Golf Digest June 2017

Great American #016 we’d like to have seen win the U.S. Open. Cock your head to the right before starting the backswing. . . . Hover the clubhead above the ground at address. . . . Pick out an intermediate spot like a leaf between your ball and the target. . . . Aim at the middle of the green and work your shot toward the hole. . . . When you want to hit it farther, take it back slower. C The first instruction tips I ever recall reading were in a cartoon series in Golf Digest in the 1970s called “Jack Nicklaus’ Lesson Tee.” Another series about tactics, “Playing Lessons,” followed. I then read Jack’s seminal book, Golf My Way. For generations, these words became the foundation for how we…

Some golfers hate practicing, but one thing I’ve learned is that the range—not the golf course— is where your swing gets better. You might be able to make small adjustments mid-round and play OK, but any real improvements come from practice. Let’s say you’ve got at least 30 minutes once a week to work on your full swing. If you do, try these five fundamentals on the following pages that have helped me improve. Devote five minutes on each, and then use the final five minutes to mash it all together and swing away. It won’t take long before you see the value in this type of practice. And then when you play, you can focus on targets and scoring—you know, the fun stuff. BEFORE YOU SWING DON’T PULL THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU…

Great American #317 we’d like to have seen win the U.S. Open. Here’s the rest of that line: . . . you don’t hit the ball solidly. Whatever speed you might gain by trying to go harder is wasted because you lose control and mis-hit the shot. You’re probably not gaining any speed. Like I joke with some of my students: Your backswing is faster than your downswing. H If you want more distance, your focus should be finding a rhythm that allows you to produce speed without giving up good contact. Consider the swing thought Jack Nicklaus used on tee shots: Finish the backswing. You want to stay smooth and deliberate going back, let everything wind up behind the ball. Then you can come into impact from a strong position, not…

Great American #34 we’d like to have seen win the U.S. Open. A Any time you’ve got a 7-, 8- or 9-iron in your hands for your approach shot, you’ve got a real opportunity to knock it close. Don’t squander that chance with the notion that you have to swing under the ball to get it in the air. If you want to hit it the desired trajectory, yardage and direction—and get it to spin when it lands so it holds the green—you need to hit down on it and compress the ball. Here are four steps to get the most out of your short irons. David Leadbetter operates 34 golf academies worldwide. 1. SHIFT LEFT So many amateurs try to hit the ball high by incorrectly favoring their back foot when they swing.…

What do you do when you’re the instructor for a guy with one of the best short games of all time? Not much. “When it comes to chipping, Phil’s taught me quite a bit,” says Andrew Getson, who has been working with Mickelson since late 2015. “Let me tell you, it’s been a pleasure to have a front-row seat for what he can do around the greens.” W From Mickelson’s signature flop shot— one he hit over his own head has 6.3 million views on YouTube—to sand plays that make the ball dance around the cup, Phil’s short game is “magical,” Getson says. And he’s not just gushing. At the Genesis Open in February, Mickelson holed out three short-game shots . . . in one round. Two events later at the…

“What to do when a fairway turns twice.” BE READY FOR A SHIFT I can see Mike Davis, the USGA executive director who is in charge of course setup, utilizing two or more tee boxes on this hole. It’s listed to play at 434 or 464 yards. The prevailing wind is against, so from the back tee most players will play to here. From this rise, the approach is about 175 yards with the left portion of the green hidden. But shift the markers up a box or two, and even shorter hitters would be tempted to play more to the right. GARDEN SPOT Successfully challenge the tall fescue and catch the fast downslope of the fairway, and you could have a wedge shot left for your second. Davis wants players to face a…