Fix Your Golf Slice Today

If you’ve spent some time either playing or watching golf, then you’ll know that around 70 percent of shots are made within 120 yards of the hole. So it makes sense, then, that if you improve what’s called your ‘short’ game, or shots played close to the hole, you stand a good chance of improving your scores with less work. You can do some preparation off course by practicing short putts. It’s incredibly frustrating missing those two foot putts, and it becomes a mental challenge as much as a physical one when you’ve missed a few. One of the simplest ways to improve your short game is to start at the hole and work backwards – so once you can hole a short putt fairly consistently, make the distance a little longer, and so on.

When you’re on the course, you need to choose your club carefully. If you’re playing a high shot, like a lob, you need a club with more loft. So match the number to the height and distance required. When you’re playing short shots, though, it’s important to remember that it’s best to keep the ball out of the air as much as possible.

If you need to keep a shot low, stand with your chest positioned in front of the ball, and shift about 75 percent of your weight to the balls of the feet. If the shot needs to be higher, move the chest further back, perhaps even slightly behind the ball, and only have around 60 percent of your weight forward.

It’s easy to hit a golf ball hard, but in fact it’s proper contact at impact that is most important if you want to achieve a good level of accuracy and distance. So instead of focusing on the power of your swing, concentrate on keeping the clubface square and hitting the ball at the sweet spot. This is crucial when you’re using a wedge, because the loft of the club makes it easy to hook or slice the ball. Remember, too, that at impact, the club’s face should always be in front of the face.

To help you get a feel for how you need to balance your weight, you can practice a drill known as the flamingo. Basically, you balance the toe of your rear foot on your front foot while you hit chips and pitches. The idea is to get used to putting the weight forward onto your front leg. Of course, you may just fall over, which may it hard to hit any shot well! Once you’ve got the hang of the flamingo drill, put your feet in the normal position and hit some more shots. It’s amazing how doing this helps stop you from hanging back and so lifting the ball up into the air.

Because your head is generally behind the ball, there’s a strong tendency to shift your weight behind the ball as well, which isn’t what you want. Your weight should be to the front to avoid hitting fat chip shots. Accuracy is also improved if you can keep the ball on the ground for longer.

Use a 7 or 8 iron, and hold the club close towards the bottom of the grip. Open up your stance a little and align your shoulders with the target line. Let your arms and shoulders do the work, keeping the lower body still, and using a putting stroke, draw the club back around 18 inches. After impact, the down swing should follow through for the same distance.

When you’re chipping, make sure your hands are slightly ahead of the ball, flex the knees and narrow your stance. Lean a little toward the target. Don’t try and swing with a great deal of force, because it’s more important for have a square impact on the sweet spot. To avoid the ball gaining too much height, aim to impact down on the backside of the ball. Ensure your accelerate is smooth, and don’t uncock your wrists too early during the downswing.

After a while, when you’ve improved your short game to a level you’re happy with, the next step is to practice putting.

By: Tim Gorman

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When you decide you want to learn the game of golf, there are lots of basics you need to know about at the start. But where do you begin if you are a complete newbie? Well, there are various resources on the Internet to help you with the basics.

Golfing Tips For Beginners

The beginner golfer can start off by reading some free golf tips online. The Golfing Tips For Beginners site is a growing resource that you can visit to learn about every aspect of the game. You will find articles and links to specific sections for further detailed information. A couple of resources that you will find are links to free golf tips videos and a review blog.

Basic Golfers Tips

The Basic Golfers Tips articles cover the things that you need to know to get started. There are currently 8 articles covering the basics; starting with the scoring system, these articles will take you through choosing the necessary equipment to the different types of shots.

Golfing Resources

There are some carefully chosen resources at the golf tips for beginners’ page. You will find PDF eBooks specially written for the beginner golfer, the senior golfer and the woman golfer. Also, links to the best balls and clubs for beginners.

Golfing Equipment

You will obviously need some golfing equipment to start with. The essential items are clubs, tees, bag, and balls, though you don’t necessarily need to buy these at first; you can rent them out from your local course. On the other hand, if you are serious about playing the game, then buying a good set of clubs, balls and a bag is fundamental.

When you take the decision to buy your equipment you will see that there are hundreds of choices. Many of the big name manufacturers of clubs and balls spend millions each year trying to get you to buy their equipment. Don’t rush out and spend thousands of dollars on clubs that might not suit your game.

Preferably, start off with a good set of clubs that are designed with the beginner in mind. Sometimes, they are called game improving clubs and they are designed to be more forgiving to miss-hits. You can have them tailor made for your physical size and swing speed by customizing the clubs with the correct shaft type and flex.

Hence, for your basic education, check out what the golf tips for beginners website has to offer. There will be more articles added and more reviews at the blog to help you figure out what products are a good investment.

By: Mick Euan Tait

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Want to improve your golf swing?

Read up on these easy and simple tips which can greatly improve your golfing game!

When everything seems to be going wrong on the golf course it sometimes helps to go back to basics.

1. Check Your Grip

A common poor grip is the ‘weak grip’ where too much of the club is in the palm of the lead hand. This grip tends to produce a shot that slices the ball. Your hands are the only contact you have with the club so it is vital that you ensure it’s a good one! A good grip on the club will give your greater control of the club face on impact with the golf ball. The more control you have of the club face the more accurate your shots will be.

2. Check Your Posture

Poor posture can make it difficult to produce a good shot and can sometimes lead to injury. Common examples of poor posture include the legs being straight and rigid or having too much flex, or curved back and hunched shoulders bending over the ball. When you address the ball you should be balanced on both feet, they should be slightly more than shoulder width apart, your back should be straight, knees slightly bent and your chin up.

3. Practice Makes Perfect

To put it bluntly, the more you practice the better golfer you will become. You can’t play golf once in a blue moon and expect to play well. You need to practice! Next time you play, arrive 20 minutes early and hit a few balls in the practice nets or putting on the practice green. Try and go to the driving range once a week and practice your shots. Use a variety of clubs and try to hit different targets at different distances. This regular practice will improve your golf swing and overall game in no time.

By: M Wright

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Today its slowly becoming commonplace to see tour professionals putting with their eyes closed in tournaments. In fact a growing number of players use this golf putting technique in practice. Another common trick is to look at the hole rather than at the ball while putting. The golfer Johnny Miller used the technique at the 1994 Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The technique is widely believed to be helpful to golfers with yips.

Medical research has indicated that golf players with yips have rapid eye movements (REM) during the stroke. It is the eyes which transmit necessary information to the brain. Golfers who use the eyes closed or focused on the hole technique receive information about the club head, putter momentum and stroke path through the hands.

Why do players adopt this golf putting technique and what are the advantages of using the closed eye technique for golfers? These techniques are most commonly used by golfers who struggle with their stroke during their golf putting practice. When a player is low on confidence, he can get relief by focusing on the hole rather than the ball or by closing their eyes completely. This technique leads to mental clarity, almost like getting physically away from the pressure of the situation. Moreover it allows the golfers’ own confidence and feel for the course to take over and dispatch the ball to its destination.

Here is a golf putting tip with closed eyes technique. Place three balls 10 feet from the cup, and three more each at a distance of 20 and 30 feet. At 10 feet putt the first ball as you normally would with your eyes open. As you putt the second ball, start as you normally do with your eyes open. Before you actually putt, close your eyes. Try and focus on the feel of the putter head during the stroke. Mentally guess where the ball will end up once it stops rolling. Repeat the procedure for the third ball from 30 feet and close your eyes just before making the stroke. Repeat the procedure at each three-ball station. When you incorporate this golf putting drill into your practice routine, you will steadily develop a better feel on the greens.

Can individual golfers use these techniques? As far as individual golfers are concerned, experts believe it’s probably not a great idea for an individual golfer to close his or her eyes during play. However the recreational golfer can certainly use the closed eye technique in their golf putting practice routines. This golf putting technique should help golfers develop better feel in their putting stroke.

For More information on putting, check out this collection of putting tips: Golf Putting Technique

By: John Davenport

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If you are constantly hooking or slicing your shots, you will want to know how to hit a golf ball straight. Clearly, every golfer desires a straight shot because it gives you maximum yardage of the tee. In addition, if you can hit a golf ball straight down the fairway, it makes your approach shot to the green that much easier.

Why is it that many golfers find it difficult to hit a golf ball straight? First it is necessary to comprehend what causes the ball to move from left to right (a slice) or from right to left (a hook). If you know how to fix a slice or hook, you can then practice how to hit a draw or a fade which are useful skills to know so that you can shape your shots around hazards or dog-legs.

In order to keep this article short, I will describe what causes the slice and how to cure a slice; for the hook, the description and cure are the opposite of a slice. When the golf ball has a significant tilt of the spin axis to the right or in a clockwise direction, a slice will occur. With a slice, the ball ends up to the right of where you are aiming and the phrase is used when the flight of the ball is acute or inadvertent. The less severe version of the slice is called a “fade.”

When you understand the basics of the golf swing you will know that you have to return to the original place at impact if you want to hit the ball squarely and straight. When the club face is open at the point of impact, a slice will occur and the ball will spin in a clockwise direction. Generally, the swing path is correct but the golf ball is not hit squarely at impact; this is normally caused by a “weak grip.”

The first thing to check is your grip when you find that you can’t hit a ball straight. The one cause that can shape the path of the balls flight is the strength of the grip – it doesn’t matter if you use an interlocking grip, an overlapping grip, or a ten finger grip. To fix a slice, experiment with moving your hands around on the grip, over to the right, into a more strong grip position.

If you want to cure a slice, then try changing some of the following factors: Don’t grip the club too tightly so that your muscles tense up in your wrists and forearms. If you can work on increasing your golf swing speed then not only will you increase your distance, you should be able to reduce the amount of side spin and therefore cut down on the chance of slicing the ball. Check the flex of the shaft that you currently use; if you are a powerful hitter of the ball then use an extra stiff or stiff flex; if you are a medium hitter of the ball then use a regular or firm flex; and if you can’t drive the ball more than 200 yards, then use a ladies or a senior flex.

The setup position is also important if you want to hit a golf ball straight. Keep everything square and parallel to the target. Your feet, hips, and shoulders should all be parallel to the target line. With a driver, place the ball opposite the instep of the left foot and don’t stand too close or too far away from the ball – the sole of the club should be grounded and not tilting forwards or backwards.

Remember all the basics of the golf swing; keep your eyes on the ball, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly flexed, spine straight and chin up. I won’t go into detail about the golf swing here, just take your club back straight and bring it down again on the same plane. Maintain the same swing speed throughout the backswing and the downswing – don’t try to over hit the ball.

There are two more swing faults that can stop you to hit a golf ball straight down the fairway – the push shot and the pull shot. Not like the slice, the push shot is when the ball flies of the club face to the right and the pull shot to the left. The push shot is a direct action of the golf swing that is caused by an in-to-out swing path and the pull shot is caused by an out-to-in swing path. Both the push and the pull are effects of an improper golf swing and not remembering the basics of the golf swing.

By: Mick Euan Tait

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