ALIGNMENT
Bruce says, “One of the
most common faults I see in playing with amateurs week in and week out is that they have a
tendency to aim right with their body. Correct alignment is brought about by imagining a
set of railroad tracks: the right hand side of the track is the ball and the target, and
the left hand side is the alignment between your shoulders, hips and feet, which must be
parallel to the railroad track connecting the mall and target to hit consistently good
golf shots.THE
CORRECT GRIP
Bruce says, “When
addressing the ball, if you use the overlapping grip and try to keep the back of your left
hand and the palm of your right hand facing the target – that’s as good a tip as
you can get on how to grip the golf club.”
HOW CLOSE SHOULD YOU BE
TO THE BALL?
Bruce says, “At address,
if you take your left hand off the club, you should be able to make a closed fist and put
it at the end of the golf club and touch the trouser leg. So you need to have the butt of
the golf club about 4 1/2 inches away from your leg.
This stays the same regardless of the club you use.”
FAIRWAY BUNKERS
Bruce says, “The fairway
bunker does cause a lot of problems for the average player. Take an extra club...the ball
position stays the same as with a regular shot...use less leg movement and swing mostly
with the upper body. By leaving the left knee a bit stiffer and not transferring the
weight as much you will pick the ball rather than hit it a little bit fat. The extra club
and the pick gives you the same result as the normal club off the fairway.”
HOW TO INCREASE DISTANCE
Bruce says, “Take the
club away slowly and make a larger shoulder turn – at least 90 degrees – this
gives you a little wider arc. That will increase the speed of the club, which obviously
leads to extra distance.”
CHIPPING
Bruce says, “The number
one important part of chipping is to get the ball on the putting surface as quickly as we
can. We’re trying to take the chipping clubs and turn them into putters, but we have
to carry the ball onto the green before the ball starts rolling like a putt. When you are
close to the green chip with a 5, 6 or 7 iron and as you get further and further away from
the edge, increase the loft of the club.”
CHIPPING TECHNIQUE
Bruce says, “Never let
the toe of the golf club pass the heel of the club. As you go through the hitting area,
try to keep the bottom of your left hand moving up and not let the top of the left hand go
over or close the golf club.”
HOW TO INCREASE DISTANCE
Bruce says,
“Today’s modern golf equipment has allowed us to shift the weight around in our
clubs. Going to a lighter weight steel or a graphite shaft allows us to decrease the
weight of the golf club yet increase the amount of weight at the end of the shaft, so that
obviously computes to extra speed which means extra distance.”
UPHILL LIES
Bruce says, “In dealing
with the uphill lie we must try to keep our shoulders and hips as close to the lie of the
land as we can. On the uphill lie the ball bill be a little bit further forward in your
stance, the right shoulder a little lower, and because we’ve increased the loft of
the club by lowering the shoulder, we need to take one more club. The idea is to swing the
golf club on the same plane as the turf that you’re playing off.”
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