Ask the Top 100 Live: Brady Riggs here to help your game
Tough time on the links this weekend? Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs will be online Tuesday at noon
Eastern to review your swing videos, answer questions and offer tips.
Be first in line by asking a question in the comments section below.
Thanks to everyone for your great questions and videos. Have a fantastic holiday weekend and I will see you next week on the blog. GO PACKERS!
Paul asks at 11:45:
I am single figure handicap but I always struggle with my driver. What are some driver basics that I can work on at the range? Is width the most important thing? I used to play a draw that turned into a snap hook. So I steepened my swing slightly to play a fade but now I tend to come over the top on certain occasions. Mostly though I just don't trust my driver on the course and I end up with 100 swing thoughts going through my head over the ball. What are some driver basics that I can use to simplify my practice and my thoughts?
I agree with you Paul that the driver is the most critical club in the bag. If you can't get started on a hole the game is way too difficult. As always I would like to see you have a plan for your driver. It sounds like the experiment to go left to right hasn't worked all that well and you would be happier hitting a slight draw. With this in mind the start of your improvement needs to begin by sticking with a desired ball-flight, in your case a draw and develop your swing around it.
Once you have done this take a hard look at your address position. Make sure you have enough tilt in your right side away from the target to facilitate a more inside attack to the ball. Be aware that the tendency for right to left players is to become too closed with the feet, so make sure you are creating some parallel lines between your shoulders, feet, knees, and hips relative to the target line.
In your golf swing you need to combine the slightly inside attack with the proper face rotation and see the ball start slightly right of the target. Once you have developed the proper shape of shot, you can begin to read your misses. Too little draw and you need to allow the club to pass your body more through impact. Too much draw and you are hanging back on the right side too long causing your clubface to over-rotate. Once the misses make sense you can adjust on the course and begin to drive the ball consistently from day to day.
John asks at 11:35:
Brady, what are the best golf instruction books you can recommend?
That is actually a very tough question. I like some things out of many books but not many things out of one book. Hope that makes sense. For example, I think Cochran and Stobbs book Search for the Perfect Swing is great in many ways, but I would skim though it and look more at the illustrations and conclusions than getting caught in the details. I have had a copy of Homer Kelly's The Golfing Machine for the last 20 years. There is much about the structure and set up of the book I can't stand but the information is undeniable. The fact is that you can't learn golf from a book, but you can get some important insights.
Try to keep in mind why you are searching out information. If you are trying to become a golf instructor then you need to read everything you can, even if you completely disagree with it. It is amazing how much knowing the bad info can solidify your own good info. If you are just a golf enthusiast and love to learn more, proceed with a bit of caution as knowing more can be dangerous to your game. If you are trying to improve your golf swing, send in your video and save your cash and time. One of us in the TOP 100 will get you going in the right direction.
Darren Smith asks at 11:25:
For me as a 7 handicapper, my most feared shot is the 30-50 yard bunker shot. I am pretty good at playing out of a normal greenside bunker, but with the slightly longer shot, I find it difficult to calibrate the swing length, how much to open the face of my club, whether to use a sand wedge or A-wedge, etc. I guess my uncertainty just comes from not practicing that shot very often and also because a potentially bad shot from this length can cost me extra shots on the scorecard.
You aren't alone. This is a shot that is generally regarded as the toughest in golf by low handicap and professional players alike. I think that your assessment of why this is difficult is right on, especially the part about not practicing it much. The fact is that you should try multiple clubs depending upon the lie, sand type, and landing possibilities that each shot presents. For example, some shots require a great deal of creativity. I once watched Gary Player explode a shot from about 50 yards away with an 8 iron to about 5 feet from the hole. He hit just as you would a greenside bunker shot with a Lob wedge. It was impressive. In most cases taking a little less loft and making sure you get enough sand is the safest approach, but spend some time practicing it and you will figure out what you are most comfortable with.
Michael Mertz asks at 10:50:
What do you consider a normal allotted time for a foursome to complete 18 holes? Walking? Riding?
I had an incident on the course the other day and I am curious. There
were four of us at our local Muni. Two were walking, two were riding.
All of us are about 12-13 handicaps. We were playing at a good pace but
the foursome behind us were pushing us. We stayed in front but then
they started to get rude. We finished our round in 4 hours and 20
minutes but harsh words were exchanged in the parking lot. I felt they
were wrong.
If it took 6 hours to play they would have been wrong. Golf is supposed to be a gentleman's game so there is no place for confrontations in the parking lot in my opinion. With that said the pace of play issue comes back to if you were keeping pace with the group in front of you. If the group in front of you was on the same hole as you when you got to the tee for the majority of the day then you were keeping pace. If you never saw them all day then the more ideal situation would have been for you to let the group behind you go through. The round is always more enjoyable when you aren't rushing, so in the future let the impatient people go. Life is too short and there aren't enough rounds to play as it is.
Ron Gruver asks at 10:45:
I have golfed for many, many years. I have never had an official handicap but if I were to guess I would say its in the range of 22 to 28. I base that on the PGA golf score tracking system. I consistently two putt and do have probably 1 or two 3 putts. I generally have about 32 to 36 putts per round. My problem is that I'm trying to get into the 70's and I consistently mess up about 20 to 30 yards off the green. If I'm laying three and about 30 yards and in 3"high rough you can count on a 7. I simply cannot get out of these 3" high roughs properly. I use my 9 iron from about 40 yards out and on low cut grass choosing pitch and run and it works out, but if I'm in the 30 yard range and higher rough its trouble with a capital T. Any suggestions?
It begins with your club selection. The 9 iron is a very conservative choice from the fairway lie. It removes the risk of a really bad shot and can give you some consistent results. I would say it is the smartest shot you can hit. Unfortunately from the rough it won't work. You need to hit a more lofted club like a SW or Lob Wedge from the thicker rough. To hit this shot successfully you need to make sure you accelerate through impact. The thicker rough combined with the more lofted club makes it very likely that you will leave the ball short. This will obviously take some practice but if you work at this shot it can save you a ton of shots.
John d asks at 10:25:
Brady, I'm told that, while I'm not quite 'casting', I'm not holding the angle between the shaft and my forearms long enough. I've tried to use various advise, such as practicing punch shots, but nothing seems to help much. Actually the thing that has helped the most this year is from the Jim Furyk article in the most recent Golf magazine wherein he recommends moving the ball forward in the stance. Any thoughts?
I have watched people try to "Hold" the angle for 30 years and it never works. The first problem is that to achieve any angle at all you must be relaxed. The very notion of "holding" kills any chance of creating the "whip" you are looking for. To be totally honest, creating a harsh angle between the arm and clubshaft may be as bad as casting for the average player so be careful what you wish for.
To give you more pace and remove some of your "casting" issue you need to work on your change of direction. While keeping your arms and hands relaxed, make sure your weight ALWAYS PRECEDES your club. Here's what I mean. Like every other athletic motion your golf swing should have a flow to it. As your golf swing nears the top, your weight and body should take off towards the target while your club is still going back. Think of a pitcher on the mound, a tennis player hitting a serve, or a hockey player taking a slapshot. Speed is produced when your arms are caught between your body going to the target and your club going back to the top.
Forget about holding and work on your sequence, it will pay off.
Christian asks at 10:15:
Brady,
I noticed in the attached videos that I am dropping my lead shoulder and moving my upper body towards the target at the beginning of the downswing. I have stuggled with an out to in swing path for a while and I think this is the cause. Do you have any suggestions for how I can work on this? Do you see anything else in my swing that I should be working on?
Face:
DTL:
Thanks,
Christian
Christian, thanks for sending your video. I looked at both angles and really didn't see a profound drop in your head or shoulder. The thing I would like to see you improve upon is your posture during the swing. If you look at your down the line angle you will see your tush comes in much closer to the ball at impact than it was in the address position. This will force you to lose your extension through impact, leading to poor contact, a decrease in distance and a finish that is restricted.
To improve upon this aspect of your swing you must begin at the address. The weight is clearly in your heels before you move the club away from the ball. Remember that in your swing if you start with your weight in your heels it will go towards your toes. This is your issue. To fix this make sure you feel your knees are bent over your toes so the weight feels like it is more in the balls of your feet. this will stand you more up in the address and allow your weight to move more into your right heel as you turn. As a result, you will get your hands and arms further back away from the ball at the top, making it easier to attack the ball on a more inside path.
This may seem like an insignificant issue but I promise you the address position will make or break you.
