Whether you have been playing golf for one year or ten years, everyone knows that at the end of the day, the fundamentals get the job done. When things are not going right, going back to the fundamentals usually fixes most of the problems. With that in mind, today’s Tuesday Tip is about how to keep the fundamentals in your game so you continue being successful. As always, these are just tips to help you be successful, if you find something you like more, then you should do what feels natural to you and your game.
1.) BEFORE YOU SWING DON’T PULL THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU GET THIS RIGHT
Some golfers never work on the range without alignment sticks, but assuming you don’t have any, you can use anything with a straight line to make sure your clubface, feet, hips, and shoulders are aligned to hit your target. A golf shaft, a towel, or even the edge of a range mat can help. Some people call it neutral alignment. If you can’t get this right, the best swing in the world won’t get the ball on the green. The other thing to pay attention to at the address is comfort. That probably sounds weird, but you should feel tension-free at the address—and athletic. That means you feel relaxed, balanced, and ready for action.
2.) GOING BACK STAY CONNECTED AS YOU START YOUR SWING
The one swing thought to have is to stay connected. That can mean a lot of things, but for most people, it’s using your shoulders more to take the club back and not letting your hands get too far ahead of your body rotation. The club, hands, arms, and body should be turning together. They call it a one-piece takeaway. If you don’t stay connected, it can create a world of wrong in your downswing. A good way to keep your hands from taking over the backswing is to delay your wrist hinge until the shaft is about parallel to the ground.
3.) AT THE TOP TAKE THE INSIDE APPROACH
Make sure you have enough room to swing the club down into the ball from inside the target line. If you feel like your body is blocking your club from doing that, you didn’t complete your backswing. Make a full turn with your upper body going back. Don’t just take the club back with your arms.
4.) STARTING DOWN LET YOUR HIPS LEAD THE WAY
You really can’t think about anything substantial in the downswing. It’s too quick. All you can do is get it started correctly and then let whatever happens happen. So the final thing to think about is letting your hip rotation begin the action. Some people focus on one side of the hip rotation versus the other. Whatever works for you. This clears more room for the club to swing down from the inside.
5.) THE STRIKE EXTEND THE RIGHT ARM
As the club is traveling through the impact zone, sometimes you need to work on extending the right arm and keeping it extended at the target during the follow-through. It’s a good fundamental tip for accuracy. It also helps keep my upper body behind the ball through impact. Assuming you shift your weight into your left leg with a hip bump, staying back provides power and a higher trajectory to your shots. And just like these others, it’s a real simple fundamental to practice.
If you want more tips on how to continue succeeding on the course, look at our other Tip Tuesday blogs Jr Golf Tips – Hurricane Junior Golf Tour (HJGT). Stay tuned every week for more Tip Tuesday blog content.
