Justin Rose has 4 tips to help you make more birdies

Golf instructions are always evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we highlight the greatest pieces of advice from teachers and players in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we’re looking back at our June 2014 issue for some tips from Justin Rose on playing under pressure.

Justin Rose may be a major player on the PGA Tour, but that doesn’t mean he can’t compete with the smaller guns. Since turning 40, five years ago, the Englishman has three wins and one top 10 finish – including a runner-up finish at the Masters. Not too insulting for an “old” guy.

Rose’s secret? A game built to age well, its title is a swing that should be the envy of every golfer.

Recreational golfers may not be able to swing as well as Rosey does, but that doesn’t mean they can’t emulate her game. About 12 years ago, he showed us how.

See below for the 2014 reproduction GOLF Magazine a story where Rose explained four profound tips for making more birds.

Rose’s tips for making birds

I played 3,025 holes in my PGA Tour career (through the 2014 Masters), including a career-high 384 in 2006. And my 15 birdies at the US Open last year were on pace — and helped me clinch my first major. The talent level on Tour is so high that you need a ton of birdies to survive, let alone win majors. Circles on the scorecard are necessary for my day job, but for recreational golfers, birdies are like gold. I get it – most of my friends are hand-handcappers, and I see what the birds do in their games. Birds erase mistakes, build confidence and, let’s face it — make the game a lot more fun.

I know how to make birdies, so I’ll let you in on a little secret. You can’t even try to make a birdie if you don’t hit the greens. And it’s hard to hit the greens if you don’t hit the fairways. That’s why my scoring system favors accuracy above all else. Follow my simple, iron-and-wedge-swing driving secrets and you’ll be staring down more birdie putts than ever before. And to make sure you don’t waste a great opportunity, I’m giving you my best placement tip. Get ready to start seeing red — on your card.

1. How to hit more fairways

I was No. 1 in overall driving (a combination of distance and accuracy) heading into the US Open at Merion last summer, and finished the season fourth. I’ve spent a lot of time in the gym in recent years to build up my strength, and I even took a page from Jack Nicklaus’ book and started lifting my front heel during backswing to get more hip rotation. The five or 10 yards I added is nice, but really, distance is part of accuracy when it comes to setting up birdie opportunities.

My best driving tip: Pulses fly straight when you swing with a good rhythm. Bring the club back slowly so that you feel the parts of your backswing happen in sequence. I even count that sometimes “Shoulder rotation, elbow flexion, wrist hinge, arm lift,” etc. A slow swing allows your body and the club to reach the top of your backswing at the same time, making your transition smoother. I believe that if you are smooth and strong on top, you will probably be smooth and strong on the bottom – which is where it counts.

When you start to come back down, make sure you swing all the way to the ball. Most weekend players slow down during or just after impact with a cutting motion; they think this will help highlight the clubface. It doesn’t. In fact, you’ll probably hit a slice! I visualize the second ball a few inches ahead of the real one, and try to “hit” both. This technique ensures that I swing beyond the point of impact so that the face remains square. For more distance, achieve higher speed on the second ball. This way you are always speeding up in the hitting zone.

2. How to beat most vegetables

One thing that has helped me become a better instrument player is learning to feel strong. Before I started working with Sean Foley, I was hitting the ball with a shaft almost straight up and down. It worked, but my gun didn’t go silent. Sean helped me add a very lean shaft. This puts more pressure on the ball (my new impact feel), and stabilizes the club at impact, which helps the ball fly straight.

My best iron tip: Getting the shaft to lean forward at impact, with your hands in front of the clubhead and the clubface stable, is not as simple as “leaning the shaft forward.” It’s really a whole body event.

The key is to shift the majority of your weight onto your front foot when landing – I’m talking about 90 percent of your weight. Think of it this way: When you move everything forward, your hands move forward – and you stay in front of the clubhead. Moving your weight forward also prevents you from “hanging back” on the right side, where you are forced to flip the clubhead with your wrists just to make contact with the ball. Flippers are usually cutters.

3. How to hit better wedges

When you swing your woods and irons, it’s all about creating power from the ground up: You drive with your legs, then your hips, then your arms and finally your hands. That’s a good series of events to go down. However, when you get to your edge, it’s the opposite; your upper body is doing more of the heavy lifting, so to speak, while your lower half remains very still.

I read this recently, and it made all the difference in the world. Now if I want to hit a soft wedge shot, I direct all my focus to my upper body and make sure I rotate it first and very quickly on my downswing. I even pose to encourage upper body rotation, talking to the ball with my chest open and my hips square. My goal? Re-creating this arrangement with impact. Get it right and it will look like your hands are moving to the left of the target after impact, rather than straight down the line.

My best wedge tip: I feel that the most accurate wedge players are the ones who can control the trajectory, so it is important to develop more than one stock short game swing. To hit a low shot (good for back pins), complete your swing with your hands and the clubhead parallel to your forearms. This greatly reduces the launch angle. To hit a high shot, raise your hands and arms at the end, but leave the club high and to the left.

4. How to make more putts

Over the years I have tried to be perfect with my putting stroke. That’s not the way to make birdies, because there were times when my side was perfect and I couldn’t buy the putt. You’re better off working on improving your green reading than overthinking your swing.

The way I learn the greens now is to walk behind the ball in a semicircle. Using my feet, I will try to feel the point on the green where I go from downhill to uphill (or vice versa). Finding this “inflection point” (not hard to do with practice and more awareness) gives you important clues about how the putt will break: If your ball lands to the left of the inflection point, it breaks to the right; if it stays on the right, it breaks. And the farther the ball is from the point of inflection, the more it will bend.

My best tip for placement: I’ve tried many tips over the years, but the one I keep coming back to is “keep your eyes still.” As soon as you start peeking, you’re toast. If your eyes move, your body will move too, and this will ruin any chance you might have for focused communication. I challenge myself to watch every inch of my stroke – if I keep my eyes still, I won’t miss a moment of action. Even on long strokes I will use my peripheral vision to track the putterhead back and forth. Listen for the ball to drop, don’t watch it.

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