Master the three scoring clubs—the driver, the wedge, and the putter—and you’ll improve your game dramatically.

With 14 clubs to hit, golfers often have trouble deciding which part of their game to work on.

If you’re serious about working on your game, focus on the three scoring clubs. They have the greatest impact on your score.

Unfortunately, not all of us live in a climate where we can always practice outdoors. Even if we do, we don’t always have the time to go to a driving range and hit balls.

That doesn’t mean we can’t work on the fundamentals needed to master the three clubs. We just need to do it indoors.

Below are several indoor golf drills that will help you master these three clubs. They can are done in almost any location, even your office.

Putter

There are three “musts” in becoming a good putter:

1. your stroke must follow target line;
2. your putter must remain square to the target line;
3. and your forward stroke must equal (or slightly exceed) your backstroke. The following drill emphasizes these putting musts. The next drill focuses on distance control, also a key aspect of putting.

Drop two phone books on the floor. Position them far enough apart so that your putter head barely squeezes through them. Place a golf ball between the books, assume your putting posture, and make your stroke.

Use the books as a visual guide to match the lengths of your backstroke and forward stroke. Matching the lengths ensures a smooth stroke with perfect tempo. You’ll find it difficult to guide your putter between the phone books unless your stroke follows the intended putting line. If your putter strikes the side of either book, your stroke strayed off-line.

Also, mark your ball with a straight line. Set that line parallel to your target line. Marking the ball makes it easier to align the putter perpendicular to the target line at address. See if the line falls to the right or left of center as your ball rolls after impact. If it does, then your stroke may have deviated off-line or made contact with a slightly open or closed putter face.

This drill improves distance control. Set or balance a ball (or a tee turned upside down) on a penny and putt a second ball to this ball so that it touches the first, but DOESN’T knock it off the penny! This one is SUPER TOUGH! Try various distances. You should soon forget about the line and “making” the putt—distance control is everything. Rolling the ball to the target with an acceptable “sink” speed becomes second nature as you try to just touch the target ball.

Pitching Wedge

These drills can be done just about anywhere. It improves one of the most important parts of your game—wedge play.

Find about 10 feet of open floor space. Put a small towel on the floor and stand about 10 feet away. Use a short, smooth stroke, keeping your hands ahead of the clubface. Try chipping 50 balls onto the towel. Practice so the balls land on the towel, not come to rest on the towel. Start with an 8 iron, then move to a 9 iron, and then to a wedge. The more you practice the better control you’ll have over those short chips.

Next time you’re on the practice range, try the same drill. Watch how far each club makes the ball roll on the putting surface. Now you’ll have more control over your chips under different conditions. After awhile, you should be able to nestle every shot close to the pin, or sink it!

Driver

Many golfers turn their hips and shoulders simultaneously when they swing a club. Too much lower body rotation eliminates torque between the upper and lower body. Adding more backswing torque to your swing generates distance.

Sit down in a chair. Spread your feet out wide and keep them flat on the ground. Hold a 7 or 8 iron out in front of you. Hold the clubhead with one hand and the end of the grip in the other hand. Raise the club over your head and rest the shaft across your neck and shoulders. Turn your shoulders to the right. Hold this position for a few seconds. You should feel a lot of torque along your left side. The turn your shoulders back and face forward. Relax and repeat.

Many golfers use their hands and arms only when swinging the driver. They don’t rotate their shoulders, sapping power from their swing. This drill helps keep your hands, arms, and shoulders in sync as you swing back and through.

Lower yourself down to the floor onto your knees. Hold a ball between your hands and out in front of your. Start by making some small moves swinging the ball back and forth. The idea is to keep the ball in front of your chest as your arms swing and your shoulders rotate. Increase the length of your swing going back and through. As you reach the end of your backswing and forward swing, allow your arms to fold. Swing back and fold your arms. Swing down and unfold them. Swing through and fold them again.

These drills improve control of the three most important clubs in your bag—the driver, the putter, and the wedge. You can do them in your house or your garage. Each focuses on fundamentals you must master to take your game to the next level.

My good friend Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80…And Shoot Like The Pros!” and is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that was able to figure out the secrets of shooting in the 70’s on a consistent basis without quitting your day job. Jack has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately.

I know he can you too.

You reach for and grab a golf club. And hence the golf grip is born! Perhaps not a proper golf grip… but you do have a hold of the club at least.

It seems that so little attention is given to such a large influence of (ultimately) your golf shot.

Developing and getting comfortable with a proper golf grip early on is essential to making consistent golf shots.

Quite simply, your golf grip is the foundation of your golf swing and as such we not only want to see a proper golf grip, but a comfortable one as well.

It’s important to develop an aesthetically neutral grip that doesn’t feel as though you need to make additional adjustments during your swing.

The prototypical golf grip is one where the ‘V’s formed between the index finger and the thumb of each hand end up pointing toward your right shoulder (right handed golfer). If someone is standing directly across from you they should be able to only see the first two knuckles of your left hand.
golf grip the golf grip

Most all lower handicap golfers will not have these said ‘V’s pointing very far off from this position. Variations of this ‘neutral’ position will affect the flight of the ball.

For instance, moving your left hand ‘V’ further toward your right shoulder is known as a ‘strong’ grip position and with such you’ll have more of a tendency to cause more rotation through impact and as a result, more of a tendency to hook the golf shot.

Side Note:
My good friend Jack Moorehouse is considered one of the best golf guru’s in the country and he’s here to help you with his best-selling golf eBook, “How to Break 80… And Shoot Like the Pros.”

I have talked him into not raising the price of his book for me, as he stated he would, so I want you to hurry and get this gem while it’s still half price.  It’s jam-packed with easy and simple golf drills, strategies and advice that will quickly improve your distance, accuracy and handicap.

However, for now and early on, we want you to get comfortable with basic or neutral positioning of your hands in the golf grip.

Get comfortable with this grip and use it as your foundation. Don’t experiment early on with weak and strong grips. We want a foundation or a baseline from which you can work. And certainly, don’t attempt to make radical adjustments to your grip in order to compensate for some other flaw in your golf swing. Stay with the basic grip.

Overlapping golf grip vs. the interlocking golf grip; the lion’s share of golfers today use an overlapping golf grip (otherwise known as the Vardon style). Some players still prefer the interlocking golf grip. No matter your preference, again, let’s keep the hand positioning neutral and build the rest of our swing around a good solid grip.

As far as grip pressure goes, I think the best description I have heard is that you want to grip the golf club as though you are holding a baby bird… not so tight that you will injure the bird… yet firm enough that the bird can’t fly away. Tight grips and muscles restrict flow and movement, while too relaxed muscles offer no control.

In summary, a proper golf grip will reduce your tendency to slice your golf shot. A proper golf grip will help produce a square clubface at impact.

Work to establish a firm but relaxed golf grip when it comes to the pressure you apply to the club.

Establish a good comfort zone with yourself using a neutral grip (your ‘V’s pointing somewhere between your chin and right shoulder).

Experimentation with grip changes can come later once your swing falls into place. Don’t attempt to correct swing flaws with radical (and frequent) grip changes.

Early on work to accept the feel of the proper golf grip by simply taking the time to grip the club and do some mock swings… no golf ball involved here… just learn to love that golf grip!

If you are just beginning to take up the game of golf and as such just learning the mechanics of the golf swing or perhaps you’ve been on the links a bit and are perhaps struggling a bit with your golf swing and hence your game, here are a couple online golf tips that you can take with you to your next practice session.

This next concept, for me, was one of the more difficult for me to get into my brain and subsequently my golf swing.

But I will assure you it is one that you must begin to understand and get comfortable with both physically and visually if you want to develop a solid consistent golf swing.

Once I began to develop consistency in this concept and motion, my drives (and all other golf shots for that matter) began to rapidly straighten out and my scores became better and more consistently better. And I guarantee yours will too!

The first active component of the golf swing is the takeaway. For the purpose of this discussion I am making an assumption here that your, grip, stance, setup, posture, etc are all on the straight and narrow and conducive to making a good golf swing.

The Takeaway – Work to take the club away from your address point by turning your shoulders.

Both your shoulders should act in unison, not just the left ol’ straight left arm and shoulder crossing over the front of your chest (this for a right handed golf swing). A good way to get a feel for this is to get into your setup position (no golf club involved here) with your waist slightly bent just like real golf folks, then cross your arm across your chest.

Do this by putting your left palm on the front of your right shoulder and your right palm on the front of your left shoulder. Then simply rotate or turn your shoulders in the manner of taking a club back away from the golf ball.

This is the same motion you want when you have the club in your hands. By doing this and not manipulating or ‘helping’ your golf club back on its takeaway with your hands and arms you will soon develop a consistent swing plane and swing path away from the ball and ultimately put your golf swing in a good position for the return trip.

Again, DO NOT pick the club up with the hands or otherwise introduce the hands into the swing. Work on getting a good feeling for this with the arms crossed over the chest drill again and again. And don’t be afraid to go back to this drill as much as needed even after you begin to get the hang of it.

The next part of my online golf lesson for you is to tell you to be sure not to over-swing.

Yeah, I know, you’ve heard that a million times and you know it’s true. Sometimes hard to not to do, but nonetheless true. But here is the really cool part about the one piece takeaway initiated and conducted by the shoulder turn.

If do this correctly, you’ll find that over-swinging becomes few and further between because you then begin to develop the natural, yet elusive for many, tempo to your golf swing.

In the golf swing, over-active hands and forearms, causing you to spank at the ball instead of rotating and hitting through the ball, is one of the biggest reasons for inconsistent, runaway shots and golf scores.

Getting the club head through the shot and releasing the stored energy of your golf swing down from your larger muscles in the shoulders and hips in a funneling effect to the point of contact, is all a product of a good, one piece shoulder turn that your arms and hands will gladly oblige to follow if you allow them to do so.

Once you begin to get comfortable with swinging the club with your shoulders and committing to rotating with the shoulders instead picking the club up and swinging with your hands and arms, your confidence will build and you’ll begin to relax over the ball. This will bring with it yet more improvement in your golf game.

Stay with it. Any change takes time. Any change is going to initially produce some pretty rough looking shots, but stay with this and it will work.

Good golfers have a very consistent one.

Pre-shot routines are more than just a ritual or habit that is performed before you hit the golf ball; they actually serve a very important purpose in your game.

When you approach your golf shots with the same pre-shot routine each time, you are significantly increasing your focus on each golf shot. And with an increased level of focus on the task at hand, your shot will be much less susceptible to any outside distractions or variables.

Whenever I get asked the question about developing a pre-shot routine, the first answer I give is very pragmatic… find one that works for you. No two pre-shot routines will look the same; and even if they appear to look the same, what is going on mentally will be different for each golfer. Having said that, I won’t leave with such a general (but true) answer, so let’s take a look at a couple of different areas and ideas.

Again, the bottom line for any pre-shot routine is to get you into a positive frame of mind for your shot. Now, how you arrive there is strictly personal preference, but most will involve, picking the target, a couple practice swings, stance, grip, and perhaps a deep breath.

The details within each of these items aren’t as important as just making certain you do the same thing each and every time.

Keep in mind that a good pre-shot routine isn’t time consuming. It is quick, concise, and repeatable. Go through your routine, trust it, and then pull the trigger with your golf shot.

O.K… I lied. Remember when I said it really doesn’t matter what your pre-shot routine is as long as it works for you.

Well… there is one aspect that I insist upon when working with people; especially higher handicappers or those just beginning to get their golf swing under them; and that is your line. Somewhere as part of your routine you must include alignment to your intended target.

I work with so many golfers that waste relatively good swings and good contact by not being aligned properly to their target. I see so many golf shots head for the rough, the trees, the traps, and the water; only because that’s exactly where the person was lined up to hit the ball!

Don’t waste your precious good swings on bad alignment.

Make alignment to your target part of your routine… and don’t just trust the fact that you ‘think’ you are lined up properly; make sure.

If you’d like more detail on ensuring that you’re properly aligned, sign up for my newsletter and you’ll receive my free mini-course that covers this in more detail. Just check the menu down the right of the page for the newsletter sign up!

Obviously, your golf swing, and the ability to repeat it over and over with accuracy, is the key to your golf game and your handicap.

One thought that I would like you to consider before you consider investing in one or more of the golf training aids, is to first evaluate and consider your level of flexibility and strength.

I would submit to you that you should embark on a strength and flexibility program for your golf game before investing in any of the golf training aids.

Why?

Well, because I think you will find that your swing will evolve and change as a result of you gaining proper strength and flexibility in your ‘golf muscles’. And when you do this your swing is going to change (and more than likely improve just by doing this first).

One of the easiest pieces of equipment for stretching and strengthening that I found is the GolfGym PowerSwing Trainer. This equipment is great for getting started on a program of golf conditioning for your swing. I use the GolfGym PowerSwing Trainer quite a lot, particularly in the off season. And it’s great to travel with, as it packs away quite easily.

I truly feel that getting the most out of any golf training aid is greatly enhanced by the student first understanding the mechanics and the physics of the golf swing first. Without truly understanding why your golf shot does what it does, how do you really know what part of your swing mechanics needs the focus?

Of course, I shouldn’t have to mention, that once you decide on any of the golf training aids available, it is up to you to use it, and practice the concept of it. Remember, (and this is a crucial point) when it comes to changing your golf swing for the better, the short term results will be worse.

This is without exception for anyone. You must persist through the initial bad results of any change you make. Stay with it. Fight off the natural tendency to ‘just go back’ to my old swing. If you do, the better results will indeed come.

I am often asked how to achieve consistent timing in the golf swing.

Quite frankly, if you are consciously thinking about your golf swing timing you probably aren’t going have it for that outing.

Timing in the golf swing is really a product, an end result. Not a conscious action that your brain fires to your muscles at just the precise moment. Not at all.

With all the physics involved in the golf swing and propelling the golf ball down the course with maximum efficiency, it would be impossible for us humanoids to consistently ‘pull the trigger’ on the golf club at precise moment in the swing to achieve the best results.

Not only impossible to do so consistently, but toss in all the various distances and it now becomes even more than impossible.

So, proper golf swing timing; how does it happen?

Remember, I started out with the premise that you have begun to understand proper golf swing mechanics and you have and are applying them through practice.

If so, you are becoming aware of timing’s closest friend and ally… rhythm. Just like the pendulum is to an old reliable grandfather clock, so is rhythm to your golf swing. Tick – tock.  The proper timing of your golf swing won’t show up with out his good friend rhythm.

Your golf swing should be executed with your shoulders and your upper arms taking the club back on your target line with your forearms and hands remaining quiet and enjoying the ride. Your legs control your weight shift and distribution and they anchor your full turn inside your body line.

As your legs begin to transfer your weight from your back foot to the front your hands must

remain quiet and calm. It is at this critical juncture, that you must resist the urge to ‘fire’ the hands and club head at the golf ball. Be patient. Your hands and club head will catch up; and catch up in a big way.

Remember, your rhythm will bring your timing in your golf swing and as a result evoke the immutable laws of physics. This will bring everything together and release a vast amount of stored energy at the precise moment with very little conscious effort on your part.

Its tick-tock, back foot-front foot; Tick-tock, back foot-front foot. It’s the comfort of a metronome like swing that your golf swing timing will consistently flourish in.

Work to establish a consistent rhythm in your golf swing. Learn to trust your swing timing as a product of your mechanics and rhythm.

The fundamentals of the golf swing itself are the takeaway and backswing, the transition to and the downswing, and the impact and the follow through.

Within each of these segments are sub actions and categories but let’s take high level look at these basic foundations of golf swing fundamentals.

The takeaway and the resulting backswing is where it all begins. This is what sets up the rest of your golf swing and the results that your swing will produce. Tempo, body rotation, and arm extension are three very important aspects of this part of the golf swing.

Tempo is established at this point. The tone of your swing is tempo. Even with all other physical aspects in reasonably good shape, bad or inconsistent tempo will only allow for spotty results at best. Work on a smooth rhythmic tempo.

Probably the most difficult part of golf swing fundamentals (from a physical aspect) for every golfer is making the transition from the backswing into the downswing.

At the top of the backswing, and poised for striking the ball, the biggest mistake made (especially by higher handicap golfers) is to initiate the downswing by accelerating the hands and forearms toward the golf ball. This is wrong end of the body and nothing much good can happen when you do this.

The backswing to downswing transition is always… always initiated from the ground up with

your weight beginning to transfer from you back foot to your front. This is followed by your hips beginning to rotate with the occurring weigh shift. In fact, your upper body and ultimately your hands and arms should feel a slight delay behind the actions of your feet, legs, and hips.

Although certainly an important part of the golf swing fundamentals, the impact and follow

through are a result of the backswing – transition – downswing.

If you haven’t completed the first actions in good fashion, your impact and follow through have little chance.

If however, you’re still on track, at impact your weight should be just on the outside of your front heel and on the inside of your back foot with your left hip rotated and clearing the path for your right hip, arms, and hands to track down the target line.

The physics and fundamentals of the entire golf swing is an exercise in creating resistance and tension in the body then transitioning it and releasing it at the most precise time; all the while being effortless, smooth, and with good tempo.

By definition this is an awkward movement for your body to create with great consistency. But with great consistency and dedication to your practice routine, your golf swing fundamentals and your score will improve over time.

It is indeed an elusive animal, but let’s take a look at what gives you the best opportunity to improve your golf swing consistency.

The first aspect that comes to most people’s mind when trying to improve the consistency in their golf swing is to immediately start looking at and discussing the mechanics of the golf swing.

Although this is indeed a vital part of swing consistency, let’s take a small step back and consider what it is that executes your golf swing and what it is that effects your play more than any knowledge you may posses or any equipment that you may carry in your golf bag.

I am referring to your body and the physical condition that you are in.

Now don’t run off… or should I say ‘click’ off just yet.

I’m not going to spend a vast amount time suggesting or laying out an exercise routine for you.

But, if you are seriously looking at your game and you know that golf swing consistency improvement is a goal for you then I simply suggest that you honestly evaluate your current strength, flexibility and stamina.

Honestly, even if you completely and competently understand and can even replicate excellent golf swing mechanics; can you maintain that precision throughout an entire round or rounds of golf?

You want the same consistency on the last tee box as you had on the first don’t you? Consider getting yourself on some stretching exercises 3 to 4 times a week. And do some walking a few times a week as well.

You should take a look at GolfGym PowerSwing Trainerif you want to personalize specific exercises, or if you are seriously dedicated to your game take and want a more comprehensive fitness approach thenFitness for Golfin an excellent resource and would be the best for you.

Either way, improving your strength, flexibility, and stamina, is the first step toward golf swing consistency improvement. Your body is the machine that’s swings your golf club.

As you probably well know by now if you have been working on your golf swing or just beginning, this thing we call a golf swing is a very complex set of movements and dynamics that have to come together at a fairly precise moment in order to produce a good golf shot.

And not only that, this incredible chain of events doesn’t only just have to happen once; it has to happen again and again in order to produce a satisfying round of golf for you.

So, if you have decided to indeed improve your golf conditioning with your own program or perhaps an even more serious approach with an overall golf fitness program, that great! You are definitely on your way.

Since you are officially underway on your quest toward golf swing consistency improvement, I would like to discuss with you a moment about setting your expectations on this endeavor.

First of all, a thought on practicing.

As you work on your golf swing, practice with a purpose. Don’t just go to your local practice range and pound buckets of balls.

This will do you more harm than good. In the early stages of your learning curve it is extremely more effective to adopt a strategy of it’s not how much I can practice at one time; it’s how often I take the time to practice the consistency in my golf swing in short focused sessions. Hitting ball after ball until you mentally and physically tire is very counter productive.

This next part is extremely important.

Whether you are just beginning or perhaps have been playing awhile and are seriously now trying to improve your golf swing consistency, you need to understand that your proper practice is going to bring about change, and change will bring about some ugly golf shots. And, unfortunately, ugly golf shots will bring about some doubt and maybe some lack of confidence. Know that you are not alone or unique in this experience.

Hardly. Everyone will go through it from the amateur to the professional golfer.

If doubt or lack of confidence begins to overwhelm you, take a step back and get a lesson or lessons. Work with your teaching professional. But, don’t give up. The golf swing is complex and it isn’t learned (or changed) just by hoping so.

Golf swing consistency improvement is a project always under construction. Don’t give up. And do just ‘go back to the way I was hitting the golf ball’. You’re not standing on the practice or have read this article because your are happy with how you were hitting the ball.

Be patient and persistent with yourself and your swing improvements will come.

First of all, remember this… your driver isn’t always the best club for you to hit. Now knowing this and being disciplined enough to keep the driver in the bag may be two different things. Don’t get me wrong…

If you’re hitting the driver well, it’s the right choice. But don’t let your ego get involved in your score.

Approach each tee shot with a plan.

Pick out a spot where you want to play your next shot from then picture yourself hitting that spot. Remember, if you’re having an off day with your driver, hitting your 2nd shot from the fairway is much better than taking strokes to recover from a wayward drive. So, if you need to pick out a spot a club or two down from your driver then do so.

After you’ve stood behind your ball and picked out your target from the tee, then pick out a shorter intermediate target on your line that you can line yourself and your clubface up to. When you do this you accomplish a couple of positive things. Number one and most obvious is that you have confidence that your alignment is correct. And since you have been practicing your alignment you now have confidence in your perceived confidence!

Secondly, there is a very beneficial side effect that picking out a shorter intermediate target has; it works for me and I continually see work with those golfers I work with.

By picking an intermediate target you’ll find that you will take a lot of pressure off your swing. You won’t feel as though you have to ‘reach back for that little extra’ to get to your target. As such your rhythm and tempo will be better. You won’t have such a tendency to over swing; because you’re just trying to get your shot started down the line that you know is correct.

Rolled up, what all of this means is that you’ll provide the swing and let the club do the work instead of trying to get too much out both your swing and the club.

Remember the fairway is, over all, more important than extra distance.

The object here as we’ve discussed these tips is for you to stand on the tee box with a plan and with confidence. As part of your plan, you will pick out a target that coincides with where you want your tee shot to end up. This will trigger your focus and help eliminate other visual variables that the golf hole throws at you. Picking an intermediate target will help get you aligned and keep you swing within yourself know that the club will do good work when you allow it to do so.

Head off to practice now and continue on that rhythm and tempo thing… and just getting the ball started toward your target. You’ll soon find that you can have both good distance along with accuracy.