To be a good player you have to manage the golf course and manage yourself. Good players are trying to hit a good shot where poor players are trying not to hit a bad shot. Have to be committed to doing something. Eliminating one side of the course makes the game easier. If you are missing it both ways the game is much harder. Hogan said the hook was never his problem. It was the fear of the hook. Hook one early and you will be playing defense the rest of the round. There is an importance to being a good driver of the golf ball which is very underrated. Got to figure it out and find a way to hit fairways.

Bill’s dad was a huge proponent of swinging a heavy club. Claude had a lead-weighted driver that he used to swing while he was giving lessons at Winged Foot. The weight of the club helped him to set his wrists at the top of his swing and also gave him great tempo. You never get any negative feedback swinging a club without a ball and it’s hard to swing a heavy club off plane. We talked about Bob Toski and how he is a tremendous arm, hand, and wrist teacher. Have to learn how to swing the club with the arms, hands, and wrists first before bringing the bigger muscles in. Bill said that so many people are trying to swing the club with their bigger muscles and they get the club way off of plane. There is a relationship with the hands and the club face and everyone has to figure that hand eye coordination out first.

A caller asked how he could better take his game from the range to the golf course. Bill said on the range there is no consequence, we swing freely, and without fear. We get to the course and try too hard. On the course we have to commit to a target with our eyes seeing the line to the target. You want to practice hitting shots on the range because it will peak your concentration. Jay Hass, “Just because you are nervous doesn’t mean you have to hit a bad shot.” Lastly Bill said his dad used to always say, “Two things to impress; the back of the ball and the scorecard.” Jay and Bill Haas, who work with Bill, always putt out and play for a score in practice rounds. The art of playing is not talked about enough. Bill Harmon can be reached at zito1948@verizon.net

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I asked Billy what was the best tip that he ever got from his dad. Billy said in one of his first lessons, where he dad was teaching next to him, his dad asked him, “Who is your ghost writer? Because you gave him enough information in the first five minutes to write a book!” Billy said his dad always looked at the grip first and then at where the club face was pointing at the top of the swing. Billy feels, and I agree, that the modern day teachers don’t talk enough about the club face. Billy said, “Grip influences club face, club face influences path, and path influences aim.” He said the top players are more orderly in their swings from waist high to waist high. Billy can be reached at zito1948@verizon.net

Chuck Cook was my guest in the second half hour and we talked about what he has worked on with Jason Duffner. Chuck said that when he first started working with Duff, he had a shut club face at the top and an upright swing. On his forward swing he would slide his legs into the ball and block the club face from turning over too soon. They worked on getting his club face more open on the back swing, and hitting it more flat-footed, so that he wouldn’t have too much pelvic hip slide on his forward swing.

Chuck talked about covering the ball and how the swing has evolved since the days of the reverse C and Nicklaus. Next came Jimmy Ballard in the ’80’s, where Ballard’s players would ride the right shoulder high on the forward swing or the anti-reverse C finish. Chuck said, “the right shoulder goes directly at the ball on the forward swing, as it goes down, out, and forward.” He said the right shoulder turn is kind of flat going back and very vertical coming down. The shoulders don’t really turn on the spine axis.

We had a caller from Texas ask about how to stop releasing early, casting, and flipping. Chuck jokingly said if you’re from west Texas you shouldn’t have that problem. Chuck said people release early to square the club face so check your grip first. Then go out and try and hit some punch shots which forces the hands further forward and de-lofts the club at impact. For more information on Chuck please visit www.ChuckCookGolf.com.

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