Butch Harmon’s Playing Lessons, (05) Hole 5, Notes

Post date: Oct 13, 2017 4:02:05 PM

Butch Harmon’s Playing Lessons by Butch Harmon with John Andrisani

Chapter 5: Winged Foot Golf Club (East), Par 4: 368 yards

• 1. Drive: On a short dogleg right it is better to play a shot that gets us to where the fairway makes its turn from the tee.

     1. If playing a 3-wood, tee up the ball no more than a half inch and position it in the stance opposite the left heel, maybe an inch back from where we would play it with the driver. Keep the takeaway smooth and the head still. Concentrate on swinging around the spine on the backswing rather than lifting the club up. More important, maintain the flex in the knees.

        1. Drill for staying down: Practice hitting shots off downhill lies. Swinging down the slope encourages maintaining the knees flexed.

     2. If using driver remember that teeing the ball too low will promote a slice. The lower the ball is teed, the more upright the swing will be which promotes the clubface being open through impact. The higher we tee it up, the more it will promote a swing around the body and will help bring the clubhead into the ball from the inside to along the line, giving a straighter ball flight.

  2. Approach: On a pin placed in the front, the challenge becomes stopping the ball on the front half of the green.

• • 1. Having a soft fade in our arsenal becomes important. Fade spin gives it a soft dead landing. This shot is made or broken with the setup. The feet, knees, hips and shoulders must all be aligned left of the target by about 25 to 30 feet (140 yards out). Meanwhile align the lead edge of the club right at the hole. The key is to take the club back from the ball on a path that’s along the body line, which is a shade outside-in in relation to the target line. If the clubface returns square to the target line, a light cut-spin will be placed on the shot so the ball gets up quickly, drifts a shade right in flight, and lands softly. Make a slow, smooth controlled and deliberate swing in this situation.

    2. A simple cure to drawing too much is to stand about one inch closer to the ball at address. Doing this helps to push the club straight back from the ball, rather than pulling to the inside too quickly and returning it too much to the inside (the good player’s tendency.)

    3. Drill for making a straight back initial takeaway action. It’s critical that for the first few inches, the club move straight back along the target line. To groove a low one-piece takeaway action, place a tee in the ground about one foot behind the ball you will be addressing. Next, swing back trying to brush the tee away.

• 3. Greenside: Any shot that calls for the ultimate in touch should be putted instead of chipped.

  4. Putting: A fast putt is going to break much more than a slow putt rolling over the same type of contour since the fast putt must be hit more softly, and the force of gravity will affect a slow rolling ball much more than a fast-rolling one. Concentrate on keeping the left wrist ahead of the putter blade throughout the stroke. This will help keep the blade low and on the line and allow the ball to be struck firmly, straight into the cup.

• • 1. Drill for stopping the left hand from breaking down: Try the reverse overlapping grip.