How to Pitch like a Pro - Denis Pugh

Pitching

Good players use the length of swing and the ‘turnspeed' of their body to control their pitching distance. Using the ‘speedo' principle certainly gives you a good feeling to work on: i.e. for a 40-yard pitch shot your swing cue is 40 mph. For 60 yards, you up your speed to 60 mph. And for 80 yards – pretty much a full swing with a gap-wedge – swing at 80 mph.

While this may not be a new idea, it's still the best imagery to have in mind to control the distance you land the ball. And the key in all this is that the through-swing must always reflect the length of the backswing. So, as you see here, a 40 mph shot sees me swing from approximately hip-high to hip-high – a totally controlled motion.

Sixty takes it that little bit further, while 80 mph is my absolute max.

Next time you practise, grip down the shaft a little, establish good balance, and make what you feel is a controlled 40 mph swing. Working at that 40 mph speed will see you finish in a balanced position that ties-in perfectly with the backswing.

Depending on the loft of the club, that 40 mph swing might give you a shot of, say, 40 or 50 yards. That's your benchmark, and from there you can then up the tempo to gradually increase landing distance. A 6o mph swing with the same club might land the ball 60 - 70 yards, while 80 mph gives you a shot of 80-90 yards.

The key to all this is to recognise and get a feel for the speed of the swing that gives you this sort of control, leaving you with a professional short-game scoring system you can trust.

How to Clear a Bunker like a Pro - Denis Pugh

Sand Play

To be a good bunker player you have to learn to be fairly aggressive. And at the same time you have to have a clear understanding of the type of impact that you are trying to achieve with the sand. My advice on these regular greenside trap shots is to hit a lot further behind the ball than you have probably ever been told to do – but at the same time take a long shallow cut.

Typically, a lot of golfers struggle in this situation because (1) they aim to strike the sand far too close to the ball, and (2) they hit down too steeply – the inevitable result being they take too much sand from directly underneath the ball, rather than from either side. Without the consistency of a shallow ‘divot', there is no real control over the flight (if there is one).

The big feeling that can help you to overcome this problem is to hit the shot ‘fat-thin', and with a fairly stiff-wristed swing. Once you are set up to the shot you simply follow an orthodox in-tosquare- to-in path (i.e. swing along the line of your body). Trust it, and the ball will come out with a softer flight and less spin when it lands (so it runs like a chip). Like a pro, you are using ‘bounce' and creating much shallower impact.

How to Chip like a Pro - Denis Pugh

Chipping

The "BIG" feeling I want you to focus on with the chipping action is to turn your upper body over still legs. Nine times out of ten, mis-hits and generally poor ball control ball in the short game can be traced back to over-active legs and/or hands.

In order to develop a simple yet effective method that gives you total control over the delivery of the clubhead, you have to focus on turning your upper body over the stability of a ‘quiet' leg action.

For anyone suffering around the greens, I guarantee that this will transform your chipping action. The key is that, from the set-up, you gently turn your stomach and shoulders over fairly still legs (but not rigid).

All the wrist action you need is pre-set via the grip and in the way that you then ease your hands ahead of the ball as you settle down over the shot.
From then on you are looking to repeat this simple back and through stroke, the hands and forearms relaxed, passive throughout.

How to hit your irons - Denis Pugh

Iron Play

Golfers have heard all about the importance of getting their weight across and on to the right side in the backswing, which is perfectly correct with a driver (as per the previous page). But with the irons – and particularly the mid- to short irons – the danger is that in moving too far ‘off' the ball you risk losing the accuracy of your delivery coming back down.

Remember, you have to get back to the left side to strike the irons properly, which involves making sure that your body weight is centred more on top of the left foot as you hit the ball.
With a driver, if you can first get behind it and then stay behind it, you will enjoy flighting your tee-shots with a good powerful trajectory.

With the irons, if you get behind the ball and stay there, you are likely to hit it fat. To counter that, my advice is that you work on this feeling of being more on your left side throughout – i.e. staying more ‘on top of the ball'.

The big feeling you should go after is that of turning your upper body away from the target without consciously shifting your weight across on to your right side – i.e. turn more about the axis of your left hip.

Be aware that when you work on this you are going to feel more weight on your left side during the backswing than you have done before – even though your left heel may still come up off the ground a tad, as mine has (inset). That's perfectly OK, provided the left knee retains its ‘braced' position and that your weight is then fully on top of your left foot as you proceed to unwind through the ball.

How to Drive like a Pro - Denis Pugh

Driving

The key to solid driving is that you first get fully behind the ball as you wind up your backswing. Only then can your truly stay behind the ball as you unwind on the way back down. With the driver, one of the problems that I see a lot of amateurs struggle with is they get too far ahead of themselves on the way down, which results in the swing being too steep coming in to the ball.

For you to create the shallow swing path that you need to catch the ball at the very bottom of the arc, or even as the club begins to swing up, you have to make sure that you first get fully ‘loaded' up, then wait a moment, and be patient from the top.

Next time you play, think about turning over an axis that runs up through your right foot and right hip as you turn your upper body and really wind up your backswing. Get the left shoulder under your chin and fully behind the ball, your weight across into your right side.

From the top, the first move down is key: you have to ‘settle' into a position that frees the right side, and gives you the room then to accelerate the whole of your right side as you rotate hard through the ball.

As you change direction, a good feeling to have is that as you ‘squat' on to your right thigh you swing your right hand away from the right shoulder. Trust me, it won't actually happen, but a feeling of doing that – of ‘casting' the right hand and the club will encourage you to establish fantastic width as you make your way back to the ball.

Putt Like a Pro 3 - Pete Cowan

Blend backswing and through-swing into one smooth and continuous on-line stroke

What I most like about the Zen putter is that it teaches you not only to understand the basic principles of good putting but also to recognise the symptoms of basic faults as and when they creep into your stroke. The ‘Tracker' exercise that you see here is another example of the information the Zen can give you. The idea is that as you lengthen your stroke (and ideally you would rehearse this from further out, say 10 or 15 feet from the hole), you release the ball held within the aperture away from the hole to check the path of your backswing. The two faults pictured (Below) illustrate the problems that the Zen can help you to solve. We would all agree that the laws of physics dictate that the stroke runs very slightly inside the line going back (progressively so the longer the backswing) but this is much too severe (top left).

Fault: Too far inside	Fault: Outside the line
Ordinarily you would rehearse this ‘Tracker' exercise from 10 or 15 feet, where the length of the backswing would enable you to release the ball that is within the aperture away from the hole. But hopefully you get the drift; releasing the ball in this direction tells you all you need to know about the path of your backswing. Here it is too much inside the line, the released ball running severely inside the string.	Another common fault: the putter has this time wandered slightly outside the line going back, a fact that is immediately confirmed as the ball rolls under and to the outside outside of the string. Faults such as these require that you make compensations to get back on track – compensations that are never consistent.

I'm moving the putter too much on the inside and the released ball confirms it. In contrast, if the released ball cuts across the string and goes outside the line, that tells me I am taking the putter back outside. This instant feedback tells me what the problem is and what I have to work on. If the path of my stroke seems to be OK and yet I was still missing putts, I
would check the alignment of the putter-face. This will provide some more valuable information that you will be able to act on immediately.

Making that solid pendulum stroke – built up on sound fundamentals – sees the putter track beautifully back and forth (above). The ball that is released backwards runs just slightly inside the line, while the ball that is struck just as it should be (on the up) rolls straight in the hole...

Roll 'em in, one after the other . . .

The ‘Tracer' exercise is designed to improve your acceleration through impact and again provides immediate feedback on your accuracy. From the four- to six-foot range, you simply place a ball in the aperture, then set up to a putt as normal, and with a smooth stroke set about rolling both of the balls towards the hole. The trick is to maintain the gap between them, and the guys on tour who are really good at this are able to do this perfectly as they roll the two balls at the same speed into the middle of the hole – just another exercise that not only makes practising with the Zen fun but, ultimately, more rewarding.

Tour players can often be seen on the practice green using a mirror to check their posture and to make sure that their eyes are over the line of the putt. That is crucial. A lot of golfers stand with their eye-line too far inside the line to the hole, which means they are not viewing their subject properly. The Xtend-Align system seen here is perfect for keeping these fundamentals in check. And because the string is supported a few inches above the surface, it is never in the way and gives you terrific feedback on every putt.

With your left hand behind your back, it's amazing how quickly using the right hand only improves the quality of the strike. Because the right hand doesn't ‘drive' at it, you release the whole of the shaft down the line. That's what Tiger Woods does when he putts well – which is pretty much all the time. People perceive that he releases the head, which would mean the butt-end goes backwards and cannot go up. He doesn't. He releases the whole of the shaft. Which means the butt-end comes up. So work on this exercise as often as you possibly can.
Don't bother with aiming at a hole. This is all about the quality of the strike. Work on releasing the putter and focus on the quality of your strike. I guarantee that if you spend some time doing this you will notice a great improvement in the way you roll the ball.

Putt Like a Pro 2 - Pete Cowan

The Reflex Drill

In a solid stroke, the left shoulder works down and then up – just like the handle of the putter.

Hands remain neutral on the grip and passive throughout the stroke, enabling you to maintain this controlling unit while developing good tempo with the gentle rocking of the shoulders.

How the Zen can help you develop your feel for the stroke, and a sense of true ‘release'

Hitting at the ball with the putter is often the cause of poor ballstriking on the greens (and likewise in the full swing). You see it everyday: flicking at it with the putter-head can cause a player to pull a putt, while hitting at it with the hands (i.e. ‘driving' a putt) can result in a block.

Either way, the ball's not going to drop.

The key to long-term consistency is that (1) you learn to develop a repeating pendulum-type stroke that is controlled by the upper body and (2) that you then fine-tune that stroke to produce the smooth upstroke that (as far as is physically possible) eliminates the ‘hit'.

And that's where this putter really comes into its own. With its unique design, when you work on ‘holding' and then releasing the ball from within the aperture of the Zen Oracle putter there is no impact, and so immediately you get a true roll towards your target.

To get accustomed to the feel of the head and the sensation of rolling the ball back and forth, we kick off with what we have termed the ‘Reflex' exercise (above).

This involves simply holding the ball within the aparture of the putter as you move it just a few inches gently backwards and forwards under the line of string (and whatever putter you play, practising with a taut line of string like this is a no-brainer; all of the best putters do it). Tour players who use the Zen repeat the Reflex drill for a couple of minutes and then move on to releasing the ball and rolling it into the hole.

When you have a perfect roll, it's all about following the correct path

To keep the ball in the aperture of the putter on the backswing, you must make the handle go down to keep the putter-head low to the ground (and so immediately we're back to the value of the exercise I demonstrated on the previous page). In other words, simply spending a few minutes rehearsing the Reflex drill, or stroking a few shortish putts with the Zen, reinforces this specific feature of a correct, repeating stroke.

Here's another thing. When you know that you are going to get a pure roll on the ball as it leaves the putter, the quality of your path is exposed. The exercise you see me working on here (above) is known as the ‘Release', and it is designed to help you get the path of your stroke running perfectly at the target.

In my experience, too many golfers go on thinking they are putting well when in reality their stroke is hampered by a (usually) fundamental fault which forces them into making compensations.

Some days those compensations work (hence players feel they are putting OK), but more often than not their performance is inconsistent and the stroke is not a confident one.
What I really like about the Zen Oracle is that, via these various exercises, it basically teaches you the fundamentals and simply does not tolerate compromise. In the case of the ‘Release' drill, the quality of your path through to the hole is immediately revealed. Because you have eliminated the ‘hit', the roll is true, and if you miss the hole from this range (on a dead-straight putt), then clearly the path of your stroke needs some attention.

The students that I have coached with the Zen – and they include a number of good tour players – have been amazed at the way the putter becomes their own best teacher.
It enables you to work on your stroke and groove solid mechanics..