Back to the basics! Some times we try to fine tune our swings and realize we went overboard. My hope is that these tips on the fundamentals of the swing will help get you back on track and might even get you to that next level. Good Luck! And let me know if they helped you. If you have a question or you want to share a tip with your cyber golf friends just sign my guest book and use the Comments Box. Thanks.

The Grip

If you are a new golfer the grip will be a big part of your training. It may feel strange at first but you will soon realize that a good and natural flowing wrist-cock at the top will be the result along with a square club face at impact.

The club is resting mostly in the fingers and a little bit in the hand on both hands. Right handers will place the club diagonally across the fingers of the left hand with the heel pad locking the club in the left hand, heel pad, pinkie, ring and middle finger. Place the right hand in the same manner onto the club with the pinkie overlapping the left index finger or interlocking the two fingers together. The hands should feel as one unit working together, not against each other. The Vs formed from the thumb and index fingers on both hands should be pointing somewhere between your chin and right shoulder for a neutral grip. The right index finger should be relaxed as it serves as a trigger to guide the club throughout the swing. (Do not grip too tightly) Keep the tension and forearm muscles out of the grip for a smoother flowing swing.

Posture

Here I must stress to you to focus on bending from the hip sockets (do not bend or roll from your back OR shoulders to reach the ball) until your arms have a good clearing from your chest to swing freely. The flexing of the knees a little towards your feet is all that is left to a wonderfully balanced posture. You may have to practice this in a mirror while holding a club from your shoulder. Let it hang and check to see that it connects the shoulder, knees, and toes from the side. If not, adjust your posture till they do. Besides the proper grip, posture is the biggest part of a solid golf swing foundation. Do these drills without a club every chance you get and it will become an ingrained part of your swing

Stance/Alignment

Alignment should be a simple thing in our pre-shot routines but I find a lot of amateurs that think they are but are actually aiming way too right or way too left. This will lead to endless hours of frustrating practice to find you can not be consistently straight for more than a couple days. Your shoulders are the most important part of the alignment and are easier to check at address. But what do we align them too? Here is what I do.First I get behind the ball and line it up to my target area. I look for a mark, blade of grass, something close to the ball that is on that same line. I keep my eye on it and approach the ball. I imagine a line running from my mark and all the way through the ball. I then place the club behind the ball and line the club face up to the mark I spotted, then take my grip and place my target foot for ball position, then my back foot, then finally I check my shoulders against the imaginary line that I drew.

Tempo

I believe tempo begins with the take-away. We each have our own inner clock that we do things in sure but, if we jerk the club straight from the beginning of our swing we will lose the smooth controlled tempo that is needed to keep us in touch with the weight of the club head which helps to time our body turn with the club. At this slightly slower speed we can also watch the club head brush away from the ball on a good line and know it is leaving on a good swing plane. Do a few (tempo) drills a day with a club in hand focusing just on the back-swing at first.

Putting

Which is your dominant eye? To read the putting line more often one should know. Drop a coin on the floor and look straight down at it. Make a circle with your thumb and fore finger and line up the coin using both eyes inside the circle. Now cover each eye one at a time. Which eye made the coin move out of the circle? That is your dominant eye and the one you need to set up to have directly over the ball at address. Now set up to the coin and drop another one from your dominant eye. Did it hit the first coin? Now you can see the line more clearly and ready to sink more puts. You will see the line more often and build confidence put after put.

Putting Speed

To be consistent one must realize that gravity, not muscle, will create the ideal pendulum stroke we want in our putting stroke. If you are pushing or pulling your puts ease up on the muscle parts and take the club back and through the same distance on both sides of the ball. Also keep the putter as Low to the ground as possible for crisp contact, use a rocking-pendulum-motion with your shoulders and a comfortable grip that will not let your wrist break through the put. And for the beginners, do not turn your head and peek at the ball too soon after the put