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Digests Tagged ‘Hit The Ball’

Athletes experience two deaths: Long before they confront their biological demise, they face an only slightly less traumatic end called retirement. Once brilliant performers, they are forced to surrender their careers at a stage in life when most professionals are just reaching their peak. The subject of retirement is an especially timely one on the LPGA Tour at the moment, with Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez facing the subject from opposite ends of the age spectrum.

On the one hand, there is Sorenstam, who has been temporarily sidelined with a neck injury. Only a year ago, Sorenstam won her third U.S. Women’s Open title and seemed prepared to add limitlessly to her 10 major championships. Now she’s trying to recuperate from ruptured and bulging disks, the type of ailments that could mean playing in pain, and which prompted Andre Agassi to end his tennis career last summer. Rehabilitation and motivation may be especially problematic for a 36-year-old who has accomplished nearly everything she set out to do in the games, and whose intense drive may be lessening as she explores fresh interests, such as her new golf academy. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of the short-game shots, including the chip, is to get the club-head to hit the ball first and bottom out on the target side of it. If you do that consis­tently, you’ll have excellent distance control. When playing a normal chip shot (more roll, less carry), make sure your shoulders are level at address.

(Sometimes it helps to feel as if your left shoulder is pointing toward the ground.) Amateurs often tilt their left shoulder upward, as if they were playing a full shot, which causes the club-head to bot­tom out behind the ball and hit it fat or thin. Place the ball slightly back in your stance and shift your weight to your left side. This will promote a steeper, more descending down­swing and the proper ball-turf contact for a solid shot. Read the rest of this entry »

GOLF DREAMS: WRITINGS ON GOLF by John Updike.

No other writer brings the pain and the pleasure of golf to life as intensely and as exquisitely as John Updike. In this compilation of pub­lished essays and excerpts from his works of fiction, Updike portrays himself and his characters as morose, gloomy and immersed in a futile, maddening pastime (a topic addressed in “Is Life Too Short for Golf?”).

While it has an indisputably male perspective, Golf Dreams is worth reading for the beauty and originality of its language—Updike’s description of making a great shot in “Tips on a Trip” should be read aloud. Our favorite chapter is “Women’s Work,” a fascinating glimpse into a man’s thoughts on watching women compete, origi­nally published in the program for the 1984 U.S. Women’s Open. While other great writers of the 20th century didn’t bother to veil their misogyny, Updike writes of his awe of the players, whom he compares to Amazon warriors “doing authen­tic battle.” Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t always hit the fairway with my drives. But rather than muscle a 5- or 6-iron out of the rough, I prefer to use my highest-lofted wood (7-wood) and play a long punch-and-run shot, landing the ball short of the green and letting it run up.

There are several advantages to hitting a wood or hybrid from the rough. A wood is lighter, so you can generate more club- head speed—crucial to getting the ball out of the deep grass; it has a wider sole than an iron, which allows the club-head to glide through the grass more easily; and the shallow clubface and lower, deeper center of gravity make it easier to launch the ball into the air.

Try using a wood the next time you find yourself in moderate rough more than a 9-iron distance from the flag. Make sure the front of the green is open and try to land the ball about 20 yards short of the green, chasing it up toward the hole. Read the rest of this entry »

Train like an elite athlete at the ANNIKA Academy at Ginn Reunion Resort in Orlando. The Academy’s holistic approach allows you to hone your golf skills with individual instruction from Annika’s personal swing coach, Henri Reis, and boost your fitness and nutrition programs with the help of her personal trainer, Kai Fusser. Select packages even include mental- game preparation with Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott. For the ultimate learning experience, attend a group clinic with Annika or play nine holes with the legend herself. Read the rest of this entry »