Free golf swing tips - golf instruction to improve your swing

Here are two stunning free golf swing tips, to help you improve your tempo:

1. Apply the right force during your downswing.

2. Stop your right side from over-powering your left.

Both of these tips are invaluable for building a great swing tempo.

It is important to apply the right force during the downswing. So, what is the right amount force?

1. Stand up straight, with your arms up next to you and parallel to the ground.

2. From this position, simply drop your arms, so they hit your sides.

3. You need no more force during the downswing, than the force you feel when you simply let your arms drop.

4. Try this a few times on the range and then take your wedge and hit a few shots, focussing on this correct downswing force.

A player's right side and left side, must work together during the swing. It is, however, natural for a right-handed player, to let his right side dominate over his left side.

Try the following drill to keep your right side from dominating:

1. Grip a club with your left hand.

2. Now, grip your left wrist with your right hand.

2. Swing back so your right elbow points down.

3. From your backswing position, swing through to your follow-through.

4. Do this drill a few times to feel the swinging motion of the left side in the swing.

This is an excellent drill to encourage your left and right side to work together well.

 

Golf pitching tips to improve your game

The golf pitching tips in this section will help you build a reliable pitch shot.

The pitch shot is pretty much the same as a chip shot except that the speed and length of the swing is different.

Pitching includes high, 'soft' shots around the greens as well as other longer shots of up to around 50 yards from the pin.

If you are still struggling with your pitching after working through the tips below, you may want to try the Easy Pitch Shot Technique.

1. Using an open stance.

2. Ball position is in the middle of my stance.

3. I have slightly more of my body weight on my left side to encourage good momentum through the ball.

4. My hands are positioned down the grip for added control.

5. I hinge my wrists and hold for a moment on my backswing.

6. My hands lead during the follow-through and the shaft leans forward at impact as this ensures optimum contact with the ball. 

7. My backswing is shorter than my follow-through and I make sure that I always accelerate through impact.

8. I really focus on keeping my hands ?quiet' during the follow-through in order to avoid my wrists from 'breaking' after impact with the ball as this will ensure pure contact.

9. It is important that I keep my shaft and clubface angle constant through impact to ensure the ball travels along my intended target line.

1. The longer the pitch shot, the greater the extension of my arms should be. 

2. I use a square club face for longer, lower pitches. 

3. An open clubface, with my ball positioned further forward in my stance, will achieve higher, ?softer? shots when needed.

4. I need to remember that more clubface loft requires extra swing speed. Especially when I want to do a high pitch shot over a hazard, as I would rather play such a shot slightly further than leave it in the hazard.

 

Golf tutorial - play it high or low when you need to

This golf tutorial will teach you how to hit the ball high or low, whenever the situation you are in, calls for such a shot. With the right technique, you can learn to play these shots with confidence during your round.

It is extremely beneficial to be able to hit the ball high over a tree or a hazard, when you really have no other option - use the following steps to practice the high shot on the range:

1. Place the ball forward in your stance.

2. Tilt your spine away from the target.

3. When making your swing, really try to keep your chest behind the ball.

4. During your follow-through, straighten your right arm and try to release your hands a little earlier than you would normally.

Build your confidence on the range first, before trying this shot out on the course.

Being able to hit a low shot, will be very handy during a windy day or for getting out from under a low-hanging tree for example - use the following steps to practice the low shot on the range:

1. Take a club with a little less loft, depending on the shot in hand - the higher the loft of your club, the more difficult it will be to hit the ball low.

2. Choke down on the grip a little and place the ball back in your stance.

3. Press your hands forward of the clubhead, so that your left arm is in line with the shaft of your club.

4. Make a smooth, three-quarter swing - to hit it low, swing more with your arms and shoulders (try to keep your wrist-break to a minimum).

5. It is very important to keep the clubhead low to the ground through impact with the ball.

Once again, I would advise that you practice this shot on the range a few times, before trying it during your round.

 

Golf swing instructions - faults and fixes

Follow the golf swing instructions below, for easy ways to stop hooking as well as eliminating a reverse pivot.

Grip pressure plays an important role in how the ball will fly.

1. To eliminate a hook, hold on tighter with the last three fingers (grip softer with your thumb and index finger) of your left hand, before starting your swing.

2. Maintain the firmness in these three fingers through impact.

If you actually want to hit a draw, simply lighten the grip pressure in your left hand - this will allow your right hand to dominate in order to hit a draw.

The reverse pivot occurs when a golfer's weight shifts in the opposite direction to that which it should during the swing. This incorrect movement results in a dramatic loss of power in the swing.

The picture above, shows the incorrect backswing movement as part of a reverse pivot - the weight, incorrectly transfers onto the left foot.

The picture above, shows the incorrect follow-through movement as part of a reverse pivot - the weight, incorrectly falls back onto the right foot.

1. Place a club behind your neck, with each hand gripping an end of the club.

2. Make a backswing, by focussing on transferring your weight well onto your right side. It is ok to make a slight lateral movement to the right - this is better than a reverse pivot.

3. Progress to your follow-through, by focussing on transferring your weight well onto your left side. Once again, it is ok to make a slight lateral movement to the left, if this helps you get most of your weight onto your left side.

4. Practice this drill a number of times, until you really feel the proper weight transfer motion - this will eliminate any signs of a reverse pivot!

 

Golf grip tips for better golf shots

The golf grip tips below, will show that there may be cases where golfers may need to strengthen or weaken their grips, in order to improve their golfswings.

The grips illustrated in the pictures below, are slightly exaggerated to get the point across. To learn the neutral way of gripping the club, visit the golf grip lesson page.

If you are not that strong physically and wanted to generate more distance on your shots, it may be beneficial for you to strengthen your grip.

To strengthen your grip, make a simple adjustment by moving your left hand clockwise on your grip - you should see three, to three-and-a-half knuckles when looking down.

This stronger grip, will help you release the club better through impact, which will give you more distance.

If you simply cannot get rid of an erratic hook shot, a weaker grip might be the answer to help you hit straight shots.

By weakening your grip, you will take your right hand 'out of the swing' a little, which should result in straigher shots.

To weaken your grip, move your left hand anti-clockwise on the grip - you should see between one-and-a-half and two knuckles, when looking down.

 

Free online golf lessons

Lesson two in this 'online golf lessons' section, is all about building a good address position and posture. It is very important to take a good look at the hole you are about to play before addressing the ball. Carefully examine the layout of the hole, check for bunker positioning and other hazards. Also have a clear picture in your head of exactly where you want your ball to land. When you are ready, address the ball as follows:

1. Stand up straight in front of the ball and bend over from your hips (not your waist), keeping your spine straight.

2. Flex your knees slightly and keep your head on the same angle as your spine.

3. Make sure that your chin is not tucked in against your chest.

4. Your right shoulder should be slightly lower than your left shoulder, because your right hand will be lower on the grip than your left hand.

5. While gripping the club, let your arms hang down freely from your shoulders.

6. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart when using your driver and reduce the width of your stance as the clubs you use become shorter.

7. Your right foot should be square to the target line, with your left foot positioned slightly to the left of the target.

8. To find the correct distance you should stand from the ball:

- Hold your club out in front of you.

- Flex your knees and bend from your hips.

- Lower the club until it touches the ground and the shaft of the club is 90 degrees to your spine.

Go to Lesson 3: Aim, body alignment and ball position

 

Golf lessons online

The fourth lesson in this 'golf lessons online' section, is about learning the correct backswing movement. Once you have taken your proper stance, you are ready to start the backswing, a smooth controlled movement.

1. Start by moving the clubhead away, so it moves along the target line for the first 18 inches of the backswing.

2. A smooth takeaway is crucial for setting a good swing tempo.

3. Ensure that your left shoulder, left arm and your shaft are moving together.

4. As the backswing starts, your body weight should shift over to your right foot, with the left knee staying flexed throughout the backswing.

5. The turning of your hips and shoulders, will then move the clubhead naturally, up to the top of the backswing on a wide arc.

6. It is very important that the hips do no sway backwards ? they should simply turn around the core of the body.

7. At the top of the backswing, the shaft should be parallel to the ground and pointing directly at the target, with the left arm extended ? the right arm should be bent and relaxed.

8. Most of your weight is now on your right foot, your hips have turned about 45 degrees, your shoulders about 90 degrees and your back should be facing the target.

Go to Lesson 5: The downswing, impact, follow-through and finish position.

 

Golf tips online for better putting

This 'golf tips online' page, includes two very helpful putting tips to help you develop a free-flowing stroke, as well as improving your accuracy on the greens.

It is very difficult to putt well, if there is tension in your hands, arms and shoulders. Here is a stunning tip to help your relax before making your stroke:

1. Let your putter rest on one of your legs.

2. Now, simply let your arms hang down freely and naturally.

3. Feel how your hands, arms and shoulders relax.

4. While in this relaxed state, grip your putter gently and make your putting stroke.

It is much easier to line your putterhead up on the correct line, if your eyes are directly over the ball - try this drill on the practice green to get your eyes nicely in line with your ball:

1. Place a ball on the green and take your address position.

2. Hold another ball between your eyes.

3. Now, move your head closer to the ball on the ground, until the ball between your eyes is directly above the ball on the green.

4. Try and drop the ball which is between your eyes, onto the ball on the green.

5. Do this drill a few times, until you have hit the ball on the green a few times.

6. Then, take your putter and practice addressing the ball, so that your eyes are directly over it.

 

Great golfswing tips - fade and draw shots

Most golfers would be very happy with a golfswing, which produces nice, straight shots. It is, however, very beneficial to be able to also hit a draw or fade shot, when required. See below, some great tips to help you shape your shots.

Before going into the set-up positions for the draw and fade shots, it is important to look at the correct set-up position for hitting a straight shot:

1. Your clubface should be square to the target.

2. Your feet, hips and shoulders should then be aligned, square to your clubface and target.

3. Imagine standing on a railway line, with your ball and clubface on one rail and your feet on the other, all square to the target line.

For lessons on the proper golf swing, visit the golf lessons section.

Try the following steps on the driving range, before trying the draw shot on the course:

1. Aim your clubface at the target.

2. Align your feet, hips and shoulders to the right of the target - generally, the more right you aim, the more draw-spin you will be able to put on the ball.

3. 'Strengthen' your left-hand grip just a touch, by turning your left hand clockwise on your grip.

4. Swing back, so that your shaft points slightly right of the target, at the top of your backswing - the further right you aim, the more the ball should draw.

5. Swing down 'inside' the line, sweeping your club across the target line from left to right.

6. The ball will take off to the right of your target and then gradually curve back in to the left.

Experiment on the range by using the tips above - take note of how the ball react and adjust your set-up for more or less draw, as required.

Try the following steps on the driving range, before trying the fade golfswing on the course:

1. Aim your clubface at the target.

2. Align your feet, hips and shoulders to the left of the target - generally, the more left you aim, the more side-spin you will be able to put on the ball.

3. 'Weaken' your left-hand grip just a touch, by turning your left hand anti-clockwise on your grip.

4. Swing back so that your shaft points slightly left of the target, at the top of your backswing - the further left you aim, the more the ball should fade.

5. Swing down on an outside-in path, sweeping your club across the target line from right to left.

6. The ball will take off to the left of your target and then gradually curve back in to the right.

Once again, I will encourage you to experiment on the range, by using the tips above - take note of how the ball react and adjust your set-up for more or less fade, as required.

 

Golf putting tips

See below two great golf putting tips. The first tip, is all about learning to release the putterhead, in order to develop a free-flowing stroke. The second tip, will help you improve your ability to judge distance on the greens.

One of the most common putting mistakes made by amateur golfers, is a 'stabbing' action going into the impact point with the ball. This 'stabbing' action, causes a jerky movement, which will make it very difficult to build a consistent stroke. It is very important to release the putter through the impact point with the ball, as this will create a much more consistent, free-flowing stroke.

If you find yourself 'stabbing' at the ball, try the following to establish a free-flowing stroke:

1. Try the Classic putting grip, with your right hand below your left.

2. On the practice green, try and stroke through the ball by releasing the putterhead, so it swings past your hands.

3. After impact, hold your follow-through - if you have followed through naturally, you will see a slight angle at the back of your left wrist (see picture above).

Many golfers struggle to get the ball down in two, when faced with long-range putts. Improving your ability to judge distance on the greens, will help you get down in two more often, helping you shave a number of strokes off your final score.

Try this fun drill to improve your ability to judge distance on the greens:

1. Take 5 practice balls and stand around 30 feet away from a hole on the practice green.

2. Start tossing the balls one-by-one, trying to get them within a foot of the hole (if they go in, even better!).

3. As soon as you are able to get all 5 balls within one foot of the hole, move back further to around 40 feet from the hole and repeat the drill.

4. Keep doing this drill, until you feel more confident with judging distance on the greens.

5. To make the drill even more fun, challenge one of your golfing buddies to play this little game against you!

 

Free golf training aids

Some of us do not have spare cash to buy golf training aids, so I have put together some tips for devising your own free golf training aids.

All of the training aids below make use of things you may very well have somewhere around your house.

Pure ball striking will be much easier to achieve if I can get my arms and body to move in harmony.

A good drill to train my arms and body to work together well, is to practice swinging with something between my arms (I use a small soccer ball).

If my arms and body are not in sync during my swing, the ball will fall out.

I practice swinging with the ball between my arms until I am confident that the ball will stay in place right through to my finish position.

The core muscles in the centre of the body are responsible for balance, power and control in the golf swing. The drill below is as good a way of balance training, as any golf training aids out there can provide.

The "Swiss ball/exercise ball" drill is an excellent way to strengthen these core muscles.

1. Kneel on the ball with your hips 90 degrees to the ground and hold a golf club across your chest (see picture above).

2. Make your shoulder turn as far as possible by keeping your balance on the ball.

3. Once you have mastered your backswing with a club across your chest, try making your full backswing by gripping the club normally.

4. Repeat this exercise several times on a weekly basis and you will see your core muscles strengthen.

With the three-quarter swing, the hands reach shoulder height in the backswing and follow-through. The three-quarter swing comes in very handy during a round for playing shots where the yardage is 'in-between' clubs, or for playing a 'punch-shot' when required.

I use a beach ball (could be a bucket or something similar) for my three-quarter swing drill.

1. With straight arms in front of me and my palms facing each other, I hold the beach ball.

2. I then turn my forearms slightly and swing the beach ball back sideways and up to shoulder-height.

3. In the follow-through, I keep my arms straight and swing the beach ball sideways and upward to shoulder-height to complete my follow-through.

This drill really helps to get an overall feeling of the arm movement in the three-quarter swing.

Good weight transfer in the follow-through is crucial for swinging powerfully through the ball. As far as golf training aids go, it does not get easier than this - see below.

1. Simply place a golf ball under your right foot and take your normal stance.

2. Now just swing normally and you will feel how your elevated right foot causes your weight to shift naturally onto your left side during your follow-through.

Practice this drill a few times to get that feeling of moving your weight onto your left side during follow-through. This drill will help you generate much more power in your swing.

Most of us will end up in the rough at some point during our round and sometimes the ball will be buried quite deeply.

Strong forearms are essential for swinging powerfully through the thick grass for a safe escape.

One of the most simple, but effective drills to strengthen the forearms is to squeeze a tennis ball.

1. Hold a tennis ball in the palm of your hand.

2. Now squeeze it repeatedly with your fingers until your forearm gets tired.

3. Repeat this drill a few times a week with both arms and you will build strong forearms.

It is very hard to swing well with consistency if we don't learn to swing the club along the correct swing path. A tee peg is probably the cheapest amongst the golf training aids out there today!

1. Place a tee peg into the top of your 7-iron.

2. Now place two clubs on the ground at right angles to each other. Place one club in line with the target and the other club square to the target so the end of its grip touches the middle of the target-line club (see picture above).

3. Grip your 7-iron and take your stance as pictured above. You will notice that the meeting point between the two clubs on the ground form the impact point.

4. Swing your hands back, turning your left forearm until the tee in the grip points directly at the impact point formed by the two clubs on the ground.

5. Complete the follow-through so that the tee in the grip now points directly at the impact point from the follow-through position.

This is an excellent drill to establish the correct swing path. You can also do this drill by simply teeing up a golf ball as impact point in place of the two clubs on the ground.

When playing a greenside or medium-range sand shot, it important to hit the sand behind the ball so that the ball pops out with the sand.

How much sand should I take? This depends entirely on the firmness of sand, the type of sand, quality of the lie of the ball and the distance I want to hit the ball.

On average, I probably hit the sand between 1-3 inches behind the ball, depending on the shot in hand.

During practice, I imagine taking the amount of sand which will be covered by a five pound note (for those in the US, I suppose you can imagine a 10 dollar bill) if placed in a bunker. This means that I will hit the sand between 1-3 inches behind the ball and also remove another 1-3 inches of sand after impact.

Ok, this is probably going to cost you the most out of these golf training aids, but let's hope you have a 5 pound note (or 10 dollar bill) in your wallet!

If I don't hit the ball out of the middle of my putter head it is almost impossible to achieve consistency in my putting.

One of the most effective golf training aids (and the cheapest), is to use a coin for promoting pure putting:

1. I place a coin on the putting green directly behind my ball.

2. I then narrow my focus on the coin as I stroke over the middle of the coin with the 'sweetspot' of my putter. As I stroke over the middle of the coin, I hit the back of the golf ball with the middle of my putter head.

This exercise really helps me to 'zone in' and hit the ball out of the middle of my putterhead.

To achieve consistency in our iron-play, we have to hit the ball out of the middle of the club's designed 'sweetspot'.

By colouring a circle on my clubface (don't use a permanent marker!) before hitting balls on the driving range, I am able to see whether my balls are coming out of the centre of the club or not.

If I am hitting it out of the middle of the club, the marks formed within the coloured circle will be grouped closely around the centre of the circle on my clubface.

I really hope you enjoyed this section on inexpensive ways to devise your own golf training aids. May these interessting tips improve your golf game!

 

Great golf stretches

By doing golf stretches for 15-20 minutes prior to your round, you will get your body nicely warmed up for optimum swinging on the course.

The below golf stretches are easy to follow - do them in your own time and increase your repetitions as you improve your flexibility.

If you are looking for more great stretches, you may enjoy 101 Golf Stretches.

1. Sit on a chair and stretch your arms behind your back, interlocking your fingers.

2. Bend over and pull your arms up slowly over your back and feel the stretch in your shoulders.

3. Hold this position for between 5-10 seconds and repeat 3 times.

1. With your one hand, hold onto a chair or other device for balance.

2. With your other hand, pull the heel of one foot up to the buttocks and feel the quadriceps stretch.

3. You can bend the leg you are standing on slightly to reduce stress on your lower back.

4. Hold the stretching position for 5-10 seconds, repeat 3 times and then change to your other leg.

1. Sit on a chair and point your feet straight ahead.

2. Slowly turn your upper body around and place both hands at waist-height on the backrest of the chair.

3. Feel how your back muscles stretch and hold this position for 5-10 seconds.

4. Repeat the exercise on your opposite side.

This is one of those golf stretches not done often by weekend golfers. The hips are key in the golf swing, so I would encourge you to do these stretches.

1. Place one foot on the seat of a chair or bench.

2. Make sure that your foot which is on the ground is aligned with your foot on the chair.

3. Keep your back straight and place a hand on your raised knee for support.

4. Hold this stretch for 5-10 seconds.

5. Change legs and repeat the stretch.

1. Crouch on your knees, far enough from a chair so that you can extend your arms and place both hands flat on the seating area of the chair.

2. Keep your head between your arms and push down from your shoulders to feel your 'lats' (latissimus dorsi) stretching on the downward movement.

3. Hold the stretch for 5-10 seconds and repeat a few times as necessary.

1. Place one hand behind your head and stretch your other hand down the side of your body.

2. Slowly pull your head to the side and push down with your extended arm.

3. Hold the stretch for 5-10 seconds.

4. Change positions so you also stretch the other side of your neck.

1. Place a club in front of your feet.

2. From an upright standing position, bend forward from your hips (knees slightly bent) and pick the club up.

3. With straight arms, lift the club up and over your head.

4. From this position, place the club back on the ground with straight arms.

5. Repeat 5-10 times.

1. Hold a club with both hands above your head.

2. Keep your arms straight, with your feet shoulder-width apart.

3. Bend to the right and to the left while keeping the club above your head with your arms straight.

4. Repeat 5-10 times.

These are excellent golf stretches as they are done using the golf swinging motion.

1. Use both hands to hold a club behind your neck and across your shoulders.

2. Bend your knees slightly, with your feet shoulder-width apart.

3. Twist your torso to the right, as if you are finishing your backswing.

4. Twist your torso to the left, as if you are finishing your follow-through.

5. Repeat 5-10 times.

1. Place your clubhead on the ground with the shaft pointing upwards.

2. Push the shaft forward and use the club as a support to stretch your back until it is parallel to the ground.

3. Hold this stretch position for around 10 seconds and repeat 3 times.

1. Stand up straight and hold a club behind your back with both hands so the shaft is vertical to the ground.

2. Keep your one arm extended downwards with your hand holding the clubhead and flex your other arm up behind your head holding the grip of the club.

3. Now push down with your extended arm and feel the triceps of your upper arm stretch.

4. Hold the stretch position for 5-10 seconds, swap arms and repeat.

These are really great golf stretches as posture is very important for building a solid swing.

1. Stretch both hands behind your back, interlocking your fingers with your palms facing upward and elbows facing inwards.

2. Slowly, lift both arms upwards and hold the stretch position for 5-10 seconds.

3. Now, stretch both hands behind your back, interlocking your fingers with your palms facing downwards and elbows facing outwards.

4. Slowly, lift both arms upwards again and hold the stretch position for 5-10 seconds.

1. While sitting down, extend one leg and bend the other (see picture above).

2. Now place both hands on the extended leg and inhale as you bend down feeling your hamstring stretch.

3. Exhale when you reach your own stretching limit, swap legs and repeat.

1. Sit down on the ground with your knees bent and your feet in front of you, soles facing each other.

2. Hold onto your feet with your hands and extent your elbows outwards, pushing your knees down.

3. Start in an upright position, inhale and then slowly bend down to your feet.

4. Hold for about 10 seconds, exhale and return to your starting position.

5. Repeat 5-10 times.

So, there you have it. Some excellent golf stretches to help you stretch those golf muscles!

 

 

Great golf help to improve your game

Here is some great golf help for controlling the distance on your bunker shots, as well as escaping from a plugged lie.

The general rule is that my setup position should be squarer to the target, the further I want my ball to travel.

Here is a very effective drill I use on the practice range.

To hit the ball higher and with less distance, I simply move my feet further left of the target (clubface square to the target).

In order to hit the ball further, I move my feet squarer to the target line, as this set-up will create a lower ball flight and in turn more distance (my clubface stays square to the target).

By controlling my distance through my set-up, I can keep my swing the same for every shot, which will add greater consistency to my bunker play.

The chances of a plug lie during a round of golf is not that great, but knowing how to escape from such a lie will save you a shot when it does happen!

1. Set your stance and clubface square at address.

2. Position the ball slightly further back in your stance, as this will allow a steeper angle of attack.

3. With your hands forward, make an aggressive swing (hitting the sand first) - the club will simply pop the ball out of the sand.

4. Bear in mind that the ball will fly lower, with less backspin from a plugged lie.

 

Free golf swing tip

Try this great free golf swing tip to promote a more solid, consistent swing.

It is crucial to start the golf swing correctly - one good move generally leads to another. This is why the correct first movement into the backswing is critical.

. After taking a solid stance, focus on taking the club away smoothly, with your arms and body working together.

2. With this one-piece takeaway (arms and body working as one unit), move the clubhead back, low to the ground and gradually moving inside the target line.

3. As the arms swing back, the body rotates, the left arm extends and the wrists hinge naturally.

4. At the top of the backswing, the club should be parallel to the target line.

5. From here, you are in a great position to swing powerfully through and along the target line, into your finish position.

 

Free golfing lessons

The final swing lesson in this 'golfing lessons' section, is to study the correct downswing movement into the finish position. The downswing starts with the left knee and hip turning towards the target ? this movement starts shifting your weight from your right side, back onto your left side.

1. The right shoulder and arm should drop straight down, towards your right hip.

2. Ensure that you don?t rush the downswing movement, it is important to accelerate smoothly.

3. The clubhead will now pick up speed quickly during the downswing as the body uncoils.

4. At the impact point, the force created by the body, should uncock the wrists and straighten the left arm as the clubface makes contact with the ball.

5. The left hip and shoulder should now turn towards the target, with the body weight shifting to the left side, onto the left foot.

6. The follow-through comes next - as most of the body weight shifts over to the left side, the right foot should come up, so that only the toes are resting on the ground.

7. Leading into the finish position, the shoulders, hips and knees are level and you should be perfectly balanced.

8. Hold your finish position, while facing the target, with your club resting over your left shoulder. Return to 'golf lessons home'

 

Golf for beginners-10 tips

 

This "golf for beginners" page has been added to offer 10 simple but effective tips to help you take your game to the next level. If you touch "fat shots", which means hitting the ground before the ball, you may be Crouching too low in your address position. If you are the ball, you can to recover soon - to focus on keeping your head down, until after the impact with the ball. A common cause of a slice shot, is to have the feet and shoulders placed too far to the left of the target (the right-handed players). Focus on the implementation directly with your shoulders and your feet, to eliminate your slice. Try the 'G.A.S.P' method for a solid rock pre-shot routine: a) Grip, b) goal, c) position, Posture (d)). Improve your accuracy, with an emphasis on having your parallel of the tree to the target at the top of your more. Even pushing a shot to the right, is usually caused by body swaying left on the downturn - focus to eliminate a push shot, the releasing your hands on the ball more quickly. Swing back more slowly and make a more shorther for clarity. Always take a deep breath before turning your ball - this will help you obtain pleasant and relaxed before taking your photo. Make a few movements of pendulum by tightening the two clubs at the same time, before the broadband - it is a great warm-up and you drill will help to swing with an easy pace on the opening of your ball. Hitting your last moves little on the beach to practice with the club you will use for your tour opening tee - what you will get in a positive State of mind when jumping on the first tee. Back to "golf for beginners home Councils".

Free online putting instruction

This putting instruction section will focus on some of the most proven putting techniques.

There are many putting methods out there and many great players use a variety of putting methods with great success.

I have experimented with a few different methods, before settling on the ?Classic? style.

Spend some time on the practice green to find the technique that is right for you. Don't forget to add your own personal touches to the method you settle on. It is all about feeling comfortable and confident!

With the ?Classic? or ?Orthodox? putting style, the hands are in a neutral position. This style is the most popular style of putting and taught by putting instruction coaches worldwide.

Grip the putter with the palms facing each other (right hand lower than left). This is known as the reverse overlap grip. The hands work together as one unit which increases consistency. Comfortable bend from the waist down with the arms and hands hanging down freely. Forward in the stance, inside the left heel. This allows looking from the ball, down the putting line towards the hole, to increase accuracy. A pendulum action controlled by the shoulders (hands fairly passive), will allow the putterhead to swing upwards, into and through impact. I hold the follow through-position and keep my eyes on the ground until the ball is well on its way, as this ensures a solid, controlled strike through the ball.

A ?breakdown? in the left wrist through impact, will cause the putter face to behave in an erratic and jerky way. This movement is famously referred to as 'the yips?.

The Anti-Yip Style was develop to try and combat the yips and it is used to great effect by some of the world's best players.

Grip the putter with the left hand below the right, so the left wrist is ?locked? against the shaft of the putter. By locking the left wrist into position, there will be no unwanted wrist action in the stroke. By gripping the putter with a lower left hand, it also ensures a lower left shoulder, which brings it more in line with the right shoulder - this position will add more consistency in the stroke. The same as the ?Classic? style - a pendulum action controlled by the shoulders (hands fairly passive).

This method was made famous by Bernard Langer after he experienced years of frustration trying to overcome the yips.

With the left hand down the grip in an orthodox manner, the fingers of the right hand are clasped around the left forearm. The right hand is taken out of the stroke and all wrist action is eliminated ? this method is very effective for short range putts. Forward in the stance, inside the left heel. A rocking action, with the shoulders moving back and forth and controlling the stroke. Return from 'putting instruction' to 'putting tips home'

 

Six Golf Tips On Long Distance Driving

Let’s face it. We all love to crush the ball off the tee. There’s something truly pleasurable in driving for distance. For some golfers, it’s the single most enjoyable thing in the game. But hitting long powerful drives on demand takes hard work to learn—even for veteran players with single digit golf handicaps. Not every golfer masters this much-needed skill. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work at it.

One place to start this effort is with your mechanics. Long distance driving takes great mechanics to pull off. Without the right mechanics, you’re lost. The six tips discussed below will help you perfect your long distance mechanics. Knowing how to hit the ball long when you need to will comes in handy when trying to clear water, fairway bunkers, or other obstacles on the course. Long accurate drives can also help you shave strokes off your golf handicap.

1. Add Flex To Knees

Golf tips for long distance driving often discuss shifting your weight correctly. Doing so is one of the keys to hitting the ball long. Sliding, on the other hand, is a power killer. To prevent sliding, add some flex to your knees and point them slightly away from each oth-er—not too much, of course. Adding some flex not only stops swaying, it also harnesses the power of good weight shift.

2. Extend Your Arms

Big swing arcs produce big power. To hit blasts from the tee, work on extending your arms to create a big swing arc. Extending your arms also helps you generate maximum clubhead speed. One mental technique we suggest in our golf lessons is to imaging someone behind you when you swing. Now try to touch that person as you take the club back. Be careful, though. You don’t want to lose your balance.

3. Create Plenty Of Lag

Extended your arms is only half the battle in long distance driving. You also must create maximum lag. This means retaining the 90-degree bow in your right wrist (left wrist for lefties) until just a split second before contact with the ball, and then slapping the club through impact. The longer you can hold the bow in your right wrist before straightening it the better. Bracing yourself against your right quad as you approach impact also helps.

4. Accelerate For Power

Among the biggest power leaks we see in golf instruction sessions is clubhead decelera-tion. Weekend golfers tend to accelerate right up until they make impact. Then, that’s it. They decelerate through the rest of the swing. Some golfers even decelerate pre-impact. Awesome power comes from constant acceleration, so start your swing slow and work your way up to full speed at and through impact.

5. Keep Feet Firmly On The Ground

This advice seems like something you’d take for granted. But as we’ve seen in our golf lessons, some people do it better than others. Two things trigger power: Dropping your hands down at the top of your swing and retaining a strong left arm while shifting your weight onto the ball of your right foot (left foot for lefties) during the downswing. These moves activate your right knee and help drive your right hip through the ball.

6. Stay Loose Through The Swing

Tensing up when trying to hit a bomb short-circuits power. Instead, stay loose through the swing. By loose we mean loose in the right places—the shoulders, arms and hands. These upper body parts must remain flexible. The key is staying loose with your hands. If you tense those up, you’ll tense up everything else. Staying loose through the swing also helps you maintain rhythm.

These golf tips are proven to help you generate power off the tee. But bombing a 250-yard drive is no good if the ball lands deep in the rough. So when it comes to driving for distance, it’s sometimes wiser to take a little off. Drives in the fairway improve your chances of hitting the green in regulation (GIR). The more GIRs you hit, the greater your chances of making pars and birdies and shrinking your golf handicap.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Golf Articles, Golf Help, Golf Newsletters, Golf Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Sand Play – Getting Back To Basics

Most golfers hate landing in a bunker—greenside or otherwise. But there are few exacting shots when it comes to greenside bunkers. The worst is probably the “fried egg,” where the ball is buried deeply in the sand. The others are not as demanding. Yet week-end golfers often have huge problems escaping greenside bunkers, adding strokes to their golf handicaps. For many students taking our golf lessons, escaping a greenside bunker is the weakest part of their games. Part of this is confidence. Since weekend golfers don’t practice this shot often, they lack the confidence needed to hit the shot well.

The other part is that they fail to make the right adjustments in their stances and swings. That can cost you strokes. Many weekend golfers, for instance, try to dig the ball out of the sand with a sand wedge. This leads to fat shots that don’t leave the sand. The basics of the sand shot are relatively straightforward. Once you’ve mastered them, you’ll have few problems hitting from a greenside bunker. If you’re serious about knocking strokes off your golf handicap, you must master the basics of sand play. Below are some golf tips that will help you do that.

The most common mistake weekend golfers make in bunker play is positioning the ball too far back in their stance. We see it all the time with players who take our golf lessons. They position the ball in the middle of their stances or sometimes even a little farther back. That’s too far back when you have a good lie in the bunker. A good lie in a bunker is one that has the ball sitting nicely on top of the sand without much of a depression. Playing the ball too far back creates a steep angle of attack and often leads to far shots.

With a good lie you should position the ball off your left heel and open the clubface slightly. This eliminates the need to purposely try and hit behind the ball. Also, open your stance a bit, but not too much. And don’t try altering your backswing by taking the club up too steeply. Instead, take a normal but slightly open stance and focus on a good amount of speed as the club approaches and passes through impact. You want to accele-rate through the ball on this shot. Deceleration kills the shot.

Another common mistake we see in our golf instruction sessions is hanging back behind the ball. Doing so forces the club to bottom out too soon, leading to fat and thin shots. Instead try for a more shallow swing plane and “slap” the ground. If your ball comes to rest in a bunker with fluffy sand, open the clubface a bit more. But don’t open it too much. It can confuse your aiming point and promote shanking.

A bad lie in a greenside bunker is a lie where the ball is buried deep in the sand. This is among the most dreaded shots in golf. That’s because most weekend golfers fail to make the right adjustments. Students in our golf lessons tend to open the clubface too much when making this shot. Instead, shift your weight more forward a little more, creating a steeper angle of attack, and hit down on the ball a bit more. In addition, close the clubface so it digs more into the sand. You never want to make contact with the ball in a greenside bunker. You want the ball to ride the sand out.

Some players in our golf lessons find the club bottoming out too soon with this approach, causing them to shank. If you find yourself doing this, shift your weight back a bit. You want to have about 60 percent of your weight on your back foot. Shots hit from a buried lie don’t spin as much as shots from a good lie. Plan for some release once your ball hits the ground. As with good lies, take a full swing through impact.

Hitting from a greenside bunker is easier than you think. But you must develop confi-dence in the shot and you must make the right adjustments in your stance and swing. These depend on whether you have a good lie or a bad lie. You also have to accelerate through the shot. Deceleration kills the shot. Needless to say, players who want to cut their golf handicaps down to single digits must master bunker play. It will save dozens of shots over the course of a season.

 

Improve Your Game Without Swinging A Club

Golf fundamentals are timeless. They last forever. Quick fixes are a different story. They only last for a round or two, and then disappear. Before you know it you’re back making the same mistakes you made before. If want to chop strokes off your golf handicap, mas-ter golf’s fundamentals, like squaring the clubface at impact, using the right grip pressure, and positioning the ball correctly. Doing so not only trains your body and your mind, it also breeds confidence and increases self-esteem.

The fundamentals put you in the best position to hit a golf ball solidly when you most need to do it—under pressure. And the best thing about golf’s fundamentals is that you can master them without ever swinging a club. That’s right. You can master them without ever swinging a club. You can also master them without even going to the practice range. All you need is some space in your house or apartment and the desire to improve your game. Below are golf tips on mastering five of the game’s most overlooked fundamen-tals:

1. Squaring The Clubface

Squaring the clubface at impact is among the most overlooked fundamental in golf, judg-ing from our golf instruction sessions. The key to squaring the clubface at impact is your grip. Your hands are the only part of your body that contacts the club so having the right grip is critical. Turn both hands 45 degrees to the right (left for left-handers) and you’ll have the perfect position for a square clubface. The “V” formed between your left hand’s thumb and forefinger will point to your chin. The right hand’s corresponding “V” will point to your right shoulder.

2. Making A Good Pivot

How well you pivot during your swing depends a lot on your posture—another funda-mental often overlooked by weekend golfers. We see so many golfers slouched over the ball at address during our golf lessons that it makes you wonder. You must be in a good athletic position to uncoil with great energy and force. But many weekend players don’t put themselves in that position. Keep your back flat when you first address the ball. Then bend over from the hips, so if you didn’t have the club in your hands your arms would hang freely from under your shoulders.

3. Making Solid Contact

Playing the ball too far forward or too far back prevents good contact. Hit a ball too far forward in your stance and the shot usually goes off to the left. Hit a ball too far back in your stance and you’ll probably see a weak dribbler or a pop up. How do you know where to position the ball? We tell students in our golf instructions sessions to lay a club down so its toe is against your left heel. The shaft will stick out two inches from your heel. That’s where you want to position the ball with the driver. Position the ball for the rest of your shots accordingly.

4. Achieve The Right Swing Path

To achieve a free-flowing swing you must align your body properly. When your body lines cross—the shoulders going one way, the hips going the other way, for example—you prohibit a smooth free-flowing swing. Anything can happen—and often does. We train students in our golf instruction sessions to pick out small intermediate targets on their target lines and then align their body and eyes parallel to that line. You’ll be sur-prised how well this simple trick works on the course.

5. Swing At A Good Tempo

You need the proper grip pressure to have any chance at achieving the right tempo for your swing. When you grip the club too tightly, the rest of your body also tightens, pre-venting you from achieving good tempo. You hands should be firm but relaxed, while your arms are relaxed. On a scale of 1 to 10, with one being the tightest, hold the club at about a 7. Anything tighter prevents you from swinging the club freely. Anything less than a 7 and you might just lose the club.

The fundamentals discussed above are timeless. They put your body and mind in position to make good contact so you can drive the ball. Practice these fundamentals at home whenever you can. Mastering them will help you improve your game and chop strokes off your golf handicap.

 

Five Simple Steps For Great Driving

One key to slashing your golf handicap is your driving. Conventional wisdom encourag-es golfers to hit accurate drives then go for distance. This approach holds that 220-yard drives in the fairway trump 250-yard drives in deep rough. But some Tour players, in-cluding veteran pro golfer Nick Price, favor a different approach. They say learn to hit the ball as far as possible first, address control later. Regardless of what side of the argument you favor, mastering the five golf tips below, will help make you a great driver.

• Hit A Draw

Some players like to hit power fades off the tee. Jack Nicklaus did. That might not work for you. Tour players fade the ball differently than a weekend golfer. They use a draw type swing, with the clubhead approaching from inside the line of play instead of swiping across it. This approach increases control, but is difficult to learn. If your fade is costing you yardage, you might be better off hitting a draw. It adds distance to your drives be-cause the clubhead comes into the ball on a shallow, head-on angle, compressing the ball more efficiently. Draws also tend to run when they hit, lengthening out the drive.

• Catch It On The Upswing

One key to hitting great drives, we tell golfers in our golf lessons, is catching the ball on the upswing. This adds both carry and distance to the drive. To increase your chances of hitting on the upswing, tee the ball a little higher than normally and position the ball an inch or two farther forward. The ball should be directly below your left pectoral muscle. Another golf tip is to increase your backswing turn. You need a full turn to hit great drives.

• Increase Loft

Many of the weekend golfers attending our golf instruction sessions tend to hit their drives more on a line than Tour players. The ball shoots up like a line drive, hangs up at the peak of its trajectory, and then flutters down. This type of ball flight costs you yar-dage. Instead, try hitting the ball higher. Balls hit with more height continue to fly for-ward rather than fluttering down. Watch your ball flight next time you go to the driving range. If you see your ball falling abruptly from its peak, find a driver with more loft than your current club, say one with 12 to 15 degrees of loft.

• Get A Good Lie

Another tendency we see in our golf instructions sessions is failing to find a good lie in the tee box. Tee boxes aren’t perfect. They may slope in one direction or the other or have a hollow or two. To hit great drives, you must find a level area to hit from. If you tee your ball up in a place where your feet are even a half-inch higher or lower than the ball, you’re asking for trouble because you’re hitting off a side hill lie. Instead, tee up near a ball marker or move back a club length-or two. The flatter the spot you hit from, the better.

• Play Safe When You Need To

Some golfers in our golf lessons can ramp up their swings on command. But many can’t. It just messes up their swings. Our advice: Avoid trying to carry a bunker or other trouble spot if you can’t carry it with your normal swing. If you have to swing even a little harder than you normally do, then lay-up. If you gamble and lose, you’ll cost yourself a stroke or more. It may also put you into a bad frame of mind for the rest of the round. Also, never aim for a bunker, a water hazard, or other trouble. If the ball goes straight, it costs you. Don’t get penalized for hitting the ball straight.

Mastering these five golf tips helps generate more distance off the tee. Longer drives that hit the fairway mean shorter and easier shots into the green, which increases your chances of hitting more greens in regulation (GIR). Hit more GIRs and you increase your chances of carding more birdies and pars. More birdies and pars slash scores and golf handicaps.

Mastering The Full Swing: Five Proven Golf Tips

If you’re serious about improving your game, you must master the full swing’s key me-chanics. Doing so increases power, consistency, and accuracy. These capabilities help po-sition you to hit more greens in regulation (GIR). That’s big, as I’ve often said in my golf tips newsletter. Hitting more GIRs leads to more pars and birdies, which in turn helps you card better scores and chops strokes off your golf handicap.

But mastering the full swing’s mechanics isn’t easy. It takes hard work to eliminate the flaws that can creep into a swing. Player’s adept at eliminating these swing flaws will record a lot more good rounds. Implementing the five golf tips discussed below helps you eliminate the common swing flaws that ruin a round and bring you a step closer to break-ing 80 consistently.

Leading with the left side (right side for lefties) is critical to good ballstriking. The left side’s uncoiling sets up a pulling motion back to the ball, which is critical to accuracy and consistency. So you need to work on strengthening and training your non-dominant side. Lift weights, squeeze a tennis ball, or practice swinging the club one-handed. Do whatever strengthens and trains that side. Also, keep your left arm closer to your chest as you start the club back. Keep it there as long as you can. This move puts your left arm “in the slot” between your head and right shoulder—the proper backswing position that many players so hard at in golf lessons.

If you hit weak shots, you may lack width in your backswing. The bigger your backswing arc, the greater your swing width is. The greater your swing width, the more room you have to increase clubhead speed before striking the ball. It’s that simple. To create more width, space out the distance between your right hand and right shoulder (opposite hand and opposite shoulder for lefties) at the top of your backswing. This move gives the shoulder more room to turn, improving both your width and your torque. We’ve seen stu-dents in our golf lessons achieve 20 or 30 yards more just by mastering this simple move.

Another key to more distance is the “X-Factor” in your swing. The X-Factor describes the lines created if you looked down at a golfer from above and drew lines through the shoulders and hips at the top of the backswing. The greater the difference between the shoulders and hips, the more resistance created between the upper body and the lower body. The greater the resistance between these two, the more power you deliver at im-pact. To make a powerful turn—not just a big turn—the upper body must rotate much more than the hips. The X-factor is another key fundamental that teachers emphasize in golf instruction sessions. It’s like a slingshot: The farther you pull the rubber band back from the handle, the farther the stone goes.

If want a truly powerful swing, however, you also must master your back knees flex. The flex does two things: It tightens your hip turn in the backswing, creating more distance and more resistance between your upper body and lower body (the X-factor again), and helps you drive your weight into your forward side on the downswing, just as they teach in golf instruction sessions. Substituting a straight leg for a flexed one at the top of your backswing is bad. It messes up your swing plane, leads to the dreaded reverse pivot posi-tion, and robs you of power. To perfect this move, practice swinging the club while fo-cusing solely on keeping the back knee flexed. This drill will improve your swing in no time.

Mastering these five golf tips will help you achieve a swing that’s consistent and accu-rate. They’ll also help you hit the ball father, setting you up for shorter shots into the green. Shorter shots lead to more GIRs. More GIRs lead to more pars and birdies—and a better chance breaking 80 and lowering your golf handicap.

 

Golf Tips On Mid-Round Quick Fixes

It’s happened to all of us one time or other. We’re driving the fairways. We’re hitting our irons solidly. And we’re sinking putts left and right. Then something happens—a bad drive, a chunked iron, a missed putt. Whatever it is, it shifts things. We start making mis-takes—both mental and physical. Our game goes downhill from there on. Instead of fi-nishing with a solid round, we end up with a less than stellar score.

If you’re serious about achieving a low golf handicap, you must know how to recover when you lose it like this. Quick mid-round fixes help you recover when things start going south and regain both your rhythm and timing. That in turn boosts confidence—the key as we tell students in our golf instructions sessions to having a great round. Below are four simple mid-round fixes that will help you right the ship and boost your confi-dence when things start going wrong.

Straighten Out A Slice

Slicing can really impact scores, so you need to correct this quickly, if you want to have a good round. Two things contribute to a slice: an open clubface at impact and an overly steep downswing. When these two things join in a swing, look out for banana balls.

One way to cure slicing is to flatten your swing a little. This means rotating your hands and arms over one another through the swing. To groove this motion take practice swings on a side hill (with about 15 percent slope) with the ball above your feet. Doing this flat-tens your swing and squares your clubface.

Eliminate Chunking

Is there anything more embarrassing than chunking a shot? But players with low golf handicaps chunk shots periodically. When you start doing it during a round that spells trouble. Chunking usually stems from not transferring your weight correctly in the down-swing. The result: you start hitting the ground behind the ball.

We teach students in golf lessons a simple technique to stop chunking. Place a head cover about six inches behind your ball. This forces you to avoid hitting the obstacle, which you can only do by transferring your weight correctly. This allows the club to “bottom out” at the right point in your swing and improves contact.

Shedding The Shanks

If you’ve ever had the shanks, you know how devastating they can be. They can really undermine a solid round. When you shank, you hit the ball off the club’s heel. This hap-pens in two ways—by either “coming over the top” or by “getting stuck.” Either way hurts your swing. In both cases, your hands are too far away from your body.

To stop shanking, brush your hands against your pants when making your downswing. You want to get as close to your body as possible getting hung up on them. When you do that, you end up strike the ball with a good center hit, just the way we teach students in golf instruction sessions.

Back On Track

The path of your putter determines the ball’s direction. A putterhead going from outside the target line to inside usually makes the ball go left (right for a left-handed putter). A putterhead going from inside the target line to outside makes the ball go right. Good put-ters generally have a putterhead path that travels inside the target line to square at impact then back to the inside.

Losing your putting stroke during a match is the kiss of death. You’ll make more shots with the putter than any other club in your bag. If you’re struggling to find your stroke, find an area on the fringe that has a slight arc. Place the toe of the club against it, then make some swings and trace the path. This simple drill not only re-aligns your putting stroke, it also encourages a proper release.

The best cure for a bad round is a good post-round session. But when you’re playing well and you suddenly lose it, you need to recover quickly. Players with low golf handicaps usually do. The simple drills described above will help you not only re-gain your form, but also re-build your confidence.

 

Buying Women’s Clubs

Thinking of buying a new set of clubs. Playing with the right clubs helps you achieve a low golf handicap. That’s why it’s critical you buy the right clubs—whether you’re a beginner, and intermediary, or a veteran. The purchasing decision, however, is somewhat different for a woman than a man. That’s because the decision must account for the physical differences between the sexes. The best way of getting this decision right is to do enough research to make an informed decision.

The key goal when buying any set of clubs is to make sure it fits the golfer’s game. Women, like men, have strengths and weaknesses to their games. The right set of clubs can help a woman capitalize on her strengths and compensate on her weaknesses. That’s why you must select the right set for you. Keep in mind that the “right set” might not be the most expensive one. Often, a modestly priced set of clubs works just as well as a pri-cy set. If you’re just starting out, used set might be the answer until you get a better feel for the game.

Women’s clubs are generally shorter, lighter, and more flexible than men’s. That’s to make up for a woman’s smaller stature, which usually results in a slower swing speed. Women’s clubs also tend to be more colorful than men’s, a fact we see clearly with women players taking our golf lessons. For example, take women’s grips. They come in a much wider range of colors than men’s. They also are smaller in diameter and shorter to make up for a woman’s smaller hands.

Key considerations when buying women’s club are shaft length, loft, clubhead size, and shaft flex. Here are some golf tips on women’s clubs to keep in mind. Shaft length affects accuracy and distance. A good shaft length for a driver for a woman 5’9” tall is 43 inch-es. Subtract or add an inch for every inch a woman is shorter or taller than 5’9.” Then subtract about half an inch for every club other than the driver to get the proper shaft lengths for the rest of the set.

Women driver’s generally come with higher lofts than men’s. The standard loft for a men’s driver is 10. The standard loft for a women’s driver is 12. But if a women’s has problems getting the ball in the air, consider going to a club with even more loft. Also, look at clubs with larger clubheads. Larger clubheads have bigger sweet spots for better ballstriking. Graphite shafts are more flexible than steel shafts to help compensate for slower swing speeds. Irons with cavity backs are more forgiving of mis-hits.

As for putters, a good choice for a beginner is a putter mallet-type head. One you have a better feel for the game, you’ll personalize your putter choice. A putter with a shaft length of 33 inches works for most women. But women taller than 5’ 6” should consider buying a putter fitted to their size.

Replacing the longer irons with hybrids is also consideration. Many women in our golf instruction sessions that have adopted hybrids end up hitting the ball much better. Once you’ve chosen the right set, think about adding a 7-wood and a 9-wood or a gap wedge and a lob wedge. Adding them depends on your game and the courses you play. But re-member, the rules allow up to 14 clubs in a bag.

Below is a simple eight-step process for buying a set of golf clubs:

Determine the player’s capabilitiesDecide on a budgetResearch options thoroughlyCreate a short listFind a golf shop/retailer with a wide selectionTry out clubs on the list and others not on itDetermine which set to buyCompare prices before buying

When you go to the golf shop or retailer, be open to suggestions from the salesman. And
never buy clubs without trying them out first—a golf tip we can’t emphasize enough.

Buying the right set of golf clubs is critical—whether you’re a man or woman. You’ll probably have them for a few years. So take the time to do it right. Do enough research and testing to make an informed decision. A good set of clubs can really help your game. But even with the perfect set, you still must practice and play a lot to achieve a low golf handicap.

 

Curing Your Iron Ills

We’re often asked what’s the quickest way to lower a golf handicap? The quickest way to lower a golf handicap is to improve chipping and putting. Good chipping and good putting are critical to scoring well. Good iron is also critical to scoring well. You can’t break 80 consistently if your iron play isn’t up to snuff. That’s why you often see Tour players at the practice range hitting their irons and getting golf tips from their teachers while at the range. These golfers know the importance of good iron play.

Of course, wanting to improve iron play is easier said than done. It takes patience and hard work. But the rewards include lower scores, more birdies, and increased confidence. The first step to curing iron ills is properly diagnosing the problems. Common problems we see in students taking our golf lessons are heel/toe hits, poor divots, and the inability to hit long irons. All three problems can stem from defects in your downswing, defects that you may not even realize you have.

Down And Out

Unlike most other sports, golf requires you to make constant adjustments to your equip-ment. If you compare the lie angles of short irons and long irons when the clubs are soled, you’ll see why. Short irons are more upright while long irons are flatter. So if you have a downswing that’s more upright, you’ll hit your short irons better, while flatter downswings work better with long irons.

Shorter irons are easier to hit because they allow you to come “more inside” on your swing. Thus you can swing the club closer to your body. Longer irons don’t allow you to come too far inside on your downswing. If your swing is too close to your body with the-se irons, you’ll make poor contact. Problems ensue when golfers fail to adjust to the dif-ferences in clubs.

Shoulder Turn Speed Also Key

Another mechanic that impedes iron play is shoulder turn speed. If your shoulders turn at a faster rate than your arms swing down, you’ll make poor contact. This movement leads to an overly steep swing. It’s something we see a lot of in our golf lessons. The impact position that results moves across the ball, leading to a lot of toe hits. Golfers with this swing flaw have trouble hitting long irons and take deep divots, thanks to the swing’s steepness.

Conversely, if you reverse the sequence—your arms swing down faster than your shoul-ders turn—your club will approach impact too much inside. If this sounds like you, then you probably have a lot of heel hits and you create shallow divots. This type of swing works well with the longer irons but not so well with the shorter ones.

When you marry the right turn shoulder speed with the right arm swing speed in the downswing, you make solid contact. That’s because you’re able to get the club on the right swing plane—the key to a good golf swing and good iron play. A good checkpoint for this is to see where your hands are when they reach waist-high. You’ve synced up shoulder turn speed and arm turn speed when the butt of your clubshaft points at the ball when the club reaches waist high.

Below is a drill used in many golf instruction sessions to help players learn to synchro-nize the movements of the lower body, upper body, and club during the downswing.

Use a 7-iron for this drill. From your address position, swing the club back stopping at the top of your backstroke. Be sure at this stage to check that your weight is balanced. Hold this position for a few seconds. Next, complete the swing. Trigger a perfect chain reaction by rotating your hips and legs smoothly, but powerfully, toward your target.

Improved putting and chipping cuts strokes from your golf handicap. But to break 80 consistently, you must play well with your irons. The key to doing that is adjusting to the physical differences between the short irons and the long irons. Our golf tips should help you overcome this challenge and enable you to make the right adjustments.

 

Golf Tips For The Complete Player

Scoring well during a round depends on two things: keeping the ball in play and playing well from 100 yards in. Playing well from short yardage is critical. About two-thirds of the shots you take during a round are from 100 yards and in, so if you don’t play well from short yardage you won’t break 90 or 80. Your short game also has a major impact on your golf handicap over the course of a season. Play well from 100 yards in during the season and you’ll lower your golf handicap a couple of strokes.

Having a great short game is also a key to being a complete player. In fact, you can’t be one without a good short game. If you’re short game isn’t what it should be, you can im-prove it by mastering these four fundamentals: learn the correct set-up position for each shot, create a clear picture of the shot in your mind, choose a specific landing area for the shot, and focus on your finish to promote feel and acceleration. Below are golf tips we recommend to players in our golf lessons to help them master key short game fundamen-tals.

We cover this shot thoroughly with players in our golf instruction sessions. It’s that im-portant. The key with chip shots is to set-up in a pre-set impact position so all you have to do is let your hips turn to bring the club back to impact. Also, play the ball back in your stance, open your hips slightly, create one line with your left arm and the club, and shift more weight to your front side. And take a few practice swings to make sure you’re scuffing the grass ahead of the ball.

This is another shot you want to keep simple. So set up as if you were going to hit a chip, and then set your hands in a pre-impact position. Now just turn your hips. That’s it. Other golf tips are play the ball off your nose, open the clubface slightly, and create one line with your left arm and the club. Also, keep your wrists relaxed during the shot, focus on swinging through the ball, and accelerate through impact. You want to hit down on the ball and create spin. Taking a few practice swings with your eyes on the target is also a good practice.

You need more height than spin on this shot. The key is to set up correctly and to bend your left wrist so your hands are low. This position allows you to use the club’s full bounce. Keep the hands more in line with the clubhead, aim slightly left of target, and swing the club on a more vertical plane with an open clubface. At impact, the hands should be ahead of the ball so the clubface stays open and can slide under the ball. Take a good aggressive swing. That’s something we remind players about in golf lessons all the time. The more aggressive you are, the higher the ball flies. Also, the deeper the lie, the harder you have to swing. Finish with your chest facing the target.

No one likes bunker shots. But you can master them with practice. The key is to open the clubface to create bounce first, and then set your hands and club in a pre-set impact posi-tion. Make sure your hands lead the club when you hit the sand. Turn your trunk in the backswing to keep your arms in front of your chest, which lets you hinge on plane. Other tips are play the ball forward, about 2 inches from the center, open the clubface slightly to capitalize on the club’s bounce, and aim about a club length left of your target. Bunker shots fly about one-third of normal shots, so plan accordingly.

You must master the fundamentals of the short game to become a complete player. The golf tips discussed above, gleaned from our golf lessons and group golf instruction ses-sions, will help you master the fundamentals. Keep things as simple as possible, so they’re easily repeatable, and be aggressive. Learn to trust your fundamentals once you’ve mastered them and you’ll find yourself breaking 90 or 80 and chopping strokes off your golf handicap.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Golf Articles, Golf Help, Golf Newsletters, Golf Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Five Must Read Instruction Books

If you’re serious about improving, you must assess your game periodically to determine your strengths and weakness. December is a great time to do it. It’s also a great time to plan how to strengthen your weaknesses. Ideally, you should work on these with help from a local golf pro or an experienced golf instructor. He or she can see what you’re doing wrong and suggest changes. Unfortunately, not everyone has the means or time to take golf lessons.

If you can’t take lessons or you don’t want to, don’t despair. You can still improve your game with help from the game’s greatest players and teachers through golf instruction books. Dozens of well-written instruction books crafted by professional teachers and Tour players are available. Packed with golf tips, these books will help you master the game and cut your golf handicap. Below are five you might want to add to your reading list in 2012.

1. The Mental Art of Putting by Patrick Cohn and Robert Winters

Fifth on Amazon’s list of the 10 best selling books on golf in 2011, this book is an excel-lent aid for “the putting impaired.” It teaches golfers to use their most important asset in putting—their minds. Using self-evaluation, step-by-step instruction, and practice exer-cises, the book offers tons of golf tips on putting. If you can master the golf lessons con-tained in this book, you’ll not only become a great putter, you’ll also shrink your golf handicap.

2. Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals On Golf by Ben Hogan

This book is a classic. It’s also among the most popular instruction books on golf ever. Hogan believed that even people with average athletic ability can learn to break 80, if they apply themselves. Thus, Five Lessons is designed to help the average person master the full golf swing quickly and correctly. Each chapter contains a tested "fundamental" explained and demonstrated with amazing detail and clarity. It’s a must read for every golfer.

3. Golf My Way: The Instruction Classic by Jack Nicklaus

This is another classic golf book written by one of the game’s greatest players. Newly revised and updated, it covers the whole game, presenting an all-inclusive A-to-Z expla-nation of how Nicklaus thinks about and plays the game. Packed with golf tips and golf lessons, the new edition contains:

A new introduction and endpiece, plus additional illustrationsBrand-new chapters discussing the changes in Nicklaus's outlook and techniquesReflections on the differences in tournament golf today compared with when Nicklaus joined the PGA tour in 1962Advice on the mental elements of improved playing not directly related to ball-striking or shotmaking

Golf My Way will help reduce your golf handicap whether you’re new to the game or a veteran of 20 years.

4. The Natural Golf Swing by George Knudson and Lorne Rubenstein

If your game is plagued by inconsistency and poor performance, you could be going against your “natural” swing. The book’s authors believe that the golf swing is governed by laws of nature and is subject to logical, physical fundamentals that golfers all too often ignore. With help from the book’s written golf instruction sessions, you’ll learn to gen-erate a more powerful, accurate swing that can help you cut strokes from you scores and gain control of your swing. Extensive illustrations and golf drills make this book’s golf lessons memorable.

5. Dave Peltz’s Short Game Bible by Dave Peltz

This book is among the game’s best books on the short game. Peltz explains the golf les-sons in this book in great detail. His lessons are backed by years of research and teaching. A scientist by profession, Pelz provides photos, illustrations, charts, and plenty of sage advice on pitching, chipping, sand play, putting, equipment, execution, mechanics, tech-nique, practice, and attitude. While he mainly addresses better players and serious golfers, his basics are appropriate for players at any skill level of the game.

These five instruction books will help you improve in 2012. Each provides dozens of fruitful golf instruction sessions. Each is designed to slice strokes from your scores and golf handicap. And each is well written, so you’ll not only learn a lot, you’ll also enjoy reading them. Have fun.

 

Making A Swing Change

Why do savvy golfers make swing changes? They don’t do it because of what their golf-ing buddies say or to copy their favorite pro golfer. Savvy golfers make swing changes because of their ball flight. That’s what really matters. If it’s not what you want it to be, changing your swing can help. (Ball flight is also a factor in monitoring a player’s progress.) The long-term goal with a swing change is to lower your golf handicap.

Making a swing change is also about identifying one major fault and correcting it. Taking care of that problem often cures a lot of other ills. Making a swing change is also about having faith. You might not see a quick payoff initially. You may even regress for a time. But you can let that throw you. Eventually, you’ll see progress. When the new swing fi-nally takes effect, you’ll see a lasting difference in your game and your golf handicap.

Below are five golf tips that will help make a swing change easier:

Because a swing change involves a different motion, it won’t feel good at first. It will feel rather awkward, whether you’re making a slight adjustment or changing your whole swing. But it should feel strange. You’re doing something totally different. You also have to play through the uncomfortable parts and expect it to feel different at first. So you need to practice the change until it becomes second nature. But be careful— as we tell students who take our golf lessons. Your old swing can easily sneak up on you.

Tiger Woods has been working on a swing change the past two years. Tiger is no stranger to swing changes. He’s made a couple before. Like some weekend golfers, Tiger doesn’t like drills. But he is a fanatic about repetition. So he practices his new swing in slow mo-tion—over and over again. Practicing in slow motion is a good way to ingrain the feel of a change. You can’t always do that when hitting balls because the swing is over so quick-ly. Combining slow motion practice and golf drills also works.

Some golfers will work on a swing change in practice and abandon it when playing a round. These golfers are counting on the change sneaking its way into their swing. That approach doesn’t work. You must use the change over and over again to make it second nature. That’s why we encourage students who take our golf lessons to use a swing change during practice AND when they play—the sooner the better. It might be hard at first, but it’s the best—and the fastest—way to make the transition.

Focus on one thing when making a swing change. Make sure it’s a major fault. Then de-vote all your time and attention to addressing the fault. It’s what we do in our golf in-struction sessions, and it works. By correcting that one fault you may also be eliminating a host of other ills that plague your swing and your game. And don’t forget about the other parts of your game, like your short game. It’s easy to get completely absorbed in making a swing change and forget about the other areas of play.

There’s nothing wrong with using golf tips during a round. But don’t be fooled by quick fixes on the course. They may help during a round but that’s it. That’s because golf tips often address only the symptom and not the cause. After awhile, they wear off and you’re back where you started. If you’re making a swing change, you must address the problem’s root causes. In fact, we encourage students who take our golf instruction sessions to have an open mind about golf tips and swing changes.

Ball flight tells you when to make a swing change. It’s also a good tool to monitor progress. Making a swing change can be frustrating. But you must stick with the change. Eventually, it becomes second nature. When that happens, your ball flight will improve and you’ll chop strokes off your golf handicap. Also, don’t go it alone. Work with someone who can see what you’re doing. Why—because what you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing are often different. Another set of eyes helps.

 

Little Known Rules Of Bunker Play

If you’ve played golf for a while, you know that the sport has many rules. You probably know the basics ones, like the rule on hitting a ball in the hazard, but don’t know some of the more obscure ones. If you’re serious about golf, learn the rules. It won’t cut strokes from your golf handicap, but it helps you play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. For people who really love the game, that’s important.

Golf’s rules are designed primarily to prevent a player from gaining an advantage. They do a good job of that. But in trying to achieve fairness, you must extend the rules some-times to address some unusual situations, like whether you can hit with one foot in a hazard. One place where you can find yourself facing an uncommon situation is in a bunker. Most times, bunker play is cut and dry. When it’s not, it’s good to know the rules. Below are some golf tips on little known rules in bunker play.

Most students who take our golf lessons know they can’t ground their clubs in a bunker, even during their backswings. Most also know that they can’t touch the sand in a bunker with their hands. But there are exceptions to this rule: You can touch the sand with your hand to look for a buried ball, prevent yourself from falling, remove an obstruction (a so-da can or cigarette butt), or put down a club. However, these exceptions don’t apply if, in doing so, you test the surface or improve your lie. The penalty is two shots in stroke play and the loss of hole in match play. (Rule 13-4)

It doesn’t happen often but golfers sometimes play the wrong ball in a bunker. (We teach students in our golf instruction sessions to always check the ball before hitting to make sure it’s theirs.) You certainly don’t want to be penalized for playing the wrong ball, es-pecially if you’re having a good round. Sometimes the penalty for playing the wrong ball in a bunker is rather severe. It costs you two strokes in stroke play and the hole in match play. (Rule 15-3)

Another little known rule covering bunker play is the one Addressing loose impediments. Accidently moving a loose impediment in a bunker is okay as long as it was not moved in making your backswing. Accidently moving a loose impediment is also okay as long as you don’t improve your stance, your swing, or the ball’s lie. (Rule 13-4) You also have to be careful not to move the ball when taking your stance. If your ball moves as a result of shifting sand caused by your taking a stance, you must take a penalty stroke and replace the ball. (Rule 18-2a)

Sometimes after a good rain, water collects in a bunker, creating a pool. This is considered casual water. If the ball finds this water, you may drop it in a dry area of the bunker with no penalty, as long as it’s no closer to the hole. If the whole bunker is under water, you may drop the ball outside the bunker, keeping the point where the ball lays between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped. The penalty for this is one stroke.

These are just some of the rules covering bunker play. We encourage golfers who take our golf instruction sessions to go through the rulebook periodically and familiarize themselves with the rules as much as possible. You should do it as well. It won’t help your golf handicap much, but knowing a key rule can save strokes. And if you’re won-dering about playing a ball while standing in a hazard, you can. It happened to pro golfer Tim Clark in the 2008. Officials ruled he could play a ball with one foot in a hazard. (Rule 20-2c)

 

How to use a GPS to Improve Your Golf Handicap

I honestly believe if we took three golfers who play off handicaps of 3, 13 & 23 that have never used a Golf GPS before and gave them a GPS to use, all three would improve and be playing off lower handicaps in a short space of time.
Golfers should not under estimate how important it is to have a yardage to the front, middle and back if you really want to lower your scores and improve your golf handicap. Whatever part of the course, and whichever course you are playing on, knowing these distances is the key to lower handicaps and improving your golf.
This is how the best players in the world get round except that instead of a GPS unit they have a caddie that has a yardage book that has been produced by measuring the course using a piece of GPS measuring kit.
One of the objections I get from club golfers when out demoing the Shotmiser Golf GPS is “You still have to be able to hit the shot“ which of course is true and you will not always hit the perfect shot as neither will the best golfers in the world but hitting the correct club for that distance will give you many more opportunities in a round of golf than you would ever have had before,
The Shotmiser GPS has a “Practice Feature” which allows you to hit shots and measure how far you actually hit your clubs, so many club golfers would be surprised how many times they are say 10-15 yards usually less than they thought they hit it which isn`t a disaster as long as you know your distances, the key would be to go through your full set of clubs hitting 10-15 balls with each club, walk to the spread of balls and pick out the 5 closest together and using the measuring facility on your Shotmiser track them 5 shots which will then give you an average for that club, repeat this with all your clubs and list the average distances. See table below for an example of my yardages.
I cannot begin to tell you at whatever level of golf you play at how powerful this information is, for instance you are stood at spot on the golf course and your Shotmiser is giving you a yardage of 145 to the middle of the green which is completely taking the guess work out of the equation as you now know from your practice sessions which club will give the best chance of getting it close to the flag.
The other major benefit of using a GPS that has point to point technology like the Shotmiser range is “lay-ups” this again is a huge part of the professional game and if implemented properly would benefit and improve any amateur’s game.
This is more commonly known as “Course Management” and playing your way around a golf course, if you were in the trees and had a water hazard in front of the green and couldn`t make it over it you should lay-up, the key is to leave yourself your preferred yardage for your next shot, at this point most club golfers would walk up, still annoyed at how they had missed the fairway and just chip back onto the fairway, I would always try to leave 80 yards into the green so I would touch the screen of my Shotmiser just before the hazard and it would give me a distance of how far I would have to hit it to leave me my favoured 80 yard shot in instead of just chipping out somewhere which again is all that happens at the very top level of golf by the caddie giving the Pro the club that will hit it the preferred distance to leave their favoured approach shot.
If you can stick to this drill you will achieve more hit greens which inevitably leads to more holed putts.
There’s no question that a GPS system can help any golfer’s game. A GPS can even help someone who almost always plays on the same course. You may be familiar with the yardages to the holes from different locations on the fairway but you may not always be in the fairway. How do you know how much club to take when your 30 yards wide off the fairway? I know being off-line will add some distance to my target, but how much? In my view, that’s where a GPS can help someone who plays on the same course all the time. And a GPS unit would benefit someone playing an unfamiliar course even more. Simply put, golf GPS can help you select the right club to use on each and every shot you take because it removes all the guesswork about your yardage.

Putting yips - helpful tips for curing your yips

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I am very happy to say that I have never suffered from the 'putting yips'! If you are reading this page, you are either wanting a cure for yourself or for one of your golfing buddies.
Well, what exactly is the yips? It is when a player's right hand develops a mind of its own and behaves in an erratic and jerky way at the impact point of the putt.
The only way to cure the yips, is to find a way to eliminate the hinging of the right hand during the putting stroke. See below four helpful tips, which you can experiment with to cure the yips.

a) Grip the putter so your left hand is below your right hand and make sure that your left hand grip is firmer than your right hand grip.
b) Now focus on having your left hand and arm totally in control of your stroke - your right hand should feel as if it is simply going along with the stroke, but not having 'any say' in it.

a) With your left hand down the grip in an orthodox manner, clasp you left forearm with the fingers of your right hand.
b) When using this grip, the right hand is taken out of the stroke and all wrist action is eliminated.
This method is very effective for short range putts.

a) Grip the putter with your left hand above your right.
b) Now add your right hand, gripping it between the thumb and index finger of your right hand.
This 'Claw Grip' will encourage the right hand to 'push' through the stroke as opposed to hinging the putterhead through the stroke.
A number of professionals and amateurs have been successful in curing their putting yips, by learning to putt left-handed. If all else fails, give it a go! Return from 'putting yips' to 'putting tips home'

Stop shanking

Shanking happens, when the ball is hit on the area towards the back of the clubface (where the clubface connects to the shaft). Most golfers suffer from these erratic shots, when using their long-irons (1 to 4 irons).
When too much body weight is on a player's toes, it causes the clubhead to move on an outside-in swing-path. This results in a cutting action across the ball, which can send it off in an erratic way.

1. Tee your ball up slightly higher.
2. Set your clubface, feet, hips and shoulders, square to your target at address ? during practice, lay two clubs on the ground, parallel to your target to help you with this (see above picture).
3. Train yourself to swing through on an in-to-out path - on your downswing, focus on dropping your hands down, between your feet and ball, then swing out to your right.

4. Focus on hitting the ball out of the middle of the clubface. Colour a circle on your clubface, before hitting balls on the driving range - the marks left on your clubface will show you whether your balls are coming out of the centre of the club or not. Return to 'instruction home'

Learn the proper golf grip

Without the correct golf grip, it is very difficult to develop a solid golf swing. The correct golf grip is crucial for the generation of power and hitting precise shots constantly.
By learning to grip the club correctly, every beginner will be out of a good start, to build an effective swing.

While defending, I post the clubface square to my target with the thumb and forefinger of my right hand.

I then post the handle of the club so it is between my palm and the basis of my fingers (this is very important - if the club is under the influence too in the Palm of the left hand, that it will cause a host of defects swing).

Then, I wrap my left hand around the grip (club face still square for target), with the "V" formed between my thumb and forefinger pointing to my right shoulder.
If I see two and a half knuckles when I look at my left hand, I know I'm gripping correctly.

I can just take my right hand and shake hands with the handle so my thumb of left hand fits into the "lifeline" of my right hand.

At this time the my thumb of the left hand is covered with the pad of my right hand thumb, with the back of my right hand square to the target.
Once, a famous South African golfer explained that he holds firmly golf club without tightening it.
By light grip of the club, it releases the tension in the hands, arms and shoulders, which is the key to generate clubhead speed.

Take a tube of toothpaste (with removed plug) and grip it as if you are a grip golf club.
If the fate of toothpaste, you are pressing and grip it too closely.
If you it grab firmly without any outgoing toothpaste, you hold a pressure of good adhesion. Apply this pressure even when your grip golfclub.
See below for explanations of the three most commonly used handles. If you have not settled on a grip again, spending time on the beach at the wheel that is more comfortable and efficient for you.



This is where the little finger of the hand right locking the controls with the left hand index.
Benefits: Helping hands work together nicely as a unit - commonly used by players with slightly smaller hands.

With this handle the little finger of the right hand is sitting at the top of the gap between the index and the medius of the left hand.
Advantage: This handle makes it easy to maintain a pressure of gripping more light which is the key to an effective golf swing - most golfers around the world use this handle.



With the grip baseball finger of the right hand is sitting next to the index of the left hand on the grip.
Benefits: A small number of professionals and amateurs use this handle simply because he feels uncomfortable and "right" for them.

Quick wins for golf improvement

Every golfer wants 'quick fixes' to help them achieve golf improvement without too much effort. I do feel very strongly that the only way to nurture a solid golf game is to spend the time practicing the right fundamentals on a regular basis.
I do know however, that many weekend golfers really don't have time to practice at all and would love to have a few 'quick fix' fundamentals ready for their weekend round. With this in mind, I have included this 'golf improvement' section, to provide some 'quick fix' fundamentals.
Don't expect these few tips below to miraculously tranform you into a solid golfer! If you are serious about becoming a better golfer, I would strongly recommed that you work through all the great free golf tips on this website.
The correct grip is crucial for serious golf improvement.
a) Grip too 'strong'

This grip is too 'strong', because the palm of the left hand is too far over to the right side of the grip. The right hand is also too much underneath the grip, which means that the back of the right hand is not square to the target.
b) Grip too 'weak'

This grip is too 'weak', because the palm of the left hand is too far over to the left side of the grip. The right hand is also too much on top of the grip, which means that the back of the right hand is not square to the target in this position either.
c) Correct grip

If I can see two-and-a-half knuckles when I look down at my left hand, I know I am gripping properly.
I then simply take my right hand and shake hands with the grip so my left hand thumb fits into the 'lifeline' of my right hand.
My left hand thumb is now being covered up with the thumb pad of my right hand, with the back of my right hand square to the target.
See more details on the proper grip and different grip types under the golf grip tips section.
Another way you can achieve quick golf improvement, is to learn to position the ball correctly - this is essential for solid ball striking.
1. For mid-iron shots, position the ball in the centre of your stance.
2. For long-iron shots, position the ball in-between the centre of your stance and your left heel.
3. For driving shots, position the ball inside your left heel in order to hit the ball on the upward swing.
It is very important that the hands are in front of the ball when the club makes contact with the ball.

By having your hands in front during impact, you will make it much easier to achiive a solid and accurate connection.
Get into the good habit of addressing the ball with your hands positioned ahead of it as this will help you swing through with your hands ahead of the ball at impact.
Most amateur golfers are way to ambitious when trying to hit their ball out of the rough. Carefully examine your lie. In most cases, you will have to pull out your wedge and simply advance the ball safely onto the fairway. Too many amateurs make a wild swing with a long-iron, only to end up advancing the ball only a few yards.
You need a completely different swing when playing from the rough:
1. Place 70 percent of your weight on your left foot.
2. Be sure to swing the club up and down, not around your body.
3. Do not allow the golf club to swing up after impact. Keep the clubhead low to the ground to hit powerfully down and through the ball.
The most dependable chipping action is when your torso controls the motion as this helps to keep the hand and wrist action to a minimum.

1. Take your chipping stance (feet shoulder-width apart).
2. Grip the club with your right hand only.
3. With your left hand, clasp the elbow of your right arm so that your forearm is across your chest.
4. With your chest, turn and make your backswing.
5. Now, again with your chest, turn through to strike the ball.
6. Your wrist-angle (back of the wrists) should remain constant throughout the swinging motion.
7. The chest-dominated motion should continue to the end of the chipping motion.
Try this chipping action. You will be pleasantly surprised at how it will 'hold-up' in pressure situations during your round.