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Short Game Secrets That Will Change the Way You Score from Inside 50 Yards by David Nevogt

In the next 15 minutes, I am going to change the way you play your shots from inside 50 yards. If you spend 15 minutes before every round of golf on these four tips, I guarantee you the strokes will fall off your scorecard.

We are going to cover putting, chipping, pitching and bunker shots. Before I get to my four short-game secrets I need to lay a little groundwork first.

From the putting green in front of the clubhouse at Ft. Myers Country Club, where I grew up playing, to the practice putting green at Starfire Golf Club, and all points in between, for 35 years, I have heard the same problem. “I putted so poorly today. If I had putted halfway decent I would have shot my best round ever!”

But…every time I pass the practice putting green where I teach, ALMOST NOBODY is practicing before they tee off. But here’s the thing- every single professional golfer spends at least 15 minutes - 1 hour on the practice putting green before they tee off. That’s not the tip. I just wanted you to get an idea of the time that it takes to get better.

IMPORTANT TIP: 90% of all putting greens in the world are built low in the front and high in the back. There are two reasons, in case you are wondering.

First, it holds the shots that are coming onto the green and secondly for drainage purposes. The reason I am telling you the greens are built low in the front and high in the back is for you to understand the idea that the majority of putts hit from the front of the green going to the back are going to be slower than putts hit from the back of the green going towards the front.

Since this is true, when you are facing the green, putts from the right side of the green will have a tendency to break to the left and putts from the left side of the green will have a tendency to break right. With this idea in mind lets move on to my TOP FOUR SHORT GAME SECRETS!

Secret #1: Putting – Focus on Distance not Direction

Do you know why most amateurs three-putt more times on their first nine holes than their last nine holes? By the time they get to the last nine they have the feel of the greens! My colleagues have always agreed that in order to become a great putter you must have the ability to read greens. However, I have always believed you must also have GREAT TOUCH.

I have just given you an incredible tip. You have to develop your touch in order to control your speed. I can not tell you how many times I have asked an amateur golfer after they hit their putt if they thought the putt was going uphill or downhill. Most amateurs reply with, “I completely forgot about the speed!” Most of them struggle more with speed more than direction. So how do you apply this advice?

Always look towards the front of the green so you can decide if you are going uphill or downhill. Empty your mind of every mechanical thought you have and just stroke the ball. FORGET the mechanics when putting. Don’t ever hit a putt until you have visualized your golf ball going into the hole first. Make it in your mind before you hit it. Secret #2: Chipping – Keep Your Weight on your Front Foot in the Backswing

A chip shot is a short shot around the green that has minimum airtime and maximum roll time. Another way to describe it is 1/3 air, 2/3 roll. You can use one of the following clubs when chipping: 5-iron, 7-iron or 9-iron. Common complaints that I receive from amateurs about chipping are that they top the ball, hit the ball thin, hit the ground behind the ball, blade the ball over the green or completely shank the ball.

The mis-played shots I just described to you are usually the result of an incorrect set-up. There are three positions in chipping that are the foundation of a successful chip shot. Let’s review them:

The golf ball should be positioned in the middle of your stance Place 75% of your weight on your left foot (right-handed golfers) The grip end of the golf club points to the middle of your left leg. Grip down on the golf club to the END of the grip. The reason you want the golf ball in the middle of your stance is for a more consistent impact. If you place the golf ball too far forward in your stance, you will have a tendency to hit the ball thin, or top the ball and you will pull the ball to the left. If you play the ball too far back in your stance, you will have a tendency to top or shank the ball and push it to the right.

When you place 75% of your weight on your left foot, you are ensuring yourself that you will hit down on the ball and not up. Make sure you keep the weight on your front foot in the back swing.

Gripping down on the golf club will ensure a cleaner more controlled hit at impact. If you are struggling with hitting thin shots or topping your chips, when you move your handle further to the left (across from you left leg), you will allow the clubhead to hit the ball on a descending blow and not ascending.

Secret #3: Pitching – The Clubhead must Stay Low to the Ground After Impact

Choose one of the following clubs when you attempt a pitch shot: pitching wedge, sand wedge or a lob wedge. A pitch shot has maximum air time and minimum roll time. In other words, the golf ball has 2/3 air time and 1/3 roll on its journey to the hole. Just the opposite of a chip shot.

Airtime is very difficult to create if your technique is off even in the slightest. So, if you are tired of topping, sculling, and hitting the ground behind the golf ball when you pitch, this is the pearl for you.

Low Follow-Through = Maximum Airtime

If I had a dollar for every amateur that told me that they are trying to follow-through high after impact so that their pitch shots will go up in the air, I would be set for life.

Most of the time, a high follow-through after impact will force the ball to be hit on the upswing which results in a top, scull or ground-behind shot. If you setup to the golf ball just like you were going to chip, you are halfway there. Remember:

The golf ball should be positioned in the middle of your stance Place 75% of your weight on your front foot The grip end of the golf club points to the middle of your front leg. Place your grip HALFWAY down the grip of the club The back swing is usually longer than your chip shots. If you keep your weight on your left leg - you DO NOT need to transfer your weight. As the golf club begins to swing down into the ground, make sure you follow thru LOW to the ground after impact. You want to feel as though you chopped the back of the ball with the club head.

Secret #4: Bunker Play – The Backswing is a Full Swing Just Like Your Driver

This tip will help you sleep well the night before a big golf tournament. Your ability to play successfully from the sand weighs heavily on technique and a small amount on strength. If your technique is correct, you do not need to have a lot of strength. The two mistakes that hold amateurs back in the bunker are a line drive hit or leaving the ball in the bunker.

Most of the time they are afraid to swing too hard because they are afraid of the line drive shot. So, you end up swinging so slow that the ball only moves two feet. First and foremost, set up correctly.

The golf ball should be positioned across from you left heel Place 75% of your weight on your front foot The grip-end of the golf club points to your BELT BUCKLE. Do not transfer any weight. Stay on your front leg. What you are trying to do in the bunker is hit the sand not the ball. This setup will ensure that this happens.

The reason you play the ball across from your left heal is so the clubhead will swing DOWN into the sand at impact and not up.

Placing weight on your left foot ensures the clubhead swings down at the bottom of the swing. Placing the handle of the club across from your belt buckle allows the bounce on the bottom of the clubhead to impact the sand at the correct angle.

I promised you in the first sentence, these four short game tips that would change the way you played from inside 50 yards. Make yourself a promise to spend 15 minutes before every round this year practicing your short game and you WILL watch your scores fall.

Again, my name is Bobby Eldridge and I am the Head Professional at GolfSwingGuru.com. My one and only goal is to make you a better golfer this season.

We teach a very unique swing method that WILL lower your scores, and have you playing great golf in no time flat. Our DVD’s are presented by Kyle Hallberg, the Director of Instruction at GolfSwingguru.com.

If you have been struggling with your game and you would like to improve, our unique system can help you. We are so confident that it will help, we GUARANTEE that you will Drop 7 Strokes From Your Average Round of Golf.

That is completely possible if you let us help you. We hope that you will learn more about our unique way of swinging the club, and we look forward to hearing your success story.

David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of “The Simple Golf Swing” which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction.

Article Source: Golf Articles - Free Fitness, Instruction, Swing, Equipment, Tips, Submit

Learn To Sweep Your Ball Off The Tee

The Proper Stance goes a long way for improving the quality of your drives. You will need to use a different stance when using your driver as opposed to your irons.

To be able to sweep the ball off the tee, well you will need to be hitting up on the ball. To do this you will first need to widen your stance.

A good guideline is to stand with your feet a shoulder width apart. By doing this you will be further behind the ball at address and that will help to hit up on the ball.

The ball will need to be placed further forward in your stance to allow you to hit it correctly and as another guideline it should be lined somewhere in the region of your target side foot heal or instep.

You will obviously need to experiment with the position until you get this right as there will always be some fine tuning required.

Once you get your stance and ball placement correct take a look at your shoulders and see that they are pointing in the direction you want the ball to go.

They should be aligned directly with the path of your intended flight. If your shoulders are pointing to the left of the hole that will be the most likely direction that your ball will land unless of course you slice the ball and it comes back around to the right.

That is another problem and this is assuming that you are in the correct position to eliminate slicing the ball.

In practice use something as a guideline to align your shoulders before you drive. In the driving range this will be easy to do but on the course you could lay your driver on the ground in the direction you want the ball to go and then align your shoulders with that.

Once you have mastered this routine, it will become part of your set-up for long straight drives.

Keys To Mastering Your Driving

The most common problem beginners have playing golf would surely be the slice shot.

This is where the ball curves through the air from left to right assuming the player is right-handed.

The flight of the golf ball is determined by the spin of the ball and a slice is caused by the ball spinning clockwise thereby causing it to travel in a clockwise arch.

The most common reason why this happens is people tend to lift their head when they strike the ball.
The action of lifting the head causes the face of the club to hit across the ball and not through it.

By hitting across the ball, you are essentially hitting the ball from the outside in and this is the action that causes the ball to spin clockwise.

If you tend to slice the ball try to keep your head down until after you have hit the ball. By keeping your head down, and your eye on the ball to the point of contact you will play through the ball and your swing will remain straight, which will cause the ball to follow a straight path.

Keep your head down until after the ball has taken flight keeping your head and shoulders solid.

Another reason why you will get slice shots is by trying to hit the ball too hard. In doing so you could be using your arms to pull the club in and this will also cause it to spin.

By hitting for less distance you can concentrate on getting the correct swing and playing for accuracy rather than length.

Try reducing your swing with these smaller shots to see if this starts to correct the problem.

As you begin to hit straighter you can begin to increase the length of your back swing and go for more distance.

Concentrate On Accuracy First and Distance Follows.
That is a good rule to always play by.

4 Simple Steps to Fix Slice

There are several pro golfers that have videos and literature out as how-to improve your golf game. This can be a good learning tool, purchasing one of these videos or DVDs and watching and taking notes, viewing a good golf swing.

A good instructional DVD where your instructor is going through the steps one by one with you, so you can improve your golf swing.

In a lot of instances and situations people who watch these DVDs actually improve their entire golf game and not just their golf swing, that is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak.

In all reality while you are learning about the art of perfecting your golf swing you are also learning the different styles of golf play and the techniques that are also provided on the DVD.

This being said you can ultimately learn a lot from these DVDs if you get the right one. There are different web sites you can go to and purchase these as well as sporting goods stores sell them at times too.

There are also books and magazines that show diagrams about the game of golf and learning how to play the game, as well as having a really great golf swing.

An important factor is that the use of the DVDs are more effective in the essence of visually seeing the golfer and the way the swing is actually carried out. The overall aspect of the game of golf is often included in these DVDs right down to proper golf etiquette and other items concerning golf.

There are some DVDs out that do nothing but specifically focus on one form of the game of golf. For example, getting out of sand traps could be one, or putting, and of course the form of learning a good golf swing.

So, you basically just have to check out the DVDs and read the labels or information on them to determine which one will work best for you.

PurePoint Golf Full Swing DVD

I have known golfers who actually play their best golf when they are injured simply because they are not focusing as much on their game as the injury, but by all accounts injury will hinder your game rather than help.

So how do you reduce the chance of golfing injuries that might stop you playing the game?

Well the first step is obviously to try to keep your level of fitness up. A fit person will always fare better under the rigors of exercise. For golf, the best fitness can be flexibility.

It is always wise to warm up and lightly stretch your muscles before play starts, and just as important to cool down properly after play has finished.

Once again stretching after a round of golf can assist in ensuring you don’t get injuries, particularly to your back and hamstrings.

Walking can make your hamstrings tighter and in doing so can make them susceptible to tearing and injury.

Golf also requires a lot of back movement and in the event that you haven’t warmed up sufficiently before that first swing of the day, you could do some serious damage.

When you do your stretching exercise ensure you don’t do any sudden movements. Everything should be smooth and flowing, just like your golf swing. Never bounce when you are doing your stretching movements as this can results in injury.

A few gentle side twists with a golf club across your shoulders will help to warm up your lower back and add mobility to your movements thereby reducing the chance of injury.

Even the simple task of walking your trundler, rather than hiring a golf cart, will assist in warming up your muscles.

Before your first swing of the day it is also wise to have some practice swings to activate all the muscles you will be using for the game ahead.

If you have the time and inclination during the week, I have seen many people have dramatic changes to their performance by doing yoga exercises regularly.

Not only will it assist in flexibility, it will have a positive effect on your mind control and obviously your performance as a whole.

Get Fit & Ad 30 Yards to Your Drives