Golf Lessons-Getting The Most

In our last segment we talked about strategies to fix your golf swing when a problem arises with your golf swing. First needing to recognize the problem, and then identifying the cause of the problem itself.

Also, I mentioned that if you get stuck and can’t seem to break away from your swing problem that you should seek out your local pro and schedule a set of golf lessons.

Because the last thing you want to be doing is going to driving range and trying everything under sun, hitting ball after ball only to frustrate yourself and accomplish little to nothing when comes to fixing your golf swing.

Essentially, what I am getting at here is that you need to know when to take golf lessons for an ailing golf swing.

Today, I want to go over a few thoughts to help you get the most out of your golf lesson with your pro.

First of all (especially if this is your first lesson) narrow down the scope of your lesson.

In other words, only have a couple of aspects of your golf swing that you want to address and learn about. If you’ve decided to take a lesson, it’s probably to correct a chronic problem, get to the next level on something you’ve been working on, or to begin learning something new. Of these, it’s important that you communicate your purpose to your instructor. And probably the most important aspect is to follow up your lesson by practicing (note that I did not say playing).

If you don’t already have a teaching pro that you are comfortable with, this is the first step. You’ll want to find a pro that listens to your goals and what you want to accomplish.

People learn and people teach in different ways and it is important to find a good match for yourself in that you have to trust in the teachings. In other words, it’s best to find a golf pro whose teaching style matches your learning style.

Don’t have unrealistic expectations and believe that you are going to get immediate results. The golf swing is a very complex physical movement that is even more difficult to replicate on a consistent basis. No matter what sort changes you’ve discussed with your teaching professional, know that it will take some time and probably a good bit of practice to get them ingrained into your swing.

I can tell you from experience that it is the practicing part that gets slighted or left out completely. You’re reading this probably because you want your golf game to improve, so I can be honest with you in saying; that if you don’t put forth the effort by practicing, and you expect the golf lessons from your pro to go with you straight to the first tee, you’re doing yourself and the money you paid for the lesson a disservice.

Don’t be put off by the thought of practicing your burgeoning golf game.

Remember it is practice that makes permanent; and trying to just play your way to a better golf game rarely works.

At best it’s incredibly inefficient.

And besides, everyone at every level of the game of golf if they are serious about their game practices.

Coming up I’m going give you something tips on how to get the most out of your practice and driving range time and some fun doing so.

A Bad Golf Swing-Common Among Bad Golfers

Learning the mechanics of the golf swing… No. Let me rephrase.

Teaching the mechanics of a good golf swing to someone with a bad golf swing is a challenging task. Of course, we know that a bad golf swing will result in a bad golfer, but how do you get to a better golf swing?

This is a question that I would ask myself as I would take an initial look at someone who had come to me for help. After a while, and witnessing many bad golf swings, I began to realize that these golf swings (or lack thereof) did have some things in common.

Basically almost all bad golfers and their subsequent swings have some basic similarities. These are deficiencies in their grip – their stance or set up – their posture – and their weight shift during the swing.

If you want to improve your golf game, you have to improve your golf swing. And to improve your golf swing your have understand the aforementioned areas.

The interesting thing that we as teachers often times do is to go over the grip, stance, posture, and the weight shift. Then we have the golfer take a couple practice swings with all this new information, and drop a golf ball down and look for the results. This is fascinating.

The game of golf is so focused on end results.

Where did the golf ball go after I hit it? I’ve done this when working with someone… I would venture that we as instructors all have. A curious technique to be sure. We see the practice swing knowing that it’s … well not too good, but yet we still want to hit the golf ball (I guess only to verify that it is indeed a bad golf swing).

The point here is that once you initially get with someone to help you understand the various parts and aspects of the golf swing, then take a step back (from the golf ball) and work on the swing. Work on the muscles that execute the parts of the swing. Get comfortable with gripping the club, your stance, your posture. Swing the clubs over, and over, and over, without the hitting the ball.

Work to where you can just sweep the top of the grass or the practice mat over and over with a consistently executed golf swing. Once the grip, stance, posture, and weigh shifting through the swing become second nature, only then introduce the striking of the golf ball. Then get back with your instructor and have them evaluate your progress on the golf swing, not the results at this point.

A bad golf swing is going to produce bad golf shots. Work on your swing first and the shots will follow.

Golf Swing Help-The Footwork

One of the more overlooked aspects when it comes to learning about the golf swing when discussing various tips for golf is the importance of the role of the feet, legs, and hips in the golf swing.

Many professional and teaching professional would argue that a good reliable and consistent golf swing is built from the ground up.

Jack Nicklaus being one.

An interesting mind set that we humans have when it comes to achieving longer golf drives is that we must accelerate our hands faster or have our hand and forearms accelerate the golf club faster in order to gain more club head speed and distance.

With the golf swing, nothing could be further from the truth.

So without, gaining greater acceleration on the club head, how does one gain greater distance on their golf drives you ask? Well, it’s not that you don’t have to increase your club head speed; it’s that you don’t accomplish this by ‘firing’ the club head at the golf ball with your hands. Yet, this is probably the one biggest peccadillo of average golfers.

Your legs are unquestionably stronger than your hands and arms. And if you will learn to properly use the strength of your legs in unison with the proper turn of your hips and shoulders to propel your golf shot you’ll see distance and accuracy that you never thought you had.

And did I mention consistency.

Proper footwork and the use of your legs creating a grounded foundation for the hip and shoulder rotation results in torque or stored energy, that when simply released at the proper time will create more club head speed naturally and a more repeatable golf swing for more consistent golf shots.

If you’ll notice, to this point, nowhere in our discussion on this tip for golf have I even alluded to doing anything with your hand or arm speed to generate more club head speed.

This is not by accident.

Creating stored energy and releasing it at the proper moment just before impact is a result of proper footwork and body turn. The resulting paths and actions that the arms and hands take during the golf swing are a result not an action.

Glad you’re still with me!

Up next let’s take a look at some detail as to how the lower body works in the golf swing with Tips For Golf – The Backswing!

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.

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