Established positions at address are of critical importance to the overall swing. Good or bad, correct or incorrect, positions start to coordinate the movement when the backswing starts, and positions determine the sequence of motion between the body and the clubhead that determines the rest of the swing.

For accuracy through the swing, the clubhead starts away from the ball headed towards a “toe up” position. The position is a reliable checkpoint, indicating that the body is turning away from the ball with the clubface square and with the clubhead on the right swing plane.

A 4-Step Process

Pushing into and through the toe-up position is a 4-step mechanical process for learning: first by establishing accurate positions, second - pushing into the position, third - “breaking the wrists”, and finally - pushing the clubhead onto the top of the swing.

Once you have developed the procedure and practice, you can easily coordinate positions and movements into its smooth backswing. Let us go into more detail:

* Use a waggling motion  to reestablish positions.  Roll your elbows toward each other, with the right elbow lower than the left. Confirm your grip.  Keep your head steady and use a forward press.

* Almost simultaneously, deliberately push the clubhead away from the ball by pushing your left shoulder forward and extending your firm left arm. Let your weight shift to the right, against your right foot, but keep your knees were they are to prevent excessive movement

* Although the clubhead starts on the line of flight, it swings up and onto the directional line as your shoulders turn. Keep your arms together and let your right arm fold with the elbows pointing down as your left arm extends. Push the clubhead away until the shaft is parallel to the ground, on the directional line, with the toe the clubhead pointing straight up.

* The address position of the hands, wrists, left arm, and shaft – moving with the shoulder turn – remains unchanged, so the angle of the left arm and shaft will be bent.

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In this regard, the alignment of the clubface is the most important factor in determining the behavior of every shot you make. Clubface alignment is critical because if the face of the club looks to the left or to the right of your target as you make impact with the ball, your instinctive reactions to the ball’s flight will create errors in your swing path and angle of attack, while also impairing your clubhead speed.

When The Clubface Faces The Right Of The Target

Delivering the clubface looking to the right of the target at impact (“open” in golf terminology) promotes swinging the clubhead from outside to inside across the target line in an instinctive attempt to prevent shots from finishing to the right.

Swinging across the target line from out-to-in can create either a too steep (downward) or a too shallow (upward) hit. This incorrect angle of attack results in both fat or thin shots.

Third, the awkwardness resulting from a sense of incorrect angles inhibits free and forceful swinging, which also reduces the clubhead speed.

When The Clubface Faces The Left Of The Target

Delivering the clubface looking left of the target when impact occurs (“closed” in golf terms) promotes swinging the clubhead across from the inside-to-outside of the target line in an instinctive attempt to prevent shots from finishing to the left.

Swinging the clubhead in excess from in-to-out will flatten the angle of the clubhead’s attack, frequently to the point where it strikes the ground before the ball, or has begun traveling upward at impact, again producing either a fat or thin shot.

When The Clubface Looks Directly At The Target

Delivering the clubface to the ball looking directly at the target (“square” in golf terms) promotes instinctively swinging the clubhead ‘momentarily along’ rather than across the target line when impact occurs.

When the swing path momentarily matches the target line at impact, the clubhead arrives at the ball at the proper angle, not too steep nor too shallow, and delivers the entire force of the blow directly forward.

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If you follow the three step golf tip below the next time you are on the driving range, you will be on the right path to improving your game.

First off, make a plan of attack for your upcoming practice session. Think of one or two issues that you want to work on that day. Maybe it is driving the ball straight or working on the accuracy of your wedge shots. Then focus on those items during your session.

Now that you have your goal at hand, it is time to start swinging the clubs. You still need to warm up a little and can go through a few of your golf clubs first until loose. When you start to focus on your daily goal though, make sure you pick out a target out in the distance. Just hitting the ball to hit the ball is not going to do you any good if you can’t judge your results. Now, practice by hitting your shots at that target until your accuracy is dialed in.

Once you have your swing locked in towards your target and you hit a few great shots in a row, step off the tee box and take a brief break. Maybe hit a few different shots with different clubs to simulate real play on a golf course. Most likely you wouldn’t hit the same club 3-4 times in a row on the course.

The key is to not overwork your muscles on the area that you are working on. After resting for a little while, go back to your target club and practice again until you can dial in several more good shots in a row. Then just repeat the three step process again until your day is complete.

Now, next time you are at the driving range, you will know that you are practicing for the right reasons and will hopefully start to improve your golf game. The important thing to remember is that you need to know what you are practicing in order to improve your game.

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There are nonstop commercials discussing new golf putters that are available with sleek designs and greater control, and you are finally ready to make a wise investment.

The Rife Putters company, formerly titled Guerin Rife, has created a brand-new golf putter called the “Barbados”. A tour driven golf putter, this club has an elegant mallet design which is shaped to the preference of the pros, while at the same time lending plenty of alignment aids.

And like all golf putters designed by Rife Putters, the Barbados comes complete with a RollGroove face, which has small grooves that protrude instead of recess. This design helps the new Barbados golf putter minimize any skidding that may occur while inducing a faster end-over-end roll. This new golf putter also comes with LieAlign technology.

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Yes they are expensive, but having custom golf clubs made with the specs of your personal measurements, height, and swing plane will cure any problems you are having on the course. Gone will be the days where you are forced to play with a set of golf clubs that just don’t fit right.

Having a set of custom golf clubs fitted to your needs is a fairly simple process. The three major factors that will be considered when having your new set of custom golf clubs fitted will be your height, your arm length, and swing speed.

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When playing by the rules, you should know that the regulations dictate that you are not allowed to test the sand’s texture before playing a bunker shot.  However, you can at least take the time to be conscious if the sand appears to be wet and hard, or soft and light. Basically, you can look, but not touch.

The sand used to fill up bunker areas can vary from course to course. Some locations use very soft, fine sand. Other bunkers have tight, firm sand. Some courses may even have less sand in their bunkers than others. All of these conditions will require different techniques if your ball lands in a bunker.

Hard Sand: Bunker sand that is on the hard side will require that you slow down your swing speed a bit. This means that you will not take the club back as far as you normally would. The ball will pop out faster because there is no cushion of soft sand between the clubhead and your ball.

Soft Sand: Soft sand will require more speed from your swing. Because the sand is light and fluffy, there will be a lot of it coming between the ball and your clubhead. Soft sand actually slows down the club as it follows through.

Learning and playing the bunker shot well, will save you tons of strokes and help lower your overall handicap when playing golf. Remember to practice the bunker shot often.  It will pay dividends.

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When conducting business on the golf course, players are out on the course to share a common goal – to win.  But remember that when you are playing with business partners or prospects on the golf course, you should take steps to practice certain polite behaviors when playing golf with a potential business partner.

What’s the best way to balance competition in golf with business on the golf course?  There just is not an easy answer to this.  As you would do in any business situation, you will have to weigh the outcome you seek with common sense.   Try to pay attention to what is happening, as if you want to land a big client, you likely will refrain from ridiculing your potential client’s missed chip shot.

Don’t leave the game being thought of as a suck-up though.  When your client makes a 3 on a par 4 hole, don’t overdo your congratulations so that you don’t appear just to be stroking his (or her) ego.  Handling business while on the golf course can be a very diplomatic proposition, so be sure to have a goal and plan when you go.

NEVER – and we stress emphatically – NEVER start out the golf match by declaring out loud to everyone what you are expecting to accomplish by the end of the round.  To make sure you are going to get the big account, don’t get off on the wrong foot by stating your intention.  Instead start off casually and get friendly before moving on to the business.

As you play, try to play your best game as much as you can.  Even if you are playing against someone who is a far better player than you, NEVER let them win just to try to get them to give you their business.  The idea is to play to win their respect. 

Every day across the world, there is business being conducted on golf courses. It’s a great place to work on your business deals.  Just make sure you use tact, decorum and diplomacy to make your business goals successful.  Golf course business transactions could help your career in a big way.

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You go to the golf tournaments to watch the game of golf, so planning your viewing location is one of the most important strategies for the day.  Most golf fans attending a live match do not plan their viewing locations.  Not planning can cause you to miss out on their favorite players and their incredible golf swings.  Also, the overcrowding in some areas can cause you to miss key shots or not be able to see at all.

Here Is My Favorite Viewing Plan When Attending A Live Golf Tournament:

I like to select 2 or 3 of my favorite pro golfers that I want to focus on for the day.  Get a copy of the “pairing sheet” as early as possible so that you can see when your golfers will be teeing off.  Chances are you will have plenty of time between your selected golfer so that you can see your 1st golfer play 5 or 6 holes before returning back to the next golfer on your list.

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For the best results it is best to look out in the direction you plan on hitting the ball and see what challenges (or as I see them, opportunities) the hole offers you before selecting your tee location. Pretty much every hole will present you with certain obstacles or opportunities that you need to avoid or take advantage of.

Look to see which side of the hole presents the most amount of trouble, such as water, bunkers, trees or fences. Those are the obvious obstacles out there, but don’t overlook the subtle hazards such as smaller trees and shrubs, hidden creeks and ravines and extremely thick grass in the rough. Also, don’t forget to look at what your second shot will bring your way.  Maybe if you hit the golf ball to far right, your second shot will be blocked by a wall of large trees.

Whatever potential dangers you may locate, make a rule to tee up the golf ball on the same side as the trouble.  If you see obstacles on the left side of the fairway, the tee up the ball on the left side of the tee box.  By setting up this way you will tend to aim and shoot the opposite way, landing in a safer position.

Another tip when teeing up the ball is to look for even, flat area of ground. You want your stance to keep your feet on flat and even ground to help you achieve a better overall swing. Try to avoid areas with excessive divots and bumps and wet, muddy ground.

This may all seem a bit excessive, however you want all obstacles and distractions removed from your game. This will allow you to relax and just take your swing.  Once you make these observations on a regular basis they will become natural and automatic to you.

Every little bit of advantage on the golf course can help lower your score and that is what we are trying to help you do.

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