 |
 |
 |
|
Understanding the Divot Explained here is what causes a divot and why you should always be taking one with your shorter irons. The perfect divot is actually taken AFTER the ball is struck. It's approximately half an inch deep and evenly skimmed off the surface. Its direction is slightly to the LEFT of the target because of the swing being circular; the club approaches the ball from inside the target line, squares up as it makes contact with the ball, then enters the ground and takes a divot as it starts moving back inside the target line (i.e. to the left of your target line). There are two fundamentals you need to have in your swing in order to take a perfect divot. First, is to start your weight shifting correctly from the back foot to the forward foot throughout the downswing and follow-through. This will cause your upper body to tilt back slightly (i.e. away from the target) as you hit the ball, and put you closer to the ground than you were at setup. Keeping your arms extended through the shot is the Second fundamental that you need in order to take a perfect divot. When you set up to the ball you should have your arms fully extended (but not locked at the elbows). The weight of the club, once set in motion, will automaticallykeep your arms fully extended through and PAST impact. If the downswing trigger puts you closer to the ground than when you first addressed the ball, and your arms remain fully extended through impact, your club will still be descending as it makes contact with the ball. It won't actually reach the bottom of the swing arc until just past where the ball was ... which is why a perfect divot occurs after the ball is hit. You do NOT try to hit down and take a divot on purpose. This will only lead to hitting with your arms which you should be trying to avoid. Instead, keep working on the proper coiling and uncoiling fundamentals. You must work on coiling 80% of you weight into the right instep on the backswing, then uncoiling properly with the lower body, allowing 90% of you weight to shift to the forward leg at the end of your follow-through. This proper coiling and uncoiling will allow your body to stay behind the ball getting you closer to the ground. If you keep your arms powerless when you swing, the weight of the club head will automatically extend your arms through impact and the perfect divot will be taken. - Sanam Marchant Stop the Dreaded "Chicken Wing" This refers to the position of your lead arm or for a right-handed golfer your left arm just after impact. If you slice the ball or do not get solid ball contact you may be experiencing the Chicken Wing. In the proper position just after impact your lead upper arm should stay fairly close to your body and start to bend. That will promote the proper path of the club into your follow-through. But what a lot of amateurs do is swipe across the ball and the lead elbow comes away from your body after impact. That's why its called the chicken wing. Your lead arm shoulder has to be able to externally rotate to stay close to your body past impact and into your follow through. That takes optimal strength and range of motion in your rotator cuff muscles of your shoulder. If you are tight and weak, you won't be able to achieve the correct position and will not get solid ball contact. Here's one stretch and one strength exercise that will help. The stretch will improve the range of motion in your shoulders - which will improve this deficiency mentioned above.
The strength exercise will improve the stability in your shoulders to avoid the chicken wing mentioned above. - Sanam Marchant Improve Your Hip Rotation for Maximum Power One KEY area of the body that limits power is the hip area. This area is directly linked to your core. If you are restricted in range of motion, you will not be able to powerfully rotated your body through the shot...resulting in an unsatisfactory shot. There are many physical reasons why this occurs, but one you can work on daily without any equipment is your hip rotation flexibility. Here's a simple stretch: Place a chair in front of a mirror. Preferably one with a high back on it. Put your hands on the top of the chair. This will keep your shoulders square and parallel to the imaginary target. Now while keeping your arms and shoulders still rotate your hips toward the target as far as you can go. Hold it for a split second. Bring it back and repeat 10-15 times. This may seem almost too basic, but you will feel muscles being stretched that have not been stretched before. Do this regularly and your rotation in your golf swing will have more power very quickly. - Sanam Marchant Importance of a good golf setup A good setup helps you achieve three important objectives. First, proper posture and foot placement allows you to maintain your balance throughout the swing. All great players are balanced from address to the finish, which allows them to hit the ball squarely in the center of the clubface. Balance is the key factor to consistent ball striking and a good setup allows you to remain in balance when swinging. Second, a good setup helps you create power and control the direction of the shot. Key pre-swing elements such as ball position and body alignment create the conditions that lead to control. The body angles that you create at address directly influence the path and angle on which you swing the club. They influence the actual in-swing body positions and movements; therefore your setup directly affects all elements of the swing. Without total control, one can never be a good golfer. Finally, all great players pre-set themselves in positions that they try to create at impact. In other words, your setup puts you in positions of advantage, making a fundamentally sound swing possible. Your swing evolves from your setup and if you want to achieve a good impact position, you can simply setup with impact in mind. A good setup will always work to your advantage. Try this simple exercise - for better distance and control How important are your wrists in your golf swing? Have you given it much thought? Take a moment and picture your golf swing. Start at the address position - to the top - through impact and on to the follow through. Now just isolate your wrists and even your hands to get a better visual. Do you see how important they are in your swing? If not, let me explain briefly. There are several roles the wrists play in your golf swing, but two that really come to mind. They are:
If your wrists are weak it will be very hard to accomplish these actions. This is a common scenario for junior golfers, since their strength hasn't been worked on yet. However this exercise is helpful for everyone and not just the juniors. While your grip should not be excessively firm, your wrists need to be firm to control the club throughout your swing. For example, picture "setting" your club at the top. It needs to be consistently in a certain position to make a proper downswing. If your wrists are weak you will have a difficult time controlling the club due to its length and weight. What about impact? The wrist position is crucial in generating maximum distance and clubface angle. The most common mistake caused by weak wrists is the collapsing or breaking down of the lead wrist at impact. This dramatically reduces distance and accuracy both. So what's the solution? Doing exercises to strengthen your wrists specific to their role in the golf swing. Here is one which is recommended for all golfers. Here's what you do:
If you do this exercise correctly you will get a burning sensation in your forearms. If so, that's great! If not, you may need a longer iron; or you are using more than just your wrist for the movement. How to Improve Your Balance and Gain Rhythm in Your Golf Swing To help find your natural swinging rhythm, try this exercise:
Perfect and memorize your balance points with this drill:
One of the very best practice drills involves practicing your swing in slow motion:
Try this and see and you will be surprised at how far the ball goes and how solidly you will contact the ball. How to gain yards Try this simple and effective drill, which aims at giving you tips on how to release the club, so as to gain more distance. First, setup to a ball as normal but take your right foot and place this foot well back from your left foot so you are forming a very closed stance. If you are not sure whether your feet are closed enough it's better to over exaggerate, rather than not. From this very closed stance position you simply have to swing the way you normally do, with one exception. When swinging, try to keep your right foot on the ground during the entire swing. Doing this means that you are forced to use your arms and hands to release the clubhead, and that's why this drill is so good. Keep doing this drill until you release your hands automatically from a square stance position, without you having to consciously think of having to do it. This will lead to a great deal of distance and is a simple, must try tip !! Putting In our equipment reviews section we have for you the Odyssey White Steel Tri-Ball SRT Putter … so what could be better than tips on putting ??!!
AND THE BEST TIP : Stay down through impact. Stance
Tip of the week: Greenside Bunker Shots For most golfers hitting a ball out of a greenside bunker is a difficult and intimidating shot. However it is the one area of the game where amateurs often do not put in enough practice. While addressing a bunker shot the stance should be open with the weight slightly on the front foot and the ball about 1”-2” forward of center. Take a smooth three quarter back swing with your chest turning away from the target. On the downswing come down with your torso and not your arms to avoid hitting too far behind the ball. Keep the left arm straight throughout impact and finish with an abbreviated follow through. For plugged lies, keep more weight on your left foot to let the club dig into the sand. Play the ball in the middle with a square club face and the shaft leaning towards the target. Come down with a sharp downward blow, making sure you follow through at least to hip height. Do not lift the ball out instead try a downward "digging" motion in order to "pop" the ball out. You don't have to swing hard. While playing an uphill sand shot keep the ball forward with your weight on your right foot and swing along the slope. Do not open your club face. For a downhill sand shot keep your weight on your left foot. Play the ball back with an open club face. Take a steep backswing with a full wrist hinge and swing along the slope. In case of a long bunker shot, decide whether to pitch or blast the shot. While playing from soft sand, use a nine-iron to play a blast shot. On hard sand opt for a pitching wedge and play a normal pitch shot. For more golf tips and advice mail into admin@golftrade.in with “Tips” as the subject. This month we will focus on equipment and how It affects the game. Golf is game where equipment plays a very important role. We can start right from the grip, did you know that a thicker grip will promote a fade and a thinner grip a draw?. This is so because a thinner grip promotes a quicker hand action. The shaft is one of the most important part of a golf club. Most club golfers play with a stiffer shaft than the one they require. If we use a stiffer shaft we lose distance and if we use a weaker shaft we lose direction. There are other aspects like torque, kick point etc. which effects the ball flight, shot pattern etc on a golf shot. Next we come to the club head, the club heads are getting bigger and bigger and space age materials are being used to make them. As a thumb rule it is always more advisable to buy a driver above 10 degree lof,t and it is a completely wrong notion to believe that lower the loft longer the ball goes.Infact lower the loft more the sidespin which causes the ball to swing. It is advisable for club golfers to use a higher lofted wood especially if they have a slicing problem. Believe it or not recent studies have proved that a higher tee not only gives us more carry but also more roll!. So to sum it all up we can see that it is not only important to play the game correctly but it is very important to know what equipment suits us. It is always advisable to opt for better brands and avoid cheaper quality sets as they don’t perform anywhere close to the better ones. If budget is an issue one should always go for a used set of a better brand. Our last bit of advise is NEVER buy copies or fakes as they perform way below average and more often than not break within a few months of purchase. We have a panel of professionals headed by Indrajit Bhalotia, who can advise you on what kind equipment that may suit you. Please send in your questions to admin@golftrade.in with "Equipment" as the subject line. |
|
 |
|
 |