Golf Swing

Helen Hecker asked:


Even the guys who play golf for a living and get the best golf instruction in the world still struggle to improve their golf; and they practice each and every day! Many golfers play golf just to hack around and have some fun; more avid players are always looking for ways to improve their golf swing and their overall game. Most golfers don’t know that eighty percent of the world’s golfers have a handicap of 18 or more.

A common mental error golfers make when driving the ball is to hit it as hard as possible. Visualize where you would like the ball to land, as you swing. Overall, you generally want to play golf with confidence.

Trust your golf club to do the job it was intended to do. Standing over the ball for too long a time and wondering whether you’re going to swing the club correctly can easily result in a skewed shot, or completely missing the ball. Make sure to use the proper technique.

Putts and short chips are ideally played without much movement of the body, but most other golf shots are played using variants of the full golf swing. When you swing if you have problems with your left knee buckling, imagine you’re holding a soccer ball between your knees.

The backswing is a rotation to the right, consisting of a shifting of the player’s body weight to the right side, a turning of the pelvis and shoulders, lifting of the arms and flexing of the elbows and wrists.

Swing slowly and steadily using a nice rhythm. Pick out a spot on the course, preferably the green of the fairway, and concentrate on hitting the ball to that spot. Use the muscles in your legs and trunk when you swing.

At the end of a swing, the weight has shifted almost entirely to the left foot, the body is fully turned to the left and the hands are above the left shoulder with the club hanging down over the players’ back.

It’s difficult for a golfer to practice hitting shots longer than short pitch shots unless one pays to play golf or pays to practice at a driving range or indoor golf training facility.

Conditioning your golf muscles will reward you with straighter swings. Hold a medicine ball and turn back and forth; it must be rotational to improve your driving distance. Turn to golf exercise and techniques if you want strength and power.

Most of all don’t waste your money on a golf swing aid you don’t need or will never use. Golf aids are often for sale at your pro shop or local golf shop. Be careful about the claims on TV commercials and magazine ads; seek expert advice before you buy because they may not live up to their claims.

There are a wide range of golf swing aids on the market today to help the beginning and advanced golfer. Whether you’re a seasoned golfer or just starting out, pick just one golf swing aid and go to work on your swing. Keep in mind that with some golf swing aids, you may still need advice or help from an expert.

Golf swing aids come in all shapes and sizes including apparel type accessories to correct alignment or a golf club add-on accessory to monitor your swing. If you’re looking for an aid to improve your stance they’re not hard to find. Before buying any golf swing aid, check with an expert to get an idea of what problem you need to work on first; backlift of golf swing, momentum of downward thrust or stance for example.

Golf magazines often review the newest golf swing aids and are reviewed by golfers, making it easy to choose the right one for you. You can find golf swing aids that will help you with your wrist and arm position.

Take as many private lessons as you can afford with a good golf pro. Try to concentrate on one golf swing weakness at a time. Golfers can never get enough golf tips.



Maurice

Robert asked:


Where do you Start?

Let’s start with equipment. I’m not going to get into your set make up or equipment brand, we can talk about that later, what I’m interested in at the moment, are your grips.

I don’t care how good your equipment is, or how much it cost…if your grips are not in good shape, I, (or any Pro for that matter) cannot properly teach you how to swing a golf club.

Almost everyone I come in contact with on the range or at the club takes pretty good care of his or her golf clubs, with the exception of the grips.

The only contact you have with the golf ball is directly through the grips of your golf clubs, you have to take care of them.

A Professional golfer has their grips cleaned after practice sessions, before a round, during a round, and has them changed regularly.

Have you cleaned your grips yet? Your grips should feel slightly tacky in your hands so you don’t have to squeeze your golf club, which robs you of the ability to swing the golf club with any speed or consistency.

Most grips today are still made out of rubber or a rubber compound that can be kept in “like new” condition simply with hot soapy water.

When you play golf or practice, the dust, dirt, and oil from your hands gets ground into the pores of the rubber, clogging them up and making your grips slick and hard. Washing your grips will clean out the pores making your grips feel tacky again and ready for your next round.

If your grips have been neglected for a while, try a window cleaner solution on them, this will cut through the oils and dirt and should bring even a neglected grip back to life. If they have been badly neglected and you can’t get them back to a “tacky” state, have them replaced at your local Pro-Shop.

The good news is they’re very inexpensive, starting at around $2.00, and while you’re there you can have them sized to fit your hand perfectly.

This will help immensely when you learn to swing the golf club using the C.O.G. effortless power method. OK, now that you’ve got your grips cleaned and looked after, keep them that way, like I said earlier, every Professional golfer has new grips or has their grips cleaned before every round.

If you have a high tech grip material and you’re not sure what to clean them with, simply contact the manufacturer and ask, they will last longer and perform much better. Notice at the top and the bottom of your grip. There is a small hash mark that indicates the center mark of your shaft, these are very important marks, take notice of them now, and we’ll talk more about them later. Now that we have that looked after, we can talk about the BOSS of the golf club.

The BOSS:

Your target side hand, (the one with the glove) is the Boss of the golf club, that’s why we wear the glove on that hand. On the target hand, (the left hand for right handed golfers) the top three fingers assume control of the golf club. This is the Pinky, the Ring, and the Middle finger, (2) leaving the index finger and thumb to rest lightly on the grip. When these three fingers are in control of the golf club, you will be able to swing the club at a high speed with very little effort and fire your “Piston” *(release the club head), however, if your trail hand (right hand for right hand golfers) gets involved, it will slow down the swinging process and turn the action into a “hit”. Work on keeping the target hand the BOSS of the club, this will help prevent two other common problems,

1)The hole in the glove…

2)The “fat” shot…

Hole in your glove?

1)If you are the golfer that always has a hole in the heel of your golf glove, not only am I going to save you $50 to $100 dollars in golf gloves this year alone, but also should save you a quite a few strokes as well. The hole in your golf glove comes from the BOSS fingers giving up control of the golf club. When you take your back swing, if at the top of your swing, the BOSS fingers have let go, creating a gap between your fingers and the heel of your hand; the hole in the glove is soon to follow.

* (Piston) refers to the action of releasing the club head.

Why does this happen?

head of a swinging golf club weighs about a pound for every mile per hour it moves through centrifugal force. A typical golf professional moves the club head from the address position to the top of the backswing in approximately 1 second. At the point of transition to the down swing, the club head weighs about 14 pounds. That’s the equivalent of a 14-pound weight being held by the top 3 fingers of the target (gloved) hand. Most people can hold this weight OK but if the club travels to the top of the swing faster than that, the transition weight of the club head becomes heavier and the separation of the top 3 fingers (or the GAP) occurs. When the (GAP) happens, you transfer control of the club head to the Trail hand (right hand) and the butt end of the grip rubs or tears the leather of the glove on the transition to the downswing. This all happens very quickly and is hard to catch if you don’t know what to look for or what is actually happening. The dreaded hole in the glove is NOT a normal occurrence in golf; it is the product of a change of control of the golf club from your target hand, to your trail hand during the course of transition from the top of your back swing to the beginning of your down swing. This action can and even MUST be controlled if you are to learn to swing a golf club like you see your favorite Professional swing it every day. We’ll discuss how to control this little later on in the book when we set up the easy 3-piece golf swing and discover that 1-move can solve 4 problems we have in the backswing alone and set us up for consistency and power in our swing towards the target.

2.) The other benefit of learning to control your golf club with the top 3 fingers of the BOSS hand at the transition point to the downswing is controlling the “FAT” shot. The fat shot is the one where you stick the club head into the ground before it touches the golf ball, sending it trickling mere feet from where you’re standing. The fat shot is a totally wasted stroke as little or no ground is covered and we have to hit the same shot over again. At the transition point of your golf swing when the club changes direction back to the ball, if your BOSS hand loses control of the golf club, the weight of the club head rests on the trigger finger (index finger) of your Trail hand (right hand) and that hand becomes the BOSS of the golf club at that moment. Once the trail hand becomes the BOSS of the golf club, the down swing motion becomes too steep and your trail hand throws the club head into the ground behind the ball. If this is the case, you may have noticed your ball position creeping back in your stance and your shots traveling too low and too far for the club you’re using at the moment. This is a side effect of a weak BOSS hand; you have to change the geometry of your golf swing in order to make contact with the ball. When this condition develops, all kinds of mistakes can happen as you try to judge where the bottom of your swing is going to happen. Always remember, when your target side hand (the one with the glove) is the BOSS of the golf club, the bottom of your golf swing will always be on your Center of Gravity (shirt-button) so you can predict proper ball position, trajectory, and distance control of each club in your bag, and eliminate the dreaded FAT shot.



Javier

Boris Tomson asked:


Where To Find Free Golf Swing Videos

Amazingly, you can still find free stuff on the internet like free golf swing videos. At the beginning of the internet everything was free, until marketers realized the potential to sell anything and everything. That is why it is becoming more and more difficult to find good quality free information.

As a golf writer that tries to bring you golf tips for beginners and free golf tips, I decided to come up with a website that gives you a good variety of free golf videos. Now, I am not tying to compete with YouTube, in fact these videos come into my site from them; just that I employ a script that filters the results a bit better so that you get more relevant videos. So, let’s take a look at the golf swing category to see what you will find.Visit to : http://golfclub-review.blogspot.com

A quick scan down the page will reveal some great free golf videos about the golf swing. For example; how to swing a golf club like Tiger Woods, the Ben Hogan golf swing, the biomechanics of the golf swing, golf swing instruction from Bobby Eldridge, plus various videos that analyze the dynamics of Woods swing, some in slow motion and others that are a critique of his swing.

A video of Tiger’s swing called “Tiger Woods Golf Swing Critiqued” is interpreted by the Live @ Guys from the 2008 Buick Invitational. In this slow motion video, Tiger is on a par-3 using a short iron which gives another perspective of his swing. It is a good example of short iron play which many golfers could learn from - unlike the videos of Tiger using a driver, which I don’t think many golfers should even attempt to copy!http://golfclub-review.blogspot.com

Now, if you want to learn something from Tiger’s swing then check out Tiger Woods & Bob Toski’s analysis of Tiger’s golf swing called “Tiger Woods & Bob Toski - analysis of Tiger’s golf swing.” This video is over 7 minutes and shows several different swings with the driver. The analysis all the way through, especially on the slow motion clip is very revealing - you could learn a lot from this one.

The free golf swing videos on the homepage just scratch the surface; you can use the search box to find thousands of online golf videos. Maybe you like the old timers like Ben Hogan; well, you will find some absolutely classic videos of Hogan. From old black & white films to newer color videos, you will be able to see the Hogan golf swing in all the details that you can imagine.

The golf swing instructional videos that you can search for are very useful for golfers searching to find a fix for their golf swing faults. You can find all sorts of golf swing instruction; from how to fix a slice to the correct ball position for the driver. You will also be able to find instruction from the top golf instructors in the industry like Bobby Eldridge and Butch Harmon.

I am sure you will love looking through these free online golf videos; especially if you can save money on taking golf lessons at your local club. Whatever type of golf instruction you are seeking, you are sure to find it with these online golf videos. Even if it is just to pass the time, you can search for interesting videos of past tournaments like The Masters of funny golf videos. To start watching these videos today, just click the link below and have fun with your golf learning. http://golfclub-review.blogspot.com



Valerie

John Lynch asked:


By John Lynch

You’ve been hearing it since you first learned how to swing a golf club - “you gotta keep your left arm straight during the golf swing”.

The trouble is; how do you learn to keep your left arm straight?

A lotta golfers who think they keep their left arm straight during the golf swing are shocked when they see themselves swing on video…their left elbow usually breaks down somewhere during the backswing…or the downswing.

Some golfers are so intent on keeping their left arm straight during the golf swing they become rigid with little shoulder turn.

So, how do you learn to keep the left arm straight during the golf swing?

First, a little lesson on the physics of the golf swing…

Experts on the physics of golf refer to the “Magic Triangle” or “Eternal Triangle” that is formed in an ideal golf swing. This is the triangle formed by the golfer’s left arm, the golf club, and an imaginary line from the golfer’s left shoulder to the center of the club face. For best results, this triangle should be maintained from the start of the backswing to just before the impact area when you release the club head. This will produce a high speed impact with the ball as described in detail by Joe Dante in his top selling golf instructional book - “Four Magic Moves To Winning Golf”.



By focusing on maintaining the magic triangle throughout the golf swing you are taken advantage of a powerful physical force…the conservation of angular momentum…the principal that states angular momentum of an object remains constant as long as no external force or moment acts on that object.

If the object (club head) is brought closer to the axis (formed by the golfer’s stable spine), it speeds up. If the club head is moved further out, it slows down. In a golf swing, as the player rotates the club, the hands move farther from the body or axis and slow down. This reduction in momentum feeds into the much lighter club and increases the speed of the club head in the last part of the stroke, in a whiplash type of effect, increasing the force of impact on the ball.

The truth is, if your left arm does not stay straight during the golf swing, you are losing out on the benefits of centrifugal force because your swing arc is smaller. Think of your left arm as a spoke in a wheel and your swing arc as the circumference of the wheel. By not keeping your left arm straight you are essentially shortening the spoke thereby reducing the circumference. You are also upsetting the positive effects of conservation of angular momentum and thus reducing the speed between club face and ball.

Now that you understand the physics behind the benefits of keeping your left arm straight during the golf swing…

How do you learn to do so?

Assuming your golf swing fundamentals such as grip, stance, and alignment are relatively sound, all you have to do is simply become aware of this magic triangle. Don’t try to force this triangle…just become aware of it next time you go to the range…

Then, just before impact, release all that stored energy you will have in the club head, like cracking a whip!

After a while you will be shocked at how solidly you can strike the ball…

You’ll be surprised how straight your left arm becomes during the golf swing just by shining the light of awareness upon this magic triangle during the golf swing.

You will now have a tiger by the tail so use this new found power wisely!

Hit ‘em Long and Straight!

John Lynch



Kristian