Archive for the 'Instruction' Category
Golf is essentially made up of two major categories. There is the long game and the short game. Both aspects present unique challenges and difficulties that people can spend years trying to perfectly understand and hone. With the long game, you’re going to want to focus on the perfect tee shot. What you’re trying to achieve with this swing is both distance and accuracy. To that end, you want to be able to control where the ball goes, whether that’s straight down the fairway or bent around the woods.
With the short game, it’s all about touch and accuracy. You’ll use a variety of clubs in your short game from the chipper to the putter. You are rarely going for power with these types of shots, so it’s more about learning how to shoot to a specific distance. It’s also important to learn how to read the green itself. Often, these skills take a combination of personal practice and outside assistance. That outside assistance can come in the form of golf instruction DVDs or a personal tutor. Either way, outside instruction can truly speed along the progress of your game.
Most amateur golfers underestimate the power and advantage of a proper golf swing. In truth, a well tailored golf swing can add significant velocity and distance to any ball that is struck. You might add more than a hundred feet to the standard ‘baseball’ swing that amateur golfers often start out using. There are dozens of ways to improve your golf swing that are practical and will show results. You might consider golf swing videos, hiring a trainer, or using a training aid. But nothing compares to practice, so after you find out how to improve your swing, make sure to put it into practice and perfect it.
The professional golfers have all spent years tightening their swings and perfecting them for the maximum distance and control. In time, any golfer can develop their swing to a level that maximizes their potential. Just remember, practice makes it perfect! If you don’t use your swing all that often chances are you’ll be out of practice when it’s needed.
Other than playing bad golf, slow play is probably the leading cause of golfers not enjoying a round of golf. Even if you’re playing good, it’s hard to enjoy your round if you are constantly waiting on the group ahead of you, especially if there is no one directly in front of them.
The biggest problem I see on the golf course that causes slow play is golfers not being ready to play when it’s there turn. If people would just be ready when it’s there turn to play, things would move along much faster.
Another cause of slow play is the social golfer. Their main purpose for being on the golf course is to spend some time with their friends, which means they spend more time talking than they do golfing. It is really frustrating when the group in front of you is on the tee talking and telling jokes when the fairway in front of them is open and they could be hitting their tee shots. This wouldn’t be a problem if it only happened once or twice a round, but normally, these types of golfers will do this on almost every hole. Sometimes these social golfers only get their golf clubs out once a month, or even once a year, so their golf game isn’t very good either.
Another reason for slow play is people who want to play golf when they haven’t yet figured out how to hit the ball yet. They don’t want to spend any time on the driving range, they just want to go play.
The best advice I can give someone to help them from causing slow play is to always be ready to play when it’s your turn and always be conscious of the group behind you. If there is a gap between your group and the group in front of you and the group behind you has been waiting, let them play through. They will appreciate it and you won’t be bothered by having people waiting on you.
How many strokes do you “throw away” because of poor putting, by either missing short putts or 3-putting? When I’m talking about 3-putts, I’m not talking about the times you leave yourself a first putt of 100 feet. It’s pretty hard to not 3-putt from 100 feet. I’m talking about the times you 3-putt from 30 feet or closer. These are the distances you should be able to get your first putt close enough to be able to make the second putt.
The people who seem to never miss short putts or never 3-putt, either have great touch on the greens, or they have come up with a technique that helps them have better touch on the greens.
I am a feel putter and usually don’t have a problem with 3-putts, but, like everyone else, there are times when I struggle with my lag putting. Whenever that happens, I go back to a technique I have used for over 20 years, and before long I’ll be back on track. It’s easy to do and doesn’t take much practice before you see results.
If you struggle with lag putting, try this golf instruction tip. Basically, all you have to do is estimate the length of your putt and then take your putter back one inch for each foot of putt you have and follow through one inch for each foot of putt. For example, if you have a ten foot putt, take the putter back ten inches and then follow through 10 inches. The only adjustments you need to make are for uphill or downhill putts. This is not a putting stroke that is totally absent of feel, but a putting stroke that will assist you in improving your feel to help you get more consistent with your distances.
3-putting is only one aspect of poor putting. The other is missing short putts. Most people I know that miss a lot of short putts, usually take their putter back too far and then decelerate the club head when they come through the ball. It doesn’t matter what club you have in your hand, if you decelerate the club through impact, you will not hit a good shot. When you decelerate the putter, you tend to push or pull the putt. The only way to keep the ball on line is to accelerate the putter through impact. You may think, “How can I accelerate the putter on a 3-foot putt?” If you use the tip I gave in the paragraph above, you had better accelerate or you won’t get the putt to the hole. If you take the putter back 3 inches on a 3-foot putt, you will automatically accelerate through the ball, which will keep the ball on line much better.
I have seen a lot of people who are struggling with their putting think that if they buy a new putter it will cure their putting problems. A new putter is not likely to fix a bad putting stroke.
Try this golf tip and see if it helps.
There are many people who steadfastly believe that golf can only be learned through consistent practice. Others still believe that a perfect golf swing can be taught to a patient student by a qualified golf instructor. But for all those individuals who want to learn how to golf without the help of an outside person, invest in golf instruction videos. These videos will teach you in an easy, step by step way how to achieve that perfect golf swing. If you’re sick of slicing into the woods but don’t want to pay a private instructor, consider going with the instructional videos.
People might be skeptical that a video can teach them how to play a solid game of golf, but there are certainly benefits to be had from this kind of instruction. With a DVD, you can pause the video at any time or re-watch particular sections of the tape. But as with any new skill, instruction alone is not enough. Experience, rather, is the best instructor and the truest test of retention. With that in mind, watch the videos to gather all the pertinent pointers and then grab your clubs and hit the green!