Get a Grip on Playing Better Golf

Getting the Right Stance

2011-07-03T12:16:00.000+01:00

STANCE

"If you setup correctly, there’s a good chance you’ll hit a reasonable shot - even if you make a mediocre swing. If you setup to the ball poorly, you’ll hit a lousy shot even if you make the greatest swing in the world." --

Jack Nicklaus

GREAT TIP 1: Put the club head behind the ball and aim the clubface to where you want the ball to go – then align your body.

When you think you’ve lined it up properly look over your left shoulder because THAT’S where the ball will go.

When you place your feet, make sure the ball is not too far forward. For drives it should be level with the inside of your forward heel, or if you have a logo on your shirt line it up underneath the logo.

The shorter the club you play the nearer the ball should get to your back foot, so for middle clubs it will be in the middle of your feet, and for short clubs it will get progressively nearer the back.

GREAT TIP 2: Play the ball far enough away so that you get full extension of your arms, but without stretching. The longer the club the further away from your body the ball should be – but never so far you have to stretch for it.

GREAT TIP 3: At address, your hands should be about four inches from your thighs. Let your arms hang naturally with your elbows slightly bent.

Bend forward a little and put your weight slightly on your right or back foot.

GREAT TIP 4: Keep right knee flexed and stable. Don’t let it slide or

straighten as you begin your swing.

GREAT TIP 5: The longer the club, the more the left foot should be slightly

flared out – from perpendicular for short irons to 45 degrees for the driver.

Please Note: As with all these tips they are for guidance only – the best way to make them work for you is to try them out at the driving range. Modify them, tweak them, adapt them for your particular game. Find out what works for you and start playing better golf – it’ll be worth it.

Great Golfing Tips: The Grip

2011-06-29T14:46:00.000+01:00

GRIP

GREAT TIP 1: Don't hold the club too tightly. If you hold it too tightly you’ll struggle to get the clubhead square at impact, the ball will keep low and hook to the left.

Note: These tips are described for right handed players – left handed players will be the same but opposite.

Some people give the analogy of gripping the club in the same way you would grip an egg, whilst others talk about not squeezing the toothpaste out of the tube – both are about right – but only YOU will know how firm to hold it to get the right result.

GREAT TIP 2: To find the ideal grip strength for you – go to your local driving range and do some experimenting. Try holding the club very tightly and see what happens. Then try holding it quite loosely and see what happens. After a while you’ll find the tightness of grip that suits your swing and style of play – one where the ball goes exactly where you want it to.

As a general rule if you grip too tightly the ball will go left and if you grip too loosely the ball will go to the right – try it out and see for yourself.

GREAT TIP 3: Don’t be afraid to try different things. It doesn’t matter if you use the overlapping grip or the interlocking grip – if it feels uncomfortable or you don’t hit the ball very well – try the other one and see how you get on.

All the instruction books, videos and teachers will tell you how the club should be held – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but to get the best out of YOUR game you have to find out what works for YOU.

EXAMPLE : A few years ago a top professional golfer – having just topped the Order of Merit and one of the youngest players to have been selected to play in the Ryder Cup at 21 – said his swing was not good enough and decided to change it completely. He changed his grip, his stance and his swing and everyone thought he was mad, but 18 months later he won his first major and then went on to win another 5 after that!

His name? Nick Faldo. Even at that level he wasn’t afraid to make changes and discover what worked for him.

Free Golf Swing Tips

2010-08-16T13:04:00.000+01:00

THE GOLF STORE

With an increasing market full of high-end retailers now selling golf equipment, you could quite easily miss a "real" golf store.

Typically, golf stores will have the latest, if not the best, golf equipment and accessories needed by people who play golf. This could range from golf clubs to golf balls or from gloves to sweaters, trousers and wet weather gear, and a whole lot of other stuff besides.

Most golf stores will focus on ensuring they have proper equipment for the interested golfer. They will provide hints on how to choose the right club and the appropriate golf ball (what’s that? You thought they were all the same?).

Golf stores as well as the professional’s shop at your local golf course will normally offer other services beyond just selling equipment. Additional services could include club repair, club fitting, and swing analysis.

If you’ve just taken up golf, or you’ve decided to try and improve your game, it’s well worth visiting your local golf store or professionals shop. Try and use the same one regularly so you strike up a relationship with the owner or staff. Once you get to know them, and they you, you will be able to pick up a lot of very good tips.

Most good golf stores or pro’s shops will have an area where you can try out new clubs to get the ‘feel’ before you buy and some may also have the latest ‘swing analysis’ machine to see how bad your swing is before they can mend it!

There are golf stores that also offer unusual golf gifts, a must for birthdays and other anniversaries. These things can range from the most common to the most creative golf gifts one could get for just about any occasion.

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Swing Theory

2010-06-03T10:44:00.000+01:00

I've just had another thought........
Never try to keep more than 30 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.

Anon
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How to Play Better Golf Part 3

2010-05-31T21:19:00.000+01:00

Swing with your Head
Right, so here you are standing on the first tee all ready to go. You've got your grip sorted out, after a little jiggling about you're now comfortable with your stance and the alinement seems to be ok. What next?

Once you feel comfortable with everything it's time to 'swing' into action, but before you do, have you thought about what to do with your head during the swing process? Most people don't consiously think about their head during the swing, and perhaps that's where some of the problems lay.

It's surprising the difference it can make to your shot if your head moves about during the swing process. You may not think you are moving your head at all, but if your shots are always going off line it's something worth looking at.

Jack Nicklaus once said that he was taught to imagine that he had a pole or stake through the top of his head, running down the centre of his body to his feet. He used this thought to swivel his body round the stake without moving his head. He said it improved his swing no end, and he began hitting the ball much straighter, and more consistently.

I managed to find an old video clip of Jack talking about this tip which I thought would be most interesting. It's certainly worth thinking about for getting your game back on track. It could make all the difference. See what you think.

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How to Play Better Golf Part 2

2010-05-28T12:15:00.000+01:00

The Stance
For any of us to achieve the perfect golf swing, or as near to one as our own bodies will allow, we have to stand in the right place before we hit the ball. This is called the 'stance' and is every bit as important as anything else we have to do.

So what is the best 'stance' to take, and how do we achieve it?

Comfort. The first thing we have to remember is that we need to be comfortable. After all we will be using this 'stance' every time we hit the ball, so unless we are comfortable we are not only going to be tired and worn out at the end of a round, but we won't be able to hit the ball in the right direction too often either!

There are many books and videos on how to play better golf, and so full of 'the perfect golf swing' and other golf instructions that it can be quite overwhelming. http://tinyurl.com/swingeasy

Golf Swing Lesson. Some of us may even have spent a fortune to learn golf from a professional at our local club, but at the end of the day they can only teach us the golf swing basics. It's up to us to take the information they give us and make it work for our bodies, to fine tune it if you like, so that it works for us as individuals no matter if we are tall, short, large or small.

Make it Natural. Getting back to our 'stance'. It's very, very important to get the 'stance' right from the beginning, then it becomes second nature to you and you won't even have to think about it anymore. You'll just come up to 'address' the ball and automatically take your correct 'stance' before taking the swing.

By doing this properly you'll also be lined up correctly to your 'target' (where you want the ball to go), and in no time at all you'll be playing more consistent golf with much less likelyhood of stray shots.

Professional Lesson. Watch the video below to see how the professionals take their 'stance' befor playing a shot. The lesson is given by David Leadbetter so if he says that's the best way to do it, then give it a go yourself. Take this information, go to the local driving range or practice ground, and put it into practice. You may have to alter some things to suit your own style, but the basics are there, give them a go and don't forget - practice, practice, practice!

The Correct Stance

How to Play Better Golf Part 1

2010-05-27T12:12:00.000+01:00

Get a Grip
Before we can start to play better golf we have to get some fundamentals right. These are the basic things we'll look at such as:

gripping the club properly
getting our stance right
what to do with our head
where the ball should be in our stance
how to get our alighnment right
how to actually hit the ball correctly

Each of the above will be dealt with as a separate post and will be covered with a short video to show how to do it. You really will be able to play better golf in no time at all.

Gripping the club properly
Before you can hope to hit the ball properly and get it to go where you want it to you have to be able to hold the club correctly. It's no good just grabbing hold of it and hoping the club hits the ball in the right place and it goes straight - it probably never will!

There's a right way and a wrong way to hold the clubs correctly, and once you master it you will be surprised at how much straighter you hit the ball. In order to play better golf you must be consistent, and to be consistent you must be able to repeat your golf swing time after time. You'll find it much easier to do this if you hold the club properly.

The following short video clip will show you how to do this much better than I can explain it, and as it's a clip by David Leadbetter it's worth looking at.

http://tinyurl.com/swingeasy

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Swings and Roundabouts

2010-05-18T17:00:00.000+01:00

Has anyone seen my ball?

When you hit a horrible shot because you looked up, you will always look down again just at the moment you should have started watching the ball if you ever want to see it again.

Anon

How to Get the Best Results from your Golf Swing

2010-05-17T10:45:00.002+01:00

Basic Principles to Help Your Swing

Many golfers, especially when they begin playing golf, have a great problem hitting their drivers or irons in the direction they want, causing slices and hooks and other problems. This can not only ruin the score they are trying to achieve, but can take all the enjoyment out of the game. Rather than trying to find out why this is happening, they will have a ready made 'blame' list to tell their playing partners. It's the weather, it's the slope, there's too much bird song, or they’re just warming up. The one thing that golfers don't admit to is that it could possibly be their golf swing.

Here are six basic principles that can help you get the mechanics of your golf swing properly.

1. Alignment. Getting lined up properly is crucial to hitting the ball squarely, and so hitting it straight. The fundamental concept behind a proper golf swing is hitting the ball dead center, which means that alignment is the most important basic principle in a proper golf swing.

2. Stance. Make sure you have a comfortable stance that will allow you to rotate your body in the most effortless way possible. Think of your spine as an axis, and find your centre of gravity by pushing your backside out a little. Put your weight very slightly on the balls of your feet. Once you achieve that comfortable stance, then you should have less problems.

3. Head and Eyes. Always keep your head still and your eyes looking at the back of the ball. This has got to be the most ignored rule, yet it seems so simple. After a bad shot how many times have you heard ' you lifted your head' or 'you're head came up' or something similar? This really is one of the most important rules to keep in mind, as you have to see what you are supposed to hit in the first place don't you? It's also about common sense too, so do it.

4. Patience. Be patient and concentrate on each shot. Do this by thinking good thoughts and having your feet planted firmly on the ground. This isn't about what just happened on the last shot, this is about the present, now and this shot. You should always concentrate on what is happening now to achieve anything significant in the future. This way, you will achieve a proper rhythm in your golf swing.

5. Think about the shot. Start by thinking what you want to achieve with the shot. Visualize how you want the ball to go and where you want it to land. A good way of thinking is "sweep" for woods and "pinch" for irons. This may sound strange, but it can help you with your game as these are how clubs are designed. An iron is supposed to pinch the ball off the ground, while a wood is supposed to sweep it off the tee or fairway.

6. Keep Calm. Try not to think too much about your golf swing and more on actually hitting the ball. Some golfers hum a rhythmic tune under their breath, some recite a poem and some even sing a song to themselves. It doesn't really matter as long as it takes your mind off your swing. Thinking about the golf swing is an added complication as it is more about technical aspects of the game, while hitting the ball is just the basic concept that the game is all about.

The real secret is to cultivate a swing that is not only smooth and easy on your body, but is repeatable. You should be able to repeat the same swing time after time without thinking about it. Remember how you felt after your first driving lesson in a car? Did you think 'How can I possibly change gear, put the clutch in, work the accelerator, turn the steering wheel and look where I'm going ALL at the same time?!' Now of course, you don't consciously think about any them - you just do them naturally. That's what you need to achieve with your golf swing, and don't forget practice, practice, practice. It's the only way.
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Find a Swing that Suits your Style

2010-05-12T12:03:00.002+01:00

Swing like the pro's

This is a video lesson on different ways to swing the club. The idea is that you should find one of the methods used that is comfortable with the way you play and adapt it. This way you should be able to hit the ball much further and with greater acuracy.

Be a different golfer inside a month

2010-05-10T11:12:00.001+01:00

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What always happens in golf

2010-05-08T11:39:00.000+01:00

Short Iron.......

The straightest iron shot of the day will be exactly one club short.

Anon

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2010-05-06T19:46:00.001+01:00

Lies, damn lies and cunning

When someone asks what club you took, always subtract one or add two, It'll drive them nuts!

Anon

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Getting to know your Golf Clubs Part 4

2010-05-03T13:49:00.001+01:00

The Most Important Clubs in your Bag!

Short Irons

We now come to the 'short irons', which as the name implies are shorter than the others, and are used extensively from the shorter distances away from the green. The clubs that come under the banner of 'short irons' are 7, 8 & 9 . Generally used for a variety of shots (some wonderfully cunning!) once you get to within about 120 - 130 yards of the green. Once again the loft of the clubface comes into play, and the strength you hit the ball allied to the angle of loft, will determine if the shot lands on the green from a great height or runs on from a low height (called a 'chip and run').
Other Clubs
The final clubs in our bag are the 10 iron, better known as the Pitching Wedge, the Sand Iron and the Putter. All these are for really close quarter combat! Both the Pitching Wedge and Sand Iron can, and frequently are, used from distances up to 100 - 110 yards away from the green, but are also used for that final delicate little chip which leaves the ball 2 inches from the hole!

Although often used to chip around the green the Sand Iron, as the name implies, is really designed for those nasty shots from bunkers (also called sand traps).

The last club is probably the most important - the Putter. If you don't have a putter that you feel comfortable with then you've little chance of holing many putts. Because there are so many different kinds of putter available these days, perhaps the best thing would be to go to your local golf store or pro's shop at the golf course and try a few different styles out. You'll soon find one that feels comfortable, and one that will always sink that 20 footer with ease!

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Getting to Know Your Golf Clubs Part 3

2010-04-24T22:21:00.000+01:00

Which clubs are the easiest to use?
Medium Irons

Sometimes refered to as Mid-Irons or Medium Irons, these are the clubs that will enable you to hit the ball 'medium' distances, and are normally those clubs numbered 4, 5 & 6. As with the long irons, the number is relevant to the length of the club and the angle of loft. Most average golfers will find they can hit the ball a lot easier and get a lot better distance using the 4, 5 & 6 clubs than the longer irons.

This is generally because these aren't quite so long and feel much more comfortable in the hands. Another reason is that because of the slightly shorter length you will stand that much closer to the ball when you strike it, and you don't have to 'reach' so much to make good contact, this is especially relevant to the 5 & 6 irons.

We'll have a look at the shorter irons in part 4. These are the clubs that will win or lose you a match in the blink of an eye so need special attention.

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The virtues of playing golf

2010-04-24T20:53:00.000+01:00

The Problem with Golf.........

The only problem with golf is that the slow people are always in front of you, and the fast people always end up behind you.

Anon

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What Else Can I Get To Make Golf Easier?

2010-04-23T00:32:00.000+01:00

Golfing Accessories That Will Make Your Game More Enjoyable

Constant innovation in the golf industry has made for many interesting inventions and advancements. Golfers have seen many benefits, including higher quality golf clubs and golf courses among many other things. In the past, golf has been seen as a slow and tiresome sport, requiring lots of work and trekking on the part of the golfer.

There have been many different golf accessories released in recent years that will make everything about playing golf easier. Some of them have been widely publicized, while some have slipped between the cracks. Either way, read on to find out about accessories that can make your life as a golfer much easier.

How about the many brands of glasses that allow you to better see the golf ball that you have just hit? They filter out most of the light that is emitted by non-golf ball objects, leaving the golf ball outlined perfectly against the grass. If you lose your ball a lot or have trouble keeping track of the ball once you've hit it, then these glasses can be a great investment. Well. it would save you from continuously losing your ball and having to play a new one every time for a start wouldn't it?

There are also many handy devices that are meant to help you practice the various parts of your stroke. Perhaps the most popular ones are the ones dealing with putting, which is one of the most important parts of the entire game. The many golf accessories related to putting are too numerous to name, but some of the most popular include an indoor putting green that provides you with balls and advice on your putt, a putter that holds numerous golf balls inside of its shaft to dispense when needed, and many other things.

You would think that tees are about as complex as they are ever going to get, but this is not the case. New types of material have made it possible for tees to have new upper portions that act as brush-like surfaces. When the golfer strikes the ball, the club will brush right past the top of the tee without smashing it or ripping it out of the ground. It’s almost like having the ball suspended in midair to hit with the club. If you want these, you will probably have to look online and buy a few dozen of them, since they are not carried at many club stores yet. Great idea though aren't they?

Computer scorekeepers will definitely make your life easier by keeping track of everyone’s scores and doing all of the calculations for you. They come in the form of small miniature computers, no bigger than the size of a GameBoy. The number of supported players varies from device to device, but you shouldn’t have much of a problem finding one that supports the number of people that you need. There are even wristwatches with handicapping programs built into them. How's that for convenience?

Even the recycling of golf balls is better now, with golf ball cleaners that you can buy. All you have to do is pick up a few old golf balls as you go round the course, then drop them into the microwave sized cleaner. In just a few minutes, the balls will be as good as new. By recycling balls in this way, you can save a huge amount of money. The cleaners are usually also capable of cleaning off the heads of golf clubs, which is a great convenience for those who are tired of cleaning the grass stains off of their clubs.

As you can see, all of these inovations have made golf much easier, and can speed up processes that would have been mundane previously. As technology continues to progress, hopefully we will continue to see more golf accessories that are equally groundbreaking.

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Getting to know your Golf Clubs Part 2

2010-04-21T16:57:00.002+01:00

What are the clubs in my bag?

Why have they got numbers on and what are they?

Long Irons

The next golf clubs we will look at are the 'long irons'. These are the all-metal clubs that are numbered 1 - 3. Just like the 'woods' they start with the longest length (1) and progressively get shorter as the number gets higher. The 1 iron is so difficult to use that only professionals normally use it, and even then not many! Legend has it that Lee Trevino once said (having been struck by lightning on several occasions) that in future he would always have a 1 iron in his hand if thunder was in the air as even God couldn't hit a 1 iron!

Apart from the length of each club, the main difference is in the angle of the blade. The 1 iron, for example, has an angle of loft so small that it is almost vertical, and as you go down in length the angle of loft gets progressively bigger. This 'angle of loft' has a direct bearing on the distance you can hit the ball, as the higher the loft angle the higher the ball will go into the air, but the higher it goes also diminishes the distance it will travel. This is why golfers need to know the distance all the time.

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Getting to Know Your Golf Clubs Part 1

2010-04-20T16:19:00.002+01:00

How do I know What Golf Club to Use?

Understanding the Basic Types Of Golf Clubs

For those new to golf, it can seem ridiculous to need 14 different clubs just to smack a ball enough times to get it to the end of the course. However, as you play the game more and more you will begin to see that all of the different types of golf clubs will almost certainly come in handy quite often. Here I will outline some of the most important key things that you need to understand about golf clubs. After you understand these, you can start to perfect you own ability to choose the best club to use at any point in the game. This, along with a powerful and accurate swing, is how you can begin to win more and more games.

The first type of golf club is a wood.

Contrary to the name, these days the heads of these clubs are not made out of wood, but metal. And to continue with the confusion they are widely known as ‘metal woods’! The reason behind this is that up to about the 1970’s these clubs were actually made from wood. Gradually, as technology progressed and different metals were used, these metal clubs became the accepted tool to use. Rather than call them ‘metals’ which let’s face it, doesn’t sound too good, it became the norm to continue to call them ‘woods’.

These woods are actually made of hollow metal, usually steel or titanium. They are the longest club in the bag, and have the shallowest angle on the clubface so are ideal for hitting the golf ball much further. The longest club of all, known as the ‘Driver’ (number 1 Wood), is usually used from the tee on long straight holes.

The other woods, such as the 2 wood, 3 wood or 4 wood, are progressively just a little shorter in length each time, and have slightly more angle on the club face. The woods are designed to allow for the greatest distance with each stroke. Out of the 14 clubs in a standard set, the woods make up less than half. They are usually used on the long and straight portions of the golf course, since they allow for the greatest distance with semi-decent accuracy. The accuracy is certainly not the strong point of the woods, and usually it takes plenty of practice to be able to keep the ball on a straight course.

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