Ask players who’ve have low golf handicap and they’ll all tell you that learning to play golf well is difficult. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult sports to learn. While taking golf lessons and reading golf tips help, nothing works better than practice. Beginners must practice as much as they can, if they’re serious about learning the game. Below are seven tips that will help the learning process.

1. Use A Mirror For Mechanics
Beginners must master their mechanics to cut strokes from their golf handicaps. Using a mirror to check the basics helps. Are you setting up correctly? Are you taking the club back low and slow? Working in front of a mirror is especially effective for ingraining key moves, like keeping the clubface on target longer. The mirror lets you see yourself executing the move as you do it. That’s great feedback.

2. Use Targets in Practice
Beginners must practice with a purpose, if they want to speed the process. While we all enjoy aimlessly hitting balls on the range, beginners who make practice session more realistic improve faster. Put yourself in practical situations when at the range and aim for specific targets when hitting. You’ll engage not only your body but your mind as well. In short, don’t just hit balls. Aim for a target. It’s the best way to practice.

3. Grip Down For Added Control
All golfers should grip down on their clubs about an inch. It provides better control. Beginners should grip down even further—especially when hitting half shots or three-quarter shots. Learn to hit these shots by adjusting the backswing not the downswing, as many people do. Gripping down helps golfers control ball trajectory and distance as well—two keys to hitting good approach shots.

4. Employ Visualization When Practicing
Visualization triggers good shots. The more clearly you see a shot in your mind’s eye, the better your chances of making it. Visualization also helps ingrain good technique or eliminates swing faults. For example, beginners often want to come out of their shots too quickly. However, you need to get down and stay down through out the shot. One way to ingrain this is to imagine a scoop of ice cream on the ground. Then picture yourself hitting down and through the cone, creating a descending blow and solid impact.

5. Set Up Square On Putts
Beginners should work especially hard on putting. For most new players, it’s a hard skill to acquire. Good putting starts by making sure your putterface is square on putts. If it’s not, you’ll miss every time. Use a small square mirror to learn to square the putterface. Draw a straight line on the surface that’s parallel to the front the mirror’s edge. Then place it on the ground and use the line as an alignment aid. Since you can see yourself in the mirror, it’s is also a good way to monitor head movement and prevent too much during the stroke.

6. Track Breaking Lag Putts
Good lag putting saves strokes. But the hardest putts learn to lag are big breaking putts. Therefore, beginners must learn to lag big breaking putts to improve their putting. They also need to work on putts with subtle breaks. Here’s a simple drill for doing that: Position a row of tees slightly outside the line of a breaking putt and practice rolling the ball along the line of tees and into the cup.

7. Work On Both Games
Beginners often measure progress by their ballstriking capabilities. So they go to the range and hit balls as often as they can. Learning to hit the ball well is essential to improving as a golfer. But you also need to improve your short game. Beginners should work on the short game as hard as they work on the long game. In fact, they should work on it harder. A good short game saves tons of strokes.

If you’re a beginner, use these seven tips to make practice more realistic. It takes a lot of patience and practice to learn to play golf well. So take golf lessons and read golf tips. And talk with more experienced players. You can often glean tips from them that will help your game. With time and patience, you can become a great player—one with a golf handicap that’s something to brag about.

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.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Never Miss Another Pressure Putt
2) Hitting Longer Straighter Shots
3) Question of the Week – Breaking Par
4) Article – Seven Practice Tips For Beginners
5) Article – Golf Tips On Finding The Right Gift

Jack’s Note: PSST….our annual Holiday Blowout Sale is ending today so if you haven’t taken a gander at the super low prices we have this season, you can do so today. DVD’s, training aids and books. Save as much as 66% off for some products. Remember, it all ends tonight Friday, December 12.

1) Never Miss Another Pressure Putt

We’ve all faced short putts we’ve had to make. All too often, we’ve missed them. The reason: we failed to compose ourselves for the shot and embrace an expectation of success. A history of missing pressure putts also doesn’t help. But you don’t have to miss pressure putts anymore. You can sink them consistently by following the eight-step, pre-shot putting routine below:

Eight-step routine for sinking pressure putts:

1. Stand at the green’s fringe
2. Take a long deep breadth
3. Exhale through your mouth
4. Recall a similar putt you’ve made
5. See the putting line in your mind
6. Engage in positive self-talk
7. See yourself making the putt
8. Execute the putt

Start by standing at the edge of the green and closing your eyes. Keep them closed throughout the entire process. Take a long deep breathe through your nostrils, allowing your stomach to expand and distend. Exhale slowly through your mouth. Then, recall a putt you recently made similar to this one.

Having recalled the old putt, play this scenario out: See the putting line in your mind, and the ball following the putting line to the hole. Say to yourself: I can make this putt and I can make it right now.” Now, envision yourself setting up to the putt and holing the shot—feeling confident in your capabilities and assured of making the putt. Open your eyes and execute the putt.

Performing this routine before every pressure putt helps instill confidence—one of the secrets to great putting. The routine takes only six to eight seconds, so it doesn’t slow the game down. What’s more, the more you use it, the more you’ll become confident in it. Before long, it will become a habit and you’ll start sinking more and more pressure putts. Pretty soon, you’ll be surprised when you miss.

2) Hitting Longer Straighter Shots

Everyone wants to hit longer, straighter drives. But to do it, you need to coil the shoulders and hips correctly, deliver the clubface squarely to the ball, and maintain your chest so it faces the ball at impact. These actions promote the free release of the club and arms. They also promote the natural turnover of the clubface after impact. To hit longer straighter drives, practice hitting a ball from your knees.

This drill teaches five things including how to

* Swing the arms correctly
* Maintain the club on the right arc
* Quiet an overactive body
* Identify proper arm speed
* Allow for free release of the clubhead

Everything this drill teaches is good. It teaches how to turn the arms and shoulders correctly on the backswing and through swing. It teaches how to keep the club on the right arc. It teaches how to achieve a quiet lower body. And it teaches how to identify the arm freedom needed to swing the club and release it freely, which squares the clubface at impact.

The drill is simple and straightforward. After teeing the ball, take your driver and set up the way you ordinarily would. Now, instead of hitting the ball, kneel down. Now, swing the club and hit the ball. But be careful. If the club comes too far inside, it strikes the ground behind the ball. Keep going even if it strikes the ground the first few times. Eventually, you’ll hit the ball without doing it.

This drill is good practice for young players, who need to quiet overactive lower bodies. It’s also good practice for experienced golfers, who need to synchronize the body’s moving parts. Try it next time you’re at the range. Soon, you’ll be hitting longer, straighter shots with regularity.

3) Question of the Week – Breaking Par

Q. Hello, I have been a regular newsletter reader and find your articles extremely well organized and helpful. THANKS A TON!

I am an 8 handicapper. My ball striking is pretty good. But I must admit although I know that putting is half the game of golf, if not more, I still do NOT work on my putting. I can honestly say I’ve come to be an 8 handicapper without any work on my putting game. That is the reason my birdie opportunities become pars, my pars become bogeys, and the occasional bogeys become double bogeys.

I understand very well that I desperately need to put in some work on my putting to get to scratch or break par. But what else can I do to get under par? My recent scores have been consistent 77’s. I’m 5 shots away at this stage.

Thanks a million again for your articles. I’ve shared your web site with all of my friends and I think they all too are very regular readers of your articles.

Regards,
Hemant.

A. Thanks for the compliments and for sharing your web site. You have an ambitious goal, but at least you have a goal. Obviously, you know you need to work on your putting. That would by my next step. You can’t break par without being a good putter. I would also work on consistency. The more consistent you are the more likely you are to score low. Consistency also builds confidence, another key to breaking par.

You should also work on course strategy. Learn to adopt your game to the type of course you’re playing. Review courses before playing them. Plot out strategies for each. Try to execute that strategy during the round. Afterwards, review the round. How well did you execute your strategy? What adjustments did you make? Did they work?

In addition, study the courses you play well and those you don’t play well. Try to determine why. That information pinpoints weaknesses in your game, which you can work on improving. Also, work on playing “smart” golf, like knowing when to lay up and when to go for it.

Golf is a thinking man’s game. Once you learn its mechanics, you must work on your mental skills, if you want to break par consistently.
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

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter12102008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Seven Practice Tips For Beginners
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/seven-practice-tips-for-beginners.html

5) Article – Golf Tips On Finding The Right Gift
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/golf-tips-on-finding-the-right-gift.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, 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.

This is the second part of a two-part article. It discusses centering and radius—two of the four common denominators that make for a sweeter swing—one that will dramatically cut your scores and lower your golf handicap. Part I covered plane and face, the other two common denominators.

Professional golfers all have sweet swings. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be professionals. Honed by hours and hours of practice, their swings all have four common denominators—plane, face, centering, and radius. These denominators are critical to a good swing. If you’re serious about developing a swing that cuts strokes from your golf handicap, you must know what these four denominators are and how they affect your swing.

In addition, you must perfect them in your swing. Drills designed to help you practice them are a good to do that. While these denominators are critical to a sweet swing, they can’t do it alone. They must be combined with other fundamentals, like having a good grip, posture, ball position, and alignment, Unfortunately, written golf tips and personal golf lessons don’t always discuss these denominators.

Below we define centering and radius—two of the four denominators—and provide drills to help master them.

Centering
Every swing has a foundation defined by your head and your spine. If you want to hit accurate shots, this foundation must remain steady throughout your swing. Watch Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, or any of the other pros on TV and you’ll see how steady their heads and spines are throughout their swings. Swing coaches refer to this foundation as your center.

Your center has two angles. One is the angle your spine creates with your hips at address. The other involves your head’s lateral movement. Focus on preventing both your head from moving one way or the other and your spine from moving up or down, and you will be on the road to finding a swing that cuts strokes off your golf handicap.

Right Arm Drill
Set up with your left forefinger (right-handers) in the center of your chest. Swing back with your coil and right arm in sync, just as you would if you were swinging a club. Let the right arm swing and fold into a right angle so the right elbow moves away from your shoulder while you feel the movement of your body-center in the area of your sternum. The arm and the shoulder coil arrive at the top of the backswing together. Now, swing down. Concentrate on swinging your right arm close to your body, coordinating this movement with that of your body-center all the way though to the finish.

Radius
Radius is the distance between the lead shoulder and the clubhead. Swing coaches often discuss maintaining radius in their golf instruction sessions and golf videos/CDs. The key to maintaining radius is releasing your wrists at the right time. If you release your wrists at the right time and execute the proper sequence of movements in the downswing, you’ll maintain radius.

Some weekend golfers release their wrists early, forcing the shaft ahead of the lead arm before impact. An early release causes you to hit the ball thin or mis-hit it altogether. It also causes you to lose the radius of your swing. To maintain your radius, you must take the club back low to the ground for about twelve inches, which triggers a wider swing arc. (Swing arc is a basic concept I’ve discussed in my golf tips.)

Brush-The-Ball-Away Drill
Tee up a ball. Place a tee in the ground about 12 inches directly behind the teed up ball. Set up to the ball with a driver. Push the club back to tart your take away. Try to brush the ball off the second tee by letting the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders control the action. Practicing this “sweeping takeaway” teaches you to maintain the radius of your swing, generating more power and longer shots.

This drill and the previous one are compliments of Jim McLean, the noted golf teacher. The two drills improve two key denominators of a sweet swing—radius and centering. When combined with the other denominators—face and place—and the other basics you learn in golf instruction sessions, they’ll help you achieve a swing that even the players with low golf handicaps will envy.

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.

In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Clearing A High Bunker Lip
2) Simplify Swing Keys To Swing Harder
3) Question of the Week – Achieving Consistency
4) Article – Four Drills For Achieving A Sweeter Swing (Part II)
5) Article – Tom Kite’s Controversial Advice

1) Clearing A High Bunker Lip
Fairway bunker shots are hard enough without adding a high front lip. It almost makes them unfair. It also makes them much more of a challenge. Fear and indecision are your two biggest enemies here. But using the right technique—sharpened through practice—helps you clear the bunker, saves you strokes, and leaves you in position for the next shot.

Here are six keys to this shot:

1. Adopt a slightly open stance
2. Select more club than normal
3. Make ball first contact
4. Open clubface a little
5. Maintain spine angle
6. Speed up arms on the downswing

First, choose slightly more club than normal for the same yardage. If you generally use a 6-iron, try a 5-iron. That allows you to swing easy and maintain your rhythm and balance. In addition, set up with a slightly open stance, position the ball toward the center, and grip down on the club as much as you dig your feet into the sand.

Also, add some loft to the club by opening the clubface a little, but aim slightly left of the target to allow for a little cutter. It’s really hard to hit a draw in this situation, so don’t even try.

In addition, maintain your spine angle with this shot. Unfortunately, the average player beats down on the ball or tries to scoop it out of the bunker. Neither of these approaches works well. In both cases you alter your spine angle, creating the conditions for a bad shot. Keeping your chin up, which helps maintain spine angle, and your lower body still.

If there’s a secret to this shot, it’s this: speed up your arms on the downswing. This gets the ball up quicker. The shot soars high and lands softy.

Fear and indecision hurts you in a fairway bunker. They can cost you strokes. But practice and technique dispel both. Practice and technique also build confidence and confidence is paramount with any golf shot.

2) Simplify Swing Keys To Swing Harder
Most experts advocate against swinging hard—and with good reason. Swinging hard can upset rhythm and tempo. It also can lead to swing faults, resulting in bad shots. How hard you swing, however, depends in part on your personality. If you’re aggressive, you tend to swing harder than if you’re laid-back. There’s nothing wrong with swinging hard, if your fundamentals are sound.

Five keys for swinging hard:

* Make sure basics are correct
* Rotate and extend arms
* Check your ball position
* Maintain backswing width
* Make a smooth transition
* Maintain square clubface

As long as you maintain these keys, you can swing hard. For example, some players inadvertently grip the club too hard or use a strong grip when swinging. Strangling your club slows clubhead speed and a strong grip can cause a hook, landing the ball in the rough.

Ball position is another critical swing key. Some players have a habit of playing the ball too far back or too far forward in their stance. Bad ball position leads to bad shots, no matter how you swing.

Additional keys include maintaining width on the backswing, which gives you room to hit the ball with your right side (for right-handers). To maintain width, extend your arms away from the target on the takeaway. Also, making a smooth transition at the top leads to a powerful downswing and a square clubface at impact.

Most experts say you should swing about 70 percent. But you can swing hard if you keep your swing in good shape. To do that, simplify your swing keys. You should be able to jot them down on an index card. If you can’t, they’re probably too complicated.

3) Question of the Week – Achieving Consistency
Q. Hi Jack, Lately I have been playing very well…especially for me. I usually shoot 102-106 but the last 5 times I have gone out I have shot an average of 95-98. My question is, in the middle of my rounds I tend to start hooking the ball…A LOT. I just wanted to know if there was anything you could recommend that would keep me more consistent throughout the entire round?

Thank you.
Vincent Colon

A.Thanks for the question, Vincent. Outside of practicing more, no secret formula for attaining consistency exists. In general, focus on executing the basics. Go through your pre-shot routine—including visualizing path and trajectory—on every shot. Your pre-shot routine prepares you physically and mentally for hitting the ball.

Also, focus on staying in the moment. Forget about what happened on the previous hole or holes. Instead, concentrate on the present, on what you have to do right now. Blot everything else out. And play in the subconscious. That eliminates confusion generated by too many swing thoughts.

In addition, focus on maintaining the same swing rhythm and tempo throughout the round. Often, we change the rhythm and tempo of our swings inadvertently. Maybe we get a little tired. Or, maybe we finally loosen up. Regardless, a change in rhythm and tempo can cause mechanical problems, like hooking and slicing.

Finally, if you’re prone to a specific problem, like hooking, find out what causes the problem. That way you can correct it when playing. I’m not talking about making a major swing change during the round—just a minor adjustment or two to get you back on track. Save the major swing changes for the range.

Again, there’s no secret to formula to playing well throughout a round. Usually you’ll play a few holes well and then a few holes not so well. But practice helps as does focusing on a few keys, like executing the basics. And try to have fun while playing.
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

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter12032008.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Four Drills For Achieving A Sweeter Swing (Part II)
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/four-drills-for-achieving-a-sweeter-swing-2.html

5) Article – Tom Kite’s Controversial Advice
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/tom-kites-controversial-advice.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, 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.