Easy to Follow Golf Secrets to Improve Your Swing and Approach Game

I have been looking back through our Newsletter archive to find some really useful tips and advice to help you to improve your golf grip, stance and swing, that might be otherwise be missed by visitors to our site. I came across this, especially useful for new golfers to help to improve driver distance off the tee and also your putting.

Two questions from one of our golf newsletter subscribers … I have started golf at the age of 61 years. Seeing people hit the ball long distances, I have been trying get the same distance. I get a maximum of around 220 yards with driver. But that too not very consistently. After practicing for several months, I was told that it is because of my age that I don’t get the desired distance. Do you think this is true? and if not what should I do get a longer distance. Should I slowly increase the speed of the drive in its down swing (I have tried to bring the club down with a greater force. This way I lose control of the stroke and my whole game get badly affected. In fact changing into my normal swing become difficult then. I have therefore stopped trying to get long distances.) Do you have any suggestion?

My second question - I have been suffering for a long time in perfecting my putting. I have changed the way I putt several times. I discovered that I don’t get the direction nor the feel of the distance. This was even after reading quite a few books on putting. Now I seem to get a much better putt but I have not been able to perfect it. However, I still find it difficult to putt as close as 5 ft away.

This is how I putt. I take my direction from behind the ball. Take a stance. Move back so that my elbow rests on my stomach. By resting my elbow on my stomach I find that I have greater control on the putter, i.e. the putter moves in a straight line (Earlier when I was not resting my elbow on the stomach I used to find that the putter shakes while striking the ball. Thus making it difficult to keep the direction, and at the same time there was no feel of the direction) With the current technique, I have a better feel of the direction as well as distance. However, I still don’t feel confident about putts as short as 5 ft from the whole. Is there any way I can improve my putting.

Here is the reply from our resident pro, Joe DeLorenzo …

About your first question, a forceful swing has less of a chance to hit the ball on the “sweet spot” on your clubface. An easy swing that hits the sweet spot will send the ball farther than a hard swing that misses the sweet spot. A hard swing may cause improper weight shifting, which may reduce your clubhead speed. Proper weight shift from the top of the backswing starts going from the back foot to the front foot before the downswing begins, setting up the power of a whip without extra effort. Clubhead speed at impact is the sum of arm swing and wrist snap. A hard swing usually starts the wrist action too soon when the downswing begins, so there is no more acceleration added from the wrist by the time the clubhead gets to the ball, resulting an “all arms” swing and slower clubhead speed. For maximum distance, you must save the wrist action until just before impact. This is best demonstrated with a ping pong ball and paddle. How far can you hit the ping pong ball with an all-arms swing compared to using your wrist? Watch the slow motion replays of the pros on TV, and you will see the wrist snap is held back until the last possible instant. That is why most of the pros may look like they are swinging very easy, but they still generate a lot of clubhead speed with that last-second wrist snap, followed by a long high follow-thru.

About your second question, most people have a putting stroke that is not steady enough. To prove this, go to any square-tiled floor and see if you can keep your stroke steady along (or slightly inside) one of the lines in the floor. You will likely see the club jittering above and below the line during the stroke. Some people will spend a lot of money on a new putter, thinking that this might solve their problem, but before you waste your money, you must first do something about the steadiness of your stroke.

Here is how I found instant improvement. Recently I was in a Wal-Mart store which had square-tiled flooring, and while my wife was taking her time shopping, I went over to the golf aisle and tried various types of putters along the floor tile line, all of which showed a little jitter in my stroke. Then I noticed for the first time that there were some belly-putters on the rack. I never had tried these things because they were too expensive, but I put it to the tiled-floor test, and I noticed that by pressing the longer shaft against my belly, the stroke really did improve, very steady, no more jitters. It still seemed a bit expensive, so I made my own belly-putter by cutting a hole at the top of my putter’s grip and inserting a piece of broken shaft, making the overall length 43 inches. My next round showed immediate improvement in my putting, so I am sold on this belly-putter idea. I believe the shaft being pressed onto your belly will prevent and eliminate the unwanted wrist actions that make the stroke unsteady. You might want to try one yourself. You might also want to add the Thinkandreachpar.com golf training DVD to your list of golf gifts …

Good Golfing.