Fix Your Golf Slice Today

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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A tendency by many beginners and by many experienced golfers is a desire to hit up at the ball to make the ball go up. It is amazing; with all that is written about the game of golf and all of the instruction available that the basic concept of hitting a ball on the downswing is not conveyed.

We all watch the pros hitting irons and taking divots. Are they trying to take the divots or not? They are. Realize these are the best golfers in the world. If they can’t do what they want, we don’t have much of a chance. Since they are consistently taking divots, we probably should be too.

Does the divot occur before the ball is hit or after the ball is hit? If the club hits the ground before it hits the ball, club head speed is greatly diminished. As a ball sits on the ground, there is no room to hit up at it. To hit up at the ball, the ground will have to be hit first. We want to hit the ball on the downswing because we have more club head speed on the downswing than on the upswing.

We all marvel at the Pros’ shots that hit the greens with a lot of back spin. A downward motion at contact is needed to put the proper spin on the ball. If the golf swing is traveling up when it gets to the ball, the ball will have less than the desired amount of back spin. Additionally, back spin is needed to keep the ball airborne. If a field goal kicker kicks a ball with top spin, the ball may not clear the linemen’s heads. The same principle holds true for a golf ball. A ball hit with top spin will not stay in the air for very long, it will not go very high and it will also roll for quite some distance. When hitting a ball into a green, we usually want it to go high and not roll very far. To create the proper back spin, the ball has to be hit with a descending blow. The divot should occur after striking the ball.

To work on hitting the ball with a descending blow, lay a tee down about 2″ in front of the ball (target side). Your goal is to hit the ball then the tee. If you take a swing and hit the ball but the tee does not move, you probably did not hit the ball on the way down in the swing.

Golf Tip:

We often hear the term “releasing the club”. It might better be described as hinging, unhinging and re-hinging. We hinge on the backswing and unhinge on the downswing. The confusion comes as to the proper time to re-hinge. If the re-hinging starts at the contact of the ball or before contact, body rotation will be impeded and manipulation of the club will occur. The re-hinging of the club does not take place until the shoulders are squared up to the target. When the release is done properly, it may feel as though you hang onto the swing longer and definitely your balance will improve.

By: Ron Hanson

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One of the golf swing basic you must master is to control you slice. Fully more than 70% of golfers hate to slice the golf ball because it is almost impossible to control the direction of the ball. This article will help you to fix your golf slice.

In fact, if you are a right hand golfer your golf ball will most probably curve to the right. To help you cure your “banana ball”. You must first understand your slice. Following are the 3 types of slice you might encounter.

Type 1: The straight slice

Your club is open when applying a bit of spin to the ball. Normally, you ball path will look straight initially and then curve to right. This is known as the straight slice.

Type 2: The Pull Slice

This kind of slide result from which your club facing outside in (clubhead facing slightly to the left). The result of this slice is first the ball will travel to your left and then curve to your right.

Type 3: The Push Slice

The opposite of pull slice which is club facing inside out (club head facing slightly to your right). The ball will first travel to your right and then curve to the right giving you a nice (as intended?) banana curve.

Now, you can judge your slice by looking at your ball path. You should have a better idea why your ball go in those directions. To fix your slice, follow these few tips.

Tip 1: Fix Your Swing

Chance are you have a bad habit of slicing the ball outside in creating a left spin on the ball. When enough left spin applied your ball will curve to the right naturally. To fix this, you have to hit your ball inside out.

Try to drop your right foot to about 10 inch (for right hander) to the back, this will allow you to swing outside in easier. Adopt this swing to your normal stance, you’ll be amazed.

Tip 2: Throw A Bag?

This is a simple yet effective practice. Get something with decent weight, perhaps an impact bag. Swing and drop the bag to the direction you want your ball to land on. Remember to choose something light enough not to hurt your back but heavy enough to control your swing motion.

This practice helps grooves an anti-cut motion. Keep your left arm connected to your chest as you swing back, and maintain that connection until you release the bag to the right of the target line.

Tip 3: Fix your direction

If your swing is straight, ie, not swinging outside in, chances are your clubface it facing the wrong direction. To fix your direction, get a small magnet with the size of a calculator battery and a tee. Glue the magnet to the tee and place the tee onto your clubface.
Place your DIY magneted tee to your clubface with the tee pointing out. Make a few slow-mo swings, and study your clubface to see whether the tee pointing to the direction you intended?

As clubs get longer and as players swing faster, it is quite impossible for beginners not to slice their shots without clear instructions. However, with proper practice and analysis, any golfer can slash his handicaps by 3 to 7 within a short amount of time.

By: Eason Chan

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