Golf is one of the finest sports in the world. While its rules and movements are simple, the complexities and subtleties involved can keep an enthusiast occupied for a lifetime. Once bitten by the golf bug, a player is likely to remain ever-vigilant in the quest to improve his or her game. Here are a few tips that might help:
A helpful tip when it comes to golf is to be sure that you are not too low to the ground when hitting the ball. This is important because doing so will cause you to make too much contact with the ground resulting in a large divot and a high arch on your ball.
To hit a sand shot you should try to take a shallow cut of sand about ten inches long rather than creating an explosion of sand right at the ball. This method of sand shot will give you the best chance of getting your ball out of shallow to mid-range bunkers.
A helpful tip when it comes to golf is to tell yourself that each shot is the most important shot you will ever take. This is a fantastic brain trick that will cause you to focus and perform your best on each and every stroke. You may even wish to imagine yourself in a critical situation such as at a tournament.
If you want to really drive a golf ball hard with a solid, powerful swing, you have to hit through the ball, not at it. Follow-through is the single most important aspect of a powerful golf swing. If you just aim at the ball and stop, you lose most of the driving force you need to send it sailing.
Remember, accuracy is so much more important than power, this is why some 80 year-olds can out drive 20 year-olds. Practice with hitting the ball consistently in almost the same spot on the club. This is easy to say or instruct but difficult to do. Simply apply some chap-stick or vaseline to the head of your club and swing. The ball will leave an imprint on the club showing you where the ball was struck. However, don’t use this during a game with friends as this could be considered cheating in a game because it also corrects slices.
In sand traps, you cannot put the head of the club down in the sand before you hit the ball. Is it really dug in? Well then you probably want to have the ball closer to your back foot in your stance, this will help you to get under the ball.
If you have trouble with balls landing in bunkers, stop trying to avoid them. Just embrace the fact that you sometimes wind up in there. Look at the silver lining in the fact that bunkers are usually close to greens, and it means you’re closer to the hole. If you are good at landing at bunkers, get equally good at getting out of them. It can be a counter-intuitive way to get to the green in two or three strokes, but even if your opponents are laughing at your methods, they can’t laugh at your scores.
Remember, putting is just like golfing. The club is a pendulum. An extension of your body that moves freely, like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. This is especially true with putting. Almost no force needs to be exerted in a putt. Simply lift the club to the desired distance on the pendulum swing and that let your arm muscles go. You’ll be surprised how far the ball goes.
Golf’s enduring popularity is easily explained by the vast opportunities it presents for athletic improvement and the refinement of sporting skill. Learning more about the game is simply another part of its appeal. For the devoted golfer, reviewing tips like these can be almost as enjoyable as hitting the links for a practice round – almost, but not quite!
