you can take a putter and run it out of there a lot better than you can with a wedge.
But you know, that's unusual. A lot of people can think you can only use a putter on the green.
Well, that's right, but you know, a lot of people are bad wedge players, and I think they would save a stroke here and there if they used a putter every now and then.
Gay, what kind of shot do you play when your ball is right up on the fringe of a green against the first cut of the rough, about two or three inches high,
you can't get the putter on the ball, and you can't get an 8-iron or a pitching wedge up against the ball?
That's one I use in a sand iron, Bob. Let me show you how to hit this shot.
It would be difficult to putt or chip from this position because the long grass keeps you from contacting the ball squarely.
The sand wedge can ride over the grass with its heavy flange, choke down on the club, hit with a stiff-wristed putting stroke.
The club strikes the ball at the midline or the equator, and the ball comes out with overspin.
That's a very tricky little shot, and I would recommend that the golfer practice this shot quite a bit.
I believe you'd have to. Where else would you use a sand iron around the green?
Actually, if you have a downhill line or not much room to pitch to where you've got to get the ball up in the air,
the sand club is a very useful club, especially under these circumstances.
It has that little safety runner on the bottom, doesn't it?
Absolutely, yes. The wedge is a very useful club, and through practice, you can learn to save a lot of strokes.
I've seen this club used by other players on the tour, and also it'll be a good stroke saver for some of the amateurs out this high grass.
Well, it takes a little imagination to play that shot, but it sure is interesting.
I've never played it, but I'm going to try it after watching your tip there, Gay.
That five-wood was also pretty interesting. You have to open that blade on that five-wood out of the bunker, don't you?
Well, yes, and come across it a little bit and get the ball in the air, and make sure you hit that ball first every time.
You know, here's an unusual shot by one of the legends of golf.
Here's Julius Burroughs on a par-five, about 250 yards out in deep rough. He has a four-wood.
He takes a long, long follow-through, never letting the club face close.
This helps him clear the grass, and he gets a good shot off, leaving himself an easy approach to the green at Liberty Mutual's Legends of Golf Tournament.
Here's a tip on how to challenge yourself on the golf course.
An interesting way to challenge yourself and also your golf game is the next time you go out, don't take all 14 clubs. Just take seven.
Take a three, five, seven, and nine, a three-wood, a pitching wedge, and a putter, and go out and play your local course.
You're used to hitting the same shots all the time. It's gonna make your round a lot more interesting.
Also, you're gonna learn the limits of each club, and you can stretch one club with a little imagination.
You can take a five-iron, turn it into a four-iron by rolling your hands over, and this is very interesting.
You learn clubface control and also how to control a golf ball, and you'll have a lot of fun and a lot of imagination, and I believe you'll improve your golf game.
We've talked about many different shots on this tape, and now we're going to actually play a hole to see how course management or strategy should fit into your game.
This legend feels that golf should be a thinking man's game. Charlie Sifford.
Charlie, when the average golfer plays around the golf, he probably makes as many mental errors as he does physical errors while he's out there playing.
You know, by mental errors, I'm talking about when he walks up to a tee. He doesn't even think how he's gonna play it. He just grabs the driver.
When I'm on the tee playing this hole, I try to figure out where my second shot's gonna be.
You know, I try to put the ball on the right side of the green, on fairway, where I can go and have a good shot into the green for my second shot.
If it's a bunker to the right, I try to put my ball to the left. If it's a bunker to the left, I try to put it to the right.
It's like playing pool. You're always working for position.
Have to have a position to play this game.
Okay, Charlie, let's see how you're gonna play this hole here.
This is the fourth hole on the Legends course at Gleneagles Country Club. It's a par-four, 366-yard dog leg left.
Charlie has a choice of two shots that he can play off this tee, and for this demonstration, he'll play two balls.
For his first shot, Charlie will be aiming down the left side, trying to cut the corner on this slight dog leg.
If he hits a good one, he'll have an easy wedge shot to the green.
Charlie has a driver. He's trying to get a big drive down that left side on this short dog leg to the left.
He's pulled it slightly, and it is headed for that bunker.
Charlie, even though you hit that drive solid, you pulled it slightly and caught that bunker.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is the average amateur shouldn't just run up to the tee and grab a driver because he's on the teeing ground.
Possibly he's got to think and maybe take that three-wood out to the right and stay in that short grass.
Sure, Bob. I mean, you have to be thinking. Maybe the wind will be blowing from right to left, or left to right,
and you may not hit a solid drive, and it's like I did. I made a mistake. I didn't hit the ball too solid, but it went in the tramp.
But I think all amateurs should think that and take a three-wood and keep the ball out in the foul where we have a clear shot at the second shot on the green.
We should tell those average amateurs and think all the time before you hit.
That's right.
Charlie, why don't you take another ball and hit the more sensible shot out to the fat part of the fairway where you can get a good shot to that pin.
Yeah, that'd be most likely my shot. I wouldn't be shooting at that tramp. I would have to use my three-wood and put it in the fairway on this hole.
I know that's your shot.
Charlie will try to play his second ball down the right center of the fairway with a three-wood.
That should leave him with about a 130-yard shot to the green.
Charlie with the three-wood.
Oh, there's a good solid hit. And it's going just where he wants to go. A little right center where he'll have a good shot into the green.
Charlie's second tee shot is about 120 yards from the green, and it leaves him another option.
He can either go over the trap to the tight pin position or he can play to the right side of the green, avoiding the bunker.
Charlie, you hit that good three-wood out to the right. Perfect position for the shot into the green.
But I see they got that pin tucked behind that bunker. Still a difficult nine-iron shot.
Yes, Bob, I'm right where I want to be off the tee. Now I got a very difficult shot here because the flag is tucked right behind the trap.
So I'm going to allow myself about 10 or 15 yards to the right of the flag in case I come up short shooting straight at the flag and burying the trap.
Go ahead. Let's see how you do it.
Charlie's hitting a nine-iron for his second shot with the second ball. He's aiming for the fat part of the green.
It's up in the air. A good solid shot. And he's right on the green about 18 feet from the pin.
Charlie, your first tee shot with the driver ended up in that left-hand bunker. You were trying to hit that big one, gamble down that left side, get the short shot.
Now you find yourself in trouble. You got a tough shot over a bunker at a tight pin placement.
Yes, I gambled off the tee and I wasn't successful so I have another shot here after gambling this one too. So I'm going to go right at the flag.
Two gambles in a row?
Yeah. Something I don't generally do but I got to go this time.
Here's Charlie out of the bunker. Oh, and he's left it well short of the green in the rough.
Charlie played a sand wedge for his third shot and he made a fantastic recovery, leaving the ball within six feet of the cup.
He hold out and then two-potted his second ball, making par with both balls.
Charlie, you made a fantastic recovery there with your third shot and you actually saved par. But you'd rather play it out to the right, I'm sure, wouldn't you?
Oh yes, bye-bye. I was lucky at that time getting up and down from that shot. I'm not that type of a player. I'm going to play lucky golf.
I like to play for accuracy golf. I like to depend on more skill than I do luck because your luck can run out one day and you'll be in bad shape.
You can't play luck for 18 holes, can you?
That's right.
And here's another practice tip.
One way to improve your golf game. It's an aspect that most people don't even think about. Analyze your game after you play.
You know, how many times did I drive in the fairway? How many greens did I miss? Did I get close with my irons?
When I was in the sand trap, could I get up and down with one putt?
And when you miss those greens, how many times did I fail to get up and down as I chipped around the green?
You know, don't be afraid to ask the better players at the club. They know how to play these holes. Sometimes they back off with a three-wood.
Also, maybe you want to keep a farm or a scorecard on all of your shots. How many times did you miss those greens?
And you can really improve your score at the end of the year if you analyze that.
Players change clubs for many reasons, but most often it's because they're having trouble with some aspect of their game.
They may have lost distance or accuracy.
With the technology that's available in the game today, changing your clubs may be the simplest solution to the problem.
This golfer can give you some good advice on what to look for in a set of sticks.
He's the two-time winner of the U.S. Open and a PGA champion back in 68, Julius Burroughs.
A lot of golfers, as they get older, they tend to lose their distance.
You know, they go take lessons and they try this and they swing harder and they hit from the top.
Do you recommend a fellow to go try to maybe buy a new set of clubs?
Yeah, very, very much so, Bob. With all the new materials and new clubs out on the market today,
with the graphite shafts, graphite heads and little longer shafts in the clubs,
I think a senior player can hit the ball a lot further and hit it a lot straighter.
I was talking to my neighbor the other day and he found a driver with a graphite shaft with a laminated wood head
and it was 46 inches, which is about an inch and a half longer than standard, and he's hitting the ball 25 yards further.
You know, a lot of golfers think that the shaft is the most important part of the golf club.
And now with graphite and lightweight steel, and you know, a lot of the professionals seem to be using the graphite and the lightweight steel.
Well, the graphite shafts are quite a bit lighter than the old steel shafts and so is the lightweight steel.
You know, I know you and I both use drivers that weighed about 14 ounces earlier in our careers,
and with the lightweight or the graphite, you can pick up an ounce or two and you can get down to the 12.5 ounce driver.
Yeah, you get 12.5, 12.75 ounces with a lighter swing weight.
Instead of swinging D8s and D9s like we used to when we were a lot younger,
now we might be C9 or D1 right around that area and we can generate a little more clubhead speed through the ball.
And clubhead speed produces a little more distance.
A little more yardage, makes those long par 4s a little shorter.
Bobby Jones, when he won the Grand Slam, he had a set of Hickory shaft clubs and they were supposed to be perfectly matched.
What do they refer to when they talk about a matched set of clubs?
Nowadays, everything with the modern technology, they can have exact weight of the shafts and the exact flex of each shaft.
Going from the one iron, two iron right down to the pitching wedge.
And when you break a club, you know, if you've got a match set in there, you can match that pretty well.
Go get a repair kit.
You can send it right to the manufacturer and he'll put the exact shaft that was broken before, while you were using it.
And the average Arden golfer that played a lot of golf, he can tell if you put a different shaft in his club.
Absolutely. If you've got a shaft with a little flex in it and all of a sudden you get a stiff shaft,
he can really pick it up as he hits shots on the practice fairway.
So it is important to have a match set.
Absolutely. I think you're right about that.
What are the advantages of graphite heads and metal woods?
The overall weight is a lot lighter.
I know the metal wood is kind of having a little hollow spot on the inside of the metal head.
And the weight is distributed from the heel and toe, probably a little more equally.
And when you hit that metal driver, the ball goes probably a little longer and probably a lot straighter.
We've seen many of the manufacturers offering the cavity-backed irons, you know, the heel and toe weight, the pin type iron.
And all of the manufacturers are making it now and a lot of the tour stores are using this style of club.
What is the amateur? Is that good for him?
Oh yeah, it's a very popular club as you mentioned with the pros.
And that cavity back kind of distributes the weight a little differently.
It puts a little more weight in the sole, the bottom of the club, and with the heel and toe distribution,
with the weight in the bottom of the club gets the ball a little, it's a lot easier to get the ball a little higher.
And as with the wood, the iron is forgiving too.
It's forgiving with that heel and toe weight distribution.
You can hit it a little bit on the toe, a little bit on the heel, and the ball almost goes as far as a good shot.
When you make those good shots and those birdies, you love it then.
Absolutely.
How about all the controversy on these grooves? Square grooves, visits the V grooves, stopping the ball.
How quick can you stop it? Is it good or is it bad? What's the answer?
I don't know. I haven't used them. I might try them maybe in the near future.
But I've seen some spectacular shots out there in the regular tour where some of these players come out of that rough
with those 7, 8, 9 irons and have that little spin on it and draw that ball back a little bit.
Julia, should the average golfer consider carrying three wedges?
You know, the regular wedge is 51 degrees. The sand wedge is about 56, 57.
Now we're talking about a 60 degree wedge. What do you think?
Well, I don't know. I think the average player has a difficult time using the pitching wedge and the sand iron.
It would be kind of a disadvantage to throw that third wedge in there for the average player.
Maybe if he developed a little skill with his pitching wedge and with his sand iron, he might be eligible for a third wedge.
You're saying stay away from that lofty wedge until you accomplish it and learn how to play that regular wedge.
Until you master that pitching wedge and sand iron.
I certainly agree.
Now, Mr. Julius, selecting a set of clubs, a new set that is, how do you go about it in today's world?
The best way to start is to get into a pro shop and see the PGA Pro that's in attendance there.
And you can kind of take some of these clubs out on a practice tee and hit some balls with them
and feel the flex and the length and the lie and the loft.
And in this way, you can kind of determine what kind of clubs you should buy.
We've been chatting with one of the real masters of the game.
He probably has the greatest tempo, the smoothest swing in the game of golf has ever seen.
He hits it easy. Let's watch him hit some at the legends.
The real secret of Julie's game is that no matter which club he has in his hands, his swing is always the same.
He hits with the same tempo for the driver as he does with the two iron and the five iron and the wedge.
The key to this game is timing and rhythm. If you keep practicing, you'll learn it too.
And now some overall suggestions on how to practice from Bob.
The secret to this game is practice.
As you watch these tapes a few times, you'll notice that these pros seem to be able to hit that ball consistently.
But remember, they've practiced hundreds and thousands of hours to perfect these shots.
Now, when you go out to practice, get yourself good conditions.
Get a good piece of grass and practice on level because it's a confidence builder.
If you can hit that ball solid and get a little confidence as you see that ball fly down the fairway and hit it straight.
But remember, when there's wind, you have to take that in consideration.
If you got a little wind behind you, you may hit one or two clubs less.
Against the wind, you may have to take a couple extra clubs.
Cross wind, you may have to allow for the wind.
There's all of these little factors when you go out to practice.
Don't practice all your good shots. If you're a good driver, don't always take the driver out.
Go around that green, work on your bad shots.
If you're a shanker, don't shy away from those irons.
Practice, get away from the ball a little bit and try not to shank.
Don't just get scared of it and back off.
Remember, you watch these tapes and you can really improve your game and practice.
Join us now in the 19th hole for a look at the legends as they remember the lighter side of the game.
Well, I will say one thing. When we were playing, we weren't playing for enough money to go check the scoreboard.
I see kids now checking the scoreboard that have had three straight 75s.
They want to feel where they went, how much money they win, because you can enter now.
All you have to do is enter and be leading money winner in comparison back in the early days.
The first time I won the Masters, I got $900. I went to the luncheon this year and got a thousand.
This is the story of old Kyle at Foonz.
He was supposed to have caught the Negathe tournament, so he was mad at it.
So he tied it to the back of his car and drug it all the way to the next tournament to punish it.
Jim, there's no doubt about it, the players today are much superior to the players in the 20s.
I began seeing the change when these Texas boys started coming in.
DeMarid and Hogan and Nelson and Snead.
From then on, they kept improving more and more every year.
Of course, the equipment has improved, but the players themselves have got much better swings.
I'd have to disagree with Gene on one side, but I think there were more good shot makers in the early days.
Now, they're some fine golfers.
But I think that since you were a caddy, we were all grown in the caddy yard,
and we'd have won five iron, we played five or six or seven different shots with it.
I've been accused of throwing more clubs than they ever made.
I'll tell you that.
I'm not near as mean as I've been accused of being.
You're the villain.
Every time I walk in the golf course, boy, there's the meanest man in the world right there.
I realized Bobby Jones was a great player.
He had more of a type of swing in the old school where he had a big turn, big pivot going back.
And he was a fabulous competitor.
He gave up golf in 1930, I believe it was, because of pressure.
See, he had, as an amateur, he had tremendous pressure on him playing against the professionals all the time.
Even though he was beating the professionals, the professionals loved him just the same.
He was a great sportsman, of course.
And the year he won there was a triumph for him.
And the year I played with the Masters, he was a great fellow to play golf with, believe me.
Didn't Bobby Jones throw clubs, Tom?
Well, Bobby Jones threw golf clubs and became immortal.
Has anybody here ever seen a man play a professional tournament in Bermuda Shorts before?
He did.
He did.
Many times.
Where?
I've never seen him on the tour.
Tamaschana.
You were on Tamaschana many times.
They're not loud, are they, Jim?
Anything is loud. Who's going to stop you, Gene?
You've got knickers on. What's the difference?
The senior players. The best of the shop makers.
If you had to pick a team of, say, driving right on through, including bunkers and chips and everything,
and they were talking about, and we all know how Billy putts, and they were talking about Bob Charles.
A great putter. He's always been a great putter.
January has held more putts than anyone has ever held.
By far and away, Sam Snead would take a lot of time at the press to make sure that no one ever knew how good he really was.
This man has held putts from West Virginia right into the Golden Kingdom.
Nobody holds many putts as Sam Snead.
Well, Sam would deny that.
Well, no, he only won a hundred tournaments, and he drove on all the greens.
He's won five times more tournaments than anyone else, and he drove on all the greens.
Sam was always famous for missing a little crucial short one at the last, but he lost 14 of them to get there.
He has a press conference when he misses one that long. Are you kidding?
Yeah, but I'll tell you one thing. He had a bad day yesterday. He couldn't get one in.
I followed him quite a bit. He didn't make a putt yesterday.
Well, it's hard to play with money bags around your waist.
You can't get it through, especially on that side.
He's going to have to go back between his legs.
Pushing that money in them holes is hard.
And use that other putter, maybe.
Peter, if you had to take the best driver on the senior tour for distance and accuracy, who would you pick?
Right now?
Yes.
I'd pick Krempton.
Let's talk about long irons, Billy. Are they using long irons? Are they using more fairway wicks?
Roberto. You could put Roberto everywhere except around the greens.
Sure, maybe putting. But you could use him for driving fairway woods, long irons, middle irons. He's an amazing man.
What about mid irons?
Peter, sitting right on your right there, is pretty straight. I'd pick Peter.
There's always been talk about the best bunker player.
And I know that Gary Player is always ranked very high. Chichi, Rodriguez, Julius, Boris.
Billy. Billy is a great bunker player.
Billy was the only man I've ever seen that could blast out of the bunker and hit it low with a hook and stop it immediately.
Hogan was a beautiful bunker player.
Was he ever in one?
I think he was in two.
The sixth at Riviera. He was in the middle of the green. That's the only one he hit, right?
The final question I'll ask all three of you.
The best shot maker that you can ever remember watching.
Well, I'm a great unashamed admirer of Sam Snead. I don't think any of us have played better shots than Sam's played in his lifetime and also in his senior life too.
It's clear to say that had he continued playing and didn't touch any wine, that DeMarek would have been the best all-around player. Billy?
I've always enjoyed Tommy Volt's swing.
I thought Tommy, if he'd had the right frame of mind, could have been really, you could have been reading all the record books about Tommy Volt.
Thank you for watching.