{"id":2367,"date":"2011-11-22T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T23:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffwallach.com\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2011-11-23T14:08:12","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T21:08:12","slug":"troon-north-pro-doug-hammer-helps-golfers-tame-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/golf\/instruction\/2367\/troon-north-pro-doug-hammer-helps-golfers-tame-the-desert","title":{"rendered":"Troon North Pro Doug Hammer Helps Golfers Tame the Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2009\/09\/doug-hammer-2009sm-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"doug-hammer-2009sm\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/>Players venturing south to the desert for a warm, dry fall or winter golf trip will face a unique challenge: how to hit shots that hang in the air longer than Superman showing off for Lois, and that land softer than the final notes of a Kenny G song.\u00a0 Desert courses such as the beloved layouts at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.troonnorthgolf.com\">Troon North<\/a>, in Scottsdale, are often target-style, meaning that fairways and greens present lonely islands of grass in harsh desert topography full of cacti, rocks, arroyos, rattlesnakes, and other dangers.<\/p>\n<p>Doug Hammer, Director of Instruction at Troon North, says, \u201cOut here in the desert the greens are firm and fast and often elevated.\u00a0 They also have false fronts with hazards and heavy bunkering to hit over, so you need to know how to hit the high, soft shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When trying to launch shots likely to be approved by NASA, Hammer recommends a full swing with the ball positioned forward in your stance.\u00a0 \u201cKeep your lower body quiet.\u00a0 If you slide you\u2019ll catch the ball on an upswing.\u00a0 Try to pinch the ball between the club and the turf and keep the clubface from closing, like on a cut shot.\u00a0 Inside of 100 yards, take less than a full swing with a slightly weaker grip and an open stance. You want to slip the club under the ball and above the turf.\u00a0 Try not to take a divot, and just brush or sweep the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The high-flier may prove especially helpful on Troon North\u2019s Pinnacle course, where the front nine features holes with forced carries over arroyos; or on the second hole of the Monument Course, a par three of approximately 150 yards that plays to a very elevated green with bunkers positioned short and right and a big false front.\u00a0 If you\u2019re short, the ball will roll back down to where you can\u2019t even see the hole.\u00a0 Which, at least, will give you another opportunity to practice the short high shot again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Players venturing south to the desert for a warm, dry fall or winter golf trip will face a unique challenge:&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/golf\/instruction\/2367\/troon-north-pro-doug-hammer-helps-golfers-tame-the-desert\" title=\"ReadTroon North Pro Doug Hammer Helps Golfers Tame the Desert\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3913,6569,175188],"tags":[5201,710],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-instruction","category-scottsdale-cvb","category-azga","category-grw-scottsdale","tag-troon-north","tag-golf-instruction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3107,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions\/3107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}