Sunday, 7 February 2010

Three Drills to Improve Your Golf Swing

Three Drills to Improve Your Golf Swing

Once you have got the ball as near to the hole as possible, all that is left is to putt it so that you can move on. Seemingly easy, it gives some golfers a hard time. Here are four drills to improve golf swing while putting.

The one handed drill is the first one. Practice putting 10 balls using your training hand only. It helps focus you to focus on your hand as it moves to the cup.

Next, the same putt, but use your target hand instead. Concentrate on your backhand as it travels towards the cup.

When practicing the above drills, concentrate on the follow through, conscious and focused on the toe of your putter. Keep the face of the putter square to the cup. If it either turns away or points towards it, then it means that your hand is turning.

Practice putting with an eye closed. It prevents you from lifting your head too early. Some golfers do it. If you are a frequent player you can try putting with both your eyes closed.

You may think that closing your eyes will make it difficult to observe where the ball is headed; but, research has established an interference between the brain and the muscle control system when your eyes are open while putting. Keeping your eyes closed forces you to rely on your hands to putt the ball. And by using your sense of hearing you should be able to judge whether the ball has gone in.

Practice this from a distance of 50 to 100 feet from the hole. With your eyes open at first and then with your eyes closed. You will know that you can sink the ball with your eyes closed, if the ball goes in.

Another technique is to close your eyes, drop some balls on the ground and try to putt them. You just try to get the feel of the back and forth stroke. Repeat the same with open eyes. Did you notice the difference? If you did, try to fit in the experience when you are actually putting on the course.

The last but not the least drill to improve golf swing is known as the alignment drill. Put down two golf clubs on the ground parallel to one another. Now putt the ball. See if your stroke is aligned at impact. Also if it is steady on the forward and the backward stroke. Repeat several times, take a break if tired and resume the drill.

Who knows? But this practice is bound to improve golf swing and improve your game skills also. If you can reasonably putt from short distances, it is time you concentrated on your long game, as it is also equally important. You might even win when playing eighteen holes with friends. Best of Luck!



Friday, 5 February 2010

How Outside Exercises Beyond Golf Can Improve Your Golf Swing

How Outside Exercises Beyond Golf Can Improve Your Golf Swing

In regards to improving your golf swing, the most important part of your body to focus on are your wrists. Your wrists are involved with starting the swing, finishing it and they determine how far the golf ball goes. If you do not have strong wrists, your puts will not be very accurate or go very far. So how exactly do you strengthen your wrists?

Outside exercise beyond golf can strengthen your wrists and help with your golf swing. One exercise that comes to mind is doing sets with a stress ball. Stress balls are easy to find at any toy or sports store. Doing a few sets with a stress ball every day is guaranteed to strengthen your wrists, forearms and hands. Another exercise that can be done almost anywhere are push ups. Sets of push ups strengthen your whole arm, and this includes your wrists.

Cross-training with other sports can also help improve your golf swing. Tennis, swimming and softball are all sports that use a lot of arm strength. Tennis, in particular, uses a lot of wrist strength and might be your best bet in improving your swing. You do not have to be a tennis pro to go out there a couple times a week and hit some balls. And I guarantee your wrist strength will increase within a few weeks.

In addition to unrelated exercises, drills are always helpful in improving your golf swing. There are many many drills available online and elsewhere. All you have to do is hop online and search. One example is to focus on following through with your swing, without actually hitting the ball. Stand on the golf course with your club, lean back on your back toe, take your club behind you with both hands and swing out in front of you, with the weight shifting to the front foot.

Do fifteen sets of this drill and see how you feel. There should be a mild burning sensation in your wrists. That means you are doing it correctly. This particular drill should eventually help you improve your swing.



Improving Your Golf Swing Speed

Improving Your Golf Swing Speed

There is obviously a great advantage to improving your golf swing speed. An increased golf swing speed can positively alter so many areas of your golf game such as: the overall consistency of your short game, improve the distance of your drive, the accuracy of your short game, and the continuity of all your shots. There is simply no substitute for an increase in the speed you can place behind your club. Yes, speed control is a crucial element of the golf game.

So what affects the speed of your club? Two things actually and they are: your physical fitness regimen and the overall mechanics of your golf swing. These are extremely important when it comes to increasing golf swing speed. If you are not able to bring about a complete backswing and let go of as much energy as possible, true golf club speed will not be optimized.

Another vital element to improving swing speed is the area of follow through. A lack of true follow through leads to pulling up at the last second and as a result this leads to a decrease in the swing speed.

There are many videos and books available through online advertisers than help you more in these areas. One practical method for improving your swing is to use low weight and high repetition exercises. Use light weight dumbbells to practice your swing. Of course another good alternative is to use a weighted club as this will get you closer to the real thing.

Good luck out on the course and get that speed going!



Thursday, 4 February 2010

Golf Tips - Bunker Shots

Golf Tips - Bunker Shots

One of the most difficult shots in all of golf is a shot from a sand bunker just off the green. These green side bunker shots cause the golfer to ask him a lot of questions, and more often than not, the answers are usually wrong. We all seem to know that we need to hit slightly behind the ball and take some sand; but that is only a fraction of the complexity that goes into making a successful sand save. Follow these golf tips and you should find yourself getting out in one shot, and placing the ball where you want, every time.

First, open your stance and dig your feet into the sand a little. The ball should also be placed forward in your golf stance to cause a higher trajectory once the ball is struck. Ensuring that your setup is correct in the sand is critical.

Next, open the clubface to flatten it out a little - this will make sure the clubface slices through the sand. At this point, you should focus on your hands. The grip should be a little looser than the normal golf swing, but still firm enough that the club does not turn upon impact with the sand. A weaker grip should ensure that you do not turn the clubface inward on your swing and close it when you make contact.

When making the golf swing, you should primarily try to keep the body still, and focus on just using your arms, and especially your wrists. A powerful shot is not needed to get the ball out of the sand, but a full wrist cock at the top of the back swing should be employed to make sure you bring the club fully through on the downswing.

For the right-handed golfer, your left hand should just be used to steady the club in your hand and the right hand is really going to be the hand used to apply force to the swing. This should naturally occur by using the full wrist cock discussed earlier. After making contact with the sand, the right hand should continue to push through, and a nice, high follow-through should be focused upon.

At this point, the ball should be coming out with a fair amount of sand. One of the mistakes the average golfer makes on the sand shot is chopping down on the ball. When you chop onto the ball, the angle of the club strikes the sand as such to where enough sand is not lifted from the bunker to help propel the ball forward.

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Improve Your Golf Swing, Improve Your Golf Game!

Improve Your Golf Swing, Improve Your Golf Game!

The rapid advancement in technology today is reaching out to all corners of the sports world. The performance of athletes in every sports venue can be vastly improved by this rapidly going technology. One of the world's oldest and still most popular games of all time is being drastically changed for the better with each year. That game is golf and the greatest way to improve your game is by improving your swing through video analysis.

Lessons to improve your golf swing with a professional golf instructor can greatly improve your game and swiftly drain your wallet! Swing analysis by your trained golf pro can only better your technique in proportion to his human ability to "catch" your every error and flaw in stance, swing, etc. It is impossible for him to see every second of the complex nuances involved in your individual stroke. Even with a video camera to record your every move, hundreds of hours would be required to slow down and re-watch all foot, hip, hand, head, etc. positions that need the smallest adjustments to bring your game from average to outstanding. Bring the world of technology to your game through golf swing analysis beyond your wildest imagination.

Video analysis software is now being produced by many different companies. A digital video camera and computer are the only required equipment. Have someone video your actual movement and run it through the analysis software to receive a detailed, technologically advanced evaluation of your golf swing. This examination will offer specific pointers to improve the areas of your swing that are not "perfect". The software will cover such swing mechanics as:

Alignment
Ball Angle
Ball Speed
Club Head Speed
Proper Head Position
Proper Positioning of Hips
Proper Positioning of Knees
Proper Shaft Angle
Proper Spine Angle
Swing
Timing

A human golf pro can never keep track of all these areas at the same time for any given swing, that's impossible; but it's completely possible for swing analysis software! Every area of the core of your game will be analyzed and improved right before your very eyes on your computer screen. No guessing, no trial and error. Everything you do right and everything you do wrong will be explicitly evaluated and all appropriate recommendations given to you. It's a personalized swing perfection tool for you and your game. Just having the mirror image of what you do shown back to you may just do the trick.

For less than the cost of only three hours of "human" pro golf help you can have your own personal golf swing analyzer for every swing you have. Right in the privacy of your own home and back yard, your small investment in golf swing analysis software will permanently move your game from average to outstanding in no time. Remember, improve your golf swing, and drastically improve your game!