Big Play

WHO
Lorena Ochoa

WHAT
130-yard punch shot to 18 feet

WHERE
386-yard, par-4 15th hole at Mission Hills

WHEN
Final round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship

WHY
Watching Ochoa reminds me of a tilting plane whose wings scrape the runway while landing but that somehow safely reaches the terminal. Ochoa makes an unorthodox move at the top—she ducks her head and tilts it backward—that should make her shank or push the ball right. But she has learned to maneuver the clubface so it's square at impact, as she did at 15, where she carved her approach out of the rough, under a tree and through a tiny opening in front of the green.

Unless you're as talented as Ochoa, you can't hit solid shots without a square eye line at impact. To make sure you're square, put two parallel lines of tape with a thin slit between them on a pair of glasses. Create a colored target line under the ball. If your eye line remains square, you'll see the entire target line (YES) through the slit all the way to impact.

YES
NO

John Elliott teaches at Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club in Ocala, Fla.

JOHN'S TIP
Tape Your Glasses to Square Your Eyes