Golf Basic Tips

When a friend of mine introduced me to golf many years ago, I wasn’t overly impressed and asked him what he saw in the game. He said, “Well, golf means different things to different people. To me, it’s mostly about being away from my busy life for a few hours, being one with nature, and talking to some good friends.” That made sense to me, but I quickly found out what he meant as I became a golfer, too, taking lessons and burying myself in golf equipment reviews.

People do take up golf for different reasons and it does mean something different to almost every player. For some, like my friend, it’s relaxing on a beautiful course and enjoying nature and the scenery. To others it’s a great way to meet with clients and close deals. Some just enjoy an occasional round. Others get hooked and pursue mastery of the game with single-minded passion. But no matter what attracts you to the game of golf, we all have something in common: we need equipment. Lots of it.

Initially I had a real problem with that. Golf shops intimidated me. I didn’t really know much about golf clubs, golf shoes or even golf bags and I was embarrassed about my lack of knowledge. Whenever I went to a pro shop, everyone else seemed to be an expert, knowing everything about golf, except me. I didn’t understand half of what sales people were talking about and I didn’t even understand many of their questions. So I felt they were talking down to me and I resented that.

So I began reading golf books and magazines and asked golfing buddies for advice. I ended up with a good set of clubs, found that some balls worked better for me than others (I am a Titleist man), and spent a small fortune on golf equipment (Nike made a small fortune off me) I did or did not need. Truth be told, my lack of knowledge and my being ill at ease with the sales people in the pro shops probably kept me from enjoying the game as much as I should have.

All of this changed in the past few years. I am an online person. To me, finding accurate and unbiased golf equipment reviews on the web was just what I had been waiting for. I am not talking about just online golf stores or golf bulletin boards. What helped me were sites done by golfing enthusiasts who simply wanted to share their knowledge with others. See, while I used to be aware of the likes of Burton or Ogio or Ping, there wasn’t anyone who told me who truly made the best bag for me. I was told some of the training aids out there really worked while others were a waste of money but I didn’t know which was which. I knew of amazing advancements in golf carts and I had even heard of new technologies like golf gps, but I didn’t know what was valuable information and what was just marketing.

For me, the emergence of golf enthusiast sites with golf equipment reviews made all the difference. I love reading reviews written by real people as opposed to just sales spiels, and I love how some of those sites explain it all in terms that make sense. I love to read and learn, and these days I totally rely on golf sites that are not only entertaining, but also provide me with the reviews I need and even recommendations on where to get the best deals.

By: Chris Robertson

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Like almost any sport, if you have the best equipment then you have a good chance of being better at the sport than if you had poor equipment. This can easily be said for golf. If you have the best golf equipment, the best golf clubs, then you will most likely be able to play better. But for many people, money plays a major part in the type of golf equipment they can afford. So how can you find an affordable golf equipment supply store and buy your clubs for less money that high street stores?

Well, the advancement of technology has given us the perfect place to find all the golf equipment you need, without having to pay a fortune. Yes, we are talking about internet. Almost all major golf stores and golf suppliers have their own websites. The prices at these websites are always dramatically lower than you will find in your local golf store. This is because there is no middle man putting up the prices to keep for themselves. That’s why you can save a lot of money by going direct to the supplier.

The other major place to find affordable golf equipment is to use the popular auction websites, such as eBay. This is a great place to find not only second hand golf equipment but also brand new equipment too. In fact, many of the major retailers and suppliers will have their own eBay store. I bet you didn’t even know that did you? Just go and have a quick browse online and you will clearly see that there are huge savings to be made.

The main thing when looking for affordable golf equipment is to always do your research first. See how much an item is selling for in the local store, then look online and see how much you can save. It is almost guaranteed that you will be buying almost all your golf equipment online from now on!

By: Tony Newton

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The other day I was watching a Golf Channel commercial where Tiger Woods was conducting a clinic.  As part of the promo they played a quote from him where he said, “There is no one way to swing a golf club”.  Boy did that start me thinking.

You know how differently one pro golfer may swing compared to another (Jim Furyk vs Tiger). Yet they both score well and are highly ranked in the World Golf Standings. How can that be?

There is a golfer at our course who I thought of immediately when Tiger made that comment.  We took notice of him some time back as he was normally on the course about the same time we played. He has the most quirky swing I have ever seen.  So quirky that our group would often make humorous comments about it.

This fellow would take the club back to waist high, then pause, turn back, then pause again, then up to the top and another even longer pause and finally he would swing down and thru where he would hold the finish position for the longest time. He did all of this while appearing as stiff and mechanical as is possible for a human being. He reminds me of a human version of “Iron Byron”, the robot used by the USGA & manufacturers to test golf equipment.

As luck would have it, this one Saturday, Dooley Duffer and I were paired with him and his friend. We didn’t realize it was the guy with the quirky swing until the first tee. As he began to take some practice swings to warm up there it was that herky jerky, stiff as a board, mechanical looking, robotic “Iron Byron” swing.

Dooley and I did all we could to hold back the chuckles. Mumbling to each other about how we were expecting a long round with this guy chasing his errant shots all over the place.  We couldn’t have been more wrong!

This guy kept the ball in the fairway and hit most of the greens.  He scored well on nearly every hole.  Even shooting 2 under par on the back side!  All with that quirky “Iron Byron” swing. He really shut us up.

How? He was able to repeat the swing over and over. As Dooley said later, “The ball did not care about all of that herky jerky stuff in his backswing, just the angle of the clubface at impact.” And that guy certainly had a repeating golf swing in spite of or maybe because of all that herky jerky motion.

Here is what Jack Moorehouse, author of “How to Break 80…”, has to say on the subject of repeating golf swings.

The more we can repeat the same swing, the more often we will achieve a predictable result -the secret to lower golf handicaps. To build a repeatable swing, we must:

Stay connected Set the club on the correct plane. 

Staying connected is a common factor found among all good repeating golf swings. The shoulders, arms, hands, and club should all move away from the ball in unison. Hinging or cocking the wrists sets the club on the correct plane, which keeps the clubface square to the path of the golf swing.

Two other important essentials in building a repeatable swing are:

Swinging to the top of the slot and Retaining power in the swing.

If the club’s shaft is horizontal to the ground, it should be parallel to the target line. The angle of the club should match the angle of the forearm while maintaining the original spine angle and head position. Settle the weight smoothly on the front side and start unwinding the upper body. The right elbow should be dropped down to the side.

Now I am not suggesting here that you work on developing a swing like “Iron Byron’s”. I think most of us would find it even more difficult to repeat his swing than a more conventional swing.  That is because for most of us the conventional swing is the more repeatable golf swing.

Dooley went to the range one day and tried the “Iron Byron” swing just for kicks so to speak. He kept hitting the ball with a high fade/slice.  All the more admiration for the guy who made it work so well. At least for that round that very unconventional swing was a repeatable swing. And that repeating swing made all the difference between his scorecard and ours.

If you need sound golf swing instruction to help you develop a repeating golf swing and lower your handicap then I would like to point you in the direction of How to Break 80.  It is far better than struggling on your own or trying to groove an unconventional repeatable swing like “Iron Byron’s”!

The best thing is that all of this help is less than most lessons with a pro, a single training aide or instructional DVD. He is offering a 90-day money back guarantee, so if you don’t like the book simply return it. But, once you get into his drills, I highly doubt that you’ll need that guarantee.

A repeatable golf swing found here How to Break 80.

By: Wayne Hudler

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