Golf Professional Lew Smither III likes to say that golf isn’t complicated. He’s spent 25 years as a teaching pro at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor before becoming director of golf at Cypress Run Golf Club in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Smither has been named one of Florida’s top 20 instructors by Golf Digest.
“The one inevitable in golf is that you have to make contact,” Smither said. “You have to get the ball down the fairway if you’re going to have any fun at this game. That’s where it all starts.” Here are a couple of his tips to help you make better contact with the golf ball and have more fun on the golf course.
“If you’re going to drive a nail into the wall, you look at it and hit it. Do the same with the golf ball.” For effect, Smither has a hammer duct taped to the end of a club shaft. Imagine the ball is a nail you’re trying to hit into a wall. Keep your eyes glued to the target (which is the back of the ball), and your head will stay still. Your alignment will also stay steady as you focus on the target. “Your body responds to what the eyes tell it,” Smither said. “The eyes are what gives you all of the information. Stay focused on what the point of contact is, and everything else will follow.”
“Keep the eyes steady and the body will stay steady. Golf is a hand/eye coordination sport. So if the eyes are looking at the proper target, the brain will tell the hands where to go. It takes practice, but after a while, it should become second nature. “The eyes take in the information,” Smither said. “The body responds to what the eyes look at.” This theory should also help if you tend to hit it fat.
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