Jim McLean - The 3 Scoring Clubs: How to Raise the Level of Your Driving, Pitching and Putting

ALSO BY JIM MCLEAN:

Golf Digests Ultimate Drill Book

Golf Digests Book of Drills

The Complete Idiots Guide to Improving Your Short Game

Golf School

The Eight-Step Swing

The X-Factor Swing

Diversion Books

A Division of Diversion Publishing Corp.

80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1101

New York, New York 10011

www.DiversionBooks.com

Copyright 2011 by Jim McLean

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For more information, email info@diversionbooks.com.

First Diversion Books edition July 2011.

ISBN: 978-0-9833371-5-7(ebook)

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I dedicate this book to my amateur and pro students, who have all worked diligently to improve their driving, wedge play, and putting skills, and for that reason have taken their games to the next level.

FOREWORD

The thought and time Jim McLean has given to the game of golf goes unparalleled. He is on an endless mission to solve this game called golfas we all are. I have personally discussed with him everyones desire to dominate this gameif such a thing is even possible, since no one has ever been able to fully master even checkers yet. But he has the patience and passion to get his students to play at a level that they have the time to accomplish. He has helped people from all walks of life and all levels of the game. I dont know where he gets the energy.

The mission to get everyone better is his bottom line. While spending a week with Jim McLean at the Doral Golf Club we both explained to our classes that each person has a good swing in him. Lets start taking that swing now. Dont wait any longer to get good.

All the best,

Jack Burke, Jr.
Houston, Texas
February 2005

INTRODUCTION

In 1953, Herbert Warren Wind, the renowned writer for The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated, asked legendary golfer Ben Hogan to name the three most important scoring clubs.

Some years later, Wind asked teaching guru Harvey Penick the very same question.

Both times, the response was the same: Driver, Wedge, Putter.

I know only too well the truth behind the words of Hogan and Penick, based on my long association with the game of golf.

Good scoring depends most on the golfers ability to drive the ball accurately, hit on-target wedge shots, and possess a dependable putting gamein no specific order. So much so that, if a golfer can just improve the driver, wedge, and putter in a bag of fourteen clubs, he or she will lower their handicap dramatically enough to take their golf game to the next level. Specifically, the novice or high-handicap player, which I call a Beginner player; will move up and become an intermediate 1020 handicap Mid-Level player, the Mid-Level player will progress to the low 19 handicap Advanced status; and the low 19 handicap Advanced player will be on his way to quickly evolving into a scratch golfer.

What sets The 3 Scoring Clubs apart from any other instruction book that Ive written, or those that have been made available to golfers over the years, is its concentration on instruction for the three most important areas of the game. More importantly, rather than general instruction for all golfers, each part of the book is geared specifically to Beginner, Mid-Level, and Advanced right-handed players (lefties should simply reverse my instructions). Furthermore, each of the three parts of the book includes instructions on much more than technical driving, wedge-play, and putting tips. Based on my experience as a teacher and player, this book offers tips on equipment, shot-making, fault-fixing, on-course strategies, innovative practice, and how-to tips for thinking your way to lower scores. Ive collected these tips for the benefit of each level of player looking to improve their scores and have more fun playing golf. Ive also included anecdotes and secrets Ive learned from legendary champions such as Ben Hogan, Jack Burke, Jr., Johnny Revolta, Ken Venturi, Gardner Dickinson, and Jack Nicklaus, and advice from top instructors like Claude Harmon, Butch Harmon, Carl Welty, and Harvey Penick, to better relay the instructional messages and expedite your learning process.

I believe The 3 Scoring Clubs is going to be your new guidebook to improving your golf game. So, lets go to the lesson tee and start with driving, move on to wedge play, and finish off with putting.

Good luck!

Jim McLean
Miami, Florida

PART I

DRIVING LESSONS

When golf was first played some 600 years ago in Scotland, the driver was then called the play club. This is still a fitting name, because the driver is the club golfers depend on most to hit the ball down the fairway from the tee and put their soft ball in the best possible position to hit an attacking approach shot. If the drive is hit powerfully and true, the golfer is better able to play a shorter, more lofted club into the green. This is a big advantage and puts any golfer in an offensive position. Poor or weak drives always put you in a defensive position.

Theres a reason why the power-driving game is the hot topic at 19th holes around the country, and why amateurs get charged up watching Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, John Daly, Hank Kuehne, and Phil Mickelson launching the ball 300 yards in the air. Hitting the ball solidly off the tee and keeping drives in the short grass is a skill that separates the pro golfers who win major championships from pros who do not even qualify for these top events. Driving is also the difference for the top amateur golfers who shoot good scores so frequently. A good drive, especially on the opening hole, also raises a players confidence and thus positively affects the rest of his or her game. Moreover, a player who drives the ball powerfully and accurately plays the game offensively rather than defensively.

In this part of The 3 Scoring Clubs, I will offer you an array of proven tips for improving your tee-shot skillscovering everything from how to pick the right driver to developing a technically sound power-swing to learning how to practice intelligently in order to maintain a good swinging action. Basic, intermediate, and advanced tips will be presented relative to Beginner, Mid-Level, and Advanced players, and I will even introduce unorthodox methods for helping golfers who have tried just about everything but failed in their quest to become powerful drivers of the golf ball.

Power is truly an asset, especially when dealing with todays 7,000-yard golf courses with long par-three, par-four, and par-five holes that require golfers to carry the ball over expansive water hazards and waste areas. With courses getting narrower, and often having deeper rough, every PGA Tour player is starting to pay more attention to hitting the ball accurately off the tee.

Hitting fairways is possibly more critical to scoring than ever before, for both pro and amateur players. Virtual unknown Ben Curtis won the 2003 British Open by hitting more fairways off the tee than any other golfer in the field, as did Todd Hamilton, the 2004 British Open champion. In this section, Beginner golfers will be taught the basics of my Eight-Step Swing, Mid-Level golfers how to improve swing tempo, timing, and rhythm, and Advanced players will be given the option to take the time to learn how to perfect the controlled power-fadea shot that will allow them to work the ball back into the center of the fairway. So each type of golfer will be given a recipe for accuracy as well as power.