Tip #21: Countdown To Takeoff

The proper "countdown" involves both mental and physicalsteps, and for me it begins about 10 feet behind the ball.

Club selection comes after inspecting the lie and deciding what shot youwant to play.

1. Having inspected my lie, decided on the shot Iwant to play, and selected my club, I stand back and have a good look atwhat's ahead of me. At this moment, I visualize the precise shot I want toplay. I see the ball leaving my clubface, arching into the sky, and comingdown next to the target.

If it's a tee-shot, I may see the ball rolling afterimpact; if it's an iron, I may see it checking up or spinning back,depending on the nature of my lie. But quite frankly, these final frames ofmy mental movie are comparatively unimportant. Contrary to what most peopledo-visualize the ball coming to rest near their ultimate target-I prefer tofocus on the apex of the shot in flight.

I prefer this method for a couple of reasons. First,except on two-foot putts, I don't actually hit the ball straight to thetarget. I'm always playing the break, or allowing for the wind, orexpecting some fade or draw or bounce or roll. If my mind is on the target,I'm not giving proper attention to those factors.

Indeed, if I become target-fixated, I might tend to startmy shot straight at the flag, only to see it blow or drift off course. WhatI want to do is make my ball reach the very height of its ideal flight, orin the case of a draw or fade, the farthest right or left point of itscurve. This after all is as much as I can do -- I can't bring it to earth.

If I hit the shot with the proper trajectory and shape,gravity and ballistics will do the rest. So I try to get a vivid picture ofthe spot in the sky where the ball will ultimately reach. I do this even onputts. I "see" the ball at the very crest of its break; then I try to hitit there.

2. With the ideal picture in mind, I walk to theball and, holding the club with my right hand only, I set the clubhead downon the ground behind the ball. This is where I take careful aim. Standingwell open so that I can see the route to the target clearly, I adjust theorientation of the clubface until I've got it set straight toward where Iwant the shot to go.

3. Now that my aim is set, I begin to align mybody and take my grip. I do this by moving my left foot into position,simultaneously setting my left-hand grip on the club. For the next coupleof seconds, I get comfortable, shifting my feet and hands until I know mygrip is square and secure and my body alignment is in sync with theclubface.

At this point also, I lift the clubhead off the ground,and I keep it off the ground through the rest of my address. You'veprobably noticed that Jack Nicklaus does the same thing. In fact, it was byreading his book that I adopted this technique.

It has a couple of benefits over the alternative,grounding the club. First, it establishes the proper grip pressure. Theweight of the clubhead forces you to hold the club with a certain amount oftension. It also makes you arch your wrists slightly, a nice way ofguarding against letting your hands take over the swing.

Second, when you keep the club off the ground there is nochance that you'll get it caught in heavy grass as you swing it away fromthe ball. You guarantee yourself a smooth, unbroken takeaway.

Finally, you lessen the risk of accidentally moving theball, or of grounding your club in a hazard. Either of these Rulesviolations would cost you a one-stroke penalty.

4. Once my grip and stance are set, I couldimmediately swing, but each of us needs a certain amount of time to getcomfortable. It's at this point that I take a couple of waggles, quickback-and-forth flexes of the club, to get loose, get the feel of theclubhead and hone in one last time on the type of shot I want to play. Atsome point during the waggling I'll take one last look at the target. ThenI'm ready to go.

5. Of course, each of us needs some way in whichto pull the trigger. For Gary Player, it's a forward kicking-in of hisright knee. For Jack Nicklaus it's the swiveling of his head to the right.It's their way of igniting the swing.

My method is unique; at least I've never seen anyone elseuse it. Throughout the final stages of the address sequence, I hover theclub just inside the ball. In a sense, I address the ball only with the toeof the clubhead.

Many people know that this is the way I address my putts,but the fact is I use the same method on every other shot as well. Justbefore I begin my swing, however, I slide the clubhead away from meslightly so that it's squarely behind the ball. Fuzzy Zoeller makes thesame move, only he starts the club outside the ball and slides it towardhim.

Each player has a different swing trigger. Indeed,everyone has a different address countdown suited to the pace with whichthey do things. Fast players such as Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins take verylittle time in playing their shots. A more deliberate player such asNicklaus will spend more time over the ball.

Personally, I'm a firm believer in making the addresscountdown as brief as possible. For one thing, it's good etiquette andmoves the game along a bit faster. But more important, a brisk pace helpsbreed confidence.

One fault many players get into is the incessant fiddlingand fidgeting during the address. It seems to me that they'resecond-guessing themselves at a time when they should be absolutelyconfident and ready to swing.

U.S. Open and PGA Champion Hubert Green went through aperiod when he pumped his grip up to 20 times before finally taking theclub back-and that was when he played some of his worst golf. After he cuthis address routine in half, he doubled his productivity as a player. Itdoesn't take long to get comfortably aligned. Lee Trevino, one of thegame's most accurate players, is also one of the game's fastest players.

No matter what the duration of your pre-swing routine,the most important point is that you stick with that routine and use it onevery shot. Don't let outside interferences interrupt your countdowneither.

If a car horn honks while you're setting your stance,step back. Step all the way back. On occasion, I've gone as far as to putthe club back into the bag and then take it out again-the same club -- justso I could "take it from the top" and regain my rhythm and confidence.

After you've developed your routine, you'll be surprisedat how dependent on it you'll become. I'll never forget the strange feelingI had during the third round of the British Open at Turnberry. A howlingrainstorm hit when I was in the middle of the 17th fairway. I mean, thatrain was coming horizontally!

The difficulty, however, was not so much in swinging inthis rain as it was in getting ready to swing. I simply couldn't use mynormal routine. I'd get out there, holding the club in my right hand onlyand trying to align the face, and the rain would soak the grip, so that bythe time I tried to grip the club, the leather was too slippery to hold.

After trying two or three times to keep the routine, Igave up and improvised, taking my grip under my umbrella, then walking tothe ball, waggling a couple of times, and hitting. Fortunately, I gotthrough the storm relatively unscathed. But it was the discomfort of beingwithout my routine that bothered me more than the rain.

Thank goodness, such conditions are rare. So learn thesebasics and put them all together in a brisk, efficient countdown, andyou'll have the solid foundation to play your aggressive best.

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