• Recent Posts

  • Useful Golf Tips

    3 Basic Basic Tips

    Like any other sport, golf has basic rules that should always be adhered to, even if you are not a competitive player and just like to hit a few rounds on the course in your leisure time. It makes the game fair, challenging, and respectful to the other players you are with.

    Here are three such rules:

    1. Do not cheat by switching balls during a hole. The rules state that you must play with the same ball from the tee off to the final putt. Wherever the ball lands on each shot, that is where you play it from.

    2. Always carry a scorecard with you. It is not absolutely necessary, especially if you do not plan on keeping score, but even if not, having a scorecard is a great way to track your progress.

    3. The best way to progress in golf and improve your short game is to compare older scorecards with your current game. In other words, if you just hit the course yesterday, and today bring along that scorecard. You now have an opportunity to look at every shot made an improve on mistakes.

  • Categories

  • Archives

    • « Professional Golf Is Not As Glamorous As You Might Think | Home | Break Your Putt Into 2 Steps For Better Confidence »

    How To Handle Putting Through Speedy Breaks

    By Foursome | June 12, 2008

    Playing golf on greens that have speedy breaks can be huge putting challenges. Some courses are built with greens that carry severe slopes, such as courses designed by Donald Ross.  Sometimes you can see the breaks easily, like on crowned greens, but other times, when facing shots from certain positions, you may not be able to see the break at all. This is especially true when playing on a course that is built in the mountains or near large bodies of water.

    Confidence Is #1

    The fastest way to ensure a missed putt in such conditions is to make the shot with uncertainty. Lack of confidence is not an option. Even if you have to talk yourself into believing that you will make the shot (in other words selling yourself to yourself) then do so and stick with it. Use all of your knowledge gained about analysis to make the judgment on your target line and the right speed to get the ball close. Then stroke the putt with all of your conviction and don’t look back.Sometimes, no matter how much confidence you have in your shot and how well you judged the line and speed, you may end up staring down a fast and hard breaking putt. Steep, downhill putts may end up in disaster just by seemingly breathing on the ball as it goes bolting past the hole.

    Once an object is in motion, it tends to stay in motion, and coupled with fast conditions on the green (don’t forget gravity), it doesn’t always work out as planned. You may be tempted to lightly tap the ball in such a situation or even when facing speedy downhill circumstances without much break. So let’s leave you with a couple of tips that will leave your friends applauding:

    1. Avoid hitting the ball too lightly. The danger of tapping the ball too softly is that you may end up decelerating the putter head on the down stroke. Deceleration may cause your arms to have a jerky motion which in turn causes the club to be pulled off-line. Your nerves may also come into the picture on such a putt and cause similar mistakes.

    2. One way to relieve some of the fear induced shakes, slow down some speed, and get through the break, is to hit the ball off of the toe of the putter. Simply line up for your putt with the putter in its normal place behind the ball. Now slide the putter head back and towards your inseam until the toe (the far end of the blade) is sitting behind the center of the ball. Now stroke your putt.

    Topics: Green, Tips & Practice |

    Comments