Back in the day when I was giving a lot of lessons, I’d have student after student turn up asking me if they could all learn to do the same thing.
Something which is nye on impossible.
Something that even the greatest players in the world never even attempt to do.
Because they can’t.
Yet the mere mortal would turn up expecting me to turn water into wine, walk on water and feed five thousand people with a loaf of bread and five fishes.
In other words perform a golfing miracle.
So what did they all want to learn, what was the impossible.
To learn to hit the ball dead straight.
You see ,the straight shot is the hardest shot in all of golf to hit. In order for you to hit the ball ram rod, iron bar, washing line, frozen rope straight, so much has to go right.
You have to have the club on the right path at impact, the face has to be at the right angle, the club travelling fast enough and contact has to be from dead centre on the face.
Quite a tall order.
None other than Jack Nicklaus called the straightest shot the hardest shot in all of golf to hit, and he knew a thing or two when it came to hitting golf shots.
Fact is, it’s far easier to hit the ball on a shape, either left to right a fade shape, or right to left a draw shape.
By embracing your shape, you will be far more consistent as well. You will find it far easier to repeat the shape time and time again rather than trying to hit it deadpan straight.
Now of course, here’s a disclaimer.
You can obviously put too much shape on a ball and lose control of it. When you do that, the game’s up and in fairness this is what most people were coming to me for help with.
But you can’t get the dead straight shot down, it has to move in the air one way or the other. So don’t dedicate your time to trying to chase the impossible. It only leads to a lot of frustration.
Anyways sermon over for today.
One thing a lot of people need help with is learning to hit the ball a little further than they do now. I know for a fact that the average golfer is being robbed of around twenty yards off the tee, through no fault of their own.
You can get the full scoop here.
Bob James PGA