Tiger Woods Putt

— Joe Debock: Head Golf Pro, Torrey Pines

Welcome to another episode of Great Shots. A program we will take a look at the best shots in championship golf history and show you how to play them.

Hi I’m Joe Debock, head golf professional here at Torrey Pines golf course in La Joya, California. We’re going to take a look at a long putt by Tiger Woods in the 2008 US Open.

Tiger began the 3rd round 1 shot behind leader Stuart Appleby but by the end of the day Tiger Woods had a 1 shot lead and played one of the greatest back nines in US Open history.

Torrey Pines south course stretching over 7600 yards was the longest golf course in US Open history. It was amazing Tiger Woods even showed up at all. He had knee surgery and he had two stress fractures in his lower left leg.

Now the 13th hole is a par 5 with a fairway running away from the ocean. Now 540 yards from this tee, Tiger Woods just made a bogey on hole no. 12 and as he came over to the 13th tee he hit his drive into the right rough over the bunkers but landed in an area where it was flattened out by the and had a pretty good shot.

He hit a long 2nd shot to the green. The pin was upfront and the ball rolled all the way to the back of the green for a 60 foot putt.

Right here on the back of the green, he has a 60 foot putt downhill, confidently he makes a great stroke and it’s very quiet you can hear the crowd starting to rise to their feet as the ball is working its way to the hole and then all of a sudden it goes in and the crowd goes nuts! Tiger Woods gives his famous signature fist ___ and he then high fives his caddy Steve Williams.

So what’s the secret?

I’ll show you the secret to this downhill 60 ft putt. It takes soft hands and a little creativity. First of all let’s take some practice strokes. Nice, soft hands. Get a feel of how long that putt is going to be. Then imagine how much break you have to play. Always try to read more into the break. So set up for the ball, use your creativity and then hit a nice, soft, relaxed stroke. And let the putt work out to the hole and hopefully you will get a 2 putt out of it that goes in for eagle. All of that in.

Following that eagle there would be more dramatics from Tiger. He chipped in for a birdie at 17, he eagled the 18th. And that was all on the 3rd round. Woods ultimately went on to win the 19th hole play up with Rocco Mediate for his 3rd US Open title and his 14th major championship. But it all started with one long putt.

Approach G6

Right now I want to show how to start a round of golf in a Garmin Approach S3 Golf watch GPS.

So first is you have to wake up the GPS. Slide across the screen and there’s my first menu option Start Round. Click it. GPS is going to get satellite signal and find out where I’m at and then list the local golf courses nearest my location.

The unit is pre-loaded with over 27,000 different golf courses so it’s bound to find yours. But if not Garmin is constantly updating their website with new golf courses they can go down there and download golf courses for free on your GPS.

So it’s taken a little bit longer than normal to find satellite because I’m sitting in an office rather than outside in the lovely, sunny day about to hit a golf ball. So here we go. Here’s my list of nearby golf courses. I can scroll through those, find the one I’m at.

Here we go. I’m just going to select the first one. Loads the course data into the watch and here we go!

So hole no. 1, par 4, distance to the back of the green, distance to the front of the green, and distance to the middle of the green. By default that’s where it puts the pin and I can change that by going to this 3 line menu bar and go to green view and I can just click and drag that flag around to wherever I want to put it. And I’ve change where the hole is. I can go back and you can now see my numbers have changed relative to that pin changing.

I can also go to this menu and change a few other things. I can see end my round which will save all the data and will save my score which I have been using here by hitting the score button. But I’ll show you more of that in minute.

As I show you the Green View, the Odometer that automatically starts when you start a round of golf. So you can see there the numbers are counting. And I haven’t walked any distance. From this menu, from here I can turn it off, I can reset it, or I can lock the screen.

So when the Odometer is running your screen doesn’t lock so I can turn that function back on from in here.

Go back. I will still be having the menu bar. I can save the location so when I’m on the course, I can’t do it now because I’m not on the course, but when on the course if I hit that Save Location it will note my position. And it will allow me to put a little note about what the position, well I’ve noted the position and I can save that 5 par hole.

So that’s another save location. Again I can turn the lock screen function on or off. So we are back. Now we have my hole information. I can go up and down through the holes and see the data. But what I can also do is go back and see my watch and you can see here the Odometer is running because the 5 dots are showing. And then I can stroll through the screen I can go back to where I was. And one more it will take me to my layup page which show me a 100 layup, 150 layup, and 200 yard layup and here is the distance to get there.

This is also what will show me in the dogleg zone any courses will. So get back and that is how you start a round on the Garmin Approach S3 golf watch GPS.

Garmin Video

Before we get started let’s go over about what you need to do to fire up the Approach.

The Approach operates on two AA batteries. To install the batteries lift the latch and remove the battery cover. Load in your batteries then replace the battery cover and push the latch down.

Now turn the Approach on by pressing the power key on the side of the unit. And that’s all there is to it. No subscriptions, no downloads, you’re ready to roll. And make sure you go outside to acquire GPS signals and be patient. The first time you acquire signals it might take a few minutes.

If you put the Approach in your golf bag or pocket you can lock the screen by pushing the power button. The screen lock page will appear allowing you lock and unlock the screen and you’ll see the date, time, and battery power level.

The homepage offers three choices: Play, Preview, and the little wrench in the lower right hand corner that takes you to the Settings page.

The Settings page allows you to set your preference for hole transitioning. It is manual or automatic. You can choose either metric or yards for measuring distance. And you can designate your battery type. We recommend using Alkaline, Lithium, or Nickel metal hydride often written as NiMH.

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Bunker Golf Tips by Team Titleist

My name is Anders Mankert from Colsby golf club. Today we’re going to talk about the bunker shots.

First thing we have to establish with the bunker shot is having the right equipment. The bounce of the club is the most important aspect when it comes to choosing a wedge. The bounce of the club is the amount of angle the sole has which forces the club into the sand along the sand then back out again. If you have too little bounce it will dig. If you have too much bounce it will hit the sand and bounce straight back out with a thin result.

If you’re not sure what type of bounce you should have, you should visit your local vokey fitting centre and they would be delighted to advice you on what type of bounce you should have. The correct bounce is your friend and makes these shots very, very simple because it becomes more forgiving.

People who tend to dig a lot on their shots are very steep and take a lot of divots should generally have a higher degree of bounce. And people who are pickers of the ball take it very cleanly can have a lower degree of bounce. But speak to somebody at a local vokey centre and they will tell you which is best for you.

When it comes to playing the bunker shots there are a couple of principles that always apply. Number one we open the club face of the sand wedge. What this does it creates more loft but it also create more bounce which in turn means forgiveness. So when we open that club face it effectively aims the club over to the right. If I play my shot from that my ball will go to the right every time. So to counter that, I position my feet, hips, and shoulders to the same amount to the left of the target. So my feet, hips, and shoulders are aiming left while my club face aims to the right.

When the bounce of the club is utilized properly it makes a popping noise when I hit the sand and it slides through the sand. A great way to get the feel of this is to hold the club with one hand only, the right hand or left hand if you’re a left hander open the face and take a couple of one handed swings. What you’ll find is that when it’s done properly it feels very, very light through the sand. If I haven’t opened the face enough or I’m not using my wrist well enough it will hit the sand and then it tends to dig. This is detrimental to your bunker play. So lest you open that club face first, position your feet, hips and shoulders left of the target and weight forward, the swing is a full, long swing with lots of wrist break and a full follow through.

Alignment Tips

I’m Anders Mankert from Colsby golf club. And one of the things I’ve noticed about the amateur golfer that differentiates from the professional golfer is how little care they often take with their alignment.

The alignment is absolutely critical in a golf game because the problems that happen in the alignment are then manifested in the golf swing. If you have a problem with the alignment there has to be a problem with the golf swing to compensate. So if we can sort that out in an early stage we’ll be on our way to better golf.

Now a good exercise I found to get the alignment absolutely perfect is to pick an intermediate target between yourself and target itself. Pick something in between. On this occasion I’ll put a tee peg here. But off the teeing area you could always pick a tee peg or a divot that is in your line to line your ball up with. For instance we could tee our ball up here to aim across this to get to our target.

The first thing we do once we’ve picked our intermediate target is that we set our club face up square to that similar to lining up a putt really. So once the club face is aligned to these two tee pegs I’ve got here then I set my feet square to the club face. Now I know I’m already pretty much on line but the last thing and the most important thing that I see amateurs doing wrong is that they tend to look up like this to find the target. A top player never do that. A top player would always turn their head like this. The right eye is going down as the left eye is going up.

Club golfers tend to be too absorbed with the target and they can end up way off line without realizing it. A top player would always turn their head like this to see where they’re aiming.

Remember a top player is looking up to see where he’s pointing. A club golfer generally look up to see where the target is. It’s a big difference. If you can turn your head like this you’ll be on your way to better golf.

Takeaway Tips

My name is Anders Mankert from Colsby golf club. Today we’re going to talk about the importance of the takeaway in a golf swing. Most faults in a golf swing occur very early in the takeaway particularly. Then another fault creeps into trying to correct for it.

I’m going to show today how we do a proper and perfect takeaway to stop those corrections from creeping in.There are two aspects of the takeaway we’re going to discuss.

Number one is the line of it. Now this yellow shaft on the ground illustrates the target line to my potential target. As I take the club away using my hands, arms, and shoulders the sweet spot of my golf club follows this yellow line. Back, back, back to here. And at this stage my club shaft is directly over the shaft that is on the line of my toes. The reason it is so important is because it makes life easier to get the club back to where it came from which is square and hitting down the line.

If we have a club that was vertical the obvious path or plane would be straight back and straight through because it is the easiest way to deliver it back. The same applies here. So if we can take the club back pointing on that yellow shaft all the way back here, at this stage my shaft is over the shaft on the ground, which makes it easier to bring it back to square.

The second aspect but equally as important is the club face. If we take the club face back in the right way, at this point, the toe of the club is pointing straight up in the air. The way that we will check and make sure that it is correct is to hold it there, turn towards it and put it back down. As you can see I’m back down exactly as I started. If I have a problem here and I’ve taken the club back like this, as you can see if I held it turn towards it and put it back down, my club face is now very open and it’s easy to identify.

The important thing is that the wrist are cocking and not rolling. If they roll the club goes inside and very open. It nearly always leads to this down in the downswing which is a slice.

So to recap the sweet spot follows the yellow shaft back and at this point the toe of the club is straight up in the air and from there you have a great opportunity to swing straight down the line and play some good golf.

At the moment I’m thinking about getting out of the ball in an athletic position. You know I feel like my hips are very still over the ball. Feel strong over the ball. And then you know just get the back swing nicely.

If you look here, if you address it here you almost form a little triangle here. I want to move the triangle back. When you start cocking your wrist. You start seeing a little box effect. You got a little box there. I want to finish at the top of the swing, keep the box, and then when I make the transition I want to keep that same angle. I don’t want it to straighten or get too close to me. I get to the box at the top and then keep that angle into the shot. That keeps me connected with my upper. And just give it a left.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzIRQXMMIG4&feature=autoplay&list=UUDifOmdDEDNZkV0eZl2soQg&playnext=1

So I get over the ball nice and comfortable in neutral position. Easy back keep the box and off you go. When we keep that angle, when we always top of it keeping this fine angle, it’s when we keep this angle you stay in the shot longer. Coz when you straighten this that’s when you get out of the shot. Got to keep that angle and that keeps you in the shot.
All the great players like Hogan, Niicklaus, Tiger, they’re all in the shot. And I think with the angle it helps you

One of my favourite putting drills to do is basically to work on getting the arms, the hands, and body all working together using your bigger muscles to get the putter in alignment loft on it.

What I like to do get my normal posture, grip the club, and then take the right hand off and I’m gonna hover the hand about 2 inches behind the shaft and I’m gonna try to keep that same distance throughout the stroke. This will show difference in the consistency between the body and arms.

If you can practice this and get to the stage where they’re both working together and then keeping the distance all the way through to the end of the stroke. You’ll end the game really good putter

A couple of inches back. The key is to finish with both exactly the same distance between the shaft and the hand right here. That means you get through where the putter is overtaking the hand.

That’s my putting tip for today.

Putting Drill

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