Golf Clubs n Tips

What golfer doesn’t want to hit longer off the tee?

If I were starting my son or daughter in golf today, I would let them just rip it first and learn the finer points later. The bomb and gouge approach as it it’s called. So, where does that leave more mature golfers that really need a few more yards?  We have a fix for you that can really add 10 or more yards to your tee shots.

First, it is very important to hit the ball squarely on the club face.  Once you can  make consistent contact, the secret is your angle of attack.  Given three golfers of equal swing speed who have descending, flat, and ascending angles of attack (even 5%) at impact, the resulting driving distance will vary greatly.  Hitting down on the ball by 5% with a 90 MPH swing could cost you 30 yards. A golfer with the same swing speed at a flat or 0% angle needs more club loft to achieve an optimal launch angle.  Hitting up on the ball by 4-6% will produce an optimal launch with less spin.  Less back spin will produce more roll and the optimal launch angle will maximize carry.

Now, the key is how to achieve this.  Here are four steps for you to work on this spring which will increase your average driving distance.

1. With today’s large driver heads, you need to tee the ball higher so that about half the ball is above the grounded club face and address the ball forward in your stance to promote an ascending hit at point of impact.  Take a few practice swings and note where your swing bottoms out, and then tee your ball about 3 inches forward of that point. This will most likely place your ball between the instep and toe of your leading foot.  A lot happens when you do this.  Your trailing shoulder will naturally be a little lower.  Your hands will fall over the thigh of your leading leg and your body is in more of a stack and tilt position.  All good things for distance and consistency.

2. A cardinal rule is to keep the club shaft at 45 degrees.  Virtually all professionals test out between 45 and 47 degrees from set up through impact.  Staying on that swing plane maximizes your efficiency to optimize swing speed.  For most normal human builds, that means the butt end of your driver will point to your belt buckle at address.  The hard part for most amateurs is keeping on that plane as your upper body unwinds. Practice with a PVC circular swing trainer can really help.

3. Take your new swing to the range.  Yes, practice the above and note where the club face contacts the ball by either using swing tape or an erasable marker on the center of the back of the ball.  Ideal contact is about 1/3 of the club face below the the top edge of your over-sized driver.

4.  After improving your distance and consistency by practicing the above, you can buy a better game and squeeze out a few more yards.  Get fit for the proper driver with the right shaft length, flex and loft for you. The pros have a huge advantage here with the equipment manufacturers catering to their game.  It’s pricey, but you can get a similar fitting from most of the name manufacturers.  Club fitting is touted at many local golf shops.  Just make sure that the professional has the proper training in club fitting and is not primarily interested in selling you new clubs.

When you’re ready for new equipment, please visit our affiliate Austad’s by clicking the banner below.

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by Golf Clubs N Tips Staff
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While you definitely need to stay out of trouble with your driver, the real key to lowering your scores and your handicap is from 150 yards in with what we call your scoring clubs. Most golfers hit an 8 or 7 iron from 150 yards. Your 7 iron down through your wedges to your putter are your scoring clubs. If you check the statistics for the leading money winners on every professional tour, you will find that hitting 70% of greens in regulation is the common denominator.

We will discuss chipping, pitching, and putting in future articles. Let’s focus first on getting to the green. It’s the approach shot that gives you the opportunity to chip it in or one putt for a birdie. Even when your drive has strayed off the fairway, a solid approach shot can save the hole. When you fix a lot of your own pitch marks on the green during your round, you’re probably scoring well.

Let’s start with the obvious:

• Don’t aim for the flag. Line up for the middle of the green. Happiness is having a birdie putt from any length.
  
• Focus on alignment rather than distance on your approach. I would rather be a club long or short and right in line leaving a 25-30 foot putt.

Alignment is very important on approach shots. When you are practicing on the range, go through your pre-shot routine on every shot and focus on alignment. Align your shoulders, hips, and feet parallel to your target line. Many pro golfers will pick a spot a few feet in front of the ball on their target line to assist in mentally constructing  a parallel stance.

Most of us have a good idea of which club to hit from 150 yards and most courses have some kind of 150 yard marker. If you practice using your 150 yard club, then your course strategy on par 4’s and 5’s should be to hit close to the 150 yard marker. I usually will practice from 150 yards and 100 yards. Being comfortable and reasonably sure of hitting 70% of the greens from those two yardages, give me an easy course strategy for par 4’s and 5’s.

Remember focus on alignment and select the club to get to the middle of green.  A little mishit should still be on or close to the green.

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by John
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Selecting Holiday Gifts For the Golfer

If you have a golfer on your gift list, selecting the right gift can be daunting. Golfers have very real opinions about what’s right for them. The scratch golfer that plays a soft cover high spinning golf ball may be gracious about the 15 ball pack of Top-Flites, but will probably give them away to friend struggling with distance.

Matching the gift to the golfer’s preferences and skill level can be an art and a science, but we can help.

First, be very careful about purchasing clubs unless you obtain personal data on what the golfer really wants. A set of irons can now be configured with hybrids in place of long irons. Shaft options are have increased and may be the most important single element in the club make up. For example, the speed a golfer swings the club and the tempo of the swing should be matched. Many golf retail outlets and country club pro shops are equipped to custom fit the individual golfer. Unless you have specific data, you can purchase a gift card that your special golfer can use to be fitted by a golf professional.

Some specialty golf clubs, like putters and wedges, are a much easier choice. Most serious golfers have several and are usually ready to try something new. I have been known to have 8 to 10 back up putters waiting in the garage. A round with multiple 3 putts will usually initiate a move to a new putter while the offending putter receives penance in a dark corner. I also have an affinity for wedges and own different models with lofts of 48, 52 54, 56, 57, and 60 degrees. Depending on the golf course and turf conditions different wedges may provide an advantage on those little finesse shots.

Drivers and fairway woods or iron-woods offer many choices, but really require specific knowledge. The golf club reviews on internet sites like www.golfclubsntips can assist you in making an appropriate choice. Generally, we advise staying with name brand golf clubs from the major club manufactures like Titleist, Callaway, Taylormade, Ping, Cleveland, and Mizuno.

Golf balls, the right golf balls, are always welcome. The dedicated golfer always needs golf balls. Yes, even good golfers lose, scuff, and otherwise destroy golf balls. Current golf ball technology has significantly specialized golf balls. We can now buy golf balls that fly higher or lower, spin more or less, and roll more or less. Golf balls have become personalized to the golfer’s game. Finding out the individual’s preference is important. Again, reviews of golf ball characteristics are on the web. You can not be too wrong if your choose a dozen tour level golf balls like Titleist Pro V1’s or the Callaway Tour i/ix.

Golf accessories can offer many good choices from head covers to desk items. The off-course retail shops like Austad’s Golf
offer a wide array especially around the holidays. Austad’s is family owned and has been in business since 1913. They have an excellent customer service record and most items are available on their web site.

When all else fails, all golfers wear golf shirts. Happy shopping!

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by John
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Cure the Chunkies or Fix the Fat Shot

Think about it for a minute. You are less than a 100 yards out and you are thinking a touch or finesse shot to get it close. Your hips slide forward instead of turning. The club head digs into the ground with that awful chunky sound and the ball goes almost nowhere. The other scenario is that you have 175 yards to the green and you know that if you pure your 5 iron into the wind, that you will get there. The tendency, when you think that you need to hit it hard, is to really get into it by dipping that back shoulder, and that makes your club head approach the ball at a steeper angle. Fat shots don’t go very far, but we all hit them.

I remember once, years ago, following Jack Nicklaus at the then Crosby Clam Bake at Pebble Beach.  Jack pushed his drive slightly into the right rough on 14. Trying to hit a long iron hard to get on in 2, he hit it fat. Yes, he chunked it, a low dribbler, maybe 125 yards. So, everyone does it once in awhile. Golf is a game of trying to minimize our mistakes and capitalize on good shots or luck…kind of like life.

A lateral slide can be connected to dipping your back shoulder for a cause and effect. If you do manage to make contact with the ball (the little ball not the big worldly one) first, chances are it will be a wicked slice.

Let’s fix this problem on the range. First, simplify your swing by hitting into your leading leg. Think about a stiff left side (if you’re right handed). Practice with a golf ball under the outside of your leading foot to get the feel. This will help you get the feel of turning your hips rather the sliding forward. The hip turn should occur on every shot regardless of length, except those little chips around the green.

Next, concentrate on keeping your leading shoulder down through impact. This will maintain your swing plane. The key is to keep your leading shoulder down through impact to keep your body from getting ahead of your hands.

In his book “Golf My Way”, Jack Nicklaus gives the best advice we have read on swing basics and it is available from Amazon for about $12. Keep it in the short grass!

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by Golf Clubs N Tips Staff
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Cure Your Slice and Add 20 Yards

The first fix is to try to keep your leading shoulder down through impact.If you are right handed that means to keep you left shoulder down. Often, we see a “fade” caused by the leading shoulder moving upwards prior to impact causing an outside-in swing plane.

In “Golf My Way” by Jack Nicklaus, the physics of the golf swing are explained in a very understandable manner and it still one of the best golf primers available.”Golf My Way” is available from Amazon.com for $12.21.

On the range try to keep your chest and left shoulder down and facing the ball through impact. You will begin to hit straighter, longer shots.

Many golfers have the problem of letting their body get way ahead of their hands, a slice-producing move. It’s a more difficult fix, because you’re thinking about crushing the ball at the top of your back swing. At the range, place a small block of wood or even your golf towel under your trailing foot. This will help you get the feel of starting down by pushing off the instep of your trailing foot and letting you arms and upper body follow. This move promotes an inside-out swing path.

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by Golf Clubs N Tips Staff
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3-Putts Kill Your Score And Your Mental Attitude

Whether your a golf pro, low handicap amateur, or struggling to improve your golf game, here’s an instructional manual with tips that can really help. Scott Myers has developed this new approach to teach you what many of the touring pros learned in their formulative years. How many times have you heard that it’s just alignment and distance control? Oh, but how about reading the green and which way is the grain…then there’s the actual stroke. A short putt counts as much as a long drive and that’s the rub. We think we should make most of the short putts.

Gaining distance control can minimize those nasty six footers coming back. Scott Myers can help. We like his approach and explanation. It is a step by step approach that can improve your putting with just a little practice. We didn’t get the 7-10 stroke improvement that he claims in the sales pitch, but then we only averaged two 3-putt holes per round. We like the approach and recommend it. If you act now, there is a limited time offer for a complimentary copy of 3 Days to Stop 3-Putting. Click Here!

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by Golf Clubs N Tips Staff
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Better Contact, Longer Drives, More Accuracy – The Mantra Of Every Golfer

We have read many (maybe too many) golf instructional books that promise really great things, but deliver very little. Robert Cotter, a former golf ball designer, after years of observing some of the best world-class golfers up close has developed an incisive tutorial. We believe that his instructional manual, called “The Key To A Repeating Golf Swing”, can assist every golfer from club pro to high handicapper who is serious about hitting crisper shots that travel where the club face is pointing. As a bonus, we found that our average distance did actually improve because we were consistently making better contact. It’s available in digital or hard copy for  $39.95.

“The Key To A Repeating Golf Swing” strips away the differences in grip, swing plane, and physical attributes (short or tall, slim or medium pudgy). It is logical in getting us to more consistently return the club face square to the target line. Even our accomplished staff pros found some helpful tidbits. No, they are past their prime and not headed back to Q School. As one of our guys said, “I’m hitting it more solid and have gained about 12 yards on average, but the young flat bellies are still way out there – and they can putt.”

If you go to his web site, Robert will for a limited time send you a free lesson on the alignment error that affects a majority of amateur golfers Click Here!

Our advice for any instructional manual or video, is to read or watch it once. Then on your second read, practice the tips as you go. After your second read, take it to the range. It may take several range sessions to imprint your new swing knowledge, so don’t play competitively until you are comfortable with your transition.

Tags: Golf Instruction and Tips by Golf Clubs N Tips Staff
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