Tag Archives: fairway

How To Put Backspin on a Ball

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We all love it when we hit that shot that draws back quickly 5-10 feet after landing like it was on a string, right?

Well, putting backspin on a ball isn’t easy. You need the proper technique and the right conditions to do it. You also need the right ball. I cover backspin in my golf lessons, and once you know how, you’ll start hitting it closer to that difficult pin placements.

Putting backspin on a golf ball is like putting backspin on a cue ball. To do that you hit downward on the bottom half of the cue ball with significant force. Putting chalk on the stick’s tip, striking the ball at a steep angle, and increasing the velocity of the cue stick as it moves toward impact also helps.

To put backspin on a golf ball, as I explain in my golf tips, you do basically the same thing. But here, the goal is to pinch the ball between the club and the fairway. You not only need to hit downward on the ball with a fair amount of force, you also must make clean contact on the lower portion of the ball. It’s essential to have a clean (or new) club with some grip left on its face and a new ball when putting backspin on a ball.

The combination of all these factors–angle of attack, force, and clean contact–puts backspin on the ball. Coordinating all these factors in your swing is why it takes several golf lessons to learn.

You also need certain conditions to do it. Below are the three conditions you need before hitting the shot. If these factors are missing, forget about putting backspin on the ball.

oConditions must be fairly dry

oYou must be on the fairway

oGreens have to be in good shape

I use backspin when I need to hit a pitch-and-stop shot. This type of shot is best used from about 25 to 30 yards away when you have an obstacle– bunker, water, rough, rocks– between you and the green.

Obviously, you can’t hit the ball on the ground or on a line, like a line drive in baseball. You need to hit a high shot over the obstacle. If you put enough backspin on the ball, it takes a bounce or two and stops.

Ideally, you’d like to hit the green about 10 to 15 feet from the pin and stop the ball a few feet from the hole, leaving you a short putt. Of course, if it goes in, that’s even better. If you fail to put enough backspin on the ball, however, it probably will roll off the green, especially if it is slanted or hard-baked.

I recommend using a 9 iron or, better yet, a pitching wedge in my golf tips. The wedge has a high loft, is heavy, and a large flange, which prevents it from digging into the turf. The divot need not be big or deep. Remember to keep your head down until your right arm pushes it up–a fundamental all good golf instruction emphasizes.

I use a high spin/soft cover ball for pitch-and-stop shots and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn the shot. A brief golf lesson on balls explains why.

Golf balls are available with three types of spin. The low spinning golf ball helps eliminate sidespin, which in turn helps reduce the big slice or hook. It doesn’t carry as far as the other types, but it makes up for it with roll. This ball is appropriate for players with high golf handicaps.

The mid-spinning ball fills in the gap between low and high spin balls. It provides more feel than the low spin ball, but doesn’t roll as far, although it travels fairly far. The mid-spin ball also varies depending on the manufacturer. It is better suited for golfers with mid-range golf handicaps.

The high spinning ball gets more carry than the other types of balls, but it won’t roll far when it hits the ground. This ball offers more feel and control, however, than a mid-spin ball, a big advantage around the greens. It’s the added spin that provides the increased control for the player. It’s the type of ball players with low golf handicaps often use.

My golf instruction teaches students to use the ball that’s right for them. If they’re beginners, for example, I recommend a ball with low spin. I also teach students how to put backspin on the ball in my golf lessons, but I emphasize that the conditions on the course must be right for them to try it. Nevertheless, it’s a potent weapon.

Practice improves your ability to put backspin on a golf ball, but keep in mind that the shot is one of the hardest to master in golf so don’t spend the majority of your practice time trying to master this shot.

Golf GPS Apps For Android

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OK, so you have a fancy touchscreen Smartphone with the Android operating system (perhaps a Verizon Droid or even a brand new Nexus One from Google), and you want to spice it up with a compatible golf GPS. Maybe you’re already familiar with GolfShot, GolfLogix, and some of the other popular golf GPS apps available for the iPhone and BlackBerry Smartphones, and now you’re wondering what the choices are for Android. The number of apps in the Android market may be kind of puny compared to the huge number of apps available for the iPhone. But there are Android golf GPS apps available. The following list of five top-notch products is a start.

GolfCard was selected by both CNN and Time magazine as the best iPhone golf app for father’s day (2009). Now it’s available for Android phones; both Sprint and Verizon have recently featured GolfCard in their new phone ads. It looks promising, and should probably be more popular than it already is. This inexpensive rangefinder has a database of 28,000 courses, a scorecard for multiple players, statistical analysis, and no subscription fees.

GreenFinder, which is a popular GPS app that also works on Blackberry, iPhone, and Windows Mobile phones, can be downloaded and used five times for free. It gives you distances to the front, center, and back of the green, as well as distances to fairway hazards and the distance of your last shot. It costs less than a round of golf and there are no additional fees: you can download all the courses you need and you can even mark your own courses.

FreeCaddie also works on Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Java enabled phones. The free version displays only the distances to the front, center, and back of greens. If you want the really good stuff like distances to bunkers and hazards, a shot distance function, the ability to map your own points, or statistics and scorekeeping, then you need to upgrade to FreeCaddie Pro.

Pocket Caddy from Satsports has 3D flyovers of the entire course and individual holes, distances to the front, center, and back of the green and other points of interest. It also has shot recording, statistical analysis and and a scorecard. With Pocket Caddy you can get a map of your home course included with purchase, or you can easily map courses yourself using Google Earth.

SkyDroid (which is practically free) has distances to the front, center and back of every green on the course, as well as distances to water hazards, bunkers, and other course features. It also has a satellite map view of every hole. You can track the distance of your last shot, download all the courses you want for no extra cost, and you can even use SkyDroid’s Course Mapper to easily map your own courses.

The Associated Press: A look back at 2011 with tales from the tour

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A look back at 2011 with tales from the tour

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Mike Tuten has spent the last 20 years on the North Shore of Oahu shaping surf boards. He joined his brother, Titleist rep Chris Tuten, for a round of golf on the Plantation Course at Kapalua at the start of the year.

Walking down the seventh fairway, the Pacific Ocean on the horizon, Tuten said he found a lot of similarities between surfing and golf.

“It’s all about controlling your inner self and enjoying the environment around you,” Tuten said.

That made sense to Adam Scott, who does a fair bit of surfing.

Ditto for Geoff Ogilvy, who described himself as a “splash-in-the-water kind of surfer.”

“A lot of surfing is just sitting on the back of your board and just enjoying the place you’re at,” Ogilvy said. “You can do it with friends or on your own. Some of the appeal is that you’re out there on your own with golf, too. Surfing is similar. A lot of guys who go surfing would be those types of guys who like to get out and do their own thing.”

For a technical answer, Kelly Slater weighed in.

“Physically, there’s not a lot of similarities,” Slater said at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. “When you surf, you do twist your body. You twist your shoulders and bring the board to where your shoulders are. When you catch a wave, you don’t want to be thinking about the crowd, cameras, how pretty it is. You want to have a calm mind when you take off on a wave.”

It all sounded good in theory until the question was posed to Ernie Els on the range at Waialae.

Are there any similarities between golf and surfing?

“No, I don’t agree with that,” Els said.

He pointed to the 30-foot palm trees lining both sides of the range to make his argument.

“You see a wave that big coming at you, I don’t see how you can enjoy your environment,” Els said. “I would be trying to get the hell out of there. No, golf is not like surfing. You don’t get killed playing golf.”

The 2011 season began with waves crashing along the shores of Maui and Oahu. Rory McIlroy wiped out at the Masters and had the ride of his life at the U.S. Open. Luke Donald is riding a wave that doesn’t seem to end. And late in the year, Tiger Woods showed signs of paddling back out to sea.

Along the way, there were plenty of other moments that went beyond birdies and bogeys.

Saturday at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is when CBS Sports focuses primarily on the celebrities in the field, who don’t always take golf — or the interviews — all that seriously. David Feherty attempted to interview comedian George Lopez, who essentially spent his time in front of the camera making fun of the Irishman.

Feherty was riding his bike along 17 Mile Drive the next morning, still thinking about how Lopez buried him on TV, when he decided it was time for revenge. It was 6 a.m. and he knew the house where Lopez was staying, so Feherty went to the front door and began ringing the bell. Over and over and over.

He took out his phone and called Lopez, and the comedian answered with a groggy voice.

“George! Why aren’t you answering the door?” Feherty told him.

Lopez informed him that his door bell wasn’t ringing. Just at that moment, Feherty heard another groggy voice, slightly perturbed, through the intercom.

Feherty froze. He was at the wrong house. Lopez was in the one on the other side of the road.

“I was looking at him across the street,” Lopez said. “I think I’ve still got a picture of it. He looked like a wet rat.”

Bo Van Pelt walked up to the porch at the Augusta National clubhouse to find his caddie waiting for him with the golf bag and listening to a man on the bench telling stories.

“Bo,” caddie Mark Chaney said. “Have you met Bob Goalby?”

For the next hour, the 1968 Masters champion regaled Van Pelt with stories about practice rounds with Ben Hogan, about the stories Sam Snead once told at the Champions Dinner at Augusta, about playing in the Ryder Cup against British players hardly anyone knew.

Van Pelt didn’t want to leave. Goalby would finish a story, there would be a long pause, and then he would start another.

At the end of the week, Van Pelt was among eight players who had a share of the lead on Sunday. He tied for eighth. Yet that Tuesday afternoon on the porch with Goalby was as strong a memory as his best finish at the Masters.

“To me, those are the things where I feel fortunate I get to do what I do,” Van Pelt said a few weeks ago. “It’s great to be at Augusta. And you’re thinking about the tournament. But when you get a chance to visit with someone like that, those other things can wait. I could have sat there all day.”

Darren Clarke couldn’t do the math.

For a guy who spent two decades chasing the claret jug, Clarke did a remarkable job keeping a clear head until he approached the 18th green at Royal St. George’s and tried to figure out what remained for him to capture golf’s oldest championship.

He played the final hole the way he wanted, taking the bunkers out of play off the tee and hitting to the back left of the green.

“The crowd was roaring and shouting, and I’m thinking, ‘How many putts do I have from there?’ I promise you, that’s what I was thinking,” Clarke said. “And I couldn’t get the number in my head. The only time that I really figured it out was when I was standing over the ball. I’ve got five putts.”

He took three to make a meaningless bogey and win by three shots over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

Fred Couples was outside the ropes near the first tee at Royal Melbourne, holding court on the world of sports as only Couples can do, while Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson prepared to play for the first time as partners in the Presidents Cup.

Couples wanted to know about the sale of the Houston Astros, and how they could go to the American League, and if someone bought the Seattle Mariners, could the new owner demand they be in the National League? The conversation shifted to hockey, back to baseball, a brief stop for the NFL, back to hockey. And then he stopped.

“You know, I should be over there talking to Dustin and Tiger instead of you two clowns,” he said.

Maybe so. But, as one reporter asked, what would be his preference?

“You guys,” Couples said. Nodding in the direction of Woods and Johnson, he added with a smile, “Those guys don’t give me anything.”

Arnold Palmer was asked to describe his perfect day, and he frowned.

“I’m in a dilemma right now because I can’t hit the ball the way I want to,” Palmer said. “I can do things that will allow me to hit the ball where I want to hit it, but not as far. But straight isn’t the answer for me because I can’t hit it far enough. At 82, am I going to put the effort into it that I have to for me to enjoy playing? It’s very difficult.”

At the end of a long day that included a golf-course opening, Palmer made up his mind.

“I’ve decided I’m going to give it a shot this winter at Bay Hill, for my own satisfaction,” he said. “I’m going to work at it.”

Three weeks later, using a 5-iron from 163 yards on the Charger Course at Bay Hill, the King made his 20th career hole-in-hole and shot 79.

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Golf Clubs – Which Ones to Put in Your Bag

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The rules of golf let you put fourteen clubs in your bag. There are more than fourteen that you could carry, though. If you think carefully about which ones you select, you’ll play better golf. Not to mention, you don’t have to carry all fourteen.

Golf clubs come in set, and we think of putting sets of clubs in the bag: a set of irons, a pair of wedges, a driver and fairway metal, and a putter. Better to consider each club by itself and make it earn its way into your bag by looking at what shots you’ll need to hit and what clubs you need to hit them.

Forty percent of your strokes are putts. Only a putter will do. In it goes. (One)

Since you don’t hit every green, which club would let you hit the greatest amount of those short shots? Probably a wedge with loft in the 52-56 degree range. (Two)

Off the tee? What about your 2-iron or equivalent hybrid iron? You can get the ball in the fairway all day with reasonable distance, and hit it off the fairway, too. Let’s put that one in. (Three)

What about irons? The seven is the easiest iron to hit a long way, and it doubles as a chipping club. Let’s take it. (Four)

While we’re at it, let’s put some more irons in, the ones that are easiest to hit. We already have the 7-iron in the bag, so we’re adding the 6-, 8-, 9-irons and pitching wedge. (Eight)

There is a large gap between your 2-iron/hybrid and the 6-iron. Let’s split it with a 4-iron/hybrid. (Nine)

OK, the driver. Not the easiest club to hit, but a useful one nonetheless. (Ten)

That’s ten clubs. You’d be missing a fairway metal, 3-iron/hybrid, 5-iron, and a third wedge from the traditional set. You don’t hit these clubs too often, and they’re the hardest ones to hit well. Try this. Go out and play a round with the set of ten and see if you really miss the four you left at home.

Here’s a radical way to build your playing set. Play a round with four clubs: one for the tee, one for the fairway, one for around the green, and your putter. The next time after that, add one club. Keep adding one club as you play additional rounds until you find that your scoring is the same as it always was. You’ll surprise yourself at how few clubs you end up with.

Want to hear a story? The first time I ever broke 40 was on the three clubs+putter day at the golf course. Made me think about the other ten.

What is the Correct Golf Driver Loft For You?

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Ill bet , like most of us, the last time you bought a new golf driver you hit a demo club at the range a few times, it felt good and you bought it.

This is how almost all of us buy new golf clubs. But lets take a look at the driver. It is probably the most important club in the golf bag. Playing golf from the fairway is a lot easier than the rough and also, hitting a 9 iron to the green is a lot easier than hitting a 6 iron. Thats pretty obvious, so whats the point?

The point is that most of us are not playing with a driver that has the proper loft to provide us with maximum distance and accuracy. The simple reason for this is that golf club manufacturers are not making drivers with the lofts that are correct for most golfers.

Heres an idea of the range of lofts that we are talking about to provide optimal loft: (source: Golf Engineering)

Clubhead Speed….Estimated Optimal Loft …….Category

  • 130-150………. 4-7 degrees………….men long driving champs
  • 110-125……… 8-9 degrees………….men touring pros
  • 95-105……….10-11 degrees…………strong men & women
  • 85-90………..12-13 degrees………….most men golfers
  • 75-85………..14-15 degrees………….senior men & most women
  • 65-75………..16%2B degrees………….most women golfers

As you can see, most men golfers should be using a 12-13 degree loft with their driver, senior men and women even higher and we know that this is not the case.

Also, what this validates is the fact that the average male golfer is better of driving with his 15 degree three wood. We have known this for years but we really did not know why, now we do. It is all about the optimal loft There are more factors that control golf driver distance and accuracy, other than loft, but for our purposes today, this is one variable that we can easily control.

Now, we know that we are not going to give up hitting the driver. The grip it and rip mentality is too deeply ingrained in us to give up our driver. But, at least now we can give up trying to hit an 8 degree driver and maybe change to a more sensible 10.5 degree or, even better, a 12 degree driver. The fact is that the lower degree of loft has been working against us and we never knew it

So, stop fighting gravity and starting using a loft that will provide you with the optimal launch angle. Give it a try I think you will like it.

How To Play Golf – 3 Tips To Making Golf a Simple Game

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When you understand the secrets of shooting lower scores, you’ll find that playing great golf is really simple.

When you learn the secrets of shooting lower scores, you’ll find that relaxation and confidence that you’ve been looking for on the course.

When you learn the secrets of making golf simple, you’ll be kicking someone’s behind next time on the course.

Here are three tips to playing great golf:

Driving the Golf Ball – This could very well be the most important part of the golf game. I don’t care what so called experts tell you, if you’ve ever played a round of golf in which you spent most of your time in the rough, trying to hack out of trees, or in the other holes on the fairway, then you know that not only is playing golf like this frustrating, (funny to your partners) and embarrassing, but doesn’t equate to lower scores.

If you want to shoot lower scores, the very best thing you can do for yourself is learn to hit the fairway off the tee.

Plus, you can guess what happens to your confidence when you step up to the first tee feeling like you’re about to play the best round of golf you’ve ever played and ping you hit the ball, look up and there it goes sailing into trees.FORE

I am not saying that the short game isn’t important. It is, but it gets so much attention because there are very few people that spend adequate time with the correct equipment working on hitting the fairway. The first thing you can do is get a driver that is a little shorter. This will increase accuracy and only take a few yards off your distance. But what good is hitting it far, if your in the rough, sandtrap or water for the next shot. I tell you now, golf is a much easier game when you are playing your next shot from the fairway.

Putting for Par – You can shave 5-10 strokes off your game by learning how to direct the ball on the putting surface. There’s nothing more frustrating than getting to the green in regulation and then 3-putting for bogey. Oooooh, you could just scream. Many times you probably do.

Spend time learning distance control, reading breaks, and making every putt inside of 4 feet. This should be your beginning goal on the putting surface. Your first putt should put it inside your automatic range, and your second putt should be automatic. Your first step to being a putting genius and lowering your golf score by at least 7 strokes, is to create an automatic range by practice putting from 2 feet. Then, as that range becomes automatic, back up to 3 feet, then 4 feet. When you take this simple approach to the putting green, it should relax you and put you on the easy road to shooting lower scores.

Course management – The part of the game that nobody wants to talk about, but can lower your scores by 3-5 strokes and decrease your frustration on the golf course. In order to manage the course well, you need to hit the driving range.

Why? Because you need to know EXACTLY what you are capable of doing with every club in your bag. You’ll want to know how far you hit the ball (carry and roll) from different lies and become comfortable with every club in your bag.

Here’s a secret on comfort level with clubs.take the ones out that you simply cannot hit consistently, comfortably, and replace them with ones you can. I play Driver, 3w, 5w, 7w, Hybrid, 6i, 7i, 8i, 9i, PW, GW, AW, LW, and a 50 Putter. I shoot consistently in the mid to upper 70s.

I have made the game simple for myself. I feel comfortable with every shot that I play on the golf course. And I know exactly what I can and can’t do with every club. There’s never a time on the course I feel uncomfortable hitting one of my clubs, and I don’t have to worry about distance control with my wedges because I play 4. This allows me to take a full swing most of the time. I know exactly how far I can hit each one.

Ok, ok I have just a one more extra point to touch on. For novice players, and sometimes intermediate players alike, one of the greatest feelings in the world is making great contact with the ball and watching it sail just where you wanted it to. If you would like to feel this more often, make sure that you are hitting through the ball and keeping your eye on the ball through impact.

Golf can be a simple game.if you let it. Learn what you can do well and do that. Get comfortable with your clubs, hitting off the tee, and playing on and approaching the green. If you make a mistake, understand that the game is not over and that’s what makes you love golf in the first place.because a bad shot makes a Great shot that much sweeter.

Jim Suttie: The three swings of golf

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It’s interesting to note that golfers seem to be good at one of three swings: The Driver Swing, the Iron Swing, or the Wedge Swing.

You would think that golf is hard enough without us trying to master three different swings.

It is not that we have to master the three different swings, only that our own swing pattern matches up well to one of these swings.

For example, if you are a picker and you don’t get a divot when you hit your irons, you would be considered to have a driver-dominant technique.

The driver-dominant swinger generally hits up on the ball with a sweeping style through the ball. These players are very accurate drivers of the ball but tend to struggle with their irons and wedges.

Your style is usually determined on the course you learned the game on. For example, the driver-dominant swing pattern is usually learned on a lush golf course where the the ball sits up nicely and you simply have to pick it up off the grass. The other thing that seems to be common among the driver-dominant players is they all seem to have low swing planes. This low swing gives them a somewhat inside-out pattern through the hitting area.

In addition to this, these players tend to set up with more weight on their right side at address, and hit with their weight favoring the right side at impact. If you determine that you are a driver-dominant player, then put a tee three inches in front of your ball when hitting your irons. This will help you hit more “down” on the ball and allow you to become a better iron player.

On the other hand, some players hit their irons well, but are not so good with their driver. These players, most likely, learned on a course with hard fairways with little grass. This caused them to develop a higher swing plane with a lot of clubhead lag coming down. Their divots after impact are nice and healthy, and they would be called diggers and not sweepers. These players hit a lot of greens, but have trouble keeping their driver on the fairway because of their overly steep angle of attack on the downswing.

All of these players tend to shift their weight well to their front legs prior to impact with the ball.

There is a third group of players that are very good with their wedges and short irons. These golfers tend to stay very tied in with their arms to their body going back and coming through. They also set up with more weight on their front leg as they hit down and through the ball very aggressively. Their strong point is that they tend use their body and arms together through the ball.

The legs never get ahead of the body nor do their arms get too active through the impact area. The wedge dominant player has a short swing and accelerates the club with his body turn.

The point is, look at your swing objectively and find out which swing is your strength.

Optimize your strengths and try to balance off your weaknesses. For example, if your divots are getting too deep and you start hitting off the toe of the club you might try to balance this off by lowering your swing a little and making a better turn behind the ball. And remember, practice your weaknesses and not your strengths.

Dr. Jim Suttie, 2000 National PGA Teacher of the Year, is available for lessons at Suttie Golf at The Club at Twin Eagles North Naples and Cog Hill Golf Club, Lemont, Ill. Suttie is a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher and rated No. 15 in Golf Digest Best 50 Teachers. Suttie also is the director of golf operations for the FGCU golf program. For lessons and program information call 800-765-3838 or

Golf Tips – How to Get Out of a Sand Trap in One Stroke

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The pros say that a bunker shot is the easiest shot in golf. If that’s true, why do amateurs have such a hard time with it? If you learn the basics and practice, you can get it.

First, manage your expectations. If bunker shots are a problem for you, your goal should be only to get the ball out and onto the green. Let the pros hit it close. For you, just get it out so you can start putting, and maybe get that sand save.

Set up for the shot properly. Your clubface must be wide open. Spin the clubface open so your hands stay in the same orientation to your body, rather than turning your hands to the right to open the face.

Adjust your stance by swinging it around to the left so the bottom edge of the clubface faces the pin. You might think the shot will go way left, but trust me, it will go where the clubface is aimed.

You don’t need a special swing for a sand shot. Use the same one you’d use to hit a 6-iron in the fairway. Just make it a little shorter and a little slower. How slow? Make a full swing with holding both a 6-iron and a 7-iron. That slow.

Before you step into the bunker, set up and take a few practice swings through the long grass that surrounds the bunker. You’re getting used to the feel of the club being resisted during impact and not being bothered by it.

Now step into the bunker and set up, clubface open, stance swung to the left, ball forward of center. Wiggle your feet back and forth, in place, to give yourself a more secure footing. You’re ready to go.

The key to a sand shot is to let the sand take the ball out, not the club. Hit two inches behind the ball and let the sole of the club slide through the sand. You should hear a thump followed by the club sliding through the sand. Gary Player says this sounds like striking a match.

Stay calm when you hit the shot. There was no tension in your mind when you took practice swings through the grass, so keep that same frame of mind when you swing through the sand. If you do, the next sound you hear will be someone saying, Nice out

Beating the Top Five Swing Flaws

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A good first step to achieving a low golf handicap is perfecting your swing. A flawless swing exudes power and rhythm. That’s why smart golfers take golf lessons and read golf tips-to root out their swing flaws. If your swing is flawless-or close to it-you’ll hit the fairway more often. You’ll also set yourself up for hitting good approach shots and making more pars and birdies. But if your swing has flaws, you’ll hit into trouble more often than not, racking up big numbers on your scorecard. More importantly, you’ll never achieve that low golf handicap.

Below are descriptions of the five most common swing flaws among weekend golfers. Actually, they’re probably the five most common swing flaws period. If you have one of them in your swing, stamp it out. But even if you don’t have one, you should be aware of them. Even good golfers can form bad habits because of one of these flaws, so it’s good to know how to correct them. When evidence of one appears, root it out quickly. Otherwise, you’ll ingrain it and have a hard time eliminating it. More importantly, you’ll have a hard time achieving that single digit golf handicap you’ve always wanted.

1. Inside Takeaway
This flaw ruins your swing before it begins. Typically, a golfer’s swing is up and around. Most golfers don’t have a problem with the up part. But they do have a problem with the around part, whipping the club too far to the inside. That ruins ruin their swing. If golfers come too far inside on the takeaway, they’ll probably come from the outside on the downswing, producing a slice. To eliminate this flaw, take the club straight back with the face pointing at the ball, not toward the sky or feet.

2. Over The Top
Coming over the top traps you into making a false turn. Your shoulder turns 90 degrees, but the rotation doesn’t really position you behind the ball. That in turn forces your weight over to your left side (right side for lefties), leading to numerous mistakes. Only a level shoulder turn produces a powerful backswing coil. It also creates a flatter swing and keeps your elbows and wrists from breaking down. Focus on turning your front shoulder over your back knee and you’ll eliminate this flaw.

Some golfers are more prone to this flaw than others. But we probably all commit it at one time or another. Often, the golfer’s first move down is a rapid turn of the shoulders. That moves the clubshaft above the downswing space, resulting in a pull. If the clubface is left open, it turns into a slice. In a fundamentally sound downswing, the hips reach their peak speed before the shoulders do, with the hands and clubhead bringing up the rear. This sequence creates the whip-like motion that defines a powerful swing. If you find yourself coming across the ball, think sequence-hips, shoulders, hands, and club.

4. Slice/Hook
Even good drivers slice and hook occasionally. Either can occur if a golfer’s lower and upper bodies are not in sync. When a golfer slices, her legs usually outrun her body on the downswing. This causes the golfer to swing too much from the inside with an open clubface. Conversely, when you hook the ball, your arms are too far in front of you and your lower body hasn’t turned. To fix synching problems, remind yourself that on any given day, one’s body is rarely in the same state. You’ll need to adjust to how your lower and upper bodies feel on any given day.

5. Poor Coil
Ever heard someone say, keep your head down after a bad shot? That’s not something you’d hear in a golf lesson or read in a golf tip. Stuffing your head between your shoulders limits your ability to turn. It also causes you to lose your spine angle, resulting in all sorts of trouble. Instead, think keep your chin up. That allows your front shoulder to pass underneath and generates a strong backswing coil. When you head is low, you can’t turn. When your head is up, your neck aligns with your spine. It becomes easier to make a strong full turn. If you find yourself hitting weak shots, keep your chin up and your neck straight.

Chances are good you have one of these five common flaws in your swing. If you’re serious about achieving a low golf handicap, a good first step is eliminating them. A flawless swing encourages power and accuracy. So take golf lessons, read golf tips, and practice as often as you can. Do everything you can to iron out these flaws and you’ll be on the road to becoming a scratch golfer.