Best piece of advice you ever got

donalg1

What would be the best tip or piece of advice you ever got from someone about improving your game. Or what would you tell someone is the most important part of the swing to work on (e.g. tempo, speed, distance from the ball at address etc...)

Whyner

Come on now Donol Og, there's no secret to be uncovered

Practice

donalg1

Whyner wrote: »

Come on now Donol Og, there's no secret to be uncovered

Practice

Practice what though, I mean is there one aspect of a swing / game that should get more attention than the rest

newport2

Not to take advice from amateur golfers

donalg1

newport2 wrote: »

Not to take advice from amateur golfers

Or Auld lads who have been playing off 16 for 30 years

luketitz

Bit of an odd one this, but bear with me!

A pro once showed me the 'humming technique', whereby you (as quietly as possible, to avoid being ridiculed by playing partners!) begin humming as you pull back for your swing, right through until your follow through.

The idea of of this is that the tone of your hum should not peak or alter in any way throughout your swing, or at point of impact, meaning you have not tried to give the shot any extra 'wellie', and let the club do the work by maintaining a balanced sense of harmony to your swing.

Defo keep it on the QT though, as you mightn't have a golf partner for your next round!

Try it alone on the range, it works a treat - for novices obviously, as I assume you are, OP.

k.p.h

Years ago, long before I took up golf I was playing a game of pitch and putt with my older brother. It was one of the few times I played any golfing game as a youngster. I vaguely remember a old pitch and putt player who offered us some advice on one of the tee's.

I remember making a comment, something related to not getting the distance right to which the old guy replied "Don't worry about the distance for now, hitting it straight is the most important bit".

I didn't think anything of it at the time and actually did not even think about it again for over a decade... But I understand what he meant now, it's probably the best bit of advice you could give any amateur golfer.

The pursuit of distance is the probably the biggest influence of swing faults among amateur and professional golfers.

It causes amateurs everywhere to come over the top and slice the ball and likewise it causes the more talented amateurs and professionals to fire too early and get out of sequence and drop the club too far inside which leads to a hook.

Remember Tigers hook, that was a fault developed from playing in the junior ranks and trying to gain that extra distance. He fired the hips so hard trying to generate speed that he left his hands behind.

Good golfers don't necessarily hit the ball a long way but good golfers do hit the ball accurately.

GreeBo

Funnily enough I was reading an article recently and it said that the emphasis has completely changed with the modern coach (I was always told the same by my dad when starting)
Nicklaus amongst others has stated that the best thing now for young golfers (and this is what coaches are doing) is get them comfortable hitting it as hard as they can and then straighten them out afterwards. There is such a premium on length these days that being short and straight like Luke Donald might make you consistently Mr top 10 but it probably wont bring many wins.

golfnut1

I think you need a happy balance. You need to hit the ball as hard as you can while still playing within yourself. No point hitting it dead straight all the time at the expense of never making a gir. Conversely no point hitting it 300 yards OB.

chalkie 501

keep your backswing short

Corkey123

A piece of advice received recently

Never aim away from you slice or hook as it only encourages it to get worse, always aim slightly right on a slice and left on a hook.

Can't vouch for the wisdom of this advice

TheDoc

Always accelerate at impact.

No matter the shot, make sure not to bitch out

If you think its going to be big, make sure to accelerate and just be big, bitching out youll duff the shot,

DiegoWorst

TheDoc wrote: »

Always accelerate at impact.

No matter the shot, make sure not to bitch out

If you think its going to be big, make sure to accelerate and just be big, bitching out youll duff the shot,

+1 on this. Even a two foot putt needs acceleration.

Manach

Always replace the divots.
This would not one a better golfer, but part of the game involves respect both for the course and other players which is a good foundation to build up the skill.

FixdePitchmark

"Get Lessons".

Got it on here, get the right guy, spend extra if you have to.

irish bloke

Manach wrote: »

Always replace the divots.
This would not one a better golfer, but part of the game involves respect both for the course and other players which is a good foundation to build up the skill.

Ah come on now, as correct and all as this is, its not really a tip that's gonna help your game.. Accelerate through the ball as posted above is a golden rule IMO

Senna

I cant even remember the wording, but a guy told me to imagine a ball in a green side bunker is plugged even when its not and try and hit the plugged ball not the real ball. Its that long ago i cant even remember how he explained it, but from that day on i was 100% confident of getting the ball out and on the dance floor.

Back9bandit

NEVER eat somethimg that can eat you.

MyKeyG

The best piece of advice I got is was to throw the club down the fairway. I was driving a terrible slice in the early days so my instructor told me to throw it. Sure enough as soon as the club left my hand it flew to the left and the whole 'out to in' concept dawned on me. Best tip I ever got because I began to adapt it to my body movements and managed to start swinging the club with my body instead of my arms.

spacecoyote

How about...realise that your an amateur golfer & going to hit bad shots in a round. So don't beat yourself up about them & just enjoy yourself

dolally

I was playing a pro-am with Christy O Connor jnr years ago and I asked him for advise on how I could shoot in the 70's.
He said with my swing his best advise was to skip the par 3's..True story.

Kevinmarkham

k.p.h wrote: »

I remember making a comment, something related to not getting the distance right to which the old guy replied "Don't worry about the distance for now, hitting it straight is the most important bit".

Ha ha. Seriously! I had the exact opposite advice growing up. The old fellas (including my grandfather) I played with when I was kid all said to hit the ball hard to build up the swing and then worry about direction once I had found a constant rhythm...

.... which explains a lot!

Best piece of advice I got was:
"You don't hit anything with your backswing so keep it slow."

matt-dublin

Stop thinking, stop being a pussy and put the ball in the bloody hole.

VikingG

You don't HIT the ball you make a swing and the ball just gets in the way..

applehunter

When chipping around the greens use the same stroke you would use for putting.

Pendulum motion.

soundsham

When you stand up to hit the ball
Make sure you hit it

bailey99

When it's breezy.........swing easy!

Brilliant!

padywhack

Best I ever got for putting "the hole NEVER comes to the ball".

bailey99

99.9% of short putts don't go in!

newport2

MartinCorcoran wrote: »

A piece of advice received recently

Never aim away from you slice or hook as it only encourages it to get worse, always aim slightly right on a slice and left on a hook.

Can't vouch for the wisdom of this advice

I remember Harrington saying that if you are slicing the ball, then you should practice on the last bay on the left of the driving range. This prevents you from aiming left to compensate, otherwise you'll just hit the fencing/net. Likewise, if you're hooking the ball, practice on the last bay on the right. This way you need to address the issue without compensating with your aim and opening/closing yourself and making it worse. I used it before when I was fighting a hook and it worked well.

Jarzinho

Harvey Penick's Little Red Golf Book is pretty much my golfing bible, especially when it comes to the short-game. Aiming the putter with your left hand, or both hands, is very important as it mirrors the putter face at impact. Focusing on dead weighting your putts (like Harvey used to say, he likes to see the ball creep into the holes like a mouse!) is a great way to avoid lip-outs especially!

Worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy, not sure if there's even in book shops anymore.

ForeRight

Dont eat crisps in bed

Corkblowin

bailey99 wrote: »

99.9% of short putts don't go in!

Putts that go past don't go in either!

Tones69

Corkblowin wrote: »

Putts that go past don't go in either!

But they have a chance Any good putter that misses a putt will normally roll it a foot past the hole

Corkblowin

Tones69 wrote: »

But they have a chance Any good putter that misses a putt will normally roll it a foot past the hole

I know- being a bit facetious - quoting Dave Pelz- if the putts gone past it means you've missed.

My top tip was to never feel like I'm swinging at full power - the quality of the strike is as important as the speed of the swing.

tayto lover

Three little bits of advice I got when starting.

1. Keep your head down.
2. Keep your head down.
3. Keep your fcuking head down. We'll tell you where it's gone.

Tones69

tayto lover wrote: »

Three little bits of advice I got when starting.

1. Keep your head down.
2. Keep your head down.
3. Keep your fcuking head down. We'll tell you where it's gone.

Wont get a pro shouting that advice at ya only auld lads on the course

tayto lover

Tones69 wrote: »

Wont get a pro shouting that advice at ya only auld lads on the course

True but when I started there were very few pros to give advice. Our club only employed a pro about 8 years ago. You are right though, the old lads gave all the advice to beginners.