How to play a par 5 successfully from tee to green

By Eddie Lee

Strategy

02 April 2008 14:00

“This is Eddie Lee, PGA member and certified instructor here at the David Leadbetter golf academy at the Walaya golf club. We’re playing the 18th hole on the Emerald course, it’s a par 5, about 550 yards, the signature hole here and if you hit a good drive you can actually hit this green in two. There are two things we’re going to talk about; we’re going to talk about the set-up position and also the motion. Now in the set-up position what we’re going to feel, is we’re going to get the ball position just off our left armpit, the weight position 60 percent on the right side, 40 percent on the left. We’re going to get our right shoulder down with our left shoulder up. We’re going to get our spine behind the ball. That way we can look at the back of the ball, and specifically the closest part of the ball. That will promote the clubhead to attack the golf ball more from the inside, rather than the outside.

"Now in the golf swing, the key to hitting consistent drives is to control the backswing length. What I see with a lot of golfers is the overswing. So what happens is as they finish their body pivots and to finish their backswing they lift their arms to the top. So their arms are getting disconnected from the body’s location. Conversely on the way down when they lift to the top to complete it they throw their hands at the ball, creating no lag and getting the club to move a little bit to the outside to the ball rather than to the inside.

"What I want you to feel is that the club stops where the left arm is horizontal to the ground and the shaft is pointing up in a letter L position. Now feel and real is a totally different thing. What you are going to feel is the club is stopping in the letter L position, but in reality with momentum the club is probably going to go back just a little further. But that’s OK, you won’t get disconnected and conversely swing over the top. Now let’s put that into action.

"What I’m left with now is 240 yards into this par 5 off a downhill lie. I’m going to make two adjustments in my set-up. I’m going to play the ball position back in my stance probably about two or three inches, the club will have a tendency to gravitate or ground out more toward the back of the stance, so I’m doing that adjustment. I’m also going to take my shoulders and match the slope. I’m going to take my right shoulder and dip my left shoulder down. The key to the motion is to keep that right side firing; I want to feel like that right shoulder is driving hard and through the golf shot. A good image is the right shoulder chasing the golf ball just a little bit longer. That’s going to keep me through the shot on this tilt. Let me show you how.

"I just hit a good hybrid in from about 240 yards out into this par five and I have about a 20-footer uphill. Now the key to putting is a couple of things. First you want to establish your set-up position and then get a good sense of awareness of your motion. A good roll off the putterhead is key in putting. In the set-up position you want to have your eyes directly over the golf ball. Get your left eye, specifically, directly over the golf ball. To test that you can take a golf ball and drop it from below your left eye. With your left eye over the ball you’re going to keep the putterhead moving down the line in a more consistent manner. From there I set up with the ball position about one inch to the left of the buttons in my shirt, the grip more in the palms of my hands, instead of the fingers, ball position right down of my left eye and about one inch left of centre. The motion itself you’re going to feel your left wrist staying nice and firm on the back, but I advocate that you release the putterhead a bit with your right hand coming through. You don’t want to feel too wooden with your hands as you’ll have a tendency to block the putt out to the right. It’s not a flip, it’s actually pointing. It never backs up, it never stays in front, it’s going to rock, pendulum-like. With every club you want to feel the face rotating and releasing. 

"So with this putt I’m going to set-up with my left eye directly over the golf ball, the grip in my palms, I’m going to tumble over a little bit more with my back, you don’t have to be nice and straight and strict as you do with the full golf shot, you can have a little bit of release in the back, and I’m going to release that putter head as I go back and through. A good sense before I make that motion is to get that ball rolling off the putterhead just like this. With those simple tips in your set-up position and motion you’ll make more putts.”