Weekly Golf Tip : to make solid contact with the golf ball, do the ‘happy toes’ drill

There are two main reasons why many high-handicap weekend golfers remain high-handicap golfers during their entire playing careers:

1. They read about different tips and tricks, but don’t put in the effort at the practice range; instead, they try new things during their weekend round – only to give up when the tips don’t magically change their golfing abilities.
2. The few who do practice at the range, don’t have a clear plan of what they are trying to achieve; so they end up smashing a few balls with the different clubs in their bags – without learning anything new or unlearning any bad habits.

This week’s tip is a drill that any golfer can do at home, in front of a mirror, without even breaking a sweat. It will teach you proper balance when addressing the ball – which is the key to consistent, solid ball contact.

Here is what you do. Take any golf club, and take your usual stance at address but instead of grounding the club, let it hover a couple of inches above the ground. Now try to tap the ground with your toes – one foot at a time, while keeping both heels firmly on the ground.

Eric Jones, the former long-driving champion calls this the ‘happy toes’ drill:

If you can do the drill comfortably, without changing your address position, you are properly balanced.

If you are like most high-handicap golfers, your address position is either too far forward, or too far back. If your upper body is too far forward – which happens more often, mainly due to anxiety – you won’t be able to lift your toes off the ground. If your upper body is too far back, you will be able to tap the ground with both feet at the same time.

This weekend, try the ‘happy toes’ drill before you go out for your round. But please remember that years of bad habit won’t get cured by one drill. Keep at it, till you understand and appreciate the benefits of proper balance – regardless of your handicap.

Weekly Golf Tip: the correct mental attitude towards sand traps

If you are a typical high-handicap weekend golfer, then you probably have an incorrect mental attitude towards sand traps. Before I proceed any further, a couple of definitions may be in order:

1. High-handicap – anything above a handicap of 9 for an 18 hole golf course. (I’m sure the Captain of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club will agree with that definition; not so sure about fellow members!)

2. Correct mental attitude – every time your ball falls in a sand trap, think of it as an opportunity, and not a problem.

Like most high-handicap weekend golfers with imperfect swings and inability to hit the long irons crisply on target, I tend to hit more sand traps than greens in regulation. Every time I’d fall into one, I would curse my bad luck, grab my sand wedge (regardless of the lie or the distance to be covered) and rush into the bunker in a tearing hurry to some how get the ball out.

The result? Either a skulled shot that would go screaming over the green into much deeper trouble. Or, several swings at the ball without propelling it out of the trap, and then bending down to toss it on the green and saying ‘Your hole’ (as if there was any doubt!).

It was fellow golfer and lovable hustler Harjivan Singh - a team member when we won the Wills Trophy (now ITC Cup) back in 1984 at the Tollygunge Club - who taught me the correct mental attitude towards sand traps.

His logic was simple. For high-handicappers, the opportunities for making birdies are few and far between – particularly in a course as long as the RCGC with only one par 3 and one par 5 in each nine. There were far more opportunities in hitting greenside bunkers – specially if you aimed at them!

Harjivan would actually do that, and then try to get up and down for a ‘sandie’. He made quite a few bucks on the side every round.

The point is: if you approach a sand shot with the correct mental attitude, looking at it as an opportunity to make a ‘sandie’, there are more chances that you will come out close enough to the pin with a single swing.

Of course, it helps to know how to execute different types of bunker shots required for different lies and sand conditions. Stay tuned, and I’ll be happy to share my experiences.

(Notes: Thanks to fellow golfers who have encouraged me to write these weekly golf tips. I look forward to your feedback and suggestions. You can use the ‘comments’ link below the post, or send an email to me.)