Golf Tips for Today - Consistantly Hitting the Ball Low

Becoming a low-ball hitter is a great way to improve your accuracy. I don't mean just hitting a knock down into the wind either. I mean having a consistently low trajectory to your shots. Ben Hogan was a low-ball hitter in his day. Hal Sutton is a low-ball hitter today. They also happen to be a couple of the best ball strikers in history.

With the golf courses being set up the way they are, it seems that most amateur players are trying to hit the ball higher and softer. I am not saying that this is a bad thing, because you will often times be faced with shots over hazards and such. However, I think it could benefit the average player if they would learn to incorporate the low shot into their game.

When I go to PGA Tour events and sit on the range, it's amazing how low many of these players hit it. It kind of startles me at first because on TV, it seems as though they are hitting these high, towering, shots. But if you watch a Justin Leonard, or a Nick Faldo, or any of the other really accurate players, you'll see that's anything but the truth.

So what does it take to hit it low? Well, from what I can tell in the great players swings, the way to hit it low is to develop more of a U-shaped swing, as opposed to a V-shaped swing. This will create a much more shallow approach into the ball. Thus, you will essentially just be hitting it as high as the loft of the club allows.

The best way I know how to develop this U-shape is to feel that you "straighten your right arm from the top of your swing".

Here is a checklist to develop a lower shot trajectory:

1. Perhaps place the ball a little farther back than usual.
2. From the top, feel the immediate straightening out of your right arm. Don't throw it out and over the top, just straighten it out.

A great feel to help you achieve this is to imagine you are an archer taking an arrow out of your backpack. You have to totally straighten your arm out in order for this to happen. This is a great thought I received from a buddy of mine a couple years ago. It's kind of an exaggerated move, but it gives you the correct sensation.

By Joe Sullivan

Golf Tips: Hitting a low shot

Golf Tips for Today - Fixing your Slice - Keeping Your Back to Target

I try to gear most of what I say towards the slicer, but there is only so much that can be said about the slice without making things too complicated.

We already know that there are only two reasons why someone can slice the ball - Over the top or open clubface at impact - That's it! There are no if's, and's, or but's about it!

Having said that, there is not that much more for a slicer to look at other than 'The SELFish Four'. If you can do what is preached in that system, you will become good. Period!

There are, however, hundreds, or even thousands, of different swing feels and thoughts that can pertain to the core fundamentals preached in 'The SELFish Four'. You and I could probably sit around the clubhouse for hours talking about all of these things. Maybe it has to do with your feet, or thighs, or fingers, or toenails, or earlobes, or whatever. There are literally a ton of these thoughts and images that have been used by people over the years to help them strike the ball better.

Because some of these' feels' can be of value, I will occasionally throw out a few of my own that I think will help you achieve a) the correct swing path and plane, or b) a square clubface.

What's especially important to note, however, is that what I say has not only worked for others, but it's also been tried by me and has worked for me. That's why I say them with confidence.

You will most likely never hear me tell you to do anything with your own golf swing that I don't know for sure has worked for others, and that I can also back up myself. If you have seen my video, you will understand what I mean by this.

So this tip has to do with one of those images or 'feels'. As a matter of fact, it is an all-time classic thought that I received from a pro out at the Detroit Golf Club a couple years back. Its essence is as follows?

Keep your back facing the target at the start of the downswing.

What this 'feel' will do is keep your club to the inside on the downswing. If you open your shoulders real quick, and NOT have your back face the target, this will throw your club to the outside, and lead to an over the top swing, and hence a bad golf shot. This is a problem slicers are notorious for having.

So when you reach the top of your swing, do this?

1. Feel that your hips bump slightly laterally, then begin to turn out of the way.
2. The key is to keep your back facing the target for a split second longer as you make this initial move with your hips. You should feel that your back resists against your lower body. Your upper body stays still, your lower body begins firing, your golf club is automatically dropped into the slot, your golf ball goes straight and far!

This is a great thought on full shots where it can be controlled by the body, because this thought is essentially just a turning of the shoulders on the back swing, holding them there for a split second, then letting them fire through. So practice this with full shots, and not so much half-shots or short ones which require more arms and hands.

By Joseph K. Sullivan

Golf Tips: A Simple Tip on How to Fix Your Slice

Golf Tips for Today - Fundamentals of The Swing

You hear a lot of Don't do this" or "don't do that" in learning the golf swing. Let us concentrate on what you should "do".

A sound golf swing is a product of several correct and positive moves.

The "dont's" have no place in the creation of a proper swing.

Our goal is to build a strong repeating swing. To do this, we swing the club with the larger muscles of the body. (You can generate power using the large muscles of the upper torso and the strong muscles of the arms and legs.) A strong repeating swing can not be created if you use the smaller muscles of the hands and wrists.

To start the back swing, simply swing the club away with the triangle created by your arms and a line across your shoulders. This one-piece takeaway will move your "center" with the club. (The center is the middle of your chest.) The knee is starting to break toward the right knee while the weight of your body moves to the back foot.

At the top of the back swing you have created power by "winding up" the big muscles in your upper body. Notice that the "center is facing directly away from your target, and weight has shifted to the back foot.

The change from back swing to downswing is a natural release of the power or wind up you have created. The downswing is initiated by the weight transfer from the back foot to the front foot.

There are no tricks to solid contact. Good fundamentals will put you in a position to just "swing the club through the ball and toward the target".

Center alignment Accelerating toward the ball Final position
Same swing, side view Same swing, rear view

By The Original Golf School

Golf Tips: Swing Fundamentals

Golf Tips for Today - Improve your Airtime by Improving Your Brush

We refer to the club head-ground contact as the brush. The brush has 2 elements: correct depth, high to low, and correct spot, front to back. A specific starting position, or posture, can greatly affect the brush. The correct combination of body bend points, weight distribution in feet (heel to toe), and distance of hands from the body, will help produce a consistent depth of brush. For example, if your brush is usually high (topping and low trajectory shots), try standing with more weight in the balls of your feet, and move your hands closer to your body at address. Then all you have to do is stay level during the swing, which is best felt through slow motion at first, then bringing it up to speed. Now, the right spot is just in front of the ball. The main influence on spot is weight distribution in feet, front to back, at impact. The more weight in the front (target side) foot, the more forward the brush.

By Larry O. Krupp, FeelGoodGolf Learning Centers

Golf Tips: 2008 PGA Show :: Frogger Brush Pro

Golf Tips - Generating A More Powerful Swing

Throughout the entire swing you should let your body swing your arms, much like swinging a heavy ball at the end of a chain. If you keep your elbows together and in front of your center (the upper part of your body) in the hitting area centrifugal force will create club head speed.

The faster you can move the body in the forward swing without sacrificing a smooth rhythmic tempo the more club head speed you will develop. The left arm will rotate and the right arm will extend and cross over the left, just as a home run hitter's arms react.

It is imperative that you keep the body moving to the finish. Otherwise the arms and hands will deliver prematurely.

Golf Tips: How to swing a golf club like Tiger Woods