The Golf Gurus

The Golf Gurus Committed to providing the most current information to golfers at all levels, beginner to advanced.

03/27/2023

Hi, let's have a little fun. Take a look at funny advice the Pro givers to help improve your swing:

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03/25/2023

How to correct the arms from swinging too far away from the body?

We've been told to keep our arms relaxed and straight to produce a nice wide arc but too often we're "reaching" our arms too far away from our body. We are relying entirely on our arms to produce the swing instead of "coiling" our arms around our shoulders and hips then unwind on the down swing. To keep your swing compact and connected to your shoulders try putting a piece of paper (or golf glove) under BOTH your armpits and you must keep them in place until after impact (and release).
Most likely you will not be able to do a full back swing (unless you are flexible enough to do a full shoulder/hip turn). Most people are not very flexible and end up with at most a 3/4 swing. Because your arms are now connected to your shoulders and coiling around your body, it's easy to repeat and improved your consistency and ball striking.

03/24/2023

How much should I lean the shaft into a shot?

Proper shaft lean promotes the proper launch angle at impact position, where your hands leads the ball. The proper shaft lean will vary depending on the shot you’re trying to achieve. On a windy day where a lower trajectory is needed, more shaft angle is needed. Some good players can start with no lean but end up with the proper shaft lean at impact. I don't want to make my swing too complicated so I start my setup with the proper shaft lean. Improper shaft lean will result in adding loft to the club, losing yardage, and possibly causes you to come over the top of the ball instead of from the inside out.

How much should I lean the shaft into a shot?

Proper shaft lean promotes the proper launch angle at impact position, where your hands leads the ball. The proper shaft lean will vary depending on the shot you’re trying to achieve. On a windy day where a lower trajectory is needed, more shaft angle is needed. Some good players can start with no lean but end up with the proper shaft lean at impact. I don't want to make my swing too complicated so I start my setup with the proper shaft lean. Improper shaft lean will result in adding loft to the club, losing yardage, and possibly causes you to come over the top of the ball instead of from the inside out.

03/23/2023

How do I correct my Outside-In swing path?

Do not let your right hand over power the swing. When we try to hit it hard, we tend to throw our right hand out creating and outside-in swing path. When you address the ball, pretend that it is divided into 2 halves; the dividing line is the target line. In your downswing, pretend to hit the half that is closer to you and miss the outer half. If this is hard to imagine, place a shoe box a few inches in front of the ball (the ball should be between you and the box) and try to hit the ball without hitting the box. This will automatically give you the feeling of an inside out swing.
In slow motion, go to the top of your back swing. Keep your right elbow close to your body, and pull the club down with your left hand. When your left hand reaches close to your thigh, the club should be parallel to target line. The end of the handle should be facing towards the target and the club head should point in the opposite direction. From there go back to the top of the backswing and pump back and forth, keeping your right elbow close to your body all the time.

03/23/2023

Here's what you need to do to cure your slice.
Try hitting your driver with your feet together. Swing as smooth as you can while staying in balance. Doesn't matter how far you hit the ball. With your feet still together, gradually swing harder, again within balance. The ball will almost always go straight, draw, or even hook. Once you get that down, start to widen your stance, eventually getting back to your normal set-up. Also 90% of golfers swing the club too fast and thus throw themselves off balance. Many people have a different swing speed between their driver and irons. Many times people swing the driver way too hard and their hips turn quicker than their hands which leads to the hands never catching up resulting in a push/slice etc.
Slow down your swing to about 80%. The main problem with this is most people don’t want to slow down because they want to kill it!! Remember, a 300+ yard drive is no good when its 2 holes over! One of the analogies I like to use is “How to hammer nails into a wall”. Do you swing as hard as you can? No. Because you would not hit the nail squarely so you swing with control. Golfers need to do the same with their driver and all their clubs.

03/20/2023

Position the ball close to the center of your stance and set your weight slightly more onto your left foot. Choke down on the grip far enough that you can take you’re putting stance comfortably when putting the club behind the ball.
Make a swing similar to your putting action, but add a little more wrist motion to free up your swing through the ball. Avoid becoming too stiff, as that will cost you the feel for the distance. For longer chips, you can add a little forward knee movement, which will also help you make a free and relaxed stroke.
Swing the club with a pendulum action, keeping the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders in place. This is the same motion recommended for putting, but with the extra wrist action added, particularly on the longer chips.
Accelerate smoothly through the ball, rather than hitting at it. The loft of the club will lift the ball over the longer grass around the green
If you're not a confident chipper, experiment with using the hybrid for any chip from the fringes of the green, but not in the rough There isn’t anything physical or mental that is making your head move. It is simply a bad habit. Most golfers can’t wait to see their shot, which in most cases results in their head lifting too soon.
Take. The fact that you can use a setup and swing similar to your putting stroke helps with the feel for distance. If you tend to hit chips fat or thin, the hybrid is also a good solution, as the rounded sole prevents the leading edge from digging into the ground. Practice the stroke to help you get the feel for the distance and your confidence around the greens should increase.

The primary goal in the game of golf is to get a small dimpled ball into a hole placed in some real nice looking real estate. You must work on your short game, chipping is a good place to start.

03/20/2023

No matter how much you practice the various shots designed to aide your game, if you are misaligned with the target, then you will not be very effective.

Alignment is a key element to an accurate golf swing. Here is a simple drill I use while at the practice range. Place two clubs down on the ground, one club will be for your swing path, the other for positioning your feet. Align the clubs parallel to the target. Never point one or the other directly at the target. If one is pointed at the target and the other is pointed off in the wrong direction. Practice for several minutes and you will start to get the hang of where to aim each time. Another thing to keep in mind is your shoulder alignment.

Before swinging, take your club and place the shaft across both shoulders so that it forms a line that you can use to align your shoulders to the target. It is also important that you have the same thought when it comes to your hips. If you can imagine these two lines when you are addressing the ball and keep both of them parallel to each other and on target it will help you a great deal. Most alignment problems stem from these two lines not being correctly aligned together. From that point you can open or close your stance to fit the shot you are trying to achieve.

Once you are out on the course, take your time to align yourself before every shot. When addressing the ball, pick a spot in front of the ball that is on the ball aiming line. As you step into position, line up your club face perpendicular to the ball aiming line which you determine by using the spot in front of the ball and the ball itself. Once the club is in place, position you body parallel to the ball line. So your shoulders, hips and feet should be aimed left of the target. Some people like the visual of a railway track. The ball and club face are on one track and your body is on the other.

03/19/2023

Before you can incorporate fades, and draws into your game, you have to make good solid contact with the ball, "toeing" the ball can be the undesired result of poor contact.

What is the cause for hitting the ball off the toe of the club and what is a good drill to correct this?

One possible cause is you are standing too far away from ball. Every individual golfer has to find what distance is comfortable to them. Try moving closer to the ball little by little until you start making solid contact. You may also want to try addressing the call on the heel of the club. Coming over the top is also a potential cause of this problem. When the club approaches the ball from outside the ball-to-target line it will travel too much to the inside after impact. This is called an out-to-in swing path and is also at the same time very steep. The only part of the clubface that can contact the ball is the toe end. This happens all too often when a player uses tries to use their muscle strength and swings too hard at the ball causing an in-to-out path.

Here is one tip to correct this problem and shallow out your swing plane. Take a 7 iron and stand with your feet together and make shorter swings with mostly the arms. Make sure that you hinge your wrists in the back and through swings. This will give you a better feel for the club head and teach you how to swing the club head through the ball rather than hitting at it. You will be very surprised how far you can hit the ball with this drill and how much easier it is to hit the middle of the club. Effortless power is the secret.

03/15/2023

Now let's take a look at how to hit a fade.
Often when you’re playing a dog leg right hole you’d like your drive to start off fairly straight but end up right - this is when you’d like to hit a fade shot off the tee. To hit a fade, you need to follow a few simple steps at alignment that will help create the swing path that will put the proper spin on the ball to make it travel to the right. The following steps are for right handed golfers, if you’re a lefty, just reverse the directions. Address the ball on the tee with your standard alignment and grip. After you’ve setup as usual, you’ll want to aim your feet to the left of your target. You’ll want to adjust the aim of your feet about 10 to 15 degrees more than your traditional alignment. You can adjust this angle when you practice to get a feel for how different alignments affect the trajectory of the ball’s flight path. Now, aim an open club face directly at your target and maintain your regular grip. Take your normal swing and your ball should fade. Avoid the temptation of modifying your swing too much to ‘force’ a fade. Let your alignment and the club do the work. Make sure you practice this at the driving range before you attempt this on the course. When you are learning, an attempted fade can very easily turn into a severe slice and you can end up in unplayable territory. As with anything in golf, don’t get frustrated if you don’t master this shot immediately. Practice makes perfect!

03/15/2023

Let's take a look at two golf shots that can figure into your course strategies, the "draw and the fade. Let's look at how to hit a draw first.

A draw requires that the club be moving close to along the target line and strike the ball with the club face slightly closed. You have to be sure that you're really closing the face relative to your hands, not just rotating your hands so the face is closed at address. Also make sure that you've adjusted your stance so that the ball takes off on the line you intended, not in a pull direction right into the tree that you're trying to draw around. A draw, or hook, shot starts right and then curves left. Use it when a direct shot at your target is blocked, for example on a dogleg hole or if you need to curve the shot around some trees that are in the way. The draw is more of a subtle curve than the hook, which is very strong and often end up in the rough unless you did it deliberately and calculated it into your aim. The draw starts off pretty straight and then starts to fall off to the left. A draw shot makes the ball roll further when it lands because it puts a forward spin on the ball. Note that these steps are intended for right-handers - reverse them if you're left-handed.
Set up your golf shot with your usual alignment and grip. Adjust your feet to aim to the right of your target. The angle of your feet depends on your individual swing and desired results, and can range from 5 to 45 degrees. Try 10 to 15 degrees to the right to start. Aim the club face directly at your target and use your normal grip. Swing normally. Resist the temptation to turn too soon and watch the ball's flight.

03/12/2023

There is no such thing as a good back swing or a bad back swing, there is only the one that works for you. Here are some tips to improve your back swing?

The key to a natural back swing is to focus on your shoulders turning back and letting your arms go back naturally. You shouldn’t worry about your arms in a back swing too much. The arms' and hands' job is to only hold onto the club and the body does the rest. Something to keep in mind while approaching the ball is: turn the shoulders, swing the arms, and c**k the wrists. Then swing down and through the swing, turn the hips, swing the arms down and un-c**k the wrists. You want the arms and golf club to start their movement back before the shoulders start turning. The club head has a much longer distance to travel to the top of the back swing then do the shoulders. If you start turning the shoulders with the club, hands and arms you won't have anywhere for them to go once the shoulders have reached their max turn. Once the club, hands and arms reached your knees (or so) then it's time for the shoulders to catch up and start turning to the top. Keep the left arm straight (right handed players) during the backswing and go back as far as you can. Your tempo is dictated really by your personality, some people are naturally slow movers so will have a slower tempo while others tend to move faster. The important thing is to do what is most comfortable for you.

03/09/2023

Before I get to deeply into the other golf shot issues, I think there is value in looking at some general actions that can improve a beginners game:
Here are 10 basics that will help beginner golfers
play the game better. As a beginner, you’ll need to develop your skills, understanding and abilities. These are the basics to help you do that:
1. Nail the basic fundamentals
You can spot a good golfer before they even hit the golf ball. Their key fundamentals of posture, grip and stance are all good, and they usually have a very specific order which they do these things (known as a pre-shot routine) which helps them repeat these each and every time.
First, put your hands onto the golf club following
Next, step into the golf ball with one leg, and bow from your hips
And finally, adjust your feet so your weight is balanced, and your feet are about shoulder width apart. Put simply: Grip the club, step and bow, then adjust your feet.
2. Understand how the ball gets into the air
One of the greatest challenges beginners face is getting the ball in the air consistently.The basic concept is that in order to get the ball in the air, you need to hit the ground. Get into good posture, bending from the hips, and feel like you’re extending both arms into the ground during your swing, like you’re throwing a ball.
Don’t be afraid to hit the ground on your practice swings to get this feeling
3. Know how far your clubs go
Even as a beginner, one of the golf basics you need to know is how far your clubs go. You may not think you’re consistent enough to know this, but you are.
Write all the clubs you have on a piece of paper, and when you hit a shot reasonably well, use an app like (an affiliate company of GOLF.com), a range finder like a Bushnell, or walk off the yardage yourself and write it down. These numbers will change over time, but knowing your distances will help your consistency on the course.
4. Have a reliable club from the fairway
Once you tee off and your ball is on the ground in the fairway, new golfers may have a comfort level with one club over the other — you may prefer your hybrid over a fairway wood, for instance.
The key is finding a club you’re comfortable with, and one that goes a reasonable distance to help build confidence and help you to have fun.
A great choice for a reliable fairway club might be your most lofted fairway wood, like a 7-wood. A 7-wood would still travel a reasonable distance and be more consistent than a lesser lofted option.
5. Be able to hit a basic golf chip
As a beginner, you need to be able to hit a basic chip,
This shot doesn’t need to be perfect and as a newer golfer, I would not expect you to have perfect distance control. Your goal is to have a go-to shot when you’re close to the green.
For a basic golf chip: Hold the club lower on grip, with a more narrow stance, lean your weight and torso towards the target, and make a basic putting motion that brushes the grass. I would choose a pitching wedge for this shot, and practice getting comfortable with it.
6. Short game priority order
Simply knowing how to manage risk by choosing the right shot can be one of those golf basics that will help you succeed as a golfer.
The smaller the motion the less the chance for error, so remember my short game priority order:
Putt whenever you can.
Chip when you can’t putt.
Pitch (a longer, higher chip) only when you have to.
Using this pecking order will help you keep the ball in play even when you miss.
7. Know how to hit a basic bunker shot
Sand shots are some of the hardest for beginner golfers. And like we talked about earlier: Remember that to hit the ball up, you need to hit the ground. This means overriding any instinct you have to lifting the ball up, and commit to hitting the sand instead.
To help with this, dig your feet into the sand and play the ball more forward in your stance.
8. Know what equipment you need
Beginner golfers need to be prepared with the necessary tools that you’ll use on the course.
You should plan on having six to 12 golf balls in your bag, a golf glove (if you wear one) and tees and a ball marker in your pocket and ready to go.
Being ready to go when it’s your turn to hit is an important part of golf. Having all these things will help you do that.
9. Distance control in putting
Learning how to putt is one of those golf basics that is fun to learn, yet challenging.
A good, basic putting posture is to bow from your hips, have your eyes over the ball and your arms hanging below your shoulders.
After that, remember that your back stroke length controls distance. In other words, smaller strokes make the putter swing slower and larger strokes help the putter swing naturally faster. And while this may be extremely basic, it can help with the concept that stroke size controls distance and get you started.
You can use your feet to help you regulate stroke size, assuming your feet are about hip width.
For small putts, think about your putterhead going from big toe to big toe.
For medium putts, think little toe to little toe.
For large putts, aim for two-to-three inches outside each foot
Facing an extra long putt? Go six-to-seven inches outside each foot.
10. Lean rules and etiquette
Other than your skills, you need to know it’s important to fill your divots and fix any ball marks you leave behind. It is also not a bad idea to know a few of golf’s basic rules: Familiarize yourself with the official way to drop a ball, to take relief from an unplayable lie, what to do if your ball is out of bounds and what to do if you hit your ball into a hazard.

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