If there's one thing I've learned from taking golf lessons and talking with pros and hackers alike, it's that not everything works for everybody. With that in mind, I offer here a few tips which I believe are universal, along with a some suggestions of things which have worked for me and might work for you:
Universal Tips
- Weight Shift - under no circumstances should you let your weight shift to the outside of your right foot (left foot for lefties). It not only kills distance, but makes it nearly impossible to achieve consistent contact with the ball. If this is a problem for you, I recommend a drill where you place a golf ball under the inside of right foot and take practice swings. Be careful not to swing too hard! Repeat this drill often and you'll gain a sense of how your weight should shift. I try to get the feeling that all my weight is "loading" onto the instep of my right foot.
- Don't Grip Your Club Too Tightly - if you do, you'll lose distance and a sense of the clubhead, which is vital for control. Everybody's heard this one again and again, but many golfers continue to wonder how tightly they should be holding their club. Here's a tip: holding your club in both hands with your normal grip, extend it straight out, parallel with the ground. Now point it straight up in the air. It takes a lot of grip pressure to hold it straight out and almost none to hold it straight up. Now move your club to a position half-way between straight up and straight out. Just like Goldilocks (if she played on the LPGA Tour!), you've found the grip pressure that's just right!
- Don't Overswing - other than John Daly, few golfers can get away with a backswing that wraps the club around your head and stops only when the club is pointing directly down at the ball. For 99.99% of the world's golfers, shorter is better. Believe it or not, a short backswing should give you better distance because if offers you a much better chance to achieve maximum clubhead speed at the time of impact than Daly's huge windup. If your club gets past the point of being parallel with the ground, you've gone too far. When trying to limit your backswing, remember that what feels like parallel to you is most of the time actually well past that point. Try practicing your swing in front of a full length mirror and you'll see what I mean.
- When You Can Leave The Flagstick In The Hole - Do It! - we've all heard the line "take the flagstick out if you plan on sinking your chip." This is based on the belief that a flagstick will somehow keep a ball out of the hole more often than it'll help it go in. I can tell you that it has been scientifically proven that this is just plain wrong. Dave Pelz did a study in which he rolled balls from all angles, distances and speeds with the flagstick both in and out. He proved without a doubt that keeping the flagstick IN will give you better results. Think about it... if your ball is going fast enough to be deflected by the flagstick, it's probably going too fast to go in anyway! If it's bouncing over the hole, having the flagstick present to hit it at least gives it a chance to fall in, while without the stick present, it's just going to bounce over the hole. The ONLY exception is a hole which has been cut so poorly that the flagstick leans so far to one side that it will prevent the ball from falling in. When you think about it, there's probably a reason they make you take the flagstick out when you're putting. So, if you're planning on making that chip, leave the flagstick in!
Things Which Might Work For You
- Find The Right Golf Ball For You - there's a golf ball out there designed specifically for the type of golfer you are. It's just a matter of figuring out which one it is. I went to a golf shop once armed with five sleeves of golf balls from various manufacturers and asked if they'd put me on the swing analyzer. At first I received some odd looks when I explained what I wanted to try, but soon the golf pro and golf shop owner were both standing next to me, analyzing the results. We found that for me, some balls went further, some went higher, and some were easier to control. We ended up narrowing it down to three balls, which seemed like they had the best combination of those traits. I took them to the practice area, where I chipped and putted until I found the one which made me feel the most comfortable. No more guesswork. It's been well over a year now and I still prefer to play just one golf ball. You might want to try this, if you can get past the weird looks you may get!
- Balance Your Golf Balls - Dave Pelz did an interesting study in which he discovered that virtually every golf ball sold was out of balance. While most were only slightly off-center, some were significantly out of whack, to the point where ball flight and even roll were effected. After watching enough of my putts on the same line as a competitor's break in the opposite direction, I had sufficient doubt in my mind that I decided to purchase a ball balancer. This little device allows you to locate and mark your ball so that it always flies and rolls on a true line. Perhaps it's all in my head, but I swear that I'm a more confident putter and more consistent striker of the ball since I began doing it. Today I don't play a single ball which hasn't been balanced.
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