Golf Tips and Instructions 11/04/09
November 4th, 2009In this issue we’ll discuss…
- What’s In Your Bag
- Five Keys To Hitting It Straighter
- Question of the Week - Easy Fixes For Golfers Who Pull
- Article - Maximizing Distance Off The Tee
- Article - How To Become A Great Shotmaker (Part II)
If you’re just starting to play golf, you probably don’t care about what’s in your bag. But you should care. Carrying too many clubs can make a difference in your scores. It can create confusion when choosing a club to hit and cost you strokes. Carrying too many clubs can also slow down your rate of improvement. Smart golfers carry only the clubs that suit their games.
Below are five tips on what to carry in your bag:
- Driving club with 13 to 16 degrees of loft
- Fairway wood with 19 to 23 degrees of loft
- Oversized irons with forgiving design
- PW and SW with substantial bounce
- Putter with heel-toe weighting
A good beginner’s set includes a driving club with 13-16 degrees of loft, with a regular-flex shaft of standard length. Using a 3-wood as your main driving club is a good idea for beginners. It’s shorter and easier to hit than a driver. Later, you can switch.
A good beginner’s set also includes a fairway wood, with loft of 19-23 degrees and a shaft with the same flex as your driving club. If you’re using a three wood off the tee, use a 5-wood in the fairway.
You should also carry a set of oversized irons (5, 7, 9) with a forgiving design, perimeter weighting, and low center of gravity. Choose irons with light, flexible shafts (graphite or steel). Also carry pitching and sand wedges with substantial bounce (12 degrees). The bounce helps prevent the leading edges from digging.
In addition, you should carry a putter that feels comfortable. You may be using this club for a long time. So you want it to feel good. Other putter features to look for are heel-toe weighting and a shaft length that fits your posture.
Golf lessons are important. But not as important as what you carry in your bag. If you’re new to golf, use a half set of clubs. Until you can hit those correctly, you don’t need any more.
Five Keys To Hitting It Straighter
Your goal on every hole should be to hit the green in regulation. That would leave you with a putt for birdie, or better still, an eagle. Hitting a green in regulation is hard if you can’t hit it straight. Hitting slices and/or hooks all the way down the fairway makes it difficult to reach the green in regulation. But a good swing combined with a good line of play should produce a straight shot.
Below are five keys to hitting straight shots:
- Relax your right side
- Memorize the line of play
- Visualize the image of the target
- Fix the line of play in mind
- Start on the line of play
The mental preparation you do before you swing is critical to hitting straighter—and longer— shots. Begin at set-up by thinking about relaxing your right side (left side for lefties). The thought helps keep that side of your body lower through impact.
Next, visualize the line of play and commit it to memory. Create a visual image of this pathway in your mind. When it comes time to hit the ball, the path you want the ball to travel on is fixed in your mind.
In addition, start the club on the line of play. An on-line takeaway increases your chances of actually hitting the ball where you want and often helps compensate for a bad swing.
Triangle Takeaway Drill
This drill grooves a one-piece takeaway and helps you start the club on the line of play. Select a driver. Grip the clubshaft a few inches below the club’s handle and place the butt end of the club gently against your stomach, at a point just above your belt. Practice making small swings while concentrating on keeping your arms close to your sides with the club touching your navel.
Combining this drill with the mental keys described above will help you to hit straight and accurate shots with regularity. That’ can’t hurt your game.
Question of the Week - Easy Fixes For Golfers Who Pull
Q.You always have advice for slicers, but none for us “pullers.” I couldn’t slice in a million years, but I can “pull,” even hook, all day long. It’s more pronounced with my fairway woods. Help!
Roger
Council Bluffs, Iowa
A. Thanks for the question, Roger. Believe it or not, slices and pulls stem from the same fundamental swing flaw—approaching the ball on an out-to-in swing path. To eliminate pulls (and slices), you need to learn to swing on an in-to-out path and square off the position of the clubface through impact.
Try one or more of these fixes:
- Close the overall alignment of your body
- Close your clubface a little
- Encourage your right arm (left arm for lefties) to close early in the swing
- Encourage your right arm (left arm for lefties) to aggressively cross over your left (right).
- Strengthen your grip
To strengthen your grip, move both hands to the club’s right until you can see three knuckles. Left-handers would move their hands to the club’s left.
Fixing a pull is often a case of trail and error. So you may have to try a combination of these fixes until you find the right answer. But the solution to your problem is there somewhere.
If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.
If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com
Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog
Here are some of my recent articles:
Article - Maximizing Distance Off The Tee
Article - How To Become A Great Shotmaker (Part II)
Until next time,
Go Low!
Jack
P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm
About the Author
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!“. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.



























