A selection of golf-tips and drills to help you improve your golf game
One thing we are always looking for is golf-tips that will help us (hopefully) to improve our game. This page is dedicated to providing you with golf-tips and drills to help you lower your handicap.
As I surf the net looking for information which I think will be of value, I often come across golf tips and drills and golf training aids, this page therefore will constantly be being updated as I find new information.
Another Mental Golf Tip
What separates the truly great golfers from the rest of the pack is how they play when they don’t have their best stuff. How does your attitude hold up when you don’t have your "A" game going for you?
It would be great to be able to shoot good scores all the time, but golf is not that kind of a game. Some days everything goes your way and scoring is easy. Other days everything seems to go against you. It is on these off days that you really have to have a strong mental game to keep your sanity and bring in a reasonable score.
On those "B" days, the main thing is to never get discouraged or emotionally upset. Use the bad days and bad breaks to increase your focus and determination so you can keep your mental game together. Every round of golf regardless of the score is a learning opportunity if you take advantage of it.
So make it a point to learn patience instead of getting caught up in your emotions. You can train your mind to master the emotional roller coaster of golf by focusing on the process and hanging in there until the breaks go your way. Otherwise, you will find that a so-called "bad score" can quickly turn into a horrible score.
Tiger Woods knows that golf is a fickle game. He also knows that he can have a bad day or several bad shots and still win a tournament as long as he doesn't allow his emotions to take him out of his game. Even when he loses, he knows without any shadow of doubt that "I'll be back."
If you can accept the good and bad days as a part of golf, it will reflect in your attitude and you will shoot lower scores. So have fun, keep polishing your wheel and enjoy the journey to lower scores.
Tee Box Choices - It all starts there.
You stand on the tee box and it is sunny. The day is great. You are golfing with friends or making new acquaintances. What should you be thinking about?
It should be something to do with the hole you are on.
Spend some time and think about the hole. How long? Straight or dog leg? Water? More Water? Nothing but water!
A good drive will set you up for a good score. If you are in the trees, deep grass, or a hazard, it becomes harder to save your score. Current thinking is 'grip it and rip it'. Giant head drivers encourage that thinking even more.
Follow this sequence to improve your chances of being in the middle of the fairway-often the best spot to be whether you are 100, 200 or 300 yards out.
First think about the hole and the distance you want to be at. A short dog leg left can hurt you if you simply drive as far as you can straight on. Driving too long can be a problem. So think about your length.
Based on your length decision, choose a club which is comfortable for you. A 3-wood or 5-wood is a perfectly fine choice. Tee box does not mean Big Bertha every single time.Once you have distance in mind, then aiming is your next big decision. Do not just aim down the middle every time.
Look where the hazards are. You will find creeks, sand, trees, water, hills, rocks, cactus or other things to affect your choice. In addition, think about where the green is and what hazards are protecting it. If there is sand on the left then you want to approach from the right. So you want your drive to finish on the right.
Then consider the effect of the wind. Will it push you further left or right?
Finally, choose where on the tee box you want to stand. You can tee up your ball anywhere between the two markers. That means you can stand outside the markers if you tee up on the left side of the box (for your right hander). In addition you can move up to 2 club lengths behind the markers.
That gives you lots of choice where to stand and aim from. Pick your spot and tee up. Then pick a spot to aim at. I should remind you to aim at something not aim away from something. Looking at water, trees, houses and other distractions only attracts your ball towards them! Pick a spot on the fairway based on your choices and look at it when you aim.
Then, follow your pre-shot routine (remember-the same every time), take a smooth swing and smile to yourself as you end up where you wanted to. Then smile again as your partner picks a different spot, takes out the big wood and takes a mighty swing sending his (or her) ball 300 yards - into the trees.
Improve your game today
Know How Far you Can Hit Each Club in Your Bag
The first time I every played 5 rounds in 5 days, something very interesting happened. It was an accident. I hadn't read it anywhere. But suddenly when I was 100 yards from the pin, I knew that I could hit a 9 iron that distance every time. Suddenly, after 5 days I wasn't surprised at being over the green or embarrassingly short.
It occurred to me that this information was handy so I starting making some notes. How far could I hit a 3 iron, a 3 wood, a 9 iron, a 7 iron? Then every time I was standing on a par three 150 yards from the pin or on an approach shot 150 yards out, I knew what club to hit--without worrying.
Learn YOUR distance. This chart is typical. Adapt it to your game.
Pitching Wedge 70 yards
9 iron 100 yards
8 iron 120 yards
7 iron 140 yards
6 iron 150 yards
5 iron 160 yards
4 iron 170 yards
3 iron 180 yards
3 wood 203 yards
driver 225 yards
Know your distance, use the same tempo on each swing, let the club do the work and your rounds will be more consistent.
If you hit a 5 wood and a 3 iron the same distance, consider using the 5 wood more often on the fairway.
Soon you will have an easier time on long par 4s.
Tips From The tour
Titleist have just released a new series of videos from the top players on the tour.
You can view them at your leisure here.
We've all heard of the expression never up, never in.
Usually it applies to the putting stroke, but most of us
could do well to keep it in mind when playing chips shots.
More often than not the ball never gets up to the flag
because high handicappers always want to play lofted chip
shots from every conceivable spot around the green.
However, even the smart players who play the sensible chip
and run shots often have a tough time getting the ball
close.
Most leave the ball well short of the hole because they are
not confident enough when striking the ball. To be a good
short game player you have to be aggressive enough to
attack the flag. A tentative chipping stroke will only add
shots to your score.
Here's a good tip to remember if you are consistently
leaving the ball short. Disregard the flag altogether and
imagine another flag two or three feet past the hole and
aim at that spot. That way if you are leaving them short
you will more than likely end up close to the hole.
How To Avoid Hitting Fat Shots
Nothing's more embarrassing than hitting a shot fat.
The cause is usually an excessively V-shaped swing, the result of standing up during the shot to see the ball through impact. A tight lie, a rushed backswing, or the desire to lift or scoop the ball out of a lie also contribute to a fat shot.
Remember these 5 points to avoid hitting a shot fat:
Ball position determines impact point
The club's loft gets the ball airborne
Sweep the ball away with woods
Irons need a descending blow
Complete the back swing
First, ball position--up for a wood, back for an iron--determines the swing's impact point.
With a wood you sweep the ball away with an ascending blow. You want to hit the ball just past the lowest point of the swing arc.
With an iron you strike the ball with a descending blow. You want to hit the ball just before the lowest point of the arc.
Second, loft determines trajectory. There's no need to try to scoop the ball out of a lie or get under it. If you strike the ball properly, the clubhead's loft sends the ball skyward. Just focus on hitting the golf ball at the right impact point and taking a complete backswing.
Now, visualize a U-shaped swing, with a pronounced "flat spot"
through impact. With a wood, place a tee in the ground with no
ball just opposite your left foot. Then try "picking" the tee out of the ground with your club.
With an iron, take your normal stance and ground the club. Then try creating a shallow divot just past where you ground the iron. Concentrate on executing a complete backswing with both drills.
The above two drills improve rhythm and ball striking. They also
ensure that you hit the ball at the right impact point in your swing, curing you of taking an excessively V- shaped swing.
Here is how you should hit the ball with these big high lofted drivers:
Big Tees are needed for big drivers.
The old “rule” was that the top of the driver should be about half-way up the ball when it is teed up. However, with a 460cc driver, the ball should be teed higher.
The top of the driver should only be about 1/3 of the way up the ball.
This means you’ll need longer tees. You will need a tee at least 3” in length, but preferably in the 3 to 4 inc range.
Play the ball forward in your stance (more towards the target).
The idea of playing the ball off of your left heel is no longer valid. Now in order to get more launch height with less spin we want to hit the ball on the upswing. We must move the ball forward in our stance.
For some golfers, it will be enough to play the ball off of your left heel, while for others it may be necessary to move the ball all the way up so that it is positioned off of your left big toe. Experiment with different ball positions and you’ll find where you need to have the ball to catch it on the upswing.
Hit the ball above the center of the face.
The sweet spot of drivers has moved. It used to be in the middle of the drivers face. Now the sweet spot has moved up.
On most big headed drivers the actually sweet spot (where you’ll get the most distance) is about ˝ way between the center of the face and the top of the face.
So you definitely want to contact the ball above the center of the face of your driver. Take a piece of masking tape and put it on your driver running from the top middle and down. Take some practice shots. You should see immediately where the ball is hitting on the face. This is a good way to test how high a tee you need. As long as you take the tape off before too many hits it should come off easily.
Hit the ball on the upswing.
You set up with the driver The driver is now a specialty club – much like a putter. Our set-up, ball position – everything is different from any other club in the bag.
You shouldn’t be hitting the ball at the bottom – or apex – of the golf swing like a fairway wood. The ball should be struck past this point – on the upswing. This will lead to a higher launch angle and lower spin rate – which is how we are going to hit the ball farther than we ever have before.
