Chipping over obstacles

Whenever possible, make your chipping practice into sessions that translate into something you can use on the golf course. Try plopping pitch shots over the practice bunker as a drill to get you used to concentrating on making good contact and helping to remove the fear of obstacles. If you have a pool at home – even a small, plastic one – try hitting over the water and landing shots just beyond the water's edge to get used to pressure shots over lakes. The goal is to get a stroke you can trust on the course when the going gets tough.

Parallel universe

One of the reasons a shot ends up going crooked is because your body alignment – where your body is actually aiming – and the projected target line through the ball – where you think you are aiming – are not going in the same direction. Since your swing path tends to follow the body's alignment, alignment is incredibly important. Body alignment consists of not only your feet and shoulders, but also your hips and knees. All four should periodically be checked to see if they are all aiming where you think they’re aiming. A club lined up against all four areas should be pointing at the target. Further, a line from behind the ball, through the ball and to where you are aiming should also be at the target. These two lines should be parallel to each other, like a railroad track. Make sure your alignment is “on track” from you to the target, and you’ll hit straighter shots to that target.

Become a machine

If you've ever watched a touring pro hit about fifty straight, perfectly struck, bombed drives, you would feel like you were watching a machine. And in a sense, you are watching a machine. The great golfer has refined his swing to be machine-like in its efficiency. The machine-like pro has incorporated such things as near-perfect swing planes and near-perfect launch angles with perfectly-timed swings that produce optimum clubhead speeds and ball flights. Great swing fundamentals can be learned from good teaching pros. Learn them. Then, start to think like that machine-like pro. Become a machine. Just plug yourself in to the concept of you, the golfer, becoming a swinging machine, and allow the “machine” to hit your shots through your body.

Learn about golf watching baseball

Watch a good baseball player taking batting practice some time and you’ll see an excellent example of great lower body weight transfer. All that power stored in the right leg striding over onto the left leg (for right-handers), clearing out the way for the upper body's arm and shoulder muscles to control a swing that culminates with solid contact through the ball and into a follow through. The baseball player's footwork and stride into the ball is the foundation of their swing. Similarly, the golfer's lower body weight transfer onto the left leg serves as the golfer's foundation. Learn from baseball and get more power from your legs for your golf game.

Formula for power

Take two golfers – Golfer A and Golfer B. Golfer A hits the ball way past everyone else off the tee, even though he hits somewhat behind the ball. Golfer B practically guides the swing, catches it reasonably clean, but leaves it short. Golfer A hit longer because he or she was coming through the ball with such tremendous clubhead speed that they powered the ball out past everyone – even though they had less than perfect contact. Golfer B was trying so hard to pick the ball clean, he or she dissipated their clubhead speed before impact. Swing under control, but swing with authority to hit it longer.