The post Keegan Bradley decision? Ex-Ryder Cup captain, player says he should do 2 things appeared first on Golf.

The post Keegan Bradley decision? Ex-Ryder Cup captain, player says he should do 2 things appeared first on Golf.

Hal Sutton remembers being a Ryder Cup player. And a Ryder Cup captain. 

And being a Ryder Cup captain ahead of the Ryder Cup. 

“They cart you around promoting it everywhere in the country, the PGA of America does,” he said. 

His captaincy came in 2004, and before that, Sutton had played in four Ryder Cups, so he’s well-versed in the happenings of the biennial event. And if Keegan Bradley were to call, he’d know what he’d tell him. 

Appearing on this week’s episode of GOLF’s “Subpar” podcast, Sutton was aware of the three-option choice facing Bradley:

– He could captain the U.S. team for its match against Europe at the end of September at Bethpage Black in New York. Bradley was picked for the role last July. 

News

– He could play for the Americans — and not captain (or handle fewer of the duties). In this case, one of Bradley’s vice-captains would likely take over the responsibilities. Currently, Bradley is ranked eighth in the world among Americans, and he’s 10th in the U.S. Ryder Cup team points standings. After Sunday’s play at the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship, the top six in those standings will make the squad — and on Aug. 27, Bradley will make six captain’s picks to fill out the roster. 

– He could captain and play. No one has done this since Arnold Palmer was a playing captain at the 1963 event. 

On “Subpar,” Sutton said he would tell Bradley to play — and delegate the captain’s work to someone else. 

“I think he ought to play, to be honest with you,” Sutton said on the podcast. “If he called me and asked me what, I’d say play. I always had more fun playing because you can affect the outcome playing. As a captain, you’re no better than they are playing. And if they’re not playing well, it’s pretty hard to win, no matter what you do. You can’t out-captain out of that. So I’d play.”

“Subpar” co-host Drew Stoltz then asked Sutton if he should serve the dual role or just play. 

Said Sutton: “Just play.” 

Said Stoltz: “Just play. Defer the captaincy to someone else.” 

Said Sutton: “Yeah, because it takes your mind off of the playing if you’ve got to make some decisions on being a captain, too. I think he ought to — he’s got qualified people that are assistants; he can let one of them do it, you know.” 

Said “Subpar” co-host Colt Knost: “Yeah. I mean, it’s obviously you’re not going to get many chances to be a Ryder Cup captain. He was obviously appointed at a very young age and he’s been playing great golf. I just know if the job’s to put the 12 best players out there, he’s one of them. He’s on that list.”

Said Sutton: “That’s my opinion, too.”

Said Knost: “Yeah, I like it.”

Editor’s note: To watch the entire episode of “Subpar” with Sutton, please click here or scroll immediately below.  

The post Keegan Bradley decision? Ex-Ryder Cup captain, player says he should do 2 things appeared first on Golf.

The post Major winner shares 10 keys for splitting every fairway appeared first on Golf.

The post Major winner shares 10 keys for splitting every fairway appeared first on Golf.

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we look back at Hal Sutton’s 10 tips for hitting more fairways from our April 2001 issue. For unlimited access to the full GOLF Magazine digital archive, join InsideGOLF today; you’ll enjoy $140 of value for only $39.99/year.

Getting off the tee without trouble is a crucial skill in golf. No matter your talent level, you’ll always have an easier time scoring when you are playing from the short grass.

The pros do this better than most. This year on the PGA Tour, players are hitting nearly 60 percent of the fairways — and that’s while many are playing with ball speeds over 175 mph. Simply put, if you want to shave some strokes off your scores, learn how to game a reliable tee shot.

For more on that, we turn to 1983 PGA Championship winner Hal Sutton. Back in 2001, he joined GOLF Magazine to share 10 tips on hitting more fairways. Put them in action and you’re sure to become a more accurate driver off the tee.

Sutton’s 10 tips for driving accuracy

Everybody wants to pull out the driver and rip a tee shot down the fairway. And on the PGA Tour, no one has hit the  driver with more consistency over the 20 years than Hal Sutton.

Sutton is at the top of his game right now with five victories in the past three seasons. He consistently ranks at or near the top of the Tour’s rankings in Fairways Hit and Total Driving (a statistic that combines driving distance and accuracy). The secret to Sutton’s swing is really not much of a secret at all: He makes a relatively simple motion and repeats it day after day. Most golfers — including many amateurs — are physically capable of making a swing similar to Hal’s. 

Here’s how he does it, along with the keys every golfer should copy to hit more fairways.

1. No manipulation

Before you can put together the parts that make a repeatable swing, it is important to understand what that motion looks like. The photo above shows how Sutton’s club moves along the target line with the face square to the target for only an instant. Great drivers know this, and don’t try to steer the clubface along the target line. Many amateurs try to manipulate the clubface so it faces the target at impact, but this actually inhibits a consistent motion. The best drivers have complete trust in their swing. They let it happen. Because the driver’s swing arc is almost a circle, the trick is to position the ball where the clubhead will be facing the target, This spot is even with the outside of the left hip socket. 

2. Addressing accuracy

At address, relax the arms and hold the club lightly but securely in the fingers. This gives the swing a smooth start, leading to a repeatable rhythm and pace.

Sutton’s stance is relatively wide, his shoulders fitting between his heels. This creates a very stable base. The more stable the foundation, the less likely you are to reverse pivot (lean toward the target at the top of the backswing). A reverse pivot kills power and accuracy.

3. Gradual acceleration

As noted earlier, Sutton understands that the clubhead swings on a nearly circular path. He also knows that for this motion to be consistent, the clubhead must gradually build up speed on the downswing. If you rush the transition from backswing to downswing, or try to hurry the downswing, the timing between the body and the arms is thrown off and disasters occur.

Golfers with poor timing try to manipulate the club through impact and steer the ball toward the fairway. But trying to control the club forces the arms and hands to tighten, so the clubface is in a different position on every swing. Tightness also means tension, which cuts into both accuracy and distance.

To learn the feeling of gradual acceleration, make six practice swings with out stopping between swings. Start slowly and gradually increase the speed until you sense the centrifugal force pulling on your hands. At full speed, this sensation should be strongest just after impact. It means you are swinging along the proper arc at the proper pace without excessive tension or manipulation. The clubface will be square at the same place in every swing. If yo can feel this in your real swing, you’ll hit more fairways.

4. Body turn supplies power

To generate maximum clubhead speed while maintaining control, the body must turn in the proper sequence. Many golfers try to start the club back by turning their hips rather than the arms and shoulders, which leads to inconsistent contact and a less powerful coil.

The body should coil from the top down during the backswing, then uncoil from the bottom up during the downswing. Sutton uses shoulder rotation to lead the move away from the ball.

To feel this proper coil, you don’t need a club, just sit on a bar stool to immobilize the hips. Practice swinging back until the club would be parallel to the ground; you should feel the shoulders — not the hips — rotating the spine. If the hips don’t push the stool back, they are stable and the coiling action is incorrect.

5. Hands stay between elbows

Nearly every poor driver starts the swing by pulling the hands and clubhead too far inside. From here, the only way to return to the proper path is to reroute it, and unless you do it the same way every time, you’re guaranteeing inconsistent results.

The hands should remain in front of the chest all the way to the top of the backswing. As you look at Sutton, imagine two thin walls jutting straight out of his shoulders: Notice how his hands stay within these two walls.

6. Shaft points inside the target line

About halfway back, when the left arm is parallel to the ground, check that the butt end of the shaft points at or inside the target line (but never outside the line). This position means that your wrists are hinging correctly and that the arms are swinging the club up, rather than around the body, to the top.

7. Pick the best angle

Create the best angle for hitting the fairway. On this hole — a dogleg left — I’ll tee the ball near the right tee marker to open up a better angle around the corner. Notice that I’m not teeing up against the marker; this is because it’s important to swing from a level area. In general, if you fade your drives, tee the ball on the far right side of the tee and aim to the left edge of the fairway, If you draw the ball, tee up on the far left side and aim to the right side of the fairway.

News

8.Think before you drive

For consistent, accurate drives, build consistency and accuracy into your pre-swing strategy and routine. Here’s how.

First, stick with one shot shape for every drive. If you’re more comfortable hitting a fade, use it every time. If you prefer to draw the ball, always plan to hit a draw. Making, and sticking to, this decision will eliminate tension. 

Second, pick a target that you can hit eight out of 10 times with your average swing. Make finding the fairway your first priority; distance second.

I try to incorporate the pre-swing keys before every drive. If you do the same, you can’t help but hit more fairways.

9. Use the same tee height

I want the equator of the ball even with the top if the clubhead at address. This provides the best opportunity of making square, solid impact as the clubhead passes the bottom of its arc. A trick I use to tee the ball the same — and preferred — height is to push the tee into the ground with my ring finger extended; when my fingertip touches the ground, the ball is at the right height.

10. Choose an intermediate target

I never hit a drive without choosing an intermediate target directly on the ball’s flight line and within three feet of the tee. Once I’ve chosen my target from behind the ball, I keep my eyes on that spot as I walk up to the ball and step into address. I don’t look away until my clubface is perfectly aligned. Then it’s time to start the swing and hit the fairway.

The post Major winner shares 10 keys for splitting every fairway appeared first on Golf.

The post Hal Sutton on his two careers, his Tour ‘regret’ and what brings him happiness appeared first on Golf.

The post Hal Sutton on his two careers, his Tour ‘regret’ and what brings him happiness appeared first on Golf.

Hal Sutton was a 24-year-old second-year pro when he won the 1983 Players Championship. Five months later he stared down his idol, Jack Nicklaus, to win the PGA Championship at Riviera. Over the next three seasons, he won four more times. The “Bear Apparent,” as Sutton had been dubbed, was seemingly on his way to extraordinary heights.

But then came the drought, a nine-year winless spell that extended from 1986 to 1995. “I took my foot off the accelerator,” Sutton, who is 66, says now. The Shreveport, La., native eventually found the gas pedal again at the 1995 B.C. Open, the first of seven more Tour titles he would add to his resume. Sutton also captained a U.S. Ryder Cup team, in a losing campaign at Oakland Hills in 2004.

Today, Sutton has shifted his professional focus from playing golf courses to building them, including the likes of TPC Treviso Bay in Naples, Fla., and Boot Ranch in Fredericksburg, Tex., a pursuit, Sutton says, that has brought him great joy. On a recent visit with Sutton at his latest design credit — the Darmor Club in Columbus, Texas — GOLF.com spoke to the 14-time Tour winner about both his playing and designing careers, his regrets and what advice he’d offer today’s up-and-comers.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

GOLF.com: How do you assess your playing career versus what you’ve accomplished in your designing career?

Hal Sutton: I’m so much happier as an architect than I was as a player. What I’ve found is the playing goes away in a hurry, but the architecture can stay forever. I get real pleasure out of people enjoying my course [Darmor], and I think it gets better every day. … When I did Boot Ranch and this one, I was here every day, working every hole and seeing to every detail. No architect does that. They come in every six weeks or so and then move on. I did a course in Florida with Arthur Hills and another in Japan; I just put my name on those. This is where I want to spend my time.

Your last PGA Tour win came in Houston in 2001, and you didn’t play much on the Champions Tour on account of hip issues. How much do you remember from your playing days?

I have some regrets and made some mistakes when I first started.

How so?

I started out hot with a PGA Championship and a Players title, but a veteran player I respected told me I didn’t know how to play for the money. I asked him what that meant and he said I didn’t know how to play percentage golf and earn some good checks when you didn’t win.

How did that affect you?

I took my foot off the accelerator on the course and put my foot on the break and started to play percentage golf, which I regret. As a result, I shot a lot less scores in the 80s, but nobody really cares about that. I didn’t win as much.

What advice would you give today’s rising talents?

Don’t listen to people about your game, listen to yourself. When you come out on Tour, everybody is an expert. One of the problems I had when I first came out was I listened to you [the media]. I figured they had been around the game, and when they wrote somebody about me, I figured they knew something and I listened. That was a mistake.

How important is it for young players to have mentors like you had with Jack Burke, Jr.?

Get somebody who will call you when you don’t expect it. Jack was that for me — not somebody after the all-mighty dollar. When you turn pro, everybody is an expert, and everybody is trying to make a niche for themselves. You don’t need that.

Were you misunderstood as a golfer?

I never really thought about it to be honest. I guess to have thought about it would have meant I cared what people thought, and I really didn’t.

Did you think much about your hot start, winning both the PGA and Players Championship in 1983?

I didn’t really think about it at the time. When you’re a competitor, you never think it’s not going to go well. You don’t think about the other side. That’s some real wisdom for you.

It’s become customary to blame a U.S. Ryder Cup loss on the U.S. captain, as happened with Zach Johnson last year. Would you like a mulligan with your own captaincy?

No, I’ve got big shoulders, I can take it. I feel I let a few majors slip away. I led on the back nine Sunday and didn’t close it out.  Of course, I never missed a short one [putt] to lose one, either. I didn’t really dwell on it. I did the best I could and moved on.

What other memories, good or bad, stick with you from your playing days?

I like to collect art. I was in Carmel, California, with my wife and saw a large painting of a train getting ready to pull out of the station and a man standing there watching it leave. That really spoke to me, because for a great deal of my career, I just felt I was just on another plane, another car, just going somewhere to some other tournament, some other event.

Is golf architecture your life now?

I love to just be out here, give lessons, watch people play, spend time with my wife and travel with her. It’s very peaceful, and it’s really hard to get me upset about anything these days. I just want this [Darmor Club] to be my contribution back to the game which has done so much for me.

The post Hal Sutton on his two careers, his Tour ‘regret’ and what brings him happiness appeared first on Golf.