GOLFING PASSPORT – TAILORING GOLF & non golfing PACKAGES TO AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, USA, ASIA and EUROPE

Welcome to this week’s GolfingPasport.com blog, last week we covered our stance, the width required for club selection, and the ideal ball positioning.
This week we will look at our posture, and how a good posture allows us to freely move, generating rhythm, consistent tempo and keeping our balance throughout the entire swing.

So let’s grab our driver, we know we have a solid pre shot routine, our alignment is good and we are now finding a spot on the ball to focus on.

Let’s pause it there and honestly look at ourselves, are we relaxed, are we balanced?

To upright, or to slouched with our posture will most likely result in that feeling we all know too well, hitting it fat or smashing the ground before the ball, or thin, hitting the top of the ball.

Working from the ground up, our feet are shoulder with apart, weight evenly distributed and balanced. Relax those knees, so often we see on the course that stiff legged posture on fellow players, relax them if you are one of these offenders.

We bend from our hips and maintain our nice straight spine, this enables the arms and hands to naturally fall down to where we position the club behind the ball, and our weight automatically shifts to the balls of our feet.

Our grip is relaxed, don’t copy one of my earliest bad habits which was choking the club, or strangling the grip to death, tightening the muscles even more through the swing process.

My coach taught me a quick trick for this, grip your club normally, if you’re a righty, move your grip up to the top of your club and leave your left hands, top two fingers off the club entirely. Reverse it if you’re a lefty.

When you swing the club you will feel how loose it is, this is the correct tension.

There are some golfers who played their career with their top hand, pinky finger, off the club entirely!

The last posture key point is our chin, keep it up of our chest, leaving room for our shoulders to move freely under it.

A great way to test your posture is to set up to hit the ball, then before you swing get a playing partner to push your shoulders from the front, you should rock back and then forward back to your starting position, you can try this from the back as well.

Another good tip is to make sure you’re not beating that playing partner when you make this request!

As always from the team at Golfingpassport.com, happy golfing, and smile because Golf is a game in which you yell “fore,” shoot six, and write down five.

GolfPro

Welcome to this week’s GolfingPasport.com blog, as we were discussing last time with our “Set Up” we finalised our alignment section, incorporating the pre shot routine, and some basic drills to incorporate into our training and pre game routines.
This week let’s look at our stance, and then in relation to our stance, the ball position.

The easiest way to create the ideal width, or to check your stance, is to start with the middle irons, your 5, 6 and 7 irons.
Using these irons, your stance width, ideally should be your shoulder width, with the ball positioning in the middle.
As the clubs get longer, your stance widens slightly, and the ball positioning moves forward slightly as well, with your longest club, the driver, set up inside your front heel.

As the clubs get shorter, your stance narrows slightly, and the ball positioning moves back slightly, with your wedges being played inside your back heel.

Stance and ball positioning is definitely an area of our game that we work on in practice, and although it sounds seemingly simple, it will take some time to adjust to the different lengths of clubs and ball and stance requirements.
As always from the team at Golfingpassport.com, happy golfing, and remember, Golf is a game where the ball lies poorly, and the players well.

GolfPro

Welcome to this week’s GolfingPassport.com blog, as we were discussing last time with our “Set Up” we were looking at how our alignment can affect our aim.
This week we will continue on with some basic drills that you can incorporate into your practice, or as a way to double check your alignment is solid, and create more consistency with a set, pre shot routine.
So let’s check our alignment with some basic drills that can be done in our warm up, pre round, or as a practice drill.
Working from the feet up, let’s go through our pre shot routine and address the ball.

Now before we swing, lay your club down parallel to your target line, as close to the tips of your shoes as possible, then step away, and move behind.

Is the club on the ground, parallel with your target line? It is at this stage that we can see whether we have set up left or right of our ideal line.
A key point to remember, and a common mistake made, is that our feet should point at the target. Wrong, in reality, our alignment would be just left of the target line of we are right handed, and just right of the target line for left handed players.

For practice, leave a club set up on the ground, parallel to our target line, and then you have a quick reference point each time you complete your pre shot routine and swing.
The checking of your feet alignment, can be copied in the exact same way with your knees, hips and shoulders, though it is easier for a playing partner or friend, to hold a club for you across the hips and shoulders, to show you your alignment line.
As we talked about last blog, the importance of a pre shot routine, and here is how my pre shout routine goes, from tee to green, and the occasional bunker, thick rough or forest.

I select the appropriate club, then I move behind the ball to establish my target line, and I then have one half swing, letting the weight of the club head do the work while I focus on a blade of grass, and remind myself to keep my head down and still through the shot.
I then look at the target or area to land, and while I have a full swing I picture the ideal shot in my head.
Once the swing is completed then I approach the ball, align myself, find a spot on the ball and swing away, attempting to block anything else out of my mind, or from entering it.
As always from the team at Golfingpassport.com, happy golfing, and remember, the only time prayers are never answered, is on the golf course.

GolfPro

Welcome to this week’s GolfingPassport.com blog, as we were discussing last week with our “Set Up” we will look at how our alignment can affect our aim.
Golf is a uniquely individual game, and it’s important to realise what we discuss will need to be tailored into your individual game, and your practice routines.

We all have hit a pure shot, flushed a drive or even had the perfect weight on a birdie putt, and your head eagerly snaps up, only to feel that disappointment as we see the ball veer off line and off target.
As we spoke about, the ideal set up will enable us to play this great game more consistently, so what can we do to check our alignment?
What drills can we incorporate into our practice to assist us, or to check we are on the right path?
A key point to always remember: the way you practice, is the way you will play.
let’s take an example of the approach shot, you have got a great drive away, middle of fairway and 100 metres out, from this point on your pre shot routine must be consistent.

Do you have one or two swings? Do you tell yourself anything? Do you have a breathing sequence? Do you picture the perfect shot in your mind? Whatever you do, repeat it, step by step, for every drive, shot, chip and putt.

From this point we need to establish our line, so get behind your ball, and define a line from the ball to your target, in this scenario it is the pin.

Now, you have that line, find a spot anywhere from one to three metres in front of your ball, on your target line. It may be a faded area of grass, a divot mark, anything that won’t move.

As you approach the ball, use your spot to align your club head, and then yourself.
Sounds easy? We all know it isn’t quite that simple, it amazes me how many people go wrong from this point on.
Next week we will continue on with some key points and some training drills that will make this step become second nature, as well as an insight into how I go through my pre shot routine.

A key point to always remember: the way you practice, is the way you will play.
As always from the team at Golfingpassport.com, happy golfing, and even the worse round you play will still be a great walk.

GolfPro

Welcome to our GolfingPassport.com blog, we will, as we progress move through various aspects of the great game we love, and yes, at times hate, with the same passion.
Sometimes, no matter how good the latest gimmick to cure all your golfing ails seems, nothing can bring you more consistent results than a refresh of the basics.
To start with let’s look at the “set up”, the position we assume when playing a shot, the first and arguably the most important element a successful golfer learns.
Golf has worldwide recognition for being the hardest of any ball game, simply stated, because both you and I, and our golf balls, start from completely stationary positions.
It’s the sum of our movements that generate the distance, and hopefully, the direction, we were hoping.
Mastering the “Set Up” will enable you to play more consistently, and like any good structure, this is the base we can grow our game from.
A good set up will inevitably consist of 5 components:
Aim, Stance, Posture, Grip and Swing.
Next Golfing Passport blog update, we will look at what are why our aim is affected by our alignment. Look at the key points and some tips for practicing more efficiently.

GolfPro