Tag: tips

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Golf Practice

FixYourGame.com Online Lesson Review

By Shooting 90

There’s no doubt that having a golf coach is the fast track to improving your game but very few of us have the time and money required to make that a reality. While there is a lot you can do on your own to improve your game, we’re sometimes blind to many things with our game and this is no where more noticeable than with our swing.

While analyzing your own swing will lead to improvement, it doesn’t compare with a golf teaching professional taking a look. This is especially true if you are new to the game. Have a teaching professional get you started in the right direction. Even if you’ve been playing for years, we sometimes slip back into poor fundamentals that we are blind to see. Have a teacher get your swing back on track.

For years instructors have used video to help them improve their students’ swings. Now smartphones have made it easy to record video of your own swing. The ability to easily upload these videos to the Internet has also opened the door for a relatively new form of golf instruction – online golf instruction.

The idea is simple. Shoot video of your own swing, upload it to a website, and have a golf professional review it and offer ways for you to improve. It’s been something I’ve been contemplating for some time, so when Brant from FixYourGame.com offered to review my swing, I jumped at the chance.

Getting started at FixYourGame.com is very easy. I took two videos of my swing, one from behind down the target line and facing me perpendicular to the target line, filled out the online form and uploaded the videos. Within a few days my online lesson was ready!

Your lesson consists of two parts. The first is a written review with observations and suggestions on areas of your swing to work on. Brant also included links to YouTube videos featuring himself demonstrating proper technique.

The second part of your lesson is a video analysis of your swing. Areas of improvement from the written review are further analyzed with your swing compared along side swings by pro golfers. My swing was compared frame by frame with Rory McIlroy’s and Luke Donald’s.

I felt the combination of the written review, video analysis, and YouTube videos coming together to reinforce the three areas of improvement for my swing did a great job of emphasizing what steps I need to take to improve.

Check out FixYourGame.com today for online instruction for your game!

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Golf Fitness

Two Areas of Fitness to Improve Your Golf

By Shooting 90

Many of us do not get enough exercise in our lives. The most handy excuse we give is that we simply do not have enough time in our busy lives. In reality, we probably lack the required discipline and desire to lead as healthy of lifestyles as we should. It may be unrealistic to think we will implement a full blown golf fitness program. Most amateur golfers simply do not have this level of commitment to their golf games.

There are two areas of personal fitness that golfers can focus on with little time commitment that will have the most positive impact on their game, flexibility and endurance. Lifting weights is not one of them. Big muscles do not directly translate into hitting the ball farther and certainly aren’t required for a consistent swing. Hitting your shots farther is achieved by increasing your clubhead speed. Otherwise beanpole sixteen year olds could not hit 300 yard drives.

Flexibility is key in getting the proper rotation and turn in your golf swing. Many high handicap and beginner golfers do not have enough rotation in their swing. They compensate their lack of rotation by either swaying and swinging too much with their arms. Both of these actions can lead to an over the top, outside to in swing which often results in a slice. Full rotation in your golf wing is beneficial in creating a consistent, inside to out swing.

Increasing your flexibility will make it easier to increase your rotation in your swing. While stretching everyday is ideal, increased flexibility can be realized by stretching as little as twenty minutes three times a week. Pilates and yoga are two of the most popular methods to stretch today. The benefit of Pilates or yoga is that in addition to increasing your flexibility, both also strengthen your core muscles (without lifting weights!). A strengthened core promotes better balance which helps with consistency in your swing.

Endurance is an area of fitness that most amateur golfers overlook. It is especially overlooked by those who ride a cart. Why do I need to worry about endurance when I don’t even walk my round? You’d be surprised how many golfers tire by the end of their round because they’re simply not in shape. Walking more throughout your day is a great way to build your endurance and improve your overall fitness. The easiest way to increase the number of steps you take a week is to begin walking your golf round. Walk using a pull cart instead of riding a powered cart. There are also many other areas of your life you can increase your walking. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Do you have a dog? Take him for regular walks. He’ll love you for it and you’ll be creating a healthier you.

Take at least a total of an hour a week to stretch your body. Find ways to include more walking in your daily life. Your golf game will thank you for it.

Categories
Golf Short Game

The Wedges You Need in Your Golf Bag

By Shooting 90

The rules of golf state you can have no more than fourteen clubs in your bag. You can have any combination of woods, irons, wedges and putters as long as the total number does not exceed fourteen. Many golfers have three woods, a hybrid or two, six to eight irons, two or three wedges, and a putter. What clubs are in your bag depends on your current ability and personal preferences.

The wedges you carry in your bag play a vital role in your success. The short game is arguably the most important piece in becoming a better golfer. The wedges in your bag can either be the same model as your irons and an extension of the set, or they can be a separate set all their own.

Beginner golfers many times use wedges that are part of their iron set which is perfectly fine. Almost all sets of irons include a pitching wedge, with most having a loft angle between 46 and 48 degrees. Most iron sets have options for additional wedges, including a sand wedge. Some beginner and high handicap golfers have the pitching wedge as the only wedge in their bag, but it is highly beneficial to have a sand wedge in your bag. Sand wedges typically have loft angles between 54 and 56 degrees. A sand wedge also has a wider sole and a higher bounce angle. The bounce angle lifts the leading edge of the club off the ground. The design of the sand wedge along with proper technique, allows you to hit sand shots from green side bunkers close to the hole. A sand wedge also lets you use a full swing to hit shots closer to the green instead of using a pitching wedge with a shorter swing.

There is usually eight degrees of loft angle between a pitching wedge and a sand wedge. This leaves a significant gap between the full swing yardages of each club. Having to hit a yardage in between those would require using a pitching wedge with less backswing. Dialing in the different yardages you can hit each of your wedges with varying swing lengths takes considerable practice time. Using a gap wedge is an easier short term way to hit the yardages in between your pitching and sand wedges. A gap, or approach wedge, has a loft angle between 50 and 52 degrees and allows you to utilize a full swing to fill the yardage gap between your pitching and sand wedges.

One final wedge that is available for golfers is the lob wedge. A lob wedge has a loft angle of 58 to 60 degrees or more and is designed to get the ball in the air quickly allowing you to stop it on the green with minimal roll out. A lob wedge is commonly used by advanced players as it can to difficult to hit consistently. Advanced golfers sometimes replace their gap wedge with a lob wedge while others carry four wedges.

The ideal number of wedges for a high handicap or beginner golfer aspiring to play bogey golf is three – a pitching wedge, a gap wedge, and a sand wedge. Master these three wedges and your short game will drive your success in becoming a better golfer.

Categories
Golf Equipment

Should You Be Fitted For Golf Clubs?

By Shooting 90

Many beginner and high handicap golfers struggle with when and if to get custom fitted for golf clubs. Should a golfer who is buying their first set of clubs and just starting out in the game get custom fitted for clubs? Many say golfers should wait until they can consistently repeat a swing. But what exactly does that mean? What level of repeatability does one have to reach? We’re all going to have the occasional mishit.

There are many measurements and observations that are part of a custom club fitting. Some measurements are static such as your height and arm height. Other measurements pertain to your swing and are more dynamic, or fluid.

It is not the best idea to buy a set of clubs off the rack with no fitting whatsoever. You will create bad swing habits that may be difficult to correct later on if you adapt your swing to clubs that do not fit you.

At the very least, get fitted for shaft length, shaft flex, and lie. Starting with clubs that physically fit you will allow you to build a correct, consistent swing over time.

As time goes by, your swing will improve and at some point you will benefit from being refitted. You will have the consistent swing that can then be analyzed for spin rate, launch angle, and ball speed. This information can be used to determine the exact right clubs for your game.

If you are looking for a new set of clubs, be sure to make a fitting part of the process. It will be highly beneficial to your game. Any club fitter, whether they are a big retailer like Golfsmith or Golf Galaxy, or a smaller pro shop at your local course, will do a free or very inexpensive fitting when you are buying a new set of clubs.

Categories
Hit More Greens

Lay Up on a Par 5

By Shooting 90

You’ve just crushed a drive down the middle of the fairway on a par 5. The aggressive side of you wants to knock it on the green in two and make a 15 footer for eagle. Of course, making it on the green in two on a par 5 rarely happens for a beginner or high handicap golfer and more often puts you in a bad position, either in a hazard, bunker, or green side rough. You should be very selective in the times you go for the green in two on a par 5. If the green is surrounded by hazards, your best play is to lay up, which simply means to hit a shot shorter than you are capable of.

When laying up, instead of going for the green in two, you hit your second shot to a safe part of the fairway with a remaining distance that leaves you a full wedge shot. The advantage to laying up is that most of the time you will be closer to the hole in three shots by laying up instead of going for the green in two. Develop a layup distance that you can repeatedly shoot for. The distance I usually lay up to is 100 yards, but choose the distance that is best for you based on your wedge play.

By laying up, you are also taking dangerous shots out of play. You may not need driver off the tee if you are playing three shots to get on the green. You may be able to reach the green with a 3 wood, mid iron and wedge. Along with leaving the driver in the bag, you are also taking a higher risk second shot with a fairway wood out of play. Laying up and taking three lower risk shots gives you an excellent chance at hitting a green in regulation and having a putt for birdie.

There will be times when being aggressive, going for the green in two on a par 5, will be the best play. You may have hit a booming drive right down the middle of the fairway and have a clear second shot to a green with minimal hazards surrounding it. These are the times to be selectively aggressive, go for the green in two if you have the distance to make it, and try to score low. The rest of the times play it safe and lay up on par 5’s.

Categories
Golf Short Game

Learn to Chip Around the Green

By Shooting 90

The short game probably has a bigger gap in ability between low and high handicap golfers than any area in golf. The ability to get up and down is critical in improving your game. How many times does a high handicap golfer take three or four shots from beside the green to get the ball in the hole?

The need to be able to shoot a variety of shots is one of the challenges high handicap golfers face in having a good short game. The chip, pitch, flop, and sand shots are all part of a well-rounded short game. In this post, we will be talking about the chip shot.

Around the green, many beginner and high handicap golfers exclusively use their pitching or sand wedge, attempting to fly the ball most of the way to the hole with a lofted shot. Sometimes it is best to play a chip shot. A chip shot consists of bumping the ball up in the air just enough to get it on the green and rolling. The big benefit of a chip shot is that it is much easier to control both the direction and distance when your ball is rolling opposed to flying through the air.

Chip shots can be made with a variety of clubs including your 7 iron, 8 iron, 9 iron, and wedges. Use your wedges for chipping when your ball is closer to the hole as they will provide more spin and your ball with roll less. Your less lofted clubs are for longer chip shots where you need your ball to roll a greater distance.

The stance and swing for a chip shot differs from a regular shot. The ball is played off the inside of your back foot with the handle of the club forward of the ball. Probably the most important thing to remember about a chip shot is that you strike down on the ball allowing the loft of the club to get it in the air. Many amateurs make the mistake of trying to scoop the ball into the air.

While the setup and execution is the same for all of your chip shots regardless of what club you choose, it is important to practice chipping with all of your wedges all the way down to your 6 or 7 iron. The club you choose will depend on how far away from the hole you are.

In the video below, Peter Finch, shows us how to control our distance when chipping.

Spend a serious amount of time chipping during your practice sessions. Becoming a successful chipper will most definitely lower your scores. The short game offers high handicap golfers the biggest impact on their game with more practice.

Categories
Hit More Fairways

Managing First Tee Nerves

By Shooting 90

High handicap golfers often struggle on the golf course. Unfortunately many times the struggle starts on the first tee. Nerves result in a bad drive, starting the round off on the worst possible note.

Most golfers will have at least a few nerves on the first tee even in a foursome comprised of all people they know. Add people to the group that you’ve never met and the nerves get much worse. The audience watching your first drive doubles if you have the group behind you show up early to the first tee.

There’s a few things you can do to hit a good shot off the first tee despite your nerves.

Get to the course thirty minutes prior to your tee time to hit a small bucket of balls on the range and take some practice putts. Hitting a small bucket on the range gets your muscles ready for golf.

It also provides important information for your upcoming round. Pre-round shots on the range will tell you what shot you have brought to the course. You’re not always going to have your preferred ball flight every time out. High handicap golfers simply do not have that level of consistency. Your ball flight may be different this time out. The first tee is not the place to discover what ball flight you have brought to the course. Find this out on the range. Just keep in mind the pre-round small bucket of balls is not for fixing a swing issue. Save fixing swing issues for your weekly practice sessions.

Taking a few putts on the practice green will give you a general idea for the speed of the greens. Don’t putt 10 foot putts one right after another. Hit several 20 to 30 foot putts to work on your lag putting. Getting the speed of the greens nailed down is the key to keeping your number of three putts to a minimum.

It’s OK to leave your driver in the bag on the first tee. Shooting 90 is a big advocate of learning to hit your driver. You may be learning how to fix a slice, making good progress with your driver, and finding success with it on the course. That said, it’s still the most dangerous club in a high handicapper’s bag. With nerves on the first tee, you may have problems finding the fairway or putting the ball in play with your driver. That’s OK. Use your “go to” club off the first tee, whether that’s a fairway metal, hybrid, or even a long iron. Save your driver for the rest of the round. The worst thing you can do for your round is to put your first drive in a bad place.

Don’t hit first or last in your group off the first tee if you can help it. There’s a lot of pressure on you when you hit first. Everyone is pumped up for the round and all eyes are on you. There’s similar pressure in hitting last. Everyone has hit and they’re now waiting for you. It’s twice as bad if everyone striped one down the middle of the fairway before you. Tee off second or third in your foursome off the first tee.

Tee up your ball on the same side as trouble. If you have woods down the left side, tee up on the left side of the tee box. This gives you the best angle to hit your drive away from the trees.

I’m not sure golfers ever get over first tee jitters. The best we can do is learn to cope with them. Hopefully applying these tips will help you do that.

Categories
Golf Equipment

Invest in the Right Putter

By Shooting 90

Last week was the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, a yearly showcase of new advancements in golf equipment. New advanced equipment comes out every year aimed at improving your golf game. Through equipment upgrades, golfers have the opportunity to immediately improve their game.

The most advanced equipment, however, is not always right for the high handicap golfer. Many high handicap and beginner gofers play with a Titleist Pro V1 golf ball. Although Titleist may tell you differently, a Pro V1 tour ball is almost always the wrong choice for a high handicapper. A less expensive two piece ball is most likely a better fit.

Many golfers also have no problem dropping several hundred dollars on the newest driver, a club they use 14 times a round at the most.

The club you do not see many golfers begging to show you the bright, shiny, new model they just bought is the putter. In fact, more than a few golfers probably use a $10 putter. Golfers take a majority of their strokes with their putter. We need to put some effort into making sure the putter we are using is best for our game.

Length is an important factor when choosing a putter. You need a putter that conforms to your stance instead of changing your stance for a putter. A proper putting stance has you bent at the hips with your eyes over the ball. Cutting a putter shaft that is too long down to size is not a good thing to do as the weight of the putter head is matched to its length. Your shortened putter will feel too light.

Your putter also has to match your putting stroke. Your putting stroke will fall into one of three categories – straight back straight through, slight arc, or strong arc. A straight back straight through stroke is just what it implies. The putter head goes straight back and then straight through impact with the ball, with the putter face remaining square to the target line all the way through. An arc stroke means the stroke travels on a path that starts inside of the target, moves out to the target line for impact, and then back inside. The putter face will be slightly open at the start, square to target at impact with the ball, and then closed at finish.

Putter heads are weighted differently. A face balanced putter, where the weight is equally distributed from the heel to the toe of the head, is ideal for golfers that have a straight back straight through stroke. A toe weighted putter, that has more weight in the toe of the head, assists the face in moving from open to closed through the shot, making it ideal for golfers with an arc putting stroke.

So how do you tell if your putter is face balanced or toe weighted? Balance the shaft of the putter in the palm of your hand. If the face points up and is horizontal, it is a face balanced putter. If the toe hangs lower than the rest of the putter head, it is a toe weighted putter.

Finally, should you use a blade or mallet putter? While personal preference plays a small role as you can get both face balanced and toe weighted versions of both blade and mallet putters, face balanced  mallet putters are best suited for straight back straight through strokes and toe weighted blade putters are best for arc strokes.

Go to your local golf store or pro shop if you’re not sure what type of putting stroke you have. They can analyze your stroke and make sure you have the right putter for your game.

Categories
Golf Equipment

Super Low Compression Golf Balls

By Shooting 90

The ability to compress the golf ball is what allows golfers to hit for long distance. The ball compresses after impact with the club and then springs back to original shape. This gives the ball a “slingshot” effect off the club face. Many golfers do not have the ability in their current game to compress the ball to a high degree. This inability is caused mostly by slow swing speeds. Swing technique does impact the ability to compress the ball, as some golfers with higher swing speeds still do not effectively compress the ball, but swing speed is the main driver in compressing the ball.

Historically, most of the golf balls available had compression ratings from 70 to 100. The higher the compression rating the more density the ball has. Tour balls used by professionals and low handicap golfers have a high compression rating. Better golfers typical have higher swing speeds which allow them to compress a high density ball. The benefit of a high density ball is that it offers more control to advanced players.

The average male golfer has a swing speed in the mid 80’s mph while the average swing speed for women is in the low 60’s mph. For a long time, golf ball manufacturers have provided balls with lower compression ratings (around 70) to help golfers with slower swing speeds to better compress the golf ball. These balls have less density which allows them to compress more and offer more distance. The majority of these balls are targeted to women golfers. I’m not sure if that is the best marketing ploy, as there are a large number of men who could benefit from a low compression rating ball but refuse to play a women’s golf ball.

The Wilson Duo golf ball was introduced in 2012 and created a lot of buzz in the golf community. Wilson was able to produce a ball with a super low compression rating of 40, providing long distance and minimal spin off the driver while still having a soft feel around the green. Many amateurs, including some with relatively faster swing speeds over 100 mph, find success with the Wilson Duo. It is a great ball for high to mid handicap golfers. Low handicap golfers will most likely find that the 2 piece Duo does not give them the necessary high spin, especially with their wedges.

Callaway recently introduced another ball into the super low compression market, the Super Soft golf ball. The Super Soft golf ball has a compression rating of 38 and incorporates Callaway’s HEX Aerodynamics as the dimple pattern. Like the Wilson Duo, it’s main selling point is long, straight drives off the tee with more softness around the greens than other two piece balls. The Callaway Super Soft provides another option to those looking for a super low compression ball.

If you’re a high to mid handicap golfer looking for more distance, give a super low compression ball a try. The Wilson Duo and Callaway Super Soft both offer super low compression to give golfers with slower swing speeds added distance.

Categories
Putting

Become a Better Lag Putter

By Shooting 90

There are a few areas that high handicap or beginner golfers should focus on to most quickly improve their game. Hitting the ball in the fairway off the tee might be the first and most important. Improving your pitching and chipping around the green is another one.

Today, we will be discussing an equally important area of focus for high-handicap golfers which is eliminating three putts. Of course while the goal is to eliminate three putts, no one ever does, but the point is to drastically reduce the number that you have. While hitting a ball out of play off the tee can derail your hole before it starts, nothing is more deflating than hitting a green in regulation only to three putt for a bogey. Worse yet is to three putt after struggling from tee to green and ending up with a blow-up hole. The ability to putt well can make up for earlier mistakes on a hole but there is nothing to cover up for bad putting.

The most important skill to develop when working towards eliminating three putts is effective lag putting. Lag putting is not trying to make the putt but instead getting it close enough to insure that you can make the second putt. So we’re talking about getting within a few feet of the hole. The chances of a high handicap golfer making a putt outside of 10 feet are low, while their chances of making one outside of 15 feet drop down to almost nothing. You obviously will make a long putt now and then but outside of 10-15 feet you are much better off to concentrate on getting the ball within a couple feet of the hole instead of trying to make it.

Quite possibly the biggest difference between the putting of a professional golfer and that of an amateur is the amount of feel that a professional golfer uses in putting. Many high handicap golfers have a very mechanical putting swing. While it’s very important to have proper mechanics while putting, there is a great deal of feel required in putting especially for distance control.

Check out the video below from Charlie King. He provides three great drills to develop your feel for lag putting.

There is another, just an important, skill required to be a successful lag putter. You need to be able to make short putts! A successful lag putt to within two to three feet of the hole is wasted if you don’t make the putt. The best way to make more short putts is too practice making more short putts! Check out this next video from short game guru Dave Pelz with tips for if you continue to miss short putts.

Change your practice routine if yours currently consists of putting a few 10 to 15 footers before your round. Dedicate regular practice time for working on your lag putting and you can drastically reduce the number of times you three putt.