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Approach Shots Made Consistent

By Greg Brown

Approach shots in golf can make or break your round. Whether you’re aiming for the green from the fairway or navigating hazards, the ability to hit accurate and consistent approach shots is crucial for scoring well. 

Here are some tips to help you become more consistent with your approach shots and improve your overall game.

Understand Your Distances

One of the keys to consistent approach shots is knowing how far you hit each club in your bag. Spend time on the driving range or practice area measuring your distances with each club, paying attention to both carry distance and total distance. 

Once you have a good understanding of your yardages, you can confidently select the right club for each approach shot, increasing your chances of hitting the green or getting close to your target.

Focus On Setup

Proper setup is essential for consistent ball striking on approach shots. Pay attention to your stance, alignment, and ball position. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, with the ball positioned slightly ahead of center in your stance. 

Align your body parallel to the target line, and aim the clubface squarely at your intended target. A solid setup promotes a more natural and repeatable swing, leading to more consistent results.

“A lot of this stuff, to be very simple, you can do through your setup,” explains Scottish pro tour champion Rory McIlroy.

Practice with Purpose

Effective practice is key to improving your approach shots. Instead of mindlessly hitting balls on the driving range, practice with specific goals in mind. 

Work on hitting different types of approach shots, such as high and low trajectories, and practice shaping your shots to navigate around obstacles. Incorporate target-oriented drills and games into your practice routine to simulate on-course situations and improve your ability to execute under pressure.

Focus On Tempo and Rhythm

Maintaining a smooth and consistent tempo is crucial for reliable approach shots. Focus on swinging the club with a steady rhythm, avoiding any sudden or jerky movements. 

A controlled and balanced swing promotes better contact with the ball and helps ensure that you deliver the club to the ball consistently. Practice tempo drills and exercises to develop a smooth and repeatable swing motion that you can rely on when it counts.

Visualize the Shot

Visualization is a powerful tool for improving your approach shots. Before each shot, take a moment to visualize the trajectory and landing spot of your shot in your mind’s eye. Imagine the ball flying towards the target and landing exactly where you want it to. 

Visualizing successful shots helps you build confidence and focus, leading to more consistent execution on the course.

Manage Misses

Even the best golfers miss greens from time to time, but learning to manage your misses can help you save strokes and maintain momentum. 

Develop a repertoire of recovery shots for different lies and situations, such as chip shots from around the green or bunker shots from greenside bunkers. Practice these shots regularly so that you can confidently execute them when needed, minimizing the damage from wayward approach shots.

Stay Positive and Patient

Improving your consistency on approach shots takes time and effort, so it’s essential to stay positive and patient throughout the process. Focus on the progress you’re making rather than dwelling on the occasional bad shot, and trust in your ability to improve with continued practice and dedication. 

A Powerful Two-Step Hip Drill for Your Backswing

By Greg Brown

One often overlooked yet crucial aspect of a powerful and precise golf swing is the role of the hips. 

To help you improve your game, let’s delve into a game-changing golf drill that focuses on harnessing the power of your hips. And who better to guide us through this journey than the legendary golf professional Tiger Woods.

Woods has frequently emphasized the importance of proper hip movement in achieving a consistent and powerful swing. Indeed, understanding and optimizing hip rotation can significantly impact the distance and accuracy of your shots.

Here’s a simple yet effective hip drill that promises to elevate your swing game by focusing on your hips.

Step One: Set Your Stance

Begin by setting up in your normal golf stance, ensuring your feet are shoulder-width apart. Position the golf ball centrally in your stance, and ensure your weight is evenly distributed between both feet.

As you initiate your backswing, focus on allowing your hips to turn naturally with your upper body. Resist the temptation to overuse your arms or shoulders during this phase. The goal is to create a seamless connection between your upper body and hips, enabling a controlled and efficient wind-up.

Step Two: Transitioning

Now comes the crucial moment – the downswing. As you transition from the top of your backswing to the downswing, pay close attention to your hips. 

The key is to initiate the movement from your lower body, allowing your hips to lead the way. 

Turn your hips and shift your weight into your right heel but without swaying outside your trailing foot. This sequential movement not only adds power to your swing but also ensures a more accurate and controlled release of the clubhead.

Developing the hip turn helps you to turn into your trailing hip on the backswing. Doing this correctly keeps your hips deep through the downswing, avoiding early extension.

Think of how a baseball player swings a bat. The body leads the movement of the bat. Same thing happens here. The ratchet movement creates power that ends up expressed in the club face speed and, eventually, the ball.

Why It Works

Why does this hip-centric drill work wonders for your golf game? Firstly, it promotes a more coordinated and connected swing, eradicating the common issue of disjointed movements between the upper and lower body. 

Secondly, by prioritizing hip rotation, the drill aids in generating optimal torque, resulting in increased clubhead speed and consequently longer, more controlled shots.

Woods’ emphasis on the role of the hips highlights the transformative power of proper technique. 

“A lot of times when I’m getting tight [in my back, I struggle to get deep enough into that back hip. I stand up in my downswing, and that puts a lot of stress on my back,” Woods told GolfTV in 2019.

“But if I don’t feel like I can turn I can’t get back into my hip, so it’s all about how I train, how I feel, getting everything switched on…when I do it.”

By incorporating this hip drill into your practice routine, you’re not just honing a specific skill – you’re unlocking the potential for a more powerful, accurate, and consistent golf swing.

To Get Faster, Practice Swinging Slower

By Greg Brown

Power and precision can sometimes collide on the fairways. Golf greats, however, suggest an unconventional approach to improving your swing: slow down. 

It may seem counterintuitive, but this advice comes from some of the biggest names in the game, emphasizing the importance of deliberate, unhurried movements on the golf course.

Consider golf legend Jack Nicklaus, known for his composed and controlled swings. This iconic figure demonstrated that a measured approach to the swing could lead to unparalleled success on the course. 

By studying his techniques and incorporating deliberate practice, aspiring golfers can emulate the poise and precision that defined the greats.

Perfect Practice

In a sport where momentum is often synonymous with power, experienced golf coaches instead advocate breaking free from the momentum myth. The relentless pursuit of speed can compromise the precision required for a consistently accurate swing. 

In slowing down, players gain the opportunity to focus on each element of their swing, fostering a deeper understanding of the mechanics involved.

“The natural tendency when you want to hit the ball hard is to swing faster,” Nicklaus once explained. 

“I make a very conscious effort to swing more slowly so that I give myself all the time in the world for all those elements to happen, so the clubhead moves faster and the ball goes farther.”

Muscle memory is key to perfecting a golf swing. Slowing down allows players to imprint the correct movements into their muscle memory, reducing the likelihood of reverting to bad habits under the pressure of a live game. 

As the saying goes, practice doesn’t make perfect – perfect practice makes perfect. The deliberate pace facilitates a mindful and purposeful practice that ingrains the right techniques.

Emphasize finding a rhythm within a deliberate pace. This rhythm is the key to maintaining fluidity and control throughout the swing. By paying meticulous attention to the sequence of movements, players can synchronize their body and club, resulting in a more harmonious and effective swing.

“If you do that, I think you’re going to find that you’re not only going to hit the ball farther, but you’re also going to control it better than you would if you were to just take a wild swing at it,” Nicklaus said.

Making It Work

It’s one thing to practice a slow and deliberate swing on the driving range, but how does this translate to the real-world pressures of a golf course? Coaches tell players to gradually integrate the refined technique into their game. 

Start by focusing on the backswing, ensuring a controlled and deliberate motion. As comfort and confidence grow, players can extend this approach to the entire swing, ultimately bringing the deliberate rhythm to every shot.

By challenging the momentum myth and advocating for a slower, more deliberate approach to practice, players can find a pathway to precision and mastery. Aspiring champions take note – sometimes, slowing down is the fastest route to a better swing.

Try This Pro Driving Drill For Accuracy

By C. Pedroja

Sometimes when people get their driver in their hands, they immediately go into whacking mode like they’re in a long drive competition, thinking only about how far they can sail the ball. There’s not necessarily any problem with this if you’re working out some tension on the driving range. But when you’re actually playing a round, boy oh boy does accuracy matter. [Read more…]

Can Mini-Golf Improve Your Putting?

By N. Incoll

Minimizing the flat stick shots is a surefire way to bring scores down and improve handicaps. It’s arguably the easiest part of the game to improve, since practice opportunities are so readily available. Apart from putting at home into cups or onto beer mats, or between sticks or tees, can mini-golf help? [Read more…]

Swing Drill: How To Improve Your Follow-Through

By C. Pedroja

Keep your eye on the ball. Head down, or head up. Follow through with your swing. Keep it nice and easy. You’ve heard these generic bits of advice about sports performance so many times since you were a kid that you don’t even know what they look like in real-life practice anymore, right? [Read more…]

Do These Two Things Before EVERY Shot

By C. Pedroja

Many golfers have complicated pre-swing rituals that they swear by. Highly rated Australian golfer Jason Day, for instance, famously has a 15-step pre-swing procedure that has apparently brought him much success. Others, however, believe that too many swing thoughts can actually hurt your game, or at the very least, they can psych you out. So what can you do to find the perfect balance of pre-swing thoughts without too much to hold in your brain at once? We recommend trying out just these two simple steps before every shot. [Read more…]

6 Exercises To Hit The Ball Longer

By C. Pedroja

There are numerous components to consider when putting together the perfect golfing skill set. You know you want lower scores, but what do you need to work on the most? Experts and coaches say it’s often advisable to think about one thing at a time and just focus on that single area for a while, until you can see and feel your improvement. Then, you can move on to the next practice point. [Read more…]

These 4 Things Are Costing You Distance (And How To Fix Them)

By N. Incoll

The long and the short of it is the average amateur generally pays little attention to the precise statistics of their game. They might know how far certain clubs are hit but mostly this is a gross underestimation of the real carry distance and finishing length. So, before entertaining a discussion about how we might make corrections to improve distance, we need to get back the ABC of the game — Assessing Basic Components! [Read more…]

Why You Should Play To Your Swing Type And Not The Course

By C. Pedroja

From the most basic beginner, all the way up to record-breaking master pros like Tiger Woods, every golfer has experienced the sweat and surprise of swinging great on the range and then clunking it over and over out on the course. This phenomenon is often referred to as the inability to take your “practice game” into the competition. This can happen for a few reasons, but it’s usually a lack of planning and mental preparation. In short, you need a swing strategy. And, you need to be mentally prepared to apply it out on the golf course. [Read more…]