Beginners Golf Swing Blog

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Do you struggle hitting your driver? Some of you tee the golf ball low, thinking that you will be able to drive the golf ball through the air at a different trajectory. And those of you that tee it high think that that will make it soar through the air.

You thought that when you went out and purchased that 8- degree titanium boron shaft with a super-duper new grip, that it was going to drive down the middle of every fairway. Or maybe you purchased the newest golf training aid and you think youll be more consistent overnight. I dont think so.

Now here are the golf tips for driving better. The lower you tee a golf ball, the more your chance will be that you slice the ball to the right. The higher you tee the golf ball, the more your chance will be for you to hook the golf ball to the left.

If you’re hooking the golf ball, tee it down a little lower. If you’re slicing the golf ball, tee it up a little higher. And heres why.

When the golf ball sits on the ground and its a little lower than it should be, the golf club has to come in on a steep angle and that will cause it to slice. On the other hand, if you tee it up a little higher, it will come in and enable the club face to close a little quicker.

Now, heres the golf training aid on what to do on the first few holes.

My driver has 8 degrees of loft. That means the face is very flat. If I happen to have the club face a little too open or a little too closed at impact, the flight of the ball will either go to the far right or to the far left.

Therefore, I decided to use my great little 3 wood, and no matter what I do, I might miss it, but it wont curve as much as if I used my driver.

So, I hit the golf ball with my 3 wood and guess what. It went into the rough, but not as far into the rough because I went with a more lofted golf club for the first few holes.

So, the next time you go play, remember this golf training aid for hitting your driver. You dont have to pull the driver out every time you get on the tee box. Maybe you dont use your driver for the first two or three holes until you get a little warmed up, but in the meantime, take your favorite lofted wood and give it a whack.

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt

By: David Nevogt

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When you’ve given as many golf lessons as I have, it doesn’t take much thought to figure out that slicing is golf’s most common swing error. In fact, many weekend players who attend my golf instructions sessions for the first time slice, with both men and women slicing about the same amount. And they all want to know one thing when they first come to me: How do I cure my slice?

Curing your slice isn’t easy, especially if you’ve had it for a long time. You’ve ingrained the swing fault in your muscle memory and making changes to it will feel uncomfortable and strange. But the benefits of slicing less far outweigh the costs. Hitting straighter shots more consistently not only keeps you on the fairway, it also cuts strokes from your golf handicap because it produces better approach shots.

Causes Of A Slice The causes for a slice are well documented in magazines and often discussed in golf lessons. Four things trigger a slice:

1. Upper body turns too soon

2. Hands are too high at impact

3. Upper body outraces the club on the downswing

4. Grip end gets too far in front of the clubhead at impact.

These errors leave the clubface open at impact-a major swing error. How major? Recent research by one club manufacturer indicates that a club with an S flex shaft with 9.3 degrees of loft and the face open at impact about 2 degrees results in a shot that finishes 16 degrees off the target line. Obviously, you must get the clubface square at impact to hit the ball straight.

Slices and Cures Let’s look at the four most common types of slice and consider four drills you can practice to help cure your slice. Your divots will tell you what kind of slice you have.

1. Opening Up Too Soon (The Pull Slice) This is perhaps the second most common slice type. Its generated by your right shoulder moving out and over on the downswing, causing the clubface to come into the ball on an outside-in swing path. Your hands sensing that the club is coming from the outside hold the clubface open to the path, resulting in a pull slice. With iron shots your divot points left of target.

Drill: Hit practice balls with your back foot moved back a few inches from the target line and your heel down. Swing the club back making a full shoulder turn. The idea is to feel as if you’re swinging the club primarily with your arms and shoulders through impact. Let your body respond to the swinging of the arms and the releasing of the clubhead.

2. Handle Too High At Impact If your hands are too high at impact just before and through the ball, you’ll cause the clubhead to get stuck behind you. Often this happens because the golfer tries to clear the hips too fast or doesn’t trust the loft of the club to get the ball airborne. Whatever the cause, you end up with a slice. There’s little or not divot with irons.

Drill: Take your normal address position. Have a friend hold a club so the grip hovers just above your hands. As you swing back and through your friend should keep his club’s grip end steady. Concentrate on letting your hand pass just under his club.

3. Body Outraces Club (The Push Slice) With the push slice your ball starts to the right of your target, then goes even farther right. Usually this means that your body outraces the clubhead. Some people call this a lunge. To compensate some people try flipping the club through the ball with their hands in an effort to square the clubface to the ball.

Drill: Use your driver or fairway wood. Tee the ball up. Take your address as you normally would but with your left leg positioned slightly inside the ball. Now stand only on your front foot. Swing the club back and through and try hitting the ball. Alternate hitting five balls on one leg, then with your normal swing. 4. Handle Too Far Ahead Of Ball Getting the handle too far ahead of the clubhead is probably the most common cause of a slice. The primary problem is back of forearms rotation. If you make a strong strike of the ball and it starts straight down the target line before curving to the right. With your irons the divot would be square to the target line.

Starting with knockdown pitches, rotate your left forearm (right-handers) during the swing so your left hand knuckles face the ground just after impact, with the clubface turning down. Let your right hand come off the club. Once you get the hang of this, use other clubs. This drill increases clubhead speed and squares the clubface for a straighter shot.

Keep in mind as you practice these drills that you may not want to turn your slice into a draw. Hitting a fade has its advantages, too. The key, regardless of the type of shot you develop, is hitting a dependable, more consistent shot that keeps you out of trouble and gives you control of the where the ball lands. The type of shot will cut strokes from both your scores and your golf handicap.

By: Jack Moorehouse

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Every golfer knows the feeling of completely slicing their drive into the trees, bushes or anywhere, but the fairway. It is inevitable, it will happen to you sooner or later, even the pros suffer from a case of the shanks or bad slices from time to time.

Although at the time of the nasty golf slice you don’t have any no idea what went wrong with your swing because you just swung the golf like you did every time, there is always a cause and it can be a number of things.

A lot of golfers have things that they do when they swing that is unique or odd which they have become accustom to. Some golfers twist their wrists a certain way, some don’t interlock their hands on the club and other just look funky when they swing. What ever it is, if it was working at one time or another you are doing something right, but there are a few things that may be the cause of your slice.

First of all most golfers totally miss the importance of good hip rotation in their golf swing, without good hip rotation your swing will never result in a maximum amount of yards in your drive. Secondly it could be your follow through, golfers without the right follow through will always a little off target. Lastly keeping your eyes on the ball. It sounds really simple, but if you lose eye contact with the ball during your swing you will almost certainly develop and ugly slice in your golf swing.

By: Ryan Stains

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There are a number of theories as to why a golf ball is sliced, but the most common reasoning is that the ball is struck from the outside to the inside of the target line. Although rather uncommon, it is possible for you to strike the ball from the inside to the outside. This can really be troubling, as it will slice the ball from the right to the left.

Another golf slice tip to help eliminate this frustrating habit is to loosen your grip. Sometimes if your grip is too tight, it makes it difficult for your hands to rotate at impact. This is a simple solution, but many times your grip is combined with another problem as well. If your shoulders aren’t turning and your weight doesn’t shift to the right at the top of the swing for right handed golfers and to the left for left handed golfers, your body will be ahead of the ball. This will cause your club to open at impact and slice the ball.

One way that many people try to compensate for their slicing difficulty is by adjusting the way they line up. For instance, if you are hooking it from left to right, some people will purposely aim further to the left with the hope of ending up in the middle of the fairway. The problem with this is that you are relying on your shot slicing every time and are adjusting to an already annoying problem. To fix a problem with another problem is setting you up for trouble.

The best golf slice tip that I can give you is to practice your stance and the way you shift your weight. The more practice you do on driving ranges and on the golf course, the better chance you will have of correcting your slice. If you can overcome the slice and begin putting the ball on the fairway more, your score will drop a drastic amount. It is frustrating because your slice won’t cure overnight, but with determination and patience you will overcome this nuisance of a problem.

By: Josh Spaulding

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So, whether you have just taken up the game of golf or have been playing for years, breaking 80 in golf is the biggest challenge. You want to learn how to break 80 in golf and can’t seem to beat that magic number?

The almighty slice or 3-putt seems to ruin your chances everytime. Or, you haven’t even broken 90 yet, so you wonder how you are going to knock off another 10+ strokes? Read more to learn.

The first time I did it was on a decent course. It was a sunny day and I was 15 years old. Now I was no Tiger Woods, but I did learn how to break 80 in golf that day.

I had just 3 putted the par 3 17th hole and was very aggravated as we get when we make a stupid mistake. This put me having to birdie the final hole to break 80 for the first time.

I took a deep breath and visualized the shot. My dive was perfectly down the left side of the fairway setting up a nice second shot to the green. With a 9 iron out and about 160 yards away (I tend to hit the ball long), I again visualized what I wanted.

I am not the strongest putter in the world, but I knew if I could get it within 10 feet I’d have a legitimate shot. My turn arrives and I step up and do my waggle/routine. A smooth swing and the ball sailed perfectly towards the hole.

I am watching, hoping, and waiting to see what happens next. The ball lands and I feel I am close enough to make birdie for a 79. All of a sudden the ball disappears into the hole! Holy Cow! I had to run to the green just to make sure. Not only did I discover how to break 80 in golf that day, but I also discovered how to make an eagle for the first time!
So, what are my tips for learning how to break 80 in golf?

**Practice. You can easily shave strokes off your game by practicing. But, it has to been perfect practice. If you don’t know how to correct your slice or chip the ball near the hole, then you won’t be able to fix it with practice. So what do you do? You watch others. Watch videos, read magazines and books, or even hire someone. I never had to hire a coach and I learned by watching and reading then going out and doing.

**Golf is a mental game more than anything. Tony Robbins once showed someone how to break 80 in golf just by utilizing the thing between your ears. Your body listens to your brain and if you focus on visualization and knowing what you want the ball to do before you do it, you’ll have a much better chance of making that happen.

**You must be able to play the short game. I never would’ve broken 80 if I had not learned how to putt and chip well. I still don’t do well in the sand, so I stay away from it. Going back to mental, if I land in the sand, my mind is already saying bogey or worse.

**The clubs are important. You can’t begin to tell me that if you aren’t comfortable with your clubs you can still shoot a great round. Maybe today I can go out and still do well with old, hard to hit clubs, but I would rather take the oversize drivers, state of the art irons and balls, and give myself a better chance of breaking 80. The type doesn’t matter. It is how they feel in your hands that make the difference.

**Have Fun. You will never learn how to break 80 in golf if you get frustrated and treat every shot like it is your chance to win The Masters. Everyone has a bad round and things just don’t go our way on the course from time to time. At that point, just relax, have some fun, and make the rest of the round as best you can – trust me, throwing clubs in the woods doesn’t help.

It took me 5 years to learn how to break 80 in golf. It all started with what was inside of me. Everyone has the ability to shave a ton of strokes off their game, but without some practice both physically and mentally, it will never happen. If you are happy shooting 3-digit scores, then keep at it, but if you want to compete with the big boys, then get to work.

By: Joe Collinsworth

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