Kyle Voska Golf

PGA Professional shares tips and advice on golf

Tip-Of-The-Month May ’10: Shaping The Ball Around Trouble

TIP-OF-THE-MONTH:  MAY ’10 – SHAPING THE BALL AROUND TROUBLE

Most golfers, including professionals, find themselves in different predicaments each round.  How the golfer handles these situations will determine the level of success of the round.  Golf is obviously a very challenging game.  It can feel easy at certain times when you hit that perfect shot, or you have that great round, but a golfer’s overall success can be measured by how good their mishits are and how they recover from them.

More often than not, you won’t hit the ball as good as you can so it important to still be able to score well when you’re not playing your best.  A few ways to score better when you’re not playing your best are to improve your short game, have better course management, and learn how to get the ball out of trouble more effectively.  Today, I’m going to cover the latter by teaching you how to shape the ball around trouble.

Making the golf ball curve probably comes naturally to most.  Especially making it curve left-to-right (slice for righties).  Believe it or not, using that shot can get you out of trouble about half of the time.  Curving the ball the other way, right-to-left, will cover the other half.  Shaping the ball in one direction is pretty easy for most, but being able to curve it the opposite way can be more of a challenge.

When you’ve hit an errant shot into the trees or behind a tree, you will generally have two options:  shape the ball around the tree or pitch out.  Pitching out is safe and relatively easy, but it doesn’t advance the ball very far and limits your chance of a good score on that hole.  Being able to curve the ball in either direction will improve your score.  Here’s how to do it:

Shaping the ball left-to-right:

  1. Align the clubface to where you want the ball to land
  2. Align your feet left of the tree/obstacle where you want the ball to start (your stance should feel open)
  3. Take your normal grip with the clubface still open
  4. Ball position will be up in your stance
  5. Swing along your toe line
  6. Try to hold the clubface open through impact

Shaping the ball right-to-left:

  1. Align the clubface to where you want the ball to land
  2. Align your feet right of the tree/obstacle where you want the ball to start (your stance should feel closed)
  3. Take your normal grip with the clubface closed
  4. Ball position will be back in your stance
  5. Swing along your toe line
  6. Feel like your rotating the clubface over more than usual through impact

Keys:

  1. Use a lower lofted club when curving the ball left-to-right.  Opening the clubface adds loft so the ball will go higher.  It’s very difficult to curve a 9-iron or any wedge.
  2. When curving the ball right-to-left, use a higher lofted club as the club is being delofted by closing it at address.  I would recommend using a 6-iron or higher when curving the ball in this direction.  Trying to hook a 3 or 4-iron will most likely cause a shot that rolls on the ground.
  3. Most importantly, allow for deflection when aligning your feet.  When opening and closing the clubface to curve the ball, the ball will deflect off the clubface in that direction.  The more you open or close the face, the more the ball will start in that direction.  Example:  If a tree is 15 feet in front of you, and you need to curve the ball left-to-right 25 yards you will open the face.  Don’t aim one foot left of the tree.  Aim at least 5 feet left as the ball will deflect off the face to the right at impact.  Remember, the #1 goal when you get into trouble is to get out of impact.  Try not to compound the problem by staying in trouble.

Learning to shape the ball around trouble is challenging and takes practice, but it’s also a lot of fun.  The biggest error I see when teaching this is golfer’s not opening or closing their clubfaces enough.  It’s very odd looking down and seeing the clubface 10-15 degrees open or closed, but this is where it has to be to get the ball to curve enough around trouble.  Practice this the next time you go to a driving range and you’ll be surprised how much you can curve the ball intentionally.

Thanks for reading and have fun!


May 14, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Tips-of-the-Month | Leave a Comment

How To Stop Hitting Pop-Ups With Your Driver

NO MORE POP-UPS!

Popping-up your tee shots can be very frustrating and perplexing.  You’re standing on the tee of a Par 5, ready to hit your longest drive of the day.  You rear back and unleash the fury onto the ball.  You anticipate watching your ball soar down the middle of the fairway only to see head straight up towards the clouds.  The ball then lands only 80 yards from the tee.  Frustrating, right?  Was the ball teed up too high?  Did you swing up on the ball too much?  Ball placed too far forward in your stance?  Most likely, none of those caused that pop-up.

When you pop-up your driver, you’re getting too much underneath the ball, but it’s caused by coming down too steeply into the ball.  Simply, your swing was more of a “V-shape” rather than a “U-shape”.  To hit the driver properly, it’s imperative to come into the ball much more shallow than you would with your irons.

Potential causes of the pop-up:

  1. Standing too close to the ball
  2. Ball too far back in your stance
  3. Picking the club up too abruptly on your backswing – not turning your shoulders enough
  4. Coming out of your posture
  5. Swinging too hard
  6. Hands getting too far away from your body on the downswing (outside-to-in downswing)

Pop-up cures:

  1. At address, make sure the end of the grip is pointing to your belt buckle, AND is about 5 inches away from it
  2. Ball position should be about one inch off your left heel with your driver
  3. Start your backswing turning your shoulders level, not picking up the club with your hands
  4. Maintain your knee flex to remain in your posture
  5. Try to have a smooth transition into your downswing resisting the urge to hit it too hard
  6. Keep your hands closer to your body on your downswing

These are not all the causes and cures for pop-ups, but they are some of the most common.

A different way to think of a pop-up is thinking about skipping rocks off water.  When you skip a rock, your right arm will drop low and you will release the rock low so it skips along the surface of the water.  Popping-up a tee shot would be the same as taking that rock and just throwing it straight down into the water.  It was too steep.  Skipping a rock requires a shallow angle to the water when the rock is released.

Drill

Here’s a simple drill to shallow out your downswing when hitting your driver:

  1. Tee up your ball and take your normal stance
  2. Take your normal backswing
  3. On your downswing, swing the club one foot over the ball – don’t hit the ball!
  4. Continue swinging about one foot above the ball for a few swings
  5. Finally, go ahead and hit a few

This drill will shallow/round-out your shoulders making it much more difficult to hit pop-ups.  It’s actually a great drill to hit your driver better even if you’re not popping it up.

Good luck and thanks for reading!

May 7, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips | , | 4 Comments

Stay In Your Posture By Practicing The Clap Drill

THE CLAP DRILL

Maintaining your posture during your swing is one of the keys to being a consistent ball-striker.  One goal of the golf swing is to return the shaft to the same angle you had at setup.  If you can return the shaft on the same angle you had at your address position, you’ll be more consistent.  Most golfers tend to lose their posture during their swing, some on the backswing and some on the downswing.  Losing your posture makes the shaft come down at a steeper angle which creates more mishits.  A different way of saying the same thing is the shaft at impact is more vertical than the shaft was at the address position.

Here’s a drill that simplifies the downswing and emphasizes staying in your posture.  I call it the clap drill.  How it works:

  1. Take your address position without a club with your hands touching and facing each other
  2. Leaving your left arm hanging down from your shoulders, take a full turn back with your right arm.  Turn enough to allow your arms to make a straight line
  3. Now that you’ve made a complete turn, return your right arm down and clap hands with your left arm
  4. Try to keep your body in the same position using just your arms
  5. Leave both hands there sensing how you stayed in your posture

If you error in your swing, most likely your right hand will come down above your left in this drill.  And, if you slice the ball, your right hand will be open (palm facing up) when clapping the left hand.  Practice clapping your hands without moving your body and you’ll see how it will improve your golf swing.

Once you’ve mastered the ability to clap hands in this drill you can take it a step further:

  1. After you’ve clapped hands, go ahead and finish your swing with your arms and body
  2. The hard part is not rotating your body or standing up before clapping hands.  Be patient and wait for the clap.  This will ensure you’ve maintained your posture.

Practicing this drill really simplifies the golf swing and emphasizes the importance of maintaining your posture.   Thanks for reading and good luck!

April 26, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips | , , , | Leave a Comment

Stop Your Slice – Use Your Right Side More (Dominant Side)

USE YOUR RIGHT SIDE TO STOP YOUR SLICE

In a good golf swing, I believe the upper body, lower body, and arms should work in unison.  Another way to think about it is your left side and right side should work together turning through the ball.  Makes sense, right?  Would you want just half of your body doing all the work?  Or just your arms flailing at the ball?  I didn’t think so.

A sliced shot, a ball that curves left-to-right, occurs when the clubface is open, pointing right, at impact.  This open clubface can be caused by many things like open shoulders at address, swinging across the ball on the downswing, coming down too steeply into the ball, etc.  Today, I’m going to cover another reason a slice may occur and how to fix it.

A large percentage of golfers I see that slice the ball tend to pull down using more upper body than lower body.  When this happens, the upper body is pulling away from the lower body.  More to the point, the left side (weak side) is pulling down and left.  To hit the ball better, the right side must contribute.

Why Pulling With Your Weak Side Is Bad

There are two reasons why pulling with the left side is bad.  One, it tends to leave the clubface open.  It’s very difficult to rotate through the shot when the left side is pulling.  The second reason is you’re losing a ton of power.  Think of it this way.  If you had to move a large box that weighed 80 pounds, would you rather pull it or push it?  Push it, right?  You get a lot more power that way.  Back to golf, pulling left not only opens the clubface, but it also lessens the force you’re putting into the shot (I want to make it clear I’m not necessarily advocating pushing on your downswing, I just want you to stop pulling.)

The Fix

To fix this problem, you have to activate your right side.  This is not as difficult as it seems.

  1. On your downswing, I want you to feel your hands are coming down more from the inside – closer to your right thigh.  If your hands get away from your body too much, you’ll have to pull left.  I want you to feel you’re swinging a little in-to-out.
  2. Once step one is done, you have to turn your right side through the shot.  To get the right feeling, I would like you to make swings with the golf club with your right hand/arm only.  Take a wide backswing and swing all the way through to your finish.  If you’ve ever played tennis, I would like for you to replicate a topspin tennis shot.  Notice how the right arm and clubface are releasing/rolling over, not staying open – clubface pointed right or up to the sky.
  3. At your finish, if turned your right side through, your belt buckle will be pointed to the target, your weight will be over your left leg, and the shaft of the club will be perpendicular to your spine.  If you pull coming down, the shaft will be closer to your spine angle.

To summarize, try to swing through the ball using your dominant side rather than pulling across the ball with your weak side.  Done properly, you’ll start hitting the ball straighter and further hopefully adding 10 yards of distance to all your clubs.

Good luck, thanks for reading, and practice hard.

April 16, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Slicers Corner | , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Tip-Of-The Month April ’10: Stopping The Shanks

NO MORE SHANKS!

Alright, let’s just get it out-of-the-way right now.  Shank, shank, shank, shank, shank, shank, shank.  Say it with pride and conviction.  Shank, shank, shank!  Embrace it.  Let’s not call it the “S-word”, or anything else that doesn’t justify the pure dreadfulness of the shot.  Just get it out and be done with it.  Shank!  Say it again.  Shank!  Shank!  The first step in recovering from a shank is to accept it in all it’s glory. It’s happens.  In fact, it’s happens to the best of us.  I’m good for a few shanks a year.  It’s no big deal.  I saw Jim Furyk shank one on the 72nd hole of his recent victory in Tampa.  It happens to everyone.  It’s obviously no fun to hit one, but hey, shanks happen.  Today, I’m going to explain the major causes of the shank, how to go about fixing them, and how to recover when this lateral shot occurs.

What Causes A Shank

First of all, let’s clarify that a shank is hit off the hosel of the golf club.  This is the area just below the shaft.  Now, I have seen shanks off the toe, but they’re pretty rare.  When you shank a shot off the toe of the club, it’s usually short and soft off to the right.  A shank off the hosel comes off with a ton of steam and curves way off to the right, much more penalizing.

Simply, a shank is a shot where the hosel of the club comes in contact with the ball first before the clubface hits the ball. This can happen two ways:  the clubface has gotten closer to the ball at impact compared to the address position, or the clubface is very open at impact with the hosel leading the way.  Here are some of the ways this can happen:

  1. Starting with your weight on your heels - When you start with your weight on your heels, you will rock back and forth like a teeter totter during your swing and will usually be on your toes at impact.  When your weight is on your toes at impact, you’ve usually gotten closer to the golf ball.  This pushes your hands towards the ball making it easier to hit the ball off the hosel.
  2. Standing too close to the ball – Standing too close to the ball at address gives you very little space to swing down into the ball.  The force of the swing will either cause your hands to go up or out resulting in a steep swing or a shank.  Neither is preferred.
  3. Aiming too much to the right - When you aim right with your body and look to out to the target, your eyes will subconsciously tell you to swing left.  When you do this, it causes you to pull left.  When you pull left with the club, it causes the hosel of the club lead the way back to the ball.  It’s much harder to release/square the clubface when you’re making a pulling motion with your left side.
  4. Swinging outside-to-in (across the ball) -  The swing that causes the slice can also cause the shank.  Sorry slicers! But, like I just stated, when you swing across the ball (outside-to-in) the hosel has a much better chance of hitting the ball first.

How To Fix These Faults and Stop The Shanks

  1. Proper Posture at Address – Generally, when your weight is on your heels, you’re bending too much from your knees.  Proper posture involves leaning over from your hip joints (waist), not sitting down in your knees. To do this, stand tall with the club resting along your right shoulder.  Lean over keeping the club there and your knees locked.  Then slowly drop the club down to the ground.  Last, bend your knees about an inch, no more.  This will evenly balance your weight and allow your arms to hang from your shoulders.
  2. Standing the Proper Distance From the Ball – When you’ve addressed your ball, there should be ample space, about 5 inches, between the end of the grip and your belt buckle.  If you’re bending from your waist and not your knees, while allowing your arms to hang naturally you should’ve created this space.  This space allows you to return the club from where it started instead of it being pushed outward by the body when jammed up.
  3. Aim Correctly – Place a club on the ground pointing to your target.  Place another club parallel to this club about where your feet will be placed.  Remove the first club and put a ball down.  Your feet should be parallel to your target line.  At first, you’ll feel like you’re aimed 40 yards left, but it’ll show you just how much you were swinging left on your downswing.  After some practice, you’ll start swinging down the line longer decreasing the chance of a shank.
  4. Swing In-to-Out – The golf swing is a circular motion. The swing goes up and in and back down to the ball on the same path.  Due to the fact the ball is off to our side, you will swing back to the ball from the inside.  To hit the ball properly, you should be hitting the ball slightly from the inside.  When you slice the ball, most likely, you’re swinging from the outside-to-in.  This motion can also cause the shank.  Try hitting the inside part of the ball out to the right. It’s hard to do when you fear right (the normal result of a slice), but it’s how to properly stop the slice.

What To Do After A Shank

First, look to see if anyone saw the shot.  Maybe, just maybe, no one saw the shot and you can meander over to your next shot without shame, just a new challenge from a different spot.  Second, if your playing partners saw it, laugh it off. How did that happen?  Obviously, everyone knows how, but act as if it’s the first shank you’ve every seen.  Just craziness.  A total freak of nature shot.  It’ll never happen again.  Third, get determined.  If you’re ball is still in play (I will admit, shanking it out-of-bounds, into a condo, lake, or woods is pretty discouraging.  At this point, it’s best to just pull your hat down a bit, shed a quick tear, say a prayer, re-tie your shoes, choose a different club for the next shot and go onward.) flip your attitude to the opposite and accept the challenge.  Try to make a par or bogey after shanking a shot. It feels pretty good making a par after shanking one.  Accept the shot, deal with it, and go forward challenging yourself to not allow it to affect the rest of the hole or round.

Simple Tip To Stop The Shanks:  Use These Tips When Struggling Mid-Round or On The Range

  • Keep your hands in close to your body, backswing and downswing
  • Feel heavy, balanced feet at address
  • Try rotating/closing the clubface sooner on your downswing

It’s been said that the hardest shot in golf is the shot after a shank.  Sometimes, this is very true, but hopefully these clarifications and tips will eliminate your shanks for good.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

April 5, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Slicers Corner, Tips-of-the-Month | , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tip-Of-The-Month March ’10: Set Up Correctly To Launch Your Longest Drives Ever

HIT YOUR DRIVER FARTHER BY SETTING UP TO LAUNCH THE BALL

Would you like to hit your driver longer, higher, and straighter?  Of course you would, right?  Well, then why are you setting up to drive the ball low and crooked?  You’re probably wondering how I know you’re set up incorrectly.  You may not be, but most likely you are.  Almost every amateur I teach is not set up correctly with their drivers.  It’s truly amazing how golfers would love to hit the ball longer off the tee, yet a large majority are set up to drive the ball into the ground or to hit the big, bad, ugly slice.  

To optimize your distance off the tee, you should be increasing the effective loft of your driver by 2-4 degrees at impact.  Example:  If you have a 10 degree driver, the launch angle of the ball at impact should be 12-14 degrees.  I’m not recommending you to hit up on the ball to accomplish this, but to set up in such a way to allow it to happen naturally.  Today, I’m going to help you do this by going over some of the most common errors setting up with the driver, the causes of this poor set up, and how to fix these errors. 

PROBLEM

Most of the amateurs I see set up improperly with their drivers.  The most common faults I see are playing the ball too far back in the stance, too narrow of a stance, open shoulders, weight favoring their target-side foot, or hands ahead of the ball.  All of these common faults can drastically affect the success rate of a golfer’s tee shot.  Setting up with these faults will tend to either make the swing too steep coming into the ball, or make the swing too much from the outside-to-in.  Not ideal to launch the ball long and straight.

FIX

Setting up correctly with the driver really isn’t that difficult, it’s just a matter of taking the time to do it correctly once you know how.  With your driver, the goal is to fly the ball as far as possible with low spin so the ball rolls after landing.  Here are the keys to set up correctly:

  1. Position the ball up in your stance off your left heel or one ball off that heel.
  2. Widen your right foot so your stance is wider than your shoulders.  It should be a few inches wider than the stance used for your irons.  With your driver, you may be swinging over 100 mph.  That’s fast.  Setting up with a wider base will allow you to maintain your balance much easier. 
  3. Allow your hands to rest comfortably between your arms which will leave them at or slightly behind the ball.
  4. Let your arms hang from your shoulders or slightly outside leaving about 5-6 inches of space between the end of the grip and your belt-line. 
  5. Weight distribution should be 50/50 or slightly favoring your rear foot.  Favoring your target-side foot can open your shoulders and could cause you to swing too steeply ball.  Common shots from this set up position would be pop-ups, slices, and very low tee shots. 
  6. Ensure that your shoulders are square at address.  This is overlooked by many, but very important.  Most have open shoulders at address which also leads to a slice.  Practice squaring up your shoulders by checking to see if they’re parallel to your toes, hips, and target line.

Setting up in this launching position will allow to swing in such a way that you will hit your driver on a slight upswing from the inside.  The angle of attack will be pretty shallow which decreases the side-spin on the ball lessening the chance of a big slice.  This may be a big change for you, but if done correctly, I guarantee you’ll hit the ball longer and straighter. 

Good luck and thanks for reading!

March 23, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Slicers Corner, Tips-of-the-Month, UC Class Notes | , , , , | Leave a Comment

Stop Your Slice With This Golf Tip: Hit The Inside Quarter Of The Ball

HIT THE INSIDE QUARTER OF THE BALL

One of the simple misconceptions about the game is what part of the golf ball to hit.  Most would answer the back of the ball, and I would say they’re wrong.  To hit the ball properly, you should hit the ball slightly from the inside.

The game of golf, just like baseball and tennis, is a side-sport.  Unlike bowling and tossing a ball underhand, these side-sport games swing around our bodies, not up-and-down.  Due to this fact, the golf swing goes back and up to the inside then returns back down from the inside.  Shortly after impact, the golf club returns back to the inside. Imagine a hula hoop is wrapped around your body on the same plane as the shaft at address.  Can you see how swinging up and down along the hoop would have you coming back down to the ball from the inside?  It’s not drastically from the inside, but it is enough that not doing it properly will cause poor results.  And that’s no fun.

Now, let’s get to the part where we stop that slice.  When you slice the ball, your golf swing is not going up and down along that hula hoop I just spoke about.  It may be going back along the hoop, but on the way down, most likely, the golf club is swinging over/on-top of the hula hoop too much.  This makes the club swing across the line causing left-to-right sidespin on the golf ball.  Another way to say it is you’re hitting the outside of the golf ball with an open face. Hitting the outside of the ball with an open face = slice.  It’s as simple as that.

GOLF TIP

A simple golf tip to fix this problem is to actually try to hit the inside quarter of the golf ball (*hint, hint* – you actually want to hit the inside part of the ball).  If you can hit the inside part of the ball, you’ll have a much better chance to hit the ball straight or even hit the coveted draw.  When you hit the inside part of the ball, you’ll swing down the target longer and, by doing this, you’re in a much better position to release the golf club instead of holding the face open.   Releasing the club properly will allow you to hit the draw.

DRILL

The next time you go to a driving range try this drill.  Take a range ball and place it on a tee.  Turn the ball so the red, green, or black range ball stripe is positioned on the inside of the ball.   Then, hit the stripe trying to send the stripe out to the right.  Yes, I said that.  Try to hit the ball to the right.  The odds are you won’t be able to do this right away, but once you can hit your ball a little right you’re not too far from hitting that draw you’ve dreamed about.  I know, it’s hard because you dread seeing the ball curve off to the right so you can’t fathom trying to hit it there, but this is how to fix that slice.  Swing to the right.  Hit the inside quarter of the ball.  Once you get that down, just roll the club over. Walla! Draw every time. Have fun with it and hopefully your draw will come soon.

Thanks for reading,

Kyle Voska, PGA

March 14, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Slicers Corner | , , , , , | 2 Comments

Improve Your Swing By Studying Your Divots

LOVE THY DIVOT AND LEARN FROM IT

This is for all the divot lovers out there.  If you’re not one yet, prepare to be one.  It’s been proven time and time again though theories and opinions that one of the biggest thrills in the game comes when you replace a huge, honkin’ divot perfectly.  It’s not when you hit a perfect shot, but when you put your divot back with all your glory.

Here’s how it goes.  You take your wedge out and lash at the ball sending this 4-pound piece of dirt and grass flying like a small helicopter down the fairway.  A sight to be seen!  Then you proudly stomp down the fairway like a gladiator after winning a battle.  Picking up your behemoth piece of earth, you march back to your launching spot anticipating its return to home.  Such a thrill! As much fun as this is, clearly the highlight of many a round of golf, there’s actually more good news for divot lovers.  You can actually improve your game by studying them.

In all seriousness, if you were to look down at the ground after taking a divot you can usually see a lot.  Amongst others, you can tell the swing path, the face angle, how steep or shallow the swing was, and whether your club hit the ground with the heel or toe.  Pretty amazing, huh?

Here’s what to look for when checking out your divot in the ground:

  1. Look where your club contacted the ground in relation to the ball – You can do this by placing a tee next to your ball when you practice and see where your divot starts in relation to the tee.  Ideally, you’d like your divot to start about an inch or so ahead of the ball/tee.  If you don’t strike the ground after the ball, you will lose power and increase the potential of hitting the shot fat.
  2. Check the path of the divot – If it’s aiming too far to the left or right of your target then you’re swinging too much in that direction.
  3. Check the face angle at impact by looking at the starting point of the divot – Most of the time, you’d like this to be perpendicular to your target line (square).  If it’s not square, there will be more sidespin on the ball creating bigger slices and hooks.
  4. Check the depth of the divot – You’d like the divot to be about the size of a dollar bill and about a half an inch thick. If it’s a lot thicker or thinner, then you’re too steep or shallow in your angle of approach.
  5. Check to see if the divot is favoring the toe or the heel – Sometimes one of the sides of the will be thicker than the other side.  If it is favoring a side it could be your swing is a little off, or it could mean that the lie on your clubs is incorrect.

I just gave you a lot of information on the education of divots.  I’d recommend reading this a couple more times to fully understand it.  Then, when you get a chance, hit some balls off grass and check your divot patterns.  Most likely, your divots will fall into one of the categories listed above.  Hopefully, you’ll know how to fix yourself, but if you don’t, check with your local PGA Professional for guidance.

March 4, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Make Putts In Your Mind To Stay Positive

POSITIVE PUTTING

Consistently putting well is one of the hardest things to do at this game. Every course and every green is different. Throw in grain, slope, spike marks, ball marks, foot prints, shadows, etc. and you can easily see why holing putts is difficult.   This being the case, staying positive towards your putting is not easy.  In fact, it’s one of the hardest things to do in this game.  Putting well requires confidence.  Confidence comes from trusting and believing in what you’re doing. To gain more confidence, consider thinking about putting this way:  try to make the putt in your mind, not whether it goes in the hole or not. This is not easy, but if you can adopt this mind-set,  you’ll gain more confidence and stay more positive on the greens.

When you hit a putt there are two possible outcomes:  it either goes in the hole or it doesn’t.  There’s nothing in between.  This gives us many highs and lows.  It’s easy to become result-orientated, meaning you judge your success solely on the results.  This is counter-productive because the odds are you’re going to miss more putts than you hole.

What I like to do is judge my putting success on how I hit the putt.  I want to “make” the putt in my mind.  I try to roll the ball to the best of my ability on the line I choose.  If I do that, I’m happy.  I’m obviously happier if the ball goes in the hole, but I know it’s out of my control once the ball leaves the putter face.  When I’m putting well, I will “make” most of the putts in my mind, but the odds are I’ve only holed a few on the greens.  I like to think that if you make a good putt in your mind and it doesn’t go in it just means your odds of holing the next putt goes up.  At least it does my mind.  Try this the next time you play and I bet you’ll not only be in a better frame of mind, but you’ll putt better too.

February 10, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Putting | , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Check Your Fundamentals In A Mirror

CHECK YOUR FUNDAMENTALS IN A MIRROR

It’s hard to get excited about playing golf when the weather is poor outside; however, this is a great time to work on your fundamentals.  Find a place in your home where you can look at yourself in a mirror.  Grab an iron, your putter, and a golf ball.  Make sure you have enough room to take your setup in front of the mirror.

First, take your setup with the iron facing the mirror.  Then look in the mirror to check your grip, your stance, weight distribution, and ball position.  After checking those positions, turn 90 degrees (counter-clockwise for right-handed). From this position, you can check your posture and the alignment of your shoulders, hips, and feet.  After finishing with your iron, repeat these steps with your putter.

If you’ve never seen yourself on video or in a mirror with a golf club, it can be eye-opening.  You may notice you favor your left side at address, your hips tend to aim right, your grip is off, or one of many other things.  Take the time to check these fundamentals a few times a week before the season starts.  The better your fundamentals are the more consistent golfer you will be.  If you see something in the mirror you’re not sure how to fix, ask me a question about it or check with your local PGA Professional.  Thanks for reading and practice smart!

February 3, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Practice Time | , , , | Leave a Comment

Improve Your Putting By Charting Your Misses

CHART YOUR MISSES ON THE GREEN

Have you ever charted where you miss your putts?  If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to do so this season.  If you answered yes, I may offer an idea or two to take it a step further.

There are a few ways to chart your putts on the green.  The most simplistic way is to chart whether you miss your putts short or long.  I’m hoping long because 98% of the putts left short don’t have a chance of going in.  I’m not much of a gambler, but those are not good odds.  The second way to chart your putts, and probably the most common, is to chart whether you miss your putts on the high side (pro) or low side (am) of the hole.  The last way to chart your putts is to see if you have a tendency to miss them left or right of the hole.  Many tend to overlook charting their putts this last way, however, it can be pretty telling if you’re missing the majority of your putts on one side of the hole.

Here’s what you’re looking for when charting your putts.  Ideally, you would want to miss about half of your putts on the pro side of the hole and half on the am side.  And the same can be said for missing it left and right.  Most likely, you’ll start seeing a tendency for your misses after a few rounds.

Here’s what the tendencies mean.  For example, if you’re missing 70% of your putts on the am side of the hole, you’re under-reading the break on the green.  If this is the case, practice playing more break for your putts.  If you’re missing 70% of your putts to the right, then you could be pushing or slicing your putts.  For this, practice by placing a 3-iron next to your ball parallel to your target line.  Hit putts along the shaft without allowing your ball to strike the shaft. Obviously, I could go on and on about your misses, but it’s imperative to chart them so you can fix your flaws.  The more putts you chart the better.  Chart your putts for at least 5 rounds and up to 10 rounds.  If you do this, I guarantee you’ll find a tendency in your putting that can be improved.  And most likely, this improvement can come quickly. Good luck and make more putts!

January 26, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Practice Time, Putting | , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Winter Golf: “It’s Not That Bad Out There”

ENJOY GOLF IN THE WINTER

Winter golf, a wonderful time to play!  You might be laughing or rolling your eyes, but really, it can be a wonderful time to play (Disclaimer:  I would like to state that there are certain conditions that Kyle Voska does not find enjoyable and he cannot be held accountable for someone having an unpleasant time during a winter round of golf if any of these conditions exist:   when it is snowing, sleeting, icing, raining, fog-lifting, winterey mixing, windy, really windy, under 28.4 degrees, cloudy, after a long rain, snow or ice on the ground, warm outfit-challenged, not in mood, or you run out of golf balls during your round).  I love getting out for a few rounds in the winter and I’ll explain why and how you can enjoy it too.

Dressing properly is the key ingredient to enjoying golf when the weather is less than ideal.  First, I highly recommend wearing rain pants over your slacks.  Long-underwear works as well, but rain pants are better because they block the wind and keep your pants dry.  Second, a winter cap is a must.  If your noggin gets cold, you’re toast.  Third, load up the layers around your core.  I recommend 3-4 layers around your chest and up to 2 layers for your arms.  I prefer to have as little as possible on my arms so I can still swing with some speed.  And last, winter gloves.  Some prefer the winter gloves made for golf.  I, however, prefer using cart mittens with heat packs in them.  My hands generally don’t stay warm in gloves because my fingers are isolated.  They stay much warmer in the mittens and I’m able to hit shots with my normal glove and grip.

Learning to adapt to different conditions, winter conditions included, is one of the beauties of this game.  Generally, when you play winter golf in the northern states, the temperature will be below 50 degrees.  When the temperature dips, the golf ball doesn’t go as far.  Due to more clothing, your swing will slow down a bit, and it’s harder to compress the golf ball when it cools down.  I recommend taking at least one extra club on shorter shots and at least two extra clubs on longer shots.  This will make sure you swing within yourself and make solid contact (not hitting solid in the cold can leave a lasting impression).

Winter is a depressing time for many because there’s less light, it’s cold, and there’s more precipitation.  This terrible trifecta makes it’s difficult to spend time outside.  Humans weren’t designed to spend months at a time inside so when you have a chance to go outside it’s important to take advantage of it.  Golf is a great way to spend this time.  You’ll get some fresh air along with some exercise in very peaceful environment.  It’s truly amazing how quiet and peaceful a golf course is in the winter.

Go out and play some golf this winter.  You might be surprised how nice it can be.  Just dress properly and swing easy. When you finish, I’m willing to bet you’ll say, “It’s not that bad out there.”, the very popular winter-time phrase said at Sharon Woods Golf Course.  Have fun and thanks for reading!

January 24, 2010 Posted by | Golf Tips, Uncategorized | , , , , | Leave a Comment

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