Greg Norman’s 3 simple tips to drive the ball long and straight

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, however the finest recommendation stands the check of time. In GOLF.com’s new collection, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting a few of the biggest recommendation academics and gamers have distributed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today, we glance again at our October 1995 concern the place Greg Norman shared three tips for driving the ball long and straight. For limitless entry to the full GOLF Magazine digital archive, be a part of InsideGOLF immediately; you’ll take pleasure in $140 of worth for less than $39.99/12 months.

With Greg Norman being such a polarizing determine in the trendy golf panorama it may be simple to overlook that he was a heck of a participant throughout his profession. With 20 PGA Tour titles and two main championships, he was amongst the recreation’s finest gamers throughout his enjoying prime.

Much of that success might be attributed to his unbelievable ball-striking expertise — significantly off the tee. With a driver in his arms, Norman was long and straight, a deadly combo that allowed him to decide aside programs like few others might.

If you’re inquisitive about what drove Norman’s success, you’re in luck. Back in 1995, the Shark penned a characteristic for GOLF Magazine outlining three tips for hitting the ball long and straight, which we’ve reproduced beneath. Check it out.

Norman’s 3 driving tips

As a teenager I cherished sports activities, enjoying all the things from rugby to cricket. But it wasn’t till I used to be 15 that I borrowed my Mum’s golf equipment and had my first go at golf at the Virginia Golf Club close to our dwelling in Queensland, Australia. 

I hit many extra unhealthy photographs than good that day and I don’t keep in mind my rating. But I do keep in mind that my few stable drives hooked me on the recreation. Immediately after the spherical, I picked up a duplicate of Jack Nicklaus’ Golf My Way and started my schooling. 

Three years later, with my handicap down to scratch, I received my first event, the Queensland Junior Championship. Three years after that, at age 21, I received my first Australian professional occasion — the 1976 West Lakes Classic. 

In 1983, having received in quite a few international locations, I made a decision to be a part of the PGA Tour and meet the problem of America head on. After simply eight years, I had eight titles and earnings of greater than $4,250,000. My banner 12 months was 1990, after I received Doral and The Memorial, and captured the Arnold Palmer award for main money-winner. I felt on prime of the world. 

A 12 months later, my recreation hit all-time low! I completed 53rd on the cash listing. More importantly, I’d fallen approach down in some key statistical classes, notably driving accuracy and greens in regulation. 

When I regarded again at that 12 months, it didn’t take long to notice I wanted assist. For 20 years I’d been counting on good genes, Jack’s guide, and some tips from Australian trainer Charlie Erp, who, in the early years, had smoothed out a few of the tough edges in my recreation. But it was time to transfer ahead, to construct a swing much less depending on excellent timing and rigorous follow, and extra probably to arise beneath stress. 

I wanted a brand new trainer, somebody I might belief. After a long search I selected Claude “Butch” Harmon. 

Butch was sincere. His first phrases after watching me hit a bag of balls at the TPC The Woodlands in Houston, Texas, have been, “Greg, your stance is too narrow; your footwork is poor; the swing is too long and too steep; and your hips sway on the backswing then slide on the downswing.” 

At that second, I knew what Nick Faldo and Nick Price should have felt years earlier after they made the dedication to revamp their swings. I knew that if I needed to play world-class golf, not solely would I’ve to sacrifice some enjoying time for follow, however in some ways I might have to begin from scratch. 

I practiced diligently in 1992, and it was value it: I climbed again to 18th in cash on Tour and my stats improved. In 1993, I completed third in cash and received the British Open at Royal St. George’s. Last 12 months, I used to be second on the cash listing and proved quite a bit to the golf world — and myself — by profitable The Players Championship with a 24-under-par 264 over the TPC at Sawgrass. 

This 12 months, fairly merely, I’m enjoying the finest golf of my life. 

I nonetheless work with Butch, stepping into for a swing examine every time and wherever I can. We return to the identical keys, the ones that now let me swing extra powerfully and hit a managed draw reasonably than my previous fade (and generally block). The keys are a barely robust grip; large stance; and fluid hip flip. 

You don’t have to be a Tour participant or perhaps a low-handicapper to discover success with my keys. You don’t have to observe each instruction tip to the letter to develop a greater understanding of your swing and the place it may be improved. But you do have to return to the fundamentals, as I did, examine them, and adapt them to your wants. 

I believe these keys will help you. I do know they actually helped me. 

1. Semi-strong, “Intermesh” grip

Your arms are the solely a part of your physique touching the membership, in order that they should be comfy and work collectively when forming a grip. 

When I first began enjoying golf, none of the grip choices — overlap, interlock, or 10-finger — felt comfy or safe. I felt as if my arms have been combating one another after I needed them functioning as a group. I experimented and invented a grip that wedded my arms comfortably to the membership. 

Call it the “intermesh” as a result of its key characteristic is the place of the proper pinkie—meshed snugly between the index and center fingers of the left hand. My arms aren’t very massive, and this maintain works finest for me.

Also uncommon about my grip is membership placement. Traditional educating requires holding the membership in the palm and fingers of the left hand and in the fingers of the proper hand. I don’t observe these guidelines, nor do I assume a impartial grip. 

Since this 12 months’s Masters I maintain the membership nearly fully in the fingers of my left hand: This lets me rotate that hand a notch extra to the proper (away from the goal), right into a barely stronger place. My left thumb presses evenly on the proper aspect of the grip. 

Butch confirmed me how a semistrong left hand units the left forearm barely to the proper at deal with, encouraging it to rotate on the backswing and place the membership on the right inside path. Coming down, the stronger grip enhances the releasing motion of your arms, arms, and the membership, closing the clubface by affect and selling a draw. 

In the proper hand, resting the membership alongside the base of the fingers will increase my sense of safety and confidence. Gripping up in the fingers can weaken management of the membership at the prime or by affect, when the membership is transferring as quick as 120 miles per hour. 

I’ve two additional checkpoints for the grip: 1) My left thumb matches into the crease beneath the pad of my proper hand. 2) Rather than squeezing extra tightly with the proper hand, I keep the identical diploma of stress in each arms — about 7 on a 1-to-10 scale. 

Even should you’re not comfy with the intermesh, attempt a stronger left hand. And nonetheless you grip the membership, make certain your arms kind a single unit and work collectively, which you guarantee by setting the palms parallel. 

Just as the arms are the solely hyperlink to the membership, your toes are the solely connection to the floor. Therefore, -you should begin with a stable basis. On the tee, this implies establishing along with your toes unfold shoulder-width aside, measuring — and that is vital — at the inside the heels. 

I knew that Ben Hogan performed from an extra-wide stance, however I used to be at all times so busy fascinated with positions and swing angles that I by no means thought to look down at my toes. Butch educated me on the worth of a large stance. 

A large stance leads to a number of enhancements: 

—An extended takeaway and wider swing arc.

—A shorter, extra compact swing.

—A flip, reasonably than slide, of your hips.

At 6-foot-1, it felt pure to take a slender stance. And I’d performed fairly properly that approach. What I didn’t know was that compensatory strikes and brute power have been permitting me to get away with it. But not all the time. 

Every now and once more, and typically when it counted most, the slender stance would fail me. I’d swing on such a slender arc that my proper wrist would hinge an excessive amount of at the prime, inflicting the membership to drop properly beneath parallel. I’d be at what Butch calls “the point of no return,” unable to bail out and save the swing. So I’d solid the membership, slide into affect with my hips too excessive, attain affect with the clubface open, and block the shot to the proper of goal. 

No extra. On each swing I examine my stance. I see many amateurs who might enhance by setting their toes farther aside. It isn’t simple to do at first. I recommend you image a baseball shortstop in the prepared place. Where are his toes? Spread shoulder-width aside so his complete physique is prepared for motion. 

3. Shift and rotate the hips

I by no means thought there was an issue with my foot-action till I noticed my swing on videotape, sliding my proper foot backward by affect. As Butch defined, that was another excuse I tended to fall again and block photographs to the proper, significantly beneath stress. 

A wider stance helped management many components of my recreation: I finished popping out of my knee flex, and stopped swaying my hips again and by. As a end result, my footwork improved, however not sufficient. 

I wanted to hold my left foot totally on the floor and my proper foot from sliding. To try this I had to cease fascinated with driving the legs on the downswing and begin rotating my hips. Butch mentioned the outcomes could be higher stability, a persistently sq. affect place, and protecting the clubface on the ball a split-second longer for long, correct photographs. 

Hip rotation was additionally the solely approach to cease ending in a extreme ReverseC place, which was taking a toll on my again and hips. 

Butch fearful that if I consciously thought of rotation, I might begin spinning the hips too violently, inflicting extra issues. He consulted with my bodily coach, Pete Draovitch, who taught me a simple drill to ingrain correct hip motion and enhance my flexibility: Stand in the deal with place holding a medication ball. From the set-up, flip away from a goal, then flip again, releasing the ball towards the goal. 

The drill works. Even should you substitute a basketball for a medication ball, you rapidly be taught correct hip rotation and the feeling of releasing the proper arm over the left by affect, needed for hitting a draw. 

More flexibility and good hip rotation let me swing by aggressively and safely— there’s no extra foot-slide or extreme Reverse-C. I make extra stable contact and draw the ball, giving Mme. further. distance by added roll. You can see the variations in my downswing and shot form by evaluating my new swing sequence images to the previous ones. Look how far proper the ball begins in the previous swing; you may see it drawing (and the clubhead closing) in the new. 

Work on hip rotation, reasonably than sliding, and see if quite a lot of your lower-body errors don’t disappear. 

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and modifying. Prior to becoming a member of the group at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers novice and ladies’s golf. He might be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.