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Congratulations to Lucas Clover for winning the U.S Open this past week.
His world ranking moved up from (71) last week to 18. The big surprise was the form of David Duval who has been in the wilderness for such a long time. With the U.S Open result the former world number one has moved from (882) last week to 142 in the world
Rule of the Month
Question: A fellow Competitor’s drive may have landed in a water hazard as it cannot be located. Your competitor asks to drop his ball behind the hazard and incurs a one-stroke penalty. Should you allow this?
Answer: The rules don’t allow it and neither should you.
Rule 26-1 states that in the absence of knowing or being virtually certain that the ball entered a hazard; it must be treated as a lost ball.
Golfing Tip of the Month
Starting the Down Swing
The down swing happens in less than a second, is the culmination of the golf swing and the result of proper alignment, stance, grip and back swing. It requires a fluid movement of your body in a powerful and unified sequence of events. The three major phases of the downswing are:
- Shift
- Rotate
- Hit
In the beginning of the down swing, the arms and hands are passive, essentially in free fall from the top – The movement of the knees toward the target and the turning of the left hip and side back to the target initiates the downswing. This in turn sets up a chain reaction, whereby the power created by the resistance of the hips and shoulders is transferred into the back of the ball. At the top of your back swing, your upper body has completed its wind up and ideally the lower body has initiated the downswing.
Common Mistake: Do not start the downswing with your upper body, by first lunging at the ball with your head. Rather, you should feel the weight transfer from the ground up. Beginner golfers tend to swing hard with their arms and upper body, which in turn creates many problems. Swinging too hard will throw off your balance and weight-shift, which will actually reduce the power of your swing. A squarely hit ball will travel much further than a forcefully hit one.
