Joe Borgenicht - Undercover Golf: An Off-the-Links Guide to Improving Your Game—at Work, at Home, and on the Sly

Copyright 2004 by Quirk Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Number:
2003095960

eBook ISBN: 978-1-59474-910-0
Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-931686-72-3

Trade Paperback designed by Michael Rogalski

Illustrations by Dan Krovatin

Edited by Erin Slonaker

Quirk Books
215 Church Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.quirkbooks.com

v3.1

Eighteen holes is never enough.

Even if youve finished a round feeling soundly balanced, stretched, and fulfilledwith a score under 90youll want to do better. Sometimes you finish your round with the memory of one particular strokeout of the 105 you tooketched into your mind, and you want nothing more than to figure out what went wrong and fix it. It is not a question of whether you golf; it is a question of when you can do it again.

Unfortunately for most of us, golfing every day is not at option. Minor responsibilities such as work, errands, and family constantly compete with our golf time. Golf has the ability to steal husbands from wives, fathers from children, and employees from work.

Thats where this book comes in. Undercover Golf is a very simple program designed to allow you to develop your fundamentals anytime, anywhere without shirking responsibility. Each chapter is broken down by fundamental skill: grip, aim and setup, backswing motion, downswing motion and finish, and putting. The positions, postures, and motions defined by each fundamental have then been matched with a similar position, posture, or motion that you already use to perform common daily activities. This practice will allow you to train your golf fundamentals under the guise of performing other non-golf responsibilities and chores.

In other words, youll get credit for helping out around the house, running errands, or staying focused at work while you secretly train your golf swing for a repeatable and reliable motion.

At work you can check your hand position while looking interested at the weekly budgeting meeting. Youll learn to practice your posture while talking to a coworker in his or her office, to check your arm position while adjusting an overhead desk lamp, and more.

At home you will learn how to grip the club with your right hand while hanging freshly laundered shirts. Your right-hand grip will become habit and your significant other will be pleased that you are keeping up with your laundry. Mopping the floor will no longer be a tiresome chore; it becomes a training session to practice taking your club back along the target line.

Out shopping? Now those long waits holding bags while your significant other is in the dressing room provide valuable time to practice your putting stroke. Boring dinner dates will be less painful when you take a moment to train proper knee pressure. Later, you can excuse yourself to the restroom to wash your hands and check your alignment to the target.

If you are a newcomer to golf, we recommend that you read and practice the skills in this book from beginning to end. Youll be better off if you develop consistent fundamentals and proper undercover habits early on. Additionally, the less obsessed you appear at first, the easier it will be to get out for a round of golf or time on the practice tee.

If you have been golfing for some time, your task is a bit more complicated. Since you are likely to have golf widows, orphans, and very few personal days left on your roster, we recommend that you go deep undercover using one of two methods:

Method A. Select the fundamentals appropriate to your skill level and work on training those skills, finding excuses to take on the everyday tasks outlined in the book.

Method B. Select the chore, task, or errand that will earn you the most credit in the eyes of your boss, significant other, or child, and then perform the accompanying skill.

Advanced golfers may find that the positions described in these fundamentals differ slightly from their own motion. In such cases, adjust the instructions to match your developed posture, position, or motion.

Whether you are hitting them right all day and putting like theres no tomorrow or your day is spent duffing from the left to the right, we think youll agree: eighteen holes is never enough.

NOTE: All directions in this book are given for a right-handed golfer. A left-handed golfer must swap right for left and vice versa for the exercises in the book.

Your grip on the club is the most important part of your golf swing. As your only physical link to the club, it is the key to your swing. Your ability to direct the ball is greatly improved with a proper grip. After all, you wouldnt build a house on a foundation of sand; do not establish a golf swing on a faulty grip.

An incorrect grip will cause the clubhead to come out of alignment with the target line on both back- and downswings. Additionally, you will tend to adjust your body and swing motion to compensate for faulty hand placement.

A grip that is too tight, too strong, or too weak will negatively affect the direction and flight of the ball. Squeezing the club too tightly creates tension in your hands, wrists, and arms and results in a staccato swing and restricted ball flight. A so-called strong gripwhen your hands are too far under the club to the rightguarantees a closed clubface at impact and a hooked shot. A so-called weak gripwhen your hands are on top of the clubwill guarantee an open clubface at impact and a sliced shot.

Of course, the golf course is the last place to practice your golf grip. You should arrive on the first tee already confident that your grip is sound. Develop a reliable grip while hanging clothes, while attending a meeting at your office, or while stuck in traffic. Training your grip off-course will teach you to hold the club fittingly and to set your body correctly when you are on the links.

Review the following fundamentals of grip. Practice the scenarios in this chapter whenever you find yourself cleaning up, measuring, shoveling, or daydreaming in a work meeting. By the time you are through practicing and fulfilling your responsibilities, your significant other or roommate will be happy, your coworkers will be tended to, and you will be gripping a golf club as if your hands were sculpted around it.

Correct Grip Goals

To connect to the club with little or no tension in your hands, wrists, and arms.

To connect to the club in a natural position with a natural pressure.

Correct Grip Elements

Left hand clamps the club in place.

Club is locked between the last three fingers and the meaty pad where your left hand connects to your wrist on the pinkie side.

Left thumb and forefinger are pressed together at the base of the forefinger and joint of the thumb.

Left thumb rides down the right side of the club.

Left forefinger wraps under the club.