TONS OF TIPS
THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY UNDERCONSTURCTION!This page as been put here to help you put the pieces of the puzzle that is golf together. Below are some basic problems that arrive and how to fix them.
THE GRIP: Yeah, I know it seems redundent to talk about the most simple technique in golf. But Tommy Armour put it best "The basic factor in all good golf is the grip. Get it right, and all other progress follows." (Quote found in GOLF MAGAZINE) But come to think of it, there are so many different ways a golf club is held. The three most popular are the interlock, overlap, and ten finger grips. I personally use the ten finger grip (however, I strongly don't recommend it). I would either use the interlock or overlap, which ever is more comfortable for you. But with any of the three grips mentioned, the club must always be held the proper way. First you must hold the shaft (grip) the right way. To do this, if your right handed, the shaft should lie where you fingers your right hand meet your palm (If your a lefty, vice versa). Or where your skin usually dies and you can shove stick through painlessly, which ever gets you to visualize what I'm talking about. The fingers of the left hand grip the button end of the shaft firmly. (no to weak, not to strong) The right hand either interlocks or overlaps, which ever is more comfortable, and grips the club just underneath the left hand loosely. (Or again, if your a lefty, vice versa.)
THE ADDRESS: Another key nonswing error is a poor address, or setup, to the ball. For instance, the setup of your feet may be to far open, causing you to push the ball, or slice. Another key error is the way the body is aligned to the target. If you consistently line up far out the right of your target line, usually your body will try to adjust, causing an outside-in swing pattern and in turn causing you to pull the ball. The perfect address would be one with the your feet, and shoulders lined up to your target line. The easiest drill to correct your fault is to take a two clubs. Put one club lined up to your target. This is where you place your feet behind. Place to other club parallel to the one where your feet go. Be sure to leave enough room for you to swing your club. The first club is used to align your body to your target. The other is a visualization tool to keep your club's swing path online.(But that isn't too important right now) Do this and you'll find yourself hitting more shots on the green.
THE SAND SHOTS: There are three things you must do to drastically improve your sand play: 1) Understand how to change your setup and stance based on your balls lie 2) Understand how the club moves throught the sand and 3)PRACTICE! Here are some useful guidelines to follow: the better your balls lie the farther forward the ball goes in your stance. The worse your lie the farther back the ball goes in your stance. The farther forward the ball is in your stance, the more you open the clubface. The farther back the ball is in your stance, the more you close your clubface. The more you open your clubface, the more left you must aim, the shallower the club moves through the sand, the higher ball flight of the shot, the more backspin the ball will have and the softer it will land. The more you close your clubface, the more square or right you must aim, the deeper you club will dig into the sand, the lower ball flight of the shot and the farther the ball will roll after landing. As you practice these tips your confidence will increase and you'll get a better feel of the clubhead moving through the sand. Then soon enough those elusive sand saves will become more frequent.
MENTAL GOLF: One key to good mental golf is to pick a specific target. Doing this creates precision focusing the mind on the shot. In golf the narrower the focus the less chance there is to be distracted. For example, instead of aiming at the entire fairway when hitting a dreive, aim for the left half and play for a fade, or instead of aiming at the entire green, focus on a target just behind the green in your flight line. Focusing on specific targets rids the mind of unmechanical thoughts.
PUTTING: One of the greatest tips I have ever used was watching Jack Nicklaus putt. If you've ever noticed, he puts with all his weight on his insteps. If you can't visualive just watch him sometime. By doing this you accomplish two things: 1) You concentration dramatically increases 2) You take away any possible movement of the lower body creating a smooth pendulum stroke. Try it and I promise your putting will improve!
