IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME

This expert junior player is practicing shifting his weight to his forward leg without moving his back knee. He has two “keepers” in this drill: keep the knee flex, and keep the knee over the right heel.

Here he shifts pressure into his lead foot while his back knee stays quiet, with a bit of inclination to the target. The key is not allowing knee motion out toward the target line.

It’s no secret that humans are language-driven — words have meaning and meaning summons images that, in turn, cue motor behavior. The sequence is (1) hear it, (2) image it, (3) feel it, (4) do it. And for a golfer, no word triggers this

sequence more assuredly than the S-word — aka the hosel rocket, the pitch-out or, as some call it, the heebie-jeebies.

I try to avoid actually spelling out the awful S-word when I write, and I don’t allow its use on my lesson tee. The S is a shot that can seemingly “cause itself,” and like some out-of-control virus that gains a foothold in the body, it can spread

rapidly throughout your entire game if you don’t nip it in the bud.

Tiger had the S’s and so did Henrik Stenson (with the driver). Tom Watson admits to having them, and way back in the early 1900s, the great Harry Vardon quit playing because of them.

Johnny Miller was asked what his swing key was during his record-setting 63 to win the U.S. Open in 1973, and he responded, “I only had one thought over the ball: Don’t shank it!” Miller went on to explain to writer John Garrity that “he once held the final-round lead in the Bing Crosby Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, only to crash and burn with a cold-shanked approach shot on the 16th hole. He was never able to erase that shot from his memory bank.”

Whether you’re a great player or a hacker, the S is the ultimate barnacle you’re never rid of. It’s the herpes of golf shots.

The Problem The S happens when you’ve hit the ball with the hosel of the club (the metal cylinder that connects the clubhead to the shaft) rather than with the clubface. In other words, you’ve pretty much missed the ball as badly as you can without whiffing.

The cause? Chances are you’re allowing your back knee to thrust out toward the target line during the downswing. With the knee jutting out, the hands have no choice but to swing out and around the knee, presenting the neck of the club to the ball.

The Solution Take a few practice swings while keeping your back knee inside your toe line. The knee remains quiet, but not stonelike. It should be just fluid enough to allow a shift of pressure to your front foot a move that keeps you hitting down on the ball.