A great golf lesson to remember is to not try to copy or imitate any other golfer too closely. Every golfer is unique in height, weight and flexibility so what works for others may not work for you. Certain basics can be copied such as the grip, stance and posture but generally most of the golf swing is an individual thing.
Here are the most important golf swing tips for beginners that will get you off to a great start in your golfing life, which are guaranteed to actually help you get a great swing.
General Golf Swing Tips
* Relax: you can have the best golf swing in the world, but if you are too uptight and introduce tension into your swing, you are doomed. If you simply relax when you swing (think a golf grip of "5" on a scale of 1 to 10), you will hit the ball further, more solidly and more consistently.
* Pre-shot routine: establish a standard pre-shot routine before every shot.
* Establish good rhythm and tempo: think "Slow Back, Fast Forward" and work on getting your body and swing tempo in sync.
* Make solid contact with the golf ball: if you find you are hitting the ball short, fat, thin, left and right, then on your next shot, relax, take more club, shorten your swing and simply ensure that you are making solid contact with the ball
Short Game Golf Swing Tips
* Putting: Keep your eyes over the ball and head steady; ensure consistent backswing length and follow-through; keep lower body "quiet"; make sure to hit through the ball.
* Chipping: Keep most of your body weight on your front leg throughout shot.
* Pitching: Open stance and keep most of your body weight on your front leg throughout shot.
* Bunkers: Keep left arm straight throughout shot and control shot with good body rotation, not just arms.
Practice and Play Mindset
* Separate "play" from "practice." When practicing, focus on fundamentals, mechanics and adjustments. When playing, resist analysis and focus only on the target for your next shot.
* When playing, track golf shot statistics to monitor progress and identify development needs including number of fairways hit, greens in regulation, "Up and Down" Percentage and Putts Per round
* Analyze your statistics and overall play after your round to set basis for practice agenda.
* Practice with a purpose-define your practice agenda, needs and focus areas before you practice.
* Sixty percent or more of golf score occurs within 100 yards of hole. To lower your golf scores, devote half or more of practice time to short game (pitching, bunkers, chipping and putting).
The Importance of a Great Stance
Firstly you want to get a good stance, now the width of your stance is really dictated by the club that you're using, so here's a quick guideline;
- For your middle irons your feet should be placed about shoulder width apart.
- For your short irons the stance needs to be a little narrower than shoulder width apart.
- For your long irons and woods your stance should be a little wider than shoulder width apart.
Next you need to ensure that you have your weight distributed correctly, your weight distribution also depends on what club you're using;
- Short Irons; Have slightly more weight on your front foot (your left foot if you're right handed).
- Middle Irons; Your weight should be evenly balanced between both feet.
- When you're using longer clubs like your driver you want to have slightly more weight on your back foot (your right foot if you're right handed).
The Importance of Great Posture
Now that you have the correct stance you want to remember to keep this stance as you adjust your posture, a great stance and posture combined will do wonders for your swing. Begin by bending forward slightly from the hips and bend your knees slightly. Your knees should be nicely flexed and tension free. When viewed from the side your spine and the clubs shaft should form a 90 degree angle this is the correct angle of the spine and the correct posture.
Tilt your spine to the right (away from your target) and ensure that it's fairly straight not slouched. Finally ensure that you're correctly aligned so your feet, shoulders and hips should all be parallel to your imaginary target line (this is the line which runs from your ball to your target). Then ensure that your club face is square to the ball.
Starting the Swing - Back Swing
A good swing starts with a good back swing, a good back swing will put you in a great position to follow through. So to begin your hips and your shoulders are parallel. The back swing begins by rotating the hips and the shoulders this puts the arms and hands into action. It's important you don't begin this rotation with the arms.
As you start the rotation back ensure that you bring the club back nice and low to the ground, you want to ensure that you 'sweep' it back you do not want to 'lift it up'. Hinge the wrists as you bring the club back. As you sweep the club back and rotate the body your left arm should remain straight whilst your right arm should begin to bend at the elbow until it forms an almost 90 degree angle.
On the back swing the hips complete their rotation before the shoulders. The shoulders continue their rotation until your back faces the target. As you rotate to the top of the back swing transfer your weight onto the inside of the back foot.
Ensure that you keep your eyes on the ball throughout the entire swing, so at the top of the back swing you should be able to see just over your shoulder. At the top of the back swing 75% of your weight should be on the back foot.
Downswing
The downswing should begin with the rotation of the lower body - the hips first then the shoulders. This slight separation between your upper and lower body as you start the downswing builds torque in the transition between the back swing and the downswing, which really helps to give your swing an extra power boost.
Your shoulders bring the arms and hands into action, you want to let the arms swing very naturally through the downswing, the club should follow through on the same path in which you took it back in the back swing. Ensure that you unhinge your wrists right from the start of the downswing, this ensures that you get maximum power in the swing.
So as I said before the downswing begins with the rotation of the hips but it also begins by pushing your weight from your right leg to your left leg, back towards your target. As you rotate the body back through you should really focus on transferring your weight back towards your target. To do this you should feel your right knee swing in towards your left leg as you swing back through.
Impact
Continue to rotate the body right through into impact. Ensure that your club head strikes the ball as it descends in the downswing, don't try to lift the ball with the clubhead. All that power built up in the swing is directed towards your ball through impact.
Give these golf swing tips a try and get your golf game off to a solid start. Work on building a solid, repeatable golf swing that will keep you playing great golf well into the future.
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