Golf Article

8 Tricks To Become A Better Player

TRICK 1: Align The Clubface
One of the most common mistakes amateurs make is improper alignment. Some think they should align their feet at the target, others try to get their shoulders parallel to it. Hey, some golfers try to align everything at the target! They’re all wrong.

The correct way to align your shots is to always begin by first assessing your target from behind the ball. This will give you a perspective of the entire hole and help you aim right where you want the ball to go. Secondly, before you make your actual stance, set the clubface behind the golf ball and align it directly at the target. Do this before, not after, you get into your stance. PGA Tour players have a knack for aligning the clubhead in this fashion. Pay attention to how they do it the next time you tune in.

After you have the right clubface alignment, then comes time to situate the rest of your body. Most players benefit from aligning their lower body left of the target line and their upper body parallel to the target line. There’s actually no right answer as to what works best for you, but one thing is for sure. Aligning your body directly at the target rarely works. It usually leads to crossovers and over-the-top swings. Keep your body aiming left of the target line, and experiment with what works best for you. But be sure to align that clubface first!

How to Make Breaking Putts Look Easy

Schecter Lee

Play the ball slightly forward on left-to-right breakers. Play the ball back for right-to-left breakers.

This story is for you if...

• You know how to correctly read slope, but it's not translating into more made putts.
• You always play the ball in the same spot in your stance when you putt.

The Situation

You're on the green facing a tough 10-foot breaker. While you think you can read putts like this correctly, you never seem to play enough break.

The Solution

Think about what you do when you have a sidehill lie in the fairway: You adjust your ball position based on the lie (ball back of center when the ball is above your feet to fight a hook; ball forward when the ball is below your feet to stop slices). The same rule applies when you putt — a breaking putt is just an uneven lie on the green. Here's how to give yourself a great chance to sink it:

If Your Putt Breaks Left-to-Right...

...you're on an uneven lie with the ball below your feet, just like a slice lie in the fairway. Move the ball slightly forward in your stance, almost off your front foot. This will stop you from contacting the ball too soon and missing to the right (on the low side). With the ball a little forward, you'll catch it pure.

How to Add Juice to Your Irons

The Problem

YOU'RE hitting 6-irons into greens when your buddies are hitting 7- and 9-irons from the same distance.

The Solution

Simple: speed. Adding extra miles per hour to your swing is the only thing that's going to allow you to hit each of your irons farther. Most amateurs think of speed as something they generate from the top, but that's a recipe for almost every bad shot you can imagine. The secret is to maximize the fastest part of your swing, and that comes after you strike the ball. Copy the release positions here and you'll learn to accelerate through the ball and into your follow-through, making your impact faster and adding yards to your irons.

How to Add Yards to Your Irons

Roll your left foot on real swings for pain-free turning power.

This story is for you if...

• You don't hit your irons as far as you used to
• Your backswing is shorter than it used to be
• You'd play and practice more if it didn't hurt your back

The Problem
You're a full club shorter with your irons than you were five years ago because you can't turn back as far as you once could. The reason? Your back feels stiff. The result? You hit longer irons into the greens.

Focus on your least-favorite shots

Leonard Kamsler

The I-L-P process takes the fear out of scary shots.

I've been teaching the short game for more than 30 years, and it continues to be a wonderful ride in Golf Magazine, between the ropes at PGA Tour events, on the Golf Channel and at our schools with everyday golfers like you. To celebrate this 50th Anniversary of Golf, I want to commit to giving you the best possible instruction to improve your game over the next few years. That may sound like a difficult task to accomplish, but I can do it based on something I've learned from my teaching: When you set up over a shot with fear, anxiety, dread, or a feeling that "this probably won't turn out well," you've got a problem. The tension of fear tightens your muscles, restricts your swing, degrades feel, and distracts your mind with negative thoughts and apprehension.

How to Control the Speed of Your Chips

This story is for you if...

• You're afraid of decelerating the club when you chip...
• ...so you accelerate it and run the ball past the hole
• You have the chipping yips

The Fault

When you only concentrate on accelerating through the ball, you'll be too fast and won't make enough of a backswing. That'll give you a sure case of the yips.

The Fix

Focus on solid contact and forget about decelerating or accelerating.

Try this drill:

Lay your bag down about 18 inches in front of your ball. Address the ball with your sand wedge, and keep your weight shifted forward and your hands ahead of the ball. Make your normal chipping stroke so that the ball clears the bag but the clubhead doesn't touch the bag.

5 Secrets to Holing More Putts

Erik Isakson

If you have trouble reading greens, go back to the basics. Ask yourself, "Which way would water run off?"

MY FATHER, GAIL, TAUGHT ME HOW TO play, along with thousands of others. He'd often book five lessons in a row, and warn the student next in line, "Don't listen to what I tell the person in front of you." I agree with Dad: you can't spoon-feed the same mechanics to everyone. That's why we've had such success with Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie, Phil Mickelson and other big-name golfers. Our goal is to simply get golfers comfortable with putting.

Sure, we look at the stroke, but what's more important — and something I've focused on during my 40 plus years of playing and teaching — are the fundamentals that come before it. If you can't read greens, see the line, and become comfortable in your setup, then you're toast. So keep your stroke (for now), and follow my five key pre-putt moves. They'll have you putting lights out in no time.

Golf Article

8 Tricks To Become A Better Player

How to Make Breaking Putts Look Easy

How to Add Juice to Your Irons

How to Add Yards to Your Irons

Focus on your least-favorite shots

How to Control the Speed of Your Chips

5 Secrets to Holing More Putts

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