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.

Golf Tips: It’s In Your Touch

We’ve been working on our short game for the last few issues and for a very good reason.

To become a consistently good or even improved player (key word consistent), you have to posses a good short game. It doesn’t matter who your are, there are going to be times (even days) when you aren’t hitting the greens… hello short game!

Believe me… it is within one’s short game, where by improving it, you can quickly and easily shave numerous strokes off your golf game.

For this time around I want to work with you on developing some touch with your various clubs. In the past I’ve mentioned how important it is for your short game to get the ball on the green and get it rolling toward the hole as soon as possible. The purpose of this next drill is to get you an understanding of the flight and roll characteristics of each of your clubs.

From just off the green and varying distances, pick out a landing spot on the green. You could even stick a tee into the practice green to mark your spot.

Next, with varying clubs, work to chip or pitch your golf ball to hit your landing spot. The idea here is to not only begin to learn the various ball flights of each club, but to also understand the roll characteristics of the ball after it hits the green. Again, we aren’t trying to necessarily get the ball to the pin…

we want to hit the landing spot and learn what the ball does (or doesn’t do from there).

In doing this practice drill you’ll soon begin to get a feel for what each club will do. This will develop your ‘touch’ around the green and it will get those of you who have become locked in to using the same club around the green no matter what the circumstance off of that bad habit as well.

You will also develop a very good sense of what your favorite club to use is under what type of circumstance the shot demands…

and under pressure you’ll confidently know that this club is indeed the club for the job at hand.

A side note hear is that once you have practiced this drill for a while and your understanding and comfort level is good, begin to challenge yourself further by deteriorating your lies a bit.

Remember, on the course you won’t always get a nice cushy lie to work with so once you begin to groove your short chips and pitches, then you’ll want to add some degree of difficulty with less than perfect lies to your practice routine.

Golf Tips: Range To Game II

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 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-verse.  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 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 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 these tips will certainly help you get over that hump.

Golf Tips: Range To Game I

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 tips and techniques that will help you get your golf game from the driving 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 they 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 driving range game to the golf course.

The Best Golf Training Aids RU

Really… the game of golf should be so simple. Golf, the game you can enjoy for a lifetime.

But if you’re struggling with your golf game and your golf swing, looking at the prospect of playing golf for a lifetime may seem more like a sentence than a vacation.

Look, you know there are all kinds of golf training aids out there. We offer many of the most effective and popular training aids and practice equipment.

Including the very popular – in fact chosen by golf pros as the #1 swing trainer club in the world Medicus 2000 Dual Hinge 5 Iron and the Medicus Dual Hinged Driver

Many of them are very useful and if used prudently will lower your golf score. Golf-ology.com will hopefully help you as you navigate around. But, let’s be frank. The best golf practice aid for you is you.

There is no amount of money spent on golf instruction that is going to by default suddenly improve your golf game. If this were the case, my game would be impeccable and all the millionaires would be scratch golfers!

So you see the common denominator is you.

Golf is like any other activity. The more consistent time you are willing to spend on improving your golf game the more your game will improve. And only you can determine this.

Of course the standard approach to playing better golf is to seek out and take some lessons. Getting some qualified golf instruction is a good place to start.

Starting out on the right track with a good understanding of the golf swing and the physics of it will help you to begin to develop the right muscle groups for the golf swing and your balance.

Once you have an understanding of the mechanics of the golf swing, then it’s time to practice. Don’t take on too much information early on. I can’t emphasize this enough. Get a basic understanding of the golf swing then work to reproduce the swing consistently. By this I mean don’t worry about different golf shots, drawing, fading, hooking, or slicing the golf ball. Don’t worry about what club does what. Focus on the reproduction of a solid golf swing.

Get your swing to a good comfort level by developing the proper muscles used in the golf swing. There are many great strength and flexibility exercises you can do. Golf exercises are very, very important. Don’t put a high value on results early on. Learn just the swing. Get your body comfortable with the golf swing. Not golf shots. The shots will come with a consistent swing.

Even now, when I am not getting the results I want from my game, I get back to the swing. Not the clubs, not the golf shot. I work to get comfortable and confident with my swing. The irony is that I work to get my swing back to where I am not thinking about my golf swing when I am standing over the shot. I want to know the swing is there, so I can then focus on the specific shot.

If you’d like some help from some of golf’s greatest, players and instructors such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter, and many more. Simply choose your favorite from this fabulous list of Golf Instructors!

Also, take some time to look around the website. We have many helpful articles on many aspects of the golf game both physical and mental, and for all levels. But remember, the best golf training aids start and end with you.

Golf Tips: Your Footwork

When you work to improve your golf swing, like any other motor skill, the fastest learning curve happens early on in the endeavor.

This is why when you’re first starting to learn the golf swing or you are first starting to get serious about improving your golf swing, it is so very important to develop good golf swing habits right out of the gate.

If you have been playing for a while and have bad habits, it’s probably because they were never corrected early on.

I can’t stress this enough.

Stay with what you know are good habits until they become natural habits and you‘ll get your golf game off to the proper start.

The first thing every new golfer wants to do is drop the ball down and take a whack at it without any thought to the basics that greatly improve one’s chance of actually hitting the target.

Your aim, your alignment, your set up… I find it incredible how many people either pay no to little attention to this, or they aren’t even lined up where they think they are lined up. I mean after all, when you’ve hit a bad shot into the trees only to find that is exactly where you were lined up.

I see this over and over again. There is absolutely no way that you are going to consistently hit good golf shots (even if you have a decent golf swing) if you aren’t lined up and aimed at your intended target.

Having said this, don’t rely initially on picking out your target and aligning to it by only using your own sight.

When you practice, if you don’t have someone behind you letting you know where your stance, your shoulders, and ultimately your clubface is pointing, then lay one of your clubs across the tips of the toes of with the handle of the club pointed down your target line. It is crucial that you get in the habit of doing this and getting into the habit early on in improving your golf swing.

I see so many people that think the key to improving their golf swing is to hit more balls and work on their golf swing.

The reality of the situation is; you can vastly improve your golf swing without even swinging the golf club. In other words, let’s get you lined up properly at your target and get you set up to the ball and your target on a consistent basis, then with your body properly aligned, we can permanently improve your golf swing.

Golf Tips: The Power Of Visualization

Eventually… you just have to put the clubhead on the ball.

At some point, you’ve got to just clear your head and put the clubface on the golf ball…

When it come time to play, you’ve got to stop practicing… start your pre-shot routine and then just put the clubface on the ball.

Sure this sounds simple… but when when I watch people take their game to the course… over and over again, I see them running their latest lesson or practice session through their head.

When it comes time to play, start thinking about managing the course and getting into the moment of each golf shot. Remember, the golf ball only goes where the club tells it to… so relax… drop the mechanics mentality and work on just putting a smooth swing… and ultimately to clubface on the golf ball.

Perhaps a better way to put it would be to practice your mechanics… but play with feel.

The mechanics part is easy and self explanatory… just take a lesson and go to the range to cement the lesson…

The feel part is where the mid to higher handicappers part company… they just can’t seem to leave the mechanics on the range.

Playing with feel is getting in tune with how you are not only going to play each hole on course; but it is also micro’d down to how you’re going to play each shot. Learn to make visualization a part of each and every pre-shot routine in your golf game. Visualize what it is that your are going to accomplish with each of your golf shots… this is imperative for good feel.

Many times an analogy I use when working with people is this; I grew up playing baseball… in fact, all the way through college… I was a pitcher. As a starting pitcher, before each game warming up in the bull pen, I would go through a very specific ‘game day’ routine. And just like any athlete there were days when my stuff was on fire… and there were days when… well… not so much so.

But point here is, when it came time to leave the bull pen and head for the mound the only thought in my mind was… “It’s time to go compete with what I’ve got today.” No more mechanics, no more adjustments… just me, the mound, and the competition.

And that’s what you’ve got to do if you’re struggling with getting your game from the practice tee to the first tee… just go with what you’ve got and when you step up to the tee… engage your eyes… visualize… command your eyes to commint your mind and your body to each shot and target.

For the champion athlete’s this is ‘in the zone’. You can get into your zone as well if you understand that you just go with what you’ve got and commit to your visualization.

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.