P H OTO G R A P H S B Y / N A M E H E R EX X / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / m O n T H 2 0 0 7

Al

l S

ec

On

dA

RY

cR

ed

iTS

MASTER THE IMpACT zONE

n O v e m B e R 2 0 0 7 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / X XP H OTO G R A P H S B Y / D O M F u R O R E

tour proscratch golferMeDIuM haNDIcapperhIgh haNDIcapper

BY BOBBY CLAMpETT with Ron Kaspriske

currently a golf analyst for cBS and TBS, clampett played the PGA Tour from 1980-’95 winning the 1982 Southern Open. His new book is The Impact Zone ($25, with Andy Brumer).

The average swing bottom of a PGA Tour’s club is four inches in front of the ball. The average swing bottom of a high-handicapper is an inch or so behind the ball. Considering the difference, it’s no wonder there are so many golfers who can’t meet their scoring goals. I wouldn’t want to play if I couldn’t hit the ball solidly.

I believe a high-handicap golfer will reduce his or her average score by four strokes for every forward inch of improvement made on the swing bottom. In other words, if you want to break a scoring barrier, focus on improving your club’s position through the impact zone. This also applies to the short game.

100/90/80/70BREAKING

Al

l S

ec

On

dA

RY

cR

ed

iTS

TRY LEFT-HAND LOwThis left-hand-low chip grip will help keep your left wrist flat through impact. It makes it harder to scoop.

P H OTO i l l u ST R AT i O n S B Y / j I M L u F TX X / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / n O v e m B e R 2 0 0 7

TAKE A DIvOTAddress an imaginary ball next to yours and make a full swing and take a divot.

/ B R E A K I N G /

TRY CHIppING CROSS-HANDED Another way to hit solid chip shots is to focus on the left wrist’s position through impact. PGA Tour pro Chris Couch chips cross-handed, with his left hand gripping the club lower than his right hand.

The reason he does this is to help ensure the left wrist remains flat through impact. Chris even chipped in on the final hole to win the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans using this technique.

Essentially, most high-handicap players have the tendency to try and scoop a chip into the air. The left wrist cups and the right wrist bows. They actually should be in the opposite position through impact.

uSE A wALL TO HIT SOLID puTTSIn many ways, the flat left wrist at impact qualifies as golf’s master

dynamic—even when putting. Here’s a little exercise that will let you sense

what a flat left wrist at impact feels like.

Take the back of your left hand and lay it flush against a wall. Notice how

the back of the hand and forearm create a straight line? Now remove your

arm from the wall and take your normal putting grip, keeping this straight

line between your left arm, the back of your left wrist and the puttershaft.

Extend your arm directly in front of you so that the clubshaft is parallel to

the ground and you will see a straight-line configuration.

100

DON’T FEAR THE GROuND

I went to the range the other day with a friend of mine and I

began taking practice swings, complete with divots.

“What are you doing?” my friend asked.

“I want to take a divot on my real swing, don’t I? So, why

wouldn’t I take one with my practice swing?” I told him.

You should, too. To get used to hitting down through the

ball, rehearse your real swing by taking a divot—in front of the ball— with your practice

swing. Don’t forget to replace the divot.

For a player trying to break 100, I can’t stress enough the importance of hitting crisp, accurate chip shots. It’s the ultimate stroke saver. During the Hawaiian Open in 1981, I was practicing chip shots with Hubert Green, who I think is the best chipper in the history of the game. Hubert took me to the cleaners that afternoon, but he also gave me one of the best chipping tips that I ever received.

Hubert suggested I use a more-lofted club for chips, such as a sand wedge instead of the 8- or 9-iron I had been using. With the higher-lofted club, I could then play the ball farther back in my stance and still get the ball airborne enough. This new ball position would create an even more pronounced forward lean of the shaft at address and an even more downward angle of attack through impact—both crucial to hitting crisp chips.

As he explained to me, increasing the angle of descent into the ball allowed for greater consistency in chipping from all kinds of different lies because I would strike the ball higher on the clubface. This tip can help you, too.

X X / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / n O v e m B e R 2 0 0 7 n O v e m B e R 2 0 0 7 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / X X

My childhood teacher Ben Doyle was once asked by a writer if my swing had too much lag. He countered, “Can you have too much love?”

Amateurs woefully suffer from releasing the club too soon in their downswing. At impact, the hands should be in

LEARN LAG IN THE ROuGH front of the ball and the shaft should be leaning forward. One way to reinforce this feeling is to hit shots in the deep rough. As soon as the club contacts the grass, it will provide resistence while the hands and body continue turning. This is the impact feeling you want.

YESThe more your hinge your left wrist, the more power you store for the downswing.

NOIf you don’t hinge your left wrist on the way back, you can’t hit a pitch shot with any power.

/ B R E A K I N G /

LOAD up ON pITCH SHOTS You might have heard the old golf cliche’ “You don’t hit the ball with the backswing,” but I disagree. Only when the club is properly loaded can we swing it more dynamically on the down- and through-swings and improve impact.

90REHEARSE IMpACTI know a lot of golfers who hit it great on the range and then struggle on the

course. One of the reasons is that on the range, you get feedback from one

shot and can immediately try it again with an adjustment. On the course,

you don’t have that luxury. So one way to remind yourself of what you’re

trying to achieve is to rehearse the proper impact position.

During your next round, address the ball like normal, but before you swing,

get into the proper impact position (weight on the front foot, shaft leaning

forward, head behind the ball). Once you do this, go back to address and

then hit your shot, trying to get back to that same impact position.

To shoot in the 80s, you not only need a good short game, but you need to hit full shots with authority. Club lag—meaning the club lags behind the hands through impact—plays a huge part in hitting solid shots.

At the ripe age of 22, I led during the first three rounds of the 1982 British Open. But then I drove the ball into the pot bunker on the sixth hole at Royal Troon and took three to get out. This led to my precipitous slide off the leader board.

What I remember is that the reason I found myself in the sand in the first place is that lag eluded me on my tee shot. I didn’t load the club well on the backswing and the result was a pull hook into the bunker. That painful phrase, “He threw away the British Open” had a double meaning for me. I literally threw away my club lag.

My advice is that when you set your left wrist in the backswing, never let it unhinge on the way down—even the smallest amount. If you do, you will literally throw away your lag and your impact with the ball will be weak.

You can learn this by first mastering the pitch shot. Grab a wedge and load the swing by hinging your left wrist as you start the club back. Once the wrist is set, forget about it. You do not have to let it unhinge as you swing down. The swing’s force will do that naturally and you will make better contact.

Al

l S

ec

On

dA

RY

cR

ed

iTS

X X / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / n O v e m B e R 2 0 0 7

HIT YOuR DRIvES ON THE DOwNSwING I’m blown away that so many reputable golf teachers instruct their students to strike the driver on the upswing.

Regardless of whether a ball is on a tee or on the ground, the swing bottom must consistenly be four inches in front of the ball. And swinging slightly down on the ball with the driver goes a long way toward ensuring that.

It also helps keep the left wrist flat at impact, because as soon as the club begins to swing up, there is a tendency for the left wrist to break down and cup.

/ B R E A K I N G /

FEEL IT ON THE “TRIGGER FINGER”One of the most overlooked fundamentals of the golf swing is the point of

pressure created by the club resting against and across the middle joint of

the right hand’s forefinger. This pressure point transforms that finger into

the “trigger finger,” meaning it plays a major role in the loading of the club

on the backswing and the lagging of it on the downswing.

where the grip falls across that finger is where we feel the lag of the club.

To use this effectively, lay the handle diagonally across the middle joint of

the trigger finger. During the swing, you want to feel the club’s weight in

that spot the entire time.

80

TRY HOMER’S AIMING-pOINT

CONCEpT Homer Kelley’s The Golfing Machine was the book that

most influenced my own game and my teacher Ben Doyle

taught me the book’s aiming-point concept. It works like this:

Draw an imaginary line from your hands at the top of the

backswing to a point a foot or so in front of the ball along the

target line. As the backswing transitions to the downswing, the goal is to have your hands

pass over that mark in front off the ball before the club does. Just a swing or two using the

technique and your divots will move forward, your impact will

be more solid.

I covered the 2005 Shell Houston Open at Redstone Golf Club for CBS sports. Vijay Singh was in the final group the last two days (what else is new?) and I spent some time with him on the driving range.

I watched Vijay practice hiting drivers off the deck. At the time, he played a large 425-cc driver and as he positioned the club behind the ball, the center of the ball lined up with the second groove from the bottom on his clubface. The sweet spot on his club was the fourth groove, yet Vijay was still hitting high-flying shots about 280 yards.

He could do this only because he had good dynamics and a forward swing bottom. If his swing bottom was any farther back, he wouldn’t have been able to hit this shot. Vijay uses this drill specifically because it hones a swing that bottoms in front of the ball.

I recommend that you give this practice drill a try. It will take some time to get used to, but it’s a great drill for a golfer trying to break 80.

DRIvER DOwNjust like with your irons, the driver’s swing arc should bottom out four inches ahead of the ball.

80

HANDS-ON AppROACHAllow your hands to pass over a mark in front of the ball before the club does.

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y / N A M E H E R E m O n T H 2 0 0 7 / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / X X

Al

l S

ec

On

dA

RY

cR

ed

iTS

X X / G O L F D I G E S T. C O M / n O v e m B e R 2 0 0 7

ON THE BALLYour address position can determine the ball’s flight path.

70

BALL pOSITION IMpROvES IMpACT

AND FLIGHT To improve impact and

straighten your shots, here’s how to use the intermediate-

targets drill Jack talked about. Pick a spot about 10 yards in

front of the ball that’s on your target line. Have someone

watch to see if your ball passes over that line. If it goes right of

it, your ball position might be too far back in your stance. If it

goes left off the intermediate target, then your ball position

might be too far forward. There’s only one position in the

swing where the clubface is square to the target line.

At the Memorial Tournament one year, I was paired with Jack Nicklaus and fellow tour player Greg Powers. There was a rain delay and when we all got back to the ninth tee to resume play, Greg was hitting old balls into the woods. I asked him what he was doing and he said, “You see that V in the tree? I’m trying to hit balls through the branches. So far I’m 0-for-5.” Seeking a challenge, I joined him but also went 0-for-5.

Then Jack walked up. He asked what we were doing and when we told him, he yelled to his caddie, “Angelo, give me a ball.” His first shot went right through the middle and we all laughed!

Jack said that game reminded him of a drill he once discoverd. In looking at a spot in front of the ball for alignment, Jack found he was getting more accurate because he also was starting his ball flight on the same line. It’s a great drill to try.

pERFECTING pITCHESThere’s a difference between the finish and follow-through positions and

understanding that will make you hit better pitch shots. A pitch swing

should end at the follow-through position, defined as the point past impact

the moment before either the left or both elbows bend. The finish occurs

when the club’s through-swing momentum ends naturally.

On most pitches, you shouldn’t swing to a finish position because the ball

will fly too far. You also cannot decelerate to reduce the distance because

you will likely hit it fat or thin. But by swinging to the follow-through

position, you can still accelerate through impact and regulate distance.

/ B R E A K I N G /