Posts Tagged ‘play golf’
I’ve had a flair for the game of golf since my father took me out to the local public course at age 6. Although I wasn’t immediately allowed to join the adult pairings for a casual round, the golf course staff took me under their wing, allowing me to help clean the golf carts and eat lunch inside the clubhouse. I began to take the game seriously soon after that as I realized by some fluke of biology that I had a perfect swing.
You could have taken my swing along with that of “Slammin’” Sammy Snead’s and created an exact composite. I went on to win numerous amateur titles and even thought about joining the PGA someday. Then life got in the way and my interests turned toward engineering. I never forgot the proper way to swing a golf club, but when I pick up an iron these days it takes a while to shake off the rust.
Alter Your Focus
One of the first lessons most golfers learn when learning how to play golf is to “keep your eye on the ball.” I’m here to offer a better suggestion: Move your eyes behind the ball.
Heresy, you say? I don’t think so. That’s because when a golfer makes his or her backswing with a full turn of the shoulders and a proper shift of weight, the center of his or her chest, or sternum, will be well behind the ball. (Exactly how far behind the ball depends on an individual’s suppleness and flexibility.)
If a golfer moves to his or her right side during the backswing, yet keeps the eyes locked on the golf balls, there’s a good chance he or she will change his or her spine angle or fall into a reverse pivot, either of which is a huge power leak. That’s because the eyes automatically tell the golfer whether he or she has formed a bad relationship with the ball and he or she will have to “reach” or “stretch” to get back to it.
Trust me—the ball will be there on the downswing. It’s not going anywhere. Get used to relying on your peripheral vision to see the ball. By moving your focus behind the ball, you’ll increase the likelihood of making a proper athletic move during the swing and staying down through the shot. These two factors will promote better contact and more distance. So alter your focus and guarantee a stronger turn and more distance.
When a golf swing goes awry, the results can be disastrous. Your handicap can suffer seriously once you begin slicing or hooking the golf balls anywhere but straight on a regular basis. Not to mention the mental toll it takes during the course of what should be a pleasant afternoon round. Try to resist the temptation to blame it all on the equipment. The problem could be traced to your golf club grip.
If you are a right-handed player, consider the following tips on how to grip the golf clubs correctly. You can remedy a slicing problem by strengthening your grip and shifting your hands to the right. This may feel counterintuitive at first, but you should notice a difference before long. Hook shots to the left can be solved by doing just the opposite – loosening your grip slightly and moving your hands to the left. Accuracy begins with the grip, so you should always address that problem before investigating other potential issues.