Here’s one I definitely had to look up in the Rules of Golf. I was playing in a tournament this past summer and it was my turn to hit. My ball was lying just off the apron of the green so I elected to use a six iron to pop the ball over the apron and up to the hole.

My partner asked if I would like him to attend the flagstick for me and I said, “yes.” He pulled the flagstick out of the hole and let it rest on the green about 3″ back of the hole. Before I could hit, one of my opponents said, “Hey. You can’t rest the flagstick on the green. That’s a one stroke penalty.

Here are three possible answers.

A. My opponent was right. You cannot rest the flagstick on the green and I am assessed a one stroke penalty.

B. You cannot rest the flagstick on the green and my partner is assessed a one stroke penalty.

C.You can rest the flagstick on the green with no penalty, but you shouldn’t do it.

The answer to this pop quiz is C. The Rules of Golf says “A player preparing to putt asks his partner to attend the flagstick. The partner removes the flagstick from the hole and holds it upright two or three inches directly behind the hole, with the end of the flagstick touching the putting green. He attends the flagstick in this manner to eliminate the risk of the flagstick sticking in the hole. Is such a procedure a breach of the Rules?

“No, but such a practice is not recommended because of the possibility of damage to the putting green.”

Golf is full of rules, some of which make sense while others just leave you scratching your head. However, if you want to be a good golfer and, especially if you carry a handicap or want to have a handicap, it is important that you know the rules.

Tags: golf, golf rules, rules of golf, golf schools

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Golf improvement is a huge topic for most golfers, but are they (you) getting the right information to actually improve your golf swing and game? There is a glut of golf improvement articles, tips and advice, but be careful what you read.

Choose Your Information Wisely

How many times has someone volunteered a tip to you and your swing only got worse? How about information on the net? Ever tried to apply it in hopes for a better game? I know golfers have, because I receive hundreds of emails everyday from frustrated golfers. Golfers ready to quite the game because they are not improving or enjoying the game anymore.

Next time you receive volunteer advice, consider the source. Are they a professional in the teach field? Worse case, can they play good golf themselves? How well do you know them to trust the information will actually help your game? I don’t want to turn you into a hypochondriac, but being aware isn’t a bad thing either.

How Many Golf Tips Do You Need?

There are a gazillion golf tips you can put into your head, from every magazine, newspaper, teaching pro and resource known to man! How many tips can you keep in your head and actually apply when you’re on the course? I know for me…maybe 1, at the most 2! Anymore than that and it’s “paralysis-by-analysis” for me.

Now I am not knocking golf tips. When my swing goes south, all it takes is a golf tip I used in the past to get back on track. Notice how I said, “a golf tip”, not tips? There is always a nugget that may turn your game around, just don’t overdo it…and again…consider the source of the tip before you file it in your brain for use on the course.

Take Advice Sparingly

Every golfer wants to give out advice to their buddies. This is not a good thing most of the time. What may work for them, won’t necessarily work for you. Take any advice with a grain of salt. If it seems to make a little sense to your particular situation, then give it a try on the range first. If it works…take it to the course.

I just want you to be aware of golf improvement information and don’t get caught in the trap of overwhelming yourself. Your game will go downhill faster than you can blink!

Tags: golf improvement, information, articles, tips, advice

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I’m often asked about how to get “control” of emotions when on the course. Along with this is the desire by many golfers to want “control” of their swing and where the ball will end up. These misguided desires are probably the biggest destroyers of confidence and a fluid swing. Instead of wanting “control,” the golfer would be better served to think of wanting such positive mental attitudes as: “release” and “carefree” and “loose.”

Just the word “control” itself tightens up your muscles when you think or say it.

I’ve heard golfers say that they have trouble with their emotions on the course and yet, at the office, they are able to remain cool, calm and collected in order to do their job well.

Let’s look at a typical business negotiation and compare it to being on the course with regard to the meaning of “control.”

Many high-performing business types are absolute masters of making a deal happen because they feel in control, and yet, they go out on the course and end up throwing clubs soon after. It doesn’t have to be like that.

Feeling like you have “control” or not is completely all in your mind.

For instance,

In a business negotiation, any number of things could happen that are completely out of your control such as: 1. The client could get an emergency phone call at any moment taking him out of your meeting, 2. He could have a heart attack or stroke right there in the meeting 3. He could be in a bad mood from some unsettling business or personal news before the meeting that makes it all but impossible for him to focus on your pitch/idea. 4. He could have some sort of prejudice against you (race, age, etc.) before you even begin negotiations 5.He has some sort of psychological problem that overrides logic and reasoning at times. These issues and more easily could be in play and you have absolutely no control of these kinds of things.

Any one of these for the other person can derail any successful business outcome before you even have a chance. Even with all of that, most businesspeople would agree with you that they feel they still have a great deal of control, which is why they can be successful. And that is a good thing!

Now, let’s compare to golf, where, you control everything!

You swing the clubs, you are in control of your own mind, you choose everything about how you decide to play the game. The only thing you don’t ultimately control in playing golf is the weather and course conditions but even there, you can observe them and make adjustments for them.

So, objectively, you really have MORE control in golf than you do in a business negotiation setting because golf is usually played as an individual sport. You depend on nobody but yourself.

In the final analysis, I know what you mean when you say it feels like the golfer is not in control of his shots because I’ve been there. However, it’s all in how you look at it, your internal representation (an NLP term) of the situation. If you look at your golf game with the idea that you feel you have no control over the situation, then you don’t. And it will be even more difficult to succeed just as it would be if a businessperson had that same thought going into negotiations.

Starting to get the picture now?

Even successful business people don’t succeed in closing every sale or in getting everything they want out of a deal. But, they sure go in thinking that THEY CAN! That’s the same way of thinking we have to have with regard to control in our golf game.

Yes we stumble and fail (plenty!) , but, if we BELIEVE we have as much control over golf as we do in business, then we will succeed at golf even more than we have in businesss! Everything is relative and it all starts with how we represent a situation in our brain that is most influencing in an outcome. And if we know in advance that getting angry and frustrated will hinder our achieving our golf goal (just like it would in a business deal), then we can use that same skill we put to use in business to help us achieve that outcome. It’s really no different except in how we think about it.

Perfectionism is not a bad thing either in my opinion. The desire to want to be perfect, to perform flawlessly is a driving force toward achievement and is useful. However, it’s the EXPECTATIONS that get us into trouble. Strive for perfection, but be glad for everything is the secret to emotional control and success on the course.

Tags: golf mental game

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Do you remember when you were much younger and putted like youth possessed? You were fearless and confident. You just felt that every putt was going in.

What’s happened since then? Why do we now stand next to our ball on the putting green and have all these negative thoughts rushing through our heads? And it just keeps getting worse the older we get.

Sam Snead holds the record for most tournament wins at 82 official and 70 others over his career. At the end of his career, he made the statement “I’ve shot a charging elephant at 10 feet that skidded to it’s death at my feet and I was never as scared as I am at a 4 foot putt.”

What is going on here? Here is a man that knew how to win, obviously. He knew how to hold a putter and use it as well as anyone for 4 decades. And he was afraid of 4 foot putts! He developed such a bad case of what is known as “The YIps” that he went to putting “croquet” style, or rather, putting between his legs.

This enraged the purists after he won a tournament putting that way that they immediately put a new rule in that said you have to stand at the side of the ball. Bobby Jones was said to be instrumental in getting that rule changed.

So what does all this have to do with us and our golf putting game? Everything. Have you put two and two together yet from the ideas presented here?

We go from total fearlessness in our youth to a complete wreck as we get older. Why is this? It’s because we store all those misses over the years in our unconscious golf mind storage facility. You see, it’s very easy and lazy for us to think about what went wrong and that’s because we are hard-wired to do that as humans.

For instance, way back when we were all farmers and cave dwellers, when we made a mistake with our efforts at providing food, clothing and shelter, it could result in death! So we would constantly be looking at our mistakes to see if we could do the task better next time. We would run the problem over and over in our mind until we went about the task again, this time hoping to do it more efficiently so that we could eat or escape the weather! Going over our errors was a matter of life and death in those days.

Fast forward to today. We still do the same thing with our daily tasks. We get feedback from something we attempted to accomplish and then work on improving how to do the task better the next time. This works well for us when we are talking about using our conscious mind to do things. Unfortunately, it wreaks havoc on our golf game because your best golf, as you know, is played with your UNconscious mind.

So every time you miss a putt you thought you should have made, your unconscious mind begins to store it as another failure. The older we get, the more failures we have stored up in our memory banks. These failures get presented to our conscious mind right when we don’t want them to; when we have a crucial putt that we believe we should make.

Youth doesn’t have that problem because, well, they just haven’t missed that many yet. Even Tiger Woods himself has said recently that when he was young, he just felt like every putt was going in. Every putt! This suggests that even HE gets the doubts at times.

So what do we do about this so that we can start putting with the mindset we had as a teenager? Because we all know that confidence is everything, especially in putting. Shoot, there’s even a book by a famous golf psychologist about golf and confidence.

The answer is to release the negative emotions, decisions, beliefs, and attachments we have to the memories of all those missed putts in a Gestalt we’ve created in our unconscious.

What? What the heck did you just say…Gestalt?

Ok, without getting technical, since it’s the Unconscious Mind that stores these memories and brings them back up at the worst time, we have to find ways to communicate with it on it’s level. The only ways I know of are Hypnosis, NLP, and Timeline techniques.

I’ll write more on those modalities in other articles. Greens and fairways,

Tags: mental game of golf

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Golfers can find many tips to eliminate golf slice. The best tips, however, should come from the combined knowledge of golf professionals and enthusiasts. There are actually three key concepts that should be remembered when it comes to eliminating the golf slice.

1. Proper way of bearing the shoulder

Proper golf bearing or stance should squarely fall within the width of the shoulder. Shoulders should be properly aligned at the striking range of the player, seeing the target golf ball as the main consideration.

In a proper stance, the right foot is pointing straight ahead on its own side, while the left foot is slightly dented to the left.

This proper placing of the feet should be assisted by properly aligning the elbows. The elbows of the players should be kept in their most natural possible position. This will give a solid and well-grounded stance for the play.

2. The power grip

Golf slice can be immensely eliminated through the proper way of holding the golf club. The golf club should be held by the left hand of the player, while the thumb is in parallel with the shaft.

Further, the line between the left hand’s thumb and index finger must be pointing to the player’s right eye field.

And finally, the right hand should be wrapping the left hand, with the remaining part of the left thumb touching the right palm.

3. Proper swing mechanics

And last in the list of key concepts is the proper execution of swing mechanics. Proper golf swing mechanics is a vital part in eliminating golf slice.

A correct golf backswing normally starts with the proper implements of the hand while at game mode. The hands are then followed by the arms, then by shoulders, in creating a whole smooth movement.

The proper downswing, on the other hand, begins with the hips, with the eyes focusing on the ball, while the head staying behind the ball.

When properly practiced, the swing mechanics would really be a good method for taming the golf game.

Tags: eliminate golf slice, cure golf slice, correct golf slice

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Your posture, like the grip, is an absolutely essential cornerstone of an effective golf swing that will produce long, accurate shots round after round.

As hard as it is for me to understand, just like the grip, posture is often overlooked by many people who are learning the game of golf and also by many people who are struggling with their games. They go out of their way searching for the “silver bullet” when the real silver bullet is hidden in plain view. Tiger Woods and his coach Butch Harmon are well aware of the “silver bullet” and they monitor Tiger’s posture as well as his grip and alignment constantly because the best player on the planet knows how easy it is to slip out of your posture position and into bad habits which are guaranteed to cause problems in your golf swing.

That’s right! Even a player as accomplished as Tiger Woods, constantly monitors his posture, his grip, and his alignment.

Quality posture is not hard to learn but it does require focus on the part of the player to maintain. Ask any successful touring professional how often he or she works on his or her grip, posture, and alignment, and I’ll bet you the ranch, more often than not, they’ll answer “daily.” Ask the same question to a beginner, mid, or high handicapper and I guarantee you won’t get the same answer.

Here’s the kicker, YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD! All players regardless of skill level should pay strict attention to their grip, posture and alignment every time they play or hit balls.

If these fundamental concepts carry enough weight that the top touring professionals are focused on them on a daily basis, then I think that you and I should be focused on these fundamentals as well at least every time we get to practice and play.

Without proper posture as with grip and alignment, it is nearly impossible without major championship talent and a ton of time to practice to consistently hit quality golf shots. Golf is so much easier when you develop solid fundamentals and I hope you’ll take the time to develop them today.

I want you to write the following statement down on a piece of paper and slip it into your golf bag. Every time you go out to practice or play, I want you to read it and remember to at least check your grip, your posture, and your alignment.

“My goal is to maximize distance, accuracy, and consistency in my golf swing with a minimum amount of time devoted to practice. To achieve this goal, I must take complete control of every variable within my golf swing that I possibly can. These variables definitely include grip, POSTURE, and alignment. I will begin my practice session or warmup with a check of these 3 fundamentals.” DON’T CHEAT..write it down and read it each time you practice or play.

You’ll be glad you did.

In part 2, we’ll talk a little about How to find YOUR best posture.

Tags: golf, golf swing, golf instruction, golf tip, free golf tip, golf training, golf training aid

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The best way to improve at the game of golf is to admit to yourself that you are in need of improvement. One you are ready to accept help from an outside source go ahead and look into the training aids that are available from the majority of sporting goods stores and on the internet.

The first thing that a player has to get good at is hitting the ball with the club face in the right spot. The thing is that it is very hard to identify, by looking at it, where the ball hit the club. For this reason, companies have invented products to help you see exactly where the ball and the club met. The original product that was used is impact tape. Impact tape was messy and relatively unreliable. Since then the products have changed for the better. Now we have golf dust to help us in this area. All you have to do is take a spray can and spray the contents on the club face. When you swing the club at the ball the ball marks the dust when it impacts and tells you exactly where the ball was hit. The spray cleans off fast and easy with just a cloth and only takes seconds to reapply for the next swing. Everyone that I have talked to that has used this particular aid loves it and cannot understand how they ever got by without it. I myself have been very impressed with the simplicity and effectiveness of the tool.

If you have a flaw in your game and do not find the right way to cure it, no matter how long you practice you will have a hard time identifying where the problems are. If you cannot identify the problems you will not be able to solve them and in turn your golf game will not get better. Get the right tools and start improving your game today.

Learn about the best golf teaching tool.

Tags: golf

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As the popularity of golf continues to grow, so has the popularity of golf communities. Golf communities are planned neighborhoods which are focused around golf courses but have many more amenities. The obvious advantage is the closeness and exclusiveness of living right next to a golf course. But many golf communities also offer perks such as chefs, nature trails, stables and in the most exclusive, access to private jets. Generally, these neighborhoods are also gated communities which adds an extra sense of security.

Golf communities continue to be built at a rapid rate. Today, 3 out of 5 golf courses that are built are part of a larger golf community. Golf communities are sometimes criticized because they seem to cater to the very wealthy at the exclusion of everyone else.

What are the top five golf communities in the United States?

Coming in at number five is the Mayacama community. It is located in the heart of wine country in California. Twenty-nine members are involved in the wine business and special access to wine is given the remaining residents. It sits on 675 acres and it is known for its excellent caddie program.

Kiawah Island comes in at number four. It is located in South Carolina and contains five golf courses. There are many mansions and large homes done in an old Charleston flair. Members can use two private courses. There are also two restaurants and a spa.

Number three on the list of top golf communities is Isleworth. It is located in Orlando, Florida and Tiger Woods can often be seen playing there. Isleworth is known for its list of amenities that make it family friendly. They have dances for the kids and even special Thanksgiving dinners. However, it is probably the men’s lounge that attracts the most attention. It is 7,000 square feet and contains a putting green, a golf simulator, and a basketball court.

The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida is a strong example of golf’s gated communities. There are only 96 houses in the entire community and each one is worth approximately six million dollars. There is a concierge and also an acclaimed chef on staff here. The Bear’s Club is considered the number two golf community in America.

Topping out the list is Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel, California. Santa Lucia Preserve is made up of over 20,000 acres, but 18,000 of that has been made into a wildlife conservatory. The remaining 2,000 acres is home to 300 families. There is a great golf course, as well as a excellent dining and a sports complex. One of its high points is its equestrian program.

If you are looking for uncompromising quality, check out one of the top five golf communities in America. However, be prepared, as these are the best of the best and are priced accordingly. If living in a golf community is one of your dreams, don’t despair. New private communities are popping up everyday. As the popularity of golf communities increases, so will the chances of being able to afford to live in one. Golf communities offer so much more than golf and the luxury behind these top five gated communities is unmatched.

Tags: Golf Communities

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If you’ve golfed competitively you’ve no doubt had nerves affect your game! When I say competitively I don’t just mean competing on a professional or mini-tour. If you have a $5 bet with a colleague or friend it’s still competitive! Whether you’re a 27 handicap or scratch you are likely to feel at least some nerves during your round.

For many people it doesn’t even have to involve competiton at all. Just stepping to the first tee can cause a serious case of nerves. Maybe it’s when you must make a put to tie a hole or to win on the 18th green. If you’re standing on the 17th hole in a match and you’re 1 down then you have to deliver. Period. If you can’t channel your nerves you had better hope that swing you’ve been grooving for the past 6 months holds up now!

Regardless of skill level and/or on course scenario there will be times when you’ll require some way to calm your nerves so they don’t adversely affect your stroke/swing.

Have you made any conscious attempts to reduce your experience of nerves in your game? What did you try? What have been your results? Did they work and if so was it immediate? Or did you, like most every golfer alive, simply fill your head full of self talk saying things like, “ok, calm down. Just breathe…there’s nothing to be nervous about…hey, maybe he’ll miss his putt….yeah…miss-miss-miss!…”

Does this sound familiar?! Have you noticed that this doesn’t really do all that much to reduce your nervousness? Unless of course your playing partner does miss the putt!

Seriously though, you must have a means of noticing the onset of nerves and a method for not only calming them but using them to your advantage. How does that sound?

While I can’t go into detail in this article on how to transform nerves into actually playing your best golf under pressure, I will provide a few excellent methods you can use right away. They will improve your performance.

Breath is a very powerful state enhancer. What I mean is that your breathing provides deep physiological links to your internal states. When you’re nervous you make short, shallow breaths. Quick breaths actually instruct the brain to respond in a “fight or flight” manner. The brain is hardwired to respond to fast breathing by being on the lookout for an emergency. Not the most effective place from which to make a smooth putting stroke on that 10 footer for par now is it?!

Tip #1

1) While waiting for your turn to hit stand aside and follow this breathing pattern:

Inhale - 4 counts

Hold - 5 counts

Exhale - 6 counts

Long, deep, slow breaths. This process interupts the breath influenced aspect of your state and directly instructs the brain to become still. Another adverse affect of nerves is a noticeable loss of feel in your hands. Sometimes you may even wonder if you’re even holding the club!

Tip #2

2) Simply hold a golf ball in your hands. Now squeeze it gently and hold for a few seconds. Then release. Then squeeze once again but this time do so very firmly and hold for a couple seconds then release. Roll the ball around in your hand and make a note of how the dimples feel.

Repeat this sequence 2 or 3 times and you will immediately increase the feel in your hands. Nervousness and shallow breathing directs extra blood to the brain, diverting it from your extremities. By doing applying this simple technique blood will flow back into your hands and improve your feel.

These 2 exercises work quickly. Self talk alone can’t compete with the psycho-physiological intensity of nervousness. Try them and let me know how well they worked?!

What if there was a way to transform nervousness into a calm, inner confidence? To actually have the onset of nerves “trigger” an inner calm. How powerful would that be in improving your performance? I will show you how to achieve this.

Tags: mental game, mental game of golf, mental game golf coach, peak performance, spot psychology, golf

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Now that summer is upon us and the fairways are relatively dry a lot of us are thinking about optimisong the distance we can drive the ball from the tee.

We’re looking for lower scores, so we’ve got to have the right set up when we stand on the tee to use our weight ptoperly.

So, put a stick or something,on the ground, inside your right foot, and when you reach the top of the backswing, your chest should be over that stick.

You must have a full turn and ensure that your weight goes towards the flag when you hit the ball. The unwinding of the body creates the energy that makes the arms move. So, its the body, not the arms that generates the power that gives longer distance drives.

Drawing the Ball.

Drawing the ball will find you extra distance, but there aren’t too many golfers who know how to do this properly, yet there are many articles written about it.

Simply put, it requires a swingpath that is in to out. This is the important bit - it means taking your normal stance, then moving your right foot back, so that the toes of the right foot are just about level with the heel of the lefy foot. Why? Because this ensures that the hands stay behind the body on the downswing. Go on, do it because practice makes perfect and don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen the first time you try it!.

Fading the Ball.

However, if you want to fade the ball - NO, I don’t meanslice, we’re all very good at that! - the converse is true.
What you must do is open up your normal stance so that feet, hips and shoulders all aim left of whatever your target is. It may be that you’re trying to negotiate a bend in the fairway to give you a better shot at the green, or the flag is in a precarious position from where you are so you need a high,soft-landing shot. A fade is your answer. But just don’t overdo the ‘left of target’ aim or it will all end in tears!

This leads on to the sometimes need to get a small amount of backspin to what could be called a ‘checking chip’. Here, you’ve got to move the ball back in the stance and give it a shorter, but faster swing.. This will mean your hands will be ahead of the ball and so its going to be a low flight. So long as you strike properly you’ll get enought backspin to check the chip.

Bunkers.

These have always been the scariest thing on a golf course to the amateur golfer. We all know how easy the professionals make these shots look, and so with a little practice ( theres that word again) bunker shots can becoame an “everyday, run of the mill” shot.
For an ordinary or normal greenside bunker shot, your feet should aim left of the target. Open up the club face and play the shot across the ball and this will give a soft landing. The only time bunker shots become difficult is when the ball is under the lip of the bunker. Poached egg shots aren’t difficult, but thats the subject of another article.

So, you’ve arrived on the putting surface and a strong pointer to great putting is to remember that the putter sing plane is NOT straight back and trhough, but slightly INSIDE to straight through, and if you remember this one little gem when practicing, your scores will reflect how much better your putting is.

Happy Golfing and God Bless.

Tony Bryan - The Audio Ebook Guy.

About the Author
Tony’s many articles on golf and other topics have earned him Expert Author status. A single handicap golfer, his first audio ebook (which can be downloaded to MP3s) Golf - The Short Game is at:
http://www.tony-bryan-theaudioebookguy.com
You can also join the affiliate program there too.

Tony bryan is a retired Finance Director, a single handicap golfer and author of the audio ebook Golf - the Short Game (C) at
http://www.tony-bryan-theaudioebookguy.com

Tags: article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email

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Basic body movement is essential in any sport. Of course it is also essential for any type of physical activity we do.

As parents, we teach little children how to do the simplest of things. This includes how to move and how to control movements for precision and safety.

Basic body movement also means limiting movement to the essential movement for what you want to do. We control the desired movement. And, we prevent unwanted movement. We learn to keep our movements just firm enough to be coordinated. We also learn to allow just enough relaxation so the movements can flow through their proper range with the most comfort.

For many golfers, if you think about your hands doing something or even have much of your focus on your hands then, usually, you will do something incorrect with your hands.

Basic body movement, under control, is to be your main focus. When you become good at this part of your golf swing then can you try advanced hand movements. But, any of these hand movements should only be done in harmony with the dominant body and upper arm movements.

Even your arm movements need more focus in the early learning stages than any perceived hand movements. And, these arm movements should focus on movements generated in the upper arms which are as close to your body as possible.

A Special Lesson With A Good Golfer

A few years ago I did 2 golf lessons with a man who stood a little over 6 feet tall. He was having trouble spraying his hits with his mid-irons to his woods. I asked him to hit a ball with a wedge. He chose his 64 degree lob wedge and promptly hit a high, 95 yard hit.

What was he doing wanting a lesson from anyone? Answer: He had one wrong move that he wasn’t aware he was doing.

I used my interpretation of Fred Couples’ looping swing to guide him to the correct arm movement. When he tried my idea of Fred’s swing Andy hit the ball higher and 15 yards farther.

He did not want to develop that move but he understood how to correct his error with the proper movement. He hit a lot of good golf balls afterwards and knew why he did so.

Andy’s other problem involved chipping. He had a good hand movement in his chipping effort. He had no idea how to use that good movement with the movements of his body. As well, he had no idea of the importance of his body activity during his chipping.

A few minutes into the 2nd lesson he had learned how to time his hand movements with his body movements. He also learned where his hands should be in relation to his spine as he did the hand movements that he wanted.

His chipping improved dramatically within the lesson. His confidence was as high as possible that he could land a golf ball where he wanted. And, all it took was understanding how his arms and hands were to move in harmony with his body and also in relationship to his body position.

How I Developed My Understanding Of Basic Body Movement

I taught physical education from Grades 1 to 9. In one short span of time I could see the development of movement in all stages of growth. I could also see the physical and mental effort carried out by these children as they learned the skills and the games which I taught.

I used to teach the various Grades a level of a game which they could handle. I taught positional play in slow motion and then introduced body movements which enabled the students to move fluently up and down the playing surface. They quickly learned this and asked for more. That is when I taught the various skills. The game was taught first; and then came the skills.

In golf, there are a number of games played during a round.

• We try to get a better score than someone else.

• We try to get a personal best score during a round.

• We try to play against the golf course to get a par round or better.

• We try to get a better score than par on each hole.

BUT, usually forgotten is the game of playing each golf shot as good as we possibly can. It is this last “game” which I teach in my golf lessons.

The free articles combined with the instruction modules will teach you how to win “the game” of playing each hit during your round of golf.

Relating this to teaching golf swing skills I emphasize basic posture, alignment, control, and body movement. Arm and hand activity do not get taught until my students learn basic movements. Because of this, beginners and students who had never hit the ball in the air soon hit draws with even their short irons when they hit the ball over a fence.

You, The Ground, And The Golf Ball

We stand on the ground. The golf ball rests on the ground (er, usually). Before we try to dislodge that golf ball from its place on the ground we should learn a good method of relating what we do from our “perch” on the ground.

Between our connection to the ground and the ball’s position on the ground we have a lot of body mass and joints along with that “stick” thing. We need movement to make the golf ball move. Therefore, we swing back and forth to make the golf club move the ball. But, those joints want to do all sorts of contortions during our golf swing efforts.

We need to develop an understanding of how to move at the fewest possible joints and how to control or prevent movements of the rest of our joints. This is basic to anything we do. It is very important to this “confusing” skill called the golf swing.

About The Author

Glen teaches his golf program for Ladysmith, BC Parks & Rec.

http://basicbodymovementforanygolfswing.com

golflesson@basicbodymovementforanygolfswing.com

gleno@basicbodymovementforanygolfswing.com

Tags: golf, body movement, golf form, golf ball

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You’ve bogeyed your last hole, you are about to hit your next drive. As you take your practice swings, your mind is still on the last putt that you blew. You take your swing and it’s a slice. In your mind you say to yourself “Oh no, I’m going to bogey again!” and you do.

Sound familiar? You know the techniques and mechanics, but you just can’t get either your mind or body aligned with each other so that they do what you want them to do. In a word, you are stuck and “switched off,” and your golf game is not going well at all.

Golf requires you to think clearly and be analytical which arefunctions of your brain’s left hemisphere. Golf also requires you to be creative and intuitive which are functions of your right hemisphere. To be a truly successful golfer you need to use both sides of your brain at the same time; you need an integrated approach.

Brain integration is one of the components of a program that uses the concept of “muscle checking.” As a professional speaker and trainer, I have demonstrated this muscle checking concept for over 20 years. Audiences have found it both amazing and exciting.

To understand this concept you will need a partner to practice on as you follow these instructions.

1. Face a partner. Have your partner raise one arm straight out from the side of his body with thumb pointing down.

2. Place one hand on your partner’s extended arm, above the wrist and the other on their opposite shoulder.

3. Instruct your partner to resist as you push down, firmly and steadily, on his extended arm for several seconds. Your partner’s arm should not move down more than a couple of inches.

4. While your partner keeps his arm extended, have him close his eyes and think of a negative golf experience. When he has it focused, press down on his arm. His arm will come down easily.

5. Now ask your partner to think of a very positive golf experience. Once he has it in focus, press down again. His arm will stay level and strong.

6. Have your partner check you.

The muscle checking is real and repeatable. It is indicating the response of your partner’s unconscious mind to negative and positive golf experiences. The results have nothing to do with muscular strength; rather, you are accessing a neurological phenomenon. With the positive thought your muscle stays strong indicating that your body’s life energy and brain functions are switched-on.

With the negative thought your muscle switches off demonstrating how negative thoughts actually affect your physical body, and this interferes with your golf game. As you observed and experienced for yourself, the contrast is very easy to see.

About The Author

Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz brings his expertise in the field of Holistic Health to help you revolutionize your success on the golf course. He has coached the University of Pennsylvania Women’s Golf Team, and has been named one of the Top 6 Head Masters in the country.

For more information on muscle checking and other techniques to help you play better golf, visit www.golf-help.info.

support@golf-help.info

Tags: golf, golf technique, sports, form

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A good swing plane is vital if you want to be a consistent golfer. Today I will explain how to make and use a golf teaching tool to help beginners and advanced golfers get their swing plane on the right track. The golf teaching tool is cheep and very easy to make. Golf teaching tool

Golf teaching tool
You will need
- a piece of PCV pipe about 1 meter long and about 2cm is diameter
- 2 mini torches to fit in the 2cm ends of the PVC piping (cheep as chips on eBay
etc.)

Directions for making the golf teaching tool
Install the torches into each end of the PVC pipe. There are a couple of ways to do this, if the torch fits snug in the piping you can simply use araldite or some type of adhesive to glue the torches in. If the torch is slightly bigger than the pipe heat the end of the piping with a heat gun and install the torch. When the PVC cools make sure the torch is stuck securely. You have now created your golf teaching tool.

How to use the golf teaching tool
By now you may be wondering what the hell this stick is for well the exercise is quiet simple. Turn the torches on and hold PVC as though it were one of your golf clubs, stand facing parallel to a wall with the bottom light shining on the join were the floor meets the wall. This join acts as a nice straight line; we will call the bottom light A and the top one B.

Swing the club back so light A shines along line until the stick is parallel with the line. Cock your wrists taking note of light B, this light should now be shining along the line. At the top of your swing light B should still be pointing to the line this is the correct position to start you’re down swing.

Pull down with your wrists to start the down swing, light B should be shining along the line once again. As you release though were the ball would be light A should shine along the line, keep the light shining along line for as long as possible then, finish with your follow through.

This exercise should be done very slowly for a start, as you feel more comfortable speed up a little, but don’t get sloppy make sure you keep the lights shining alone the line. This golf teaching tool is fantastic in my opinion, it’s a great exercise for both beginners and advanced golfers. If you practice this until it becomes habit you will be hitting the ball straighter and longer as this exercise teaches you to release your power where you should be, at impact.

For more golf tips, and shortly to be uploaded, instructional videos featuring the golf teaching tool in action, I suggest you visit http://www.golf-teaching-tool.net.

Glenn Munn is a keen golfer and the webmaster of golf teaching tool which contains many golfing articles full of tips and advice.

Tags: golf, golf teaching tool, tips, golf teaching aid, golf training aid, golf training impact

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If one were to mention the greatest players in golf history, no list would be complete without mentioning Bobby Jones, arguably the greatest golfer to compete on a national and international level.

On record, Jones is still the only player ever to win golf’s elusive Grand Slam, which is winning all four major championships in the same year. Jones represented the United States in the Walker Cup five times and won nine of ten matches. He also won two other tournaments against professionals: the 1927 Southern Open and the 1930 Southeastern Open.

Like most other great players, Jones started out as a child prodigy who, at the tender age of six, won his first children’s tournament. At age 14, he reached the third round of the U.S. Amateur Championship. He burst unto the national stage in 1923 when he won his first U.S. Open. From 1923 to 1930, he won 13 major golf championships out of the 20 that he joined. He is second only to Jack Nicklaus (20 wins) on the list of most major championships won. Jones is also the first player ever to win The Double, which is both the US Open and the British Open in the same year (1926).

Beyond the golf course, Jones was also an impressive figure and an exemplary athlete off it, known for being a class act and a paragon of sportsmanship and fair play. For these reasons, the United States Golf Association named its sportsmanship award as the Bob Jones Award.

During the sports-crazy Roaring Twenties, Jones was among the five giant sports icons that the public practically worshipped at the time. The others were baseball’s Babe Ruth, boxing’s Jack Dempsey, football’s Red Grange, and tennis player Bill Tilden.

Although Jones retired from golf at the relatively young age of 28, his success continued in his private life. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Harvard University where he was a member of the Owl Club. After only one year in law school at Emory University, he passed the bar exam and spent the rest of his life operating a successful Atlanta law practice.

Tags: Bobby Jones, Golf Player, great players, Golf, Sports

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