Golf Tips

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golf tips

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reach your golf milestones

In October I reached a personal golf milestone, based on a dream shared by millions of fellow players worldwide. I played the Old Course at St. Andrews. Three years earlier, during a 10-day Scotland jag with three other golf writers, I’d walked some of its hallowed humps and hollows during a stay at the nearby Fairmont St. Andrews, but I didn’t have a tee time there. Nor did I have time to get on the daily standby list and hope for an opening. But even without teeing it up, just being there, soaking up the links’ windswept history, was a deeply moving and, dare I say, spiritual experience. This time I planned way ahead, nailing down my tee time a year in advance per St. Andrews Links protocol, as part of a two-week-plus…

take the right (spine) angle

One of the most difficult things for golfers to do is turn properly in the golf swing. Players tend to move either laterally (side to side) or vertically (away or toward the golf ball) as they swing the club. This additional movement in the swing creates imbalance, inconsistency, and slows down your club head speed. I like using a spine board by Ted Sheftic (you can also use a chair, golf bag, or wall) to help feel what your lower body should be doing in the golf swing. Get into your good set up, with your rear touching the spine board, as I’m doing in Photo 1. As you start your turn back, your right hip should turn back as your weight transfers to your right foot, pushing into the ground (Photo 2).…

chop it! out of rough

Have you ever walked up to your ball and found it laying like it is in Photo 1? The dreaded buried lie. UGH! If you happen to be in Florida or Hawaii and this ball is sitting in Bermuda rough, your level of difficulty just got raised up a notch higher. What do you do when this happens to you and how can you get out of it? It isn’t as hard you might think. Always use your sand wedge. NEVER use a lob wedge. If you don’t own a sand wedge, a gap wedge will work. Play the golf ball WAY back on your back foot (for right handed players), as I’m doing in Photo 2. You will have a bit of an open stance (front foot pulled back). Your weight…

a wedge, a hazard and you

Here we are facing one of the hardest shots facing any golfer: A 60-yard shot to the green, with a hazard in front and a bunker behind that. It’s a shot that takes a lot of commitment. Some players will go by the front of the green yardage — how far to just get over the hazard — when what I recommend is taking all of that out of play. Play the number to the back of the green. If you play it long, oh well — you’re not in the hazard or bunker and give yourself a chance to save bogey or perhaps par if you make a good putt. Again, play the yardage to the back of the green with a good, aggressive swing. If you quit on it, you…