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Best advice you have ever recieved in regards to your golf game

Spend 40% of your total practice time on putting and 80% of your range time inside of 150 yards. Always have a target when practicing and use an alignment aid(for me that's another club or two on the ground). I can't believe how many golfers beat balls on the range with no apparent target and no alignment aid.
 
For me it's more a realisation than a piece of advice.

You can't control the ball, you can only control the club.

By that I mean I get too mentally caught up in what I want the ball to do and I'm thinking about that rather than the good swing required to achieve it.

Too many times on approaches and par 3's my thoughts are on the outcome rather than the process, when I stay focussed on my swing and striking of the ball when I've committed to a shot I see much better results


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
whatever ball flight you have in warm up is your go to shot . Don't fight it , just play for it
 
Tadashi70 said:
Every golfer has different needs and wants. Some look for the perfect swing of the club, the right angle of attack, perfect position at the top of the swing, how they finish...etc
We have all received tips/advice at one time of another in regards to our games. What is the best best piece of advise you have gotten.
The one tip that really changed my game was very small. I was told to square up my right foot at address. I used to have it a bit open which allowed my swing to get a little long and off plane. By squaring my back (right) foot it kept the weight on the inside of my right foot and thigh. This gave me more power through my swing.
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Tadashi,
Are you a one or two plain swinger?
I was advised for the Right foot...... square for 1 plain and slightly open for 2 plain
 
WMac19 said:
I posted this awhile back but it's the single piece of advice that has stuck with me and improved my game. Plus, a funny dig that's also stayed with me.

Playing in Myrtle Beach in 2001, the Parkland course at Legends, I had the good fortune to play with a gentleman who had a short stint on the European Tour years ago.

Kevin was from Ireland and spoke with a fairly thick Irish brogue.

On the tenth tee he asks, "so Billy, tell me what you see from the tee here."

I responded, "I see water left at about 180 yards and a deep bunker 200+ yards on the right with another bunker behind that one."

"Hmm," he says. "Let me ask you another question then. In all that, where the @$&# is the fairway?!"

He was blunt and funny. He went on to explain to me that I'd be best served to only acknowledge trouble so as to decide which club to play and which side of the tee box to select.

Then after the round, he asks, "Billy, what's your handicap?"

At the time I wasn't keeping one and said, "maybe a 7 or 8."

Again he responds with a "Hmm," followed by a pause as he shakes his head. I was actually wondering if he thought my guess was due to vanity which confused me because I played pretty well.

Finally, he says, "your ball-striking? You're more like a 2, very solid. Your short game? Billy... you f@$&#¢g suck!!!"

LOL... funny and he was soooo right. He then spent some time with me at the range and practice green and helped me with techniques that I still use to this day. :)

As per seeing trouble, to this day I only acknowledge as he said to wrt strategy. Even very long carries over water, I just see the fairway.
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Thanks for sharing that funny yet, educational story !!!!
 
"Most golf bets are won on the first tee."
 
The best advice for my sanity that I never followed was take two weeks off then quit.

When I was struggling with my driver one of the tips that helped was having front hip higher than back hip.
 
blyth64 said:
Tadashi,
Are you a one or two plain swinger?
I was advised for the Right foot...... square for 1 plain and slightly open for 2 plain
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For right handed golfers or any golfer, the back foot should be square and not open. This allow you to swing to the inside of the rear leg. This allows for a solid coil and a strong delivery into the ball.

If your foot is open then there will be a tendency to get to the outside of that foot. This can change your plane, cause you to hang back and lose power.
 
Best advice: post a video and let tadashi give you some tips.

Beyond that, the best tip I can give that has worked for me is under pressure take an extra club and swing easier for better consistency.
 
I guess its not really a piece of advice I got, but one I had heard, read or seen somewhere that has really helped me the most at improving my ball striking. Its what I went back to when I completely lost all sembelnce of a swing a couple months ago. Keep your hands as far away from you as possible during the backswing and follow through. It helps me keep my left arm straight, shortens my backswing and extends my follow through to the target. Hands high, back to teh ball, hands high. Might not be worth anything to anyone else, but its worked pretty well for me.
 
Tadashi70 said:
I thought this was great because we all hold ourselves to very lofty goals. And when these aren't reached we get discouraged or angry. Deep down inside we all know how good we are, I think if we start touching that, golf will be enjoyable. It will also give you some real insight into what you need to work on.
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Great post Freddie. I lived this yesterday.
 
First lesson, tip one - grip, get that bottom hand around from under the grip to more on top. The first two weeks were horrible but now I wonder how and earth was I playing golf gripping the club like that?? lol
 
SLOW DOWN!
 
I had lessons from a new instructor yesterday and he taught me something that no other instructor ever pointed out. When I approached the ball the left shoulder is higher than my right, my left hip is higher than my right, YET my eyes were even. So we spent the entire lesson just working on my set up when I approach the ball.

It immediately stopped my hooks. Not only that but I started to hit a nice draw. It felt so good I went out and played a quick 9 and I shot a 42 on a par 36. I usually average between 46-49. No birdies, but I was putting for 3. 6 pars, 1 double bogey, and 2 bogeys.

I went back and tried to book another lesson with him for next week and he told me no. He said for me to get my set up working and to practice for a few weeks on the range and in the short practice area and when I am confident in that to come see him in the pro shop and we will go from there. He told me that I may not need another lesson right away.
 
I was all set to start a new thread when I saw this. And I will qualify it by saying "This may be the best advice I've ever got (other than SPi putting lessons) - but it's too soon to tell.”

I got an email from the school’s AD where I teach, saying that the girls’ golf coach (Bill Reilly) was in all week doing golf for the Phys Ed classes, but he had a few open periods, and if anyone was interested they could see him for a free lesson.

I’m all about free, and our girls team finished in the top 10 in states, & Bill is a PGA teaching pro, so I figured this guy should be worth my time.

I introduced myself & Bill watched me hit about 20 whiffle balls with my 7 iron. Then he pointed out that my main flaw was in my setup. I was soling the club so that the entire bottom of the club was level with the ground. This forced my arms to be out away from my body (I never realized that they were not hanging straight down) and put a lot of tension in them (which of course I couldn’t notice anymore because I was so used to it).

Bill said that the majority of golfers think that the club should sit flat on the ground at address, but in fact, only the heel of the club should touch the ground and the toe should be up in the air a bit. He explained that as we swing down, the shaft will flex and bring the head into the proper orientation.

He also had me focus on starting the club back and away (instead of back and around/behind me) – it felt like I was making a Jim Furyk move but I think that was just my perception. I really had to focus on getting my arms to hang straight down, but after working on these three things (toe up, arms straight down, club not going in and around immediately), I started hitting these towering shots that went a lot further & even managed to hit a few draws.

I am so excited to try this on the range and work on grooving this swing change over the winter!
 
jdb1911 said:
I had lessons from a new instructor yesterday and he taught me something that no other instructor ever pointed out. When I approached the ball the left shoulder is higher than my right, my left hip is higher than my right, YET my eyes were even. So we spent the entire lesson just working on my set up when I approach the ball.

It immediately stopped my hooks. Not only that but I started to hit a nice draw. It felt so good I went out and played a quick 9 and I shot a 42 on a par 36. I usually average between 46-49. No birdies, but I was putting for 3. 6 pars, 1 double bogey, and 2 bogeys.

I went back and tried to book another lesson with him for next week and he told me no. He said for me to get my set up working and to practice for a few weeks on the range and in the short practice area and when I am confident in that to come see him in the pro shop and we will go from there. He told me that I may not need another lesson right away.
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So what exactly did you change? Did you change the angle of your eyes relative to the rest of your setup, or did you change something else? It sounds interesting & I'd like to try what he's talking about.
 
Consistent knee flex. Started hitting the ball a lot more consistently when someone said that to me.
 
Don't play your opponents game, he'll beat you with it.

Don't be the Seal, be the Shark. lol...
 
Work behind the ball, release and trust it.
 
Grins said:
So what exactly did you change? Did you change the angle of your eyes relative to the rest of your setup, or did you change something else? It sounds interesting & I'd like to try what he's talking about.
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I changed the angle of my eyes and head relative to my entire set up. I will try and describe it but I hope I don't lose you. Basically when I set up the left side of my body is higher than my right side. My spine tilt was good, but I would force my head to look directly down at the ball. So even when I had the ball forward in my stance id subconsciously tilt my head so that my eyes were directly over the ball. We all know that you have to have your head behind the ball at impact. I wasn't accomplishing that. It was causing me to have varying hooks.

I hope that explains it better. I spoke with him and his main objective was wanting me to keep my head behind the ball at impact. That's the first thing he noticed when the lesson started.
 
jdb1911 said:
I changed the angle of my eyes and head relative to my entire set up. I will try and describe it but I hope I don't lose you. Basically when I set up the left side of my body is higher than my right side. My spine tilt was good, but I would force my head to look directly down at the ball. So even when I had the ball forward in my stance id subconsciously tilt my head so that my eyes were directly over the ball. We all know that you have to have your head behind the ball at impact. I wasn't accomplishing that. It was causing me to have varying hooks.

I hope that explains it better. I spoke with him and his main objective was wanting me to keep my head behind the ball at impact. That's the first thing he noticed when the lesson started.
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Thanks. I think I understand now. To paraphrase, your head tilt should match your spine tilt so your head stays behind the ball at impact. Makes sense - I hope I got it right!
 
Grins said:
Thanks. I think I understand now. To paraphrase, your head tilt should match your spine tilt so your head stays behind the ball at impact. Makes sense - I hope I got it right!
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You got it right and made it much simpler than I could lol
 
Golf is fun!
 
A wise man named Crouching Panda Hidden Kong once told me, "Im not going to try and fix that...It works somehow". What was said in jest and made me literally laugh out loud, has come back to mean quite a bit. This wise man also has said "Playing needs to be fun" and "Wow, that was awful".

This is what makes this game great. So much fun to be had and in the end, that is what it should be about.
 
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