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To view the next video in this series click: www.monkeysee.com In this video, Presidential golf pro Paige Gilbert demonstrates the steps necessary to improve your chipping technique.

Congratulations on your decision to take up the great game of golf. Let me save you endless frustration and expense and encourage you to quit now..while you still have your sanity. Just kidding..just kidding. Since you’re new to golf, there are some basic tips I can provide to you to help make your introduction to the game much more enjoyable, and hopefully keep you coming back to the course for many years to come. Believe it or not, these suggestions are not really swing related. While the swing is one or the most important aspects of golf, for the beginning golfer, there are equally important aspects which help steer you in the right direction for your game.

Get a lesson…or five! – You’ve probably been to the driving range with your friends who are golfers, and that’s how you decided you wanted to get into the sport..correct? That’s a great introduction to the game, however if you want to start learning the basic mechanics of the golf swing, you’ll want to take a lesson from a certified PGA teaching professional. Most decent golf courses and driving ranges will have a PGA teaching professional and they usually have good package deals for beginner golfers, and will often have group lessons for discounted rates. I suggest setting up an individual lesson, where the professional will go over the basics such as grip, stance, posture, and swing mechanics. Don’t fall into the temptation to allow your friends to teach you. While their intentions are good, they will do your golf swing more harm than good. Golf professionals know how to teach a golf swing, that’s why their professionals. Get some lessons and learn properly. I can’t stress this enough.

Stick With the Driving Range – Even after you have a few professional lessons, continue to hone your skills on the range for a while. There’s nothing worse than heading out to the course as a beginner and realizing that you don’t have the necessary skills to get around the course in a reasonable manner. If you stick with the range, and continue to practice what you learned in your lessons, your first trip to a course will be much more enjoyable. When you do decide to venture out on the links, and executive or par 3 course will be your best bet to get comfortable with playing an actual round.

Don’t Buy Clubs Just Yet – I knew you’re probably excited and want to get all the cool golf gear, but let’s wait on that for just a bit. After you get a couple of lessons, and see if you still want to play this cruel game, then you can think about getting your own set of clubs. Online is a great place to get deals on golf equipment, but I don’t necessarily recommend that. Even though you’re a beginner, you should be properly fitted for your first set of clubs. The same place that you took your lessons should also be able to fit you for irons and woods. They will check your swing tendencies and variables and suggest club length, lies and shaft flexes for your particular swing. Being properly fitted will allow you to maximize your swing and equipment’s abilities. Generally the cost for this fitting will be included in the price of the clubs you order. How much you want to spend on your set of clubs is up to your personal budget, but you should be able to get a great starter set in the $300 range for the irons, and a good quality driver for under $100.

Practice, Practice, & Practice – That pretty much says it all. However practice with a purpose! So many new golfers ( and experienced golfers) just bang balls at the range with no goal in mind…this is worthless. You should be working on some aspect of your game whenever you’re out practicing. Pick targets and try to hit them. Work on your balance or tempo or if you’re new, just work on striking the ball consistently. And until you groove your swing..keep the driver in the bag. The worst thing you can do is to hit 100 balls with your driver and neglect your pitching wedge. Spend twice as much time on your short game (putting included) as the rest of your game.

Etiquette & Rules – Take some time to learn the rules of golf…and the etiquette, as this is just as important as being able to hit the ball 300 yards. The game of golf is about honesty, honor and respect, not just hitting a ball around a grassy park. You can get a copy of the official rules at the USGA website. Keep it in your bag and study it so you know the rules for any particular situation you may find yourself in on the course. As for etiquette, these are just common sense issues more than anything. Don’t walk in other peoples putting lines because it can disturb the grass and make putts go offline. Don’t talk when others are hitting. Don’t stand directly behind or in front of a player who’s swinging a club. Always dress appropriately and according to golf course rules. These are just some of the basics but as you play more you’ll learn the in’s & out’s of golf etiquette..and don’t be afraid to ask a seasoned golfer about a rule or an etiquette issue. They’re usually happy to help a beginner learn. I’m not a professional golfer by any means. I’m currently a 5 handicap, and it’s taken a LOT of work to get there. These tips are some of the things I wished I had known back when I started playing the game at the age of 10.

And while these are just some very basic tips for the beginning golfer, they’re aspects which are often overlooked. Golf should be an enjoyable pastime, and learning the proper way will play a large part in how much enjoyment you get from the game. You don’t have to have the game of Tiger to have a great time playing the game. Get out there and have a great time…golf’s a game you can play for the rest of your life.

By: Christian Rogers

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The single biggest golf swing tip instructions that golfer’s want the most is in dealing with slicing the golf ball. It’s a problem that 80% – 90% of all golfers face.

Does this sound familiar? You aim way left and hit your tee shot, only to watch it fly way right? How do you go about stopping that dreaded slice? This is exactly what you’re about to learn today. And in doing so you’ll begin to enjoy the game of golf like it is meant to be.

Slicing is caused mainly from these three areas: the swing plane, clubhead path, and the golf grip. It’s not caused by where you are aiming, or even how you’re standing. Once you make the adjustments in these three areas, you’ll put an end to the problem.

First, let’s look at the swing plane. Most golf swing instructions don’t touch on the swing plane, but that is the number reason for slicing the ball.

The swing plane for every golf club will be different. What I mean by that is if you take your driver and your 9-iron out and hold them at the address position, you’ll quickly see that the 9-ron is closer to your body. This means that the swing plane is going to be different for the 9-iron than the driver. The 9-iron will be more upright and feel straighter up and down, while the driver feels flatter.

The cause of most slicing problems is due to golfers swinging the driver on a steeper swing plane like the 9-iron. When you swing the club too steeply, the result is an outside in swing pattern and a slice. The key is to flatten out the swing plane which will create a straighter shot. This will take some practice, but continue to make adjustments and you’ll find the correct swing plane.

If this doesn’t eliminate the problem, then work on the clubhead path. The clubhead path needs to be square as it goes through the impact zone. This may require you to adjust the position of the club in your hands to be a little more to the left. Again, make the adjustments a little at a time while on the range.

Finally, the golf grip may be the reason for slicing. A weak grip inevitably causes the ball to go right. Try strengthening your grip by rolling your hands a little to the right, which causes the “V” to point more to the right of your face. A weak grip is the second most common reason for slices.

Of course, these golf swing tip instructions are not as detailed as they can be. You can find more detailed tips and instructions at the end of this article. With these simple tips and a little practice on the range you should begin noticing improvement immediately.

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By: Terry Edwards

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Fixing a Golf Slice – 9 Simple Steps

Are You Struggling to Get Rid of a Golf Slice?

It seems that every golfer at some point in time wants to know how to get rid of slice golf. At some point, every golfer has had a fear of slicing.

I know the dreaded fear of the golf slice – I had it bad. I also know how embarrassing it is to hit that weak, airy-fairy shot off to the right, the one that so often goes in the woods or out of bounds.

The other problem with slicing is that it will cause you to lose 10-17 yards from your drives. The reason for this is that slicing will produce a higher shot with more backspin and sidespin than a draw or straight shot. When you learn to overcome slicing and hit the ball straighter, you will naturally gain more distance.

It is possible to overcome a golf slice. If you apply everything I’ll teach you in this free online golf lesson, you can learn to fix your golf slice.

What causes a slice in golf? It is simply that the ball is struck with a sideways force that makes the ball spin sideways. Now, one other reason you may be hitting weak shots to the right is that you are hitting the ball off the toe of the club. This in fact will open the clubface at impact. Golf Dust is a great golf impact indicator that can show you if this is what you are in fact doing wrong.

Here’s what you must understand – there are only two ways that you can slice a golf ball:

1. An outside-in swing path or 2. Holding the club face open at impact

There is one other thing that may cause a shot that drifts off to the right and that is simply hitting the ball off the toe of the golf club. The best way to find out if you’re not hitting the sweet spot is to use a golf impact indicator like Golf Dust or some form of golf tape.

In this article, we’ll look at how to cure both of the problems that cause a slice.

However, what I’d like to have you consider first is what’s going on in your mind. That’s where I was actually having the greatest challenges… and where my greatest breakthroughs have come.

Here’s how I corrected my thinking and learned to fix my golf slice:

1. The biggest problem I had with slicing the golf ball was that I was actually overcompensating. My fear was slicing my shot to the right, so I would compensate by trying to pull the club inside to the left. This created an outside-in swing path, exactly what was causing me to slice.

2. Whatever you focus on expands. If you focus on that what you fear, it will expand and your mind will dwell on a slice. Get over it. Yes, that’s right, just quit thinking about slicing as of right now. Stop fearing it.

3. One of the best lessons I ever learned about this was is Timothy Gallway’s book, “The Inner Game of Golf.” He talks about challenging your inner critic. Tell yourself, “Alright body, show me how to hit a slice. Show me what that would look like.”

Wow, all of a sudden, just by facing your fear, it takes away the tension!

Then say to your body, “Alright body, now show me how to hit one straight. Then show me a hook.” This process allows your body to relax and actually feel what the different swing paths feel like.

Give your body permission to try a few different swing paths. It will be very freeing and suddenly you will gain a new perception and awareness of your actual swing path.

Accuracy Golf Training – How to Align for Straight Golf Shots:

Start focusing on what it takes to hit straight shots. This method of alignment is what I still use and it is extremely effective. If you watch golf on TV, you’ll soon discover this is exactly how most touring pros align their shots.

1. Take your grip while standing behind the ball.

2. Next, stand behind the ball and look at the target (usually a flag).

3. Then visualize a line that runs from your target to your ball.

4. Take Dead Aim. Find something that catches your eye that is on that target line, about 1-2 feet directly in front of your ball. This is where you will aim. Make it a precise spot, like the left edge of a divot or an unusual blade of grass.

5. Come to the side of the ball and 1st align your club to the target spot 1-2 feet in front of you.

6. Now ALIGN YOUR FEET TO RUN PARALELL TO THE TARGET LINE. It is critical that you understand this point. Your feet should NOT point at the target, otherwise you will be having a closed stance and it will not be natural for your club to swing through the ball squarely. If your feet are aligned to the target, you will actually have a closed stance and will be forced to overcompensate. The best way to check the line is to take your normal stance, then have someone drop a club at your heels. Then you can go behind the ball and check to see if the club on the ground is lined up parallel to the target (it should be lined up about 15 feet left of the target – the opposite if you are a lefty).

7. Great – now you’re perfectly aligned for success. Now waggle the club to release any tension from your hands. I suggest that you develop a consistent number of waggles before you swing because this will help you get in a steady habit. It will also keep you focused on your set-up routine, rather than taking too long over the ball and letting your mind get crowded with negative swing thoughts. You might find something like “1-2-3 go” is helpful. Just create your own pattern and make it a habit.

8. Rotate your head towards the target (do not lift your head up as you will get yourself out of position). Visualize the exact spot where you want the ball to land and roll, then imagine the flight the ball will take. I do this visualization as a part of my waggle.

9. My only swing thought is simple – Feel the club swinging straight down the line. I visualize an imaginary line that runs down the path I want my club to take, then I watch my divot come out of the ground along that path.

These 9 simple steps should prove most helpful in curing your golf slice and allow you to have greater accuracy in your golf game.

If you are still having difficulty getting rid of your golf slice, you should take a look at your grip.

It is possible that you have what is known as a “weak grip.” This simply means that your grip is such that your hands tend to roll the club to an open position and the ball curves right at impact.

A simple rule of thumb for a proper golf grip is that you want to be able to see at least two knuckles on your glove hand (your left hand for right-handed golfers). The right hand should tuck in to the left hand and the hands should work together.

You should also have a PGA teaching professional take a look at your set-up.

The Assist Pro Swing Trainer will help you with the grip because it automatically puts your hands in the proper swing position.

One last thing to check to overcome a golf slice: Part of the problem may be in the way you are NOT transferring your weight in the golf swing. If you find that on your follow-through that the majority of your weight is on the right foot (for righty’s), you are not transferring your weight properly. This will cause an outside to inside swing plane and will result in a slice.

There are three golf training aids that can help you overcome the problem of slicing the golf ball:

1. The Foot Wedge – No, this is not where you kick the ball into the fairway with your foot. The Foot Wedge is a golf training aid that will help you keep your weight on the inside of the right foot. When you play for real, this should help you get the feel of having your weight on the inside of your right foot. You can buy a foot wedge or even use a couple of headcovers under the inside of your foot.

2. The Inside Approach – this is a great tool to automatically help you improve your swing plane and get the correct inside to outside swing path.

3. The Assist Pro Golf Swing Trainer – this weighted Golf Training Aid helps to get your hands in the proper position and well as develop the proper swing motion.

A Special Golf Tip for Ladies: Many women are especially plagued with slicing the golf ball. It seems the reason for this is often because many women are overly concerned with a swing that “looks good.” In conversations I’ve had with women about this subject, I hear them saying, “I just want to look good when I swing” or “I just don’t want to be embarrassed.” That’s understandable. Learning to hit the ball squarely off the tee feels great – and it makes you look like a classy, accomplished golfer.

Whatever you focus on expands. It may be that you are actually just trying too hard. As a result, you develop a tremendous amount of tension in your body and your hands are not able to relax and properly swing through the impact zone.

Here’s the key to hitting great shots: Smile and have fun! Pretend like you’re a little kid and you don’t care about the results. Say to yourself, “I’m going to enjoy this swing, regardless of the outcome.”

Make sure to take your grip like you were hanging on to a baby’s hand. When you swing, focus on relaxed hands.

When you practice, take a few swings on the practice range and see if you can detect any tension in your body when you swing. Just notice it, don’t try to correct it. Make it your goal to just release any tension and allow yourself to swing to be free, fluid and fast.

The Best Golf Training Aids that Help Fix a Golf Slice:

Inside Approach

This practice tool helps you to get the proper “Inside-Approach” golf swing path. Most people who slice have a swing path that is too steep and comes from the outside of center to the inside. To compensate for pulling their shot, they leave their clubface open through impact, producing that nasty slice.

The Inside Approach Virtually eliminates that improper swing path. It causes a person to actually take the club away in a better position, making it much easier to come back through the ball in the proper position.

Assist Pro

The Assist Pro Golf Swing Trainer is a weighted club that has the weight in such a position that it teaches you the proper motion of the hands to roll over through the impact zone. This practice club also has a grip that automatically puts your hands in the proper and strong position. Great for developing feel, especially for a beginning golfer.

By: Colin Goehring

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More golfers than ever are learning that target putting not only helps them putt better, but it is infinitely easier than any other putting method available. That makes the results immediate and universal. And the improvement will last the rest of your golfing life.

Target putting is not like anything else you may have tried before. In fact, it throws the teachings of such “superstars” as Stan Utley and Dave Pelz out the window in favor of common sense and proven logic.

It does this by showing the golfer, regardless of their skill, how to use the natural targeting instincts that all humans have. These instincts have been evolving for thousands of years. It amazes me that their use has not been brought into the world of putting before now.

Think of any target game you have ever played before. It can be pool or darts, throwing a baseball or football, shooting a basketball. There are no games that are exempt from the basic fundamental required in all of them.

The requirement is target awareness instead of technical thought. Have you ever tried to throw a baseball accurately while you are focused on your various arm positions? It can’t be done.

Well, that is exactly what the best putting instructors recommend you do when you are putting. It doesn’t make sense to worry about your putting stroke, except in practice when you are working on something specific.

Should you bring the putter straight back and through, or should you open it up on the way back so you have to close it precisely the same way on the way through?

In the end, the only thing you accomplish with either is to block your natural targeting instincts and get in the way of your own putting success. Target putting works because it eliminates the barriers that keep those instincts from working for you.

By: Darell Mckissick

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Putting a golf ball can be difficult at the best of times. For many people, when they have problems putting, they try everything under the sun including a various string of new putters. But the main thing they forget to do is to go back to the main, basic fundamentals. Most times they simply need to correct the problem they may not realize they have. Follow along as we give you a few brief golf tips that will help you to putt more consistently.

Putting tips have to be very simple in order to be effective. Over thinking disrupts concentration on the putt and only makes things worse. That’s why it is so important to return to the fundamentals when you can’t seem to putt as well as you did previously. Quite often, when people start to putt badly they develop the yips, the term that applies to the herky-jerky putting motion that creeps in. The main cause of the yips is misalignment. You can correct this by consciously making sure your eyes are directly over top of the ball along the line of the putt. When people end up with misalignment problems it’s usually because their eyes are not dead center over the line of the putt to the hole. Your eyes can be directly over the ball or a little behind it but they should always be dead center in the middle of the golf ball along the line of the putt to the hole.

Here are a couple of putting tips to help you make sure you are lined up over the ball properly. Almost every putter in existence has a straight line painted or etched on the top of the putting blade. Always make sure that line is pointed directly through the ball to the hole. You should be able to tell fairly easily if the line is angled a degree or two off the line through the ball to the hole. But here is an added, unique little tip that will help to make your aim a little better. Mark your ball, pick it up and look for the lettering. Now, when you set the ball back down, align the string of letters so they are aimed directly at the hole. Now when you set back up behind the ball, the line on the top of the putter should aim through the letters in a direct line to the hole. Now instead of guessing, you have some visible markings to help you determine if you are set up properly over the top of the ball with your putter square to the hole. This is a method used by many of the top professionals on the tour today.

Putting strokes can come and go even for the best of professionals. Sometimes our eyes can play tricks at us when we think we are set up properly over the ball. Whenever you have problems on the putting greens, it always good to resort to do the basic fundamentals. Get back to the basics and you will soon be dropping them into the cup again in no time.

By: Lee MacRae

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Use a draw shot to work your golf ball from right to left (for a right handed player). Learn how to hit a draw shot and get tips on improving your swing and your golf game in this free golfing lesson on video. Expert: Bryan Pemberton Bio: Bryan Pemberton is a PGA Class A Golf Professional. He played in the PGA Nissan LA Open Qualifier Nike Tour for 4 years. In 1991 he was the NCAA All American at USC. Filmmaker: Robert Yoshino