On those days, you don’t play anywhere near your golf handicap. When you find yourself playing poorly, you should make every effort to salvage the day. It can be frustrating but you can turn a bad roundinto a good if you try. A good way to do that is to get back to the basics.

Start by working on your driving, it sets you up for good approach shots and creates the right “tone” for the hole. It can also help turn around your game that day. The key is driving it straight and that, as I’ve said in many times in my golf tips, is correct alignment.

Align Yourself Properly At Address

If you’re not aligned at address, bad things happen. You’ll have to make swing difficult adjustments mid-stream to compensate. For example, if you’re right-handed and you’re aimed too far left, you’ll have to swing across the ball at the bottom to correct for the mis-alignment. That’s not an easy adjustment to make. It takes a highly skilled player to make adjustments and still hit the fairway consistently. There may also be clubface issues to address as well.

If you align yourself at address, you’ll dramatically increase your fairways hit per round. That in turn will impact your scores and your golf handicap. Good drives leave you in position for easy second shots and eliminate wasted shots designed to get you out of trouble. But there’s more to hitting straight drives than just aligning yourself correctly. You also have to swing along the target line while the clubhead is in the hitting zone. The longer you can keep the clubhead on the target line the straighter your shot.

Below is a drill that teaches you to do that.

Target Line Drill Helps

This drill trains you to keep your swing along the target line. Tee up a ball. Place two dowels in the ground spaced a foot apart three yards in front of your ball. Your goal is to practice hitting your drives through the window formed by the dowels. With a narrow yet close target like the dowels, you’ll be less likely to come over the top with your swing. On the course, use imaginary dowels to remind you to swing down the line through the hitting zone.

As for aligning yourself correctly, below is a six-step alignment routine that can serve as a model for yours:

1. Stand behind the ball. Pick out a target.

2. Take your stance where you’re standing. Draw an imaginary line from your target back through the ball. Square your clubface to this line.

3. Make a full practice swing from there. Sense the clubhead moving down the target line through impact. Visualize the ball flight you want to use.

4. Focus on the target line in front of the ball. Walk into your stance from the left (if you’re right-handed), keeping your eye on the target line.

5. Set your clubhead behind the ball. Point the face down the line. Maintain your focus on the line in front of the ball.

6. Set your feet perpendicular to the line. Look at the target one last time. Turn your eyes to the ball and pull your trigger. Once you set your feet set, take a slight step back with your back foot.

It’s a trick Tiger Woods uses. It keeps you behind the ball when swinging, increases stability, and provides a firm foundation for a powerful drive. Making sure you’re correctly aligned and staying on the swing path are two keys to hitting straight drives. Use an alignment routine on every driver swing, as I tell students in my golf lessons. It helps you find the target line and align your body and clubface to it.

Practicing the target line drill improves your ability to keep your clubhead on the right swing path. Going back to basics starts in the tee box. It’s a great way to salvage a bad round and keep your golf handicap from increasing.

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Golf Swing Tips
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Spring is coming now, are you ready for taking your golf equipment out of your carage? Come on, lest enjoy golfing in the spring season. To begin in this beautiful season, don’t you think that your golf bag is really very worn?

Just as any good, serious football player will have their own football or any serious carpenter will have their own tools, any golfer no matter what skill level whom is passionate about the sport should have their own golf bag. If you are serious about golf, you should keep your white taylorMade golf bag always in well condition. One of the advantages of a golf bag is that it allows you to focus on your game by allowing you the comfort of readily available and organized equipment.

From beginner to pro, something to carry around your clubs with is essential. There are many things you should be aware of though before purchasing a bag. Be aware that there are two types of bags in general, cart bagsand travel bags (also named carry bags).

A travel bag is used when you will do a lot of walking on the course, and you will just carry this bag along with you. In contrast, cart bags you would use when you do less walking would be mainly riding in a golf cart. These cart bags would be necessary if you ever decide to go to a golf course which prohibits walking, there are some that do.

So, for beginners, I suggest that you should probably buy a travel bag as they are less expensive (I suggest the Nike Travel Bag in yellow color which may bring you a good mood on golf course). However, and if you are experienced or professional golfer, then a cart bag may be your eventually choice.
 

Complete Your Golf Bag(I)

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It is bad enough needing a Golf Swing Lesson, but if you cannot hit the golf ball properly, then it must be a golf swing problem. That is the technical term for it. However, you can look really stupid if you do not know how to swing? Your Golf club properly?

It can be hard to figure out what needs to be fixed. The way most Golf experts would tell it, you need to be an astrophysicist to explain a Golf Swing Lesson. It helps to be a technical journalist to write it up? It can be difficult for a newbie to see what is wrong with their swing. So first golf lessons, just check to see you have two shoulders first?

That is usually a good pointer to what the problem could be, especially if you only have one. Next tip; if you have two shoulders then you only have half a problem. More often than not; most people dip the back shoulder on the back swing.

They must be really weird; because I cannot for the life of me, dip my back shoulder on the back swing while I am lifting my club up high above and behind my head? Ah well; some people can do the impossible and wreck their golf swing. That is the main cause of a bad swing, believe me; it can cause more problems than the wife.

Actually the back shoulder dip and the wife have a lot in common? They can both cause your timing to be thrown way off. Both can really mess your game up badly. Back shoulder dip leads to weight shift onto the wrong foot when you swing. Your follow through is poor; actually it sucks. You will also get hand distortion on impact.

No I am not on acid? Hand distortion just means your hands are all over the place. They are not staying straight and lined up with the ball properly. Your club face will not be straight on impact.

You will not hit the ball flush. You might top the ball, slice it, or only partly make contact with it. In any case; your shot will end up all to hell. Hey, you need to fix your golf swing? Oh right? I am supposed to have a great Golf Swing Lesson to help you out. It is an easy fix- that is the good news, so you can stop worrying.

Simple; get a Ben Hogan Video free online at Youtube watch and learn. Then get out on the driving range and practice your butt off. See how simple this Golf Swing Lesson is, I am not going to get into that astrophysicist rap and talk Golf analysis jargon. Man we got the technology of Videos and Dvd’s online it is so cool. Free is good?

Slo mo is a beautiful thing and the good news is the Videos are free. You got choices of Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods or whatever flavor you like? Before long you will hit that ball and make solid contact consistently. That is when it becomes a natural part of your game. You will become a master swinger. Maybe even a perfect swinger.

Are you having fun? I am. Another problem is fast swinging. Swing speed is important but you realistically cannot be fast 100% of the time with every shot. If you hit the ball correctly it will ping away beautifully. There is no perfect swing speed or magic formula. Every golfer differs because of your own particular physicality, height, weight, muscle mass age, stance, etc…

Some pros have been clocked at 160 Mph in their swing speeds. You are not out there to beat speed records. Be prepared to lose a little swing speed for a lot more accuracy and consistency every time. Worrying unduly and agonizing about club speed and too many other things can ruin your game. Relax and you will play more naturally without any added stress.

Do not look to find what you are doing wrong. That is a lost cause and counter productive. Get back to commonsense and basics. Concentrate instead; on a golf lesson that teaches you how to get it right. Get that picture in your mind of Tiger or Ben Hogan in that slow motion golf swing video. Visualize yourself reproducing the same golf mechanics naturally.

I hope you found this golf swing lesson a welcome change from complex technical analysis and information overload.

Learn more about Tiger Wood’s Golf Secrets and Improve Your Golf Game. Play like the Pros or just be the best you can be- Click Here Tiger Woods Swing Philip Randall is an expert Author and Online Golf Writer Copyright 2010
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