Tuesday 12 August 2008

Golf Putting: 2 minute practise drill to have you holing more putts!

I’m always thinking of practise routines to help shave a few shots off your
game each week and this little tip is one I have used time and time again
to help keep my putting stroke smooth and straight.

It will help you concentrate more on what you are doing with the putter
head throughout the stroke and hopefully stop you pulling or pushing the putt away from the hole.

The golf putting technique:

Take time before going out on course to have a few practise putts to help get a feel for the speed of the greens and help loosen you up before the first REAL putt of the day.

This technique requires you to make a straight tunnel of tees (6 tees should be enough) directly behind the putter head from where you are to take a practise putt.


With 3 tees on each side, just wider than the putter head, begin to space them out with up to a maximum of a couple of inches in between each one.
(Only push the very tip of the tee into the ground, just enough for it to remain standing because you don’t want the green keeper getting too angry!)

These tees are going to act as your barriers and will help focus your putting stroke and keep your action with he putter straight and true therefore helping you hit a more consistent putt.

Now address the ball with the tunnel of tees behind you and get ready to hit your putt. When you draw the putter head back be sure not to hit any of the tees that you have set up. It is also the case that you shouldn’t hit any tees as you bring the putter back to meet the ball before impact.
If you hit the tees either on the way up or the way through then your stroke is not as straight as it should be and would explain why you are not consistently holing putts.

Practise this drill for a couple of minutes and you’ll quickly realise the accuracy of your putting stroke and where you are going wrong. Focus on hitting a smooth putt without hitting any of the tees.

You’ll see the results almost immediately and you will hopefully start to naturally take a better and smoother golf putting stroke and therefore start holing more putts and improving not only your score but your golf handicap too!!

Good luck with this one and let me know how you get on.

Saturday 9 August 2008

Golf Instruction: How to lose 10 yards BUT be on the fairway!

Golf Instruction: How to lose 10 yards BUT be on the fairway!

The golf instruction today poses a question to you.
Would you be happy to lose 10 yards from your drive or long approach
shot but be pretty certain that you would be on the fairway or green?

Everyone wants to hit the golf ball as far as they can as they automatically think this is the only solution to getting a better score at the end of the round.

But on reflection of your round how many times did you lose shots by having to play from the rough or even worse from under a tree or bush because you hit wide and missed the fairway?

How many times have you said to yourself,
‘If only I was on the fairway I would have had a better chance of getting par!’
Yet still we do exactly the same thing on the next tee or hole!

Here’s a golf instruction therefore that can improve your accuracy with only a slight downside of losing maybe just 10-15 yards.

Instead of taking a full golf swing and launching the club at the ball simply take a ¾ length swing and follow through as normal. Be sure to keep your balance and everything else the same and stay relaxed throughout the swing.

By taking a ¾ length swing we are keeping the golf swing more compact and therefore less likely to go off line of our swing and lessen the chance of anything going wrong throughout.

You will probably find that you will not lose too much club head speed on the downswing and so that’s why you may only lose 10-15 yards from your drive or long iron shot.

This simple golf instruction will have you back on the fairway more consistently if you are struggling with your game at the moment.
From here and when you build your confidence again you can extend your golf swing back to the full golf swing and gain back those yards! But be sure to give this golf instruction a go first and see what difference it makes!

Be sure to let me know how you get on!

Sunday 3 August 2008

Golf Putting – Hole more 6 footers with this simple trick!

In golf it is very easy to get carried away with focusing on hitting the ball further off the tee in order to reduce your scores and golf handicap but there is another area that mustn’t be forgotten – Putting!

With 18 greens to negotiate every round it is vital we learn how to reduce the number of shots we take over what is a very short distance. It is no good getting on the green in two only for us to take another three or four shots.

This simple technique should get you sinking more 6 foot putts than ever before and it won’t cost you a penny.

The technique

Before you start your round of golf make sure you spend at least 10 minutes on the practise putting green. This is where you should focus your mind on your technique and form so that when you are out on the course you perform as best you can!

Instead of putting to the holes though, take a tee peg and place it in the ground.
Your challenge now is to hit the tee peg from your putts.
Start from about two feet away and attempt to hit it three times in a row with three putts.
Then once you have achieved that, move further back, perhaps to four feet, and repeat the process. Then again to six feet and attempt to hit the tee peg three times in a row.

As crazy as it may look and sound, what you are actually doing is focusing on putting the ball to a much smaller target than that of a hole.
Then when you have mastered being able to hit a tee peg from six feet and it comes to putting to an actual hole, the hole itself seems a much larger an easier target to hit therefore resulting in you making more putts.

It really is just a simple tip as it concentrates on improving your putting accuracy without costing you anything or changing your stance or putting movement.

Just focus your mind on hitting the tee peg in practise and the golf holes will seem like buckets to you out on the golf course!

I hope this golf instruction tip helps to knock a few strokes off your game and helps reduce your golf handicap.