A common problem for golfers is the correct use of the fairway wood. Many amateur players try to lift the ball into the air rather than let the loft of the club do it.

Tip one; let the club do it’s job. Engineers and very clever people design these clubs to perform a set of particular actions, getting the golf ball airborne is one of them.

Fairway woods are incredibly useful clubs performing a variety of tasks from the obvious like hitting the ball from the fairway to driving off the tee, from getting you out of the cabbage to chipping from the edge of the green.

Learn to swing your fairway wood and you will have a useful ally in your golf game.

For this article we shall concentrate on the most common aspect of the fairway wood and that is the second shot from the fairway into, and hopefully onto, the green.

Visualise this; the club will sweep the ball from the turf without taking a divot. A slight bruising of the grass is all that you want, the club face will connect with the ball at the bottom of its arc, the lofted face will cause the ball to rise into the air and fly down the fairway.

Set up to the ball in the manner of your driver with a stance slightly wider than your shoulders, this gives you a firm basis for your swing. Your spine will will be tilted slightly to the right to accomodate the fact that your right hand is lower down on the club.

The ball is played from just inside your left heel and so your sternum or breastbone will be behind the ball by a couple of inches.You can check this initial positioning in a mirror at home so it becomes natural on the course.

To begin the swing take the club back close to the ground. Practice the move by placing another ball a few inches behind your target ball and pushing it away with your club head. The swing arc is wide and fairly shallow and tempo is all important. Start practising at half speed to achieve the right technique.

The down swing will return low and wide, the club head will brush the grass and be fully at the bottom of its arc when it impacts the ball. Remember, no divots. If you are taking a divot it means the club is striking the ball on the downward direction, this will cause it to pop up violently losing forward momentum or you will scud it into the ground. Neither of which is desirable.

Develop a sense of hitting the ball down the fairway, not up into the air. After impact allow your arms to extend through the shot along the target line. This should help keep the club square at impact meaning a straighter, more accurate shot.

As mentioned earlier in the article tempo or timing is crucial to consistency with the fairway wood so practice sweeping the grass without the pressure of hitting a ball and even hum a little tune which helps you swing rythmically. It can become the most natural of movements. Good luck and good golf to you.



By: Norman Stanley

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I was playing golf with my son who hits a good long ball. On a particular tee, we decided to see who could hit the ball further. In making my swing, I did everything I am going to ask you not to do. I tried to hit the ball, to muscle the ball as hard as I could. The result was quite a long drive and a damaged and very painful 12th rib as I had pulled a muscle in that vicinity. If you want to hit a long drive for example, there are several things to consider. I am going to touch on the two main ingredients in this article and mention the rest in future ones.

The two ingredients are the two most important ones. They are

1. Timing and

2. Rhythm. “I know” I hear you say. The point is that timing and rhythm result in excellent balance.

So the most important thing here is BALANCE

Balance is something that is a known factor of the golf swing but something towards which too little attention is directed by.most average golfers.

If you are one of those golfers who attach huge importance to balance, then congratulations. You must be a very good striker of the golf ball. If not, then here is a great opportunity to improve your ball striking and your game. An opportunity to attain greater enjoyment from every round and satisfaction as you see your handicap begin to fall. When you are faced with a long par five and you feel the need to hit a long drive, by all means hit the ball. Sure you have to give it a good hit to get a good start. However you must always make sure that you play within yourself every time you hit your ball.

Make sure your swing is smooth. When you want to hit a long ball, slow you swing down even more than usual. Your swing should be totally unhurried. In actual fact, when you think about making a slow back swing, it will result in you not hurrying it. It will probably be a much better back swing than you usually make if you are a bit quick. It will make your swing more deliberate.

In doing this, you will make the arc of the swing as wide as possible. You will be sure to go to the top of your swing before starting the down swing. The wide arc results in more club head speed which is the deciding factor in the distance achieved.

When your swing goes off, have a look at your back swing. Very often you will find you are not completing it. You are stopping before you get to the top failing to achieve a full shoulder turn. Then you are starting your down swing. The result is a flick at the ball rather than a good hit.

Often a mis-hit.

Good balance is measured very much by observing the finish at the end of the follow through. If the balance is good here, then the rest of the swing before this has been good too with good timing and rhythm.

So play within yourself for your long drives and what ever you do never try to muscle the ball. As mentioned it is club head speed that determines the length of the drive and not the effect of powerful biceps. Muscling the ball may sometimes result in a huge distance, but your consistency will be terrible.

By: Bill Maitland

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If you’re frustrated at not being able to drive the ball down the field at golf or wish to improve your strokes these golf swing tips should help you.

Golf is a popular and social sport which is played everywhere in the world. It is very popular in the United States and the United Kingdom. Many people aim to improve on their golf swing to lower their handicap so we’ve put together some golf swing tips to help you achieve that goal.

There are many golf swing tips on the internet but most of them neglect the two most important factors of perfect golfing. These two factors are posture and grip.

Your posture and grip can affect how high you hit the ball and also how high. A bad posture can lower performance and also be bad for your health because you will be more susceptible to injuries.

There are two grips that professional golfers use. These are the overlapped grip where the hands are overlapping each other and the interlocking where the fingers on your lower hand interlocks with your upper hand. You should use practice with both and then use the one that you are most comfortable with.

Before hitting the golf ball, you should take a few practice swings to get a feel of the swing and also correct your posture. Your back should be at an angle but straight and your chin should be behind the ball. Do not slouch as this will affect your range.

By: Darren Davis

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How many times have you had a bunch of trees slightly blocking your balls path to the pin? Wouldnt it have been nice to be able to fade or draw the shot accordingly? It will take a bit of time at the range; but after a bit of practice, you will be confident in fading or drawing your shot.

The Draw:

A draw (for a right handed player), is when the golf ball curves slightly to the left when hit. It is less severe, and more desirable than a hook; which is when the golf ball sharply curves to the left (and often ends up in a pond or the woods).

How to Draw the Golf Ball:

Stand with a slightly closed stance. This means that if you placed your club even with your feet, the club would be pointed slightly to the right of the target. You will therefore feel as if you are aiming to the right of the target.

Close the club-face slightly, relative to how you are standing. This means the face of your club will be pointed at the target.

Play around with this. Go to the range and try playing around with how much you close your stance, this will determine how much the ball will draw.

The whole idea of closing your stance causes your swing to have a slight in-to-out swing path; which is what causes the ball to curve to the left when hit. The club will make contact with the ball slightly below the balls equator (looking down on it).

The Fade:

A fade (for a right handed player), is the opposite of a draw; when the ball curves slightly to the right when hit. The fade is the more controlled form of a slice; which is when the ball wildly veers off to the right when hit.

How to Fade the Golf Ball:

Just like you had a slightly closed stance with the draw, this time you will have a slightly open club face. Have your feet align slightly to the left of the target. You will feel as if you are aiming to hit the ball to the left.

Open the club-face slightly, relative to how you are standing. It will again be pointed at the target.

Again, practice this at the range. Test to see how much the ball curves relative to how open your stance is; the more you do this, the more confident you will be in judging how to fade the golf ball out on the course.

Opening your stance forces you to hit the ball on an out-to-in swing path. This means making contact with the golf ball slightly above the balls equator (looking down on it). The out-to-in swing path is what gives it proper spin to fade to the right.

Fading and drawing your golf shots may be tricky at first, but keep on playing around with it, and you will be able to fade or draw your shot around those trees with confidence and finesse. Those are the types of shots people ooh and ahh over, so get practicing!



By: Savannah Durbin

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Ok, you spend time on the range, you subscribe to all of the golf magazines, your golf library fills up the entire bookcase, you go to your local golf pro once a month or more, and you still can’t find any consistency with your golf game.

What is your problem?

You are being bombarded with too much information. You have 15 swing thoughts and your brain just can’t process all of them.

Let’s face it. There are many ways to swing a golf club. Turn on the tournament this weekend and count how many successful professionals DON’T swing the club the way you are being taught.

What is the golf swing? It’s hitting a little white ball with a club. Do you really need page after page and hour after hour of complicated instruction? The short answer…..no!

I will admit. After playing many of the popular sports for years, golf is definitely the hardest. Two swings that feel exactly the same can produce entirely different results. A good shot is usually followed by “Wow, what did I do there?” The last few years, I have been on a quest to improve my swing. Many say I have a nice looking swing, yet I routinely shoot in the 80s and 90s, sometimes close to a 100. My mind is filled with thoughts about my stance, my grip, my swing plane, my weight shift, my……ARGH!

I used to have a couple basic thoughts when playing golf.

Keep my head level (not completely still, just don’t stand up taller or dip down).

Let my weight transfer to my right leg (I am right handed) but bend that leg and let the tension build and go into the ground, not get on the outside.

Make solid contact. That’s it.

Years after changing my swing I can still revert back to my old technique. It is far from perfect, but produces a solidly struck golf ball and ok scores, without all of the stress.

So the question…….am I going to abandon all of the work over the last 5 years and go back to the old swing? No. But……..I am going to change my thought process. Most people who spend quite a bit of time playing golf know how to swing the club, and nobody knows your swing better than you do.

So my advice….Pick 1 or 2 things to think about when swinging the club. These thoughts don’t even have to be about anything specifically related to the swing, just something to keep you focused on the task at hand……..making good contact with the golf ball.

Don’t fill your mind with too much garbage. You have swung the club thousands of times. Your body knows what to do so let it….AND….when things go bad, just let it go. Don’t forget…golf is a game and meant to be fun.

By: Marty Calloway

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Who else wants to increase the distance of our swing? Practically all of us, I should think. To that end, 90% of inexperienced golfers seek out golf swing instructions. We are inspired by news stories of the great golfers – how far they can hit the golf ball, the great distance of their drives, etc.

So we avidly search for golf swing instructions on the internet. We look for special classes. We subscribe to golf magazines and watch golf on TV and cable. All this to look for that special edge with which to beat the golf course and grind our golf buddies into the dirt. If you studied NLP, you would ask these two questions:

1) Who is the best golfer in the world of all time?
2) What are the differences between him and me?

The answer to the first question is unarguably Tiger Woods. He burst onto the golfing scene like a meteor – a true prodigy. And yet, unlike many prodigies, he managed to retain his top form year after year for practically a decade now. So, what is the answer to question number two? What does he have that we do not?

On the mental aspect, clearly he is mentally very tough. When he starts strongly, he very often manages to remain ahead of his competitors, shrugging off their pressure. When he does not start well, he never gives up. Not only that, but he also has the ability to continuously put pressure on his opponents, chasing after them until they inevitably cracked. One important fact about him is that he is very consistent. You rarely hear of him making any major mistakes.

Getting back to his swing – when he first caught the notice of reporters, Tiger Woods was considered a big hitter, often hitting the ball farther than most of his opponents. Should we try to imitate his swing from this period? No, because he clearly abandoned his old method of hitting the ball despite his success with it. Kibitzers offered up many reasons, among them the excuse that his old power swing caused too much strain on the body and was beginning to affect his health. Regardless of the true reason, even a casual analysis will show that Tiger Woods’ new swing is less powerful, but much more consistent. His new results after he mastered the new swinging technique clearly proves it. You no longer hear about his spectacular drives nowadays. Instead, reporters talk about his consistency and how he makes fewer mistakes. They complain that his game is boring, and yet he holds top position even more often than in the past.

So how does Tiger Woods achieve his spectacular performance? Apparently, by using what some experts call a “one plane swing”. One of his major rivals, Vijay Singh also apparently uses a “one plane swing”. While both of them have unique features in their swing, there are many common threads which tie them into followers of the “one plane swing” school, pioneered by Ben Hogan and Jim Hardy. One unique aspect of this type of swing is that you employ a more natural rotary swinging motion whereby you match the arm and shoulder planes throughout the swing. Compared to this, the “two plane swing” used by Jack Nicklaus attempts to perfectly time and blend the relatively flat rotation of the body with the upright swinging of the arms.

Before you try looking for golf swing instructions, you are well advised to decide which kind of golf swing you want to learn. At the very least, make sure your golf instructor knows the difference. One common quality of the worst golfers is that they mix in components of both the “one plane swing” and the “two plane swing” into their own swing, making a horrible mess of their game.

By: Godfrey Swain

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Kansieo.com

Hey guys, welcome to Help With Golf Swing articles. I am going to discuss a topic that I have caught myself overlooking. We will briefly talk about how to properly grip a golf club.

I was out on the golf course a couple of days ago playing with my usually partner and his wife. I am not sure why, but I have just assumed people know how to grip the golf club, which I am inaccurate on that though. I noticed that my golf buddies wife wasn’t quite holding the club right. As a result, her wrist were not working correctly. What is cool is, after about 10 minutes with her, she was playing like a pro! Well, not a pro, but much, much better! Let me share with you the steps that we took, and maybe you can benefit as well.

To begin, I would like to share why a correct golf grip is important. The proper golf grip is going to give you 3 distinct advantage.

1.) The grip controls the face position of the club at impact. A correct grip gives you a better chance at hitting the golf ball straighter.

2.) If you place your hands correctly on the club, you can be a powerful golfer. This is your only physical connection between the golf club and you.

3.) During the course of the swing, the club travels about 30+ feet. You need to keep your eye on the ball while this motion is going on. Proper grip here will let you feel where the club is exactly. You need this for proper shots.

Now, to perfect the grip. Assuming you a right handed golfer…

1.) Hold the club about 3 feet in the air in front of your body. Not open, not closed. But squared.

2.) Place the club at an angle through the fingers of the left hand. The club should touch the base of the little finger and just above the first joint of the index finger.

3.) Place your left thumb toward the back side of the shaft.

4.) With the left hand grip completed: (the left thumb should be at a 1:00 position) (b.you should be able to see the knuckles of the index and middle finger in the address position) (c.the thumb and forefinger V should point between your right shoulder and right ear.)

Now, let’s add the right hand to the grip.

1.) Place the club in the fingers of your right hand at angle.

2.) You will want to position the club handle so it touches the dots.

3.) This locates the club handle between Section 1 & 2 of the right ring finger, directly on Section 2 of the middle finger, and between Section 2 & 3 of the index finger.

4.) The left-hand thumb and the right hand lifeline area (palm) should be touching.

Add these grips together and you are good to go. Make sure you don’t squeeze the mess out of the club, rather a slightly firm grip. Goodluck!

Remember guys, you don’t always need to pay to get help with your golf swing, just practice, and ready Help With Golf Swing articles. We are here to help.

By: Franklin Simpson

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This is a video segment taken from the Tees2Greens.com Virtual Golf Pro featuring Stuart Smith as he discusses how to stop shanking the golf ball.

By: forthefew

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Most high handicap golfers dread going into the bunker. However, getting out from a bunker is basically a very easy shot.only if you know how.

Always remember that you are not supposed to hit the golf ball clean. Do not make contact with the golf ball itself with the club.

The sand is actually going to act as a cushion between the club head and the ball when you hit the shot out.

Most people when going in a bunker they try to pick the ball off the top of the sand with a chip shot action as though theyre on the grass. Now the problem with that is that the grass is very firm so youre not going to dig in with the club. This means you can quite easily hit the golf ball first and get a decent strike out of it.

In the case of a bunker shot, most people tend to just duff it in front of themselves because the sand is fluffy and it breaks up. In order to hit a good bunker shot, what youve got to remember is that youre actually going to take out the same amount from underneath the ball.

For good bunker shot, when you swing the golf club, the swing needs to be a lot longer and have a better tempo than with a chip shot, because youve got to allow for the sand which youre going to take out with your shot. You must allow for that sand to actually take the power out of the shot.

If the ball is sitting up on the surface, your sand wedge takes less sand with it during your swing. If it’s buried you’d have to dig deeper, and the club will barely make contact with the ball. The following steps would help you to consistently hit good bunker shot:

1) As you are aware, the sand wedge has a wide sole. This is called the bounce. It will make is easier for you to lift the ball out of the sand and get it up quickly.

2) Place your feet squarely in the sand and make sure you have solid footing and balance. You have to take a firm swing to overcome the resistance of the sand.

3) Use an imaginary line just ahead of your ball. Open the club face and aim at a point about 3 inches behind the ball if it is sitting on top of the sand. The sand wedge would slide through the sand just under the ball and would loft the ball over onto the green.

4) If the ball is partially buried in the sand, focus at a point just behind the ball taking more sand with the swing

5) With all bunker shots, allow your follow through of the club head higher than the front of the bunker.







By: John Woon

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If you play golf and want to make sure that you playing to the best of your ability you need to make sure that you know all about the golf swing fundamentals that are the backbone of your game. It is commonly believed that there are six main fundamentals of a good golf swing and these are -

Your grip – you must make sure that you are holding the club comfortably and not too hard as this will make you lose control of your shot.

Your posture – how you stand is very important to ensuring a good golf swing, make sure your feet are planted firmly on the ground with your feet apart, knees bent, back straight and do all bending from the hips.

Your pivot – this is how you move your body when you are taking your swing, you should move freely and fluidly and without any tension as this will transfer into your shot and make you miss the ball.

The way your arms and hands behave during the swing – this might seem a little silly but you need to make sure that your hands and arms move in conjunction with each other to maximise your golf swing.

Your alignment – this is how you take aim on the golf ball when you are lining up your shot and is crucial to hitting the ball in exactly the right spot.

Finally, and possibly one of the most vital areas of golf swing fundamentals is our state of mind when you come to take your shot. You must be concentrating but not overly so as this will make you tense which will then lead to a poorly hit ball. Make sure you are relaxed yet focused and you will be swinging like a pro in no time.

By: Joe Marquart

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