Quote

When I stay athletic with good posture and get the club away in a good position, I get through it better.

With shorter clubs, your ball position should be just back of middle, to really promote hitting the ball first on a downward strike.

Make a conscious effort to loosen your hands and let your arms feel soft when you're at address. Take the club back a bit shorter, and feel as if you're cracking a whip on the way down - not tensing up to smash something hard.

When I was getting overly 'droppy,' that's when I was hitting shots left and right. That's what we were doing, so maybe if my swing was a touch flatter, I wouldn't drop the club as much.

When I'm swinging the club at my best, it's because I'm not thinking about mechanics at all. I feel like my body is loose. My arms are soft in front of me when I'm setting up, and my chest and shoulders feel as if they can move and turn easily.

My serve and my forehand I pretty much always had, but my backhand was a made backhand. I worked on it for years.

If you're playing the clubs, you're either on your way up or your way down.

Swinging harder with a longer club almost always leads to bad shots.

From a good lie in the middle of a fairway bunker, I'll make the same swing as I do from an average fairway lie. I'll dig my feet in slightly and keep my lower body stable so I won't slip, but I don't change my club selection or setup. It's only when the ball is sitting down in the sand that I'll make some modifications.

In my case, I was placing extreme pressure on my lower spine from rotating my hips too much. This is a common cause of bad backs - and bad shots - for golfers of all levels. In addition to resting, I worked with my trainer, Joey Diovisalvi, on strengthening the weaker lower-body muscles that contributed to my overactive hips and back pain.