Vol. 4, No. 7, July 2007
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Tips of the Trade
5 Ways to Improve Your Golf Game
Tip #1: Path of the Golf Club
The path of the golf club must travel from the inside toward the outside to produce repeatable shots. If the club travels from outside to the inside, the blow to the ball will be glanced and cause a sure power outage with variable amounts of side spin, causing curvature and inconsistency.
To ensure the inside-out path of the golf club to the ball, we must feel our weight shift to our forward foot before we begin the unwinding process of our hips, shoulders and arms. If we unwind before shifting our weight, we will surely hit the ball with some resemblance of a reverse pivot or an outside-in swing path.
Tip #2: Widening the Arc
It is important to hit the golf ball from the inside. One way to ensure this is by extending your right arm on the down swing immediately from the top of your back swing. Don’t confuse this with casting your right wrist and losing your leverage. The rotation of your body and the extension of your right arm matched in sequence will cause the path of the club to be delivered from the inside to the ball.
The benefits of this are increased distance by widening the arc for power and much more consistency by delivering the club on the same path with every swing.
Tip #3: Hitting Down on the Ball
This is one of the most misunderstood terms in the game. Most beginners translate this into the hammer and the nail, taking it literally and trying to drive the ball into the ground, which doesn’t make sense to them so they are not able to do it. The term should be hit the golf ball while the club head is traveling on a downward arc. The arc is the circle that the club head travels. The bottom of the arc should be after impact with the golf ball. This ensures acceleration of the club head and consistent contact with the ball and then the big ball (the earth).
Remember, your weight has to be forward for this to take place.
Tip #4: Chipping & Pitching
Most people try to scoop under the ball with the club head, keeping their head and buttons behind the ball, forcing weight to their back foot and flipping their hands at impact. This method causes inconsistent club face positions and poor contact.
The proper way to chip and pitch the ball is to control the amount of loft on the club and control the amount of descending blow to the ball. To ensure consistent contact and the proper amount of loft on the club head being delivered to the ball, try to keep the buttons of your shirt and your nose forward of the ball during the entire stroke. Keeping your body forward of the ball translates into pulling the club to the ball and not pushing the club, which is a more consistent method of striking the ball.
Tip #5: The Grip
The hands are the contact point for the body to the golf club. Most beginners and even advanced players do not place their hands on the club properly. The two most common faults in gripping the club are the golf club is not tight enough in the fingers, and the palms of the hands oftentimes do not face each other to ensure that they work as one unit throughout the swing.
By placing the club in your fingers, you will feel like you are giving up control of the club. However, you will be gaining control of your swing. The proper position is to have your palms facing each other with your hands turned slightly to the right, and to have the club lying through the middle of your fingers, not near the palms.
Proper grip helps to promote a good club face position and maximum use of leverage for power during the golf swing.
