The mental side of golf can often be a forgotten aspect when trying to improve your golf game. It is true that the most important element of being a better golfer when first commencing, is the technical side. However, once you start being somewhat competent in your golf game, the mental side will become more prevalent. The mental side, I like to describe, is the 'icing' on top. Meaning perfecting your technique will only take you so far, improving your mental side will m

After getting a lesson, it may be hard to know whether you should apply these swing changes straight away on the course. This really does come down to how much practice you intend to do before the game. If you are someone who finds it hard to find the time to practice and the game is just around the corner, I would include a single element of the change. If you are someone who is able to practice two to three times before the game, I would adopt more of the swing changes w

Now once you've learnt the basics of swinging the club, you'll soon learn how to shape shots. It's actually a lot easier than you would think. The two shots that are available to you when shaping shots are draws and fades. To be honest these shots once learnt, are actually easier than hitting straight shots. There are two methods used commonly when executing these shots with one being dependant on body position and the other on clubface. The traditional method is where yo

The biggest reason people come in for lessons is to stop the slice. This is because the majority of people who come in for lessons are beginner to intermediate level. The reason why most people slice when developing their game is simply because we grip the club with our hands, therefore activating muscles in the upper half before we swing. This in turn leads to most people being too upper half dominant through the swing and hence throwing the club away from the body on the

Once you've developed your game up to an intermediate standard, you might be asking yourself what you can do to move to the elite level. First of all if you're not seeing a coach, I would recommend doing this as a starter to ensure you're applying the correct swing drills suited for your game. Secondly and critically, you must be excellent in being able to control your low point on a consistent basis. The first step in controlling low point is understanding how the body mov

To chip well consistently off any lie, the first step is understanding how to execute the basic chip. Once you understand the basic chip, you can then apply the same technique with some small additions (change of set-up, ball position or wrist angles) when confronted with different lies, The keys to be able to chip consistently can be broken into four key areas: set-up, swing path, arm and body connection and lastly tempo. Now the first step to get right is the set-up. We w

Being 'stuck' is quite the buzz word at the moment. It simply means that the club stays behind the body for too long leading into impact resulting in 'push' shots to the right or 'hook' shots to the left (Opposite for a left hander). This issue mainly affects more advanced players as they will tend to consciously flatten their downswing so they can strike more from the inside of the ball. To overcome being 'stuck', it will come from mastering two areas. These being sequenc

We've all been there as beginners wanting to speed up our improvement cycle as fast as possible. The first tip I would give if you're wanting to dedicate to the game and improve your golf as fast as possible would be firstly book in for a lesson or in a beginner group program. Golf unlike other sports requires good technique rather than just hours of hitting balls aimlessly at the Driving Range. After proper instruction from a lesson, you will be able to see measurable res

One of the key parts of beginning golf is the grip. The grip is an area of the game that you want to really address early on in your golf development. It has a big impact on elements such as clubface rotation, impact, wrist hinge and swing path. People often neglect this area early on their development, focusing more on the larger scale movements such as weight transfer and rotation. However they will inevitably run into a wall because the grip really is the core ingredie

Often times for beginners, it can be a tough time trying to feel the top position of the golf swing. As coaches we often focus on rotation of the body first to ensure the player can swing without too much thought of exact positions. However it is inevitable that the student needs to learn the correct arm structure at the top of the swing. This is because to have a strong and repeatable impact position, the top position of the swing must align with certain angles. The perfe

Tiger famously stated that when he was on top of his game, he was able to hit nine different shot shapes. This simply means that he was able to hit the low, medium and high shot with a fade or draw at will. To be proficient at executing these shots, you would definitely need to be an above average golfer. The reason being is that in order to achieve these different flights, you would need to have fairly good technique. In addition your path and clubface need to be quite n

This is quite a buzz word at the moment especially in relation to good players. Being 'stuck' simply means that the club gets stuck behind the body too much on the downswing, causing shots to be pushed to the right or hooked to the left. Being in this stuck position can also affect beginner and intermediate players however it is far less frequent. The reason being is that less advanced players usually have trouble with 'coming over the top' which is caused by having the ha

This is a very common question that gets asked and it's true that understanding this is vital to ensuring a consistent swing. Most beginner to intermediate players tend to over rotate too early on the downswing. When this occurs it will commonly result in 'pull' shots and 'slice' shots. The reason being is that if you turn too quick from the top, you will tend to push your arms away from the body causing the path to travel out to in through the ball. One of the simplest wa

This can often be a struggle for the beginner and intermediate player navigating from iron to driver. Even though in theory the swings are all the same, there are slight differences that you need to be aware of when striking an iron versus a driver. The biggest difference comes from the angle of attack upon impact. With an iron you do want to strike down into the golf ball as you need to hit down into the grass to get the ball up however since the balls are teed up for a d

Now it's no secret that the most important part of the swing is impact. Now for the majority of beginner and intermediate players, we...

This is an often asked question because what seems easy, can often be misunderstood.  To think of it simply, the club is held onto by the...

A reverse pivot usually doesn't discriminate in ability. It will of course be more prevalent for beginner players but sometimes it can...

We've all been there when we're just struggling to find consistency in our strike. Sometimes we know what the problem is but other times...

One kind of impact position that I see on occasion is the 'chicken wing'. The 'chicken wing' is where at impact the left arm (opposite...

One of the most requested lessons that I receive is to fix someone's Driver slice. Before I do I'm always very curious to know whether...