Beginners Golf Swing Blog

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Golf is one of the greatest games on Earth. It is also one of the hardest games. You would do well to follow these beginner golf tips to ensure that your entry into the golf world isn’t as bad as it could be. Too many people give up before they have really begun because they don’t adopt good habits. To give your game a turbo boost read on. You will be part of the ever growing band of Golfers Anonymous in no time at all.

1) The golf swing is a side action. It is not an up and down action. To understand this fully take a ball and throw it from your side with an underarm technique. This is the type of action you want to develop. Notice that the further you want to throw the ball the more you need to turn your shoulders.

2) A time old classic is to imagine that you are swinging a baseball bat. The main difference is that the club will need to reach the ground at some point so your stance will be different. Practice swinging a golf club as if you had a bat in your hand to train your muscles to understand the technique you are looking for.

3) When setting up to the ball stand with your feet shoulder width apart, bend your knees slightly and bend down from your hips with your back straight. Practice this by sticking your behind out to get the right feel for it. You want your arms to hang in front of your body. Try not to hunch over too much. When it comes to playing for real you don’t want to be too near the golf ball or too far away – this tip will help you get this right.

4) Grip the golf club lightly. Most beginner golf tips miss this out – if you grip too tightly you will not be able to swing with freedom. This will have a very negative impact on your game. Imagine you are holding a tube of toothpaste and you only want to squeeze just enough to get a little paste out. This is what you are looking for.

5) When swinging try to be as smooth and rhythmical as you can. It might feel a little strange at first but the more you swing a club the more comfortable you will get. Try to imagine a big hula hoop surrounding your body at an angle. You want the club to be swinging round your body on this path and it should be accelerating the nearer to the ground it gets. Forget about trying to hit the ball – think more about the fact that the ball is in the way of your club. Too many beginners get caught up with trying to hit at the ball and end up taking the club away from its intended path. This will only end in tears.

The golf swing can get very technical. A lot of beginner golf tips introduce some difficult concepts too early and this results in confusion. Golf is as much a feel and touch game as it is a scientific one. As you become more used to the basics you can start to introduce some more advanced techniques.

By: Michael M Lewis

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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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A good golf swing starts off with the correct golf grip. There is however no such thing as one correct golf grip. In this the third article of this three part series I will explain the four elements of the correct golf grip.

I shall refer to these four elements as the four P’s.

Placement: This is how we put our hands on a golf club relative to one another, high or low on the grip.

Positioning: This is the amount of rotation of the hands clockwise or counter clockwise, generally referred to as a strong or a weak grip. The positioning is dependent on the size and strength of the player’s hand plus the shape of the shot he is trying to hit.

Pressure: This is simply how hard one is squeezing the club.

Precision: Is whether one grips the club in a precise manner (the same way each time) or is careless so that it is a different grip each time a shot is played.

Let’s cover each of these individually.

Placement. Ideally placed the hands should be in such a position that the player has control over the club. If the hands are too far back on the grip control is lost, too far forward and power and distance are negatively affected. When held correctly and inch to an inch and a half of the shaft should stick out above the back hand. Try moving it different distances until you are comfortable.

Positioning. The positioning of the hands determines whether or not one has a weak, neutral or strong grip.

A weak grip is one that is turned counter clockwise (right handed players) on the grip and the back of the target hand points slightly left of target – more towards the ground with one knuckle on the left hand visible. A weak grip encourages an open club face, resulting in a push, slice or a push slice depending on the swing path of the club.

A neutral grip will encourage a square club face at impact. In this position the hands are on either side of the shaft and are square to the target. There will be two to two and a half knuckles showing. A square club face will result in a draw, fade or straight shot depending on the swing path of the club.

With a strong grip the hands will be turned clockwise on the shaft (away from the target) with 3 or 4 knuckles showing and will encourage a closed clubface. This will result in a hook, pull or a pull hook.

Pressure: The correct pressure for holding a club would be to imagine that you have a small bird in your hands. You want to be able to hold it firmly enough so that it won’t escape but loose enough so that you don’t kill it. We don’t want the SPCA after you!

Tighten your grip and you will lock your body muscles, limiting your range of movement and your ability to create power.

Precision: It goes without saying that holding the club precisely for each shot will help with consistency.

That concludes the 3 part series on The Correct Golf Grip and I trust it has gone some way to helping you with your game.

By: Lawrence Bredenkamp

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Allowing your body into the habit of bad swings is a hard thing to break. Luckily, with all the tools and resources available to the modern human, there is a simple remedy.

Really the easiest way to correct your technique is to practice your posture and grip. These essential makings of a swing affect the rotation of your body and where you will-or won’t-hit the ball. One of the most vital things a person can do is bend at the knees and hips, not at the waist. This is a very common mistake made among golfers everywhere that leads to a bad swing or slice. If you place your feet shoulder width apart with a little more weight on your back foot-and have your knees slightly bent to keep your lower half limber-you will create the easiest way to keep your balance and aim in the right spot on the ball. Also lining up your joints creates the best angel for a nice drive.

Practicing your swinging will come in handy. If you swing enough times, your body will pick up the motion you are doing and repeat it more easily for the next time. Practicing with a trainer or in your own home can make a big difference in the over-all quality of your swing. Try lining up tees in a row and repeatedly hitting one ball after another moving down the line. This practice will allow you to discover how to handle your swing and keep balance. Most importantly, let loose and have fun!

By: William A Mitchell

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How can you develop more power in your golf swing? This is probably a question that all of us want an answer to. Most of us go to great lengths to do whatever it takes to get that power into our drives off the tee. I think we probably all have some ideas of where 300-yard drives come from, but I want to give you the answers without any fluff.

Golf swing power is the result of three specific factors. Two out of the three are much more important, but the third does have a bearing on the outcome of how far you hit that ball.

The first and probably most evident of the three is your swing mechanics. I bet you are not surprised by this one.

The second one is probably the least recognized of the three, but for many is the key to longer drives and the category that is given the least amount of attention. Number two is what we term golf strength. This is defined as how well your body is conditioned (i.e. fitness) to swing a golf club with maximum power. Probably the least understood of the three, and maybe the most needed by golfers in general. We will talk more about this later. Let us move on to number three in regards to power for your drives.

Number three is your equipment. Yes, equipment does make a difference in how far you drive the ball. The equipment manufacturers have let this fact be known, and I bet we all have gone to the pro shop probably more than twice to pick up a new driver that claims to give us another 20 yards on every drive. That extra 20 yards might not be down the middle of the fairway, but it will give you an extra 20 yards could be left, could be right, or could be in the center of the fairway. That all depends on points one and two of this article. Equipment and technological advances have definitely lengthened the distance of our drives. But without better swing mechanics and your body in better golf shape, new technology will not help your game. A bad swing will produce a bad result, regardless of what type of new driver you may have just purchased.

Swing Mechanics

I think all of us are aware of how important the mechanics of a swing are when it comes to driving the ball down the fairway. It is essential, if you are over the top with your swing or come inside too much, youll see that dreaded slice or snap hook. The drives will be short, too low, too high, left, right, or a combination of these if you are putting bad swings on the ball.

It is essential for a golfer to work on the mechanics of their swing, week in and week out, to improve their game. If it werent important why would all these tour players have swing coaches that work with them on a consistent basis? The golf swing is such a finite, mechanically complex movement, that requires constant work to keep it highly efficient and in check.

One of the most common mistakes I see amateurs make is probably a lack of instruction. I see amateurs over and over at the driving ranges, week in and week out, pounding balls without any improvement. This, I feel, is a result of one of two things: 1) a lack of instruction or 2) low levels of golf strength. A lack of instruction leads to the development and ingraining of improper swing mechanics. This only results in slices, hooks, topping the ball, and hitting it fat on the course. And we all know that those types of swings lead to frustration and bad rounds of golf. I would suggest to most anyone to find a good instructor and take lessons on a consistent basis. This can only help your game in the long run. Now moving on the second point of how to achieve powerful drives and that is golf strength.

Golf Strength (Golf Fitness)

Golf strength is a term we use to describe the golf fitness level of an individual pertaining to swinging a club. This is much different than how much you can bench press or squat, which I like to refer to as weight room strength. Understand that these two terms, golf strength and weight room strength, are very different. If you do not quite understand the difference, ask yourself one question: How many bodybuilders do you see teeing it up on Tour? The answer to that question is quite obvious, none!

It comes down to this idea: the mechanics of a golf swing require specific levels of flexibility, balance, stability, strength, endurance, and power to perform it efficiently. If your body does not have the required capacities of the aforementioned list, then the result will be? Anyone want to guess? Well, let me give you the answer: a less than optimal and less efficient swing than possible. Essentially, your body supports your swing much like a foundation supports the house you build upon it. I am sure that all of you would choose to build a house on a stone foundation rather than a sand foundation, wouldnt you? I will say that many of you make a different choice when it comes to your golf swing. I quite often see amateurs developing their swing on a foundation of sand, not a good thing to do in my book.

Regardless of how much time you work on your swing mechanics, if your body does not have the golf strength to support your swing, you are limiting your potential. I have seen it numerous times, people practicing at the range who struggle, not because of trying to get better, but because their bodies are limiting what they can do with their swing. Quite often I see people with limited flexibility, poor balance capabilities, and low levels of strength and power. The bottom line is that your mechanics will not get better until you fix the body that swings the club!

Up to this point we have discussed the two most important ideas when it comes to power on the golf course. A review of the topics tells us that they are optimal swing mechanics and the proper levels of golf strength in the body. One without the other is going to leave you short when it comes to your potential in the game.

Again, I probably see point number two, golf strength, being addressed less often than swing mechanics when you get right down to it. The pros are all aware of the importance of golf strength, why not you?

Equipment

We have come to the final point, and that is equipment. I think the majority of golfers are aware of the technological advances that have occurred in golf equipment over the last 20 years. I mean, think about the 80s when we were still playing with woods that actually had wood club heads! Imagine that for a moment, and now we are using drivers with space age faces that shoot the ball off of them at warp speed. In addition, we have to mention the advances in terms of golf balls. How manufacturers design golf balls today makes a difference in how far they travel. What a lot of people do not realize is that the USGA has set standards on how hot driver faces can be and how fast balls can come off the face of drivers. Most clubs are reaching this limit, and anything past these USGA rules becomes illegal to play.

So what does that tell us?

1) Club manufacturers have done a great, and I mean great, job in the advancement of technology, and

2) to increase the distance on your drives you are now going to have to turn to points one and two of this article.

So what does improving your power really come down to?

It comes down to three simple ideas. Number one is improving your golf swing mechanics. Improved mechanics will improve your driving distance. Number two is improving your golf strength. By improving your body as it pertains to the golf swing you will improve your distance off the tee. Finally, equipment does make a difference, if you hit the ball correctly.

By: Sean Cochran

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