Golf Swing Secrets

Golf Swing Secrets

Golf Swing Secrets from Andrew Larder

The Golf Swing

I have just finished posts on My Seven Step Swing Checklist. The one KEY ingredient to all of the seven steps is "Relaxation". It is a natural tendency for most of us to try to muscle or power the ball toward the hole. I did it for many years with sporadic success. I was tired of hitting one good shot in five and not scoring the way I knew I was capable of. I am an avid reader of Golf Magazines and have more than once come across articles stressing the relaxing of the muscles, especially in the hands, forearms, shoulders and chest used during the golf swing in order to attain better results. I decided to go to the range and see if I could try this relaxed method of the golf swing. It was an immediate improvement. Once I incorporated "Relaxation" into my golf swing the percentage of successful strokes increased proportionately with the greater distance achieved. I was amazed at how much farther and accurately the ball traveled with my new found relaxed swing method. Let me pause here for a minute and explain my definition of "Relaxation". Relaxing during the golf game and golf swing, does not by any means mean to fall asleep while addressing the ball. It does mean however, to rid your self of stressful thoughts and tense muscles to whatever degree possible. It means to let the club drop into the power slot naturally and let the speed of your swing thru relaxed muscles help you to achieve the desired result. I found that the club released and accelerated more on line when I maintained a light grip and little upper body stiffness or tension than if I tried to power the ball toward the target. The only thought that should be in your mind is the proper execution of the swing to produce the desired result for the particular golf shot at hand. Whether it be a drive off the tee or a finesse shot over a bunker to a tight pin placement just focus on executing the shot and achieving the result you want.

I was always very competitive at sports and wanted to hit the ball the best and the farthest in baseball and golf, which is a natural inclination when you are used to competitive play. The tendency for many of us is to try to rip into the ball with all the power we can muster. In baseball you can get away with it more easily, but the speed and timing of a relaxed swing even in baseball will achieve better and more consistent results than tight muscles and a forced swing. This is most especially true for the golf swing. "Swing easy and hit hard", that is my new motto ! There are different methods for relaxing before and during a golf round. During the round I have found that a deep slow breath ( inhale and exhale on about a seven second count for each ) as I line up my shot from behind the target will help promote a relaxed swing for me. I then make one rehearsal swing utilizing that technique and then step up and hit before over contemplating the swing. Too much time over the ball allows negativity and too many thoughts to creep into your mind and almost always results in a poor shot. The player who is confident in his / her abilities will address the ball, perform their set up routine and proceed to swing without taking an inordinate amount of time over the ball. Practicing the various golf shots you will come across during any particular golf round will also help build confidence when that situation actually occurs during play.

Another technique I have utilized as of late to reduce stress and tension is derived from a product called Maxximind. It consists of musical tones and AudiNeuro Technology on recorded CD's which provide the most relaxing sounds to promote a stress free, relaxed and peaceful mood. It works best with Stereo headphones and a quiet, dimly lit atmosphere with the least amount of outside interference possible. I normally listen to them the night before my golf round or in the early morning before I leave for the course. They work great for me and I would recommend them to anyone who is trying to relax, whether for golf or just to chill out and listen to some soothing sounds to reduce stress and promote relaxing of the body and the mind. All it takes is about 20 to 25 minutes a session and as I am taking in these melodic sounds I visualize myself in some beautiful setting, maybe on a Hawaiian Island, another island paradise or anywhere that promotes a soothing, calm and serene atmosphere for you. If you would like to try Maxximind click on the right side of the page below Blogroll and check out the demo. Happy Golfing and Relaxation To All !


About the Author

My name is Mike and I grew up in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, N. Y.. I started playing golf when I sustained a severe hamstring injury while playing softball almost 30 years ago. I have enjoyed the game immensely ever since and have never looked back. Happy Golfing To All ! Also, for access to Maxximind including a demo ( Right side Below Blogroll )and more tips and golf info go to http://guideforbeginninggolfers.com

Golf Tips!

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Simple Golf Tips - Lengthen Your Drive And Take 7 Strokes Off Your Next Round!

Repeatable And Simple Golf Swing That Provides Power, Accuracy And Consistency.

Fact: Over 90% of golfers will never be able to compete with you if you can do 3 things relatively simple things (disregard putting for now).

1. Stay out of trouble with your driver (notice, I didn't say smash the ball 300 yards down the center of the fairway).
2. Hit 70% of the greens you face from 150 yards in (in other words, learn to control your 8 iron and down).
3. Chip the ball within 20 ft of the pin, almost every time (regardless of what you may think, this is not that tough).

That's it. So that's what I'm going to focus on over the next few weeks.

Simple Golf Tips - Lengthen Your Drive And Take 7 Strokes Off Your Next Round!

Golf Lessons From A Beginning Golfer?

Would you rather hear what you need to learn from someone who is already an accomplished golfer? Would a few hours with Jack Nicholas REALLY help your game? "Just do what I do, it's easy!" Or would you rather learn from a beginner, who understands the struggles, the small improvements and remembers those early changes that lead to greater success?

It almost makes sense, doesn't it? The best coaches are often mediocre players, and the worst coaches were stars, who had everything come easy to them. Natural ability is hard to teach to others! As a beginning golfer, I have noticed some dramatic improvements, though, and wanted to pass them along to other beginning golfers.

First, the drive. To many of us starting out, it seems to be all-important. I have had instructors tell me that if you can hit the ball 150 yards, that you can work your way down any length of hole in about 3 shots, chip on and putt in, and play bogie golf without ever hitting a John Daly type 300 yard plus drive. As beginners, all we see is the big drives, the pressure, people watching us tee off, and understandably we want to be able to pound the ball!

What I've learned is that you can cut back on the swing to almost a half swing, hockey slapshot type thing, and increase the accuracy, with a small reduction in distance, until you are more comfortable with the swing. Also, a friend helped me with the description of coming "inside-out" with the swing. While that sounds complicated, imagine holding your back hand (I'm a left handed golfer) tight to your body and swinging through the ball and outwards after contact - straightened out my ball flight and increased distance.

Lessons seemed to boil down to getting into the same position, and swinging smoothly and evenly making sure the club is flat at contact - try swinging at the driving range - not to hammer the ball, but try swinging with virtually NO effort, then 20% 40% 60% etc. Get comfortable with a straight line of whatever distance, and KNOW how far each club will take you. If you need 100 yards, say, it doesn't matter if you get that with a pitching wedge or a 5-wood, as long as you can get it accurately there!

Pitching (from under 100 yards) and putting are the majority of the strokes, the easiest area to improve your game, and if you've ever played with a senior, they can be outdriven from the tee, but play so solidly from there onwards, with straight, accurate shots - you can't beat them!

Makes you rethink the wisdom of working on that booming drive, huh? The majority of time should be spent practicing the 100 yard and shorter shots - which inadvertently improves the overall stroke and technique, and makes the drives better over time!

Practice shooting 10, 20, 30 etc yards, and have the short chip down pat. Then work on putting - NOT trying to sink the putt, just to get the ball to within a club length of the hole - from ANYWHERE on the green. When you have mastered the ability to get the ball close like that, then work on the short 2 footers - almost from the start you'll find that you can get the majority in.

THAT's the secret - the drive doesn't matter, the next shot is OK, but the one that gets the ball TO the green is crucial! Then if you can putt to withing a very close area of the pin, and make THOSE easy putts - you're a bogie golfer - TA DAAA!

Wait, there's one more thing - the mental part of golf. If you have a certain ability, how come you see flashes fo greatness on some days, and flashes of needing to break your clubs on others? Same guy, same equipment, different results? THAT is the mental part of golf - and it becomes more and moe important as you master the basic strokes and techniques.

At the beginning stages of golf, you are thrown off by worrying about what others think - it feels like people are watching your drive, partners are evaluating your game, people are seeing if you can play golf well, etc. The answer to this is that everyone started off as a beginner, and VERY few people can play below 90s golf. Basically, we all suck! Take the pressure off of yourself for the first 20-50 games, and you will have the routine ingrained, the swing will be solid, all will work fairly well - under pressure or not.

Relaxation, and realizing that golf is a game against YOURSELF, are the keys. You can't play a real tournament against another golfer until you shoot in the 70s - so don't let that enter your head - try playing alone - you can - very early or very late - or with total strangers as a walk on.

Over time, you WILL get better - visibly, noticeably. Try playing a few days in a row, or a series of days either playing golf or practicing. Practice makes perfect - especially the short game that is ignored by the majority pounding shots into the darkness at driving ranges - work on the touch, the feel, the magic ability to get 25%, 50% or 75% shots, to control the distance.

Most of all, relax and enjoy the walk, the scenery, remember the things that went WELL - and move on from the ones that were duffed, hooked into the trees, or when you putted back and forth across the green like a madman - they all happen - to ALL of us - even Tiger Woods (every now and then). The trick is to concentrate on making the NEXT shot, the NEXT hole, the NEXT practice or game - be your very best. There's no going back and reshooting that shot that went into the water! Forget about it and calmly, confidently move on.

Your best games, your best shots will occur when you have a calm, confident feeling, feeling that you are just repeating what you've practiced, and easily accomplished in the past. Look at the grin on Tiger's face as he sinks a putt and pumps his fist - this game can be FUN!!