Golf Tips

dobaluchi

Whats the most important golf tip you have been told you focus on that works ?

What do you think is the most important thing for you in hitting a good shot ?

Mr. Larson

Slow the feck down. Can never do it consistently though.

heavyballs

Jabberwocky wrote: »

Slow the feck down. Can never do it consistently though.

i think using this slowing down swing thought can prove to be quite detremental as it results in lack of rhythem and lack of club head speed resulting in the player trying to scoop the ball up as opposed to hiting down on the ball.
yes some swing too fast,this is true but if i'm teaching someone from scratch i try to get a natural tempo going whether that be slow or fast and then work on the other parts of the game

one of the main faults i see is players gripping the club too firmly,do that and your pissing again' he wind from the start

Mr. Larson

I guess that's the issue really. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another.

Some good videos here.

http://www.videojug.com/film/golf-swing-instead-of-hit
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-perform-the-perfect-golf-swing
http://www.videojug.com/film/the-rhythm-of-the-golf-swing

Last one illustrates heavyballs' point about rhythm very well actually.

dobaluchi

I defo agree Jabberwocky about slowing down.

The thing is under stress u default to a swing that tries its damndest to hit the bloody thing and the result is pants.

Trying to build in a swing that takes everything into account that yer supposed to do and for that to become your default swing is what I am trying to do.

For me though moving my back before my arms works a treat.

Sammo13

Since I was a kid, I was told when placing the ball on the tee, always place the logo/name at the back of the ball. So when hitting the ball, zone in on the name and don't move your head until its hit.

Don't complicate the game, keep it simple, swing easy, eye on the ball..

charlieIRL

Jabberwocky wrote: »

Slow the feck down. Can never do it consistently though.

same here.

and keep your head down!!

thegen

heavyballs wrote: »

i think using this slowing down swing thought can prove to be quite detremental as it results in lack of rhythem and lack of club head speed resulting in the player trying to scoop the ball up as opposed to hiting down on the ball.
yes some swing too fast,this is true but if i'm teaching someone from scratch i try to get a natural tempo going whether that be slow or fast and then work on the other parts of the game

one of the main faults i see is players gripping the club too firmly,do that and your pissing again' he wind from the start

Heavy, Are you a Pro?

Halfprice

slow swing seems to work for me also but mostly i need a nice rythm. I can tell well i swing to fast (hard) rather than consistent swing. Best tip was to pick spot few inches ahead of the ball to line myself up properly.

BoardsMember

For me, at various stages of learning golf, the thing to come back to has always been keep the head still. Putting, driving, irons, it's always key for me. It obviously includes keeping your head down, but it also means not swaying. If your head is in the same position throughout the swing, so will most of the other big muscles, and you've half a chance of getting a decent hit on the ball, regardless of swing speed etc

Irishvillian

Sammo13 wrote: »

Since I was a kid, I was told when placing the ball on the tee, always place the logo/name at the back of the ball. So when hitting the ball, zone in on the name and don't move your head until its hit.

Don't complicate the game, keep it simple, swing easy, eye on the ball..

Agree 100% with this i find it really helps,also agree with not gripping the club too tightly.

stockdam

With irons and fairways woods.......hit the big ball after you hit the small ball.

heavyballs

thegen wrote: »

Heavy, Are you a Pro?

no was down to 2,now at 5,teach in a few schools around,have been told i have a good eye in terms of teaching,give lessons to friends for free,use them as lab rats as i am thinking of getting involved in the next few years as going by the improvement in some of my friends i must be doing something right
self thought down to 2 and the only lessons i've ever had(about 6) have been just for info purposes to see what the different coaches thought of my swing

heavyballs

best tip you'll ever get and goes totally against what a few posters mentioned,
don't keep your head down,what i mean is a lot of players keep it down after the ball is gone resulting in the turn and the correct sequence of the swing stopping
does anyone else agree with this
(trying not to be sexist)you see a lot of women with this problem,i often wonder how do they know where the balls gone,i wish my other half would keep the head down that long:D

garancafan

dobaluchi wrote: »

What do you think is the most important thing for you in hitting a good shot ?

Don't hit - swing!

G1032

heavyballs wrote: »

don't keep your head down,what i mean is a lot of players keep it down after the ball is gone resulting in the turn and the correct sequence of the swing stopping
does anyone else agree with this

Yes. I agree.
Sure people will top and skull the ball, even miss the ball, but 99% of the time it's not because they didn't keep their head down. 'Keep your head down' is a comment you hear after someone has hit a shot similar to what I've described above. But keeping the head down isn't the solution.........
You top a ball because your whole body is raising up through impact (and as a consequence the club head), not just your head, and if you're being told to keep your head down to resolve this issue then I'd bet you're not being told this by your local pro. You're being told this by your playing partners, who 99% of the time, don't know what the're talking about when it comes to the golf swing.
I think the best tip anyone could get is not to listen to their playing partners advice and not to listen to the 'tips' they print in golf magazines.

snowy666

I have three things I'm constantly checking;

1). The number one thing for me at set-up is getting a stable base. I actually want a little tension in my right thigh, as it gives me something to build against in the backswing. I then drive from that leg into impact,
2). I agree you're not keeping your head down as such, rather keeping it in a stable position, in relation to the swing. By doing this, it stops me moving too far laterally away from the ball and encourages that turn around and against the right leg.
3). Tempo, tempo, tempo. This could actually be numbers 3 to 10, it's that important. I regularly count 1, 2 in my head when things are getting out of whack. That 1, 2 count goes for EVERY club when using a full swing. It stops me over-swinging. If I start to over swing, my right arm will fold and... well I don't like to think about it tbh:eek:

A lot of people - my previous self included - seem to think you need to swing back as far as you can to gain power. This is nonsense. In actuality, they end up having a decreased club head speed at impact. More controlled, compact swings, using your legs to drive through the shot are very powerful and far, far easier to replicate, giving the consistency we all look for.

Jul3s

The best tip I ever got was to clearly pick a small target and concetrate totally on that point and you'll never be too far away.
Also when people say "keep your head down" they don't mean keep it perfectly still and locked in one position, because that is clearly wrong, what people mean is don't lift your head too early.

shaycl

The best tip I got is to stay connected throughout the swing. Have a look at Ben Hogans 5 fundamentals. I dropped 4 shots this year after applying his principles from playing off 18 for years.

G1032

shaycl wrote: »

The best tip I got is to stay connected throughout the swing. Have a look at Ben Hogans 5 fundamentals. I dropped 4 shots this year after applying his principles from playing off 18 for years.

Good stuff. Fair play to ya. It's a great book I think. Found it helpful myself.

hades

Currently getting lessons myself, and the first thing the pro mentioned was that "i bet people keep telling you your lifting your head" He was right, i was topping the ball an awful lot. But he said, my head wasn't the issue, my right leg was straightening in my back swing, so i was coming up off the ball on my follow through, resulting in my topping. So my 2 bits of advice from my lessons are.

1- Make sure not to straighten your right leg on your back swing.

2- Posture, sit, don't squat into your stance, making sure you have weight on the balls of your feet, but not all of it, to effectively turn through the ball. What you've got to imagine, if you will, is that your giving a kid a piggyback, if your weight is on your heels, you'll fall backwards, and weight all on the balls of your feet, you'll fall forward. So keep it, perhaps 60% forward.... seems to have done the trick for me.

ianuss

heavyballs wrote: »

best tip you'll ever get and goes totally against what a few posters mentioned,
don't keep your head down,what i mean is a lot of players keep it down after the ball is gone resulting in the turn and the correct sequence of the swing stopping
does anyone else agree with this

I received the same tip froma pro recently during a lesson. He said I was keeping my head too still. So still in fact that my head was still looking at the ground after I'd hit the ball. The whole 'head still' thing had been driven in to me from an early age when I first tried golf as a teenager about 15 years ago.

The pro who gave me my recent lesson suggested that my head should follow the rest of my swing and move in the direction of the ball once contact had been made. After all, at the end of your swing, most of your weight should be on your front foot anyway - and this is impossible if you're keeping your head too still.

But the one tip I would actually give you is to go and get a lesson. Even a 30 minute one (probably only ~€30) will give you enough to take away and improve upon. The problem with taking advice from a forum like this is that the information given is just an abstract thought, and you can't quite visualise exactly what you should be doing. A lesson with a pro, at a minimum should be able to do that much.

sweetswing

Pre shot routine, get the feeling of the shot you want to hit, then hit it, I'm always stunned when I see someone just step up and swing at the ball

whizbang

to follow on from the "head up" comments,
Try lifting your head UP as much as possible

Before

you start the backswing:rolleyes:
it helps to give the feeling of stiff spine which contributes enormously to a good backswing, and helps prevent overswinging.
- on that note, has anyone ever seen a video of their golf swing and WASNT swinging back as far as they imagined?

ianuss

whizbang wrote: »

on that note, has anyone ever seen a video of their golf swing and WASNT swinging back as far as they imagined?

Yes, quite recently too. I was actually amazed how short my backswing was. I've since gone to great lengths to try and correct it. I now aim to have my shoulders in line with the ball when I'm driving. My iron play hasn't changed too much though.

AldilaMan

How can so many people be into such things as keeping the head still and all that nonsense . The most important thing in golf is that you picture what you want to do before you strike the ball. That means that you visualise the shot in your head. The more vividly you can do this the better the result (mostly) and that includes imagining wedge shots to the green - where the ball will first bounce and then kick left or right depending on your shot type (draw/fade). How many times do you come to a hole where you have gone out of bounds previously, picture that moment and then repeat it. Deja vu. Think of past good experiences with a vivid picture and swing. The subconscious is much more capable of controlling the muscles than conscious instructions like keep the head still or keep the hands from turning over.

Quote from Jack Nicklaus

“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”

dobaluchi

PARlance

New to boards and golf so go easy!

I've just started golf this year, but very eager and clocking up a lot of hours up at the range and on course. Very pleased with progress so far, no club or GUI yet, but playing rounds between 20-24handicap, not great... but it was a lot higher a few months ago and aim(have a bet on it) is to get to 16 (proper GUI) by end of sept 2011.
Anywho, I digress, my iron game went to sh1t after a few months after being decent, ( it coincided with my Driver, Wood, Hybrid improving...love this game)
I didnt see this anywhere so it might be against logic (i could see how it might lead to bad swing??) but one day up at the range I decided to start taking a few shots by just using my right hand...left hand held behind back to keep balance.

Within a few mins I was hitting it nearly 50% of the distance, straight and with good shape.
I then went back to the 2 hands after 20 shots or so and noticed a big improvement.
I was hitting down on the ball, unlike before, I had also lost my awful hook.
I now do this for first 20 or so balls everytime i go to the range.

Anyone else heard of/tried this before?

I've had 3 lessons over summer but wont be going again till new year, appreciate feedback from anyone playing the game a while in the meantime.

padywhack

Best putting tip I've received is...

"The hole NEVER comes to the ball"

Nicklaus

But just one tip? I concentrate on my knees throughout the entire swing. I try to keep them level all the time - it helps me to stay balanced and to 'stay down'.:)

charlieIRL

sweetswing wrote: »

...... I'm always stunned when I see someone just step up and swing at the ball

played a round with a fella there sunday (never met before - spare spot on timesheet) and for every single shot he stood behind the ball then just went up and hit it. No practice swing or anything, even when putting, and he had a great score at the end of the day. He was playing of 13.

BoardsMember

Nicklaus wrote: »

But just one tip? I concentrate on my knees throughout the entire swing. I try to keep them level all the time - it helps me to stay balanced and to 'stay down'.:)

Good lord, that would totally eff me up, the last thing I need to be thinking about is my knees when so much is happening :)

For me, that would be like the classic bustle, you ask your partner if they breathe when they are swinging. Try it some time, it can cause havoc:D

GreeBo

charlieIRL wrote: »

played a round with a fella there sunday (never met before - spare spot on timesheet) and for every single shot he stood behind the ball then just went up and hit it. No practice swing or anything, even when putting, and he had a great score at the end of the day. He was playing of 13.

I dont have a practice swing on any shots bar the odd half hearted swish before a bunker shot.

I always putt and chip better if I just see it and then do it.
Actually I do take some practice swings on the first tee, but they are more of a warm up than a pre-shot routine.

Peadar_85

Only playing for a couple of years and don't have a proper handicap. I had my first lesson a fortnight ago. First thing we worked on was my 'cack handed' grip which probably doesn't affect most people but he also gave me a few tips on stance:

Feet at 11 and 1 o'clock;
Left leg slightly left of the ball when using woods
but ball should be in centre of body for irons;
slightly bend the knees;
tuck in tummy and lean into the ball;
Follow through twirling (for want of a better word) on the leading leg.

I smacked a few balls down the range and it went OK but the first round on the course was brutal but I put that down to the grip not feeling natural. Spent another hour on the range a few days later then went out on a work social event expecting the worst but played the most consistent round of golf in my 2 years of playing. I've no idea how my swing and other things are because he didn't want to bamboozle me on the first lesson but I definitely found those few tips very useful.

oh fairway where art thou?

when I started out, my head was up like crazy. People used to tell me 'keep the head down' - but it made no odds, it still came up....until someone told me 'see the club head strike the ball'.

a subtle difference no doubt, but it changed my mindset and ultimately my swing, for the better.

hopefully it does for you too.

Webbs

charlieIRL wrote: »

played a round with a fella there sunday (never met before - spare spot on timesheet) and for every single shot he stood behind the ball then just went up and hit it. No practice swing or anything, even when putting, and he had a great score at the end of the day. He was playing of 13.

Only time I take a practice swing is on the short game (50yds in and putting) or when the ball is in a bad lie/deep rough.
For whatever reason if I practice swing on my driver my actual shot is rubbish, I just pick a spot stand up there and hit it. How many people do you see have a lovely looking practice swing but dont transfer it to their actual shot - well that was my logic behind it!

d2ww

Hi All, was wondering if any of you have tips on how to avoid overswinging on the backswing. I was really surprised recently when I saw a clip of myself doing what I thought was a normal full backswing, but I ended up with the club way...way past horizontal a la John Daly.
So, how do you know when to stop turning?

GreeBo

d2ww wrote: »

Hi All, was wondering if any of you have tips on how to avoid overswinging on the backswing. I was really surprised recently when I saw a clip of myself doing what I thought was a normal full backswing, but I ended up with the club way...way past horizontal a la John Daly.
So, how do you know when to stop turning?

You are most likely collapsing your arm to swing back this far, try to stop swinging when you can no longer keep your (left) arm straight-ish.

d2ww

GreeBo wrote: »

You are most likely collapsing your arm to swing back this far, try to stop swinging when you can no longer keep your (left) arm straight-ish.

Surprisingly, I do manage to keep the left arm straight(ish) but the thing is, if you let your hips turn freely after the initial shoulder turn, apart from your right knee straightening it can be hard to the difference between a good full turn and an overswing.
I suppose what I'm asking is, Do better players think on the backswing:
a) hands to point X.
b) left arm to angle Y
c) left shoulder to 11-12o'clock
d) right hip
e) right knee stays flexed
f) all or none of the above

GreeBo

d2ww wrote: »

Surprisingly, I do manage to keep the left arm straight(ish) but the thing is, if you let your hips turn freely after the initial shoulder turn, apart from your right knee straightening it can be hard to the difference between a good full turn and an overswing.
I suppose what I'm asking is, Do better players think on the backswing:
a) hands to point X.
b) left arm to angle Y
c) left shoulder to 11-12o'clock
d) right hip
e) right knee stays flexed
f) all or none of the above

If your left arm is straight-ish then you must have a flying right elbow to get the club much further than horizontal. You should only have about 2-3 inches of daylight between right elbow and your side. You cant really overswing without doing one of these moves.

As for a-e, when practicing I think often think left knee bent to avoid getting stuck on my back foot but other than that its none of the above when playing

Davkie

was wondering if any of you have tips on how to avoid overswinging on the backswing

Two things to check
1. Are you bending you right arm more than 90 degrees at the top of the backswing anything beyond that will cause issue's
2. Are you overcocking your wrists , you will see a angle between the back of the left wrist and forearm at the top if so. Try to get it relatively flat.
Both Daly and Couples have these traits.

For the backswing end position a general guide would be hips 45 shoulders 90 degrees ,when the shoulders stop turning the hands/arms should stop moving back also , any runoff is an overswing and will cause timing issues on the way down.

The usual caveat of not seeing your swing etc.......

d2ww

Thanks davkie, I hadn't thought about excessive bending in the right elbow. I will have to dusk off the camcorder and get down to the range, weather permitting.

whizbang

find a wall or fence, something of that nature about hip height:
From behind the wall, setup as best as possible with your hips against the wall, and try a full backswing without moving/turning your hips away from this wall. if your left arm is straight, right arm does not 'chickenwing' you will find a tremendous pressure to get a full swing. this is the windup the pros talk about.
so then if you can replicate this feeling on the course, it will work wonders.:P
edit:actually anything from above the knees to chest height works

stockdam

whizbang wrote: »

find a wall or fence, something of that nature about hip height:
From behind the wall, ....

With the wall behind you?

whizbang

works both ways, generally with the wall in front of you. altho with a solid wall its best if its chest height. Try a chair first.
Its not a miracle cure, you cant work it in real golf, but if it helps...