Left Handed Golf Grip
June 13, 2008
I want to focus on developing my left handed golf grip but I’m have some trouble getting used to holding my club like this. Can you help me out? - Mani in Beaufort, SC
Developing a left handed golf grip is in the best interest of everyone and the same rule applies for developing a strong right handed grip for a pure left handed golfer. This is definitely the case when you are working on perfecting your shot. From my experience, the easiest way for a righty to learn how to hold the club in their left is this. Take your club and while holding it at waist level, hold it in the right hand as you grip it in the left.
The shaft of the club is gripped in the middle with the right hand in the left hand position. Its absolutely necessary to have the leading edge of the club face and the back of the left hand to be as balanced as possible. When your left hand has been set in the correct place, your right hand should take the position which compliments the left.
For this exercise, the driver is the best club that lets you learn as quickly as possible. When you have the ball positioned on the inside of your left side make sure that your body is behind the ball. This position of having a high left hand and a high left shoulder will give you the sensation of being slightly inclined to the right. Your arms need to have enough room to move as you are taking the swing while allowing you to generate the speed that’s required to hit the ball.
There you go, you have just learned to be ambidextrous. Now you can hold your shaft effectively with both hands, great huh? Keep in mind that it takes both sides of your body to give you power in your golf swing and most golf virgins have a lot of difficulty starting out. So use these left handed golf tips and take stroke after stroke until you build up the consistency required to smack a ball far down range with whatever grip you choose.
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Beginner Golf Tips for Everyone
April 2, 2008
Hey beginner golf tip girl. I’m in need of some help here. I find that I have trouble with my stance. My buddy says he sees my left knee dropping in sometimes when I swing. But he couldn’t really tell me how to fix it. Worthless bastard huh? Anyways, what golf tips could you give me young lady? - Anonymous
Beginner golf tip… girl? Why don’t you just be proper and call me by my name? Golf Virgin… you’re not shy about that are you? Wow, all these people wanting golf tips left and right just makes me happy as a lark. Definitely makes me perk up when I know people are getting help. So Anonymous Name Person, golf tips I will give.
I’ve come across a lot of golfers who let their left knee collapse toward the right during the backswing. When your knee falls in like that, it causes your shoulder to drop, and makes you end up turning too far into the swing itself. Now in order to correct this problem, imagine taking a solid stance with your left knee going out toward the target on the backswing.
There should be a feeling of stability in both knees. If this is difficult to visualize, imagine a basketball between your knees. This basically gives you a perfect idea of how your golf stance should look and feel like.
Keep in mind that on the backswing, it is highly important to keep your weight on the inside of the right foot, and maintain a slight bend in the knee. If this does not happen, it can lead to poor contact when the clubhead meets the ball and a definite power loss.
Think of it this way, as you are drawing back the club, imagine that the right knee is rooted into the ground. Doing so allows for your upper body to coil behind the ball which enables you to powerfully swing through and make a nice clean drive.
Another good beginner golf tip for you Anonymous Name Person is that in order to work towards and maintain an accurate and powerful swing, practice making the extension and follow through with your club after you’ve taken your swing. Finally, put a tee about 8 inches in front of the ball that you are going to hit.
Make an effort to hit not only the ball but also the tee. This will help to train you to swing through the ball, not at it, just don’t get too overzealous and begin wacking away like a drunken old fogey in hysterics.
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Divots and Golf Ball Washers
March 27, 2008
I take pretty large divots out of the ground almost every time I take a shot. I’m not the best golfer. So when I go and get my ball, its usually pretty muddy. I take a towel with me cause I know this is going to happen. My eyesight isn’t the best and I’ve looked around for golf ball washers but I can’t ever find them. Are they real? By the end of the all the rounds I play, my ball is contaminated and people look at me weird cause I got this dirty, muddy towel hanging out of my back pocket. What can I do? - Finn in Grafton, WV
Well, honestly I can’t do anything other than laugh right now. I’m in tears. The thought of you wandering around half blind and aimlessly in search of the famed golf ball washers to help you clean your dirty contaminated balls is absolutely hilarious. Haven’t you ever simply just asked someone where they are? It would take two seconds you know. “Hey buddy, where do I clean my balls at?”
As far as you taking divots left and right out of the green, that probably puts you on the superintendent’s hated list for the course you play at. It sounds to me like you are hitting the ball fat. I highly suggest you read my post about hitting fat golf shots so you can correct this problem.
But for right now, I will tell you exactly where you can find these wonderful golf ball washers. You know when you’re about to tee off? Look over at the tee box… you see that green bucket thing, hanging on a pole that’s sticking out of the ground? There you go, those are golf ball washers. What I’m curious to know is, how did you get started playing golf with your eyesight being as bad as it is?
Anyways, all you have to do now Mr. Finn is dunk your dirty golf balls into the bucket, swirl them a few times that’s it. No more wandering around with a super, dirty towel hanging from your backside and weird looks coming from every direction. Your balls will be fresh and clean and if you get some eye glasses along with taking my advice for stop hitting fat golf shots, you will be in heaven.
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In the Leather
March 17, 2008
Golf Virgin, I saw your answer earlier and I wanted to know if “in the leather” is similar to what you talked mentioned about a conceded putt? - Don in San Diego, CA
Well, the term in the leather has nothing to do with certain types of risqué practice that some people enjoy. And yes you are correct in your thinking of this being similar to a conceded putt, where one player allows the other making the putt to move on as if the putt had been holed.
In the leather is a slang expression for a short putt, no longer than the distance from your putter head to putter grip when laid flat on the green. Be friendly to your buddies because you never know when you might find yourself all tied up.
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A Golf Slice Cured
March 7, 2008
I have a golf slice but I really want to get better and improve this as much as possible. Do you think this is something that I can work out on my own? - Quinn in Rapid City, SD
A golf slice requires a lot of hard work to improve and if you really are interested in making this cure stick then lets get into the meat of how and why this happens and go from there. I want to pick this apart so you can gain a much clearer understanding of what you need to improve your stroke. Now, to make it perfectly clear, this advice is for righties so you need to reverse this if you are lefty.
If you hit a golf slice to the right, it means that it’s curving in a left-right motion across the horizon and if the ball doing this, it is spinning in a clockwise direction. Right now, imagine that your ball is sitting on a peg. To spin the ball clockwise, the club has to swing more to the left with the clubface pointing slightly to the right. In a golf slice, hitting the ball with an open clubface makes the ball curve across the sky as a slice. So tell me, my virgin friend, how’s your grip in golf?
Consider this. Your grip has little to do with the direction of the swing but has absolutely everything to do with where the clubface is looking upon impact with the golf ball such as being in the opened, closed or square position. Everyone has their own unique way of holding a golf club. To keep this simple, if your hands are turned too far to the left on the club, this will more likely than not return with the face of the club looking to the right at impact.
Something else to keep in mind while preparing to swing is having a correct golf stance. In the course of playing you find yourself hitting a golf slice far to the left, you may find yourself compensating by adjusting your swing over to the right. However, in doing this basically you are not addressing the root of the problem and creating another one from the opposite direction. What do you do to fix this then?
Lay your club on the ground and make sure that it is parallel with your target line so you can check your aim. Make positive that your aim is not too far over to the left and keep in mind the alignment between your feet, knees, hips and shoulders are parallel to the club on the ground and with your target line.
By checking your stance you can determine what is really going on with your swing. Let the ball be your guide. Are you seeing it curving less over to the right? If so then you are getting close and if its curving over to the left or flying straight, then you are starting to make some headway.
Now if you are one of those rare hard to find, self-motivated go getters, then it is definitely possible that with practice and A LOT of hard work you will see an improvement in your score, not to mention your overall enjoyment of the game.
Get out there and experience for yourself if this works go over to all your buddies and tell them how the Golf Virgin helped improve your game. You never know until you try.
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How to Get the Best Putting Stroke Possible and Some Putting Tips to Boot
February 25, 2008
This may seem like a real amateur question, but I am having a heck of a time with my putter stroke. It’s not so much that I freeze up but I have this strange tendency to space out right before. I really try to make the best putting stroke possible but it always seems that the ball gets right to the edge and just sits there. What can I do to improve? - Frank in Boise, ID
That definitely is a bad situation to be in, now as far as you spacing out right before you putt… I would say that you should probably cut back on certain things that inhibit you concentration. You know what I’m talking about.
Grab a couple of small pieces of wood about 8 inches long by half an inch wide. If you have a couple wood rulers laying around, those would be perfect for this. Now take these with your putter and some balls and go out to your local putting green. What you want to do is line up the two pieces of wood in front of where you will take your stance and these should point in the direction in which you are going to putt.
However, leave them far enough apart that your putter head has about a half inch clearance on either side. These two pieces of wood will form an alley that your putter head and golf ball will travel down. Now take practice putts from 5 to 10 feet in length and focus your mind on taking the putter back straight and following through with shooting the golf ball as straight as possible through this alley. The purpose is to not make contact with the pieces of wood so you can develop your putting stroke.
I have found out through my own experience as well as with helping other virgin golfers that if you are very inconsistent, this technique can really help you get the putter moving in the correct motion. Keep in mind that this will also improve your direction control during your putter stroke.
Frank, by using this simple technique, you will keep your balls from stopping and hanging right at the edge of the hole and sink that putt time and time again. We all know how frustrating that can be when you get so close…
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