Improve Your Golf Swing and Quickly Lower Your Scores

It may seem obvious but your golf swing is probably the one area where an improvement can slash strokes from your golf score.

If you can learn to control your swing, you can hit a slice or a hook or a draw pretty much when you want to.  In fact, many golfers have found success hitting a controlled fade.

Golf Digest has done many studies to prove that a straight ball goes much further than a slice or a hook. So shouldn't that tell you that this is an area where you better put a lot of focus?

Golf Instructions Online will give you complete instructions with pictures to show you how to master your golf swing, but my objective on this site is to give you some pointers and tips that will help you play better golf. 

The grip does more to effect actual ball flight than anything else in the game.

The overlapping grip is the golf grip used most often. The little finger on the right hand rests on or overlaps the index finger on the left hand.

In the interlocking grip, the little finger of the right hand and the index finger of the left hand interlock. This grip will probably be your best bet if you have small hands. 

The most important thing is your posture. You must have excellent posture before you hit the ball. Align the club directly in front of you as you stand with your back perfectly straight. Your left arm should also be extended and straight. You should be comfortable in this stance.

As you begin your backswing, you will pull the club back, bending your right elbow slightly maintaining a straight left arm. The clubface will actually come up over your head. When you come down in your downswing this is where the force and the speed of the swing come into play and it is a very important factor of your swing.

When you are in your backswing it is important to remember not to stiffen your leg. If you do stiffen your back leg you will tilt out of balance. This will make it difficult to rebend your knee upon impact of the ball.

It is very important to not rush the backswing. A fast backswing can actually mean a slower downswing, not to mention your shot will most likely go awry.

Once you get your upper body correctly positioned behind the ball, you will find that you are naturally placing more weight on the back foot. Try it next time you have a practice swing.

Stand balanced on your feet with no more pressure on the front of the foot than the back. Position yourself behind the ball and gently swing through without making any effort to concentrate on the distribution of the weight on you feet.

You will find that this will come naturally with no effort at all and that is precisely how you should feel when you are striking the ball.

Many golfers hit seriously bad shots when someone is watching them. You come up to a group and, since there are 2 or you and 4 of them, they tell you to play through.

Oh no! I remember my dad always complaining he hated that. Actually for some reason I seemed to always get my best shot off at that time. I'm thinking I was concentrating on correct technique.

Well, practice your swing and get it down to a tee (pun intended). Once you are confident in that swing, it is not going to matter anymore how many people are watching you. 

Hard Sand:

Hitting a shot from Bunker sand that is on the hard side requires you to slow down your swing speed a bit. This means that you will not take the club back as far as you normally would. The ball will pop out faster because there is no cushion of soft sand between the clubhead and your ball.

Soft Sand:

Bunker shots from soft sand will require more speed from your swing. Because the sand is light and fluffy, there will be a lot of it coming between the ball and your clubhead. Soft sand actually slows down the club as it follows through.

A common problem that beginner golfers have on their downswing is maintaining their balance.

Here is a simple drill that is designed to help you feel the proper weight shift over to the front foot. The beauty of this drill is that there are only two results that can happen; A) You properly shift your weight, or B) You topple over.

1. Set up with your normal stance, but before taking your backswing, slide the back foot behind the right foot, leaving only the toe touching the ground for support. Oh yeah, this will leave you unbalanced when you take your backswing, but that is part of the design.

2. When you reach the top portion of the backswing, swing through the golf ball like you would on any normal shot. With your feet positioned as instructed in step 1 above, your body should automatically make the proper weight transfer to your front side.

Or you will falll on your butt. :-)

As the right arm begins to unfold and the left hip moves one or two inches towards the target before it begins to turn out of the way, the downswing is in full swing mode. In other words the game is on. No holding back, no stopping and no bailing out. There is no turning back.

As the force of the arms swinging down the lower part of the body is moving out of the way. There are some very important moves that have to take place for a solid shot with maximum clubhead speed. 

To achieve more distance to your swing you want to go through these checkpoints.

* You must check if your upper body is coiling properly.

* Your base or your feet should be rock solid and stay intact with your lower body.

* Your left knee (or right if you are left-handed) must turn past the golf ball as you coil your upper body and your arms must be extended to their full length to achieve maximum swing.

Don't overswing!!!

Have you seen Charles Barkley and his golf swing? This is hilarious and you have to see it. I was watching him in a celebrity golf match when I first saw this and he had some nice drives, believe it or not. Of course they were not consistent. I decided not to have him give any golf swing tips at my Golf Swing site. :-)