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The Most Important Element Of A Proper Golf Grip

In most discussions of the golf grip, excessive attention is paid to how many knuckles should be visible or which eyeball the

Learn Secret Swing Tips With Small Toe Adjustments

When a golfer makes a bad shot, you never really hear the excuse

The Annoying Tree Branch

A common predicament on the golf course places you about 100 yards from the green but an annoying, low hanging tree branch is right in front of you some 10 to 15 yards away, keeping you from hitting your normal 9-iron approach.

Instead of grabbing a saw and shopping the branch down, as we would all like to do, the solution is a shot that will carry no farther than a 9-iron, but start off with the trajectory of a 7-iron.

Either one of these clubs can be used.

The 7-iron can be used so long as you’re choking down on the grip and then hitting the ball as normal as possible. The 9-iron will work just fine as well, which I prefer to use in such a circumstance, so long as swing adjustments are made, as follows:

You have to shut the face of the club, move the ball back toward the middle of the stance, and keep your hands ahead of the ball. The effect is a reduced loft of the iron.

And finally, place all of your weight on the left side and keep it that way throughout the entire swing. The result should be a solid 9-iron shot that takes off low to the ground and shoots right under the tree branch.

How To Avoid Pulled Shots By Tweaking Your Follow-Through

A pulled iron shot is a nuisance, mainly because when you pull one you tend to repeat the mistake, much as you do when you start shanking. Of course the pull doesn’t look too bad, as it does not hook or slice, and it feels firm coming off the clubhead, but it ends up 25 to 30 yards to the left of the green.

There are 3 common causes for pulling an iron:

1. Hitting the ball with an outside-in swing.
2. Closing the clubface somewhere during the swing.
3. Starting with the ball too far forward in the stance.

The first thing to do is check your stance. Every iron shot should be hit off the left heel, but no further forward than that. Now concentrate on taking the clubhead back in a straight line and bringing it onto the ball on that same straight line.

Finally, make sure that the follow-through throws the clubhead out towards the hole and that you finish with your hands high. A proper follow-through like this makes it almost impossible to pull the ball.

A Sound Follow-Through Technique

It is obvious that you can hit a good shot even if you follow through awkwardly, for nothing you do after the ball leaves the clubhead is going to influence where the ball goes. But a sound follow-through is still a vital element in a golf swing because it helps insure that everything that went before was done properly.

What is a good follow-through?

In general, there are three important elements to look for:

1. How the hands finish.
2. How the right shoulder finishes.
3. The position of the head.

Ideally, the hands should finish high. This indicates that you have brought them straight through the impact area and out toward the target. If the hands finish past and below the left shoulder, it usually means the swing has been too flat or the wrists have rolled over excessively at impact.

At the same time, the right shoulder should stay down and underneath the left. This indicates that you have hit straight through the ball with all your power, and not pulled the face of the club across it.

Finally, the head should be kept down but slightly tilted, to the point where you watch the flight of the ball almost entirely out of the corner of your left eye. This means you have maintained a steady position throughout the swing and stayed down on the shot.

More Swing Tips: Not Enough Distance

There isn’t a single golfer in the world that would not like to add more distance to the ball. Ask Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, or Steve Stricker if they want more distance and I guarantee you they would all say yes!

Here Is A Tip

A very simple tip on helping you get that extra yardage out of your drives is to learn to turn your shoulders during the backswing.

You will have a much better chance of hitting the ball longer if you learn to turn your shoulders during the backswing. Stretch your torso and make it a goal to get your left shoulder to be positioned over the right foot when you have reached the top of your swing.

If You Are Having Trouble

For those if you who have tried this and are having trouble moving your shoulders through enough on the backswing, you can turn your left knee clockwise, just enough so that it is pointing behind the ball during the backswing. This will help free up the hips and aid in turning your shoulders enough.

Consider Your Grip

To help increase the flexibility needed to extend your shoulders during the backswing, pay attention to your grip. Too much tension with your hands can cause the chest and forearms to tighten up, which lessens the speed of your arms.

Swing Tips: Power Comes From Technique

Many golfers think that over-swinging automatically creates more power, that there is a direct ratio between the size of the swing and the power it generates. But this thinking is wrong. You get maximum power only by swinging within the confines of your feet. There are two basic rules governing this:

1. You do not want to let your weight to be on the outside of your right foot during the backswing.

2. You do not want your weight on the outside of your left foot until after you make contact with the ball.

Here is how you should work with your knees, ankles, and feet during a swing:

Start with your weight evenly distributed on the balls of your feet. As you shift your weight to the inside of your right foot on the backswing, roll the left foot in. The knee turns in naturally, but the right knee remains fairly stationary.

Now, as you come into the ball, your right knee should turn and your weight should move off the ball of the right foot and onto your left. Meanwhile, the right knee is moving straightt at the hole. After impact the weight moves farther, until it is on the outside of the left foot. Eventually your weight will be far off to the left and your right heel off the ground.

Shots From Pine Needles

Most golfers become uneasy when they are confronted with a shot from pine needles. They usually attempt to pick the ball off cleanly, and frequently this results in hitting the ball too thin and not getting it up into the air.

This approach to the shot is wrong. Instead of trying to pick the ball off the pine needles, pretend that it is sitting on fairway grass. The swing should be exactly the same as you would on a fairway shot.

You can even hook or fade the ball off pine needles if the occasion demands, and a chip shot off them will have backspin just as a normal chip would.

There are two things to remember:

1. Take an especially firm stance, making sure that your spikes are set into the ground to prevent slipping.

2. Do not ground the clubhead behind the ball because there is a good chance the ball will move which will cost you a two-stroke penalty.

Tall Golfers: Use Your Height As An Advantage

Most tall golfers think that they must go through a series of contortions with their body to get themselves into the proper position to hit a golf ball. They do a deep knee bend or they curve their backs or slouch their shoulders, all in an unnecessary attempt to get themselves into what they think is the same position that a shorter man appears to manage with such ease.

What tall golfers often do not realize is that their hands fall at almost the same position as a shorter man’s. For example, I am 6 feet 1 inches tall and I have short arms but if you compare me to my shorter friend whom I golf with regularly, both our hands come to practically the same length when standing next to one another. And he is 4 inches shorter than me.

Height is actually an advantage in golf, because a tall person can achieve a symmetrical arc in his swing much more easily than a short person. The tall golfer should forget his hight. It is the thinking about it and trying to compensate for it that ruins his swing.

Swing Tips: Not Enough Distance (A 5-Step Drill)

Do you want to know a common trademark of golfers who have the knack for sending the ball flying with phenomenal distance? It’s the turning of the hips to the left during the downswing, while at the same time extending the right arm through the swing.

Here is a quick drill that can help you accomplish this:

1. Start by teeing up the drive in your normal stance.

2. Now set the ball down off of your left heel (and/or opposite of the left armpit).

3. Without moving your stance, reach down and slide the ball towards your target at approximately the same distance of the grip.

4. Tee up your ball at that very spot, which should be 10 to 12 inches closer to the hole. Your address for the ball should be back where your normal position was at.

5. Now to finally hit the ball you will have to move the hips to the left so your arms will be able to