Of all the millions of golfers around the world, “Most of them are frustrated” according to one very smart professor with a good keen sense of humor. When a person becomes an avid fan of golf and wants to learn how to play, there are two alternatives, a right way and a wrong way.

However, with a few easy steps to start with, it might help a new golfer find out the right way to play golf first. Here are some good tips to begin with.

Where to start

First off, take this excellent word of wisdom: do not hurry out and purchase a brand new set of high priced golf clubs. Search out a friend to help you check out the classified part of your newspaper. Just look through the “For Sale” section.

Another option is to have your friend go with you to a sporting goods store or section within a store that has golf clubs on sale. You may consider going to an outdoor sports store or look at specials online.

Just remember that used golf clubs that are in excellent condition can be found everywhere.

Important lessons

Of course, you can start playing the game right away and eventually become better without taking any lessons. But, you may consider taking a few beginning lessons with a teaching professional or a golf player that already has a lot of experience.

Just taking two or three basic beginning lessons might prevent years of stress.

Playing at the driving range

Going to a golf range is a great idea. So that a new golfer will know what to practice on the driving range, he or she might wish to play a couple of times and then work with a golf instructor first.

Keep in mind, the driving range is not only for hitting with a driver.

Have fun as you practice golf

Practice should not be punishment if you wish to improve your golf game. You can enjoy your practice by thinking about being in an actual situation, and then strike the shots you would need for that special situation.

Here is a good way to have fun while you are learning. Let’s say you are practicing, after your second lesson, a technique that your instructor just showed you.

It could be looked at as just hitting the ball using the correct body posture.

Or, you might imagine yourself in front of a dozen television cameras, all focusing on you, as you hit the ball across the deep sand pit, and landing it within one yard of the next hole.

If you try hard enough, you might even be able to hear the crowd clap and get congratulations from your fellow players…

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Tom Straub is a successful author, and webmaster of the Best Golf Tips web site, where you can read more on Golf Lessons and more than a dozen other golf topics.

I have never seen a course designed for beginners golf, though there may be some out there. I think this is something that needs to be done, because when you start playing golf for the very first time, you know you are going to annoy just about everyone on the course. If you don’t know what I mean, you must be good. No matter how much time you spend on the driving range or practicing your putts, you know that the first times you try out a real golf course you are going to be there for a very long time just to get through the first few holes.

Golf is something that takes a lot of skill, and beginners golf can be a headache for everyone. The person learning can get frustrated rather easily, and you know they are going to go through a lot of balls. The people on the course with them have to be patient. I know that my husband often runs off to play nine holes when he only has so much time. If there is someone learning beginners golf in the group in front of you that you aren’t going to get out of there very fast.

If there were courses just for beginners golf, or perhaps there should be certain hours set aside just for this purpose. It wouldn’t have to be much, but perhaps a few hours on a day when the courses aren’t known to be crowded. That way, those learning beginners golf could be on the course and take their lumps without impatient and more seasoned golfers making faces at them because they are tired of waiting for them to move through. I have been there before, and I know what it is like to have four grown men in goofy pants shooting you dirty looks and telling you to move it along. They are an impatient lot.

Though everyone moves through the motions of beginners golf at a different pace, there will always be newer folks who want to take the time to learn the game without rushing, and this may help encourage more people to take up the sport. Beginners golf may include a lot of children, and that is always a good thing. It’s almost impossible for them to be as good as the adults, but they will never get good if they don’t have a chance to play on a real course.

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Who can better understand the importance of the golf swing than the weekend or amateur golfer who sprays his shots all over the course with slices and hooks? By giving attention to your golf swing and improving it, you can not only improve your score but also your enjoyment of the game.

The techniques and the mechanics of your golf swing are what determine whether the club face will hit the ball square on, in other words in the sweet spot, and send the golf ball rocketing towards the hole, or whether the club will hit the ball off center and send it spinning into the rough.

Because the golf swing is the most vital element of the game of golf in determining how well you will hit the ball and score, most people will spend a lot of time practicing and working on their golf swing.

Practicing is important because by having a solid foundation and mastering the basics of the golf swing, you will add more enjoyment to your golf game for as long as you play.

Your style of golf will determine what is a proper golf swing for you, but there are a few underlying things about the golf swing that will hold true for every golfer.

Don’t sway back and forth during your swing and keep your legs steady to form a sturdy foundation.

Achieving a one plane swing should be your goal. This will give you scoring improvement on the course and better enjoyment of the game.

Use a video camera to record your own golf swing with different clubs. Then you can sit back and analyze your own action and technique.

If you are really serious about improving your game, then you might want to consider enrolling the help of a professional teacher.

You may be surprised with how little effort can propel your golf swing to the next level.

Find more golf information and advice at BestPowerGolf.com, including advice on the benefits of playing golf.

Slow play on the golf course is caused often by golfer who has major’s slices, as he or she acquires bad practice. Or it’s the result of the golfer never having been educated proper golf course manners. This means a slow golfer aggravates the relation with his friends but also the foursome that follows him. So what should you do to improve your slices? Let me give you a free tip.

Like I always said in my previous articles, practice is I believe, the most important factor between someone who will succeed and the one who will fail. A driving range usually is 3 times the width and even larger sometimes than a regular fairway. So golfer really doesn’t care if he miss the ball, as he knows it will stay in the driving range, but he forgets that it will be a slice on a real course. I will give you a little trick that you can practice on a driving range which will help you reducing your slice. But you must be patient and practice, otherwise it won’t work.

First, when you are ready to hit your ball, you will take a complete new set up. You will calculate the normal distance you usually take, when you putt your driver on the ground, and ready to tee off. Then, you will close both legs to make sure that both shoes touch together. Not even one inch will separate theses shoes. Subsequently, you will hit your shot at half speed swing, meaning that, if you hit 80 miles per hour, you will hit around 40 miles per hour, like if you were using a wedge for approach. The first reaction you will have is that it will be very hard to keep your balance while you will be on your down swing.

However you will notice that your ball will travel more that 100 yards straight in the fairway. Why? Simply because your body is all shrink and you worry falling on the ground.Therefore, your mind is concentrate only at that particular problem, and you forget all the mistakes, about your shoulders and your hands. Once you will hit 5-10 balls, increase distance between your shoes by 2 inches at the time, and restart the same procedure. More you will increase distance in between and more you will feel confident on the ground and realize that, more distance you want to achieve, more mistakes, you will make with your shoulders, and your hands. A good practice on a driving range is to increase speed with your driver slowly to normal and to determine what is causing your slice, either your hands or your shoulders on your down swing.

I hope this will help you reducing your slices, and if you asked yourself “I am normal golfer”? Just remember that you are part of the 80 % of the golfers around the world that slices and slowly, you will transfer to the 20 % remaining golfers.

Enjoy your golf game.

Robert

http://www.golfslicenhooknomore.com

We all know that every kind of exercise helps your golf game. When you play golf, you use every part of your body, and an overall fitness routine that works everything will help improve your game. In addition to a regular exercise routine, there are some great golf specific exercises you can do to work those muscles you need to make a great swing.

Stretch

Flexibility is so important for golfers, and that’s why you need to stretch. And the great thing about stretching is that you can do it anywhere. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your office chair! Oh, you want to leave your office chair? Well, that’s okay too.

When you swing, you are rotating your body, so stretching your torso and abdomen is important. Sit on the floor. Raise up one knee so that your foot is flat on the floor and your knee if pointing at the ceiling. Twist so that you are looking behind you, bracing the back of your opposite elbow on that raised knee. For example, if you raise your right knee, turn so that your left elbow is pressing against it and you are looking behind you. After a few seconds, switch and do the other.

Exercises You Can Do Anywhere

We don’t need any fancy gym equipment. A good exercise to build up abdominal muscle strength is the good old fashioned crunch. Lay on the floor on your back with your feet flat and knees pointing at the ceiling. You can either put your hands behind your head or wrap your arms around your chest. Now, move up toward your arched knees, and feel those six pack muscles work.

Another one you can do anywhere is the “plank.” Lie on your stomach. Lift up so that you are raised on your elbows. Now, raise the rest of your body so that you are balanced on your elbows and toes. You’ll want to lower your back, but keep it straight. If you can, hold yourself up like this for about a half a minute.

Balancing The Core

Golf uses the core of your body, so it’s important to work these areas specifically. Balance is especially important.

To improve your balance, you can design an obstacle course in your house, and try to maneuver through it. Make it tough for yourself, and try carrying something on your head!

Another exercise is to balance on one foot and slowly reach for a nearby object. Balancing on one leg is great golf exercise.

Golf Specific Weight Lifting

You usually don’t associate weight lifting with golf training, but increased muscle strength means increased control over what your muscles do. This is why golfers need to do a little weight training.

But don’t worry; you’re not training for the World Championship Strongman Competition. Golf weight training uses lighter weights that are specifically geared toward working out your golf muscles.

Keep in mind that the muscles in your lower back and torso are very important in golf. You should also work your hamstring muscles in your legs. Have you ever noticed how after a long day of golfing, your leg muscles ache? You use them a lot more than you realize.

Golf specific exercises help you work out the parts of the body you need to work out. But, remember that golfing requires strength and flexibility in every part of your body. Design your own exercise program with that in mind.

You can also find more information at improve golf driving and golf short game. GetGoodAtGolf.com is a comprehensive resource golf enthusiast to improve their game through helpful tips and instructions.

What are the most important considerations for a golf course developer when they are thinking about doing renovations to their golf course? Many older golf courses are looking to improve their courses either to attract new membership or to reduce maintenance costs. Generally what we suggest is to do a hole by hole analysis and then a long range golf course master plan. We look at things like safety, drainage, bunker placement, course conditioning, playability, tree removal and shade and overall course conditioning. Once that master plan is complete, then we work with the course to develop a phasing plan and a budget for improvements. We want to work together to prioritize the changes.

How do holes that play fairly for every level of player? This is an important issue because we want to create holes that are challenging to all levels of play, yet not so difficult that beginning golfers are punished for their lack of ability. For example, if the greens are large enough and the hole is relatively short, we will sometimes create a more difficult green. This makes for a challenge for all levels of golfers.

One of the things we take into consideration is the type of golf course we are designing – who will typically be playing on it. Certainly on the public courses we want to make them play a little easier and more forgiving. If we don’t accommodate for the weaker players, the courses will end up playing dreadfully slow and become frustrating for everybody. We want to make it so that people will go out and have fun and enjoy the course. One of the problems that I see happening is that some of the courses opt for faster greens and this can make some of their holes very difficult because the beginning player doesn’t typically have the ability to spin the ball as well, so having their shots stick on the green becomes more challenging on these fast greens.

Are you seeing a lot of courses that want to extend the length of their courses these days because of all the advances in equipment and the ability for people to hit the ball farther? I think technology has certainly impacted the game. I think we’re finding that people are contacting us because they are faced with a variety of problems. It may be that they are looking to add some additional length or simply eliminating obsolete bunkers. With people driving the ball further, some bunkers simply don’t come into play as they were once intended to do.

We’re also seeing a lot of interest in improving course conditioning and playability. People are starting to recognize that they are not competing as well with some of the other new courses that have come into their area. Sometimes they simply feel that they need to improve their course in order to complete with the course down the road that is longer and in better condition.

When a golf course is considering doing a renovation, what are the things that can give them the greatest returns for their investment? If you talk to the golf course owner or the golf board, they are typically more focused on visual elements of golf course design… things like the color of the sand, the shape and contour of the greens, the treatment of the pond edges, However, if you talk to the golf course superintendent, they’re typically most interested in maintenance issues, things like bunker drainage, trees, cart traffic, irrigation systems, etc.

So part of the process for us is to bring these groups together to educate them and help them understand the problems involved. If we can improve the overall playability, minimize the maintenance and improve the visual look of the hole, everybody is happy. What we do is walk the course with all parties involved. Then we go back to the drawing board and address all the concerns as best as we can. Then we present our recommendations to the membership so people have a better understanding of what we can be accomplished by improving the course.

What kinds of problems can arise when a golf course takes on a renovation project? One of the primary concerns for people is that they don’t want to shut down the entire course for several months. We spend quite a bit of time considering how we can do this effectively. One of the big issues is hiring an architect that can help you look at all these kinds of issues, including how to prevent taking the entire course out of play.Oftentimes, we can do these projects in phases in order to minimize the impact on play.

How do you design or re-design a green? In part, when it comes to designing a green, it is important for us to have an understanding of who will be playing the golf course. We look at how different players of varying ability will play the hole and what type of contour will penalize or reward them for a particular angle of approach. For daily-fee courses which maintain their cutting heights at a slower speed, we generally put a little more slope in the greens and try to make them fun. For private courses and courses which might keep their greens a bit faster, we flatten the greens a little and try to divide the putting surface into different zones.

We also like to provide for a preferred angle of approach and to vary the design of the green depending on whether we want to encourage an aerial or bump and run approach Finally, we always try to design a green to will allow for water to run off in several different directions. This insures that the green will drain quickly and wont have maintenance issues caused by standing water.. These contours will make for some very interesting breaks in the green.

How fast should a golf course developer set their greens? The speed of the greens should be determined by the type of play: Public, private or resort course. Again, a developer must consider who their market is. The grass species is also a determining factor that a course must consider because this will have a direct bearing on the maintenance costs.

It’s a good idea determine how fast you would like green speed before we start building or doing the golf course renovation.

If you would like to see the full article or listen to the mP3 aduio interview, you can visit http://www.herfortnorby.com/articles/Golf-Course-Re-design-and-renovation.pdf

Colin Goehring is a golf marketing expert who specializes in advertising, copywriting, website design and search engine optimization. You can find out more about his work at http://www.j2golfmarketing.com

Golf Tips

Range Tips
Grip tips: Your hands should work together as one unit with your palms facing each other as if you are praying, which you probably will be at times. To check this, take your address position and lift the clubhead straight up just by bending your wrists. If you grip allows you to swing the shaft straight up to the middle of your head, without the face angle changing, then you grip is good. While doing this, does the face of your clubhead still look straight? If so, that means the pressure from each hand is equal.

Alignment: A good way to check or correct your alignment is to use a couple of old shafts or any like thing and place 1 on the ground aimed at your target line a few inches on the other side of the ball. Take your stance and check with another shaft or club to see if your shoulders, hips, and feet are set up parallel to the target line.

I take a second shaft and stick it the ground about 3-4 feet back of my back foot at an angle comparable to my club at address. Experiment with the exact position until it is in a place that you miss it by a couple inches on the way back and through. If you take it back slow and look at the gap between the two you can get it at just the right angle so that it gives you a good indicator as to your swing plane. IE: you can see if you are coming back too far inside or outside. Be careful the first few times as you don’t want to hit the shaft during your swing. You can use one of those “pool noodles” or a pipe insulator on the shaft so you don’t get killed or give someone next to you a stroke if you hit it.

Now when you are ready to hit some, you stand behind the ball and pick a spot on the ground or another tee 2-3 feet ahead of the ball and in your target line. It and the ball should form a line parallel with the shaft on the ground.

All you have to do now, is to swing down that line through the ball.

Balance: I like to hit balls at times with no shoes on. It may sound silly, but you will be surprised how much you will feel with your feet. You will feel all aspects of your weight moving during the swing. You should feel the push as you come down and through the impact area, and then the weight shift onto your front foot.

Good Practice: A good way to improve your ball striking with irons is to pick a torn up part of the teeing ground at the range and use it to hit balls from. If you can train your self to do this, when you do play from the fairway the ball will almost seem as if it is teed up. On some courses where the ground isn’t the best, your swing will be immune to bad lies.

Visualize Your Shots: A lot of teaching pros tell you to pick a spot to land your tee shot on to help your visualization, but what I like to do is to use two or three flags, trees , or whatever is out on the range to form the boundries of an imaginary fairway alyhough narrower than a real one. If you can hit shots within the “boundaries”, it greatly increases your confidence. If you get to the point where you can shape your shots inside the boundaries, when combined with a solid repeatable routine, you really have something to work with when the pressure is on.

Slice Correction: A good way to combat a slice is to put a small mark on the back of the ball,(opposite the target). When you go to swing, focus all your attenetion on that mark until after impact. It’s very difficult to come “over the top” while doing this. Try it!

Hook Correction: One main reason people hook, myself especially, is because their weight stays on the back foot or even moves backward in the down swing. One way to fight this, is to make a conscious effort to “stamp” your front foot down at impact. I don’t mean to actually lift and drop your foot, but feel as if you are stamping your foot down just at the moment of impact. To do this, you must shift your weight. Watch the hooks disappear.

Puttig Tips: Get the speed right and you won’t three putt. The correct speed ideally is that if you miss, the ball stops 12-18 inches beyond the hole,(except for lag putts).

Lag putts when you don’t feel confident or over 30 feet. Pretend you are putting into a 4 foot barrell and anything you leave inside that 4 feet is good. Seeing as it will be 2 feet or less, it probably is.

Never use your wrists in a putting stroke, just arm and shoulder muscles and you will control the distance much easier.

Don’t look up until your ball has rolled at least 6 feet.

Go with your first thought/feeling when seeing the line, it is right more often then not.

Spend time practicing 6 footers. If you can make 3 out of 4 of them, you will putt better than 80% of all golfers.

If you play at the same course a lot, look at the greens in a hard rain sometime and notice the way the water sits on the green to see all the nuances/breaks in it.

Chipping Tips: For short chips, all you need to do is use a putting stroke. As with putting It is much easier to control distance when you don’t involve your wrists.

A good rule of thumb in club selection for chipping is to get the ball rolling on the green as soon as possible, and run it up or down to the hole.

If you have 3 chips, one a flat 40 footer from just off the green, one an uphill 40 footer, and one a downhill 40 footer, instead of varying your swing, consider using the same swing for all three. For the uphill, an 8 iron, for the flat, a 9 iron, and for the downhiller, a wedge. The change in loft will make up for the difference in slope.

P. Nichols: MySquidoo

When you start to think about what iron set that you would like to purchase next there is a real tendency to start with very strong pre-conceptions linked to a combination of what brand you have played with before, what brand is the flavour of the year with the golf superstars and a budget that you want to stick to.

The correct starting point is actually your golf game and what you want to achieve in the short-term. That will help you narrow down the large selection into a core group of Irons that are going to bring you, your golf swing and your golf game the maximum benefit.

I’ve been looking at how the manufacturers have been able to create so many different solutions. Creating ‘discretionary weight’ has driven the multitude of different designs that are subtly different with different impact on your golf shot.

I mentioned previously how it is no longer just a matter of ‘Cast’ vs ‘Forged’ and to highlight that complication now look at the range of different metals that are used. It used to be that 8620 and 1020 Steels were used in almost all golf club heads. Mizuno have created a higher grade steel (1025E) that improves the mix of Carbon, Phosphorous and Sulphur.

The most important result of that is the metal is stronger, allowing thinner walls to be created (saving weight) and the feel of the club to be improved.

I wish you could all use a golf club manufactured in 1980 together with a golf ball from that year. You would be amazed at how much more ‘feel’ there is today, and how much more comfortable off-center hits are.

What is frightening though is how the pace of that improvement and innovation is increasing every year. In 1980, as a golf professional, one needed some understanding of technology and a lot of expertise in equipment repair. Today, we need to understand physics, design and materials and then to update that knowledge at least every quarter to keep pace with the manufacturers.

For expert advice and guidance please visit your local Foremost PGA Golf Professional.

James Langmead is a PGA Qualified Golf Professional and former Callaway Club Fitter of the Year

In the beginning, golf games were played by hitting a stone or a makeshift ball across a field until it traveled over a line or similar type of goal. Later, a rabbit hole was added and eventually became the ultimate target. But, how did golf grow into the modern, sophisticated game of today?

Discover as you read this story, about the men who decided on the first golf rules and how these guidelines developed to control one of most popular games all over the world.

Some good and some bad trials

When the first golfers played a game, rules were pretty much whatever all the players that were present agreed upon. Golf was played by trial and error, and that determined what rules would work using local customs and what kind of golf course or ground was played on.

For example, at first, many golf games were played near the beach. This meant that the rules would have to take in consideration the sand and its various pits and dunes, and any streams that fed into the shoreline.

Even though several surviving documents of ancient history talk about the etiquette and behavior required by golf players, one particular member of the Gentleman Golfers of Leith is officially credited with writing some of the original formal rules.

Golf according to Duncan Forbes

Duncan Forbes, a Leith member, attempted to explain how the game of golf was to be played from the beginning to the end. Among his first rules was that the ball was to be played from within one yard of the tee marker.

One interesting point about the word, “tee” is that is came from the Gaelic word “tigh” used in the ancient sport of curling. This old custom was carried on through golf.

Which player goes first

Another one of Forbes’ first rules was who went first in the game. He declared that the person whose ball lies the farthest away from the hole must play first. This rule still applies on every continent in the world, over three centuries later.

Who is controlling the rules today?

Today, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and the United States Golf Association determine and direct golf all over the world, even though there have been a few differences between the two large organizations.

Professional golf players and amateurs alike can follow the same standards and guidelines competing and enjoying hitting off the tee.

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Tom Straub is a successful author, and webmaster of the Best Golf Tips web site, where you can read more on The Rules of Golf and more than a dozen other golf topics.

1. Stance

The power of your drive all begins with your stance. There are two things you want to do with your stance; increase the distance of the stance from the ball and spread your feet wider. By spreading your feet wider, you will have better balance and control allowing you to get a short and wide swing. In turn, this will allow you to get the control and power necessary for a strong drive.

2. Driving motion

Perfecting your driving motion can be particularly difficult, especially if you are a beginner. Getting a handle of your weight control is perhaps the most difficult aspect to your driving motion, but quite possible the most important part. You want to take your time and swing in rhythm.

3. Releasing the power

Driving the ball inquires a great deal of control and power together. If you have great control but no power, you will lack the distance required to set yourself up for a solid score. You want to build your power and release it throughout the swing. By keeping your swing short and wide, you will have great control over your swing while still releasing the power.

4. Know yourself

While there are a number of free driving tips that can be given to you, nobody knows you better than you. If you listen to others and swing outside of your boundaries, you will decrease your control and perhaps your power. It is vital that you distribute your weight evenly and stay balanced throughout the entire shot.

5. Practice

Practice, Practice, Practice!!! Go to the driving range as much as possible to help get a feel for your stance, your swinging motion and the power. Eventually you can take what you’ve learned on the driving range and apply it to your game on the golf course.

6. Imagine

Although it may sound cliché, it is crucial that you believe in your shot and your swing. Your odds of striking the ball solidly improve if you imagine the ball landing in the middle of the fairway.

By taking these free driving tips and applying them to your game on the golf course, you will find yourself striking the golf ball on the tee much more smoothly with great balance and power.

Joshua Spaulding is an Author and Golf enthusiest who provides Free Golf Tips including Golf Putting Tips through his Website at http://www.freegolfswingtips.net