Golf For Beginners

Perfect Your Balance During the Golf Swing

2008-08-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Hope you're doing well!

Some golfers were asking me how do they know when they are performing the Golf Swing correctly. Well let me show you...

Knowing how to properly align and balance your body is very important in order to achieve the golf swing you desire. In this post I will help you spot the three main causes of bad balance during the golf swing and we will look at how to correct this.

1. Poor Setup

Having a well setup mentality and physical body is very important if you would like to get the best out of your swing. Without a good setup you will automatically have bad balance in the approach to the golf swing usually resulting in a hook or slice. The setup to your swing is so important that if you make it a good one and other parts of your swing mechanics are still incorrect it will still make the swing up to 70% more accurate.

2. Hitting the ball with all your might

The novice golfer is the most vulnerable to falling for the general thought: “If I hit harder, the ball travels further.” This generic thought is not a very good idea for golf. This action usually has a negative effect on your golf swing, making the clubhead move out of alignment to the ball and also making the golfer lose balance on the downswing. What a novice golfer sometimes forgets is that a golf club has a specific design to reduce the effort of the golfer and does most of the work for him. Look into golf fitness if you haven’t already because this is very important to get the best out of your golf game while keeping perfect balance on all your shots.

3. Weak, flaccid and un-exercised muscles

Learning how to play golf without practicing Golf Fitness is too often taken for granted or sometimes even ignored. This is where you should step in and skip over a great big part of your competitors’ golf game performance and start inching your way up behind them to eventually beat them at the game. You see golf fitness plays a huge part in your balance on swings, chips, putts and so on and you don’t want to lose games because of having a bad golf physique. Golf fitness will give you that extra power in your swing while still allowing you to keep your correct posture and balance and not missing a shot or miss-hitting it. It will increase you overall confidence and allow you to keep a cool head on the green. Ever see a golfer hooking or slicing and throwing their golf club down in anger? Yes I know; I see it all the time too. This person could be practising all the time and might not be able to find out why they cannot improve. It is most likely bad golf fitness.

Be aware that strengthened and conditioned muscles in the golfing area of your body will increase your level of accuracy for shots, increase your self-esteem and improve your overall performance on the course. Having the correct Golf Accessories will do you no harm either.

An Easy Way To Improve Your Putting

2008-06-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hello, hope your golf games are going well!

Putting Games

Do you need to improve your short putts?

One of my favorite ways to perfect a putt is to ‘putt to a dime’. Simply place a dime or another small coin down on the green and start pretending it's the hole. The coin will be so small that you will become used to aiming for a small target and then when time comes to putt to a hole, you will be amazed at how accurate your shot will be because of its size compared to the smaller coin!
Another great way to practice your putting is to sink 5 balls in a row from a one foot distance, then another 5 from a two foot distance, then three feet and so on… If you miss a shot, you need to start over again. This is also a great way to warm up before a game.

Lots more free putting tips at Golfing Valley

The 6 Fundamental Rules Of Putting

2008-05-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hi,

It is impossible to teach a beginner golfer how to be positioned when putting the golf ball. Each golfer has his or her own specific way they find comfortable and yield great results from their putts. However, even though you can't teach a beginner everything about putting, you will need to know that every good putter out there must follow six fundamental rules.

1. Eye over the target-line of the ball. This will make a much more accurate direction on the ball than having your eyes to one side.

2. Shoulders and arms are the only parts of the body which perform the putt. The rest of the body is as still as possible. This allows you to keep a good direction on the ball and prevents the putter from sending the ball off to one side of the hole.

3. Shoulders remain parallel to the target-line, not open and not closed.

4. The putter should travel in straight lines back and forth on the target-line. However, if the putt is to be performed with a long backswing then the putter blade will naturally go off the target-line and around your body n the backswing, go squared and finally it will then move back on to the target-line during the forward swing. This is to accommodate the angle of your body in relation to your arms and shoulders.

5. The blade should remain square throughout the stroke.

6. The putter blade accelerates through the putt.

Remember: Putting counts for up to 50% of all your strokes in any single round of golf. Improving your putting and shaving strokes in putting will significantly reduce your handicap.

Correct Ball Position

2008-04-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I want to share with you a short lesson on the importance of ball position in golf.

The most efficient ball position is to stand over it so as when you swing the club the bottom of the arc will be the point of impact. The bottom of the arc is usually positioned 2-3 inches off the inside of your left heel (right hand golfers). The butt-end of the club grip will have to rest about one fist far from the inside of the left thigh for an iron club and two fists for the driver. You position will need to be adjusted in order to make these measurements match depending on the length of the club shaft.

You will need to stand further and further from the ball as the club length increases. Spread your feet apart more and more if this is the case as this will maintain your balance on the swing. For a pitching wedge, you will need to match the outside of your heels with the inside of your shoulders and visa versa for a driver. For a short iron you will need a steeper position so this will make sure your spine is over the shot and for a long iron you will need a sweeping position so your spine will be placed behind the shot. Your left foot will more or less remain in a similar position for each of the shots while your right foot is used to widen the stance on long iron shots. However, there is one exception to this rule; the driver. Place the ball just off the inside side of your left foot, this is because it is teed up. This type of stance will allow the clubhead to impact the ball on its ascent and prevent the ball from striking the ground as it leaves the tee.

How To Grip A Golf Club.

2008-04-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

I have been asked by many golfers how to properly grip a golf club and now I think it is time I shared this knowledge with you.

If you want to make any kind of improvement in your golf game or are unsure why you are not playing well it might be a good idea to check your grip. The proper golf grip must be sound and natural.

There are 4 main results from having a proper grip:

1. Enables square impact of the clubface with the back of the golf ball.
2. Prevents the club from slipping during the backswing and down swing.
3. Enables the swing to be fluent and continuous.
4. Transfers power from the club to the ball and prevents leakage/wastage of power.

The Left Hand Grip

The club goes in the left hand toward the base of the palm while making sure the heel pad is above the top of the handle. Close you fingers on the handle until you feel pressure on it. The thumb should be a bit to the right of the centre of the grip. The two knuckles of your left hand should be easy to see without requiring you to tilt your head in any direction. The thumb and index finger should look like a 'V' shape and the bottom of this 'V' should point in a direction between the right shoulder and right side of the players face.

The Right Hand Grip

When gripping the club with the right hand you should be aware that the right hand is to blend in with the left, conforming to it and allowing the pair to work together as one. The two middle fingers are where most of the grip is going to be. The life line in the palm of the right hand is pressed against the thumb of the left hand. This will cover the thumb of the left hand obscuring it from sight because they are close together. The 'V' of the right hand should point in the direction similar to the 'V' of the left hand.

The Three Preferences in Grip Forms

These three preferences for the grip formation are as follows:

1. The overlap, the little finger of the right hand overlaps the forefinger of the right hand.
2. The interlock, the little finger of the right hand and the forefinger of the left hand are interlocked
3. Ten finger formation, all fingers are placed on the club

The overlap is most commonly used for normal sized and oversized hands.
The interlock is more suited to golfers with short fingers and/or thicker hands.
Ten finger formation is normally used by golfers with small or weaker hands.

It is very important to know how to grip a golf club properly as it is one of the keys to improving your golf game and it is one of the most overlooked mechanical areas of golf by many golfers.

How To Create The Golf Backspin

2008-03-17T03:55:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

Now, you probably know this already, but what the hell, the backspin shot is a really hard shot to accomplish let alone control, you wouldn't be reading this article otherwise.

Another thing you should know is there are only a handful of situations when you need to use the backspin.

In my personal opinion, the best shot to improve on would be the approach shot. When the ball bounces once and then stop on a dime, you just can't beat it. As you probably realized, this shot is not at all easy to master. But, it is a much more effective and realistic shot in the absolute majority of instances.

I am going to go through the basics of this shot because in fact a whole book could be written just on this shot alone. It would be very impressive to do it in one of your recreational games, but it would also be very difficult as well.

There are of course conditions that need to be met before you can even attempt this type of shot. If these elements are not in place then you cannot create a backspin.

- The conditions of the course and the equipment have to be dry.
- The green does have to be in a very good condition and be kept short.
- You also have to be on the fairway so you can get a clean connection.

Now, just to make things clearer. All the above conditions have to be met before you can even attempt a backspin shot. You should now be more aware of actually how difficult this shot can be and why this is something that is not recommended by golf tutors, as it takes away the simplicity of the game.

I was thinking of the best name of the action involved in creating the backspin, and I came to the conclusion that it is mostly like trying to get a backspin on the cue ball in pool.

Just a quick tip: I would consider taking up pool also. Simply because many good putters are also good pool players. It will help you develop your aim and steady hands, and it will also teach you quite a bit about the spin.

Now, in pool you have to hit down and through the ball with sufficient force. To get a required spin, pool players always chalk up their cues before attempting any kind of spin. This is because it makes the conditions dry. They also attempt to hit the ball from a steeper angle than normal and try to connect towards the lower portion of the ball.

All these techniques are what are necessary in golf as well. The number one goal is to try and pinch the ball between your club and the fairway. You have to have a downward stroke and you must add a fair amount of speed to your swing. Clean contact with the ball on its lower portion is also essential. With all these factors involved in a backspin shot makes it so hard to accomplish, let alone with any accuracy at all.

Another good thing to have when attempting a backspin, is a new ball, preferably a high spin, soft feel ball, and also a newish clean club that has good grip on its face. As the golf ball compresses onto the grooves on the clubface, the backspin is created.