Hitting a large bucket of balls with the driver feels productive but often changes very little. Effective practice is shorter, has a goal, and looks more like the course. Give each session a goal Decide before you arrive what you are working on: contact, start line, distance control with wedges, or putting speed. One goal … Read more
A slice is the most common miss in golf, especially for right-handed beginners whose ball curves hard to the right. It is not a mystery: the ball curves because the clubface is open relative to the path of the club at impact. Fix that relationship and the slice turns into a straight shot or a … Read more
Golf books will not hit balls for you, but the best ones change how you think about practice, strategy and pressure. A few have stayed in print for decades for a reason. Technique and fundamentals Short game The mental game Both pair well with the ideas in our guide to golf psychology. Statistics and strategy … Read more
Golf is often seen as gentle, but the swing puts high rotational loads on the body, repeated hundreds of times a week for regular players. Most golf injuries are overuse problems, which means they are largely preventable. The most frequent problems Warm up properly A cold body is more easily strained. A few minutes of … Read more
Many golfers fear bunkers, but the greenside bunker shot is the only one in golf where you do not hit the ball. You hit the sand, and the sand carries the ball out. Once you trust that, bunkers become far less scary. The setup The swing Aim to enter the sand about two inches behind … Read more
Your hands are the only contact with the club, so the grip controls where the clubface points at impact. A small change in grip can turn a slice into a straight shot, which is why coaches often start here. Three ways to join the hands Overlapping (Vardon) grip. The little finger of the trailing hand … Read more
For most golfers, more than half the strokes in a round are played within 100 yards of the hole. Chipping is the fastest place to save shots because the motion is small and easy to practice, even in a backyard. A basic chipping setup Swing with the shoulders, like a putting stroke with a little … Read more
Many golfers arrive at the course, tie their shoes and hit their first drive cold. The first few holes then serve as the warm-up, and stiff muscles are more easily strained. A few minutes of preparation fixes both problems. Why dynamic, not static Long, held stretches before playing can temporarily reduce power. Before a round, … Read more
Distance is a mix of three things: how fast the club is moving, how well you hit the center of the face, and how the ball launches. Amateurs usually look only at the first. In practice, the second and third often give more yards for less effort. Hit the middle of the face A strike … Read more
Golf gives you plenty of time to think, which is the problem. Between shots, worries about the last hole or the next hazard creep in. A few simple habits keep your mind on the shot in front of you. Build a pre-shot routine A routine is the same sequence before every shot: look at the … Read more
