Golf Instruction

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!

The golf grip is so important and yet so often ignored. I wonder if part of the problem is one golfer learns a golf grip from his buddy, who swears by it. But it doesn’t work for him. So he just grabs the club and swings.

Here is a little video I found that might help you out. But keep in mind that you may want to experiment with a number of golf grips to see which one works best for you.

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.

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.

You Can Look But You Can’t Touch

If you enjoy 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.

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.

The golf grip is an important part of golf that, I believe, many weekend golfers choose to ignore. An improper grip can make it hard to get a proper swing.

One golf grip does not fit all. It’s important to try the various grips and see what works best for you. I found this video that I thought might help you make some sense on gripping the golf club properly.