Golf Tips: Getting Off The Tee

Let’s talk about your tee shots. Next to putting, the tee shot is probably the most influential part of your golf game when it comes to how you score and your handicap.

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.

Good Golf Practice Drills

If you’re serious about improving your golf game, then you know that you must practice your golf swing and the various golf shots that you may be confronted with.

Developing and taking the time to go through a daily golf practice drill or practice routine will go a long way to expediting the improvement of your golf score and Austad’s golf warehouse is second to none when in comes to offering a full line of golf practice equipment and training aids.

Simply playing your way to better golf may ultimately over time result in some improvement in your game, but some good golf practice drills will get you there much more efficiently.

As you are well aware, on the market today there is no shortage of golf practice equipment and golf swing aids. Many of which can be quite effective in improving your game. The key is that you have to practice

your golf swing on a consistent basis. Remember it’s not how much you practice at one time; its how often you practice that will best improve your golf game. Effective practice routines will improve your golf scores. Practice equipment, when used properly and consistently, will certainly aid in the process.

We all learn differently and when learning the golf swing, I don’t think any two people key on the same thought process. For me, purchasing a golf net to practice my swing was a huge help. With a golf net you can turn your back yard (or your basement as I did) into your own driving range. Hitting into a net allows you to take full real time swings. This allows you to actually feel the contact you make on the golf ball and work on your shot routine and tempo. Also, with a net you can work on every club in the bag.

If don’t want to (or don’t have room for a net) there are other types of golf practice equipment and training aids you can purchase such as tethered golf balls, restricted flight golf balls that will allow you to take full swings without launching a golf ball.

If your short game needs help (and who’s doesn’t) smaller chipping nets provide for some great target and accuracy practice and are easily moveable so you can vary the distances of your pitch and chip shots. For your putting practice there are a multitude of indoor putting greens and swing trackers that can check your putting line and swing path.

Of course, let’s not forget how computerization can help you with your golf practice drill. You can find computerized products that will measure and log your swing tempo your club head speed, and just about any other part of your swing.

Certainly, golf practice equipment can be an important part of your practice routine. The key here is ‘practice routine’. You have to take the time to practice. No amount of practice equipment is going to magically improve your game. It takes a commitment to improve your golf game on your part.

If you are willing to put forth a consistent effort to understand and improve your golf swing, improve yourself physically, use your golf practice equipment and swing aids wisely, and be patient with your progress, then you will begin to drop strokes from your game in no time.

Golf Practice Drills-Your Feet

Balance and rhythm within a golf swing is tantamount to consistency and successful golf shots.

As you know by now the golf swing certainly is not about applying brute force.

With that in mind let’s look a simple yet very effective golf practice drills that will help you promote rhythm and balance in your golf swing. This is one of the most popular drills because it is so easy and effective. And it’s one you can use to warm up or even stay loose.

Golf Practice Drills – Feet Together Drill

Keeping your feet together (or very close to it) practice hitting a ball that is teed up. Swing very slowly at first thinking of a pendulum on a clock.

Focused on rhythm and timing and solid contact (distance is of no concern here). Just focus on a smooth back and forth – to and fro motion and making good contact. Once you are able to consistently make good contact with a consistent rhythm and motion, move the ball off the tee and onto the grass and continue to work the drill.

As you progress with golf practice drills and become more comfortable with your rhythm, balance, and timing you may be surprised at just how far the ball will travel with such an apparent lack of effort… good!

This is what I want. You’ll begin to see that it’s all about rhythm, timing and balance.

The net benefit of this golf practice drill is to improve your timing along with your balance and rhythm. This drill will also reduce the amount of swaying within your golf swing (a very common fault among beginners and high handicappers). This is accomplished via this drill by creating a narrow balance point with your feet so close together.

This is a great drill to always remember and to keep in your tool kit. During those times when your swing has seemed to have left you (it happens to everyone) you can break this drill out and actually can regain your apparent lost rhythm and timing. Even during your round of golf.

And believe me, once you begin to get your rhythm and timing back, a little thing call confidence won’t be far behind.

The feet together golf practice drills – a great drill to either learn or get back rhythm, timing, and balance. A drill you can break out as an on the fly fix at any time. A drill that can actually correct and even prevent many swing faults.

So, keep this drill handy and use it often.

Golf Practice Drill-The Range

With this golf practice drill… after you have hit your driver, put the driver down, and imagine that you are on an actual golf hole and you now have 180 yards to the pin.

O.K. so pick out a target of your scenario distance and get that golf club.

Do your pre shot routine and go after the target.

Then go back to the driver and pick out a different target line that gives you a different visual perspective.

Do this each time as part of your golf practice drill routine aiming for targets that are to the left of you natural line and to the right and so on.

The point here is to change targets and golf clubs frequently; get yourself comfortable and confident with going from a long shafted golf club to a shorter one and vise versa. As I just mentioned, changing your visual perspective of the target is important as well.

Tee boxes on golf courses aren’t so magnanimous that they align you perfectly with the fairway so you must get used to these visual changes that courses throw at you. You always here the expression of how a golf hole fits or doesn’t seem to fit a players eye. Golf course architects are like that.

I’ve mentioned your pre shot routine as a part of this golf practice drill a couple of times.

If you’re not sure you have one work on finding one that feels comfortable to you and use it before every shot.

This doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be some long and drawn out routine that adds another hour to your (and everybody else’s) round of golf. Keep it simple and easy to replicate and get into the habit of doing it.

Hopefully you’ve gotten the gist of this part of your golf practice drill routine.

You’ll note that I said ‘part’ of your practice routine. Certainly if you are just starting to learn the golf swing you will spend more time with just one club in your hand.

But as you advance in your swing and your game there may come a time when you begin to lament that you can’t seem to get your golf game from the range to the golf course. If this is the case then this golf practice drill will certainly help you get over that hump.

Golf Practice Tips-The Range

One of the more frequently visited topics that comes up is how come I can go to the golf practice range and do so well, but when I go to the golf course to play a round a different golfer shows up?

If this somewhat describes you, don’t panic. It is a very common ailment among golfers.

Aside from keeping in mind that just on a daily basis alone your golf swing is going to produce different results and scenarios for you to overcome. Welcome to the wonderful game of golf!

But in all seriousness here in the next couple of articles, I’ll discuss a few golf practice tips and techniques that will help you get your golf game from the practice range to the golf course.

First of all, I make the assumption that you are practicing your golf game on a regular basis and not expecting your game to just miraculously ‘show up’ for you on the first tee.

With this in mind I think that most people should consider that how their golf practice affects their ‘on course’ behavior. Frequently, the resolution to the mysterious vanishing golf swing is in how you practice to get better.

Certainly to gain proficiency at golf one must hit a lot of golf balls. And there are certainly times when your practice routine is one of just focusing on getting your rhythm and timing going. But to get your game from the range to the course you have to focus on certain aspects.

As a part of your golf practice routine you should practice or emulate real golf. First of all (assuming you’ve properly warmed up) starting with driver, pick out your target and give yourself some fairway parameters. By that I mean that say… the flag to left from that flag to the right is the width of my fairway… outside of that I’m in the rough or even O.B.

Stand behind the ball and reaffirm your target line or what ever you pre shot routine may be. Knowing that you now have a target that you must hit and you have but one swing to hit it will add more focus and a certain amount of pressure to your golf swing.

This is what we want here.

If you only put your swing under this type of situation when you are on the golf course itself… well good luck. Good rounds can certainly happen by chance, but you’ll be forever developing any kind of consistency.

Up next let’s finish getting your golf practice swings and range game to the golf course.