Tag: Tilt

Turning Your Slice Into A Draw Now

Turning Your Slice Into A Draw Now

Article by Jack Moorehouse









If you’ve ever tried to correct a slice, you know how hard it is to do it. You’ve probably taken golf lessons. Read golf tips. And consulted trusted friends with low golf handicaps. You’ve tried everything you can think of but nothing’s worked. You still hit a slice. Frustration sets in after awhile and you back off. But you haven’t given up. You’d still want to correct your slice.

The problem here isn’t the sources you’ve consulted. It’s the messages they carry. All too often these sources tell you why you slice, but not how to correct it. While knowing why you slice is nice, it doesn’t help correct it. Nor does it help you cut strokes from your golf handicap. What you need is golf tips on how to correct a slice. Below are six key golf tips on turning your slice into a draw.

Starts At Address

Turning your slice into a draw starts at address. Golfers fighting a slice tend to lean away from the ball. It’s a natural reaction. But it makes your slice worse. At address, your weight should be balanced in every direction. It also should be evenly distributed over both feet and proportionally on the balls and heels of your feet. This position prepares you to make a good golf swing.

Tilt Away From The Target

Also, tilt your shoulders away from the target at address as well. This lowers your back shoulder, which is key. Golfers struggling with a slice tend to invert their shoulders at address. This causes them to swipe down on the ball with a forward shoulder that’s lower than the rear one. Instead, tilt your shoulders away from the target. It helps you hit the ball straighter, higher and farther.

Check your Alignment

Aiming your shoulders left of the target (right, if you’re a lefty) encourages a swing that cuts across the ball from outside to inside. Aiming your shoulders right of the target forces your upper body to over-rotate or even come too much inside during the swing. A good way to align yourself is to aim the clubface at the target, draw an imaginary line from the target to the clubface, and position your shoulders parallel to the line.

Flatten The Wrists

It’s critical that your left wrist (right for southpaws) remain flat at the top of the backswing, which avoids rotating the clubface too far open. With a flat left wrist, the clubface remains square or closed at the top of the swing. In this position, the back of your gloved hand is flat with your forearm and both hands above the back shoulder at the top. This position prevents the ball from veering off right (or left) at impact. Move Inside Out

To draw the ball, your swing must move inside out. Thus, you must swing below your shoulders. If your hands get above your shoulders or out in front of them, you’ll come over the top and hit either a double-crossed hook or a big slice. Which you hit depends on whether the clubface is closed or open. Also, you can move your head forward on the downswing. But not so far forward that your head gets out in front of the ball. Keep your head behind the ball.

Rotate Your Arms

If you’re a slicer, you probably don’t rotate your hands properly on the downswing. The way to square a clubface at impact is to continually close it through the downswing. If you stop closing the clubface and start sliding, the face will open and you’ll slice more. As you make the backswing, concentrate on rolling your clubface open. Then, as begin your downswing, roll your hands over and straight out in front of you as they cross your sternum.

Extend Your Arms

Extending your arms after impact closes the clubface and prevents a slice-inducing swing at impact. Extending the arms also encourages the rest of the body to continue turning-a necessary ingredient to hitting a draw. After impact, the ungloved hand should be on top of the gloved hand. Remind yourself to extend your arms during your swing.

Turning a slice into a draw isn’t easy. It won’t come in a day. It takes practice and hard work to do it. But if you follow the golf tips explained above, you can turn your slice into a draw. That in turn will increase your distance and accuracy off the tee and help you trim that golf handicap down to size.



About the Author

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. Free weekly newsletter available with the latest golf tips, lessons and instructions.










Tilt your head to stop slicing

Tilt your head to stop slicing

If you slice, your shoulders will be open or pointing left of target at the moment of impact. This means you have an out to in swing path.

 

But it’s not only your shoulders that point left. As your upper body has swung round, your head has been pulled to the left as well. At impact a line through your eyes would be pointing in the same direction as your shoulders – left of target.

 

To stop slicing and start coming into the Taylormade Tour Bunner Fairway Wood on the correct path, you have to find a way to keep the upper body from swinging open.

 

At address, tilt your head to the right so that a line drawn through your eyes would point to the right of target. On the back swing make sure it stays at that angle and you don’t cheat by letting it return to where it prefers to be.

 

If you concentrate on keeping the same head angle at the beginning of the downswing, it will help stop your shoulders dominating and swinging open. The more you want to hook the ball the more your head needs to be tilted to the right at address.

 

As the season starts to gain momentum tell us on the forum what’s the best tip you’ve had from a pro or a fellow golfer this year. Apart from dedicating yourself to more practice we want you to share your triumphs and disappointments by telling other passionate golfers what’s worked for you so far and what hasn’t.

The Ultimate 101 Guide To Beginner Golf

The Ultimate 101 Guide To Beginner Golf

If you are a complete beginner or novice to golf, this article will definitely lead you to a place where starting and taking the first step becomes easy. Many golfers who have great potential fail to progress and for some that entails even making the greens. They key to having a fantastic golf career either professional or leisure is to overcome the inertia to transcend to the next level from the previous. With some expert, informative and useful advice, that step becomes all the easier.

The foundational steps of golf involves balance, power and driving, addressing the ball, grip, and finally putting (shot techniques will be covered in a different article). Below are these steps elucidated in more detail: 

Balance:

 For a golf swing that maintains consistency and power, balance is the primary underlying element which must be maintained throughout the entire swinging motion. The first step is to position one’s posture such that the centre of gravity is centred over the ball. Subsequently, one’s feet should be apart as far as the shoulder’s width with a slight bend at the hip area (hip tilt of about 30 degrees or one “o’clock” upper torso position) with rear protruding a little; knees at this point should be mildly locked. Next, both hands should grip the club in such a way that they are in line with one’s chin and this should all culminate in natural distribution of weight over the golf ball. The bend is one of the most crucial components of the balance position. One should not feel as though he/she is “sitting” comfortably which would imply the shifting of bodyweight towards the heels of the feet. The latter would stiffen one’s body rendering flexibility impossible with the subsequent swing inevitably be wayward.       

At the time of impact, approximately seventy five percent of one’s weight should be transferred onto the leading foot (ie left foot for right handers and vice versa). One’s head must be behind the ball and hips should be c 10cm forward vis-a-vis the initial position. Consequently, the spine is tilted to double that of the starting stance. Post impact, following the gradual motion of the body, weight shift should naturally flow back towards the heel.

Power and Driving:

The greatest problem faced by beginner golfers in driving the golf ball is that of power. Below are some pointers and steps to follow and check to ensure a great dynamic drive-through:

– Making sure the ball is not teed-up to low. This has become more of a problem of late because the contact surface of drivers (especially iron 1) have pronouncedly increased. This results in greater difficulty in locating the sweet-spot which in relative terms have shrunk. As an approximation, the ball should be teed such that the top half of the golf ball is above the club face when the club is in a stationary position on the ground. This would ensure that the contact point is on the centre of the club head. Evidently the larger club head, the higher the tee.

– Making sure one’s hands are not position too closely to the body in the starting position. This mistake would invariantly produce a smaller arc in terms of backswing and follow-through. The key is not reach-in slightly and not to overdo it; this is easier said than done and requires practice because the natural tendency for beginners is too hang one’s hangs inward for security and comfort. Following the circumference of the semi-circle driving motion will generate quicker and more powerful drives then a path trending across the diameter of the motion-arc.   

– Many beginners lift their front foot on the backswing. This inadvertently leads to a counter-productive weight shift to the front of the backswing resulting in a hook or shank nine times out of ten instead of a drive. One’s front foot should be firmly anchored to the ground on backswing forcing the hip and shoulder to turn in s spring-like fashion releasing great power. One’s weight should be shifted to the backside post impact.

– Accompanying the tee is the ball position. Setting the ball too far back or front would lead to premature contact on the down swing or delayed impact of the golf club after traversing the mid point below the golfer’s chin. It will be near an impossible task to hit a good drive if the above occurs. A perfect position would be the ball equidistance from both feet.

– Lastly, confidence and mental approach to a drive is vital for beginners. Every single shot should be hit with full believe that the drive would go the distance and not stop short of its intended target.

 Addressing the golf ball

– Ball addressing entails contacting the ball so the square of one’s club head is exactly perpendicular to the ball on impact. The same swing applies regardless of whether one is on the driving range, tee or fairway; this applies for all woods and irons from 2 through to 9.

The tip post following the steps above is to keep one’s head down and one’s eye on the spot where the ball sits. One’s head should be in this position throughout the swing. Head lifting and movements during the swing or looking up as the club hits the ball would pull one’s body out of alignment making it almost impossible to hit the ball squarely.

The Golf Grip

is one’s only means of connecting with the club. A sound grip is half the battle won in regards to generating power and accuracy. Wrist swerve is then the main power source and a common mistake by beginners is to grip the club more in the palm than through the fingers. Using our sensitive fingers increases wrist hinging and this produces better tee shots and puts.

One other common error amongst even the most experienced golfers is a flimsy lead-hand (left for right-handers) grip concentrated in the palm. Consequently, the golf ball is sliced rather than hit. Here are some check points:

– the club should be held alot more by the fingers than the palm.

– the golf club should be resting on the base of the little finger and contact the index finger just above the first joint.

– Post positioning the club on the fingers, one’s thumb should be parallel (in touch and pointing outwards toward the club face) to the shaft of the club.

– Finally, the knuckles of the index and middle fingers should be visible when looking from the top onto the lead hand. There should also be a “V” shape created by the thumb and index forefinger of the lead hand with its tip directing toward the other hand and shoulder.

Putting

This is the finest and most intricate part about golf play and involves finally coaxing the ball into the golf hole. In a sentence, putting is all about feel and touch. That said, putting is also a little more innovative in respect to the golfer compared with any other shot. There are innumerable styles of putting because whatever consistently puts is whatever works for the individual. The process is much less important in this part of the game.

By and large though, general principles are as follows:

– Putters should be ultra comfortable in terms of length and lie angle

– Gripping during putting should be slightly different compared to driving, chipping, slicing or teeing. The golf club should usually sit in the hollow of the palm of the lead hand with the thumb of the other resting across (as opposed to straight) the shaft.

– Ball position should be towards the forward heel with toes parallel to the target hole. One’s eyes should be over the ball in order to aim and ascertain accurately the line of sight in alignment with the putt.

– Judging the putter path is something which is very hard to teach and narrate. However, one that travels a little inside on the back stroke and then down the line on the forward motion usually works wonder. On the backstroke, one has to ensure that the putter face remains square and does not fray wide open.

– Post putting with the non-lead hand, revert to putting practice using both hands however making strokes with grip pressure mainly on the non-lead palm.  

The preliminary steps above should be able to get any rookie up and running at least onto the range and short games…the rest comes with heaps and heaps of club time always keeping the fundamental rules in mind.   

Thomas is an avid golf fan through and through and has been enjoying the game for more than 12 years. Visit www.tipsongolf.org for expansive resources on the game for golfers at all levels.