Offset Fairway Woods - Can They Help Your Game?
Many golfers have an outside-to-inside swing path and slice the ball. Getting good instruction to help you minimize your outside-to-inside swing path and slice is one path to reducing your slice. However, many golfers who slice the ball can also benefit from using a clubhead that either has a closed face and/or has some offset in the face. The offset in the clubhead provides some additional time for the golfer to close the face at impact. A picture of an offset fairway wood head is provided below, this is the Tom Wishon 925 HL fairway wood head:
 A question you may want to ask, though, is when might offset be a good option for you and your game? I recently asked Tom Wishon this question (Wishon Golf) and he agreed that I could provide his response below...
"In a normal swing, we all rotate our hands and arms away from the ball and then on the downswing we are supposed to reverse that arm/hand rotation to bring the club face back to square at impact. Some golfers who slice the ball do so because they never get their arms and hands fully rotated back around to square by the time the face gets to the ball. With the offset design putting the face behind the golfer's hands more than with a conventional wood design, this can allow a split second more time for the golfer to continue the rotation of their arms/hands before the face hits the ball. And with some golfers, that split second more time to continue the rotation of the face back around can be enough to make the difference between delivering the face 3-4 degrees open or 1-2 degrees open. A correction of 1 degree in the face angle at impact is worth 4 to 5 yards of sideways ball movement, hence an offset wood can help reduce a slice a little bit.
But it does not work for all slicers, because there are some slicers who never really rotate their hands and arms fully around during the whole downswing past impact. I am sure you have seen photos of golfers with their arms/hands fully pronated over when they are past the impact position. Then you have golfers who never do get to this fully pronated position - some slicers in other words never let the right hand rotate over the left hand at any point in the follow through, and always keep the right hand under the left as the club moves through and past impact.
For such golfers who always keep the right hand under the left as the club moves through and past impact, only a hook face angle is going to reduce their slice. Offset won't do anything to help because offset relies on the golfer eventually continuing the rotation over of their hands and arms on the downswing.
So that's why you have to really look at a slicer's swing through impact to know if offset can help or not or whether you have to get all your slice reduction from a more closed face angle only."
Response courtesy of Tom Wishon Golf.
This I think is the most thorough explanation of when offset can or cannot help a golfer with his slice - thanks Tom!
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Improving Your Putting Consistency
Should you be working and practicing to create a perfect putting stroke? In fact, does it even make sense to think that a perfect putting stroke exists? The article link below provides some insights the putting strokes of the pros, and some of the results might surprise you: Insights into PGA Pro Putting StrokesOne of the insights noted in the article is that when PGA pros were tested on the SAM PuttLab, 55% of the pros studied aimed outside of the hole from 12 feet away. The information discussed for the strokes of Brad Faxon and Loren Roberts - two amazing putters - was also surprising. Three things that I believe are very important in terms of developing a good putting stroke that produces desired results are: - Understanding your present putting stroke,
- Developing good stroke fundamentals, and
- Developing consistency in your stroke.
Lately I have been thinking more and more about the importance of helping golfers develop more Consistency in their putting strokes. Here are some thoughts from Glen Coombe - The Putting Doctor - on what he suggests golfers should do to improve the consistency of their putting strokes: "When I work with golfers in putting, be they tour players or high handicap amateurs, I stress Neutral and Natural. I talk a great deal about athletic posture which leads to a neutral setup at address with shoulder plane the main predictor of putter path.
When a player uses an athletic posture and feels balance in the feet 50/50 both right to left and heel to toe, I find the body moves differently than in an unbalanced setup. Often I have players close their eyes and make a constant stroke from the shoulder plane once in neutral setup. When they open their eyes many are surprised by the natural tendency of their stroke shape and rhythm vs. what they have been attempting to contrive.
Once we have both Neutral and Natural working for us the consistency gains are impressive."
Working to improve Neutral and Natural to create more Consistency and Make More Putts - I like that!
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"Factors of Putting" Learning Group!
Many thanks to Glen Coombe - The Putting Doctor - for helping me get invited to a Facebook putting improvement group called the "Factors of Putting." This group is organized by John Hobbins, a PGA teaching professional in Rye, NY. It includes about 100 of the best putting instructors in the world - it is going be be exciting to learn from all of these experts in the coming months. I plan to pass on lots of this great new putting improvement knowledge to all of you!
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It's a great time to book a SAM PuttLab Putting Improvement Session. Contact Game Improvement Golf - and shoot YOUR 62!
East Tennessee's Putting Improvement Center!
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony Wright
GAME IMPROVEMENT GOLF
Oak Ridge, TN
The PREMIER Short Game Fitting Center in East Tennessee!
tony@gameimprovementgolf.com
www.gameimprovementgolf.com
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