Set Up For Success In The Sand
How to open the clubface and still hit it straight
Above, left: Aim the clubface right, and set your stance left. Right: Swing on your stance line.
Above, left: Aim the clubface right, and set your stance left. Right: Swing on your stance line.
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June 2013
The best way to hit a greenside bunker shot is to open your stance and swing along your toe line. Here's why: Sand wedges are designed with a bulge on the back side of the clubhead that allows them to enter the sand behind a ball and skim under it without digging too deep. To fully utilize that bulge--known as the bounce--you have to set the clubface so it's pointing right of your target. In the top photo here, the yellow arrow indicates the face position, and the orange arrow is my target line.
Once you open the face to expose the bounce, you have to make another adjustment to keep the shot from flying too far to the right. To get the ball to go where you want it to, adjust your stance (blue arrow) so it's pointing as far to the left of your target as the face is pointing to the right. Then swing the club along your toe line. That's how you cut across the ball and hit it straight.
June 2013
The best way to hit a greenside bunker shot is to open your stance and swing along your toe line. Here's why: Sand wedges are designed with a bulge on the back side of the clubhead that allows them to enter the sand behind a ball and skim under it without digging too deep. To fully utilize that bulge--known as the bounce--you have to set the clubface so it's pointing right of your target. In the top photo here, the yellow arrow indicates the face position, and the orange arrow is my target line.
Once you open the face to expose the bounce, you have to make another adjustment to keep the shot from flying too far to the right. To get the ball to go where you want it to, adjust your stance (blue arrow) so it's pointing as far to the left of your target as the face is pointing to the right. Then swing the club along your toe line. That's how you cut across the ball and hit it straight.
FOLEY FILES
Think Face First
A lot of amateurs grip the club and then make adjustments to the clubface before they swing. This is really going to hurt your accuracy. It should be the other way around--especially in the bunker. Once you get your stance in the sand, open the face and then take your normal grip
Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2013-06/sean-foley-greenside-bunker-shots#ixzz2WS3vbvnX
Think Face First
A lot of amateurs grip the club and then make adjustments to the clubface before they swing. This is really going to hurt your accuracy. It should be the other way around--especially in the bunker. Once you get your stance in the sand, open the face and then take your normal grip
A lot of amateurs grip the club and then make adjustments to the clubface before they swing. This is really going to hurt your accuracy. It should be the other way around--especially in the bunker. Once you get your stance in the sand, open the face and then take your normal grip
Simple Way To Hit A Soft Pitch
Adjust your setup, then make a normal swing
Don't Open The Face: Open your stance but not the clubface for better contact and plenty of loft.
March 2012
If you don't work a lot on your short game, you'll struggle with the old-school lob shot, where you open the clubface and swing out to in across the ball. With this method, you don't transfer a lot of the club's energy to the ball, so it's tough to figure out how hard to hit it. Plus, the open face can make the ball fly to the right.
Here's a better technique:
1. Play the ball just ahead of center in your stance, and set the clubface square to the target. If you want to add loft, lower your hands so the shaft isn't as upright. (Lowering your hands points the face left, so adjust.)
2. Keeping your shoulders and hips square, drop your left foot back so your stance line points left of the target (above).
3. Make your normal backswing, then swing the club down along your stance line. You'll make better contact than with the old method, and that means more consistency.
THE FOLEY FILES
One of my favorite songs is "Priority" by rapper Mos Def. The first verse says it all: "Peace before everything/God before anything/Love before anything/Real before everything." What's this have to do with golf? Well, as Mos would say: everything. Golf is a passion, but in the grand scheme of your life, does that triple bogey you just made really matter? Fear and anger are the two hardest emotions to control in golf. When you start feeling either of them, try to step out of the moment and remember it's just a game.
One of my favorite songs is "Priority" by rapper Mos Def. The first verse says it all: "Peace before everything/God before anything/Love before anything/Real before everything." What's this have to do with golf? Well, as Mos would say: everything. Golf is a passion, but in the grand scheme of your life, does that triple bogey you just made really matter? Fear and anger are the two hardest emotions to control in golf. When you start feeling either of them, try to step out of the moment and remember it's just a game.
Don't let yourself forget what matters most--family, friends, whatever you hold sacred. If you do this, you have a good chance of disarming the situation quickly. Your goal is to turn an emotionally charged event back into what it is: just another golf shot.
Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2012-03/sean-foley-simple-soft-pitch#ixzz2Q0GQH9lwChipping Made Easy
Don't change your stroke, just adjust your setup
January 2013
If
you want to get really good at controlling your chipping distance, you
could move to a warm-weather climate and spend two hours every day
practicing. Or, assuming you have a fairly consistent chipping stroke, you can simply alter your setup depending on shot length.
Is Option B more practical? OK, here's how to do it: For a long chip, I address the ball with a slightly open stance and most of my weight on my left side (above, left).
Even though the ball is in line with my back foot and the shaft is
leaning toward the target, my head is behind the ball. This is crucial
to hitting it crisp. From here, I swing the club back and through, and
the ball comes off low and rolls a good distance.
When
I need to hit a medium-length chip, I play the ball a little farther
forward in my stance and lean the shaft a little less toward the target (above, middle).
I'm still favoring my front foot, but my stance isn't as open because I
don't need as much lower-body rotation to hit it the correct distance.
It's also important to note that my head position hasn't changed.
For
short chips, my weight distribution is 50-50, the shaft is
perpendicular to the ground, and my hips are fairly square to the ball,
which I'm playing off the heel of my front foot (above, right).
This allows the natural loft of the club to pop the ball up, so it
doesn't roll very far when it lands. Note: My head position is still the
same.
FOLEY FILES
HOW TO FOCUS ON A GOAL
The
key to executing any shot is commitment. By that, I mean your attention
must match your intention. When hitting a putt, your intention is to
get it in the hole or at least close enough for an easy two-putt. So
your attention should be devoted to the line and speed, not putting
mechanics. If your intention were to improve your stroke, that's a case
when your attention should be on mechanics. Remember, always match your
attention to your intention.
Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2013-01/sean-foley-control-chipping-distance#ixzz2Q0H7oAsIUse Your Right Side
It will help you hit better chip shots.
Right-Arm Drill: Hold the angle you set in your right wrist well past impact.
June 2012
For
years it has been taught that when you're chipping, the left arm
governs the motion and controls the clubface. Although that might be
true, most of the right-handed golfers I've worked with have superior
fine-motor skills in their dominant hand, and they would be better off
using the right arm to control the chipping motion.
Get
your right side more involved with this drill: Try hitting chips with
your right hand only. At address, lean the shaft a little toward the
target so your right wrist is in a cupped position, and maintain that as
you take the club back. When you swing down, let your body pivot toward
the target. If you keep the body pivot and arm swing moving together,
your right wrist should stay cupped through impact (see video below).
The
cupped-wrist position will help you hit down on the ball, a key to
solid contact. And the right-arm-only swing will improve your feel for
trajectory and distance control. When it's time to put two hands on the
club, you'll have more command of this shot.
FOLEY FILES
The
key to putting well in the U.S. Open is to hit your approach shot to a
spot where you'll have a straight--and preferably uphill--putt,
like Bubba Watson faces here. It's good advice for any course with slick
greens, but at Olympic there are five-footers that can break almost
five feet, so aiming at the flag isn't always the best strategy.
My
friend Jason Goldsmith, an owner of the golf-club-alignment company
True Aim, explained to me that the key to putting well is to have the
straightest putt possible. With a straight putt, you need to focus only
on speed instead of focusing on speed and gravity (break). When
you think of the most common pin positions at your home course, note the
spots on the greens that will give you the straightest putts to that
hole location. You'll not only improve your chances of one-putting,
you'll also become more specific with your targets, which will lead to
better accuracy on approach shots.
Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2012-06/sean-foley-use-your-right-side#ixzz2Q0J4gV1U
Right-Arm Drill: Hold the angle you set in your right wrist well past impact.
June 2012
For
years it has been taught that when you're chipping, the left arm
governs the motion and controls the clubface. Although that might be
true, most of the right-handed golfers I've worked with have superior
fine-motor skills in their dominant hand, and they would be better off
using the right arm to control the chipping motion.
Get
your right side more involved with this drill: Try hitting chips with
your right hand only. At address, lean the shaft a little toward the
target so your right wrist is in a cupped position, and maintain that as
you take the club back. When you swing down, let your body pivot toward
the target. If you keep the body pivot and arm swing moving together,
your right wrist should stay cupped through impact (see video below).
The
cupped-wrist position will help you hit down on the ball, a key to
solid contact. And the right-arm-only swing will improve your feel for
trajectory and distance control. When it's time to put two hands on the
club, you'll have more command of this shot.
FOLEY FILES
The
key to putting well in the U.S. Open is to hit your approach shot to a
spot where you'll have a straight--and preferably uphill--putt,
like Bubba Watson faces here. It's good advice for any course with slick
greens, but at Olympic there are five-footers that can break almost
five feet, so aiming at the flag isn't always the best strategy.
My
friend Jason Goldsmith, an owner of the golf-club-alignment company
True Aim, explained to me that the key to putting well is to have the
straightest putt possible. With a straight putt, you need to focus only
on speed instead of focusing on speed and gravity (break). When
you think of the most common pin positions at your home course, note the
spots on the greens that will give you the straightest putts to that
hole location. You'll not only improve your chances of one-putting,
you'll also become more specific with your targets, which will lead to
better accuracy on approach shots.
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