Single Digit Golf Tips

Golf Tips

Range Tips
Grip tips: Your hands should work together as one unit with your palms facing each other as if you are praying, which you probably will be at times. To check this, take your address position and lift the clubhead straight up just by bending your wrists. If you grip allows you to swing the shaft straight up to the middle of your head, without the face angle changing, then you grip is good. While doing this, does the face of your clubhead still look straight? If so, that means the pressure from each hand is equal.

Alignment: A good way to check or correct your alignment is to use a couple of old shafts or any like thing and place 1 on the ground aimed at your target line a few inches on the other side of the ball. Take your stance and check with another shaft or club to see if your shoulders, hips, and feet are set up parallel to the target line.
I take a second shaft and stick it the ground about 3-4 feet back of my back foot at an angle comparable to my club at address. Experiment with the exact position until it is in a place that you miss it by a couple inches on the way back and through. If you take it back slow and look at the gap between the two you can get it at just the right angle so that it gives you a good indicator as to your swing plane. IE: you can see if you are coming back too far inside or outside. Be careful the first few times as you don't want to hit the shaft during your swing. You can use one of those "pool noodles" or a pipe insulator on the shaft so you don't get killed or give someone next to you a stroke if you hit it.
Now when you are ready to hit some, you stand behind the ball and pick a spot on the ground or another tee 2-3 feet ahead of the ball and in your target line. It and the ball should form a line parallel with the shaft on the ground.
All you have to do now, is to swing down that line through the ball.

Balance: I like to hit balls at times with no shoes on. It may sound silly, but you will be surprised how much you will feel with your feet. You will feel all aspects of your weight moving during the swing. You should feel the push as you come down and through the impact area, and then the weight shift onto your front foot.

Good Practice: A good way to improve your ball striking with irons is to pick a torn up part of the teeing ground at the range and use it to hit balls from. If you can train your self to do this, when you do play from the fairway the ball will almost seem as if it is teed up. On some courses where the ground isn't the best, your swing will be immune to bad lies.

Visualize Your Shots: A lot of teaching pros tell you to pick a spot to land your tee shot on to help your visualization, but what I like to do is to use two or three flags, trees , or whatever is out on the range to form the boundries of an imaginary fairway alyhough narrower than a real one. If you can hit shots within the "boundaries", it greatly increases your confidence. If you get to the point where you can shape your shots inside the boundaries, when combined with a solid repeatable routine, you really have something to work with when the pressure is on.

Slice Correction: A good way to combat a slice is to put a small mark on the back of the ball,(opposite the target). When you go to swing, focus all your attenetion on that mark until after impact. It's very difficult to come "over the top" while doing this. Try it!

Hook Correction: One main reason people hook, myself especially, is because their weight stays on the back foot or even moves backward in the down swing. One way to fight this, is to make a conscious effort to "stamp" your front foot down at impact. I don't mean to actually lift and drop your foot, but feel as if you are stamping your foot down just at the moment of impact. To do this, you must shift your weight. Watch the hooks disappear.

Putting Tips: Get the speed right and you won't three putt. The correct speed ideally is that if you miss, the ball stops 12-18 inches beyond the hole,(except for lag putts).
Lag putts when you don't feel confident or over 30 feet. Pretend you are putting into a 4 foot barrell and anything you leave inside that 4 feet is good. Seeing as it will be 2 feet or less, it probably is.
Never use your wrists in a putting stroke, just arm and shoulder muscles and you will control the distance much easier.
Don't look up until your ball has rolled at least 6 feet.
Go with your first thought/feeling when seeing the line, it is right more often then not.
Spend time practicing 6 footers. If you can make 3 out of 4 of them, you will putt better than 80% of all golfers.
If you play at the same course a lot, look at the greens in a hard rain sometime and notice the way the water sits on the green to see all the nuances/breaks in it.

Chipping Tips: For short chips, all you need to do is use a putting stroke. As with putting It is much easier to control distance when you don't involve your wrists.
A good rule of thumb in club selection for chipping is to get the ball rolling on the green as soon as possible, and run it up or down to the hole.
If you have 3 chips, one a flat 40 footer from just off the green, one an uphill 40 footer, and one a downhill 40 footer, instead of varying your swing, consider using the same swing for all three. For the uphill, an 8 iron, for the flat, a 9 iron, and for the downhiller, a wedge. The change in loft will make up for the difference in slope.

We in the north are at a severe disadvantage when it comes to consistent golf. Obviously you lose some golf-muscle flexibility and consistency over the winter. Here are some easy tips that will help save time and jump-start your game those last few weeks before your course opens.

1) Core-muscle exercise. I know, you don't like to do sit-ups, but a few a day,(consult your doctor if needed), hopefully with a twist added once you are comfortable will work wonders as these muscles are the key to your balance. Even if you start 3-4 weeks before you play, it makes a big difference.

2) A few Squats wouldn't hurt you either. The big leg muscles are power boosters especially if you aren't a spring chicken anymore.

3) I have found that practicing 6-8' putts on a mini fake green, (which are cheap to buy), give you great short-putt confidence. How many 4-6 foot putts did you miss last year? You can use a piece of plywood or even cardboard under it to tilt it sideways which is great practice for breaking or uphill/downhill putts. A piece of rug or that green indoor/outdoor poly carpet works well if you don't want to buy anything. See how many 8 footers you can make. When you get up to 10 in a row consistently, stop and think how confident you feel over those putts! While you are at it, try to get your ball to stop,(if you miss), 1 1/2' behind the hole to perfect your speed.

4) Try to pick a club up and swing it every day or two if only for a minute. If you have a snowfree area, try chipping into a bucket or onto a small target for a few minutes. Do not use your wrists when chipping! The biggest easy to fix amateur mistake is breaking the wrists on short chips. Think of it as another form of putting stroke where you just use your large muscles and keep your hands quiet. If you keep your hands slightly ahead of the clubhead it will feel like a more solid connect with the ball.

OK, I'll shut up for now. This is the first week for this lens. I will be adding tips regularly for anyone interested. Play Well!

A great finish at the Masters...almost anyway. You have to hand it to Zach Johnson for plowing ahead almost oblivious to the ups and downs of the tournament.His birdies at 13,14, and especially the par three 16th with the pressure building. He showed great determination throughout.

The big name players were another story. You would think that a few of them would step up and challenge, but it seems the course was just too tough. Tiger made the usual run but even after that great eagle on 13, he just sort of petered out.

Did you think the course was too tough? I must say that I enjoyed it as it really had them all pulling their hair out. The fact that they watered the greens Saturday night showed that maybe they were pushing the envelope a little too much.

If you noticed Johnson's chip on the 18th hole and how well he executed it, you will also have seen that there were no wrists or hands in that chip. Just like a putting stroke. That shot was a great example of just the big muscles in use through the swing. It's a lot harder to pull off a pressure shot like that with a "handsy swing".

All in all, it was refreshing to see that even the world's best can get nerved up when they get outside of their comfort zone. There may be lots of rest in their immediate future. It will be interesting to see who comes out next week raring to go.

Most of us aren't pros, and as amateurs we don't have the time or money to invest in a full time teacher to monitor changes/problems with our swings.

A common flaw is the swaying upper body . Many times it is caused by changes that occur during a round. You may start out focused and accurate with your shots only to see those qualities fade away after a few holes.

Some players decrease their turn as the round progresses, and try to compensate by swaying back and forth. the more this is done, the less power you feel which in turn causes even more movement trying to get some power back.

One way to fix the problem is to check your upper body motion during the swing. You can do this with a video camera aimed at your head from a couple yards in front. Have something behind you in focus of the camera so you can see the position of your head in relation to that object behind you. If you see more than an inch or two in movement, you may need to concentrate on turning instead of swaying . While you are at it, check the movement from behind also as you may move forward or back too.

If you don't have a camera handy, use a buddy instead. Think of your spine as an axle with greased bearings. As long as it's position remains constant, you should strike the ball consistantly. Good luck with your game!