Simple and Easy to Follow Exercises to Unlock the Secrets of the Perfect Golf Swing

A while back I was asked this question through my golf newsletter - how much do I want my left knee to break down? I am right handed, in good shape and flexible, and I get a good shoulder turn, but I am not sure if I should restrict my left knee from turning in or just let it go. I just don't know how far to let it go, is too far bad? Should I restrict the movement to get a better coil and more torque?

I had a word with golf coach Mark Anthony Montaquila, with whom I have produced the Body Golf series of videos and DVDs to see what advice he had to offer. Here's what he told me ...

Break down? I wouldn't call it that. That's a bit negative. You do however want your back knee to be "soft" A lot of instructors call it flexed. Basically, you want to be able to see your kneecap sticking out of your pants at the top of the backswing.

I've developed several golf swing drills in order to train this movement without having to hit balls, which distracts you terribly because you're too preoccupied with where the ball is going. (like everyone else.)

But for all of you reading this, here's a couple of freebees.

1. Begin in the neutral stance.
2. Lean into your golf posture with a golf club on your shoulders.
3. Begin turning into your backswings and thru swings.
4. MAKE SURE that your back knee is SOFT on the backswing motion and be sure to finish with a toe-drag.
5. This motion is simply the golf swing without holding a club.

Try that until you can do it without thinking about it, then translate it to double-club pendulum swings. To do that, take a couple of long irons and set up in your normal swing posture, holding both clubs like they are one. Chin up and arms pretty much in line with the head. Start by turning the shoulders backwards and forwards - not a full swing. After a while, still using the shoulders, gradually increase to a three-quarters swing. It is not an arm chop, the movement comes from the shoulders with the arms relaxed and extended. If you struggle to swing from the shoulders, practice that by holding a club across your shoulders, behind your head and with one hand at either end of the club. You can then move the shoulders backwards and forwards to simulate the movement that a perfect golf swing will have.

So in short, for the perfect golf swing, keep that back knee soft and remember the toe drag. The same applies to left handed golfers too.

Want to see some free golf exercises to develop your perfect swing? Then visit Think and Reach Par for more great free golf swing tips for senior golfers or Golf for Leftys golf tips to improve your stance, grip and left handed golf swing.

Advice and Simple Easy to Follow Tips to Immediately Improve Your Golf Stance

During a round of golf, you will have to address the ball dozens of times. Not only that but you need to maintain your golf stance over a period of several hours too! So the first point is that you need to be able to maintain your concentration and the second point is that you need a good degree of fitness. Work on these two peripheral aspects of your game and you will feel the benefits to your stance. You may have a perfect golf stance at the start of a round but a lack of concentration and fitness can play havoc with it later in the round - very frustrating as you know that you can do better.

But what makes a good golf stance in the first place? And what can you do to keep it up to scratch during a game? I will start at the bottom and work my way up.

The feet should be about shoulder width and slightly turned out for balance and mobility. If your feet are too close together, you will find that balance is an issue. If they are too far apart, it tends to inhibit the turning movement of the body. During a round of golf, if you are getting this wrong on the back nine, it is probably a concentration issue. So when setting up for a shot, always consider the correct positioning of the feet. Obvious eh? But just ask yourself if you do this every game and if the answer is no, ask yourself why?

The ankles need to flex and turn throughout the golf swing so it is important to maintain that flexibility throughout the round. This is a fitness thing, strengthen your calf muscles through exercise and keep them supple through regular stretching exercises.

You constantly need to adjust your height, according to which club you are using. You achieve this by bending at your hips and knees. So this is a fitness thing too. Late in a round, if your thigh muscles are aching or you are fighting to stay in position for the shot because your leg strength is shot, that is going to be a big problem to accuracy and distance. So regularly exercise and strengthen your thigh muscles.

During the golf swing, you should tilt forward from the hips. Many players will start to tilt using the lower back later in a round. This is not good for your swing as mobility is impaired. This can be both a concentration issue and a fitness issue. So exercise your hams and lower back muscles. And when you set up for a shot - EVERY SHOT - consider if you are tilting from the hips or the back.

That links in to the upper spine position - that should be straight, you should not look like that famous Parisian hunchback!! This too is a concentration and fitness issue. Make sure that before each shot you have pulled your shoulders back so that any tendency to a hump back is reduced. Get used to that by consciously pulling back your shoulders at every opportunity during every day - it will soon become a habit. You can also help yourself here by exercising and stretching your upper body muscle groups on a regular basis.

Well folks, that's about it, so if you follow these simple tips you should be able to maintain a good golf stance throughout your game.

Want to learn more or do you want to get left behind? Want to play more consistent golf? Then visit Think and Reach Par for more great free golf stance and grip tips and advice,, or Golf for Leftys golf tips to improve your stance, grip and left handed golf swing.

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Tips to Make Golf Enjoyable to All - Guide to Politeness on the Golf Course

Out on the course the other day, we were playing behind a really rude, lousily, foursome and it was truly awful. I am sure they knew better, but just did not care. That said, I thought I would quickly go through a few steps of golf etiquette and what you need to know in order to avoid being labeled as selfish out on the golf course.

Golf is a game of honor. It is easy to cheat at golf, so every player is on his honor. Those who don't play honorably are usually unpopular and will find it hard to get opponents as word soon gets round the club. Golf has its own code of etiquette that everyone should follow and obey. Here are just a few that I try to practice.

When it is your turn to play, be ready. When walking to your ball, make your decision about the club to use, whether you will hit straight or with draw or fade, the line you will take and so on. That way, when you arrive at the ball, you are ready to hit. You don't have to hurry, just be ready and make your play.

The norm is that first shot on any hole goes to the player with the lowest score on the previous hole. If that hole was tied, then the tee goes to the player with the lowest score on the previous hole. If everyone is clear about this, there will be no wasting time deciding who takes the next shot at the next tee. Play it different if you want. Just make sure everyone in your group knows and agrees.

Make sure those in front of you have cleared out of range before you hit. Make sure everyone in your foursome is behind you when you hit. Common courtesy as well as sensible health and safety.

Pay attention to the group behind you. If you are holding them up, let them play through. Some of us play faster than others. Groups that are unaware of others create annoyance and eventually anger at their selfishness.

Take care of the course. Repair your divots. Repair any ball marks. Replace any loose grass or turf in the center of the hole or anywhere there is loose grass. It is the responsibility of every golfer to look after the course.

Remember to rake the sand smooth after you have used the bunkers. Leaving them in a mess for the next group is bad form and selfish.

Park your cart away from the greens, tees, and bunkers. Park on the left side of the green, nearest the next tee.

One thing I see a lot is the people in front of me, are crowding around the hole filling in their score cards, after they have finished the hole. After you have finished a hole, move out the way to mark your score card. Mark your card on the way to the next tee. How hard is that?

These are a few things that will make the game better for all of us.

Want to break through to the next level of golf? Then visit Think and Reach Par for more great golf gifts,golf swing advice, golf grip and stance tips or if you play left handed golf go to Golf for Leftys golf tips to improve your stance, grip and left handed golf swing.

Staying Motivated ...

Crash! The clubs hit the floor in the corner of the changing rooms. Thump! The sound that the golfer made, dropping heavily onto the bench after another bad round. "I am gonna sell those darn clubs and get a new hobby!". The ensuing silence was punctuated only by the others, changing as quietly as they could. They recognised the signs of false discouragement but knew better than to speak at that time. After all, this latest defeat was aginst a gal who could beat the club pro 50% of the time so losing by just 8 strokes was really a good achievement. Trouble was, the golfer had been playing better players regularly for a couple of months now and had not won much.

False discouragement (which is discouragement not based on facts) can place you in a position of defeat. Repeated defeats are not good for your ego. You must have some successes to keep from getting discouraged.

30 minutes later in the 19th, the golfers buddies plucked up the courage to talk. From that conversation came these practical golf tips that any golfer can use to avoid false discouragement ...

Tip 1
Do not play with golfers (on a regular basis) who are better than you are unless the handicaps are such that you win at least half of the time.

Tip 2
Do not limit yourself to players who always outdrive you in the hope that you will learn from them. You won't. Get a golf training DVD and practice as much as you can in the backyard or on the driving range.

Tip 3
Do not increase your betting when you will have to come from behind to win. You will just get more upset about losing more money on the golf course!

Tip 4
Do not bet against poorer golfers if they demand handicaps which will almost certainly ensure their winning.

Tip 5
Do not attempt golf shots you do not have in your bag. Unless you practice a tricky golf shot, it is almost certainly going to fail under the stress of playing it cold in a comp.

Tip 6
Do not lie about your golf score or true handicap. It is better psychologically to win in a lower flight than to lose in a higher one. Play at the right level for your skills.

Tip 7
Do not concede any putts to yourself or your opponent that can be missed. You may think you are playing badly, when in reality you are playing your regular game.

Tip 8
Do not pull against your golf opponent.

Tip 9
Do not play with people who increase your anxiety. Avoid being stressed if you fluff a shot that you normally make. It is OK not to be perfect!

And here is a bonus golf tip - keep a golf journal so that you can see how well you are really playing, especially important when playing out of your league.

So when you are feeling discouraged, think of the good shots that you usually play. Get things in perspective, if you played Tiger or the Great White Shark, would you expect to win? Hey, golf is supposed to be a game of funkeep it that way and you can enjoy it for the rest of your life.

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The DVD that Will Save Golfers Hundreds of Dollars.

The sheer frustration of continually slicing, hooking, hitting fat or thin drives many golfers to the edge of desperation. They pay hundreds of dollars to arrange a lesson with their local golf pro to cure the faults in their play. Money that could be spent on other things, including on a day out to keep your other half happy when they complain about the time you spend on the golf course!

This sound like you? If so, then you could benefit from the Body Golf Faults and Cures DVD. I took live lessons with my local pro and at the end of each session felt good. A fault had been cured. I went away to practice and the fault was exactly the same at the weekend, out on the course. Why? Because I was relying on the instructor to recognise the fault and correct it. I did not have that skill, and my instructor did not develop that in me.

Then someone gave me the heads-up on Coach Mark Anthony Montaquila and his teaching methods. And the Body Golf Faults and Cures DVD. This DVD is revolutionary because it's designed to teach you not only how fix your problems but also identify (diagnose) them in the first place. Just like a real live lesson!

So how is it better than a live lesson? It empowers you with the skills the pros use - they analyse the flight of every shot and alter their golf stance, grip or swing accordingly. So the fault never becomes ingrained in their play. OK, you probably won't ever develop your skills to that level, but if you have that ability to analyse every shot, you will be one step ahead of the others.

How else is it better? A live lesson is only an hour or a couple of hours, once a week. The DVD can be used whenever you want, as many times as you want. So it is like having a personal instructor, available 24/7/365. But the best of it is that it costs a fraction of the cost of even a single lesson.

But what faults does this DVD teach you to identify and cure? The four most frustrating faults of them all of course. The hook, the slice, hitting fat and hitting thin.

For instance, did you know that there are four specific things that you can do wrong with your swing that will cause a slice? But you know what? Using the Body Golf Faults and Cures DVD you can learn how to properly adjust these things for yourself in a few minutes ...once you identify them, that is...and be on the road to hitting the ball straight-and-true for a lifetime. And as I said earlier, you don't need to wait until the next lesson to verify what you are doing is right - just run the DVD again.

There are four specific things that you can do wrong with your golf swing that will cause a slice? But you know what? Using the Body Golf Faults and Cures DVD you can learn how to properly adjust these things for yourself in a few minutes ...once you identify them, that is...and be on the road to hitting the ball straight-and-true for a lifetime. And you don't need to wait until the next lesson to verify what you are doing is right - just run the DVD again.


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Rationalizing Failure leads to Failure

A big obstacle to improvement in golf is the habit of rationalizing. When a person rationalizes, it means, to put it simply, that they place the blame for their defeats upon outside persons or circumstances. This protects their (possibly fragile) ego by taking the sting out of failure. It turns painful depression into less painful anger. It tears others down and, by tearing down of others, seems to raise them in importance, much like the last survivor of a battle royal who looks like a giant of the ring if everyone else is on the floor. It is bad psychology to rationalize.

First it is a most unpleasant personality trait. The least desirable companion on any golf course is the constant griper. It is a mark of selfishness to impose on others the necessity for listening to this bilge.

Second, the tendency to excuse one's game hinders remedial learning. No improvement is possible unless the individual takes full responsibility for all his golfing errors and proceeds to correct them. Analyze the reasons why the game went badly and work to eliminate them the next time you are out on the golf course. You might want to get this DVD to help you improve your golf grip, stance and swing.

Third, even if rationalization removes the sting from poor shots, it retards learning. Learning is faster if we attach a painful reaction to a poor shot. When you rationalize, it makes failure easier to take and thereby makes it harder to learn. Rationalizing or the making of excuses does not inspire remedial practice. You do not realize that remedial practice is necessary because you do not accept personal responsibility for the error.

Fourth, it is not wise to rationalize even when there is a good basis for it. If you do, it will intensify feelings of hopelessness, and prevent you from attaining a satisfactory level of performance. Your subconscious mind will resign itself to failure and that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even gross physical handicaps should not be used as excuses. Many have made names for themselves under the greatest of physical handicaps such as the one-armed guy who hit two holes in one on the same round. Don't feel sorry for yourself, think positive.

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A Positive Mindset

Most golfers will admit that golf is 90% mental, yet most spend all their time and efforts on the mechanical aspect of the game. The golfing industry hasn't helped the trend by breaking down the golf swing and analyzing each of its components. The average handicap for club players is still the same as it was 20 years ago. Even with all the new technology in equipment and video analysis.

Everyone seems to be teaching or learning the perfect swing, but little do people realize that almost no one has a perfect swing, not even the pros. Each of us has a certain way of swinging the club, even if we are taught the correct way in the beginning. Negative feelings have a lot to do with our swing. If you have a good swing, and negative thoughts, you still will not play good golf.

Most players are distracted and not totally concentrating on their shot at one time or another. Each time this happens, you can lose a stroke or two. If this happens only 4-5 times a round, it could add a lot of strokes to your score.

The main principles behind good golf are simple. You must be able to focus on the task at hand and stay in the present, then pick a small target and empty all unwanted thoughts from your mind.

Want to take your game to the next level? ‘Own the Zone’ will teach you the pro’s secrets. Eliminate your golf swing flaws, learn the secrets to golfing accuracy and ball control!! GUARANTEED.

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