River Ridge Golf Club - West Houston, Katy Texas

Tips From Our PGA Pro, Trey Birchum:

It’s got to get there…

I have no doubt at least once gone over this with a couple of you in the pro shop. And I may have even stuck it in a column once or twice. But I’m going to say this again, because I’m mad at myself and need a little tough love. GET IT TO THE HOLE!!! What a simple, concise, all encompassing phrase that says so little, yet so much. Are you leaving putts dead in the jaws? Can you not get one past the cup to save your life?

Then you, ladies and gentleman, can join us, the millions, the Over-Readers. We look at putts from every angle, we kneel, we crawl, we do that stupid Camilo thing that makes Texans rip out the back of their shorts. We know exactly what angle it’s going to go into the hole from, exactly where to hit it. We just can’t figure out how hard. (Note: A minority of you suffer from the converse of the Over-Reader syndrome; the Grenades. You can’t stop a putt short. Of the fairway. We will take you to task in later editions.) I remind myself and others of this very simple truth- the ball MUST have enough speed to finish either in the back half or 6 inches past the hole to have any opportunity to go in. I know there are times you are downhill on 12.5 greens and can’t stop it short of the hole- it either goes in or it’s gone. Your putt still has to maintain a certain speed on a specific line to go into the cup, even down the side of a mountain. If you decelerate your clubhead, even on a downhill putt, your putt is virtually guaranteed to veer (or begin) off-line. Concentrate on accelerating the putter head through the ball toward your target line on every stroke, no matter the distance or speed of the greens. A putter head that is slowing down is losing energy; how can it transfer any amount of energy to the ball? Practice getting all your putts just past the hole...remember, dead in the jaws just short still counts as two strokes, not one.

It’s a goofy game

It’s a goofy game...I know, I know… How many times have you heard about golf being a game of opposites? You want your divot to go to the right so the ball goes to the left, you hit the little ball instead of the big ball, except if you’re in a bunker then you....you all know what I mean.

The one opposite that I seem to say over and over is “Hit down on the ball.” I tell a lot of my lessons that- some of them say OK and then do it, some of them look at me and say “Huh?”. I don’t mind the look; in fact I’m happy to see it- at least I know you’re listening. So let me explain the deal with this one. Look at your club- see those lines? Those grooves are what imparts spin on a golf ball. That combined with the loft of your club make the ball go up. Now here’s the catch with those grooves; the golf club is designed to hit the ball on your 2nd to 4th groove up (depending on the club) for maximum efficiency. Now put a ball in the palm of your left hand and hold the head of your iron in your right hand.The biggest flaw I see in amateurs in this regard is flipping the club at the bottom of the swing to try to “help” the ball up. Hold it in front of you and flip the head back and forth. See how the bottom flange of the club goes up and down? Do it at the ball in your left hand. See how the bottom of the club is what is contacting the ball, not the grooves? There’s your smooth running shank or a nice cold top waiting for your next approach shot....Now take your iron face and swing it on a DESCENDING BLOW down toward the ball in your hand. See how it will hit the center of your clubface on a descending blow? See how that’s about the only way to get the ball on the center of the clubface? That is what I mean by “Hit down on it.” You have to hit the ball in the center of those grooves to A. allow the loft of the club to work and B. allow the grooves to spin the ball. Now don’t overdo it...I’m not talking about digging little foot long holes in the ground...just a nice, controlled descending blow to the back of the ball. Do that and you’ll be hitting nice high, soft iron shots into greens. And putting nice, crisp green pieces of paper into your pockets from your buddies.

What hole were you aiming at?

What hole were you aiming at? See, I wish I was making that up. But I’m not. I have played rounds with and watched people swing a golf club on one hole while aimed into the middle of an adjacent hole. What inevitably happens is they stripe one, dead down the line they’re aiming at, right into the woods toward the next hole.

I am a personal fan of all things curse related, so I derive an intense and guilty joy from the volume and quantity of the self-flagellation I’m exposed to by a couple of my usual playing partners. It’s good to have friends who invent words. But that’s for another time.There are a few reasons that people aim improperly, mostly because of the way your eye sees the line once you are over the ball. Golf is odd in that you are always looking at and adressing the ball while it’s in play in a parallel position. You’re never behind it or have it over your head, in your hands. So your eye tends to make your body aim toward your target. And that’s where the disconnect happens. You want the ball aimed at the target. You want your body aimed parallel to that target. There is a three step process you can take in your preshot routine and you will be aimed properly. Step One- Stand behind the ball and picture your ball flight toward your target. Looking down that line, you can pick out an object 3-4 feet in front of you along that line; a divot, a dark spot, something plain to your eye. Step Two- Address your ball aiming at that mark 3-4 feet in front of you with your clubface. The grooves of your iron should be perpendicular to the line you are aiming on. Step Three- Set your feet parallel to that line. You are now square to your target line and properly aimed. Now go hit it where you’re aiming, which is a good thing. Then I can hear laughter and joy, doors will open, rose petals will fall from the sky. And life will be good. Because now you are aiming at the hole you’re actually playing.

Turn or over-turn…

One of the things you hear a lot of instructors and TV commentators talk about is making a big shoulder turn. A large shoulder turn is one of the factors that will increase your distance off the tee and with all your clubs. But there is one factor everyone seems to leave out when they are discussing a large shoulder turn…

A big shoulder turn does no good if your hips are turning that far with it; the trick is to have a large shoulder turn with a small hip turn. The coiling action in your muscles because of the lack of rotation of your hips in relation to your shoulders is what produces distance. If you are making a huge turn with your shoulders and your hips both, my money is that you are not hitting it a great distance. In fact, I’m willing to bet you’re hitting it short and all over the place. If you are moving that much of your body away from the ball at once, then it only figures that you have to move all those body parts back toward the ball to even be able to hit it. Too many moving parts equals no distance and no accuracy. Plus, if you are over-rotating your shoulders and hips, you likely have quite a bit of lateral or side-to-side movement in your swing, which is another distance killer. You want to have your shoulders rotated further than your hips; you want to feel those muscles on the side of your hips, backs and ribs pulling tighter. That’s contraction, that’s power. That’s rotation, not sliding. Know the difference. Feel the difference. Take a club, lay it across your chest, crossing your arms to hold the club in place. Look in a mirror and rotate your shoulders just like a backswing. Can you bring the butt of the club back even with your belly button? Now look at your belt buckle when you turn your shoulders back. Did it turn all the way back with your shoulders? If it did, that’s wrong. You want it to be about half as far back as your shoulders, and you want to be feeling those muscle groups in your back, ribs and shoulders getting tighter. Now turn back and through, just like a swing and follow-through. Did you rotate back to where the butt end of the club is now perpendicular to your target line? Is your belly button facing the target? Work on this little drill in the mirror, and learn how to properly rotate your shoulders and hips. It will add distance and increase accuracy. And it will let you know immediately if you are making a big enough turn, not big enough, or not one at all. If you are having trouble figuring it out, come by the pro shop some time and see us. We’ll get you fixed up in no time.

Warming up…

How do you warm up for your round? I’ll tell you how I warm up; I open the trunk, get out my bag, put my shoes on, go to the tee, twist around a couple of times to pop my back and I hit. That’s it. I don’t hit range balls, I don’t putt, I just go. That’s what works for me. I’ve learned this through countless years of trial and mostly error, and it works because it’s in the rhythm of what I do every day. I’ve tried to go out on the range before a round and work through my bag, and I basically can’t. I don’t possess the attention span, and I freely admit it. One of the things people don’t understand about the golf business is…

that if I’m going to play golf, it’s usually on about 5 minutes notice. I’ve got enough time to grab my stuff and go, or I’m going to get caught up doing something. It’s just the way the job works. So after about 20 years of being in the routine of grab your stuff and go, your game adjusts accordingly. So I have developed a theory; you prepare for your round the way you prepare for your every day. If you’re an analytical type, a perfectionist if you will, you need to warm up. You need to hit shots and get your body and your brain in focus. Work your way through your bag- start with a wedge and work up to the woods, hitting about 10 balls with each club at most. Picture your round and make your plan in your mind. Now go work your plan. On the flip side, if you’re like me and you work on a much more fluid schedule, you need to go with the flow. If you’ve got the time and feel like hitting a few, then do it. If you can’t stay focused for that long, just grab a bite to eat and stretch some to get loosened up. You may not feel like doing anything, you may just want to go play. That’s fine; there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve seen a lot of good rounds left on the range before they ever teed off. I’ve also seen a lot of rounds that could have used some warming up. Which type of person and what type of personality are you? Let that determine your preparation for a round; just because some guy on TV or some book said you should warm up before every round doesn’t mean it’s true. It’s your game, you know it better than anyone else. Trust in that knowledge and make your decisions from there.

Time to check out the bag

Time to check out the bag...Now that the time has changed and the season is in full swing, its time to take a look in your bag and check the condition of your equipment. How long has it been since you changed your grips? Has it been over a year? Two? The life of the club?

The only part of your body that touches the equipment is your hands; everyone knows that. So why would you play with grips that are slick and glassy and slide around in your hands? It’s pretty simple math- if the clubface is twisting around in your hands, that changes the angle that the clubface will approach the ball, changing the direction of your shot. So why risk it? Change them or at the very least use some warm soapy water and clean the winter dust off of them. The one grip that you must have in good condition is your putter grip; that is the one club in your bag with no loft, so any twisting or shifting of the hands is definitely going to cause a misdirected shot. Don’t take the chance- if you don’t want to spend the money or time to fix anything else, make sure your putter grip is in the best shape of any in your bag. The other equipment check I remind people about is one that is almost universally overlooked; what kind of shape are the spikes of your shoes in? Are they worn down to a nub? Can they pass for loafers? Your hands are the only thing on the club, your feet are the only thing in contact with Mother Earth; you really don’t want either one of them sliding around on a golf swing. As many uneven, sidehill and downhill lies as we have, you better have some decent spikes in your shoes or you’re going to be missing shots not because of bad swings, but bad equipment. There are already way too many variables to this game to make it simple; make sure you control the things you can control, and your equipment should be right at the top of the list. Take a look into your bag and get everything there in working order before you go at 2009 in earnest; if your game is still in bad shape after fixing that, then come see one of our PGA Professionals so we can start to work on you.

Wet grass

We finally got some rain this week, and that has changed our playing conditions a little, so now is time to remind you about playing in wet conditions. If you’re in the fairway, it shouldn’t make too much of a difference, although there is a chance that you will hit a little bit of a flyer from the fairway because the damp conditions will diminish the amount of spin you put on the ball. If that happens to you a couple of times…

you can club down pretty easily to adjust. But where wet conditions really make a difference is from the rough. I always seem to be preaching to everyone to lighten up their grip; to quit squeezing the club like it owes you money. Here is the one instance where I will tell you to grip the club harder- wet, heavy grass in the rough. Heavy, wet grass will grab your clubhead on the downswing near the hosel of the club, shutting down the face and making you hit a pull. Or sometimes worse- sometimes you can’t get it airborne at all. When you get into wet, heavy rough you have to make 2 adjustments. The first is to grip the club a little tighter so that the clubface will not twist when you contact the grass. The second adjustment is the swing itself; try to make a steeper, more V-shaped swing when in wet and heavy rough. You want to hit the ball with a sharp, descending blow to get it up and out of the rough. Think of a “U” compared to a “V”; the “U” shaped swing is going to grab a ton of grass on your downswing, and unless you’ve got Tiger’s biceps you’re probably not going to keep the clubhead square. And an open or shut clubface combined with thick grass is a recipe for disaster. Now of course, you always have the option of playing smart, taking a sand wedge or pitching wedge and chopping it back into the fairway to try to get up and down. But that would probably make way too much sense, so we’re not going to be hitting that shot today, are we? So remember, once it’s thick and wet in the rough, grip it tight, swing sharply and hang on. Better yet, just don’t hit it into the rough. You can do that, right?

That’s a pretty big reach…

One of the interesting things in my job is looking out the window. You see, from our windows you can see basically everything a golf professional or self respecting human being would need on this earth. Beautiful trees, grass, water, a light breeze...really cool stuff. I also see golfers. Lots and lots of golfers. With lots of different postures, setups, and swings. So seeing all of that as often as I do, I’m starting to wonder. Why do so many of you reach out with your driver setup so that you’re almost bent in half with your arms completely straight?

That may feel strong and powerful to you and you may think you’re in a great position to hit a killer drive, but you need to know that you are pretty unlikely to hit that great drive.You’re just as likely to miss entirely as hit the great one. Law of averages… On your setup, one of the big keys is to be relaxed. Reduce the tension. You’re doubled over with your arms locked straight squeezing the club so hard I can see your veins pop out from here. Does that feel relaxed to you? Think about where you are going to go from that position; if I’m bent in half, I’m probably going to stand straight up at some point of this swing. Now I have to get the club way back down and out to there to even touch the ball. And now that ball doesn’t look as close to me as it did a moment ago, so I better reach out there to get it. Now I’m on my toes, swinging a bullwhip with a head on it trying to hit a ball that feels like it’s 6 feet away from me. But hey, I was in a power position when I set up...It’s a lot more important to be relaxed with your arms, back, and shoulders in your setup position than you realize, especially with the driver. Think about that next time you’re going to mindlessly bash balls at the range...maybe you can use your time a little more wisely.

Uhh, I’m playing great…

We spend a lot of time as instructors working on ways to improve your game and shave strokes off your score. That’s our job 90% of the time. So here’s something for you 10%ers. You’re 4 holes in..you’re 1 under and you’re hitting the ball great. What do you do now?

This is a moment of truth for your game- how you approach the next few shots can determine the fate of your round. The tendency is to get so wrapped up in your score or in making birdies that you start to squeeze the club a little harder and try to get a few extra yards out of each shot. You then swing harder and harder and the next thing you know, your great round is gone. Think target instead. You’re already swinging the club well, so you don’t need to grind on mechanics. You’re making pars and birdies, so there’s really no need to obsess on score- you’re already taking care of that part. So focus instead on where you want this shot to end up- do I want to be on the right or left side of the fairway on this tee shot..I want this approach to the left of the hole so I have a flat putt..those types of thoughts. You’re hitting it great, enjoy the ride! Let your clubs do the work, let your brain stay out of its own way and let your game flow. You’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor at the end of the round when your buddies are reaching into their wallets and shaking their heads. The most beautiful sight in golf.

Hands off!

How much do you use the hands in the golf swing? A lot, a little, too much, not at all? It is probably some combination of all those answers depending on the situation, but for the most part, amateurs use their hands way too much…

Part of the beauty of a great golf swing is its simplicity. Look at basically anyone on the PGA Tour- you see nice postures, good rhythm, balance. Now the next time you see one of those slo-mo shots of a pro’s swing, watch one thing in particular- the head of the club. Do you see it moving up, down, around, all over the place? No you don’t. And do you know why? Because those pros are not moving or using their hands, they are using their arms, shoulders, back, trunk, thighs. Big muscles. Those are the muscles that generate power and distance. Think of it this way; the only thing touching the club is your hands, right? So if the hands move, then the clubhead moves, right? So are you a world class athlete? Because it would take a world class athlete to get the clubhead in the exact same position every time using nothing but his hands. Take your grip, holding your arms straight out in front of you with the club vertical. That club is at 12:00. Now swing your arms back to 3:00. The club is on plane, cocked and ready to hit the ball. What did your hands do? Nothing. Literally nothing- you got to that hitting position by rotating your shoulders and hips. Your hands didn’t do anything. If you are consistently hitting one bad shot, it may be grip, alignment, ball position- one of a couple of different factors. But if you are hitting it all over the place- high, low, left, right, tops, chunks, you name it- then you need to stop and think. There is a pretty good chance that the culprit is your hands. Hold the club. Don’t manipulate it. Let the big muscles, rhythm and balance do the work for you.

Practicing in the wind

It’s been howling the last couple of days out here, and a couple of people have asked me about what part of their game they should work on. I gave them a very short answer…

Chipping and putting. That’s all. That is really all you can work on in windy conditions with any amount of productivity. Think of it this way- in heavy wind, you know you’re going to miss fairways and greens, right? That puts your scrambling abilities to the test, so practicing scrambling on a windy day is not only productive, but instructional. For example, hit a gap wedge chip shot downwind. Now hit it into the wind? Quite a bit different, wasn’t it? Sure did check up into the wind, didn’t it? These are the types of things that you practice and start to learn on windy days- you learn that it’s probably easier to chip with an 8 iron than a sand wedge into the wind. You learn that deceleration on an uphill, into the wind chip shot means a 35 footer for par. You learn that you don’t spin that wedge as well as you think when you’ve got a 25 mph tailwind. And you especially learn that, yes, wind affects putts. Sometimes quite a bit. If have a sidehill, downhill putt with a crosswind blowing toward the break, you better learn to play a little more break in that putt. Or you better be really good at 10 footers for bogey.

In the woods…

Did you know that you have probably broken the Rules of Golf a couple of times without knowing it? Have you ever taken a practice swing while in the woods? Did you break off any twigs or cause any leaves to fall?

If you did, you violated the Rules and should have taken a penalty shot. This is one of the things you have to consider if you hit it into the trees. How should I play out? This is where I see way too many amateurs get greedy and wind up butchering a hole. I know you can see the flag from here- and all you have to do is hook it past this tree in front of me but not too far into that tree up there. Can you hit that shot- a long iron punch hook under one branch and around another to a green 160 yards away? So why are you trying to? Take your medicine. Get it back into the fairway about 100 yards out and put a wedge in your hand. Now you still have a chance to get up and down and save your par. And make your opponents and partners pucker up a little bit over their par putt, because you just saved par from nowhere. And isn’t that really the whole point to this game anyway?

Home cooking

Home cooking… How many times do you play here a week/ month/ year? How well do you know the course? Pretty well, right? You know where the bunkers are, where the water hazards are and which trees are most likely to intercept your tee shot. Now I want you to think about your rounds here and how you’ve played them. Let’s take Parkland #5, for example. Do you hit driver, 3-wood, hybrid, or iron from the tee? Now think about where those tee shots ended up and what your score was for the hole. What did you learn? ...

You’ve probably taught yourself through repeated self-lashings that driver is probably not the best play on that hole and the the shorter club from the tee likely leaves you a better approach shot. Think about other shots- is it better to have an approach from the left side of the fairway or the right side? Are the trees next to the green going to affect my approach shot- why, yes they will if I leave my drive on the right side. Where is the pin today- is it directly behind the bunker? If it is, then I know that I have to be on the right side of this fairway. You know all these things, whether you realize it or not- they are all stored in your little golf memory bank in that brain of yours somewhere. So at your home course, look at the entire hole before you tee off- you know where all the problems lie and better yet, where the opportunities lie. Your opponents may not. Who said momma’s cooking wasn’t good?

Pro Shop Niceties

We still have a couple of Mizuno drivers left for 40% off. Ladies Callaway shoes on sale. Brand new Oxford lined sweaters. New Adidas kids shirts and windshirts. We have our new Under Armour shirts on the floor and they look awesome. And starting this week we have Callaway Hyper X, FTi, and Tour 460X drivers all on sale. Why waste your time and gas driving into Houston looking for a deal when you have one here right under your nose? Take a look at the River Ridge pro shop and see what Santa has waiting for you.

Fairways, greens and one putts.....

Trey Birchum
PGA Head Professional, River Ridge Golf Club
email: tbirchum AT riverridgegolfclub.com