You are here: Home / Archives for distance control with a wedge

Improve Golf Swing Performance – The Secret to Stop Slicing Your Way Around The Course!

October 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

To improve golf swing performance, golfers must learn to swing the club “in to out”.

A swing pattern which travels “in to out” help’s the golfer better control ball trajectory – in turn improving golf swing performance and play.

Having a greater sense of how swinging the club “in to out” will improve golf swing performance may help the golfer better understand and grasp the concept itself.

In his book, “On Learning Golf”, author Percy Boomer offers some expert advice to help golfers improve golf swing performance. He explains how swinging the club “in to out” is the golfer’s best way of successfully managing both ball flight and run.

Boomer writes;

“This feeling of in-to-out is intimately connected with that other feeling…that of being set inwards and behind the ball. The long straight drive that covers the pin all the way is the result of a swing which you feel travels from in-to-out. This is what we all refer to as an in-to-out swing; a shot in which the club head does actually take this path (as distinct from being felt to take it) is only played by the first-class golfer when they want to put pull on the ball. And if you will think it out, that suggests why the in-to-out feeling is something that we teachers try to instill into every pupil.

The point being that, while an exaggerated in-to-out feel gives pull, the correct in-to-out feel gives straightness and no in-to-out feel (that is, the feeling that the club head goes along the line of flight) gives slice.

The advantage of the modern in-to-out swing is seen in both the flight and the run of the ball. Hit with the correct in-to-out feel, the ball is given the very minimum of backspin—consequently it “floats” through the air and, when it pitches, takes its natural spin forward, instead of kicking sideways as an undercut ball tends to do, as every lawn-tennis player knows.

To return to the subject of slice. The man who gave me my first job as a professional thirty-five years ago was the late H. L. Curtis—father of the present Pro at Queen’s Park, Bournemouth. He told me many years later that he was doubtful about giving me the job, but having done so he started me off with a very sound piece of advice. “Now laddie,” he said, “if you ever want to make good at this business, you had better find out how to teach people not to slice.”

Those were the days before in-to-out! Consequently few players could get any draw on the ball, and mainly we just sliced our way around the course. Well, it took me a good twenty years to learn to correct that natural tendency in my own game, and then I had to learn to pass it on to my pupils. For make no mistake, everyone has to be taught; it does not come naturally. In some respects teaching golf is like fighting the Devil“!

Improve golf swing performance by learning to correctly swing the club “in to out”!

Use Boomer’s professional instruction in your practice sessions.

Check back soon for more posts and tips to improve golf swing performance!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Improve Golf Swing – Learning to “Feel” the Swing for Better Golf Performance!

September 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

To improve golf swing performance a golfer must learn to swing their club using their sense of “feel”.

A golfer’s sense of “feel” is the program of body movements hardwired in their neuro-muscular system. “Feeling” is built from each swing attempt – the summation of these swings becomes the golfers command center from which all future swings are to be subconsciously guided.

To improve golf swing performance golfers must learn to trust their sense of “feel” and use it to properly motive and direct their swing efforts.

Using “feel” to improve golf swing performance is not as difficult or abstract as it may initially sound. With some simple instruction golfers may better understand and apply this concept to their swing and game.

In his book, “On Learning Golf”, author Percy Boomer offers some expert advice to help golfers improve golf swing performance. He explains the sense of “feel” and the important role it plays in a winning golf swing pattern.

Boomer writes;

“After a while by dint of pivoting correctly, not dipping our shoulders (i.e. not lifting with the arms), we begin to play some good shots, nice and straight and reasonably long. We have arrived at this stage by building on the basic trinity—pivot, shoulders up, and width—and by occasionally taking a sly peep at how they are going. So far we have never consciously produced a good shot; we have merely made certain mechanical movements which we have been taught will result in good shots.

But now we begin to realize how we should feel in order to produce a good shot. We are on the other side of the fence. We know now what it feels like to produce a good shot, and now, instead of preparing for a shot by sly looks at our pivot etc., we instinctively get into the position which we feel will produce a good shot. And as we go on, the feeling of this preparatory state comes more and more into the foreground.

Also because we are working from a secure basis we can now begin to notice the nuances and subtleties. We find that we produce purer shots from one sensation than from another only slightly different. We are enticed to arrange our back swing according to the type of shot we wish to produce: an extra pivot if we wish to pull or a restricted pivot if we wish to slice. But please notice that this will not be a conscious, mechanical control—you will not say to yourself, “I wish to slice slightly so I will restrict my swing to an arc of so many degrees,” you will simply alter your swing unconsciously in response to your feeling of what will produce the shot you want.

In other words, the control of your shots has now been placed outside your conscious mind and will. You have built up a feel that a certain swing will produce a slice—so you can produce a slice by getting that feel into your swing. This is only the beginning of control by feel to the very good golfer.

They begin to hit a variety of shots, with little difference in flight or character and yet each subtly different and with its individual feel. They file away in the “feel cabinet” in their unconscious memory all these subtleties. Consequently they never have to “think out” a shot on the course—they see the lie and the flight required, and these produce, by an automatic response, the right feel from their cabinet and so the right shot from their club.

In this connection consider the hanging lie. Now this golfer’s bugbear is a bugbear simply because it is thought that a shot from a hanging lie must be difficult; so the very sight of such a lie produces difficulties in the mind. If you learn to play by feel, no such difficulties will crop up; the sight of a hanging they will suggest the feel of the necessary swing, restricted and slightly from the outside with the face somewhat open in consequence. Because of the lie you feel that this will give you a shot of normal height, though you feel (correctly again) that such a swing played on the tee would produce nothing better than a vulgar slice!

In one sense, when I tell a pupil at their own request how to play from a hanging lie, I am telling them something I do not know. All I know is the feel of how to play off a hanging lie—and I know that well, for when I was at my apex as a golfer I missed fewer shots from indifferent lies than I did from the tee—probably because I concentrated more severely on the difficult shots than on the easy ones. Difficulties help concentration. I would rather have a bunker to pitch over than a plain run up of the same distance to play“.

Improve golf swing performance by “feeling” your way through the swing pattern!

Try implementing Boomer’s professional instruction into your practice sessions.

Check back soon for more posts and tips to improve golf swing performance!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Improve Golf Swing – Building A Better Swing At Your Address!

September 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment

To truly improve golf swing performance all golfers need to perform a close examination of their address.

The address reveals much about a golfer’s handicap and quality of movement – signaling to the world the level of golf they are capable of playing!

Golfer’s looking to improve golf swing performance need to fully understand that a correct address shapes the perfect swing pattern from beginning to end.

Shaping the perfect swing pattern is essential to improve golf swing performance. It is through this shaping that the golfer learns to feel their swing.

In his book, “On Learning Golf”, author Percy Boomer offers some expert advice to help golfers improve golf swing performance. He explains, in great detail, the address to the reader – helping them put feeling into their form.

Boomer writes;

“The experienced eye can make a very accurate guess at the handicap of a player after seeing them make a few practice swings, and as soon as their address is completed we can be sure of their quality.

Now at first glance it might seem that it would be simple enough for anyone to learn to stand correctly before the ball—to cultivate an impressive address. Yet there is this difference which enables the cognizant to recognize even the subtle variation between the good and the very good golfer before the ball has been struck.

It is an interesting point and one of some practical importance, because it is directly related to the true aim and purpose of the preparatory movements. We can recognize a golfer’s quality in these movements because they express both what they intend to do and how they intend to do it. The difference between the good and the ordinary golfer is that the good one feels their shot through their address.

Whether or not they have learned deliberately to play by feel, the good player feels, through their carriage and balance as they addresses the ball, the coming movement that will bring their club face squarely against the ball. Briefly to analyze the feeling of carriage and balance—they feel they are set inwards and behind the back of the ball and their legs, hips and shoulders are all braced, inside and behind the ball.

Now this is a point where I must ask you to stop and consider and analyze carefully exactly the meaning I want to convey by the word braced because this is most important to a realization of the correct feel of the body.

My dictionary defines a brace as “anything that draws together and holds tightly,” and I think that is clear and that it expresses the feeling we have when we are braced. But you may try it and promptly come back with the question, “But how can I feel braced and yet not become stiff?” A very pertinent question, and I will try and give you the answer.

When we take lessons in deportment we are told to walk with our hips pulled in, in other words to brace our hips. Yet we know that this does not make our carriage stiff; it makes it not stiff but firm and decisive.

So also, when I tell you as you address the ball to keep your elbows close together, you will immediately feel a sensation of drawing in your elbows the one towards the other. As a consequence your arms will not feel like two separate and independent arms but like a linked united pair of arms; yet they will not feel stiff. The “holding together” of your shoulder blades holds the top of your structure together and links up with the power from your hips. You will find your biceps being pulled into your thorax, your shoulders and arms being drawn together, and, if then the stomach is drawn inward, one definite (inward) direction of brace is set up.

The second direction in which we brace our bodies at the approach is upwards, yes upwards, towards the sky! The natural tendency as we stand to our ball is to droop from our hips and curve our backs. But if we are good golfers we resist this tendency by an upward brace—slightly bent over but pulled up to our full height and neither drooped nor curved.

Set like this we will feel our left side as straight as a poker, though not as stiff as one, and our left foot pushing down into the ground. Of course as the weight is equally divided between the feet, this pushing down is a feeling in the right foot also. The result is a highly desirable one; as a reaction to our upward brace, we feel ourselves standing firm as we address the ball—a thing we are frequently told to do but rarely told how to do!

So with our hips, shoulders, and arms braced and the body stretched upwards and braced, we no longer feel a loose, flabby, drooping figure but an upright and yet compact one. But we have one more direction of brace to add—this comes from the hips and I can best describe it as a twist forward which completes the bracing up of the whole body at the address.

As we stand to the ball our feet must not be too wide apart; the right foot should be at right angles to the line of flight, the left one pointed slightly out; a line across the toes of both feet should (like the line between the shoulders) be parallel to the line of flight. From this position, we twist our hips round (horizontally) to the left, not as far as they will go but as far as they can go in comfort, i.e., without pulling our hips out of shape. How far this is depends on how supple we are. Probably the degree of movement will be only slight, but the effect of this forward leftward twist is to tauten up the whole body without stiffening it.

Because we are anchored, first by our feet to the ground and secondly by our square-set shoulders held up against the forward pull of the hips, the right knee does not resist so we find our left side straight and our right side bowed inwards. And these, left side straight and right side bowed in, are very definite feels which come from (and can be used to check) correct bracing.

These three directions of brace should now make us feel a complete unit, which we can think of as “the set.” I think they are what makes the good golfer feel compact. They give the feeling that we can carry the club head back away from the ball by the body twist inwards and behind the back of the ball. In other words, if you are properly braced there will be no sensation of wanting to lift the club head up. This is important; we should never feel that we lift the club head, but that we carry it back around with the body and along the ground.

This feeling that the club head keeps down is equally necessary in the follow through, after we have sent the ball on its way. We must feel that we have dispatched the ball out and along but not up“.

Improve golf swing performance by examining where it all begins – at the address!

Try incorporating Boomer’s advice into your golf swing practice routine.

Check back soon for more posts and tips to improve golf swing performance!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Proper Golf Swing – 8 O’ Clock – The Best Time To Begin The Downswing!

September 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The true definition of what constitutes a proper golf swing is open to debate.

It is universally accepted however, that to create a proper golf swing pattern, different movements of the body and club must rhythmically come together.

Fusing both the body and club together into one well coordinated and timed mechanism is critical to consistently executing a proper golf swing.

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” author Leslie King uses the hands as an example to illustrate the important role correct coordination and timing play in executing a proper golf swing.

King writes;

“The club head is released into the delivery when the hands have descended to a point almost level with the ball, at which point the club head is still lagging, POINTING TO EIGHT O’CLOCK, maybe even higher but certainly not lower.

My experience is that pupils generally find this eight o’clock position of the club head one of the most difficult features of the swing to achieve. But how worthwhile it is to strive for. The hallmark of the outstanding player is one who lets the club head go into the same hitting area and maintains the club-line through the ball consistently with each shot. It makes for constant accuracy with the various clubs.

Let me put it this way. Take a fairish golfer with a good-looking shape to their swing but with an unsure delivery. Inferior timing and hand-control cause them to vary the position of the club head as it comes in for release into the hitting area.

There they are with three balls lined up to be struck from the same spot with, say, their seven iron to the green. With their inconsistent delivery the landing area for these three balls is liable to be extensive. They are likely to pitch one on the back of the green, one on the front, and the third probably short. This takes no account of any deviation from the line which may occur.

Work and train yourself to give the hands time and room to bring the club into the eight o’clock position from which you will be poised to make that carpet-beater action at and through the ball.

Now do you see why the shaped swing must be harnessed to a shaped delivery? Let me repeat that the way to train your hands to give you this eight o’clock position is to give them time. Wait for it before you let the power pour into the back of the ball”.

A proper golf swing is the result of successfully fusing together the body and club into a well coordinated and timed mechanism.

Use King’s expert advice to help get the most from your swing pattern!

Check back soon for more articles and posts to help you achieve a proper golf swing!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Golf Swing Mechanics – Curing the Shanks!

September 8, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Faulty golf swing mechanics can produce some of the most undesirable shots in golf, including one of the most feared – shanking.

Golfers desperately want to avoid this horrific shot and try to strike the ball straight and true.

The remedy – identify the golf swing mechanics producing the faulty shot. Golf swing mechanics are the lasting cure to all that ails your swing!

In his book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game”, author Joe Novak explains the faulty golf swing mechanics behind the shank.

Novak writes;

“This dreaded fault, when the ball literally squirts off the club at a 90° angle, petrifies many golfers. Shanking generally occurs on short approach shots of 90 yards or less. On such shots a player will very often determine there is no need for any body action, and this concept plus an extra tight grip with the left hand will cause shanking.

If the player decides they are not going to use their body in the shot, they will invariably force the club to the outside of the line of the shot on the backswing. Add a tight grip with the left hand and the club will automatically roll into an open face position. With this open face position and an outside of the line of flight movement of the club, there is an added tendency for the weight to sink heavily onto the left foot. This combination—(a) club in an open position, (b) club to the outside of the line of flight, (c) weight heavily sunk onto the left foot—is a sure way to shank. As the downswing starts, the club will naturally swing even more to the outside of the line of flight, forcing the player to pull the club sharply across the ball from the outside in. The player will then meet the ball with the heel of the club and away it squirts.

The shot just described—club face open, club to the outside of the line of flight, weight sunk onto the left foot —is nothing more or less than an extremely exaggerated slice shot technique. And that is what shanking is, an exaggerated slice action“.

Golf swing mechanics are both the reason and the remedy for the shanks!

Use Novak’s expert advice to help cure the shanks!

Check back soon for more tips and posts to help improve your golf swing mechanics!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Proper Golf Swing – It’s the Hands That Hold the Key to Proper Golf Swing Performance

September 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Learning to execute a proper golf swing is a complex affair for most golfers.

The process can be confusing, especially to the beginner golfer. To successfully coordinate all the necessary body actions into a beautifully synchronized movement can prove difficult task to even the most experienced golfer.

As intricate as it may initially seem, a proper golf swing begins with correct operation of the hands.

The hands “hold” great importance in performing a successful swing pattern. The hands shape the swing controlling the club, club head and timing. Without the hands a proper golf swing is almost impossible to create.

In the book, “The Master Key to Success at Golf” author Leslie King provides greater insight into the key role the hands play in a proper golf swing.

King writes;

“The role of the hands in the operation of sending the ball to its objective is a subject of endless argument. The importance I attach to the hands may be gauged in the first place by what I have to say about the grip. I want to deal with it at some length and in considerable detail.

My belief is that while the beginner needs to give a lot of attention to applying their hands in the manner in which they can retain control and impart feel of the club head and obtain the maximum power from the shaft, the more experienced and advanced player, having developed strong and well-trained hands, more naturally gets the hands fitting into the swing unit as a whole without always realizing it.

For one thing the top golfer has developed a sound and constant grip on the club which in itself PERMITS the hands to work properly. You may find the odd good player with a suspect grip, but you will seldom find a bad one with a good grip.

…The grip is the first step we take towards the shaping of the swing. Slackness or movement on or away from the shaft at any stage of the swing can throw the whole operation out of line and completely wreck the timing.

I go so far as to say that conscientious work on the grip until it is correct in all its details will contribute more than any other factor towards the building of a finely shaped swing. The feet, legs, back, shoulders all have their essential parts in the movement, and good hand-action in itself will not bring these members into play as some pundits would have us believe.

But without the proper use of the hands these other physical members will not be able to function as smoothly as they must“.

The hands play an important part in the execution of a proper golf swing pattern.

Use King’s advice to help you quickly develop a successful golf swing!

Check back soon for more articles and posts to help you achieve a proper golf swing!

Filed Under: Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Golf Swing Mechanics – The Clubs & Their Role in Successful Golf Swing Mechanics

September 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

For many golfers mastering golf swing mechanics are one of the most frustrating challenges of the game.

Many golfers fail to recognize that their choice of club plays a major role in executing successful golf swing mechanics.

Truth is – using the wrong tool to complete a certain task will make the assignment unnecessarily more difficult and maddening! This same principle applies to golfers and their selection of clubs!

Each club is designed to serve a certain function – distance, loft or rolling. For the club to perform its correct purpose – directing a ball to its intended location, golfers must simply learn to consistently execute one single swing pattern possessing the proper golf swing mechanics.

In his book, “Golf Can Be an Easy Game”, author Joe Novak expands upon this concept in greater detail. He explains that many golfers make their golf swing mechanics and game much more difficult than they have to be. For Novak, golf is an easy game to master, requiring the golfer to perfect one simple swing and let the clubs do the heavy work!

Novak writes;

“Every good golfer learns that it is one thing to swing a golf club, but it is another thing to know what position the club is in while it is being swung.

…this is a good time to tell you what an easy game golf is, and what an enjoyable game it can be with a correct understanding of the simple facts:

(a) A golf club will only do what the player makes it do.

(b) Each club is designed for a specific purpose, and only when it is applied to the ball in its true, natural state will it produce the effect for which it was designed.

(c) Basically, there are only three clubs in golf:

1. The driver, shaped so that it drives the ball on a low trajectory and is therefore used for distance shots.

2. The iron, formerly called a lofter, does exactly what the name implies—it lofts or lifts the ball. This club is used to place the ball into position in certain spots on the fairway or on the green.

3. The putter, which would be better named a “roller,” is so designed that it rolls the ball; therefore, it is the club used to accomplish the very purpose of the game—roll the ball into the cup.

But golfers are not limited or restricted to these three clubs. Golfers get themselves a set of two or three, more generally four, but sometimes even five, drivers. They carry a set of three or six, most generally a set of eight, irons. They usually add to this outfit a heavy weighted club to get the ball out of deep grass or sand traps. And, the above clubs, along with a putter, generally constitute the set of 14 clubs that a golfer is permitted to use in tournament play.

Now, having such an outfit is a perfect waste of material unless each and every club is swung in the same way so that the various differences in the shapes of the clubs can each perform their objectives. In other words, golf is an easy game to play, because the player has a specific club or tool for each shot or effect that is desired. All they have to do is to learn the one basic swing and apply it to each club.

By comparison, the game of tennis is difficult. In tennis, the player has only one club or one racquet, the ball is never in the same position—it is either high or low, in front of them or behind them—and to make their shots successfully the tennis player must learn and be able to play several different strokes. But not so the golfer. If they correctly learn the one stroke, they can simply let the club do the work”.

The correct choice of club is a major contributor to successful execution of golf swing mechanics.

Use Novak’s expert advice to help you get the most out of your clubs – the tools of the game!

Check back soon for more tips and posts to help improve your golf swing mechanics!

Filed Under: featured, Golf Swing, Golf Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page »

Affiliate Policy: Due to recent laws www.golfswingstip.com is considered an advertisement. www.golfswingstip.com has an affiliate relationship with all the products and services discussed/displayed on this site and accepts/receives compensation and/or commissions on all sales, leads and traffic made when visitors click an affiliate link. If you have any questions regarding our earning disclaimer please contact us: golfpro@golfswingstip.com