Golf Tips – Hit the Ball Forwards
If, like me, you’ve caught the golf bug, you’ll know how frustrating it can be to play what you think is exactly the same shot as you’ve played before, only to find the ball sailing off at a 90 degree angle from where you aimed it.
This is where some proper advice from a real professional can help. Over the past 3 years I’ve taken many lessons from my golf coach, and I’m putting down some of the best bits of the advice I’ve been given in a series of coaching articles. I’ll start off with the most important of the lot – keep the ball moving forwards.
My golf coach impressed on me from the start of my lessons that almost nobody ever achieves the perfect swing, perfect grip, perfect stance etc. He assured me that most amateur golfers will waste 90% of their time trying to perfect what they see as a problem. And indeed most golfers have plenty of issues to be concerned about, such as keeping their arm straight or their head still.
The most important thing, then, is to make sure you hit the ball in the right direction, so that it moves forwards towards the hole. My coach showed me what he meant by playing a shot that started off very unexpectedly.
He took a backswing that was certainly not what could be described as textbook, and even let go of the grip with his left hand. But when he brought the club down, the ball left the tee moving in the right direction – admittedly without much power – and towards the intended target.
I realised from this that the key element of the whole shot was the club face hitting the ball. So long as you have this under control, you can send the ball towards the hole. Which is where I started to focus my efforts in practice.
Obviously, the more control you have over the backswing and other elements, the more power you’ll be able to get into the shot and thus hit the ball further. And your club selection is going to be important here, too, for getting more distance on the ball.
The main lesson I learnt from this, though, was that if you can get the ball heading in the direction you want it to, you’re halfway to becoming a good golfer. After all, the aim of the game is to get the ball from the tee into the hole. This is where I concentrated my efforts for quite some time, which has made me a better golfer, and hopefully will help you, too.
Mike Jackson runs an online golf equipment store, where you can buy golf clubs, golf balls, golf gifts, golf bags etc.
Tags: advice, golf, Golf Advice, golf coaching, Golf Tips, leisure, recreation, sport
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