Strathmore Golf Centre

To improve your golf game, it's vital that you take golf lessons. Golf is a sport that is almost impossible to learn without some sort of guidance. Luckily, there are golf experts around the country whose job it is to teach golf. By taking golf lessons, you can drastically improve your game in a relatively short amount of time.

Taking golf lessons can be an expensive, time-consuming effort. And like any good or service that will cost money and require time, you should be careful before you buy. Golf can be a really costly game to play and it is reasonable to assume that you have invested a fair amount of money in your equipment - golf clubs, golf bag, golf balls, golf clothing, golf cart etc; - therefore doesn’t it make common sense for you to learn how to use them to their advantage and improve your skills and capabilities?

Set in the heart of the Strathmore valley, Strathmore Golf Centre was opened in 1996 by Kathryn Marshall and has quickly matured and gained a reputation as the "Friendly Place to Play Golf". The centre has something for everyone, the 18-hole Rannaleroch Course and the 9-hole Leitfie Links, 10 bay covered golf range, golf academy and a friendly atmosphere in the clubhouse. Memberships are available or pay as you play.

There is a test that will show which of us is right and the favor I ask is that you run that test.

Play an entire 18-hole round aiming your body and putter straight at every hole for every putt. Read the break as you normally would so you know how much break you think there is but then instead of aiming for that much break aim straight at the hole. Set up in your normal address position as if every putt were dead straight. Then try to make your putts by letting your subconscious and conscious minds work together pulling and pushing (loop-stroking) to compensate for the break you read but didn 't set-up to play for (Figure 7.8.1).

My bet is that you will say at the end of this round "This is making putting too difficult. It's really hard to make breaking putts this way."

Larger Compensations Are More Difficult in the past you've been depending on your subconscious to compensate for the two-thirds of the break above your normal under-read (about 30 percent of the true break). This test adds the original break you read (the visible break you believe is the true break) to the 70 percent of the break you don't believe is there anyway to see if your subconscious can handle that too. I think you'll find as i have that the farther you set up and aim away from the true-break Aimline the worse you'll putt. The bigger the compensation the more difficult it is to make it accurately. The simpler the better ... again.

You need one more bit of insight into how balls roll on greens before you start to reconstruct your green-reading abilities. The true amount any putt will break depends on the slope of the green the green speed (determined by the type length and grain of the grass; the moisture content of the soil; and the humidity) the length of the putt and how fast it is rolled among other things. Among those "other things" are the lumpy donut (explained in Chapter 8) the wind and the balance of your golf ball (both Chapter 9). At this point however I want to show you some of the basic fundamentals of how generic balls behave on the surfaces of generic greens. The slope on the green surface is the primary determinant of how much if at all a putt will break. As you can see in Figure 7.9.1 if the surface is flat and level there is no side force due to gravity so a putt will roll straight. But as soon as a slope provides a downhill component from the force of gravity (Figure 7.9.2) a putt will start to break downhill. At any given speed the greater the slope of the green the more the putt will break down the hill.

Back to what 1 said at the beginning of this chapter: Simpler is better. Because the mechanics of a pendulum motion get the job done and because they are the simplest then they must be the best. And they are the best because they are easier to learn and master than any of the more complex motions.

But be careful because there is not just one single pendulum motion. A pendulum stroke can be swung down the line around the body or across the line. It can be swung with the face rotating or with the face kept square. It can be pushed or pulled or allowed to swing in a consistent natural rhythm.

The best of all these is the simplest of the simple the pure-in-line vertically swinging face-always-square natural-rhythm pendulum. It is the way to go if you want to putt your most consistently and most successfully.

I know it took a little time to get through all the possible strokes from the hardest to the easiest. But it is important that you understand the big picture of putting. It will help if you want to putt your best because at some point in your putting practice you're going to doubt that what you're doing is right that what you're doing is working. And that's when you're going to fall back on the knowledge imparted here that to putt your best you must commit to the simplest stroke that will work for you and then believe in it. Come hell or high water - or missing 20 putts in a row - you must believe in the stroke you have committed to and stay with it until you groove it and own it. Only then can you ever hope to move toward achieving your personal optimum putting performances.

So let 's get into the putting methods techniques and systems most golfers use find out which is best for you and learn how to incorporate them mold them refine them and fit them into a system that will allow you to improve and then optimize your ability to putt.

Golf Swing Tips

Hold the club steady with your right hand, and place left hand underneath the club as shown. The first joint of the left forefinger should be directly on the bottom of the handle, as well as the last joint of your left pinky. Once you have placed your palm on top of the club, do the same with your left thumb. Place it directly on top of the handle of the club. Next, interlock the left forefinger, and the right pinky. Nudge your right hand all the way towards the bottom of the grip. Now again, wrap the right palm all the way around the top of the grip. Don’t hold the grip of the club in your right palm. You should be able to cover up your left thumb with your right palm if you’ve done it correctly. You’ll see another V-shape being made where your right thumb and right forefinger meet. As a check, this V should be pointing directly at your right shoulder. If it doesn’t point at your right shoulder, rotate your hand on the grip so that it does. Your fingers should be giving the club most of the support it needs, NOT your palms.

Golf Lessons

Golf Lessons at Strathmore Golf Centre

Strathmore Golf Centre

Dave Pelz's Putting Bible - golf's least understood skill.

The Long Drive Bible: How You Can Hit the Ball Longer, Straighter, and More Consistently

Golf Swing Tips

The "Simple Golf" Swing: "Golf for the Rest of Us"