How to Swing a Golf Club – Putting (cont.)

Hello Again!

With today’s discussion of how to swing a golf club, I want to continue with the art of putting in today’s post for a couple of reasons. One, it doesn’t matter how or when you get to the green if you can’t putt the hole. Two, I really believe that this is the area of golf where the most people could make up the most strokes. And as well all know, it’s “drive for show, putt for dough.”

I found an article from pga.com that gave me a pretty good insight into my putting troubles. The article talks about whether it’s correct to take the putter straight back and straight forward or to swing on a plane. To sum up the author’s thoughts, if you take the putter straight back and forward, you are much more likely to open and/or close your putter face upon striking the ball. I wish I had heard that about ten years ago! I basically learned that I’m wasting my time lining up my putts because I’m not going to follow my line anyway!!!

The other problem I, and many others, have with putting is what we do with our eyes. I know I end up watching the ball in front of me before it is ever really in front of me (so much for paying any attention to where I’m striking the ball). The article describes a way to check to see if you are positioning your eyes correctly during a putt. I’m fairly certain that my eyes have been correctly positioned during 10% or fewer of my putts during my golf “career.”

So to sum up the no-no’s of putting: swing on a plane and position your eyes correctly. I went out yesterday to try putting on a plane for the first time, and it felt strange to me. So like anything else, practice makes perfect. I hope this was helpful to you!

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.pga.com/improve/tips/shortgame/improve_weeks033007.cfm

If you have any other putting advice, let me hear it!

Matt

How to Swing a Golf Club – Putting

Good day, All!

I hope yesterday’s video was helpful to you in some way in learning how to swing a golf club correctly. Today, however, I want to take a step away from swinging a club and address something that is equally as important to developing your golf game: putting. The art of putting can be an extremely annoying and tedious part of golf. And as we hacks sure know, we take many, many strokes trying to putt that stupid ball into the stupid hole! If you’re anything like me, you’d think with the amount of times you putt the ball per round, you should finally be good at it! Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work like that. You either putt it too hard, too soft, pull it, push it, etc.! The biggest problem I have is what is referred to so lovingly by all my friends and family as the “Manning hook.” About 60-70% of the time, when I bring the putter forward, I am going to end up pulling the ball, thus not giving myself a chance to make the putt. Even worse, during the putt I really try to focus on not making this mistake. That’s when I end up hitting the ball 10 feet past the hole on a 20-foot putt!

Practicing putting for me was an absolute joke. I was about 20 times better there than I was on the course. The problem is that I wasn’t practicing any of the principles that are necessary to have a consistently good putting stroke. The only benefit of me practicing before a round of golf was getting an idea of the speed of the greens. And even then, the practice greens aren’t exactly like the greens on the course. I tried an exercise that I had seen Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh try: place two tees on the green apart from each other enough so as to keep your putter from veering off the correct path. There were two problems for me with this approach: one, I didn’t know exactly how far apart I was supposed to place the tees, and two, I kept hitting the tees and knocking them over.

The biggest thing I needed to remember that was practice makes perfect. For some, a lot more practice is needed to make perfect. The best thing you or anyone else can hope for is a least some small, noticeable improvement. I like to keep track of my putts for each round to see trends and to see if I have improved at all. If I have 45, 42, 46, 43, 40, 48, then I realize that I have made no progress what-so-ever. There’s absolutely no consistency in the amount of putting strokes in those six rounds. However, the last three times I played 18 holes, my strokes were 43, 41, 40. I spent several hours a day on the practice green trying to figure out my darn putting stroke. I may not have improved very much, but I certainly felt better knowing that for three consecutive rounds, my putting strokes decreased! Below is an article that you should take a look at which contains the five most common putting mistakes. The gentleman is not a golf pro, but someone similar to us hack golfers. Therefore, I think he can better identify with our problems. I hope this all helps as you learn how to swing a golf club correctly!

Here is the link to the article I mentioned:

http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7204&Itemid=9

Let me know some of your putting tips!

Matt

Step by Step Tips on How to Swing a Golf Club

Hello All!

I think you are going to enjoy this video. It offers some wonderful step by step instructions on how to swing a golf club. As someone who considers himself a novice, I feel as though I need as much instruction as possible. Having read and attempting to put tips into effect unsuccessfully, I decided to search youtube for some video on how to swing a golf club. In my opinion, watching video is much easier to understand than reading text because you can actually see what is necessary to complete a proper swing. At least reading should try to incorporate some video or pictures for some help.

If only it was as easy as imitating the swing in the video. I remember the first time I went out to practice after watching this video; it was a complete disaster. I probably duffed at least my first 10-15 shot attempts. And as we hack golfers all know, it is extremely frustrating when you don’t hit the ball the way you want or think you will. The biggest thing to remember is that you just have to keep practicing your swing. The only way to truly learn how to swing a golf club is to go out and swing a club at the driving range. I learned for several years of my golfing life that just playing was not nearly enough to hit each one of my clubs consistently. And when I was a teenager, this caused me to be about the least fun person to play golf with because I would get so angry after every single crappy shot I hit. I always wanted to be a better golfer and learn how to swing a golf club correctly, but I would never take the time to actually practice. When I finally grew up (although many people will tell you that I still haven’t!) I decided to look into books and videos on what strategies would be best to develop my golf swing. One thing I found recently was this youtube video that really breaks down every step of the golf swing in a pretty easy to understand manner.

The results are not going to be immediate, especially if you don’t make an effort to practice at least a couple of days during the week. However, I really think you will be able to see some improvement in your golf swing if you take the time to intently watch this video below and apply its principles. I hope this helps you improve your swing at least a little bit!

Let me know how helpful this was for you!

Matt

Stability Balls Helpful in Learning How to Swing a Golf Club

Building core strength using tools like stability balls are very important for learning how to swing a golf club.

According to an article on pgatour.com, consistent posture is extremely important throughout the entire golf swing.

Here are some exercises that are recommended for building core strength and their importance.

Three effective moves you can perform on the stability ball are plank push-ups, hip bridges, and the Russian twist.

In the golf swing, for example, you must maintain a consistent posture angle throughout the complete golf swing even though tremendous forces and changes in balance occur during the backswing and downswing.

Weight training is also important, but being able to lift a significant amount of weight doesn’t necessarily translate into a good, powerful swing. It’s important to do the things that will help you develop a proper golf swing. That, in turn, will lead to increased distance and accuracy.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.pgatour.com/2007/mygame/08/24/stabilityball/

Let me know what you think!

Matt

Swing Plane is a Key When Learning How to Swing a Golf Club.

Learning how to swing a golf club starts with the proper swing plane according to many golf professionals and low-handicap golfers.

According to an article on worldgolf.com, the swing plane directly relates to how straight, high and far you can hit the ball.

Here is more of what the article discusses about the swing plane.

High-handicappers, because of poor swing mechanics or misconceptions regarding swing plane, begin their swings by rolling the club away from their bodies on the takeaway, which immediately puts the club under the swing plane or dotted line.

According to the article’s author, Karen Palacios-Jansen, a major cause of slices and pulls is not keeping your swing on a plane. If you're on plane at this critical part of the backswing, you're more likely to remain on plane throughout the entire swing. Karen Palacios-Jansen was voted one of America’s top 50 instructors by Golf for Women magazine.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.worldgolf.com/golf-instruction/golf-tip-understand-your
-swing-plane-5847.htm

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the swing plane.

Matt

Driver Distance is Important in Learning How to Swing a Golf Club.

Fixing the kinks in your golf swing is not the only way to learn how to swing a golf club properly, including adding distance to your tee shot. Golf fitness exercises are essential for the improvement of your golf game, especially driving distance.

According to an article on pgatour.com, this is the area amateurs would like to see the most improvement in their golf game.

Here is more of what the article discusses about alignment.

For many amateurs the driver can be one of the most difficult clubs in the bag to hit, causing numerous problems with their game from tee box.

To provide you the opportunity to increase the accuracy and distance of your tee shots, we can utilize golf fitness exercises to develop these physical parameters within your body.

The article’s author, Sean Cochran, flexibility exercises are extremely important to increase your driving distance. He discusses some specific exercises and their benefits in the article. There are also other links in the article that offer more exercise tips.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.pgatour.com/2007/mygame/08/18/cochran/

Let me know how helpful these tips are to you.

Matt

Physical Therapist Offers Advice on How to Swing a Golf Club.

Taking lessons on how to swing a golf club can be extremely frustrating. Trying to swing the proper way may not be just because of awkwardness, however.

According to an online article, posture, fitness, and flexibility are essential to improving your game and avoiding the injury bug.

Here is some of the advice the article had to offer.

Professional golfers make it look easy, but the golf swing is actually one of the most difficult and complicated movements in all of sports, requiring stability in some joints and flexibility in others.

The American Physical Therapy Association indicates that posture, fitness, and flexibility are becoming as important to weekend golfers as they are to the professionals. Major champions such as Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara, and Corey Pavin are even known to get physical therapy.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.bunkershot.com/2007/viewstory.cfm?ID=4499

I’d love to hear what you think about physical therapy’s relation to a good golf swing.

Matt

New Zealander Discovers How to Swing a Golf Club Tiger Woods’ Style.

Nick Bayley, a golf professional from New Zealand, says there is one swing difference between a professional golfer and an amateur golfer when learning how to swing a golf club.

According to an online article, Nick Bayley from New Zealand developed a swing test to see if amateur golfers suffer from what Bayley refers to as “the serious swing fault.”

Here is some of what the article mentioned about Bayley’s theory.

Once Bayley discovered the major swing difference, he created a golf swing test so every amateur golfer could quickly find out how their swing compares to that of a top professional.

Bayley claims that the average golfer’s handicap has not improved over the last 25 years. He also indicates that “the serious swing fault” can cause a golfer up to 50 yards in distance.

Here is a link to the article:

http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=
view&id=11602&Itemid=9

Here is a link to Bayley’s website:

Golf Swing Test!

Let me know your thoughts and results.

Matt

Verifying Alignments is a Key to Learn How to Swing a Golf Club.

Chuck Evans of golfnewsupdate.com discusses the many different factors that go into learning how to swing how to swing a golf club.

According to an online article, clubface to target line, grip to clubface, hands to the ball, plane angle, pressure points, and right forearm position all encompass alignment of a golf swing.

Here is more of what the article discusses about alignment.

The clubface to the target line is absolutely critical and changes depending on what motion you are making with the clubface.

Chuck Evans is one of only 31 people in the world with their doctorate in golf stroke engineering. He has also served as director of schools for the PGA Tour Academy. The article also includes how Mr. Evans can be contacted.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.golfnewsupdate.com/ShowArticle.asp?CategoryID
=3&ArticleID=172

Hope you find these tips helpful.

Matt