For extra distance, swing back extra slow

JACK NICKLAUS: I won the 1970 British Open at St. Andrews in a fierce 18-hole playoff with Doug Sanders. A lot has been written about the par putt Doug missed on 18 the previous day and my birdie putt on the final hole to win. But a key shot in the playoff was my drive that rolled all the way over the green on the par-4 18th. That was a good poke -- 358 yards.

When I want to hit the ball farther, I don't go at it harder. I swing slower. Thinking harder makes you take the club back faster and hit the ball quickly, which can throw you off balance. So I make a conscious effort to swing the club back slowly. I still have the adrenaline going, and I'm probably maintaining the same pace. This gets all the elements of my motion timed so they happen in the proper, natural progression. After a slow backswing and smooth change of direction, I can just let it rip.

Most great players of the past were able to get extra yardage when they really needed it. Because the ball spun more -- and curved more -- these players swung at 80 percent most of the time for control. But they could accelerate when they really wanted to. That's a good way for average golfers to play today.

Notice Jack says he swings the club back, instead of takes it back. What does that mean? He's moving the club back with his hands and arms, not locking up his shoulders. That creates less tension, and it's less likely the shoulders will interfere with a free-flowing downswing. It might not be what you'd instinctively do, but the result is maximum clubhead speed.

If you swing back too quickly, it takes more energy to stop the club and change direction. In practice, try hitting the same distance -- say 125 yards -- with different clubs to get your body and club in sync.

Segment the green to pick a good target

I'm not sure why, but amateur golfers seem to be wired to aim at the flag on middle-and short-iron approaches. Everybody likes to make birdies, but many players don't realize just what kind of risk they're taking when they aim that way.

Tour players see pin positions like the one above and quickly accept that a 30-footer is a good outcome. The flag is sitting at the front of the green, directly behind a deep bunker. For a tour player, hitting a bunker shot isn't a problem, but one from a bunker that deep, to a tight flag, could mean a bogey or worse.

Aiming at the safe green zone is the best play, even with a short iron. You could risk aiming at the yellow -- a slight push might leave you with a decent birdie putt -- but going for the flag doesn't make sense. For every birdie you make, you might record nine "others." It just doesn't add up.

Hands Off Pitch Shots

When you're faced with a 30- or 40-yard pitch, it's easy to forget that the correct technique is a smaller version of the full swing, where the arms and body -- not the hands -- move the club through impact. At shorter distances, the tendency is to slow everything down and use your hands to flick at the ball -- either because it seems like the right way to produce a shorter shot or is a misguided attempt to create backspin.

Instead, make sure you turn your body through the ball -- less aggressively than you would for a full-wedge shot but still a real turn -- and the clubhead moves through with the hips and shoulders, not ahead of them (right). You should feel as if your hands are passive and aren't contributing to the power of the shot. You regulate distance by the length of your swing and speed of your rotation.

With this technique, the consistency and quality of your impact will improve, and you'll be able to predict your landing spot and roll-out distance with much more accuracy.

Hitting Out Of A Fairway Bunker

1.
TAKE AN EXTRA CLUB
The common miss from fairway sand is fat, and that comes from driving the legs on the downswing. The driving action lowers your center of gravity, which works great from the grass but in the softer sand often leads to hitting behind the ball. To quiet that forward leg drive, swing a little easier with a longer club. If there's a high lip, make sure you have enough loft to clear it, but if the lip is low, club up and swing easy.

2.
STAND TALL AT ADDRESS
Hold your chin up to set your spine angle a little more vertical. Taller posture promotes an around-the-body swing and a more level strike, so you can pick the ball without digging. Resist the urge to dive down into impact, as golfers often do to try to help the ball out of the sand.

3.
DON'T BREAK THE GLASS
Imagine your ball is sitting on a pane of glass: You want to clip it off without smashing the glass. Feel as if you stay tall all the way through the shot. Remember, hitting the ball thin out of a fairway bunker is a good thing, and too thin is usually better than any kind of fat.

Rule No. 1: Position The Ball

With the driver, most golfers play the ball too far forward and stand too far away from it. This might feel powerful, but it sets some bad things in motion. The forward ball position shifts the shoulders open to the target, which leads to an out-to-in swing and usually a slice. Standing too far from the ball pulls the upper body downward, leading to a compensating stand-up move through impact, another common cause of the slice.

Here's how to make sure your ball position is correct. Tee it up in line with the logo on your shirt, or just inside your left heel. (For shorter clubs, the ball should stay in line with the logo, but the stance should be narrower, making the ball more centered relative to the body.) As for distance from the ball, the butt of the grip at address should be about six inches from your body. Check this by setting up and then taking your right hand off the grip, moving it about a foot to your right. You shouldn't feel like you have to reach to put it back on the club.

Playing the ball in the correct place takes no athletic ability, it's just remembering to monitor it. Get it right, and your driving will improve immediately.

Chipping With A Fairway Metal

1. Shorten the Shaft
From just off the green, I like to chip with a fairway metal, like a 3- or 4-wood. Why not just use a putter? Because a putter has only 4 or 5 degrees of loft, but a fairway metal has 15 or 20. The extra loft will pop the ball up just enough to let you carry it on -- a big plus for judging distance. The difficulty with the fairway-metal chip is, you have a long club but only a short distance to go. So grip down a few inches, even to the end of the rubber, to control the club for better touch.

2. Make a Putting Stroke
You don't want body movement during the swing, so start with your weight on your front foot, where it needs to be at impact. Everything else is like you're hitting a long putt. Stand tall, and even consider using your putting grip. The swing is just like a long putting stroke: Arms and shoulders, back and through. Don't try to hinge your wrists, but keep them soft enough to react to the motion. If your hands and arms stay relaxed, you can make a smooth stroke.

3. Keep the Clubhead Low
Feel as if you're making a level strike. Keep the clubhead low to the ground through impact, trusting the loft on the club to lift the ball. Remember, you're trying to get the ball only an inch or so off the ground. The hardest thing about this shot is gauging distance. Practice it to learn how hot the ball comes off the club.

Get Down In Three

The reality is, tour players get up and down only about 50 percent of the time from greenside bunkers, and they have great technique, practice all the time and play courses in perfect condition.

I point that out not to discourage you, but to get you to look at the big picture when you're faced with a tough sand shot. If you're aiming at the flag and aren't sure if you can carry the lip, or you have a weird stance, you're already fighting the odds. You need to think about the easiest way to get up and down in three, so do a little math. For most players, it means getting out of the bunker successfully -- in any direction -- then taking two putts. Don't be afraid to turn away from the hole and give yourself a lower lip, flatter stance or more green to hit to. You'll have a much better average outcome -- and better chance to hole your next shot -- if you're safely on the green instead of hitting again from the bunker after you crashed one off the lip.

Improve Your Accuracy

If your mind is cluttered with swing thoughts and you're struggling to hit the ball straight, try this drill to help you square the clubface at impact.

Put two short-iron shafts on the ground on either side of a ball parallel to your target line and about six to eight inches apart. You can tee the ball to make the drill less daunting, but make sure the shafts extend toward the target to create a channel for your club to travel through.

Now swing the club so it moves from inside the target line at the start of the alley, goes down the channel, and then moves back inside the target line at the exit.

This drill not only improves your clubpath, but in squaring the clubface it educates your hands, forearms and body to move toward the target as you swing down and through.