Learn to Control the Golf Ball

Learning to hit the golf ball relatively straight is not as difficult as most people believe if you simply understand what is required.  Most normal people have the hand-eye coordination necessary to accomplish it.

 Only two things control the direction of the golf ball -  the direction the club is facing and the direction the club is traveling.  If the club is traveling towards the target and the club is facing towards the target the ball will fly toward the target.

Most people have the ability to swing their arms toward the intended target so the trick is to get the club to face in the same direction.  A simple homemade training aid will help you do this.

Take one of your golf clubs and tape a ping pong paddle to the shaft of the club so that the paddle and the club face are pointed in the same direction. Now swing the club toward the target while watching the face of the paddle.  Normal coordination will allow you to control where the paddle faces.  If you have the ability to use a screwdriver you can do it.

If you want to draw the ball or hook it simply  rotate the face of the paddle so that it points left of the target while still swinging toward the target. If you want to fade or slice the ball, have the paddle point to the right of the target while you continue to swing your arms and the club toward the target.

Practice doing this without a golf ball until you learn how to do it and get comfortable with it. As you get used to how it feels you are learning to do it without thinking about it.  The more you practice it the faster it will become automatic.

A final note about slicing.  A slice is caused when the face it pointing right of the directions your arms are swing.  Nothing else.  When you get the face (or the paddle) to face in the direction of the swing the ball will go straight in that direction.  Since most slicers swing from out to in this means you will pull the ball straight left until you fix the direction of your arms.

If you don’t have a ping pong paddle the next best thing is a tennis racket.  Grip it with both hands and swing it like a golf club.

Why Your Swing Disappears.

"Are You A Compulsive Hoarder Of Golf Tips?"

 

This one is devoted to all those DYI golfers out there that searched on YouTube, the internet, Golf Digest, the Golf Channel, and on and on trying to get help.

The seemingly innocent act of fiddling with your golf swing because of a new tip you picked up somewhere has caused many golfers to say “I have lost my golf swing. I can’t hit the golf ball anymore.”

A golf swing doesn’t disappear; your golf swing is still there … it’s just buried under these new compensations.

Have you ever been guilty of the following example or something similar?

This fiddling process that leads you to ‘losing your golf swing’ could start as innocently as slightly changing your grip. Some might say: “how can a slight grip change cause me to lose my golf swing?”

Easy – let’s say that you’re a right handed Golfer that has the tendency to hit your golf ball anywhere from a fade (golf ball drifts to the right) to a slice (ball drifts a lot more to the right). You read that you need to strengthen your grip (see more knuckles on the left hand) so that you promote a draw.

You now hit a few shots and your golf ball starts going a little to the left.  You continue hitting golf balls because it’s nice to see your ball not going to the right. However, after a few more shots your golf ball starts going farther and farther to the left. So you say to yourself that you better weaken your grip just a little.

What Happens Next?

So what happens next? The same thing that always happens when you start "fiddling with your golf swing.

After the initial success of the golf tip that worked for a few swings … you start to hit behind the golf ball.  So you think to yourself: “well, I’m probably coming over the top and getting too steep coming into the golf ball. I’ll try to make this next swing come more from the inside.”

After a couple more shots you start finding that you’re now shanking the golf ball. So you say to yourself: “Ok, I might be coming too far from the inside and too shallow into the golf ball. I’ve probably become too flat.”

So what are you going to do now? Another grip adjustment? More tweaking of your swing plane?

The Question Is How Do I Avoid This?

Rule No.1

When you are hitting the ball good never listen to a tip from well meaning friends unless they are A LOT better than you.  Tips from friends is usually the beginning of the end.

Rule No.2

Don't pay attention to tips in publications or on the Golf Chanel.  They are not really bad but they are generic which means they may harm your swing.

Rule No.3

Take a video!

The next time you start hitting the ball better have someone video your swing from face on.  Then when it starts to go bad have them do it again from the same angle.  Comparing the two is very beneficial.  There are a lot of apps that handle swing analysis.

What Should You Do?

Watch this video and NEVER stop working on it.  It will help keep your swing in good working order.

The most important things to keep in mind.  Start slowly and make sure your feet actually touch!