The post Dominate short par-4s with this simple 2-step strategy appeared first on Golf.

The post Dominate short par-4s with this simple 2-step strategy appeared first on Golf.

Short par-4s are some of the most exciting holes in golf. For high handicappers they can provide legitimate birdie looks — and, for more skilled players, eagle chances.

The opportunity for bogey (or worse) is always lurking, though. These short holes are often designed with dangerous spots. Bite off more than you can chew and making a big number is just as likely as walking away with birdie.

The key to taking advantage of short par-4s is going in with the right strategy. And in today’s edition of Play Smart, XXIO ambassador Nathalie Sheehan joins us on the 15th hole at Cabot Citrus Farms to explain how to best attack a risk-reward hole.

The 15th hole at Cabot Citrus Farms is a quintessential short par-4. From the middle tees, the hole stretches to just over 280 yards, and with the baked-out conditions, the hole plays even shorter. In other words, it’s got birdie opp written all over it.

But while the hole might play short, there’s no guarantee of making a low number. If you miss in the wrong spot, making bogey (or worse) is well within the realm of possibility. If you want to take advantage of the hole, you need to keep a couple things in mind.

1. Know your miss

Golf is often not a game of your best shots, but rather where you leave your worst ones. And when you’re attacking a short par-4, it’s imperative you keep that in mind.

When you stand on the tee box, the first thing you need to acknowledge is where your typical miss is. Once you know that, you can proceed to the next step.

2. Look for trouble

You never want to bring negative thoughts into your mind on the course, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the trouble all together. It’s important you know where the worst spots are on a hole and do your best to avoid them.

On risk-reward holes, the trouble is usually in the landing area for a driver. And when those penalty areas favor one side or the other, it’s important to take into account if they will come into play with your typical miss.

“Here we have quite a lot of bunkering happening,” Sheehan says. “So if you’re someone who is really uncomfortable being in a bunker, we’re probably just going to want to hit something down this left side [away from trouble].”

It’s as simple as that. If you can safely hit driver and have your miss still end up away from trouble, it’s a green light from the tee. But if your typical miss might put you in trouble, lay back and try to make birdie with a wedge in your hand.

If you can implement these steps into your process on short par-4s, you’ll start to make more birdies — and eliminate those back-breaking big numbers from the card.

The post Dominate short par-4s with this simple 2-step strategy appeared first on Golf.

The post Golf’s most accurate driver shares 3 keys for hitting more fairways appeared first on Golf.

The post Golf’s most accurate driver shares 3 keys for hitting more fairways appeared first on Golf.

NEWPORT, R.I. — Joe Durant is one of the straightest drivers pro golf has ever seen.

Most years on the PGA Tour, Durant’s driving accuracy was over 75 percent, with his high-water mark coming in a 2015 where he hit 82(!) percent of his fairways. Despite being one of the shorter hitters on Tour, Durant was inside the top 10 in SG: off-the-tee for five straight years (2004-08), and he kept himself inside the top 70 until he graduated to the Champions Tour in 2014

Ten years later, it seems not much has changed for the four-time Tour winner. As Durant prepares for the 44th U.S. Senior Open, he’s parked in the middle of the range at Newport Country Club. Two alignment sticks are on the ground in front of him as he sends ball after ball soaring into the distance.

Durant is a range picker’s dream. Right as the balls leave the face of his driver, there’s little doubt where they’re headed. Each ball lands within a 15-foot circle, or so it seems. It’s as if a machine is swinging the club for him. He could hit a fairway the width of a sidewalk.

After he finishes his practice, Durant insists he’s been struggling with his swing of late, although it’s tough to tell after the consistency he displayed. Nevertheless, the 60-year-old is happy to share his secrets for hitting fairways.

1. Check your lines

For Durant, solid ball striking starts before he ever takes the club back. That means nailing his setup.

“If you can make sure that you’re stacked, which means you don’t have crisscross lines, you can hit it solid,” Durant says. “When I struggle, like I’ve been struggling for the last month or so, my lines have been kind of crossed. My shoulders are going too far one way, my lower body is going too far the other way.”

Another way to visualize this is imagining you have alignment sticks pointing toward the target through your shoulders, hips and feet. In order to get yourself in position to hit a solid shot, you want all of these lines pointing in the same direction stacked on top of one another.

“You’re trying to get everything parallel,” Durant says.

2. Use alignment aids

As Durant hits shots on the range, he keeps two alignment sticks on the ground in front of him. One is inside his ball, while the other is parallel to it just outside the ball. Each serves a specific purpose.

“I’m trying to make sure that my footline is parallel to the inside pole,” Durant says. “And then the outer pole that I use is, it’s kind of like a guide for the club. If I can take the club along the same path on the takeaway, take it along the path, I’m in good shape.”

Durant says he has a tendency of sucking the clubhead inside on the takeaway, so the outside alignment stick gives him a visual to take the clubhead back along during the first part of his swing. If he can do that, he knows he’s taking the clubhead back on the correct path.

3. Tee it low

Generating as much distance as possible is a popular strategy among pros these days, and that usually involves teeing it high and swinging up on the ball. But when you want to promote accuracy, it’s in your best interest to tee it low.

“My launch is a little bit lower than average, but I try to take spin off of it in other ways so it chases out there,” Durant says. “Just try to squeeze it out there. When I’m under pressure I’m gonna tee it lower and try to squeeze it out there with a fade, and I tend to control it a little better, too. Everything for me is built around control, because I’m never going to overpower anything.”

Durant may not be the longest hitter, but he knows his strengths — and he does everything he can to maximize them to the best of his ability.

The post Golf’s most accurate driver shares 3 keys for hitting more fairways appeared first on Golf.

The post Why is shaft lean so important? This fascinating video shows us appeared first on Golf.

The post Why is shaft lean so important? This fascinating video shows us appeared first on Golf.

There’s no feeling quite like catching an iron just right. For the pros, that feeling is an expectation. For the average recreational player, it’s a hope.

There’s no reason these shots have to be so rare, though. All you’ve got to do is develop a little bit of consistency. And a great place to start in that endeavor is by understanding what a crisp iron shot looks like at impact.

If you watch a slo-mo video of a well-struck iron, one thing should stick out immediately: the shaft lean at impact. This forward lean with the shaft de-lofts the face at impact — producing much more power — and it presents the sweet spot of the clubface to the back of the ball.

You can see the phenomena in the video below from GOLF Top 100 Teacher Andrew Rice.

“As soon as we get some shaft lean, and we have the clubhead traveling down to a certain degree, that center of the face has much cleaner access coming into the back of the golf ball,” Rice says.

If you don’t maintain the proper lean — especially with higher lofted clubs — you’ll have a tendency to catch the bottom of the clubface. However, when you lean the shaft forward a bit, it allows you to make contact with the sweet spot much easier.

That forward lean also helps you compress the ball into the turf, producing spin (and height) on your shots. This will make it much easier to attack tucked pins and get the ball to stop quickly on the greens.

The post Why is shaft lean so important? This fascinating video shows us appeared first on Golf.

The post Save *several* strokes per round by doing this on approach shots appeared first on Golf.

The post Save *several* strokes per round by doing this on approach shots appeared first on Golf.

Every shot matters when you’re playing golf. A tap-in putt counts the same as a 300-yard drive — it’s the beautiful (and maddening) thing about this game. You’ve got to give every shot the same respect and focus.

At the end of each round, you can probably look at your scorecard and point to several instances where you threw away shots. In hindsight, it’s easy to see how you could’ve done things differently. The trick to becoming a great golfer is implementing those stroke-saving strategies before you actually hit the shot.

One of the easiest ways to save a few strokes per round is by adjusting your strategy on your approach shots. And in today’s edition of Play Smart, instructor Kelan McDonagh shows us how.

Play smarter approach shots

When most golfers hit the fairway and have a good look at the green, they have one thing on their mind: make birdie. And while it’s great to aim for making birdies, the most important thing to do is make sure you’re taking big numbers out of play.

One of the easiest ways to eliminate the big number is by knowing all the important numbers for your approach shots. This means not only knowing the number to the flag, but also knowing the carry number to get over trouble, and the number to the back of the green.

In the video above, I’ve got 150 yards to the flag — but there’s a bunker right in front of the green. So, after getting the number to the flag, it’s important to also get the carry number of the bunker. Then, when selecting a club, I’ll need to choose one that will always carry the sand — even in the event of a mishit.

“We know it’s 150 to the pin, 139 to carry the trap,” McDonagh says. “So we’re going to hit something that we know travels 145 or so.”

Hitting the club that takes the trouble out of play is just the first step, though. It’s also important to choose a target that eliminate trouble. That means not attacking flags that are tucked to one side of the green or the other. Instead, aim to the fattest part of the green to give yourself the best chance of having a putt after your approach shot.

“You hit it up there and give yourself a chance at a [birdie],” McDonagh says. “At worst it’s a two-putt and you’re off to the next hole.”

By making these smart calculations before your shots, you’ll eliminate big numbers and save yourself several shots per round. It’s as simple as that.

The post Save *several* strokes per round by doing this on approach shots appeared first on Golf.

The post Bryson DeChambeau says this is the ‘most important thing’ on bunker shots appeared first on Golf.

The post Bryson DeChambeau says this is the ‘most important thing’ on bunker shots appeared first on Golf.

When Bryson DeChambeau‘s ball scurried into the bunker guarding Pinehurst No. 2’s 18th green, it looked like the 124th U.S. Open would need a playoff to decide a champion.

The long bunker shot has long been deemed the most difficult shot in golf — and around Pinehurst No. 2, things get even trickier. Getting the ball to stop near the hole on the turtleback greens is tough from the fairway cut, let alone out of the sand. Add in the pressure of the 72nd hole of a U.S. Open and it looked all but certain DeChambeau would make bogey and force extra holes.

Then, his caddie, Greg Bodine, stepped in with some advice.

“[He told me], ‘You can do it,'” DeChambeau said. “‘You got this shot. I’ve seen way harder shots pulled off from you.'”

Bodine was right. Moments later, DeChambeau stepped up and hit what he called the “shot of his life.” The ball rolled up within five feet of the cup, and his second U.S. Open title was all but secured.

How was DeChambeau able to pull off such a difficult shot in such a big moment? Because he’d practiced shots like that hundreds of times before.

Control your distance from the sand

The hardest part of getting bunker shots close to the hole is controlling your distance. The margin for error in the sand is thin, and a fraction of an inch can be the difference between a makable putt and leaving it in the bunker. However, if you follow DeChambeau’s advice, you can make controlling your distance from the sand a little bit easier.

First and foremost, you’ve got to stay committed. That means making sure you swing hard at the ball to hit the proper shot. Next, you need to enter the sand behind the ball to blast it out and on to the green.

“Three or four inches behind the ball,” DeChambeau says. “I’m really going to try to enter that far behind with an open face.”

How far open should the face be? Well, it all depends on how far you want the ball to go. If you want the ball to go a little bit further, square up the face, and as you try to take off more and more distance, open the face more and more.

“Being aggressive with a semi-open face is the most important thing,” DeChambeau says.

Manipulating the loft of the club is the best way to control your distance on these tricky bunker shots. Opening the face will shoot the ball out higher and with less distance, while a more square face will give you a little more distance.

“You wanna make sure you’re hitting three inches behind the ball each time,” DeChambeau says. “But make the loft control distance and height.”

We can’t guarantee you’ll win a U.S. Open if you follow these tips, but it should make you a better bunker player in the meantime.

The post Bryson DeChambeau says this is the ‘most important thing’ on bunker shots appeared first on Golf.

The post Bryson DeChambeau fixed his swing with this state-of-the-art tech appeared first on Golf.

The post Bryson DeChambeau fixed his swing with this state-of-the-art tech appeared first on Golf.

After Bryson DeChambeau finished his third round at Pinehurst No. 2, he shook hands with his playing partners, signed his scorecard and headed straight to the range. Despite the fact that he’d posted a three-under 67 — the second-lowest round of the day — there was still plenty to work on in his swing.

DeChambeau has long been known as one of the biggest tinkerers in the game. No matter how well he’s hitting it, he always feels there’s room for improvement. The fact that he had built a three-stroke lead heading into the final round at the U.S. Open did little to change this philosophy.

“Pleased with how I struck it for the most part,” DeChambeau said. “Got to work on that just a little bit.”

Working on the swing “a bit” looks a little different for DeChambeau than it does for most pros. When the 2020 U.S. Open champ headed to the range for his post-round session, he had a full team around him. With a Foresight launch monitor on the ground across from him, DeChambeau hit balls until it was nearly dark. He also had a member of his team videoing every swing and logging the Foresight numbers in tandem.

For any other pro, behavior like this on the even of major Sunday would be a cause for concern. But that’s just Bryson being Bryson. Even with major championship No. 2 in his sights, his quest for improvement was still in full force.

DeChambeau isn’t just using feels to adjust his swing this week, though. He also relying heavily on the state-of-the-art app Sportsbox AI, which analyzes swing videos and spits out hundreds of datapoints about your body movements.

Instruction

DeChambeau and his coach, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Dana Dahlquist, have long used Sportsbox in their work together. But after a week of work U.S. Open prep in Texas last week leaning heavily data provided by the app, Team DeChambeau is all-in with Sportsbox at Pinehurst.

According to someone close to DeChambeau’s team, things really started to click during his Wednesday practice round at Pinehurst No. 2. As he made his final U.S. Open preparations, DeChambeau started hitting the ball “as well as he has since Greenbrier” [where he fired a 58 last fall].

GOLF.com’s source explained that DeChambeau has been trying to rid himself of a right miss. The issue, the source explained, was that on those shots that missed right his weight got to his lead side too quickly, moving his pelvis more toward the target. When this happened, DeChambeau had to use excess side bend to compensate, making it difficult to release the clubhead like he needs to.

After seeing the problem illustrated in Sportxbox, DeChambeau and his team quickly got to work correcting the issue. By Wednesday of this week, they’d fully solved the problem. And in every range session since, they’ve used those swings from Wednesday as a baseline, trying their best to get him back in the groove he felt in the lead up to the U.S. Open.

So far, the plan is working. Through three rounds, DeChambeau is the man to beat. And if he can keep swinging like he has so far, he’ll soon be hoisting his second U.S. Open trophy.

The post Bryson DeChambeau fixed his swing with this state-of-the-art tech appeared first on Golf.

The post The subtle power move Ludvig Aberg uses to generate insane speed appeared first on Golf.

The post The subtle power move Ludvig Aberg uses to generate insane speed appeared first on Golf.

Ludvig Aberg is one of the brightest young stars in golf. In just his first year as a professional, the Swede has won on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, played on a winning Ryder Cup team and finished runner-up at the Masters. If you’re looking for the next big thing in golf, it may well be Aberg.

The 24-year-old is dazzling once again this week. Through 36 holes of the U.S. Open, Aberg holds the solo lead at five under. He’s made just four bogeys over the first two rounds at Pinehurst No. 2, expertly dissecting Donald Ross’ diabolical design en route to the lead at the halfway point.

One remarkable thing about Aberg’s game is that he (seemingly) has no weaknesses. He ranks inside the top 10 in SG: Total and picks up strokes in every individual category. If you were going to create the prototypical superstar golfer, his attributes would be a great starting point.

Aberg’s greatest superpower as a golfer comes in the form of his driving. Not only is straight off the tee (hitting 68 percent of fairways), but he’s also long, averaging 307 yards per poke. That combination is lethal, and it has Aberg ranked third on Tour in Total Driving this season.

His driving prowess was a huge reason why he leads through 36 holes at Pinehurst. So far, the Swede has missed just two fairways for the week (tops in the field) and sits in the top 15 in driving distance.

While it’d be nice to have both accuracy and power, it’s best if we aim to master one ability at a time. And in today’s edition of Play Smart, we’ll take a look at the subtle move Aberg uses to generate his power.

How Ludvig Aberg generates power

If you watch Aberg hit driver, you’ll begin to notice something about the way his lead foot moves. During the downswing, it will move slightly back and away from the target.

Why does this happen?

It has to do with the way he uses the ground. As Aberg begins the downswing, he shifts his weight into the front foot and pushes into the ground (known as ground reaction forces). This push is met with resistance from the ground, which in turn pushes back.

When the ground pushes back, it causes Aberg’s lead foot to move in the opposite direction of that initial push. This is where the movement of his foot back and away from the target comes from.

Recreational players can learn a lot from this move. First, it illustrates why using the ground is so important. If Aberg did not use the ground the way he does, he wouldn’t generate nearly as much power. And second, it shows that a little bit of movement in your feet is not necessarily a bad thing during the swing.

This power move might be subtle, but it’s one that generates tons of power. And if you can incorporate it into your own swing, you’re sure to see your distance stats increase.

The post The subtle power move Ludvig Aberg uses to generate insane speed appeared first on Golf.

The post The keys for easily hitting a draw, according to Scottie Scheffler appeared first on Golf.

The post The keys for easily hitting a draw, according to Scottie Scheffler appeared first on Golf.

This week the best golfer’s in the world are headed to Pinehurst for the U.S. Open. Donald Ross’ No. 2 course will play host, and his diabolical crowned greens are sure to give players fits. To have success around there, you’ll need to be in total control of your golf ball.

In 2024, no golfer has been more in control of their ball than Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 already has five wins this season, including the Players and the Masters, and hasn’t finished outside the top 20 yet. If anyone is built to dominate around Pinehurst No. 2, it’s Scheffler.

One of the reasons Scheffler has been so successful this season is his ability to hit every shot a course asks of him. No matter if it’s a high ball or low one, a fade or a draw, the two-time major winner can shape the ball in all the right ways.

In today’s edition of Play Smart, we hear from the man himself on how he hits a draw, which you can watch in the video below.

How to hit a draw

A draw is one of the most sought-after shot shapes in all of golf. There’s just something aesthetically pleasing about watching a draw come off the clubface. Hitting a draw isn’t so easy, though. Because most recreational golfers struggle with coming over the top, hitting a draw is the exception rather than the rule.

However, if you want to hit a draw on command, all you need to do is make a couple of key adjustments. First, close your stance just a touch, and then move your ball position to the back of your stance.

“With the ball position here, the ball is going to start way out to the right,” Scheffler says. “And all I’m trying to do is get that ball to turn over as much as I can.”

With these set-up tweaks made, all you need to do to turn the ball over is focus on your trail forearm. As you swing to your follow through, focus on turning that trail forearm over to help the ball get that intended draw shape.

The post The keys for easily hitting a draw, according to Scottie Scheffler appeared first on Golf.

The post Can you hypnotize yourself into playing better golf? Expert explains appeared first on Golf.

The post Can you hypnotize yourself into playing better golf? Expert explains appeared first on Golf.

When you hear about hypnosis, you probably have some pre-conceived notions about what it entails. You’re likely imagining someone standing in front of you swinging a pocket watch inches from your eyes. The hypnotist is probably giving you some instructions as you drift into a trance. Then you’re under their full control.

This is the way I imagine it when the topic comes up, anyway. And I’d wager that I’m not alone. Anytime the subject comes up in popular culture, this is generally the way it is shown.

However, as I recently learned, hypnosis entails much more than putting someone in a trance to perform your bidding. In fact, the act of self-hypnosis can be used to help yourself perform at a high level athletically, too.

Last month, GOLF.com spoke with Dr. David Spiegel, a Stanford psychiatrist and one of the most published and respected experts in the field of hypnosis, and he gave us insight into how hypnosis can be used to play better golf.

How to use hypnosis for better golf

Playing solid golf at the highest level requires as much physical talent as it does mental. There are tons of golfers who have all the physical tools to be one of the best, but only a select few pair that with the proper mental acumen.

“For athletic performance, mental rehearsal is every bit as important as physical rehearsal,” Dr. Spiegel says. “I think we tend to underestimate the mental preparation for the game.”

This is one of the ways that Tiger Woods separated himself among his peers. Sure, he is one of the most physically gifted golfers of all time. But he paired that with an equally incredible mental game. One of the ways he achieved that high-level of mental performance was through self-hypnosis.

“Every shot Tiger takes, he does a mental rehearsal of the swing first,” Dr. Spiegel says. “Because the brain is the control system, and that’s how you make it all happen.”

Woods is able to avoid all distractions surrounding him in the heat of competition through this method. Before each shot, he enters a sort of trance that allows him to focus solely on the task at hand — hitting a solid golf shot. No, he’s not having someone dangle a pocket watch in front of him and give him instructions, but he is entering into a self-induced trance that helps elevate his performance.

“Self-hypnosis disconnects you from all those usual expectations and worries,” Dr. Spiegel says. “And it lets you focus on being present and performing as best as you can.”

This is something that all golfers can strive for in their own games. All it takes is the proper training to teach your mind how to enter this state of self-hypnosis.

Dr. Spiegel has even developed an app called Reveri to help in this endeavor. The app helps teach users how to learn to use self-hypnosis, and it’s even got a program specifically tailored for golfers.

“All hypnosis is self-hypnosis,” Dr. Spiegel says. “It’s not something that someone does to you. It’s something you help your brain do to yourself.”

If you can teach yourself the art of self-hypnosis, it’s a great method for mastering the mental game and shooting lower scores.

True Spec Fitting

With over 50,000 clubhead and shaft combinations, True Spec Golf will custom fit and hand build you the most well-constructed, precise set of golf clubs you’ve ever played.

Book Now

The post Can you hypnotize yourself into playing better golf? Expert explains appeared first on Golf.

The post Use a tennis racket to teach yourself optimal clubface control appeared first on Golf.

The post Use a tennis racket to teach yourself optimal clubface control appeared first on Golf.

Having a square clubface at impact is crucial if you want to hit the ball straight. If you’re a few degrees open or closed, the ball can miss your target by a wide margin.

But clubface awareness is not something most recreational golfers possess inherently. When they go through their swing, the clubface does all sorts of things, and it rarely results in a shot that’s hit on line.

Working on clubface awareness is quite easy if you have the right equipment. And in this edition of Play Smart, XXIO ambassador Nathalie Sheehan shows us how.

How to work on clubface awareness

A tennis racket might seem like an odd thing to bring to the golf course, but it can actually be a useful tool for working on clubface awareness.

The surface of a tennis racket is much larger than that of a golf club. And when you swing it around, you can easily see which direction the face is pointing when you hit the tennis ball. If you can attach the tennis racket to your golf club, you can then see how the same principle applies to your clubface.

“If we picture what we would want to do in tennis and return the racket back to square,” Sheehan says, “you can see the clubface is extending and see that the clubface is square.”

If you’re someone who struggles with a slice, you’ll see the face of the racket open and point toward the sky at impact, while the opposite is true for a hook.

“That’s a really great visual to fix some of the things that may be going on in your swing,” she says.

If you’re struggling with clubface control, grab a tennis racket and head to the range. If you can get the tennis racket square at impact and apply those same principles to the golf swing, you’ll be hitting it straight in no time.

The post Use a tennis racket to teach yourself optimal clubface control appeared first on Golf.