As you could probably decipher from the title above, today's topic has to do with club fitting. So, I made sure to correspond with Doc Griffin in the hopes we could all be on the same page when it comes to offset clubs and face alignment.
The questions sent in by David Wulff were based on his clubs (he says they're offset), but they also cover overall alignment when using the Peak Performance Golf Swing. While I conferred with Doc on the club fitting aspects, I also tried to provide a succinct tutorial on alignment with regards to the PPGS setup.
I have been using your swing for a couple years now and lowered my handicap from 18 to almost single digits. Thanks for the tips and videos.
Regarding setup, I know you stress proper square alignment to the target with the feet and club, however how does that work with offset clubs?
My 5 wood and my hybrids are slightly offset. Do I align the club and my feet with the aiming line (target) which would have the clubface aiming left of the target line? Or, do I align the clubface with the target, which would then have my feet aiming right of the target? I find that when I align my club with the target, then the ball wants to go left.
David Wulff
Lakeland, FL
Two of the main ways in which you can become a better golfer lie within alignment and custom club fitting. You simply cannot play your best golf with bad alignment. Align yourself correctly, visit a master fitter, and master your game now!
Get those clubs checked and keep it vertical!
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The Surge
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Comments
Offset clubs
Surge;
Your explanation covered the theory for the need for offset (more time to close the clubhead) but did not address the question.
Offset clubs cannot be aligned on the target line with the clubhead closely behind the ball and still have the hands aligned at the middle of the sternum. Either the clubhead must be placed a small amount behind the ball (about the amount of the offset ... approx. 1/4 - 1/2 inch) or the hands have to be aligned slightly ahead of the sternum. Either would allow the clubhead to be aligned on the target line.
BUT either may not be the best approach
It seems to me that the best approach is to move the ball position slightly further back (by the amount of the offset ... e.g. 1/4 - 1/2 inch) than what would be used for a similar non-offset club.
Dean
Ball position
No way to prove it but I would bet the ranch that there isn't a golfer in the world that places his ball within 1/4 inch consistently from shot to shot.
I worked with hundreds of people that had to lay a bridging clip directly above a mark on the table 16" below the clip (Easy right?).
About 10% could get the clip within a half inch all of the time. About 80% could get it within an inch most of the time. The rest were never in the ball park and would even want to argue with a plumb bob when I showed them how far off they were.
Assuming we were that good:
The farther back we move the ball the less time we have to square the club face.
Since the person playing with offset is likely already having that problem they would be better off to keep the club head that extra 1/4 inch behind the ball and leave the ball where it was.
Off Set
Most clubs are built with some degree of off set. As Surge said, many are designed with gradual off set with gradually more as we go from the pw to lower lofted/longer irons. When the off set is more extreme it is indeed visually difficult to get the hang of how and where to set up the leading edge for many golfers. I got my wife the Mashies from Clevland a year ago and she always had a hard time getting use to the off set look so we got her ones with much less off set and now she is having better success.
One of the things that has helped her set up square is taking a permanent black magic marker and drawing two lines on the top of her hybrid and driver. One line along the leading edge and another at exactly 90 degrees to the first and parallel to her intended aiming line. Kinda like this o+ OR like this I-
This also help me to aid her alignment from behind looking down the line. That line on top that aims at the target line -- really helps. The one that is square, this one.... I helps a lot too as she looks down and sets up behind the ball. As Surge says it is often better (or he prefers) to look at the lower leading edge, particularly the scoring lines to see what is square or perpendicular as we set up. Some irons have the scoring line(s) in black or white. If not we can use a permanent marker to highlight the scoring lines.
There is actually a web site that sells alignmnet aid decals too.
http://www.mytrueaim.com/?utm_source=If+you+plan+to+get+better+at+golf+this+summer%2C+now+would+be+a+good+time+to+start&...
For those who slice or push the ball, off set can be a God send. As Surge said, the trick is not changing your set up because of how they look at address. It is easy to get your hands too far forward or change the ball position too much. If we compensate by changing our grip,shaft lean and ball position too much it brings in too many variables and can really screw you up. The trick is to set up square and allow that extra split second to benefit the release and squaring up. As Doc and Tom Wishon say, "A bad swing can over come any technologically engineered club improvement." Off set can help but getting some lessons along with clubs that fit would help even more in the long run.
First golf of season
On May 11, 12, and 14-16, I played my first 5 rounds of the year on my golf trip with my brothers to the Crossville, TN, area. We played Dorchester Golf Club, Druid Hills Golf Course, and Heatherhurst Brae Course, which are all part of the Fairfield Glade Community Club. We also played the Lake Tansi Village Golf Course and the Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain Course, a Jack Nicklaus design. It was quite a variety of courses, four of which had two characteristics that made my play difficult: 3-inch thick Bermuda rough and forced carries off the tee on most holes. It took me 5 rounds to break 100; I shot 93 on Heatherhurst Brae.
My difficulties included (1) hitting my driver way too high and losing distance; (2) lack of height on my hybrids (loss of distance); (3) lack of distance out of the thick rough, especially when my drives came up short of the fairway; and (4) speed control on the greens. All the greens on the Fairfield Glade courses were playing at Tour speeds. On several, I tapped the ball equivalent to a 3-foot putt and it rolled over 30 feet, ending up off the green.
One of my biggest difficulties, however, did not relate to the golf courses: I could not convince my brothers to get to the course early enough to warm up and practice. On every round we arrived at the course within 10 minutes of our tee-time and, in 4 of 5 instances, the starter sent us off immediately.
In spite of the difficulties, I thoroughly enjoyed golfing with my brothers, and would like to go back to all those courses again - AFTER I get properly fitted for my clubs.
Golf season
Kevin,
Sounds like you played some tough courses that gave you all you could handle.
I'm sure you'll improve as the season progresses. For many it was a long cold icy winter so give yourself a little bit of a break.
Yes getting fit can only help. Keep us posted on your games ahead.
Nice start for DJ
Opening round of 67 for Deej. Good to see and will hope for 3 more days of the same or better.
http://www.pga.com/news/golf-leaderboard/pga-tour-leaderboard
DJ's Round
Nice opening round for sure, Robert. I didn't even realize he was in the field.
Just went thru his round on shot tracker and he made some nice putts. I'll cross my fingers and eyes for a good second round and a better finish.