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Archive for June, 2009

How To Find The Perfect Neutral Grip

Looking for that perfect grip? Assuming the perfect neutral hold requires some careful application:

1) Start by letting your arms hang down free from tension, with your hands on either side of the grip, palms facing one another.

2) Now feed the club into your left hand, so the club runs diagonally from the first joint of your forefinger up into the fleshy pad at the top of your palm. Close your fingers around the grip.

3) Your left thumb should rest on top of the grip, just right of center. In a mirror, only two knuckles on your left hand should be visible to you.

4) To apply the right hand to the club, keep in mind the all-important palms-facing principle. Bring the right hand in toward the grip and wrap the fingers around it. The right hand should fit snuggly on top of the left, the right thumb and forefinger forming a soft trigger around the grip.

The Perfect Swing Posture Practice Routine

The posture you use at address is important to your chances of knocking a decent shot, simply because it will determine the shape and quality of your body motion during the swing.

Falling into bad swing habits is easy, so when you practice take some time to go over this “perfect posture” routine:

1) Stand perfectly straight with your feet about shoulder width apart. Your hands should be placed firmly on the grip and the arms extended with comfort, near chest height.

2) Now bend from your hips slowly until the club is resting on the turf.

3) Flex the knees so that you can feel some tension in your thighs, keeping your back relatively straight. Hold your chin up high.

4) Before you swing be sure not to remain too static. A good golf swing should be in fluid motion, and it is hard to make a decent start on your swing from a totally stiff position.

Water Hazard Tip: Leave Your Ego At Home

Sometimes playing a ball that has gotten into trouble means putting aside your ego and walking away from a potentially rotten second shot, especially when a water hazard is involved.

It happens to us all - a shot goes terribly wrong and lands in the water, yet you can still see the top of the ball. You want to get it back onto the green on the next go, but what usually ends up happening is a frustrated player with a messier second shot.

A Special Tip From An Old Pro

Tony Lema, one of the all-time great golfers who made headway in the game during the 1960s, once gave some very simple, yet effective advice. He said something to the tune of:

“The best way to play the ball out of the water is….. don’t.”

What the late Mr. Lema was suggesting, and the point of this article, is that if you are ever facing a ball that is almost totally submerged in a water hazard, but has just enough of the top of the ball to see it, don’t try to be the hero and attempt to whack it out of the water like a hammer.

This will do nothing but plop the ball up and back into the water so learn to take the penalty and get the ball back into a solid playing lie.

Swing Tip: Don’t Be Afraid To Favor Your Dominant Swing Motion

Here is an excellent golf tip that you probably have not heard before: Play the ball with your dominant swing motion.

What Exactly Does This Mean?

Well let’s say, for example, and as most golfers do, you have a tendency to hit some type of fade or slice, sending the ball curving from left to right. You come to the tenth tee and the hole is designed with a dogleg toward the left with the out-of-bounds to the right.

Your immediate thought would be to hit a draw, which would ideally send the ball curving to the left and along the fairway. So you set up and then hit the fade as you typically do. The ball is now out of bounds.

Now had you played the ball with your “dominant swing motion”, and went with it, you probably would have hit the ball successfully onto the green and set up the next shot as a straighter pathway to the hole.

Sure it might not have gone the distance and wrapped around the dogleg as you had hoped, but it is always better than hitting out of bounds.

Your Ego: Is It Getting The Best Of You?

Want to know a simple, yet effective way to keep from making mistakes on the golf course? Just lose the ego!

The everyday golf player needs to keep his or her ego in check. It’s just that simple, and yes, necessary to keep from making mistakes on the course.

This may seem like too basic of a golf tip, but consider this perfect example:

You make your way to the tee and notice that all of the other players in your group are taking out their driver. But you are most comfortable using the 5 wood, until one of your usual sassy-minded buddies says something like:

“Hey Mike, what’s with the 5 wood? Feeling a bit weak after your yoga class this morning?” accompanied by a few laughs from your other friends.

Most players would let ego get in the way and run back to their bag to pull out the driver, not wanting to give their comedian friend the satisfaction that he was right.

The typical result? You over-swung with the driver and missed a perfectly good shot that you know would have been made with your 5 wood.

Next time - drop the ego and win the hole!

Swing Tip From The Pros: Harmonious Rhythm

Every club will be negatively affected by the lack of rhythm, but the the driver suffers the most, causing you to miss the fairway and lose golf balls throughout the entire game.

A Tip I’ll Never Forget

One of the greatest insights I discovered in order to make consistent shots - exactly where and how I wanted the ball to go - was learning from Vijay Singh, a Pro Masterclass player who placed rhythm as the fundamental key to a good golf swing.

Vijay Singh has an amazing golf swing and the secret to how he approaches the rhythm in his shots is best summed up by his quote:

“Your downswing should start at the exact same speed as when you took your club back.”

In fact, Bobby Jones is a proponent of the same advice.

By maintaining speed throughout the downswing it makes that split second of transition in the direction of the club to go as smooth as possible, so that impact takes place with everything in perfect harmony.

Bunker Tip: Swing The Club Along The Lines Of Your Body

Swinging the right way when dealing with a bunker ball can make or break your shot. Therefore, by addressing the ball in the correct manner, the swing becomes easier practically on auto-pilot.

The secret is to swing the club along the lines of the body. In other words, swing across the line through the out-to-in pathway.

1) Choose a spot in the sand approximately two inches from behind the ball and focus on that single point. This spot is the intended point of entry for the clubhead.

2) Swing back and through while combining your arm swing with the turn of the body.

3) Strike the clubhead down in the sand on your focused spot, but never stop the acceleration of the club through the swing as it hits from under the ball and to the left at impact.

4) And of course, follow through on all bunker shots.

How To Hit A Low Ball

You must learn how to hit the ball low in certain situations on the course, specifically whenever the ball is above your feet, which causes most golfers to pull the ball down the slope.

To compensate for this, take notes of the following changes you must make:

1) The first thing to do is make aim for the right of the target while choking down on your grip. What this does is shorten the club which helps to compensate that the ball is higher than it would normally be on a level lie.

2) With the change of your stance combined with the slope, you should experience a more rounded swing plane. Do your best to maintain your original height as much as you can.

3) As you swing through the finish, rotate your body smoothly and maintain balance the entire time.

How To Hit A High Ball

It’s not every day on the golf course that you will need to strategically hit the ball high up in the air, but sometimes an obstruction in the way leaves you no choice. A tree or perhaps a tight position needed to clear the side of a bunker can be taken care of with the following advice:

1) Since you will need the ball flight to travel higher than normal, it will be necessary to pre-set just a bit more loft on the clubface at address. You do this by positioning the ball more forward in your stance.

2) The hands should be level with the ball instead of the usual placement ahead of the ball for the standard low shot.

3) Now take a more upright backswing with the hands high at the top.

4) During impact you should have the feeling of staying behind the ball, with your weight hanging on the right side, just a fraction longer than usual.

The Follow Through: Important When Swinging Your Irons

Have you ever gotten bad advice from a good friend or playing partner on the golf course? Last year a buddy of mine, who is a 20-year veteran to the game, told me:

“Stan, the follow-through on the golf swing when using your irons makes no difference in the big scheme of things, so don’t worry about it.”

What I found out was that, although the ball is well on its way after impact and there is little you can do with it until it lands, there is indeed some key moves you can make to ensure a successful shot - both with your mind and body.

1) Always visualize a positive image of how you want to finish the swing after the ball is in the air.

2) Wrap the shaft around the backside of your neck to ensure a balanced finish of your swing. This will help you hit better irons on a consistent basis.