Club Up and Swing Easier for More Solid Shots

What a weekend at Augusta National Golf Club! Congratulations to Bubba Watson on a well-deserved second green jacket. Bubba played some really solid golf, and it seemed like it was his tournament to lose heading down the back nine on Sunday.

As spectators, we saw all kinds of amazing shots throughout the tournament's four days. One first time player, Patrick Reed, didn't make it to the weekend but I recently read some comments of his that I wanted to share with the Surge Nation.

Patrick was asked what he does whenever he's faced with a shot where he needs to hit it solid. This could be any time there is a forced carry or just a longer shot. Patrick said that he likes to club up and swing easier whenever he wants to be sure he hits his target.

I thought this was great advice because instead of taking less club and swinging out of control, it's smart to club up and swing easy. Now, I don't want you to misinterpret "swinging easy" as swinging lazy or slow. Patrick says when he clubs up, he'll only swing about 80%. He doesn't swing slow, he just swings at a constant 80%.

So the next time you're faced with a shot and you're in between clubs, club up and take something off of it. You'll most likely hit it much more solid and straight, which will give you more looks at birdies and pars.

Again, congratulations to Bubba Watson on his 2nd Masters title in 3 years. Fantastic playing!

Keep it vertical!

The Surge

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Comments

Club up......etc

Surge,
This was the best explanation I have heard since taking up golf in 1975 as to why we should do so! Many golf pros and publications say take one club extra, but I can't remember one who explained it so clearly and succinctly as Patrick Reed did. Thankyou to both you and Patrick Reed for this insight into an oft uttered phrase explained so even this thick headed golf hacker could grasp its importance.
Elementary my dear Watson! Didn't put a hex on him after all. Now that was a surprise hahaha! A well earned victory for the US. Aussies can't win them all ; - )
DH

Clubbing Up

This past winter I have spent a lot of time hitting easy shots on the center of the club and the results have been really encouraging. My dispersion pattern is much tighter and my average distance is up because of a greater percentage of good shots.

Center club contact

All during the the colder months I often will hit "more" club because the ball flies a bit shorter. These last couple of weeks I actually have been clubbing down or hitting with less club and more loft because the ball has been flying longer when I get solid center contact. Some times it seems the ball can fly forever in this warm, dry desert air. I know everyones different but I always seem to hit my best shots when I can use a club that always me to swing at near maximum effort. (whether that's 85-95% I couldn't say). It can be the kiss of death and almost a sure chunk or thinned ball if I say to myself or out loud, "All I need to do is hit this nice and easy" or "if I can just ......"
For some reason it makes me more tentative and a less than accelerating shot is coming with less than happy results. I need to do what's called - swing aggressively to a conservative target. The word target is more important than the word conservative there. Steve and I have talked about how are best shots are the ones that seem to be out of trouble over and around trees and not from the middle of the fairway.
While I do agree that swinging out of our shoes and trying to hit a certain club to hard is bad, swing 'easy' yields some ugly stuff for me some times.
Where I seem to relate is not so much about "clubbing down" but rather the need for smooth timing and tempo. Getting to fast in transition leads to bad stuff so a constant reminder to slow down works best.
Having said all that, it is amazing how many times I see fellow hackers take and iron on a long par 3 when they may reach the green on maybe 1 out of ten swings with most falling way short. That is one of those times I would much rather club up regardless of what the egos of my playing partners are doing.

solid and square

Surge- This isn't exactly on topic but an e-mail popped into my box from one of your competitors, Doug Tewell. Since he ascribes to the vertical swing and keeping the club head square at impact I thought I'd take a look. Not to knock Doug, he is obviously a great player and probably as good an instructor, but he never gave any true detail on how to accomplish the vertical swing and keep that club head where it belongs. I guess you're just supposed to do it. Well, for my money your precise instruction concerning the set up, weight distribuion, take away, downswing, impact, finish etc. is light years better. Again, not knocking the other guy but wanted you to know that in my opinion your instruction is spot on and much easier to follow, particularly when trying to make a swing change.