Golf Basic Tips

I decided to begin this series of free online golf tips & instructions with the lessons and methods my grandfather taught. My grandfather was a Golf Professional for nearly 50 years and competed in many tournaments. His career highlights include qualifying for two U.S. Opens and being invited to play in the British Open. Although my grandfather was an accomplished golfer, he felt most rewarded when teaching others how to play and enjoy the game. Although golf instruction has come a long way since my grandfather’s time, these golf lessons still include very important fundamentals to be learned and remembered. Sometimes the best golf lessons come in the simplest form and are made easier to understand and execute. The following instructions have been taken from my grandfather’s notes entitled, “Improve Your Golf”, and I am very happy to share these with anyone wanting to learn how to play golf, or revisit the basic fundamentals of the game.

Improve Your Golf – Swing Is The Thing

The swing begins with your setup at the ball with the proper grip, stance, ball position, proper distance from the ball, weight and head position as we discussed previously. When you are ready to swing the club, it is encouraged that you waggle the club first. This will help with rhythm and grip pressure as your grip should be secured, but not too firm. The majority of your grip pressure should be with the last 3 fingers of the left hand (middle, ring, small). These 3 fingers are where you should feel most of your control from when pushing the club back and pulling the club through the shot.

Your head is the hub of your swing and you must swing with your arms and body moving together under your head with a one piece motion back and through the shot; maintaining a easy, controlled rhythm & balance. This is done by turning your left shoulder down towards the ball with the club head’s path going back inside slightly, and with your hips coiling in unison with your shoulders as you turn and bring the club up to the top of your swing. Your wrists should feel firm at the top of your swing and your left arm should be fairly straight. Once you have completed your backswing, your first move should be with your legs and hips with your weight shifting towards your left side and pulling your arms back down though the downswing. Arms and body still moving together following the same inside-out path you began your swing with.

As you continue to pull through your shot, you should feel your wrists release (roll back over) as you make contact with the ball, keeping your head still and feeling the clubhead continue out towards your target. As you finish your swing, your body continues to turn and face your target as you bring the club up at your target and then around the backside of your neck. As you are shifting your weight from your right to left side, your right foot continues to turn up up onto the toe as you finish. It is very important to finish up on your right toe, otherwise you cannot rotate your hips out of the way of your swing, causing you to lose proper form and power.

By: Scott Powers

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Fundamentals

Stance

A consistent position helps develop a consistent swing. A square stance will encourage a square impact. Keep feet perfectly parallel to the target line. If you imagine standing on a train track your feet are against one rail the ball is next to the other. Develop a comfortable standing position with your feet directly below your shoulders with your toes slightly outward facing.

Position the ball 2-3 inches inside the left heel for most shots. If it is too far forward you will be more likely to slice.

Moving one foot slightly forward will enable either fade (outside to inside) or draw (inside to outside). Experiment with the shot direction on how much you move your foot.

Do’s and Don’ts

Do always check the position of the ball using your clubs aligned on the ground.

Do take your time to settle into your stance and get relaxed.

Do be consistent with your stance.

Grip

A good grip is the foundation of your golf swing, enabling greater control and reducing your tendency to slice. A good grip helps keep the club-head square at impact and stops the shaft from rotating in your hands.

The most popular grip used by professional golfers is the Vardon grip.

Place your little finger on the lower hand on the club (right hand for a right-handed player – known as the trailing hand) and place it between the index and middle finger on the top hand (known as the lead hand). The thumb of the lead-hand should fit in the lifeline of the trailing hand (the V). Look to get a relaxed and comfortable feel, a tight grip will hinder your swing. The V’s formed by the index finger and thumbs on both hands point between the chin and right shoulder. Turning hands anti-clockwise on the club shaft produces a weak grip, promoting a left-to-right flight of the ball (slice). Turning hands clockwise produces a strong grip, promoting a right-to-left flight of the ball (hook).

Do’s and Don’ts

Don’t grip the club too tightly

Do keep the rubber grips on your club handles in good condition. Worn grips cause problems by forcing you to hold the club too tightly.

Do get a feel for the grip by practising frequently gripping and re-gripping the club regularly.

Alignment

When you are practising, make sure your use you clubs as alignment. Lay one club on the ground parallel to the target line and another from toe to toe indicating the direction of your stance. To indicate the ball position, lay another club at 90deg’s to the target line extending backward from the ball toward your feet. Now check it all. When you are happy with the alignment you can a club across your shoulders, hips and thighs to check everything is aligned parallel to the target!

Do’s and Don’ts

Do check, check and check again, it will be invaluable to troubleshoot any problems.

Don’t leave the club between your feet longer than necessary but feel free to leave one club on the ground parallel to the target line during practice sessions.

Swing Path

To get a straight shot you require an inside to square i.e. hitting the ball squarely swing-path. An inside to outside swing-path encourages a hook, outside to inside swing-path a slice. Imagine a line extending through the ball to the target, your goal is a swing-path that starts on the inside striking the ball while moving slightly to the outside.

Also you can direct the ball with the club face – straight 90deg to the ball

Clubface open (>90deg) to ball encourages a slice or fade

Clubface closed (

By: Dave Furnevall

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Correcting a golf slice is the fastest way to shave strokes off of your golf game. Slicing a golf ball is one of the most common errors that an average player makes.

Some golfers remain frustrated for years because they never find out why they are slicing a golf ball. But if you are ever going to become a good golfer, correcting a golf slice is a must. These simple tips will show you how to cure golf slices just by practicing some basic golf swing tips and instructions.

Proper Golf Stance

A proper golf stance should be about as wide as your shoulders. Make sure your shoulders are aligned at your target. Point your right foot straight ahead and point your left foot slightly to the left. Keep your elbows as natural as possible to maintain a proper golf stance.

Even minor adjustments to your stance can make major changes in where your golf ball will end up. Practice the proper golf stance at the driving range and make small adjustments until you get the results you are looking for.

Proper Golf Club Grip

Another common way of correcting a golf slice is adjusting your hands for a proper golf club grip. Grip the golf club with your left hand and put your thumb along the shaft.

The line between your thumb and index finger should be pointing toward your right eye. Wrap your right hand over your left and rest your left thumb into your right palm.

A common mistake most right handed golfers make is gripping the club too tight with the right hand causing the ball to hook towards the left. But the opposite is true with a slice. A weak grip creates an open club face causing your ball to slice to the right.

The best way of correcting a golf slice caused by your grip is roll your hands back so that your non dominant back hand faces the target and your dominant back hand faces the opposite direction.

Practice the proper golf club grip at the driving range to determine if this is what’s causing you to slice the ball. Take your time and make small adjustments to your grip. Even though a proper golf club grip seems simple, it is one of the most common ways of correcting a golf slice.

Correct Golf Swing Mechanics

Correct golf swing mechanics is another cure for correcting a golf slice. A proper golf backswing starts with your hands, is immediately followed by your arms and shoulders all in one smooth motion.

A proper golf downswing begins with your hips, keeping your eyes on the ball and your head behind the ball as you follow through. Once you practice the correct golf swing mechanics, you’ll be amazed at how quick you will lower your golf score.

Becoming a good golfer is a matter of practicing and playing on a regular basis while developing good habits. Small changes can often make a big difference in your score. Once you practice correcting a golf slice you’ll soon be hearing, “great shot!”

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By: Gary Gresham

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A very frequently asked question indeed; how to play the sand shot or the bunker shot.

Before we get to the bunker play tips, I have to preface what you are about to read with but one word… practice. Once you get the basics (which are forthcoming) you’ve got to take the time to practice and gain confidence in the execution.

Believe me; getting your sand play up to a decent level is well worth the time spent on it. With a decent sand game, it is actually more advantageous to be in a bunker around many greens than it is to be buried in the rough just a few yards away! And you’ll score better as a result.

For good bunker play you need to understand some basic techniques. Actually, before we discuss technique, you need to have a sand wedge in your bag… not a pitching wedge… I’ll tell you why in a moment.

First all, with your set up you want to open you stance, hips, and shoulders to the left of the target (right handed golfers) and the ball positioned slightly forward in your stance. Establish solid footing by digging into the sand just a bit.

With your setup to the left of the target, you now want to open the clubface (rotate the sand wedge so the more of the clubface is exposed).

As far as the swing path goes, you want your swing path to follow the alignment of your body just like you other shots.

With a sand shot you want you club to enter the sand a couple of inches behind the ball. I like to have people imagine that just underneath the ball in the sand, the golf ball is sitting on a tee; and what you are trying to do is clip the tee out from under the ball without disturbing the ball itself.

Keep your wrists firm until well after impact. You don’t want get ‘flippy’ with your hands when it comes to sand shots.

When you are first learning to play a bunker shot, strive to gain consistency with your entry point behind the ball and consistently extracting the ball onto a putt-able position on the green.

The next step for you will be to alter the distance of your bunker shot using your swing speed with you ‘basic’ bunker swing and shot. However, the first and primary goal is to gain a consistency with your swing tempo and your entry point. For the beginning sand player, gaining confidence in getting the ball consistently out of the bunker and putting is the first goal and the first building block. Just getting this first basic skill established fluently will save you strokes immediately. Don’t worry so much about variations to your bunker play… these can come later… just get comfortable and confident with that fact that you’ll be out and putting. Rome wasn’t built in a day… or something like that.

I touched on this earlier and now I want to give you a bit more detail on your bunker equipment (sand wedge) and why you must have one.

First of all, believe it or not, the sand wedge is designed for sand play.

Bounce – the sand wedge has a rounded sole that actually sits lower in comparison to the blade of the club. This feature allows the club to glide through the sand rather than dig into it.

Loft – greater loft that the pitching wedge – 55-60 degrees as opposed to 48-52 degrees. This gets you ball up and over the lips of the bunkers more readily rather than trying to ‘manufacture’ a shot with your pitching wedge.

Toe to Heel Design – this what gives the sand wedge the oval appearance – but more than this – it is what keeps the sand wedge from digging in and allows you to ‘splash’ the ball out of the bunker.

Bottom line – if you’re not using a sand wedge for your sand shots; you’re making things much more difficult than they need be.

Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds relaxation over a shot. Particularly the sand shot. Tension and nervousness are shot killers. The basic sand shot is not at all a difficult shot to extract, it’s just that those who fear them are those who don’t take the time to practice them… think about it this way… it’s the only shot where you are going to actually purposely miss the ball!

So get out there and find a place to practice and get better. Remember first things first… just work to gain consistency and you’ll start improving your game.

By: Jeff O’Brien

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