Golf is Easy, Right? - Line & Distance
Okay, you don’t agree yet, but it can be. Playing golf is really just like “Connect the Dots.” You go from here to there, then over there, putt it into the hole, and you’re done. “Give me a 3!”
Let’s say your game isn’t like that yet. Well, then, what happens during your game? This is the part of “playing golf” that most golfers don’t know about or don’t take the time to think about:
“What went on during my round of golf? What patterns can I find? Were my misses because of line or distance?”
Let’s analyze those two words and see which one hurts us the most.
Right Line, Wrong Distance
If your ball goes straight but is short or long, in most cases, it won’t hurt you—unless there’s trouble short or long, which is rare on most courses. A straight shot usually leaves you with a good lie, still in the fairway on short grass.
Hitting it straight also keeps you optimistic and helps you maintain a positive attitude. There’s no real jolt of adrenaline like the one you get when the ball goes sideways.
Right Distance, Wrong Line
Now, if your ball goes left or right, we know one thing: you’ve left the short grass. You’ll probably be in the rough, in a native area, or behind a tree—and who knows what kind of lie you’ll have?
Here comes that spurt of adrenaline, unless you’ve been there before and know what to expect. Now, these kinds of thoughts will pop into your head:
- “I hope I find my ball.”
- “Is that OB?”
- “Should I play a provisional?”
- “What will my friends think of me now?”
And then come many more unproductive, game-killing thoughts.
My point? Hitting the ball in the wrong direction is not good. Period! Crooked golf adds a lot of stress, makes for a long day, and is nowhere near as much fun.
How Do We Play Straight Golf?
Well, why does the ball go left or right? It’s really mostly one thing: the clubface!
“But I set up with the clubface pointing in the direction I wanted the ball to go. What happened? Maybe it was my alignment.”
No, it was not your alignment.
Golfers have been blaming missed direction on incorrect alignment since day one. But alignment or path only influences the ball about 20%. Where the clubface was pointing at impact mostly determined where the ball was going, with about 80% of the influence.
So, we can conclude that where the face was pointing is where the ball went, with perhaps a little sidespin due to the path.
Okay, why did the clubface change from where I had it at setup?
There is only one reason the clubface changes: your hands took over somewhere during the swing.
Maybe you were taught to roll your hands open and closed, or maybe you’re using your hands to help lift your arms to the top of your backswing. There are a lot of reasons.
The bottom line: your hands must take a passive role to allow the clubface to consistently return to square, or to the position it was in at setup.
Your Two Choices
You can spend thousands of hours practicing, like many pros we know, trying to groove the timing of your hands so the clubface returns to square for that split second through impact.
Or you can learn to use the large muscles to trap the ball, keeping your hands out of the swing.
One of these swings lets you hit the ball straight every time.