PurePoint Golf Swing Technique - Fairway Woods

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
If you had to rate golf shots on degree of difficulty, personally, I would think fairway bunkers is a top five. There's no question about it. I'm going to share with you a golf swing technique to help you with this shot.

One of the main reasons some of you struggle with fairway bunkers is when you have a long fairway shot, a Par 5, you've hit the fairway bunker in 1 shot and now you want to reach the green in 2, so, you pull out your trusty fairway wood.

There's a problem with that. The sole on the bottom of a fairway wood, a metal wood, is a lot wider than that of an iron; let's say the 8 iron. The sole on the 8 iron is about, maybe a fifth or a fourth as wide as a 3 wood. This is what happens if you try to hit a fairway wood from a fairway bunker shot.

What you do is, as you start to swing down, the sole of the golf club catches the ground and makes the wood skid. A lot of times you'll take a little too much sand and hit it 10 feet, or you'll top it.

Fairway woods, metal woods, were not designed to be hit out of fairway bunkers. The reason is, if you take a normal golf swing and if you catch a little sand you won't go far, or you'll top it. That's what your golf swing is designed to do is to run level with the ground.

Let me share with you a great golf swing technique that will help you in the future when you're in the fairway bunker.

Using an 8 iron, if you play this golf ball in the middle of your stance and put a little weight on your left leg and put the handle of the golf club over towards your left side and swing your arms up and down, the ball will go near 125 yards.

The next time you're in the fairway bunker, if you're looking for 125 yards, try this golf swing technique and use a lofted club, a 7, 8, 6 iron. Put the ball in the middle of your stance, put a little weight to your left leg, swing your arms up and down, and feel the chop down on it for a 125-yard golf shot out of the bunker.

Try that tip.

About the Author
David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=295090

PurePoint Golf Tips - Cure a Golf Slice and the Drill to Use to Fix the Golf Slice

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
If you have been slicing the golf ball, this tip is for you. Here's how to cure a golf slice.

The way I grip the golf club enables the club face to return square when it comes back down to the golf ball.

I don't have any challenges with slicing the golf ball. But if you've been slicing the golf ball and when you look down at your left hand and you don't see any knuckles, your club face is probably wide open at impact.

So, the next time you go tee up, give this a shot. Turn your left hand over towards your right hand. Make sure you can see one or two knuckles and make sure both palms are facing each other. This is a great way you can cure a golf slice.

With that, I guarantee you that the club face will now start to square up at the bottom.

Now I'm going to tell you the most common fault with a driver. It's slicing it, that's a given.

But let me tell you the reason why I believe that so many people slice it. If you turn when you go back and you swing your arms up, in the downswing the arms have to come first.

So many amateurs open the shoulder up in the downswing. And that makes the golf club cut across it.

From the top the arms swing first, and your shoulder never opens.

So, let me teach you something that I think will help fix a golf slice.

I cannot tell you how many golf balls I have hit with my feet and knees touching each other and making normal, real golf swings. Everything else stays the same.

It is a wonderful way for you to start feeling that the arms swing away from the body. And they aren't connected to it when you turn into it with the left shoulder.

The arms are free to swing past you and you don't have to worry about the body.

You can play golf that way. I shot 71 on a really good golf course ten years ago with my feet and knees touching each other the whole way around.

You will hit about 80% of your regular length this way but have 100% better contact with the golf ball and fix your golf slice.

Give that a try the next time out.
Thanks.

About the Author
David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=294433

PurePoint Golf Instruction Driver Golf Slice & Driver Golf Swing Instruction

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
I have often been asked what I think the most important part of the setup is when you're getting ready to drive a golf ball. I don't know if there is one answer to that question.

The way I answer it is based on what I've observed over the past 30 years of teaching.

After you've addressed the golf ball, and this is not an easy thing to see, you might have to have someone watch. Or, I'll tell you how to check for yourself.

After you've addressed the golf ball and you're all ready to hit, I would say that 90% of the people that struggle with the driver have their shoulders aimed way off to the left.

Now, why? It's pretty simple. Oh, I don't know, 80% of the golfing public has a driver golf slice.

So, if you slice the golf ball, you're going to try to aim off to the side, so when it recovers and comes back around it's in play.

Now, unfortunately, for those of you that have a driver golf slice, simply by squaring your shoulders up, that isn't going to take away the slice. But it's going to encourage the golf club to swing more from inside than from outside, and it will help it a lot.

You may need a grip change. But there's no question about it, the most important part of the setup for the driver has to be the shoulders.

Make sure they're aimed parallel to your feet, knees and hips going left of the target.

Now, if you're driving the golf ball poorly and not very consistent, let me give you these two golf swing instruction pearls. They go hand in hand.

And I promise you this will help you find out if your problem with your driver is in the backswing.

For you to become a really good driver of the golf ball and consistent, the shoulders have to turn.

The only way they can turn in the backswing is if you have your chin up and not down.

Most mistakes that I've seen with amateur golfers in their difficulties of driving the golf ball is their posture.

Their head is too far down. The only thing your shoulders can do is go up in the air. You won't have the ability to swing the golf club around you. You won't have the chance of your shoulders turning.

So, the best golf swing instruction I can give you is, the next time out, after you've addressed the golf ball, gone through your routine and you're almost ready to swing the golf club back, simply lift your chin up in the air an inch or two. And don't forget that your shoulder should turn in the backswing.

If you have your chin up, the shoulder can turn around it. From there, you can really let it fly in the downswing.

Again, chin up, not down, promotes the shoulders turning in the backswing.

Try that the next time out and I promise you it'll help you.
Thanks.

About the Author
David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=275047

PurePoint Golf Instruction Tips on Learning How to Play Golf

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
Of course, when you're learning how to play golf there's a million different ways to address the golf ball because there's millions of different people that play the game. But there are some absolute musts that you have to try to do to try to get in different positions at address.

Now, bad posture would be where the knees are too straight: no bend at the hip and the back is too straight. This doesn't work, I promise you. This posture, you probably would hit a lot of pop-ups with your driver and hit the ground a lot with your irons.

The complete opposite would be where the knees are flexed too much and you're bent way over at the hips and you slouch your shoulders. This doesn't work either. This one creates hitting ground behind it and topping.

So, there's somewhere in the middle where one of these postures has to be about right, so let me give it to you.

Slightly flex your knees. Put two index fingers on your hip bones, and tilt over your belt buckle or tilt over your waistline. But don't let the shoulders slouch. Keep the shoulders back.

From here you can then turn and the golf club will be on plane.

If you try this when learning how to play golf, I promise you, this will help you.

Now, here's another tip for learning how to play golf. I once gave a golf lesson to someone who desperately needed help with his consistency when driving the golf ball. When he swung, as the golf club went back, so did he, and then he slid back over to his right side. Now, from there you have to be extremely talented to match up the club face with your body, because you're just going to slide right back into it.

This reminded me of when I was little and the lesson my mother used to give me. A number of years ago, because I was so small when I was younger, I used to drive the golf ball sliding backwards. And I did it so many times I got pretty good at it.

But at one point, when I was probably 12 years old, my mother used a golf swing training aid that I will never forget. There was an aluminum garbage can on the back of the practice facility at Fort Myers Country Club, and I remember it very well.

My mother went and got it one day and brought it over to the pile of balls that I was standing across from. She made me climb into it and hit balls while standing inside.

I hit balls for two weeks and she teed up every golf ball for me. And as you can tell, if you use your imagination, by using this golf swing training aid, it helped me to stop moving away from the golf ball. It made me start turning around, and that changed everything for my driver.

I didn't hit it as far, but I hit it a lot more solid, and eventually, I got my length back.

So, if you're struggling, if some of your friends are saying to you that they see you sliding, use a golf swing training aid of your own, or use your imagination and feel as though you've stepped into a garbage can so you can feel the club go around and have your body turn around and not slide back and forth.

If you're struggling with sliding, think of the aluminum garbage can.
Thanks.

About the Author

David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=274090

PurePoint Golf Instruction Golf Swing Fundamentals - Driver Timing

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
Let's spend a couple of minutes talking about one of the three most abused and misunderstood golf swing fundamentals, timing. It's an important term but it's misused a lot. So, let me explain to you what timing is, and then it'll draw you a lot closer to understanding when you're struggling.

Timing is your ability to swing your arms and hands back to the golf ball as your hip turns out of the way. And the reason it has to turn out of the way is so the arms and hands can pass your body and wrap around you. That's the definition, no more, no less.

Now, I have gone to the golf course many days where I've hit the ball beautifully, solid, straight right. So, my timing was off a bit because my body was turning out in front of my golf club and that was sending it off to the right.

Now, the correction would be to slow the bottom half down and speed up the top part. There have been days where my timing has been off because the arms and hands were quicker than the bottom.

How do you correct that? Speed up the bottom and it'll catch up with the arms and hands, and that will help that.

Now, how do you fix your timing? That's probably the most difficult question in the game of golf. How do you get your timing back? I believe that if you can't hit your pitching wedge, you probably aren't hitting your 5 iron and your 5 wood and your driver.

So, I love to send people out to the practice facility to hit thousands of pitching wedges and work on their golf swing fundamentals. That, to me, is the easiest way to find your timing.

Now, let's say that your favorite club in your golf bag is your driver and you're driving the ball beautifully. Then go hit a thousand drivers. Or maybe it's a 5 wood or a 5 iron. Whatever club you're struggling with, stay way away from that one.

Go to the club that you're doing well with. And if you're not doing well with any of them, then go to a pitching wedge.

Now, the next question most difficult after that: How do you know when your timing's off? I believe that your timing is off when your miss/hit pattern is not consistent. One's fat, one's thin, one's top, one's good, one's to the left, one's to the right. That's a great indication that your timing's off.

Find your favorite club and go to the practice tee and hit ten thousand of them and remember when you hit the golf ball to think of the golf swing fundamentals.

Thanks and have a great day.

About the Author
David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=273113

PurePoint Golf Chip Shot Tips - Short Game

by David Nevogt

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
I recently played a round of golf with a friend of mine. Every time he had a chip shot, he used a sand wedge. It didn't matter if he had a short chip shot or long chip shot. Every single time he chipped the ball, he chipped it with a sand wedge.

Let me tell you what the problem with that is. If you use a lofted golf club to chip a golf ball, you might be okay on the smaller chip shots, the short ones, where you don't have to make too big of a golf swing. But to make a golf ball go further when you're chipping, you have to make a bigger golf swing.

If I had a small chip shot, the backswing would go maybe a foot or a foot and a half long. If I had a longer chip shot, I would have to make a longer backswing. You have to be very talented to do that.

Here's something that will really help you. If you have a short chip shot, try chipping with a 9 iron. Ball in the middle of your stance, a little weight on your left leg, the handle over towards your left leg, and make an arm swing out of it.

If you have a medium length chip shot, the very same golf swing: ball in the middle of your stance, weight over to your left leg with the handle over on your left leg, and make another little arm swing. Because the loft is flatter, the golf ball will go further.

I'll take it a step further for you. Let's say you had a chip shot and you had to go all the way to the back of the green. Instead of making this long golf swing with a sand wedge, why not try a 5 iron? Ball in the middle of your stance, a little weight on your left leg, handle over towards your left leg, and make the same golf swing that you made with a 9 iron and the same golf swing you made with the 7 iron. I guarantee you this will help you.

Get a picture of what you're trying to do. You're trying to make the golf ball go a short distance in the air and a long distance on the ground for a long chip shot: a short distance in the air and a medium length distance on the ground for a medium chip shot; short chip, short distance in the air, and a little bit on the ground.

To do that, try to change the golf club. Control the distance you want the chip shots to go by your club selection, not by the length of your backswing.

About the Author
David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=258160

PurePoint Golf Instructions - Chipping from Deep Rough, Chipping Backswing and Chipping Distance Con

by David Nevogt

Copyright 2006 David Nevogt
Here's a great tip for those of you who play golf where there's a lot of deep rough. Those of you that live back East or in the Midwest, it is pretty common for you in the summertime and, often, it's wet.

Here are a few golf instructions about a couple of shots that are the most popular when you're hitting from out of deep rough. You will have a tendency to hit it thin or skull it or top it. And let me tell you why.

When the golf club starts to swing into the back of the golf ball, there is grass growing around it. Because of the bounce on the back of the golf club, it's very difficult to get the golf club to go deep enough into the ground to find the bottom of the golf ball.

Another golf tip is when you're struggling and the ball is down in some deep grass, whether you're pitching the golf ball or whether it's a full golf swing; make sure that you put a lot of weight on your left side. And the final part is to make sure that the golf club finishes low to the ground after impact.

So, on a full swing to the green with a pitch shot, the ball in the middle, weight left, hand to the left, swing your arms up and straight down into the ground. And I think that you'll be able to see that there's a big change in the trajectory of the golf ball.

Now lastly, do not expect any backspin when you have a golf ball coming out of deep rough.

Now let me tell you something that will play a major role in whether you can make solid contact with your chip shots. I'm going to tell you how to use the correct golf swing when chipping and it has to do with the backswing.

There are two ways that you could swing the golf club back when you're chipping that are incorrect, and there's one correct golf swing.

There are the two ways that you possibly could be doing it wrong after you've gotten all ready and all set up.

If the golf club travels too much inside, away from the golf ball, that means the golf club didn't go up in the air.

When it goes inside, it stays too low to the ground. If you do that, you'll hit tops to the right, or you'll hit the ground behind it.

Those of you that are hitting the ground behind it or thin tops to the right, it has to do with the club going too much inside.

Now, here's a mistake that few people make, but you could be one of them. If the golf club goes outside, you'll go up in the air too much, and if you do that, you'll pull to the left and hit it low and flat to the left.

If you stand correctly, with the ball in the middle and a little weight left, and use the correct golf swing, the golf club travels straight back. Okay, so it goes just a hair inside, but mostly straight back with just a little, tiny curve inside on the way back.

And then you'll be able to make solid contact. Not too much inside in the backswing and not on the outside, but straighter back with just a slight curve to the inside.

That's your backswing when you're chipping.

In case you're not sure about what clubs to use when you're chipping, I have some advice to give you for your golf short game. I've been a big advocate of using a 5, 7, and a 9: a 9-iron for your short chip shots, a 7-iron for your medium length chip shots, and a 5-iron for your longer chip shots.

The reason? Because you can use one golf swing, and let the different golf clubs control the distance.

For instance, a 9-iron chip shot will make the golf ball go about 30 feet. Now, that doesn't mean that it's 30 feet for everybody in the world. Some of you might only chip your 9-iron chip shots 15 feet. Some of you might go 35.

But the way I like to do it is on an average-size green. My 9-iron chip shots go to the front third, my 7-iron goes to the middle third, and the 5-iron goes to the back third.

So, for your golf short game, if you use the same golf swing, but change to a 7-iron, you will see the difference is in the length that the golf ball goes. It's the same golf swing, but now, the golf ball will go maybe 50 feet. And, lastly, if you use your 5-iron, it'll go maybe 100 feet.

Here's another thing that will be helpful for your golf short game. If you're in the front of the green and it's a steep green and the pin is in the middle of the green, maybe you chip that with a 5-iron, because it's so steep.

If you're on a flat green, 9-iron, 7-iron, 5-iron.

If you're on a steep green and you're in the back, maybe a 9-iron for all the different distances coming down the hill, because it's so much quicker.

The next time you're out, try that.

About the Author
David Nevogt writes golf instruction material that helps golfers of all levels reach their full potential and lower their scores. David is the author of "The Simple Golf Swing" which guarantees to have you shooting 7 strokes lower in only 1 week from today. You can find more of his golf instruction by going to Golfswingguru.com Click Here!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=256245