Big Play With Mitchell Spearman

WHO: Stuart Appleby

WHAT: 356-yard drive onto the fairway

WHERE: 488-yard par-4 18th hole at Redstone Golf Club

WHEN: Final round of the Shell Houston Open

WHY
Adopting a half-swing takeaway in his preshot routine has been key to Appleby's 2006 surge. He often used to lift the club up and out from the ball rather than straight back. Now Appleby uses an abbreviated, Mike Weir--like preshot takeaway, which helps put his compact yet explosive swing in perfect sync and results in long, accurate shots. Sunday's drive at 18 was the longest at that hole by 16 yards, yet for the week he hit 73% of the fairways and 78% of the greens.

MITCHELL'S TIP

CASH in with this Takeaway Move

The four primary moving parts of the golf swing--the clubhead, arms, shoulders and hips--must flow in sequence, especially during the takeaway. Using the first letter from each spells CASH, my acronym for the ideal takeaway. In the CASH move the clubhead moves the most and should be parallel to the ground and your toeline halfway back (right), while the arms move the second-most, the shoulders the third-most and the hips the least.

Mitchell Spearman teaches at Manhattan Woods Golf Club in West Nyack, N.Y.

... AND ANOTHER THING
" Vijay Singh's best days might be behind him. His swing is way out of sync, his putter is cold, and age is definitely catching up with him."