What does it take to be consistent?

All the great players have a consistent pre shot routine that includes

1. Visualizing the shot
2. Proper alignment
3. Correctly gripping the club
4. Ball Placement in the stance & distance to the ball.
5. Committing to the shot & believing it is the correct shot.

Let’s start out with proper alignment.

Proper alignment means aligning your body parallel left of your target. Just imagine a set of railroad tracks. One rail goes from the ball to the flag and the other rail across both of your feet parallel left of the flag. Most golfers are guilty of aligning their bodies at the target which means they will swing outside to inside on the downswing either pulling or slicing the shot. If you want to hit the ball to your target make sure to line up correctly next time.

Are you singing the putting Blues?

If your putting is about as good as your singing, don't be afraid to try one of the non traditional putting methods. If you watch the PGA tour you will see a wide variation of methods to grip the putter, all of which are aimed at keeping the wrist from being over active.

One of our personal favorites is the left hand low method were the left hand is placed at the bottom of the grip and the right hand is used to hold the top of the grip tight against the left arm. This method insures that the wrist will not be used.

Tee shot Troubles? Watch the ball position.

Very often for a student to hit their tee shots straighter and farther all it takes is correcting the position of the golf ball in their stance.

Most of the time the ball is played to far back in the stance, but the correct position is the inside edge of your left foot. By playing the ball forward in your stance it will allow you to hit the ball on the upswing as well as encourage proper shifting of the weight and give the club face time to square itself up.

Have you given your golf clubs their yearly check up?

The latest weapon against high scores and that awful feeling you get when shooting high scores is the Hybrid irons, Utility woods or Rescue clubs as they host a variety of names. They are irons shaped like a mini version of a metal wood and they take the place of a 2 iron 17 degree, 3 iron 21 degree, 4 iron 24 degree, 5 iron 27 degree, the degrees shown are approx. based on the manufacturer.

The Hybrid irons are more forgiving, meaning easier to hit than long irons and because of their shape can be used for a variety of shots like chipping, fairway bunker shots or just hitting out of what would be a bad lie for an iron shot.

Another advantage is most custom order iron sets are now 6-pw with the 3,4,5 irons being hybrids so it helps to keep the cost down by not duplicating the long irons.

So the next time you are at the course give the hybrid irons a shot and bring your set up to date.