Golf
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Finally the Golf 101 Tips series has come to an end.
Here is the final #101 Golf Tip:
Golf is not just a game but prepares you mentally for the battles of life as well
Bellow are the links to the previous 100 golf tips:
Written by GolfSwing on September 21st, 2009 with 1 comment.
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Playing Better Golf 101 Tips – 9
81. Position and mould yourself to suit the golf club. Do not try to hold the club so as to fit your position.
82. There is no such thing as a perfect shot – it all depends on the context. A perfect shot if it lands in water is ruined. A bad shot if it turns out to be a hole in one is a perfect shot.
83. More important than the time you spend on the course, is the time you spend on it outside. Try to understand the overall game and more importantly try and understand your game.
84. The swing you presently have is not something you have created today but is the result of all those swings and the time you have spent analyzing them.
85. For many new players, getting the correct grip position is never easy because it tends to be awkward for many body actions.
86. A professional never visualizes himself failing and as such success does not surprise him. An occasional miscued shot does but then he takes that as a chance to improve further on his mental game.
87. If you try to avoid bad shots, you will probably end up hitting more of them. Instead concentrate on trying to hit better shots.
88. Some professionals claim that for them the club head is almost like an extension of their arms and hands, it feels so natural to them.
89. If you would like to improve your iron shots, then practice more on getting out of bunkers. If you are able to achieve a fair degree of proficiency in this, it will help you mentally as for many players; the bunkers cause great anxiety and force them to lose focus.
90. At times, for a very meticulous golf player, it becomes very difficult to let go of mentally planning his swing and just letting his body take over. However, the transition has to be made at the right moment.
… continue from Playing Better Golf 101 Tips – Part 8
Written by GolfSwing on September 6th, 2009 with 1 comment.
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Playing Better Golf 101 Tips – 3
21. The very first lesson you should learn when starting golf is to get really comfortable swinging the club.
22. Any good player learns to identify the characteristics of another good player and will emulate him/her on some aspects.
23. Before you start thinking about your individual game, make sure you understand important details of the game like ball spin or shot patterns.
24. You can analyze your game but that would be useless unless you know how to improve on it and more importantly, start doing it naturally.
25. Do not worry about how many strokes you take at the beginning, concentrate on the quality of them. As the quality of the swing improves, the number of strokes will start coming down.
26. You should never try to completely eliminate your bad shot. It may not be possible to do so or at least in a finite amount of time. Aim to keep improving on it till it gets reasonable.
27. Stop trying for a great shot but aim for shooting your best shot. If it ends up landing close to the hole, it was your best shot. If it ends up winning you a championship, it will be a great shot!
28. If you are a beginner, set the level you want for yourself. If it is too low, you may achieve it very easily and will not have anything to spur you on. Keep it little high just so you have to work hard to get there. Higher goals will bring you greater results.
29. Do not aim for sudden improvements like wanting to turn your handicap of 10 into one of 7 – you may end up going up to 12.
30. While taking a swing at the ball, do not view the ball as your object of conflict. Instead relax, hold the club comfortably in position and with perfect hand-eye co-ordination, let the club take natural swing with the ball just being in the way.
… continue from Playing Better Golf 101 Tips – Part 2
Written by GolfSwing on June 20th, 2009 with 1 comment.
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11. If you are constantly being told that golf is a difficult game, you may actually end up believing it. Do not listen to anyone who is negative but go out and try it for yourself.
12. Think of some positive associations or mental images that will help you stay positive even when the going gets tough on the course.
13. While practicing your swing action, you may practice without a ball and will concentrate only on the swing. However, on the course, with the ball in front, you may tend to concentrate on the ball. Swing practices are best done with the ball to be hit.
14. Aggression to a limited extent is good if it spurs you on – it can also tend to distract you, destroying your concentration.
15. If you are a beginner, do not be fooled that powerful strokes go the longest distance. Power matters, control of the stroke matters even more.
16. Do not be pressured by a good performance or a bad performance. Every shot should be treated on its own merit.
17. Reading instructional books or following instructional videos is good but only to a certain extent. Just following a constant set of instructions is not going to improve your game – your instinct and the way you follow it will.
18. Practice putting as much as you can from as many positions as you can. You are probably here for the shortest period but it may seem like the longest period of your life.
19. Set hard goals but not unachievable ones. They should make you sweat and at the end of it, your sense of accomplishment will spur you to do better.
20. Too much analysis can cause damage by concentrating too much on bits and pieces of an action instead of concentrating on the end purpose of that one action.
… continue from Playing Better Golf 101 Tips
Written by GolfSwing on June 11th, 2009 with 1 comment.
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Playing Better Golf 101 Tips – Part 1
1. Your understanding of the concepts of golf should be complete. Most of the time, poor play comes from applying logic to misunderstood concepts.
2. Only practice can make you perfect. You may have to hit a lot of bad shots before you can master one reasonable one.
3. Do not try very hard to understand the game. Just play it naturally and the understanding will come to you.
4. When you see a top professional hit a perfect shot, he is turning into reality what he had visualized in his mind a few minutes back.
5. When you are told that you have acquired a good swing, you may not even realize it. Constant practice has just improved it so much.
6. Do not just read what top professionals or coaches are saying but try to understand it by implementing it.
7. Do not underestimate the effort required to play good golf – you may end up finding the game difficult and even quit it.
8. Take time when you are not playing to work on your mental strategy by analyzing every shot you played on the course. Maximize the shots you can play well so that you can play better under pressure next time.
9. Improving your play involves not only knowing what to learn but how to learn it.
10. Merely powering the club will not help you hit longer. Try hitting with long clubs but with quiet swings.
Written by GolfSwing on June 4th, 2009 with 2 comments.
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If you look at any of the top golfers like Tiger Woods, you will not only notice the quality of their golf games but also marvel at their fantastic fitness levels. It is just proof of the fact that golf fitness not is very much part of the games just like mastering your swing or your putting is. If you would like to participate competitively at the highest levels of the game, you have to have a regular workout routine, watch what you eat and focus completely on the game. You also need to look at different angles of playing the game, develop golf strategies, pursue it on the golf course and then see how you polish it up before your next game.
Many of your friends may still snicker at golf being called a tough game, both physically and mentally. However, there have been considerable changes in the game since the old days. While there may not be much physical running around or physical contact, you do need to have tremendous physical stamina to be able to hit the ball regularly to distances of 300 or more yards. Further, if you are playing on big golf courses that easily cover over 7000 yards, you can see the level of fitness you need to reach in order to be able to complete the course in reasonable time.
While you do need to work on your stroke-play, one also needs to plan on how to play the game strategically. If you watch any game closely especially the top level ones, you will notice that the difference between the top three is usually not more than a stroke per round. Although this may not seem like much but in the final analysis, this makes a difference between the winner and the losers, not to mention the cash-prize, the headlines and endorsements that usually follow the winner.
Therefore, you will often hear professional golfers talking, not just about improving their swing or their driving but more importantly on how they try to stick to their plan and focus on various tactics for each hole. You will find them playing for every position, attacking certain holes while for some, you will find them backing off. This helps them maximize whatever advantages they have in terms of their strokes. If you do not have a well-thought out strategy, you may find yourself just one stroke behind at the beginning of the round but will soon start falling behind even more.
Get in to the habit of planning a strategy for every hole before you get on to the course. Knowing your game well helps, as you are aware of what your strengths and weaknesses are. Use this and try to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Try and understand which hole offers you the best chance considering your stroke play – play attacking golf for that hole. Some may offer trickier positions for you – learn to play defense there and do not let go of any advantages that you have derived so far.
You may feel that since it is highly unlikely that you will be competing for the US Open, mental strategy may not matter as much. However, giving a little more thought to how you should approach each hole, for example, the way you play various strokes will help you be prepared when you are to take the stroke. You will be able to successfully visualize yourself making a good stroke and that will translate into reality. In fact, it has also been noticed that people with a high handicap will benefit from more mental strategies than professionals for whom such thinking may come more naturally. You could easily pick up two to three strokes in each round and that will make enormous difference in your confidence and in your enjoyment of the golf game.
As we mentioned earlier, the key tactic in your mental strategy should be visualization. Visualization is a key to having a positive mental attitude when you start off on any round. Close your eyes and try to see in your mind, a perfect picture of the ball going the distance you want it to or falling gently into the hole. Do not dwell too much on your drawbacks at this time. See the ball going in the exact direction and to the exact spot you want it to.
This way you are trying to train your mind to see only positive results. Your mind will then will your body to mimic the same result. This is why it is very important that you focus only the positive aspects of your game and not the negative. When you have the mental image of a successful shot, you will also experience a sense of accomplishment. This is the key to your being able to convert this mental image into reality. Keep this feeling of accomplishment and focus on the mental image till you have completed your shot.
Of course, your shot is not going to go to the spot you intended to every time. There will be hits and misses. If you have had one bad shot, just forget about it for the time being and move on to the next shot in a positive mindset and with a positive attitude. Repeat the same process for this shot.
Keep practicing this visualization technique every time, before you start the game and before every shot. Gradually, this will become second nature to you and the number of good strokes will soon start to outnumber the bad ones.
Written by GolfSwing on May 26th, 2009 with no comments.
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Golf now is as well known for the excitement it generates as for the accessories that are turning into style statements themselves. A golfer has lot to choose from – little novelty toys to sophisticated organizational tools, which may range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. These can be found in many places including in stores and on the Internet.
You can probably find suitable accessories for every aspect of the game. For example, there is a huge variety of golf clubs from various brands. Again, the golf clubs require various accessories for cleaning, protection or for enhancing them. Some of these accessories include cleaning kits, club grips and also protective covers for the club heads. You can find head covers to suit your taste. If you prefer something stylish, you may get ones that can be labeled with your family crest or even a monogram. On the other hand, if you prefer a causal look, you can get one with animal shapes or just plain shapes. There are a large number of golf club grips as well for you to make your choice. There are standard universal grips but one can get customized golf grips as well.
Similarly, all golf balls and tees may look the same to you. However, if you look carefully, you will be surprised at the amazing variety in them as well. You can pick up a bag full of absolutely generic tees without giving it a second thought or you could invest in some fancy personalized tees, which can be made in any color that you like. Though traditionally, one always went in for wooden tees, you can now get rubber or brush tees which are claimed to possess more accuracy and are supposed to last longer than the traditional ones. Similarly, golf balls also come in various colors and various brands claim that theirs is more accurate than the others.
A sunglass is very much a part of a golfer’s personality. You can choose between sunglasses or caps or visors or combinations of both. If you live and play in a sunny climate, you will certainly need one on you all the time. Even otherwise, one is hard pressed to find a golfer without at least a golfing cap on. It may be helpful to pick up one of those wrap-around sunglasses that come with special lenses that protect against harmful UV radiation. Of course, one should be careful that these sunglasses have a clear view of the ball and the course. An umbrella is another useful accessory that you may find many carrying around since it provides protection against both the sun and the rain.
Golf towels are another essential part of golfers’ equipment. In fact, many golfers have their ‘lucky’ towels with them for years together. Towels of course, have their utility value but more importantly it allows many to personalize some aspects of their game by having their names or company names on them.
Some of the other miscellaneous golf accessories include ball cleaners, ball retrievers and other maintenance products that go a long way in keeping you golfing equipment in shape for years to come.
As we mentioned earlier, golf accessories can be found in any professional golf shop at any course. However, you can also take a look at some of the online golf shops that offer better varieties, state-of-the-art brands and great bargains.
Written by GolfSwing on May 22nd, 2009 with no comments.
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DRIVING
One of the biggest challenges of a golf game is getting the driving spot on. The driver is considered to be the hardest club to hit and requires a great degree of skill and lots of practice to master it completely. To drive the ball well, you have to learn to swing the club well within yourself. This essentially means you do not use mere brute force to hit hard at the golf club and then try to make it go a long distance. Many players, especially beginners often make this mistake, thinking that more muscle in turn means more distance covered.
This is a common misunderstanding and it is difficult to see why when you often see may people with small builds power the ball through long distances. How is that possible? Well, the simple reason is this – the distance the ball travels does not have much to do with just the sheer power behind your stroke, it has do more with the accuracy of the golf swing combined with the speed of the club head. And the best way to maximize this combination is to swing well within yourself so that you can control both better.
To generate more club head speed, you may need to create more leverage or as it is called, lag. Lag is essentially the angle between your left hand and the club. It is recommended that this angle be as small as possible and that it is held in that position for as long as possible before the club can hit the ball. This permits a lot of energy to be released to the ball through the hitting area and in turn frees the ball to travel through a long distance. You could think of the club as a whip and hold the club as a whip. When you need to hit the ball, bring down the club in one smooth shipping motion through the hitting area and release the energy to the ball. One more tip you could try attempting – when you start your downswing, your left shoulder should be driving heavenwards. This will help you keep your club in the hitting place and give full power to the ball.
It is very important that you stay focused and fully under control when you are executing your swing. The best way to determine whether or not you are under control is to see what your balance is like at the end of the swing. If you stay well balanced even at the end of the swing, then you are well under control. However, if you are losing balance, then you may need to make a few adjustments, either to your posture or your speed so that you stay in balance. Do not try very hard – it is important that you stay relaxed and that your club moves freely.
Before you start working on your driving, you may want to make sure that you are using your wedges and short irons effectively. The driver swing is just an extension of the swings that you get from the wedges or short irons. If you are having problems with the wedges or irons, you will also face difficulty in the driving. Therefore, it’s best to start with the shorter clubs first and the move on the driver.
It goes without saying, that to achieve consistency and efficiency in part of your game, you need to practice and practice constantly. You could of course, go to the range and practice on the course as many times as you can. However, you could also spend some time in your backyard when time permits to improve some of your stroke making. There are many home golf simulators that are now available at reasonable prices that will allow you to practice at home at your convenience.
PUTTING
It is not surprising that the putter is the most used club in the game and that most people seeking golf advice ask about improving their putting. It takes a long time to reach the green but that is where you have to make your most important move.
One of the major questions asked is about the distance for the putt back swing. Most professionals and coaches would advise you to hold the right toe as the standard point. From then on, speed up the club-head to hit the ball.
You can order many artificial mats and cups, which you could place in your backyard or any open space in your house to practice your putting. You have to focus as if you were actually in the middle of a round to be able to practice under pressure. Probably, playing with a friend in a competitive spirit may help.
People spend a lot of time improving their long distance shots as in a game it takes a long distance to reach the greens. However, practicing your putting also is equally important. Not just by gathering tips but also by actually trying your hand at putting from various angles and positions. It does take a long time to improve ones swing and you may forgiven for thinking that putting is far simpler or may take less time to master. However, you never know what kind of problems you may have to face during your game and so it is best to be prepared in all aspects.
Written by GolfSwing on May 9th, 2009 with no comments.
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The absolute essential equipment of any golf game is a golf club so the more we understand it, the better equipped we will be to handle it successfully. A golf club has three parts to it – the Head, the Shaft and the Grip. A golf club has to stick to certain specifications but within those specifications a club maker tries to create golf clubs that can help a golfer improve his game by reducing swing error and allow for accurate shots.
If you look at the standard set of golf clubs, you will notice that it contains three woods (the 1-driver, 3 and 5) plus eight irons (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and a PW). You will also have a putter, which brings it to a total of twelve. Now, the rules of golf state that you can carry a maximum of fourteen clubs in your bag, which then permits you two more clubs in addition to the above. Depending on your skill levels and comfort levels, you could add another specialty wood or an iron to help you out.
Woods
The golf clubs known as woods are usually used to hit long shots. The club is a hollow wood that has a large head. Suppose the golf hole is about 400 yards or so from the tee to the green, then you would be using the woods to start off.
• Of all the woods, the driver or the number 1 wood has the lowest loft. Loft is defined as the angle of the clubface. The loft of the club decides the trajectory and thereby the distance the ball can be hit to. Usually a driver has a loft anywhere between seven and twelve. It is usually a lot harder to hit with drivers of low loft than higher lofted ones and hence you will find only fairly experienced professionals going in for drivers with lower loft. Recently though, the newer golf balls provide a lot of low spin forcing even pros to take to slightly higher loft drivers so as to get a higher launch angle. Most of them now use drivers that have lofts of 8.5 to 10 degrees though non-professionals are advised to use something which has a loft of 10 or more
• You may also want to carry the number 3 wood as well as the number 4 wood in your bag. The number 3 club has a loft between fifteen to eighteen degrees while the number 5 club has a loft between twenty and twenty-two degrees. As most golfers also carry 3 and 5 woods in their bag. A 3 wood has a loft between 15 and 18 degrees, and a 5 wood has a loft between 20 and 22 degrees. As you would have realized by now, the higher the number of the golf club, the higher the loft and the higher the loft, the shorter the club. Shorter clubs essentially mean the ball will be hit for a shorter distance. Rarely do people go for the number 7 or 9 clubs.
• You may be under the belief that since these particular golf clubs are called woods, they would be made of wood. In fact, that was the case till late 1980s. Then they realized that metal has many distinct advantages. The most important advantage that it has is its ability to precisely mold golf clubs into one, having a low center of gravity and two, having perimeter weighting. Both of these allow the golfer to hit longer distances with greater precision.
• So far we have been talking about the 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 woods. You may wonder what about those in between like 2 and 4 wood? There are woods with numbers 2 and 4 but their usage has gradually decreased. Today, most of the players prefer to take the 7 and 9 woods with them rather than 2 and 4. So much so that many actually prefer to take the higher numbered woods to lower numbered irons as improved technology has meant there is far greater precision even with woods even for smaller distances.
Irons
• The best time to use irons is when you are much closer to the green, say, at a distance of about 200 yards or less. Also remember that the closer you are to the green, the higher numbered iron you will use. Again, similar to the woods, you can find the standard set of irons being 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 irons and of course the Pitching Wedge, fondly called as PW.
• As we had mentioned earlier, there are many golfers who prefer to play with higher numbered woods like the 7 and 9 and skip the lower numbered irons. Especially for ladies and senior citizens, even for beginners, higher numbered woods offers far greater driving ease at shorter distances than the lower numbered irons do and provide almost the same degree of accuracy.
Wedges
• We have already spoken about the pitching wedge. In reality, wedges are just more specialty irons. The lowest number specialty iron is the pitching wedge that has a loft of forty-eight degrees. Obviously higher numbered irons are going to have higher lofts like fifty-two, sixty and sixty-four degrees.
• These particular golf clubs can be very helpful at certain times in your game and every player tend to keep a few of them. Their design feature is more in terms of a blade club because being close to the greens, what you now need are clubs that will help you control your shots and shape your shots better rather than just aiming for distance.
Putters
• The final but fairly important golf club is the putter. The usual course of a golf game is as follows. You tee off with a driver for a distance of about 250 yards, hit another shot for 175 yards right into the sand trap, use the wedges to get it out onto the green and then finally use the putter to gently tap the ball into the hole.
• The putter is of course used only on the green but you may be surprised at the variety of putters that are available – you can get short, long heel-toe, mallet and so on.
Written by GolfSwing on April 12th, 2009 with no comments.
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Your golf clubs can really make a difference in how well you play the game of golf. New advancements in golf club technologies make lighter, bigger, and better golf clubs available to the experienced as well as inexperienced golfer. How do you know what to look for in golf clubs?
For the novice golfer, the basic set of golf clubs consists of drivers, wedges, putters and irons. Using the proper type of golf club will help the beginner learn quickly and achieve results. Each different type of club is designed to help with swing speed and to correct faults to improve your game – and your score.
You must take into consideration the style, size, and type of material used to make the golf club shaft. One of the less expensive materials is steel. Golf clubs with a steel shaft weigh more but can be longer-lasting than other types. The steel shaft may also give you more control over those fast swings. If you choose a graphite shaft, it will be lighter than steel but will be more costly. This type of club is used for long distance shots or for slower swingers. Most golf clubs are available with both steel and graphite shafts.
Keep in mind that graphite shafts will not only be lighter and easier to handle, they will also be more forgiving if you have a bad shot. They absorb vibration and allow for a much better feeling shot. Plus, you will pick up some distance because the speed of the swing will be greater due to the lighter materials.
The flexibility of a shaft is referred to as flex, or bend. The less the bend in a shaft, the more control the powerful swinger will have. On the other hand, beginners and those with less powerful swings generally use a shaft with greater flexibility. The average swing speed is from 65 miles per hour for the beginner up to over 100 miles per hour for powerful swingers.
When it comes to selecting a golf club driver, especially as a beginner, you will probably want one with a head made out of titanium. Titanium is stronger, denser, and lighter than steel so the club head can be made larger with the same amount of materials. The advantage to having a large head driver is there is a larger “sweet spot” giving you more area to hit the ball with. With this type of golf club head, the club will be much more forgiving if you miss hit the ball or have a bad shot.
The goal when buying golf clubs should be to own the best golf clubs you can afford, whether they are name brands, used, or a reproduction of one of the name brands.
Written by GolfSwing on April 5th, 2009 with no comments.
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