3 Proven Simple Ways to Get Better

I can promise one thing for certain: if you want a fight to break out online, get golf professionals discussing what the basic fundamentals of the sport are, or what is essential in order to have a good golf swing. You will hear terms like spine angle, hip rotation, posture, alignment, and all sorts of bio-mechanical terms thrown around when actually there are only THREE important techniques to remember–and you’re likely not doing them.

Hitting the Ground In The Same Spot

Hitting the ground near the same spot consistently is one of the three. Generally speaking, this will be wherever your weight is at the time. That is why Stack-and-Tilt worked for many people; with that method, all the player’s weight was put on the left foot and kept there throughout the swing.

This is difficult for most people to do because of the term “weight shift.” In an attempt to shift their weight, most people mistakenly attempt to “shift” weight back to the back foot by sliding laterally and shifting it to the front foot by sliding laterally on the forward swing. This causes the bottom of the arc to move back and forth continuously. Very few people are gifted enough to learn to do this consistently.

Keep your weight stable. Ben Hogan kept his weight centered, saying that he simply coiled his body instead. Stack-and Tilt proponents keep it on the left side. I don’t care you do it, but pick one or the other and stabilize the bottom of your arc so you can hit the ground in about the same place every time.

Keep Your Club Face In Line With Your Swing Path

To improve, it is necessary to get be able to get your club face reasonably in line with your swing path. You want your club traveling in the general direction of the target, and the club facing in the same general direction.

You achieve this by learning to use your hands properly. For some unknown reason, most teachers tend not to do this these days. When Sam Snead was asked how he goes about teaching a beginner, he said that the first thing he does is to teach them how to align their hands properly.

Do this with a 1/2 or 3/4 swing with the ball teed up. Simply take the club back about waist high or so with just your hands and again–just using your hands–learn to hit the ball with an open, square and closed club face. When you master this, it will make the next step much easier.

Hit Closer To The Sweet Spot

This one is a little more difficult and you will need some impact tape (see left photo) to accurately gauge, this since today’s clubs are so forgiving that it’s difficult for the average golfer to feel how large their pattern is.

Keep in mind that the best players in world only hit the center about 60% of the time, but their pattern is very tight. That is your goal is simply to tighten your pattern.

If you improve these three things, you’ll be able to hit the ball much more consistently and your bad shots will improve dramatically. You will also gain serious distance on every shot. Kind of makes it worthwhile to work on these, don’t you think?

Cover Photo via Flickr