For all of you who are knowledgeable in PPGS terms and initials you know that my acronym, NOB, stands for 'Nose On the Ball' and that NBB stands for 'Nose Behind the Ball.' Both are terms relating to the address position of where a player's nose is pointing relative to the golf ball. I feel strongly that one of the big problems many golfers face regarding solid contact stems from not looking directly at the ball as NOB defines. Many golfers are taught or have read or heard that to make a bigger turn and get more behind the ball in the backswing the thing to do is to look behind the ball so their nose is pointing somewhere behind the ball.
Many times when a student is complaining of hitting iron shots heavy or chunky and hitting woods heavy, or sometimes the club head bounces off the ground behind the ball (called drop kicking it), the culprit is that their nose is pointing behind the ball.Thus their focus is on the spot where the nose points and not the ball. Hitting a ball is no different than throwing a baseball or darts. You look exactly at where you want to throw the ball or dart. In most cases, when the student is NBB, their ground contact is often exactly where their nose is pointing. So to hit the ball, I get them to turn his head until his nose is pointing directly at the ball, and slam bam they wham the ball. So, just like walking and driving, you look where you want to go. To hit a golf ball you need to be looking at it.
In the last few months, when writing articles about NOB and explaining it, I have been bothered by comments and questions coming into the blogs concerning NOB in relation to seeing 1 word 'OVER.' I have seen statements like 'when my nose is over the ball,' or 'I am over the ball.' I have been confused and bewildered with why so many have this misunderstanding about the O in NOB being OVER rather than ON. Like most things about the swing and golf that have me wondering and thinking, I let it bounce around in my head. Eventually a bounce hits the light switch and I get my answer.
Today I was giving a lesson to one of my long time junior golfers, KH, who has been taking lessons from me for at least 6 years, which is a pretty good part of his 13 year old life. His main problem today was chunky or blocked irons and drop kicking his woods, hitting the ground at least 6 inches behind the ball. All it took was seeing a few iron shots and then one swing with his driver, which bounced off the ground around 6 inches behind the ball, and I knew the problem. Where do you think his nose was pointing? Was it on the ball or on the spot where his driver bottomed out 6 inches behind the ball?
When I pointed this out to KH and his dad, VH, I said that KH hit the ground exactly where his nose was pointing at. And as soon as 'AT' came out of my mouth. the light went on and the sirens blew and I had my answer as to why so many PPGS readers were pointing their nose at the ball and getting OVER it. NOB 'Nose On BALL' was OK but not clear and precise enough. NAB, 'Nose At Ball,' is much more clear and precise and I think less open to misinterpretation.
Webster's definition of 'AS' is: 1. In contact with, supported by, or covering.' I have been associating ON to be the first definition of 'in contact with' or looking at. Many of you have defined 'on' to be 'covering' which also can easily be seen as OVER or ON TOP of, looking down.
Nose 'ON' the ball was misleading and open to mis-interpretation leading to many using the OVER and ON TOP definition. Webster's defines at in the 2nd definition to be 'TO or TOWARD' / look AT her. So, in the split second of saying KH's nose was pointing “AT,” I had my OVER dilemma answered and the cure was simple. Change NOB to NAB'¦Nose At the Ball. So, from this day forward, October 7th , 2009, we now will have our noses looking AT the ball'¦not ON the ball. And in my lessons, my diagnosis form will, from now on, define head and nose position as NAB, nose looking AT the ball.
I'm sure this will help clear up any confusion about where the nose should be pointing at address and thus what we all should be looking AT is the BALL.
The Surge!