Miles’ Tip of the Week

The Stance: Address the Ball Correctly

With the stance, or "address position" you prepare your body to move, setting the plane of the swing for good contact and to aim the shot. The perfect stance has weight on the inside of the feet, knees in, arms relaxed and head high enough to see forward parallel to feet and shoulder width.

Perfect Posture--up tall, bottom out, springy on the balls of your feet, bending from the top of your legs with a clean angle in between club and arms.

The general rule is to stand as close as possible with the arms hanging loose and the bottom out--but feel enough space to swing the arms back past the right hip and through, beneath the chin.

Remember: Stand up tall--don't sit and sag!

Coming up: A full description of swings, from basic to advanced. Stay tuned.

Miles.

The Grip: It can make or break your game.

The grip is all important. It controls the height, length and direction of your shots and make or break your game. First, rest the club head on the ground with the bottom groove facing your target.

Have the left hand loosely behind the club before folding it over to take hold of the club. The tip of the thumb and joint of the index finger should be roughly level; the line between the thumb and the index finger pointing up to your right ear. Add the right hand with the palm behind the club, which should be resting on the fingertips. Fold the hand over with the left thumb in the pocket of the right hand. The index finger is separated slightly from the next in a tighter position with the right thumb to the left--never to the front. The "V" this creates between them should always point to the right shoulder.

A "strong grip" tends to close the club face and gives shots more height but also can cause shots to "huulink" left. A "weak grip" tends to open the club face yielding high, weak shots that slice away right.

Remember, grip lightly but don't let go!

Until next tip.
Miles

Previous Tips

The Dreaded Slice

The most common problem and hated shot in golf is the dreaded SLICE. Very popular among beginners because they tend to OVER swing and try to kill the ball for added distance.  It’s also caused by "loopin" at the top of the back swing which causes an "outside–in " approach when striking the ball, causing the club head to “cut” the ball as opposed to striking it squarely.

Now for some relief:  An easy fix to the problem shot is to slow down the tempo  of the swing and to pause for an INSTANT at the top of the back swing—an easy way to remember and execute is when your left shoulder meets your chin, assuming you are right-handed (or your right shoulder if you’re left-handed), This will prevent a  flying elbow (over swinging and hitting too fast) which causes the slice. Your transfer (weight shift) will develop your club head speed to get the distance that everyone wants. 

Give it a shot—it works!

Putting to the Max:

Short Putting

When short putting, many errors arise simply from poor AIMING. It is essential that the clubface is directed at the target and that the club sits flat on the ground NOT toe up. Your eyes should be directly over the ball and parallel to the putt.As you address the ball, tuck in the right elbow. This should keep the putter moving back just enough inside the line. Swing the putter SLOWLY back and through, letting it rise and fall quite naturally. Backswing and trhroughswing should be roughly equal in length.

Long Putting

Good long putting depends on excellent judgement of distance. It is easy to be several yards short of, or past, the flag while unlikely that you will make as much error with direction. The stroke itself becomes less important than in short putting. Allow your hands and wrist to come into play to get a feel for the length. A long putt of the right strength is usually fairly successful. Aim at making every long put pass the hole 6 inches to 2 feet. Remember the old expression"never up, never in." Good long putting is 90 percent judgment of distance.