Fix Your Golf Slice Today

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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Every golfer would like to hit a golf ball straighter. Actually every golfer would probably prefer to hit a golf ball further. There is something extremely satisfying about hitting a ball far. However for the purpose of this article I will stick with what you could do to hit a golf ball straighter. There really is no point in hitting it far if it is way off line.

When we talk about hitting a golf ball straighter we mean at the target. The result can be achieved by means of a draw, a fade or a straight shot. All the same to us as long as we agree that straight means towards the intended target.

It is interesting to watch children pick up the game of golf. Initially they are given a club and a ball and told to use one to get the other into a hole. Kids do not complicate things and they generally pick up the game quite quickly. It is only after we have played a while that we start getting all technical and complicating our brain.

As a qualified coach I am often amazed, and secretly humored, by some of the tips I hear well intentioned golfers giving each other. No wonder we get confused because everyone has a different interpretation of the same problem!

To learn to hit a golf ball straighter you need to get a few fundamentals right before you even hit the ball.

The first of these is the grip. Now the grip itself can be complicated because there are three generally accepted grips: the overlapping grip, the interlocking grip and the hammer or ten finger grip. Which one is right for you?

Other elements of the grip are what I call the four P’s. Placement, Positioning, Pressure and Precision. Each of these elements needs to be the same every time you grip a club so they need to be practiced until they become second nature.

After the grip the “set-up” is the most important part of ensuring that you hit the ball straighter. I find the easiest way to remember all this is to have a little phrase or word that triggers my memory.

For example I use GAASP to remind me of my set up.

This stands for:

G – Grip

A – Aim

A – Alignment

S – Stance

P – Posture

If you have the 5 GAASP elements correct you are well on your way to hitting the ball straighter. The beauty is that when each of these elements is correct you can actually forget about them for the rest of the swing as they do not change.

You can therefore concentrate fully on the actual swing itself knowing that you are gripping the club correctly, have aimed and aligned yourself with the target and that your stance and posture are such that the club will meet the ball at the correct position in the swing path.

I would seriously recommend that you spend some time practicing GAASP until it becomes almost second nature and is embedded in your subconscious mind. Without a solid set up you will never hit a golf ball straighter on a regular basis.

My advice to anyone who wants to learn how to set up correctly is to either go for a lesson or get a good tutorial and spend a few weeks practicing it without even hitting a ball. And there is the challenge because there really isn’t much glamour in gripping a club, lining it up to an imaginary target, getting your stance and posture correct and then doing it all over and over again without hitting a ball.

If you want to hit the ball straighter (and eventually farther as well) you need to have the correct basics.

Grab yourself a good video tutorial or a book with pictures that show you exactly what is required and duplicate it till you look the part. Then and only then go out and hit that golf ball straighter – you’ve earned it and you deserve it.

Happy golfing.

By: Lawrence Bredenkamp

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