Thursday, April 24, 2008

Golf Tip Practice For A Better Scorecard

Author: George Gabriel

Every golfer is looking for a way to better their game, and trying to improve their swing through trial and error make it a frustrating game. The majority of new golfers are self-taught, and until they take the game up seriously, it is an uphill battle trying to even learn the basics of the golf swing. So how does the new golfer find a short cut for a better game, without taking the fairways apart in frustration?

In learning a new challenge, you have to take one small step at a time. Start off with the smaller steps, or goals, and slowly working towards the bigger goals. The game of golf has a short, medium and big swing. Once you learn the short swing and game, work your way up to the big swing and game. Golf is all in finding the feel of your golf swing. This golf tip will surely improve anyone's game, once they find the balance and feel of a pendulum golf swing in motion. The following golf practice tip will help you understand the golf swing and what it takes to make it work effectively.

Place yourself around a green or a target with a 7 iron, pitching wedge and approximately 10 to 15 golf balls. If you are on a practice range, try and find an obstacle to go over during the practice. It will boost your confidence on the golf course. Step away from the golf balls and practice short swings with your feet together glancing at your attended target. Do not attempt to hit a golf ball until you feel comfortable with your short swing. If you must, hit one golf ball with your desired club to find and feel the distance for your attended target. Use very little wrist action on the take-away and follow through creating a v shape with the arms. Try to find and feel the pendulum motion of the golf club by grazing the grass, as you swing away glancing at the attended target.

Your goal is to find and feel the pendulum motion of the golf club making contact with the ball with your feet together. You will notice how your upper portion of the body will automatically coil on it's own, and you lower body will move in unison with your upper body. Once you find the pendulum feeling of the golf club and swing, take a bigger swing. Gradually learn to sweep the grass with a quarter, half, three quarter and a full swing. You will notice yourself losing balance as you take fuller swings, and have to gradually move your feet apart until you find a balanced comfort zone.

With enough practice and effort, your golf score will improve dramatically with the knowledge of what it takes to make a ball bounce off the face of a golf club with a pendulum motion of the golf swing, once you find the balance and feel of a short swing and game. Practicing this golf tip frequently will also help in choosing the right club and swing, for distance in your short game.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/golf-tip-practice-for-a-better-scorecard-303750.html

About the Author:
George Gabriel is the owner of the site http://golfanchor.net/ & http://golfanchor.com./ He has written numerous article tips on golfing, which he started playing in his earlier years as a caddie. Discount Tee Times & Golf Courses & Golf Stuff

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Is Your Practice Golf Swing Better Than Your Real Golf Swing?

An excerpt from the book Golf Swing Eureka by Jon Barrett

'Why is my practice swing often better than my real swing?'

When I understood the answer to this question it made a big difference to my golf swing. How many golfers do you see on the tee making a nice free practice swing and then duff or slice the ball with their real swing? It happens doesn't it, it happens a lot. Well, I came to realise that when I understood the journey that the golf club needs to take around your body then I also realised where so many amateur golfers were going wrong with the difference between their practice swing and their real swing.

You see when you understand that the golf swing is about technique not aggression then your body starts to work differently.

When you make your practice swing you remain relaxed and free moving. When you make your real swing you immediately start to tense the big muscles in your body particularly your back and shoulders. Your brain starts telling you body 'look guys if we want to hit this ball a mile then we need to put loads of effort it' - WRONG!

Next time you swing - remember to keep your back and shoulder muscles relaxed so that your real swing is as good and as free as your practice swing.

Remember the proper and most efficient golf swing is all about technique not aggression.

The answer to this question lies in the way we think the golf swing works - we need to convince ourselves that the Pro Golfers swing works - Power without effort - and we too will follow their lead.

A good exercise to demonstrate that loose muscles work better than tense muscles is to try running down your garden with loose muscles then tense your muscles and try again - the difference is dramatic isn't it and the golf swing is no different, we need to keep our muscles relaxed for them to work effectively.

Tensing prior to moving doesn't help - you need to relax to let your muscles work properly at the right point in your swing.

One of the main problems that generates this tensing motion is caused by the way many amateur golfers practice. How many golfers have you seen at the golf range who go straight for their driver and start trying to knock the ball out of the range? Many I would guess. These golfers are simply trying too hard. Golfers should concentrate on accuracy on the range not distance i.e. how close can I hit it to a line from me to the target?

One way of practising that takes out the need to try and knock the skin off the ball is to use plastic balls, you know the ones you can by from the golf shop. Once you start hitting these balls you quickly realise you can't hit these balls 300 yards so don't try to. It results in you concentrating far better on technique. They also have the added benefit that you only need about 30 yards of space to practice in.

Happy Golfing!

Sssh... Only 1% of Golfers Know... Golf Swing Eureka

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

How To Be The Best Golf Player With Good Golf Fitness

Golf, like all other games, requires a well-rounded approach to achieving success at the level you desire. Being a good golf player goes far beyond having an ideal score of below 80. Although skill plays a major part, good golf fitness is the key to winning golf games with ease.

To be a good golf player, you have to get down past the three areas of:

- Golf Fitness,
- Golf Practice,
- Etiquette.

1. Golf Fitness
Keeping your body and mind in excellent shape is a key element to becoming a good, if not great, golf player. Looking after your body and making sure it is in shape not only gets you to perform better on the course, it also ensures you that you can enjoy golf even well into your years.

Achieve the desired golf fitness body by eating right and exercising regularly. Maintain cardiovascular fitness and muscle tone that suits the game of golf. Some indicators of physical fitness are your blood pressure and your BMI (body mass index). Consult with your doctor on what levels are right for your age and body type.

On the other hand, mental fitness is also just as important. Find ways to relieve yourself of stress. Develop a regular meditation time alone or with family/friends. Keep your mind sharp by exercising it with reading or with puzzles like crosswords.

2. Golf Practice
All professional golfers have a regular and consistent practice routine. Many amateur golf players find themselves wanting to play more and practice less when it is the opposite that gets better results as far as scores go. By practicing more, you develop techniques and muscle memory that will carry you well into your game.

An ideal play to practice ratio is 1:2, that is, for every hour of golf you play, you should do 2 hours of practice. This may not be done all in the same day. It is advised to alternate practice and play days so as not to work out too much.

Never stop learning more about the game. Knowing how to play does not mean you cannot learn more and be better. Remember that there is always something new you can learn so either enroll in a class or take up a lesson or two with a more advanced player. This can be done on an annual basis. Constantly wanting to improve your golf skills shows your dedication to becoming a better player than you were the year before.

3. Etiquette
Being a great player on the course and on the practice field is nothing if you are not a good person to play with. Rudeness is never condoned in sports and certainly not in golf. Golf is a gentleman’s game and rules pertaining to respecting others are of utmost importance.

Check out more golf fitness here.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Golf Tips: Use Longer Iron For 'tweener

Question: What's the best way to hit a shot that's in between clubs?

Answer:
When faced with a shot that has a yardage that's in between two of your irons, the easiest solution is to take the longer of the two (your 6-iron instead of your 7-iron), and choke down about an inch.

Making your 6-iron an inch shorter will do two things.

First, it will reduce the arc in your swing a little so the club won't travel quite as far, and second, it will make the shaft a bit stiffer.

A stiffer shaft won't hit the ball quite as far as it would usually go.

With these two changes to your club, you can now take the same swing.

Your 6-iron will hit like a 6 1/2-iron.

Choking down this inch is much better than either taking the 7-iron and swinging harder than normal, or taking the 6-iron and swinging easier.

Take the same swing and just shorten the club.

- Steve Anderson, director of instruction for Mirror Lakes Golf Club. Call him at 369-1997 or visit steveandersongolf.com.