The 'share a personal golf tip' thread

[keiko]

I bet all the girls say that to you.

Hey, you stole my tip!

[2bGood]

Mine is a putting tip as I am pretty good at that with and avrg of 1.63 putts per hole.

1. Get fitted for a putter - this made a huge difference for me. I never would have guessed a blade flange putter would best for me, but it is.

2.Keep you head down and focus less on making the putt an more on make a good roll. I don't look at the ball until its rolled about 15', if the putt is shorter then that I don't see it go in.

[nhwoj]

Don't expect a putt to break a definite distance on every slope. Starting your line with the slope, parallel to the slope, or against the slope will all have different distances of break from your starting line for a given distance, so take this into consideration when reading putts.

If this is somewhat hard to understand, an example would be on a 10 foot right-to-left putt, starting the ball towards the top of the slope will make it break, say, 8 inches at 10 feet. Starting it parallel to the slope will make it break 12 inches at the 10 foot point. And finally, starting it toward the downslope will make it break 18 inches at the 10 foot mark. There you go, happy putting.

[B-Con]

1) Don't swing hard. - Harder swings don't improve distance or quality.
2) Watch your ball flights, learn what you do poorly, and compensate for it when you practice. - Don't just go to the range and think, "Man, I think I mis-hit a bunch of shots last game, I need to work on that!" Know that you're (for example) slicing, and hitting a pull-slice at that. Figure out what type of swing produces your shot, and the fix it.
3) Practice the 10-60 yard approach shots. - If you hit greens from within 60 yards, you cut down on a lot of potential bad situations.
4) Learn to hit straight, not far. - If you hit every shot dead straight, you could break 90 shooting 20% shorter than everyone else.
5) Just focus on hitting the ball. - Don't think about how far the ball has to fly, just think about hitting it in the way you know you should. The club will do the work of sending the ball off, just focus on getting the clubhead to the ball properly.

The tips I'd post will differ based on which day I'm asked, but those are ones that jump out at me right now.

[Tifosinumerouno]

Take a small divot with your practice swings. Pay attention to the direction of the divot. If it's pointed straight at your target, your ball should go relatively straight (assuming the proper face angles), left should fade, right should draw. Make sure that's the type of shot shape you want to hit before you step up to the ball. Typically how I hit my last practice swing will be how I hit the ball.

When in the sand, don't even think about trying to hit the ball. All you want to do is lay the club wide open, and slap the back of the face against the sand, then accelerate through it. The design of the club and the sand will do the rest.

[tasker]

I can be a very bad putter but I found a way to get back on track that works EVERY time for me - now if I could only not HAVE to get back on track.

It is: exaggerate the follow through - I find when I work on this in practice and on the course, I am able to make so many more putts outside of 6 feet it is not funny. But over time I forget and gradually work back to a shortish follow through and that is when the putts stop falling.

It is kinda embarrassing I can know the solution, yet I need to creep back into it again and again.....

[alo1984]

Don't provide commentary on every shot your playing partner hits. You don't need to tell me good shot just because I made contact. If it's really a good shot, then go ahead and mention it - if not then just hush.

[mdl]

For me it's the relax, stay soft, don't overswing tip. Especially with the driver.

[whatwhatwhat]

Mine is a putting tip as I am pretty good at that with and avrg of 1.63 putts per hole.

That second tip really is the secret to putting, most people try to get the ball in the hole at any cost creating disasterous moves or strokes

[Ben]

I bet all the girls say that to you.

One or two :)

[Dr. Griefo]

Assess a one stroke penalty when playing with a wannabe golf pro who hands out unsolicited tips during a round (i.e. I noticed your grip..., back swing..., have you tried..., you should draw this tee shot by...) Nothing messes up my game more than a tip during a round so the one stroke penalty stops them in a hurry.

[photoballmarker]

My son Kelly gave me the best short putt tip I've ever heard. He says to look down into the back of the hole and hit your short putts to that spot. Works really well.

[NCSU_MSE]

Things that have helped me this year:

#1 On the backswing, try to keep your weight on the inside of your back foot. If your weight gets to the outside, you'll have a devil of a time getting into a good impact position.

Corollary to #1: You can't be all hip slide. If your impact position has your front hip pointing at the target, you'll hit blocks or get flippy. Don't be afraid to turn your hips and shoulders through the shot. Like tennis, golf is not a game of sideways.

#2 If you struggle with making good contact on putts, try shifting more of your weight to your front foot. I've done this recently and have had 1 3-putt in my last 27 holes.

#3 An oldie but a goodie - make sure you are looking down the line when you putt. Don't lift your head up on that last peek at the hole.

#4 If you use a forward press to initiate your stroke, be sure it isn't closing your putter face. Mine was.

[Chewey56]

keep lower body quiet. hit balls at the range while doing this and shot a 76 in my tournament the next day, won it. basically that's all i think about when i swing

[Danattherock]

Tap the putter on the ground lightly before the take away. While addressing ball, putter directly behind putter, just tap the ground. Meaning, putter straight up off the ground about 1/2" and back to the ground. Like you are squishing a bug under the putter head for a lack of a better way to put it. Do this a time or two then pull the trigger. Takes lots of tension out of the stroke and in my case allowed a smooth take away. Learned this from an instructor in NC (David Orr). He knows his stuff and this was one of several major things he did to help me. It is essentially what a waggle is to a full swing.


-Dan

Had two VERY important things just pop in my head....


Be sure your hands are ahead of the ball at impact. Sounds simple to those that know. But if you are trying to have the club straight up and down at impact, you are doing it wrong. Took me a long time to learn this. Look at pros at impact. The hands and grip of the club are well ahead of the clubhead as it reaches the ball. Training aids like the Tour Striker work on this. Just ordered mine. Ha ha.. Buy Andrew Rice's "It's All About Impact" to better understand this if you need to. Tons of pics of pros in the impact position to illustrate the hands being way out in front of the clubhead at impact.

Read Bobby Clampett's "The Impact Zone". Chapter 4 changed the way I look at the golf swing. Best golf book I ever read.

[Stretch]

Don't say "Ah ****!" before your short game shot has actually rolled out. Sometimes that chip you felt like you chronically underhit will catch a good bounce or break and finish right next to the hole. And then you can just smile modestly when your buddy says: "Great touch."

[canadianpro]

We all have the days when we are hitting it "perfect". When you are in this mode at the range, take time to measure the triangle formed by the ball and your feet (driver, mid-iron, wedge )...write it on a small card and throw it in your golf bag. The next time you are struggling with contact, check the triangle...I'll bet it has changed.

PB

[Danattherock]

Below is the best golf tip you will ever get.

It goes hand in hand with chapter 4 of Bobby Clampetts "The Impact Zone" I mentioned earlier. Wish I had known this 20 years ago when I got into golf. Found the below post while reading in the book forum about "The Impact Zone".

This isn't from the book, but it shows what I'm talking about with the "Forward swing bottom".