Golf Street

After you’ve played a substantial amount of golf, been through several courses and have become comfortable with your own skills and ability, you realize that not everyone should be allowed to be your golf partner – that’s right, allowed. If you want to avoid a terrible round of 18 holes, then you’d better try your hardest to not have one of these people as your partner.

The Boss: You really just can’t win in this situation – you can’t lose either. If you play too well he won’t like it. If you lose too badly, he won’t like it that you threw the game – or worse, he’ll think that you’re just not that good at golf, and possible attach those same thoughts to other areas, like your job.

The Rookie: You thought it’d be nice to take along the beginner. Show him the ropes and how great the game can truly be. Until you spend too much time at a single hole because the rookie keeps slicing air, or keeps hitting his ball into the pond, or takes forever to get out of the sand trap. Not to mention the evil stares you’ll get from the backup of golfers behind the two of you.

There are other types that you want to avoid having as your golf partner, but we’ll save that for another day.

Just at the point when many golfers begin to think they know everything, that’s when their game starts to spiral downward and sometimes it seems like it’s in a complete nosedive. The way to avoid this is to simply, always strive for improvement. A common reason why people seek improvement is simply due to a competitive urge. No matter how great or far you drive the ball, if your partner drives it 20 feet further, you’ll want to improve and beat him.

Of course, a smart and seasoned golfer understands that you cannot simply ‘muscle’ a ball to make it go further. To do so would take away from your swinging technique, probably resulting in a shorter drive. While you do need to be relatively fit in order to command the ball down the fairway, the areas that you should work on in the gym are your back and your legs. These are the body parts that provide the majority of your swinging power.

You must also choose the right club for your abilities. Choosing the wrong one will obviously hurt the length of your driving. Sure a club such as the one or two wood is specifically designed to hit and push the ball the furthest, however it only matters if you are able to maximize the interaction between the ball and the club. If your technique is slightly off then you cannot use these clubs to their full potential. You might be better off choosing the easier three-wood club. Technically, it won’t hit the ball further, but if you can maximize your usage of the three-wood, you may drive much further than you would with your inefficient use of the one or two-wood clubs.

In golf, great posture can be seen when the club moves in perfect harmony with the body, and the swing action occurs in a fluid motion, resulting in smooth contact and a beautiful ball driven very far. Much like in other sports, the club becomes and extension of your body. Every golfer practices and hopes to achieve this perfect form on every swing. Unfortunately, it takes some work to find the correct position, and then also move through the proper motions in order to maintain correct posture throughout your golf swing.

Of course, if you do not maintain correct posture, your body will compensate and muscles that should not have to strain will take on the brunt of the effort. Not only will your ball not go as far, but also your body will eventually get injured from swings taken with improper form. Your movements will be unnatural and areas such as your knees and shoulder ligaments will strain and eventually wear out.

One of the easiest and most basic tips for correcting posture is to simply make sure you check the balance of weight between each of your feet. You want to lightly shift your body weight from your left foot to your right foot while bending your knees in a flexing movement. It can seem like a lot of work at first to find the perfect posture for your body, but if you want to continue playing golf for as long as possible, the time it takes is well worth it.

Although there are a considerable number of governing bodies that rule over handicapping systems, the fact is that obtaining and official handicap is a rite of passage for many golfers, and it will open up many courses that you could otherwise not play on. The reason that a handicap system even exists is simply to create a level playing field for golfers who have different levels of playing ability. When you submit scorecards that record your performances, your handicap can be adjusted to show changes in skill, but hopefully improvement.

A common dream shared among many golfers is simply to play like the pros and earn a zero handicap. Obviously, even for the pros that win championships it takes a great deal of effort and commitment to become that skilled. There are several factors than can easily affect a golfer’s handicap.

One of the easiest to change is being familiar with the specific golf course that you are playing so that you can practice and bring your handicap down. Sure conditions can change, but you are more likely to play better on a course that you’re familiar and comfortable with.

Another technique that players often use is to simply have a great golfer as their partner. Competition can often bring out the best in players when they rise to the level of play that they are being challenged at and their handicap scores show. Many players understand that they play best when under pressure, or at the very least, when they are pushed by a friend, or some other form of competition.