by John Lynch

You’ve been hearing it since you first learned how to swing a golf club – “you gotta keep your left arm straight during the golf swing”.

The trouble is; how do you learn to keep your left arm straight?

A lotta golfers who think they keep their left arm straight during the golf swing are shocked when they see themselves swing on video…their left elbow usually breaks down somewhere during the backswing…or the downswing.

Some golfers are so intent on keeping their left arm straight during the golf swing they become rigid with little shoulder turn.

So, how do you learn to keep the left arm straight during the golf swing?

First, a little lesson on the physics of the golf swing…

Experts on the physics of golf refer to the “Magic Triangle” or “Eternal Triangle” that is formed in an ideal golf swing. This is the triangle formed by the golfer’s left arm, the golf club, and an imaginary line from the golfer’s left shoulder to the center of the club face. For best results, this triangle should be maintained from the start of the backswing to just before the impact area when you release the club head. This will produce a high speed impact with the ball as described in detail by Joe Dante in his top selling golf instructional book – “Four Magic Moves To Winning Golf”.

By focusing on maintaining the magic triangle throughout the golf swing you are taken advantage of a powerful physical force…the conservation of angular momentum…the principal that states angular momentum of an object remains constant as long as no external force or moment acts on that object.

If the object (club head) is brought closer to the axis (formed by the golfer’s stable spine), it speeds up. If the club head is moved further out, it slows down. In a golf swing, as the player rotates the club, the hands move farther from the body or axis and slow down. This reduction in momentum feeds into the much lighter club and increases the speed of the club head in the last part of the stroke, in a whiplash type of effect, increasing the force of impact on the ball.

The truth is, if your left arm does not stay straight during the golf swing, you are losing out on the benefits of centrifugal force because your swing arc is smaller. Think of your left arm as a spoke in a wheel and your swing arc as the circumference of the wheel. By not keeping your left arm straight you are essentially shortening the spoke thereby reducing the circumference. You are also upsetting the positive effects of conservation of angular momentum and thus reducing the speed between club face and ball.

Now that you understand the physics behind the benefits of keeping your left arm straight during the golf swing…

How do you learn to do so?

Assuming your golf swing fundamentals such as grip, stance, and alignment are relatively sound, all you have to do is simply become aware of this magic triangle. Don’t try to force this triangle…just become aware of it next time you go to the range…

Then, just before impact, release all that stored energy you will have in the club head, like cracking a whip!

After a while you will be shocked at how solidly you can strike the ball…

You’ll be surprised how straight your left arm becomes during the golf swing just by shining the light of awareness upon this magic triangle during the golf swing.

You will now have a tiger by the tail so use this new found power wisely!

Hit ‘em Long and Straight!

John Lynch

About the author

To learn more on how to keep your left arm straight during the golf swing, John recommends you visit: GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com

by Peter Shine

Playing golf needs a lot of equipment and it is quite difficult to find out which types of equipment suit you. Sometimes, you may not even aware what kinds of equipment are really needed. Learning the ways and strategies to choose the right type of equipment which suits yourselves is one of the essential golf training aid which could not only save your money but also improve your golfing skill effectively.

Clubs

Clubs are sold in full set of 14 or in half set of 7 or by individual piece. For beginners, it is not suggested to buy a very high quality clubs in full set. Usually beginners are not skillful enough to bring it into full play. Besides, it may also cause damage to the clubs due to misusage. On the other hand, it is not recommended to buy only one or two individual piece of club because one could never play good golf with them. Therefore, beginner is suggested to buy a half set of medium quality clubs, i.e. 5 irons, a wood and a putter to start with. Talk with a professional player and get his advice on choosing the clubs which suit your height, weight and grip before you buy.

Golf Bags

A pro-style bag is very heavy which usually needs a trolley or a real strong shoulder to carry with. It is suggested to use a nylon lightweight bag for playing casual round. You could be much freer up in the long walk without adding extra weight. Besides, you could go anywhere on the course without the trolley and will not cause the slow play problem which is commonly seen in the fairway.

Golf Shoes

Traditional golf teaching tool indicates that a good swing starts from the feet up and therefore, it is very important to have a pair of good golf shoes. Besides, you have to walk a long distance up and down the hill, and sometimes you may also encounter a heavy rain during playing. A spiked golf shoes with water-repellant treated leader give you a firm and safe footing plus keeping your feet stay dry even in adverse rainy situation.

Golf Glove

Usually a single piece of glove is worn in the weaker hand to strengthen the grip. For instance, a right hand people will usually wear a left-hand glove. Ladies could wear the gloves in both hands to strengthen the grip and increase the strength. Therefore, you could choose to buy a single piece or in pair depending on your needs. Besides, it is suggested to buy those which could suit for both rainy and shiny days to have better flexibility in usage.

Golf Balls

For beginner or high handicap level, it is suggested to use the 4cm diameter and dimpled golf balls. Pond balls are of great value of money and it is not necessary to use those very high technology designed golf balls until you are in the very professional level. If you could play well and really want to choose, a medium price two-piece Surlyn-covered ball is recommended.

by Milos Pesic

Assessing one’s playing properties is the first step towards being adept at playing golf. Certain personal factors should be identified and if necessary, corrected. Golf is a game of relative precision. There’s a little room for error in golf.

Power is always an issue in golf. Everyone wants to have more power, more delivery on drives. Even Tiger Woods have been silently assessing his chances for more power with a new graphite golf club. Though golf clubs like woods do have properties suitable for longer drives, the shorter irons give the needed control that is somewhat difficult on a typical wood. The trade-off though is lesser power.

By building a stronger grip, you can still deliver powerful strokes with an iron. A weak gripping is often characterized by one or two knuckles shown on your left hand during the address. This grip kills any power you might have built as you commence your swing. To correct this, turn your left hand towards the right until three knuckles are visible. This will afford more ball power and flight since it will keep you slinging the club head at the ball until its fullest position.

An efficient golf instructional glove like Rick Smith’s Golf Gloves is suitable for gripping familiarity. It braces your wrist to the correct position as you make you swing but won’t inhibit wrist movement. The good thing about this golf instructional tool is that it can be worn even during your regular play. You can purchase this online at: www.birdieball.com. This golf teaching tool costs $36.95.

Another neat golf instructional device is the Super Swing Trainer. It is actually a metal frame that you can use to guide your swings, every type and power of swing. By having a guide as you practice your swing, in no time consistent golf swings
will almost be automatic. This golf teaching tool costs $159.99 at www.superswingtrainer.com.

Golf Instructions for Tough Bunker Situations

Bunkers along the green aren’t that hard. In fact, it has become a standard ball trapping technique for long drives towards the green. But even if you are good at handling situations like this, bunkers that are located about 50 yards from the green isn’t the same scenario.

Wedges aren’t the top choice for this as they provide more lift to the expense of distance. Irons are the best for this. And remember the basics of digging up sand to help in slowing the ball? That won’t apply here. Hit the ball squarely as you should in any other terrain. But compensate a little bit loft to clear the trap.

About the basics of bunker close to the green; it is a standard technique that you dig way beneath the golf ball, bringing some of the sand. This would help in slowing down the ball especially useful of bunkers beside the green.

by Kyle Richey

Golf is one of the most technical sports in terms of player technique. However, it isn’t as complicated as some players make it out to be. In fact, in order to improve your game, all you have to do is learn and implement the basics correctly.

As any experienced golfer will tell you, the key to having the lowest score in golf is to get your golf swing right. Once you have a decent golf swing, you can hit the ball in whichever direction and for whatever distance you want 8 times out of 10. If you’ve ever marveled at how easily great golfers like Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh get the golf ball to do their bidding, then you should probably know that these players first spent years perfecting their golf swing basics to reach the top of their game.

Here is a brief look at the important golf swing basics:

Golf Swing Basic #1:

The golf swing begins at the time before you are about to tee off. This is where a lot of amateur golfers lose focus and end up hitting the ball into the pond or woods instead of the fairway. Here, it is important to make a mental map in your head and chart out a specific area where you would like for the golf ball to land and concentrate on hitting it there. Once you do this, you should be able to hit your target without much problem. The key to this is mental focus.

Golf Swing Basic #2:

Next, you need to take care of how well you grip the handle of your golf club. If your grip is too relaxed you are likely to end up slicing the ball and if you grip the club handle too tight, you will probably hook the shot instead of hitting it where you want to. The solution is to find the right grip level that you are comfortable with before the back-swing. Speaking of which, another important golf swing basic is the back-swing.

Golf Swing Basic #3:

It is a common mistake for rookie golfers to raise the club somewhat casually during the back-swing. If you make this error, it means that you won’t be able to hit the ball very far. This is because, the downswing is where, as you begin to twist your body and energy from your muscles is stored as potential energy, which is then converted into kinetic energy during the downswing and all that energy is transferred to the golf ball at the point of impact. To put it simply, you need to be like a tightly wound up spring in order to generate enough momentum and the best way to achieve that is by executing the back-swing in one motion moving only your arms and not your hands or wrists!

Golf Swing Basic #4:

After the back-swing comes the all important downswing. The secret to getting this right is to make sure that you have a smooth and gradual back-swing to begin with and then bring down the head of the club at least 30-35% faster than the speed of your back-swing.

Golf Swing Basic #5:

One of the most important basics for a good swing is the pivot movement during the back-swing. For right-handers, it is pertinent to get the left shoulder and hips properly into correct alignment while transferring weight slightly to the inside of the right foot. At the same time, it’s equally important to keep this movement as natural as possible without overdoing it.

To conclude, apart from the above-mentioned golf swing basics, the best way to start a day of golf is to step up to the tee with a positive mindset, since a nervous golfer is a poor golfer. So just be confident, stick to the basics and you should comfortably find your way around the golf course better than most!

About the author

Master the golf swing basics, and cut 7+ strokes from your game in the next 2 weeks! Learn the simple golf swing, and have fun with golf again. Learn how Steven Lockwood dominates his friends and has more fun than ever with golf because of one simple thing he was missing here: http://www.perfectgolf.org/simplegolfswingreview

by Dane Stanton

There are many different types of golf equipment and all have the ability to improve your game tenfold as long as you use them to their fullest extent. If you go into the local golf shop, you will notice a large variety of equipment ranging from golf clubs, to putting machines. In fact golf is one of the only sports where the equipment you buy will shape the way you play out there on the course.

Golf Clubs

Golfer’s normally carry around 14 golf clubs in a set. They are made up of five different types and are named; woods, irons, putters, hybrid and wedges. Each different type of golf club has a different purpose altogether.

Woods are used for a few purposes. One, the driver is used to normally tee off on a par four or par five hole. Two fairway woods such as the three and five wood can be used to hit from fairways where the distance away from the pin is too great to use an iron. Lastly, many golfers use woods when chipping out of rough. This enables them to hit a ball that will run or roll for an extended period of time, usually when the green a larger than normal.

The hybrid is a combination of the irons and woods, which is mostly used for long shots from hard grounds and the rough. Wedges are used to play shorter shots from rough and hard ground such as sand or the rough.

Irons are of course used for mid ranged shots where players are looking to land their ball on the green, however many golfers opt for irons when choosing to lay up, when a hole is just a little too long.

There are many manufacturers of good golf clubs, but the most famous ones are Nike, Callaway, and Mizuno Golf.

Golf ball

This golf equipment is another important feature to a player. Golf balls nowadays come in two-piece, three-piece and even four-piece forms. These are much different from those used in the old days of golf matches, these balls are very much more responsive and durable, as well as last longer compared to the former balls.

There are many good and famous makers of golf balls. Just to name a few; Maxfli, Ben Hogan, Precept, Nike, Callaway, Mizuno, and many more. These makers have a vast range of balls with competitive level of quality. Most of the balls nowadays come with super-features such as having thermoplastic urethane as covers and having titanium, nickel or cobalt cores.

Golf shoes

One semi important piece of equipment are golf shoes. Many golfers who play often will opt to buy a pair of golf shoes. Generally these shoes are made specifically for golf and usually have spikes on the soles that help to give players extra grip which then intern increases stability. One of the biggest yet unspoken reasons why many golfers choose to buy golf shoes is that they want to look professional. As golf a mostly a psychological game, many people believe that looking like a golfer helps them to feel like one as well and therefore they will notice an improvement in their game.

About the author

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