I see it all the time when giving golf lessons. The players with the highest golf handicaps pay the least attention to their grips. Typically, they grab the club from the bag, check their grip quickly, take their stance, and hit the ball. If they feel comfortable, they're happy.

But golf is a precise game. The littlest things often mean lot. And having the right grip is one of them. It’s often the difference between breaking 100 or 90 and not breaking 100 or 90. So if you really want to chop strokes off your golf handicap, you'll make sure you have the right grip every time you swing.

Losing Your Grip
Problems with your grip lead to problems with your swing. For example, losing control of your grip is a serious fault. Any loosening of your grip leads to a re-gripping of the club at some stage of the swing, which in turn affects clubface alignment at impact and flight path.

Applying the wrong grip pressure also leads to problems with your swing. Too light a grip and you lose control of the club. Too tight a grip and you slow clubhead speed. You must have the right grip pressure to generate your best swing, whether you're putting, driving, or chipping, which I stress in my golf tips and golf instructions sessions.

And having the wrong grip is among the most common causes of a slice. With slicers, their right hand (left for left-handers) sometimes is rotated too much toward the target, creating a weak grip. This limits any chance they have of achieving proper hand rotation when they swing, making it difficult to rotate the clubface closed at impact.

Six Steps To A Sound Grip
Having the right grip provides many benefits. It not only generates good swings, it also promotes consistency. And it goes a long way toward making sure that the clubface is in the right position at impact, improving ballstriking. Below is a six-step approach to the correct grip, developed by Jim Flick, the well-known golf teacher. Follow his approach and you'll grip your club correctly every time.

In a sound grip your palms should face each other. Your wrists should be able to hinge up and down with ease. And you hands should be "compatible," so one doesn't override the other. Also, you want to hold the club in your fingers to enhance the sensitivity for the weight and position of the club. Now follow these six steps:

1. Start by gripping the club with your left hand first, if you're right-handed. (If you're left-handed, grip it with the right hand.) Always put this hand on the club first because it's your guide to sensing the alignment of the clubface.

2. Make sure the side of the grip is firmly against your fingers, with the club's toe pointing up.

3. The club's handle should rest just under the heel pad and runs to your index finger.

4. Now add your other hand. Make sure the grip touches the middle joints of your middle two fingers.

5. Your right hand lifeline fits over your left thumb if you're right-handed and vice versa.

6. Hold the club at a 45-degree angle to feel wrist hinging and proper grip pressure.

That's it. For more feel let your right finger (left finger for left-handers) separate slightly from your other fingers. As you look down on the grip make sure your left thumb rests slightly to the right of the top-center of the shaft. And vice versa.

Here's a tip: To make sure the club comes across the left hand correctly, draw lines with a marker on the palm side of your golf glove where the club should rest. It's legal to do so. You can also draw a line with a marker on the topside of the glove where the thumb and the heel of the opposite hand meet.

This six-step approach to gripping your club is great. I like it so much I teach in my golf lessons. I've also written about it in my golf tips. Follow it religiously and you grip the club correctly every time. Placing your hands on the club the same way every time not only generates consistency, it also chops strokes off your golf handicap.

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 handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

You don't usually associate technology and golf. The game just doesn't seem to lend itself to the benefits of technology. Or, does it? A student attending a golf instruction session once showed me a range finder. You point it at the pin and it tells you how far away you are. Then there's the launch monitor, which measures the angle at which a ball elevates when it's struck by a club. And let's not forget the GPS systems now available to buy, which can give you detailed information on a course. You just download the data.

Recently, a student brought another technology driven training aid to a golf lesson. This aid employers laser technology. The device is designed to help improve putting. She asked me what I thought of the device as a training aid. It wasn't the first time I had seen or heard about it, but it started me thinking: How many laser-based devices are out there and can they really help cut your golf handicap?

Brief History of Lasers
The name LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Albert Einstein first theorized about the process that makes lasers possible in 1917. In the '50s, Charles Townsend and Arthur Schawlow invented the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), a technology similar to the laser. Then in 1960, Theodore Maiman invented the ruby laser, considered to be the first successful optical or light laser. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Lasers capitalize on the way light interacts with electrons. Electrons exist at specific energy levels or states characteristic of that particular atom or molecule. When you bump electrons to a higher energy level by injecting energy, "excess" energy is given off as light. The wavelength or color of the emitted light is precisely related to the amount of energy released. Depending on the particular lasing material being used, specific wavelengths of light are absorbed and specific wavelengths emitted.

LASERS and Golf
Lasers are ideal for a wide variety of uses, including eye surgery and metal cutting. While they have numerous properties, the one most associated with LASERS is accuracy. Applications requiring pinpoint accuracy are well suited to this technology. So it would be only natural that this technology when applied to golf could help with one's putting, where accuracy is in high demand. That's exactly what we found. Here are three examples:

* One device simply affixes to the putter shaft and beams a straight line directly in front of and behind the ball. It's adjustable, which helps golfers see either a perfectly square set-up or a red beam along the target line. This device helps with alignment.

* A second device embeds a laser cartridge in the face of a putter. The device features a single beam that emits a red light from the face's center for perfect alignment practice. The best part of the device is that the laser cartridge can be swapped out and you have a perfectly functional putter.

* A third device, which also attaches to a putter's face, uses a three-laser Argon system that illuminates the ball and both sides of it. The device teaches proper alignment and fixes lopsided putting strokes. The device also comes with an Argon dome, which attaches to the putter, for enhanced practice.

We also found two other laser devices designed to help perfect your address and your swing:

* This device beams a laser light at the inside heal of your forward foot. By using the attached measuring tool, golfers can practice their ball and address positions with ease.

* Another device uses high-powered green lasers at opposite ends of a stick-like shaft to get the job done. The lasers are so strong that this device can be used effectively outdoors also comes with a wrist bar. It teaches the three P's—plane, power, and precision.

These laser devices all seem like great training aids. As with any training aid, golfers must use them to get the most out of them. In other words, golfers must put in the required practice time with the aids—whether its driving, chipping, or putting—if the want to lower their golf handicaps.

Training aids are only helpful if you put practice with them, no matter how high- or low-tech they are. If you're going to buy a training aid to help your game, make sure you use it between golf lessons and rounds of golf. It's the only way these devices will help you slash your golf handicap.

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 handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

How To Break 80 Newsletter

March 12, 2008

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"The Web's Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter"
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In this issue we'll discuss...

1) Learn To Finesse Your Pitch Shots
2) Hitting It Straight From An Uphill Lie
3) Question of the Week - The Spin on Spin
4) Article - Achieving Consistent Iron Play
5) Article - How To Tee The Ball - Driver

Jack's Note: Surely you’ve heard of John Daly’s wild week. But it raises a good question…is there an end to this nonsense? He’s already on thin ice with the Tour and I think this one may have put him over the edge. Read more here on my blog.

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1) Learn To Finesse Your Pitch Shots
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Developing feel is the key to mastering those tricky finesse shots we all face from time to time. Feel is the ability to instinctively hit the ball with the proper force for the required distance so the ball feeds into the hole. It's critical in pitching because there are so many variables involved—lie, distance, trajectory, and the contour and speed of the green.

Below are 6 tips on finessing pitch shots:

* Choose a landing spot
* Maintain your spine angle
* Use a nice smooth motion
* Walk the distance from the ball
* Pick up the club steeply
* Slide the club under the ball

The one constant for all good pitchers is choosing a landing spot for the shot. If you don't do so, chances are good that you'll leave the ball way short or hit it way beyond the hole. Also, it's important to maintain your spine angle throughout the shot and return the club to the point of address with a nice smooth motion. Don't hurry the shot. If you vary your spine angle or hurry your swing, you could skull or chunk the shot.

To determine the length of your backswing and the trajectory of the shot, walk off the distance from the ball to the landing spot. Do this quickly so as not to hold up play. While walking off the distance, check the green's grain and the contour, not only visually but also physically with your feet.

After forming a mental picture of the landing area, the rest is execution. Let the club do the work. Remember, the pitch shot is a mini-version of a full shot. Pick up the club steeply on the backswing into a natural cocking motion and allow the clubhead to slide under the ball through impact.

Practice these types of shots as often as you can. The more you practice them, the more feel you'll develop for the shot.

We all love to drill one off the tee. But the long ball only gets you so far. That's why golfers with low golf handicaps work so hard on finesse shots. They know that perfecting these shots is the secret to cutting down scores and slashing golf handicaps quickly and significantly.

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2) Hitting It Straight From An Uphill Lie
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Many players pull uphill lies. If they're right-handed, they'll pull them left. If they're left-handed, they'll pull them right. That's because their leg drive is inhibited going into the shot. As a result, the upper body outraces the lower body and the player pulls it left or right, depending on which side he or she hits from.

Here are five keys to making this shot:

* Assume a square stance
* Play the ball forward
* Match your shoulders to the slope
* Hold the clubface open
* Swing down, then up

One way to play this shot is to set-up right of the target and play for the right-to-left ball flight. Vice versa for a left-hander. However, not everybody is comfortable or proficient with this method of hitting from an uphill lie. So they end up pulling the ball anyway.

If that's you, try this: Set your feet, hips, and shoulders square to the target line. Play the ball forward a little in your stance. Match your shoulders to the slope's angle at address. And swing down the slope going back, and up the slope on the through-swing. Make sure you hold the clubface open through impact. That's important.

This method helps you hit the ball both straight and solid from an uphill lie. Keep in mind that since the ball launches from a higher angle on an uphill, it won't carry as far. So you'll need to take one more club than normal to get the same yardage. In other words, if you normally use a 6-iron from that spot, you'll need to hit a 5-iron to get the same distance.

The key to this shot is matching your shoulders to the slope's angle. If you try to hit this shot with your shoulders level, you'll stick the club in the ground at impact. Once you get the hang of it, hitting from an uphill lie will be easy.

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3) Question of the Week - The Spin on Spin
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Q. Hi, Jack, I've got a question about the pitch shot that bounces twice and then spins to a dead stop. How do you play the shot? I can't seem to get the ball to stop. When I try this shot, the ball continues to run out.

Thanks for your answer,
Kevin Cavan

A. Thanks for the question, Kevin. Creating backspin on the ball takes the right combination of things.

First, you must have the right ball. Using a ball with a soft cover let's you put more spin on it than using a ball with a hard cover. Second, make sure the grooves in your iron are clean. This allows the clubface to catch more of the ball as it climbs the clubface at impact, creating backspin. If the grooves are plugged, clean them with a wooden tee or a brush.

Third, use a wedge - sand or lob - to hit the shot. It's much easier with a wedge than with your other clubs. Work on making ball first contact. Finally, hit the ball with a steep, descending blow. That increases the angle of attack and enables you to hit the bottom of the ball with the leading edge of the clubface, creating backspin.

Learning to stop a ball on the green takes practice. But it pays off with more birdie and par chances and, hopefully, more conversions. If you're serious about improving your game, you'll master this shot.

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.

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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

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter03122008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Achieving Consistent Iron Play
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/achieving-consistent-iron-play.html

5) Article - How To Tee The Ball - Driver
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/how-to-tee-the-ball-driver.html

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, send a blank email to break80ezine@aweber.com

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About the Author
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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.