When I get a golf club in my hand, I get that feeling of wanting to knock the cover off the ball.  I am betting you are feeling the same thing? It feels good to put all of my strength into hitting the ball.  Just hitting the ball as hard as I can does not mean that I play good golf though.

If you just need to relieve a little stress, then swinging with all your strength may accomplish your goals.  However, if you want to play golf well, then you are going to have to hold back on the power a little.

One of the most frequent mistakes is to swing the golf club too hard.  A hard swing shows that you have power, but accuracy is the name of the game in golf.

You need to relax when you are swinging.  This helps you swing easily and will help to reduce your power.  If you put your feet closer together, then you can further reduce the strength of your swing.  Tensing up will also cause you to use too much effort.

Your center of gravity is also very important.  Keep your center of gravity the same and your head will stay still.  If you keep both of your feet in the same position throughout your swing, then your center of gravity will be stable.

If you jerk your body then your head will move and you will not be able to focus on the ball.  This can also change your center of gravity.  It is imperative that you keep your feet planted so that all your weight will be concentrated in your feet when you make contact with the ball.

Expending very little effort should be your goal.  If you hit the ball correctly, then it will feel smooth and easy.

Don’t tense up when you are about to make contact with the ball.  If you tense up, your balance will be thrown off.  You want the club head to travel in a straight line to make contact with the ball.

To help correct slicing, see how centered you can hit the ball with your club and how low you can send the ball.  If you send the ball too high, it gets into the wind and can go left or right on rough ground.

You want to only use the amount of power that you are able to control.  The goal of the game is not power, but accuracy.  You want to be able to control every facet of your swing so that you hit the ball cleanly and it goes where you want it to go.

The distance will come from your clean and correct swing, not how much power that you put into it.

You want to try to gradually increase your speed during your swing until you connect with the ball solidly.  If you do not have a smooth swing, then you are pulling your hands somewhere during the swing.  Keep your head as still as you would if you had a glass of water balanced on top of it.  This will help to improve your swing and help you to swing more smoothly and fluidly.

Swing at a decent enough speed to keep yourself from becoming tense and stiff.  Don’t swing too slowly or so hard that you feel the effort of the swing.  Stay relaxed.

Try to keep the idea of power out of your head.  Keeping your power under control during your golf swing so that you can be more accurate is what counts!

A common problem that beginner golfers have on their downswing is properly transferring their bodyweight from the back foot to the front.

New golfers tend to be slightly tentative with their swing, so they end up hanging back a bit. The result from this bad habit ends up with scooped shots that veer off to the right with very little power.

In order to get your balance in order, there is a simple drill that is designed to help you feel the proper weight shift over to the front foot. The beauty of this drill is that there are only two results that can happen; A) You properly shift your weight, or B) You topple over.

1. Set up with your normal stance, but before taking your backswing, slide the back foot behind the right foot, leaving only the toe touching the ground for support. Yes, this will leave you unbalanced when you take your backswing, but that is part of the design.

2. Now when you have reached the top portion of the backswing, swing through the golf ball like you would on any normal shot. With your feet positioned as instructed in step 1 above, your body should automatically make the proper weight transfer to your front side.

Golf Muscles – Timing – Golf Mechanics: The Key To A Powerful Golf Swing

By George Gabriel

Golf swing power is truly sought after by many golfers short and tall. A powerful golf swing can be easily accomplished if you’re standing 6ft tall over the golf ball. Knowing the right mechanics of the golf swing, along with the right timing is essential. If you take two golfers of the same height, the exact same swing, same golf club and ball, the results in distance would probably be the same. If you take the same scenario and one golfer is approximately 6ft. tall, and the other approximately 5ft. tall, the advantage would be to the taller person. You’re probably saying, no kidding Sherlock. A taller person creates a longer and bigger swing span, which in turn generates more club head speed. Unleashing a huge drive can be monstrous if all golf mechanics and timing are in sync for a fairly tall person. So how does a shorter golfer stand to compete?

The answer would probably lie in the golf muscles of a shorter golfer. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and bench press 400 lbs everyday. By exercising your upper and lower golf muscles two or three times a week, you can make a world of difference. The golf muscles that need to be exercised would be the legs, thighs, and whole upper portion of the body. The upper portions of the body are the main coil of the golf swing, with the arms and wrist getting the most exercise. As these same muscles are used most to guide and control the weight of the golf club through the motion of the golf swing. The lower portion of the body is strengthened to reinforce the upper portion of the golf swing. There are many books and videos on the Internet that address these exercises.

Golfers that prefer to exercise outdoors and are not sure of the appropriate exercises to use should take the exercise out on the practice range hitting golf balls. By hitting golf balls at the practice range, you will be exercising the important golf muscles naturally, and greatly improve your golf swing at the same time. Have you heard of golf muscle memory? It is a part of the brain that remembers a movement. Putting it another way, have you felt a muscle say, stop right there? This same part of the brain will tell moving parts of your body how far you can take it, so you do not injure yourself. It also signals for the timing of certain muscles to kick in and take over, if your latter part of the brain were paying attention. It would also remember good habits and bad habits in the golf swing. One must be careful in their practice routine on avoiding the bad habits. Practicing regularly will exercise these certain muscles and train them for further swing improvement in proper moves and timing. Your golf muscles will take the golf mechanics and timing to a higher level of power by exercising them over and over again.

With regular exercise and practicing the golf mechanics and timing of the golf swing, both short and tall players can compete on the same level. To out distance your taller competitors, it would help to pack a few extra pounds of golf muscle behind your golf swing. The same would apply for the taller golfer to stay ahead of the crowd.

About the Author: Running a tee time site where you can find Discount Tee Times and more! Also a sister site with Online Golf Stores featuring a wide variety of products and services.

Source: www.isnare.com

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Your Golf Swing – The Back Leg

One way to check the position of the back leg is to look at the back knee. The back knee needs to be cocked in. The knee also should be bent (forward towards the extended target line) with the back knee cap at least as close to the target line as a line drawn between your big toes, and maybe even a bit closer.

Moving the back knee toward the target line takes the weight off the back heel just like the “Back Heel Up Drill” does, which you will learn about at Simple Swing. Moving the back knee towards the target line also lowers the back hip a bit, which in turn puts the front hip a tad higher than the back hip, giving the hips a little upward tilt which is a good power position.

Make sure the back knee is cocked in a bit so the back thigh is almost vertical. Most of the weight on your back foot should be on the inside of your foot and mostly toward the front of the back foot.

All of this is designed to reduce the body rotation effect (i.e, spinning like a top) that tends close the shoulders at impact thereby closing the club face causing the hooks. Reducing the body rotation also makes it much easier to begin the downswing with your shoulders increasing your power.