W L
GOLF
THE STINGER
BY TOM ATKINSON , PGA GOLF PROFESSIONAL
Hello golfers and welcome to this months column .
With weeks upon weeks of bright sun in the UK , our golf courses have become fast and firm , looking down our first fairway last week reminded me of the orange fairways of the Open at Hoylake in 2006 and more fittingly Tiger Woods and his famous stinger shot , which that week he won with an incredible 18 under par total but only used a wood once ! His long and mid irons were controlled to perfection , low running shots that avoided all the hazardous bunkers around the Royal Liverpool lay out .
Here ’ s how you can go and perfect the stinger :
Firstly start off with a mid iron , 6 or 5 iron , you could do with some initial loft to practice on , after all you ’ re trying to de-loft it in this shot . The ball needs to be middle to ahead of middle of the stance , this is not a punch shot where the ball would be behind the centre . The rest of your set up should as normal . Let ’ s not over complicate it .
At impact it ’ s imperative that the club doesn ’ t close too quickly , a hook shot is not what is needed here , or ever on the golf course , keeping the hands forward and shaft leaning into the ground is the best way of keeping the face square through impact , whilst also reducing loft .
Make your everyday backswing but try and abbreviate it , ideally before the shaft gets to parallel , you ’ ll be able to turn your lower half quicker in the follow through allowing you to stop the club sooner to help with the low flight , as overall club head speed and spin are reduced .
This isn ’ t one that everyone will be confident with but with practice anyone can find it very useful from time to time . Go out on to the range and try it for yourself . There ’ s a lot to be said for finding the fairway !
54 wirrallife . com