Should I Steer The Ball onto a Tight Fairway? (Video) - by Dean Butler
Should I Steer The Ball onto a Tight Fairway? (Video) - by Dean Butler

So should I steer the ball into a tight fairway? Well, the answer is no, you might feel that you want to do it and who could blame you? Much as standing on – on a tee here, you’re trying to drive a shot down a fairway, it’s very narrow. We’ve got water on the left, water on the right. But the fairway is say 30 yards wide. And that’s quite a narrow fairway with 30 yard wide. So you’re getting on the tee and what you’re doing is you’re actually looking at what is on the perimeters, you’re looking at the water, you’re looking at the water, so you get onto your shot and all of a sudden you end up trying to steer a golf shot. And when you steer a golf shot you’re actually cutting the swing short and you’re actually creating more problems. So if I was aiming for you and it was a narrow hole and I shook the club back and try to steer it, I’d end up with a follow-through which doesn’t exist. And by stopping, you’re stopping the natural action so you’re more likely from this position to quit on the shot and maybe come across and spin the ball one way or the other.

Now I know it’s hard because it’s psychological. But if you have the same golf shot, but this time there was no water, you would stand there and you would select your club and you would go for your process of setting up. And you would get over the ball and you would commit yourself to turning your shoulders and getting yourself through the ball. And that really is where we forgot to kind of start and finish the session. When you get on that, think about it, select the club, select where you want that ball to finish, forget what’s on the outside. There’s no different to a horse going down a racetrack it’s got blinkers on. All it can see is what’s ahead of him. Don’t look what’s out there because if you do you’re fueling your mind to almost putt it into these problem areas. So set yourself up, pick your marker down the fairway and from here just do what you normally do on a massive, big, wide fairway. Commit yourself to it, swing in that club from here make sure that you’ll turn. As you get back to that ball just make sure that we finish that swing off. In your mind you think, I’d be better steering it but trust me, if you put three or four balls down, and you commit yourself to that movement and your thought pattern is different. You’re blinking like that horse in the racetrack, you’ll hit straighter shots, keep the ball in play. Rather than getting over that ball, steering it, and when we try and steer, we are cutting this swing in a natural movement down and that’s when we impart more side spin. So the next time; you go out put that marker – put the marker down the fairway, and commit yourself to whatever club it is. If it is a fairway, wood or a driver, commit yourself to the swing and you will see that ball going in a much straighter direction, but you have to commit and that means 100% up here thinking about where you want the ball to go, rather than where you think the ball might go. Next time you go out, put it into practice and I can assure you that once you get that mental side sorted out, you’ll get a better, more consistent results. 2014-05-16

So should I steer the ball into a tight fairway? Well, the answer is no, you might feel that you want to do it and who could blame you? Much as standing on – on a tee here, you’re trying to drive a shot down a fairway, it’s very narrow. We’ve got water on the left, water on the right. But the fairway is say 30 yards wide. And that’s quite a narrow fairway with 30 yard wide. So you’re getting on the tee and what you’re doing is you’re actually looking at what is on the perimeters, you’re looking at the water, you’re looking at the water, so you get onto your shot and all of a sudden you end up trying to steer a golf shot. And when you steer a golf shot you’re actually cutting the swing short and you’re actually creating more problems. So if I was aiming for you and it was a narrow hole and I shook the club back and try to steer it, I’d end up with a follow-through which doesn’t exist. And by stopping, you’re stopping the natural action so you’re more likely from this position to quit on the shot and maybe come across and spin the ball one way or the other.

Now I know it’s hard because it’s psychological. But if you have the same golf shot, but this time there was no water, you would stand there and you would select your club and you would go for your process of setting up. And you would get over the ball and you would commit yourself to turning your shoulders and getting yourself through the ball. And that really is where we forgot to kind of start and finish the session. When you get on that, think about it, select the club, select where you want that ball to finish, forget what’s on the outside. There’s no different to a horse going down a racetrack it’s got blinkers on. All it can see is what’s ahead of him. Don’t look what’s out there because if you do you’re fueling your mind to almost putt it into these problem areas. So set yourself up, pick your marker down the fairway and from here just do what you normally do on a massive, big, wide fairway. Commit yourself to it, swing in that club from here make sure that you’ll turn. As you get back to that ball just make sure that we finish that swing off.

In your mind you think, I’d be better steering it but trust me, if you put three or four balls down, and you commit yourself to that movement and your thought pattern is different. You’re blinking like that horse in the racetrack, you’ll hit straighter shots, keep the ball in play. Rather than getting over that ball, steering it, and when we try and steer, we are cutting this swing in a natural movement down and that’s when we impart more side spin. So the next time; you go out put that marker – put the marker down the fairway, and commit yourself to whatever club it is. If it is a fairway, wood or a driver, commit yourself to the swing and you will see that ball going in a much straighter direction, but you have to commit and that means 100% up here thinking about where you want the ball to go, rather than where you think the ball might go. Next time you go out, put it into practice and I can assure you that once you get that mental side sorted out, you’ll get a better, more consistent results.