Golf I grew up on a golf course. People tend to say that if they played plenty of golf when they were young, but our house actually backed up to a golf course. It was the biggest park around. Of course dad was a golfer, and I started playing when I was 5. This was a public course and we had a membership. The whole family played golf. I Earned mony selling lemonade and cokes on hot summer days on the golf course. When the leaves started falling from the trees, there were always plenty of abandoned golf balls to find and then sell to other golfers.
Dad took several golf magazines, and always watched golf on TV. I was raised on Nicholas playing Palmer. I had my own set of custom made woods by the age of 12, King woods with white grips.
Golf can be broken down into four parts:
One The long game, which is the game played with full power strokes choosing different clubs depending on the distance and the loft desired, usually played using the woods and the irons from one to seven. Two The short game, which may be the hardest because you're controlling for distance and loft sometimes by changing the power behind the shot is usually played with five irons up to nine irons. Three The chipping game, played for short distances and trying to control how the golf ball lands, and whether you want to roll, stop, or backup. This is a part of the game that's hard to practice because many times you’re on uneven surfaces that are unpredictable. That chipping game is usually played with the seven iron to the nine iron, pitching wedges, and sand wedges. Four Putting, which of course is played with the putter, and is played on the green and sometimes just off the green in the fringe area.
Playing each of these games is broken down into basics, those being, addressing the ball, club selection, the grip, and the swing.
Addressing the ball is broke down into, stance (that's positioning and attitude of the feet), position of your body over the ball, and the position of your frame to the target.
Club selection, which is pretty straightforward that takes practice to get correct.
The grip, which is how you all the club, gets under emphasized as far as its importance because it is a major item in controlling where the ball goes.
The swing, which after you learn the basics, is something that you practice to make consistent.
Many books have been written about golf, in fact, book have been written about each of the four parts of the game, and books have been written about how to approach and hit the ball. I can't teach someone to play golf in a short article, but I believe I can give you information to use as a tool to improve your game. First, let such a few basics about addressing the ball, and the grip.
Most people teach you addressing the ball means to stand and a very specific pattern along certain geometries and associations of your feet and your shoulders and your head and the ball and the target. I can agree that the general idea of most of those lessons, but not everyone is built the same way so I don't think everyone has to fit into that specific mold. The main thing to take away when learning how to address the ball is what will happen if you change out of that specific mold so you can judge for yourself what is right for your swing. One thing I think is important for most golfers is that when you're standing in front of ball ready to hit, if you draw a line from the tip of one toe to the tip of the other toe that line should extend to your target. Lay a club on the ground with a handle pointing to your target and then bring your toes up against the club. That's not a big lesson but it is a lesson some people don't know or practice.
The grip is probably the most important part of golf in that this is where you control how the ball is going to fly once the club head hits the ball. The type of grip you use comes down to personal preference, the most important part being that it feels comfortable and doesn't tire the hands.
Here's the part that can help you make a judgment about your grip and what to do with it to control where the ball goes. Adjusting your grip is how you control the aspect of the clubface.
Everything comes down to the point that the clubface context of ball. This is determined by the aspect of the clubface (how the clubface is facing), and the path of the clubface. The contact happens so fast that you can't see what happened but with little knowledge, you'll know what happened.
There are three aspects of the golf clubface
1 Open, clubface faces away from you
2 Straight, or the clubface is perpendicular to the path to the target
3 Closed, the clubface is slightly toward you
And there are three paths
A Inside to outside
B Straight
C Outside to inside
So here are the nine results
1 & A Pushed shot, shot travels straight, but away form you (if you are right handed, it travels to the right of the target)
1 & B Some slice, depends on how open the face is
1 & C Bad slice
2 & A Some Hook, may push away, but will curve back
2 & B Straight shot
2 & C Some slice, may pull some toward you, but will slice away
3 & A Bad Hook
3 & B Some hook, again depends on how closed the face is
3 & C Pulled shot, travels straight, but to your side of the target (if you are right handed it will travel to the right of the target)
In golf, knowledge is power, and this is the most important knowledge. Knowing this you can determine how you are contacting the ball and learn control of your grip. Controlling the grip is the first thing you should work on. (Not grammatically correct, but that is how people talk)
After you determine that, you have control over the clubface you can determine how the head of the club is traveling, and work on addressing the ball to control the path of your swing. The point is not necessarily to have a perfect straight shot every time, but to control the ball and its flight path. Sometimes you need a hook or a slice to get around obstacles on the course or to choose is safer path to be targeting.
If you think about the 1, 2, and 3, and the A, B, and C, you'll figure out that often come down to subtle adjustments to get the perfect result.
Golf is less about power than control, that compares to baseball were a curveball can be better than a fastball, or in bowling where the curve path can be better than the speed the ball is thrown. Golf is challenging and enjoyable when you have the knowledge tools to improve your game.