Golf is an incredibly fun hobby to pick up, but have you thought about improving your skills? Golfers Spot gives you the golf instructions you need. It can be fun as just a pastime, but being good at your hobby has its advantages. Golf can be as relaxing as it is competitive. This article will help you improve your golf shots and stance so you not only enjoy golf but excel at it too.
We’ll go over all kinds of information, including driving, chipping, and putting. We’ll also help you figure out a better way to approach your shots and how to get out of the bunker. Golf can be very technical, but you can swing like a pro with a bit of practice and knowledge.
Golf Instructions: Driving
Driving is critical when playing golf. When you drive a golf ball, it’s your first initial shot from the tee box. A bad drive can set you up for a bad game because this is typically the moment you’ll be able to hit the ball the farthest. We’ve got some tips to make sure you make the most of this shot and set yourself up for success.
The Grip for More Power
Have you ever wondered how long-drive competitors achieve their strong, powerful swing? Well, it’s not just about your strength or flexibility, it’s all in the way you position your hands on your club. Your grip should help push your leading arm into a higher position as you swing through while giving your wrists more flexibility, and letting you swing your club farther back.
Although it may sound challenging to create this feeling in your arms and wrists, it’s very easy. To make your swing more powerful, simply grip your club the way you normally do with your left hand at the very top of your club’s handle. Then, place your right hand over your left, with your right hand covering your middle and index fingers of your left hand.
This double-overlap hold will help create a greater hinged, swinging motion in your wrists and shoulders than overlapping or interlocking your right grip will. Take a few practice swings so you can feel how your body moves with this particular grip, then reassume your standard grip and try to replicate that same feeling. As the saying goes, you have to grip it and rip it, and this powerful trick is sure to give you that extra boost you are looking for.
Make it Simple
There is no reason to make things harder on yourself than they need to be. One of the easiest adjustments you can make for yourself is how you golf off the tee. Find out below how to make a few simple adjustments to improve your consistency.
Get Ready
In recent years, we discovered that the most crucial part of maximizing your driving distance is hitting up and finding that sweet spot of low spin, and high launch on your golf ball. However, most golfers tend to hit downward, causing their golf ball to do the exact opposite of what you want, spinning wildly and flying low.
Luckily, there is an easy solution to this problem. Just adjust your tee height! In reality, you are probably setting your tee too low, making it harder for yourself to hit up. Instead, tee your golf ball so that it is two-thirds higher than your driver’s crown.
Then, make sure that the big toe of your front foot lines up with your golf ball, and you drop your right shoulder as you swing. These adjustments will help you make upward contact with the golf ball and increase your tee shot performance.
In to Out
You must swing on an in-to-out path to make solid contact in the downswing. That means your golf club should move from the inside to the outside of your target line, hitting the innermost part of the golf ball. Your swing should start in the lower half of your body and your chest should be behind the golf ball during the backswing.
To avoid having your chest over the golf ball, set your lead shoulder to point slightly to the right of your target line. This will set you up for a proper in-to-out downswing and keep you from pitching forward.
Take it Easy
Rarely do people make solid contact when they golf off the tee. When you worry about the distance, you lose focus on controlling your swing. It’s impossible to find your center when you don’t control how you move your legs and hands. That’s why you should start small and build your way up.
Try swinging at thirty percent of your max speed with a 7-iron until you’re consistently hitting solid shots. Then try swinging at fifty percent of your max speed until you’re consistently hitting solid shots, then seventy percent of your max speed so on and so forth until you’re finally swinging at your full maximum speed.
This will allow you to build up to controlling your swing without falling all over the place. It is that easy to improve your tee shots and remember, you won’t reach full throttle status if you can’t find the center of the face at thirty percent of your max speed.
Extra Tips
Keep reading for extra golf instruction tips on how to handle the tee box and improve its consistency in your game.
- The Right Mindset:
- Focus on Control: It’s not about swinging at max speed every single time. Work on controlling your swing. Yes, your swing speed may slow down, but it might save you from having to take shots from the deep rough.
- Relax: Take a deep breath and relax as you stand over the ball. If you go in swinging hard, you’ll stiffen up your body and take away from your swing’s power.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Back Off: Back off if you feel any tension in your body before you swing. Shake your arms out, let your shoulders loosen up, take a breath, and allow yourself to reset. You got this.
- Create Your Space:
- Aim for a Wide, Shallow Arc: If you make a steep and narrow swing, you’ll lose yardage. It’s more important to focus on driving the golf ball in a shallow and wide arc than it is to worry about accuracy.
- Give Yourself Room: Your backswing should start with your arms moving away from your torso and you should feel stretching in your lead shoulder. Remember not to let your lead arm fold too much as you reach upwards.
- Follow Through: Swing down while maintaining that feeling. Don’t worry about trapping the ball, just worry about moving your club to level with the ground while you contact the golf ball.
- Shift Your Weight:
- Make sure you take the weight off your back foot as you swing your club down, and maintain the same width you created in the backswing. Focus more on pivoting your front leg and turning your body toward your target, instead of worrying about what you are doing with your arms and hands. This will help you shift your weight as you swing and hit the golf ball.
- Consistency:
- Is there anything as satisfying as watching how far a golf ball can travel? I hardly think so. However, there’s no point in trying to hit towering draws if you cannot hit them consistently. Instead, try aiming slightly to the left of where you want the golf ball to end up, favoring your front foot as you make contact to hit a low cut.
- That way, you can make more solid contact that will work the golf ball back onto the fairway and also swing slightly downward on an out-to-in path. No more overthinking your process on the tee box!
- Practice:
- As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect! Or at least, practice makes you more consistent and efficient. The only way you can get better at aiming, controlling your swing, relaxing your body, and recognizing how it feels as you swing is to practice. Visit a golf course or range to practice these tips and be sure to change up your target often, and you’ll be gaining confidence in no time!
Golf Instructions: Approach Shots
We are here because we want to help you improve your ball striking abilities and your approach shots. Find out below what the five most important tips/golf instructions are to help you make solid contact with your approach shots.
Rhythm
Everyone’s natural rhythm is different, so you should always swing with your rhythm, whatever that may be! Remember, the power and strength of your swing come from you focusing on keeping your balance and using your rhythm. If you focus on the beginning and end of your swing, the middle will fall right into place.
Keep Going
It’s easier to follow through with your swing if you visualize how you want to be positioned as you finish. It is like working backward, you just shape shots based on how you want to finish.
For example, try finishing with your hands high above your head for a super high fade. Or act like you’re wrapping your club around your neck and shoulders for a draw. Aim for your club’s shaft to be centered and horizontal behind your head for a stock cut. Using this visualizing method will let your body react intuitively and help you improve your approach shots.
Watch & Learn
When in doubt, look to others for inspiration, especially when you are playing with people more experienced than yourself. Sometimes it’s easier to model someone else’s behavior than to try recreating something you’ve read about. By that I mean, it is sometimes easier to learn from watching someone else than to read tips from a guide.
Look closely when you are playing with other people and watch how they move. They might know something you don’t and might help you better understand how to move or position yourself when you play. Try to model yourself after them to see how it feels.
You might be surprised how helpful this golf instruction can be to your game, even if you have to make a few adjustments along the way.
Drills
Everyone has little tricks that can help improve their game. The best ones are the ones you set up on your own and use to test yourself. Make a habit of going between allowing yourself to move and then restricting parts of your body so you can notice the difference in your shots.
For example, instead of turning on your heel, try keeping your feet flat without moving while you take a shot. That way, you can focus on how the upper half of your body is moving as you swing. Conversely, you can also try to keep your arms close to your body as you swing to see how that changes your swing.
Focusing on different parts of your body one at a time may help you identify problem areas easier or help you identify which areas to focus on more when you go to take a shot.
Think
This golf instruction is about thinking. Golf is just as much about your mental effort as your physical. You must stop and think before you act, or you may end up falling behind your opponents or at least setting yourself up for a disappointing day on the course.
Thinking before you swing is okay, but thinking while you swing will trip you up. Take a moment to let go of your thoughts before you take the shot. You are in charge of the decisions you make and when you make them, so why not make them before you step up to swing. The less noise you have in your head when you approach the shot, the better off you will be.
Golf Instructions: Bunker Shots
Bunker shots are intimidating sometimes. There are so many possible bad shots you could make that end with you wound up in a bunker, but have no fear! We are here with five helpful tips to help assuage your anxiety and improve your consistency so you can handle bunker shots like a boss.
1. Practice Throwing Sand
Most people’s knee-jerk reaction when they end up in a bunker is to try and swing to lift the ball off the sand. This could not be a worse move to make. Instead, try swinging your club into the sand before touching the golf ball and then let it graze the sand after you make contact.
By scraping the sand, your club will help elevate the ball up and out of the bunker. To get the hang of the feeling of swinging into the sand, try knocking the sand out of the bunker into the grass. When you take the golf ball out of the situation, you’ll be able to get a feel for the proper motion and be able to improve your bunker shots when you’re playing out on the course.
2. Bad Advice
This is an easy, but underestimated golf instruction. You probably think the more people you ask for advice, the better off you’d be, right? Wrong! Asking too many people for advice can hurt you more than it can help, especially if you aren’t asking the right people.
Not everyone is built the same way or has the same skills. For example, there’s no reason to ask someone bigger or taller than you for advice on how to make bunker shots because their tips probably won’t work for you. When you ask anyone and everyone for tips, you’re more likely to end up with a lot of information that actually won’t benefit you.
So be cautious and avoid bringing bad advice into your game. You have to learn by doing and figure out what works best for you, without an outsider’s input.
3. The Momentum
Once you get the hang of throwing sand, you have to start swinging with more speed to get the golf ball to move up and out of the bunker. Only once you have a feel for throwing sand, can you add speed though because you need that solid foundation to make accurate bunker shots.
When you do start to add speed, remember not to swing hard or short. You want to swing with enough force to get the speed you need to move the golf ball. Honestly, the way you swing when you make a bunker shot shouldn’t be different from how you swing regularly on any other part of the course. Just make sure you know how it feels to swing into the sand before you try taking a whack at the ball.
4. Bounce
The bottom of your lob, sand, and gap wedge can glide through the sand of bunkers without getting stuck or digging in because they are designed with bounce. To properly use the bounce, your clubface needs to be slightly open or square.
It’s important to remember that you can increase bounce and limit distance by using open face clubs and swinging at higher speeds, whereas with lower speeds you can keep the square face. Most clubs have writing on the shaft and grip so you can make sure the club is sitting properly before you swing.
Lofted clubs may look like open face clubs, but are designed to be lofted. As you make contact with the golf ball, the shaft of a lofted club should be leaning back and away or straight up and down from the ball. Again, it will take some practice to get a feel for using these kinds of clubs. But with some practice, you’ll be making proper bunker shots in no time, just have this golf instruction by your side and you’ll be fine.
5. Setup
Like we said, your club should hit the sand before it hits your golf ball when you are trying to make a bunker shot. To make this possible, you have to have the right setup. To get the best shot, your golf ball should be forward of center so that your club will hit the center of your stance as you swing and hit the sand first.
If your golf ball is centered, you will just hit it first instead of the sand and your ball will probably go flying nowhere near where you want. Sometimes you will even have to dig your feet into the sand so you can lower the bottom of your swing so you can swing into the sand.
Golf Instructions: Chipping
Chip shots can be beneficial in golf, but you have to know how to do them correctly. When you chip a shot, it means you hit the ball so it stays low to the ground and bounces upon impact. These shots are perfect for when you’re close to the green and need to get on there without overshooting it. To chip a shot correctly, you need to remember two things — “bottom” and “bounce.”
If you remember “bottom” concerning chip shots, odds are you’ll be able to hit the ball more easily and precisely. You need to make sure your club hits the turf consistently and in the same spot. Setting up to chip the ball means your club should hit the turf right before it hits the ball on the ground.
“Bounce” refers to how your club reacts when it hits the turf. Instead of gouging out the turf, you want your club to glide along with it. Both the leading and trailing edge of your club should connect to the ground evenly. Even if you’re off by a bit in your bottom swing, if you keep this in mind you’re still bound to hit a decent chip shot.
Hitting a chip shot is all about the setup and the execution. You’ll need to start with the ball in the middle of a narrow stance and your weight favored on your front foot. When you swing, you need to be conscious of how the leading and trailing edge are hitting the turf. Both sides should connect evenly and right under your nose.
Finally, make sure that as you swing downward, you’re rotating your body toward your target too. It will help guide your club for impact on the shallow approach. The final trick to completing a chip shot successfully is to keep your body rotating even after you’ve hit the ball.
Golf Instructions: Putting
Putting is a crucial golf skill. Typically, you’ll use a putter to complete this move, and it’s reserved for times when you’re on the green. A putter is also used when you’re just about to be on the green and don’t want to stray too far.
This section of the golf instructions will teach you about the intricacies of putting. We’ll cover things like how to set up a putt and how to continually practice them as well.
Setup
The setup for any golf shot is half the work. If your setup is off, odds are your putt won’t turn out very well either. Putting may be the smallest swing in golf, but that doesn’t make it any easier. There are two key positions you need to master to execute your putt correctly. If not, you’ll end up with a poor putt and a poor score.
First, you need to think of your forearms as an extension of your club’s shaft. You need to keep the shaft in line with your forearms to make sure the clubface doesn’t rotate. If you don’t keep your forearms and the shaft in line, you leave room for the back of your clubface to fan out when backstroking. Keeping everything defined will alleviate this issue.
Secondly, your eyes must be set slightly inside the ball. You can do this easily when you’ve got a down target view. The popular saying may be that you should put your eyes over the ball, but this can lead to issues. It could make you aim poorly or distort your perception. Instead, you need to keep your eyes over the heel to see where the ball will roll after you putt it.
Drills
Practice is the only way to ensure that you improve your golf skills. Drills are a fantastic way to correct mistakes you may be making as you play. To perfect your putting stance, you need to not look at the ball as it makes its way toward the hole until your move is completely done. If not, you jeopardize your shot. There are two drills in this golf instruction guide you should run to improve putts.
The first drill that will help you improve your putting stance requires you to hit three-foot-long shots with only your left hand. Your right hand will hold your left shoulder in position. You’ll find that as your shoulder stays down, you’ll more reliably hit toward the hole. After you get the hang of this, you can try it from a regular stance and keep the drill in mind.
The second drill requires you to be a bit further away from the hole — about five feet away. You’ll need to place a ball marker behind your ball. This marker should be a little hidden when you assume your stance. Focus your attention on watching the ball roll away from the marker as you hit your putts. This will keep your putter-head straight with a square face and keep you from looking up too soon to follow the ball.
Golf Instructions: Fitness
One of the benefits of playing golf is you don’t have to be incredibly fit to enjoy it. It’s a much less physically demanding sport compared to other options. However, there are certain parts of your body you should focus on working on to build up strength. Golf doesn’t require a full-body workout, but you do need to know which muscles to exercise.
You need to work out the middle part of your back and hip muscles to improve at golf. Specifically, you’ll need to improve your hip rotation and mobility. As you improve these, you’ll find the rest of your golf game improving with (almost) inexplicable ease.
Breztels
One of the first exercises of this golf instruction guide you can do to improve hip flexibility is bretzels. To do this exercise, you need to lay on your left side with your right leg up near your waist. You need to put your opposite hand on your right leg to keep it close to the ground. Take your right hand and reach toward your left foot, pulling your heel to your hips. Take a deep breath, then exhale as you move your right shoulder into the ground. You should do 8 to 10 reps, then switch sides.
Kneeling Side Bends
Kneeling side bends are another great exercise to improve hip function. You need to kneel and keep your torso straight with your hands behind your head. Your elbows should stick out on either side. Next, lean to the right laterally so your middle section moves on the right above your waist. You’ll increase how far you bend with every rep. You should do about 10 reps, then switch to the other direction.
Windmills
Windmills require you to begin in a kneeling stance and then move with one knee on the ground and your right foot on the floor. Put your left hand down on the floor near your right foot, then reach up with your other hand. This will make your torso turn toward your right leg. To do this stretch correctly, you need to make sure your leg is as still as possible. You should do 8 to 10 reps and then switch to your opposite legs and hands.
Step-outs to step-ups
Step-outs to step-ups are challenging but are definitely worth the time and effort. Begin in a kneeling position while holding a 5-iron over your head. You need to keep the club flat while stepping with your right leg to be in a half-kneeling position. Once you’ve rotated your torso toward your leg and you feel stable, you can push off your right leg and stand up. You need to balance and raise your left leg upward toward your waist. You’ll need to do 10 reps like this and then switch feet.
Video for step out only (so no rotating and step up, just add these and you’ll doing the right excersise):
Supine pelvic tilts to bridges
Supine tilts to bridges target your pelvis and start with you laying on your back in a neutral position. You’ll arch your back for a few seconds, then put your back onto the floor for an equal period. Then your arch needs to return to its natural position. Afterward, you need to flex your glutes and lift your pelvis to the ceiling. You need to hold the bridge for a few seconds and then lower yourself back down to your natural resting state. You’ll need to do 2 sets of 8 reps.
Supine leg lifts
Supine leg lifts are similar to the last exercise but work a different set of muscles. You need to lay on your back with your legs flat. Without rocking or using any momentum, you need to lift your legs at the same time until they’re perpendicular to the ground. If you can’t reach that far, you can modify it to your comfort level. You need to keep your right leg up while you slowly lower your left leg to the ground, maintaining the straightness of both legs. Alternate the lowered leg with each rep, doing 16 reps total.
Hip Cars
Hip cars are a great exercise to improve your hip rotation. Start on your knees and hands, lifting your leg off the ground. Use your hip flexors to move your leg in a circle pattern. Be mindful of keeping your arms straight and your spine neutral while you push into the ground. Bending your elbows or arching your back will only hinder the exercise. For reps, you should complete 12 complete circles with your right and left legs.
Standing pelvis tilts and turns
Standing pelvis turns and tilts start with you and your golf club. You should get into your address position with your hands at the top of the club. You must keep the upper part of your body still and arch your lower back, extending it and rotating your hips in the same direction as your downswing. It’s not uncommon to struggle with this exercise, so it may be best to continue doing supine pelvic tilts until you’ve worked up to these. 10 to 12 reps per tilting direction is recommended. This was the last golf instruction for fitness.
Summary
You’ll get out of golf what you put into it. If you want to be a better golfer, the tips and lessons we’ve told you today are sure to help. The rest will be up to you and how often you practice — especially the items you know need improvement. You may not become an expert golfer all on your own, but buckling down and working on your skills can help you get better. And while there’s really no bad time to go golfing, the best time to start practicing is now with this golf instruction guide by your side.
Sources
Golf Channel – https://www.golfchannel.com/instruction
GolfDigest – https://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction
Golf Instruction – http://www.golfinstruction.com/
Golf – https://golf.com/instruction/
