Quick Tips

Three Types Of Golf Practice

So many times, when I am talking to new students, they tell me their golf practice goes well, but they can’t seem to transfer their golf skills into scoring.

I immediately ask them how they are practicing. Most people just do the mechanical aspect of golf. For example, while working on their swing, they focus their practice on their take-away. Mechanics are important to the game, but you need to add feel and scoring practice to lower your scores.

Divide your practice into three parts: mechanics, feel, and scoring. You should do this with ball striking and short game.

If I applied these three things to my putting practice, my practice routine could look something like this (refer to the corresponding photos):

Mechanical practice: Do a drill with a chalk line, Putting Arc, or alignment sticks. This works on path and alignment.
Feel practice: Move back from the hole every two feet, working on lag putting and tempo of stroke
Scoring practice: Do a ladder drill, working on achieving a goal before you can move on. This is creating an on-course feeling.

Vicki Goetze-Ackerman is Director of Instruction at Buckhorn Springs Golf & Country Club, Valrico, Florida. Reach her at getzack@gmail.com

A Great Golf Grip Every Time

The only thing that touches the clubs is your hands. And so making sure they are on the club correctly is imperative. I have a very simple set up routine, that if you follow, will ensure have a great golf grip. And eliminating doubt is one of the best things you can do for your game.

The Routine

Stand away from the ball about three feet. Allow your left arm to hang naturally from your shoulder—as I’m doing in Photo 1—so that you don’t see the palm of your hand.
Have the golf club by your side, and put your left hand on the club. This step—as you see in Photo 2—should feel as natural as possible so do NOT twist your arm or hand.
Bow over from your waist, and you will notice that your left thumb is sitting at 1 o’clock (if you are right handed) and at 11 o’clock (if you are left handed). That is exactly where you want your front hand thumb.
You will now place your back hand on the club as if you are tossing a ball underhanded toward your target. When you do this, you will notice that your back hand thumb falls on the other side of the grip (Photo 3). For right-handed players, it would be sitting at 11 o’clock, and for left-handed players, it would be one o’clock
Each thumb will be sitting on the opposite side of the grip, so it’s 11-and-1 or 1-and-11, depending on which hand is dominant.
I like to tell my students that your fingers pinch and your thumbs are dead. That means you don’t want your thumbs controlling the club face. Instead, you want your hands to be secure and wrists supple enough to allow the club face to swing. That’s the essence of a great golf grip.
Let it rip!

Please Don’t Keep Your Head Down

I hear many golf pros, parents and friends like to tell each other to “keep your head down” through impact. As if this was going to give them a better chance to create a better strike to the ball. I’m here to tell you that it is false.

What I teach is totally opposite. I like my players to allow their eyes to look toward the target because this allows them to get their chest open and thoracic extending thru the impact zone. I like to see my player’s chest open anywhere from 5 to 25 degrees at impact. If you were to “keep your head down” this makes it really difficult to rotate your chest open consistently.

Everyone knows that to hit a crisp pitch shot, the divot comes after the ball. This means that the low point of your golf swing is after impact. If you keep your head down and don’t allow the chest to rotate open by impact, you would need to manipulate the low point of the swing with early extending of the trail arm, or excessive wrist movement, or a lot of other worse compensations. The problem wis that now it makes it really hard to judge speed, and in pitch shots, distance control is very important. So I suggest to not keep your head down, but rather let it rotate towards the target.

I’ll give you one more prime example. We never see Major League Baseball player keeping his eye on the ball or throwing hand when they’re pitching. He actually does quite the opposite. He allows his eyes to work toward the strike zone very early, long before he release his 99 mph pitch toward the hitter.

Remember, in golf the ball doesn’t move! Just because you stare it down and look at intently, it will not help you make good contact. I suggest you allow your head to rotate toward the target naturally and ignore the “keep your head down” advice.

It’s making golfers worse, not better.

Nam Padung is Director of Instruction at Jones Creek Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia

How to Avoid the Most Common Golf Injury

Golf is a unique sport because you can often participate even if you’re not as physically fit as you once were. That said, golf isn’t always an injury-free sport. Low back pain is the golf injury you’re most likely to sustain. Luckily, it can be avoided.

The following tips will help.

Warm Up

Golf may not seem as intense as a sport like football or hockey, but you still need to warm up before playing. Loosening your muscles helps to prevent discomfort. Practice these basic exercises to prep your muscles for a few hours on the course:

Hold the club behind your neck, one hand on each end, and rotate your torso to stretch your neck.
Pull your knees towards your chest a few times to stretch out your hips.
Keep your hamstrings loose by bending down and reaching towards your shoes.

If you’re having trouble with these stretches, or they don’t seem to be effective, getting direct access to physical therapy could help. A few sessions with an expert could help you learn how to properly stretch before golfing to avoid lower back and other injuries.

Practice Your Swing

Golfers apply torque and torsion to their lower backs in order to generate sufficient club speed when swinging. This puts strain on the lower back. That’s why practicing a swing regularly is important. You want to emphasize smooth motions. Additionally, researchers have found that attempting to mimic the “X-factor” swing of professionals (in which you attempt to maximize rotation of your shoulders relative to your hips) may result in injury.

Maintaining proper balance while swinging also helps protect your back. Keep your knees bent and shoulder width-apart, while maintaining a straight spine.

It will take practice to develop a smooth swing, but it’s necessary. Doing so will keep you comfortable while also improving your overall performance while playing.

Get the Right Golf Bag

Lifting heavy items incorrectly or repeatedly can result in low back pain. In other words, your swing isn’t the only part of your game you need to optimize if you want to avoid discomfort. You also need the right golf bag.

Don’t use one you have to set down on the ground every time you’re ready to take a swing. Get a bag that has a stand, so you don’t have to lift it up repeatedly throughout a round.

Don’t Make Assumptions About Age

It’s easy to assume low back pain is something only older golfers need to worry about. However, the X-factor swing described above is often more likely to cause certain injuries in younger players. They tend to have more muscle mass than older generations, which puts significant pressure on their spines during the swinging motion. They may also be more likely to apply excessive force. Even if you’re a younger golfer, you should keep these tips in mind. Doing so will also help avoid injury as you get older.

Again, golf is the type of sport you can play well into old age. You’re more likely to be able to if you avoid low back pain. Remembering these points will help you stay out on the course for years.

Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing, of course.

The Uphill Approach Shot Made Easy

The biggest mistake I see amateurs make when facing uphill lies with an uphill approach is severely under-clubbing. They simply think a ball will travel as far as it would from a level lie to a “flat” target. Of course, that’s not the case, no matter how far you are from the hole.

In this situation (Photo 1), I have 90 yards to clear to the front of the green, about a 10-foot elevation change and an uphill lie. My 56-degree sand wedge is my 90-yard club under flat conditions. I would take one more club to account for the elevation, but amateurs often fail to adjust for the uphill lie as well.

In this case, where the elevation change equates to only one extra club and the uphill lie creates a situation that turns the pitching wedge back to a sand wedge loft, take even more club. Make sure your shoulders are parallel to the slope at set-up and take a 9-iron instead of a sand wedge (Photo 2). Aim a little more right of your target (for right-handers) as the uphill lie will also tend to draw the ball. (Photo 3).

Make your normal swing motion, maintaining constant grip pressure and an even swing tempo from takeaway to follow-through (Photos 4-6). And don’t forget to hold that pose with a nice full finish!

Randy Chang is Director of Golf Instruction at the Journey at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California.

Six Steps To Perfect Alignment

One of the biggest issues for amateur golfers is improper alignment. You can hit a well-struck ball perfectly straight, but if you are not aligned properly to your target, you will miss it every time. Here is a great Six-Step Method to Perfect Alignment.

Always pick your target from behind the ball, not beside the ball. If you are putting your club across your hips to line up to the target or along the toe line of your feet … STOP. The first step in alignment is to pick your target from behind the ball. You will do this whether you are putting, chipping, hitting a sand shot or a tee shot.

When choosing a target you want to pick a spot you want to hit or roll the ball toward. It is often too difficult to line up with a spot on the fairway or the left side of the green as there isn’t something specific enough to aim at. Pick a target line you want the ball to travel on. The line may be a tree behind the green, the chimney of a house in the distance in line with the spot you want to land on the fairway, or the flag stick. Make sure your target is specific. Do not choose to line up at a whole house, but rather, the window or chimney on a house.

Use your dominant eye to pick the target or target line.

Here’s how to determine your dominant eye:

Pick a specific object at least 100 yards away such as a yardage sign, a tree or a post.
Make a triangle with your hands by placing the tips of your thumbs and index fingers together, as I’m doing in Photo 1.
Stretch your arms out — no “T-Rex” arms. With both eyes open place the object in the middle of your triangle.
Now close your left eye, but leave the right eye open, and then close your right eye, leaving the left eye open. On one of those trials your object will stay in the middle of the triangle and on the other it will shift substantially almost out of view from the triangle. The eye, when opened, that keeps the object in the middle of your triangle, is your dominant eye.

Once you know which is your dominant eye, stand behind your ball, open that eye and close your other, non-dominant eye, as I’m doing in Photo 2.

With your dominant eye open, line the shaft of your club up, over the center of your ball, as I’m doing in Photo 3. As you look down the shaft it should look like the shaft is splitting your ball in half. Line the club head up directly in line with your target (tree, window, flagstick, etc…)
Look for a piece of debris, an old divot, a broken tee, or a strange looking blade of grass in line with the shaft of your club. It should be 1 foot to 2 feet away from the ball. This is your intermediate target. It is much easier to line your club face up to a target 1 to 2 feet away versus something 200-plus yards away.
Square your club face up to the intermediate target, THEN set your feet down. Never set your feet first. Always set your club face up first and take your natural stance.

You can use this process in all full swing shots both from the tee box and the fairway.

Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk is 8-time Canadian Long Drive Champion. For more, visit www.lisalongball.com

Spray Your Way To Tee Shot Power

One of the biggest power leaks in a golf swing is not contacting the ball on the center of the club face. A great way to gain tee shot power is to use foot spray during your practice session.

Purchase a can of foot spray at your local pharmacy.
Hold the can at least one foot away from the face of your driver.
Spray a light mist over the face of the driver.
Hit a golf shot and then inspect of the face of the driver. You will see an impact mark on your club face. It will tell you if you are hitting the ball too high on the face, too low, or too close to the toe or heel. You can lose 20-plus yards by not hitting the center of the club face
Hit several more shots. When you no longer can tell which was your last impact mark, take a damp cloth and wipe the face of the club, then reapply a light mist and repeat.

Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk is the reigning 8-time Canadian Long Drive Champion for Women. She is a Keynote Speaker, Golf Journalist, Golf Entertainer and just launched a new Instructional Video. Lisa can be reached through her website www.lisalongball.com or through Twitter @LisaLongball

Find Your Golf Ball Position Every Time

I see many golfers whose ball position changes from shot to shot. It’s different from hole to hole and day to day. There’s no way to ever be consistent that way.

I teach my students a very solid and foolproof way to “find” correct ball position so they can become more consistent ball strikers. Chip Beck, who once shot 59 on the PGA Tour showed me this when he and my talented daughter and played together at Pebble Beach. It works!

I always have them put their feet together with the ball dead center to start (Photo 1). If they are hitting a driver (Photo 2), they will step 1 inch forward with their lead foot, and then set their rear foot into their full stance position (Photo 3). We like the driver ball position 1 inch inside the lead foot. If it’s a wedge, and we want the ball center of stance … then simply step equal directions with each foot so the ball remains in the dead center of the stance (Photo 4).

In essence, this is a great way to always have good ball position as part of your pre shot routine.

Barry Goldstein is a PGA Teaching Professional at Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, Florida

10 Best Swing Tips Ever!

Editor’s Note: For the following collection of 10 Best Golf Swing Tips Ever — what we view as indispensable tips for swing and short game drills — Golf Tips consulted some of its top contributors over the years. This story was updated May 9, 2017.

1. Keep Your Hands Low

Limiting the height of the followthrough will effectively reduce the height of your shots. The lower the hands, the lower the ballflight. Moving the ball back in your stance or choosing a stronger club and trying to swing easy are other ways to accomplish the same thing, but they’re less reliable and more difficult to execute. Instead, keep your hands low in the finish (compare the two photos at right), and the trajectory of your shots will be lower.

The Secondary Angle

Editor’s Note: This instruction piece has been updated from its original posting in 2002, and remains a great guide to better ballstriking.

Posture is a critical element of the golf swing, and is often overlooked by golf instructors and recreational players alike. It’s not particularly dynamic or flashy, and most golfers just don’t get excited about spending time developing correct posture. However, establishing the proper body angles at address, including what I call the secondary angle–and maintaining them throughout the swing–is absolutely crucial to solid ballstriking and good shotmaking.
The secondary angle is one of the most important aspects of solid posture. This spine angle is the tilt of the torso backward, away from the target, and is established due to the natural positioning of the body. Because the right hand is lower on the club than the left hand (for a right-handed golfer), assuming your arms are the same length, the right shoulder and right hip have to be lower than the left shoulder and left hip. This position at address is the only natural way the body can stand when gripping a club, and is universal for all golfers.

Once this angle is created, it’s of great importance to maintain it throughout the entire backswing and downswing. When the secondary spine angle is lost (usually on the initial takeaway), it affects more skilled and less skilled players differently. When skilled players lose the secondary angle, they tend to reverse pivot, that is, keep an excessive amount of weight on the front leg throughout the backswing. An indication that this is occurring is the left knee moving out over the left foot instead of backward toward the ball on the backswing.

The skilled player’s reverse pivot often leads to the right elbow getting stuck behind the hip on the downswing, draining both power and accuracy from the shot. This occurs because, regardless of skill level, a reverse pivot on the backswing generally leads to an opposite reverse pivot on the downswing. The result is the right shoulder dipping or tilting too much toward the ground, leading to the right arm getting trapped behind the hip. Not only does this position lead to less powerful shots, it can also cause blocks to the right and severe snap hooks.

When a less skilled player loses the secondary spine angle on the backswing, he or she tends to sway (move the hips laterally), which in turn causes an early leg drive and overly active lower body. A thrusting lower body is one of the most common problems among average golfers, and puts the body in front of the ball at impact. This weak position not only detracts from accuracy, it saps the body of the leverage needed to create powerful, solid golf shots. In addition, when the lower body moves too far forward (laterally), it prevents the arms from extending through impact, arguably the most important element of a good swing.

In order to ensure a proper, level hip turn (no sway or reverse pivot), with correct width on the backswing and the proper secondary angle, try the following drill.

Obtain two, three-foot-long, thin wooden dowels. Place one dowel through your belt loops, favoring your left side. Be certain that the end of the dowel protruding from the left side is slightly higher than the end of the dowel protruding from the right side. This will ensure a proper secondary angle at address, with the right shoulder sitting lower than the left. Then, place the second dowel in the ground vertically, so it sits outside your left foot. Make sure the second dowel is in line with your toe, sitting just below the end of the first dowel that’s resting in your belt loops.

Now, you’re ready to hit the ball. The goal is to swing the club without hitting the dowel placed outside the left foot. If you dip or sway your hips on the backswing, the two sticks will collide, indicating that you’ve lost your secondary angle.

When practicing this drill, it’s important to really concentrate on maintaining your address position all the way through the backswing. It’s easy to lose your posture, and the accompanying angles, immediately as you take the club away. If you’ve already ingrained bad habits into your motion, as many golfers have, it may be difficult at first to get your body to do what you want it to do. Don’t get frustrated. Just think about keeping the left end (for right-handed golfers) of the dowel or shaft above the right end. Doing so will allow you to make a backswing without touching the dowel or shaft that’s stuck in the ground.

This is a simple and effective way to practice the proper takeaway. Continue practicing until you can make a solid swing without touching the dowels. When you can do this consistently, you’ll have developed a proper hip turn and maintained the secondary spine angle.

Carl Rabito, a former ECC PGA Teacher of the Year, directs the Carl Rabito Golf Schools in Orlando, Fla.