Stratford On Avon Golf Club

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?

Stratford on Avon Golf Club, a superb,all year round Parkland course Visitors welcome. Set in 150 acres of beautiful parkland, Close to the centre of Shakespeare’s Stratford upon Avon, the 6400 yard par 72 course offers a wide variety of challenging holes to test golfers of all handicaps. Designed by the celebrated J H Taylor, five times Open Champion, who said in his original report that the subsoil was ideal ‘You can play 365 days a year in your slippers’.

So if you are going to take my advice and develop an in-line-square stroke you must be absolutely sure that as you learn this stroke you also learn to address the ball with your shoulders square (parallel-left) to your putting line. And as you will learn in Chapter 11 setting up parallel-left has other benefits as well.

While putter path has relatively minor influence on the starting line direction of your putts (only about 17 percent) the putterface angle at the moment of impact (Figure 4.8.1) has a tremendous effect the remaining 83 percent (assuming contact is made on the sweetspot). This means face angle is more than four times as important as putter path. You may find this imbalance in importance surprising (most golfers do) but it's true.

If you are having a hard time believing this run the following test for yourself. As shown in Figure 4.8.2 aim the edge of a heavy piece of wood to the left edge of a target. Place a ball just outside the wood about the distance from the heel of the

The Seven Building Blocks of Stroke Mechanics 87 putter to the sweetspot and hold the putterface open to a 45-degree angle to the target with a piece of cardboard (cut the cardboard with equal-length sides A and B at right angles then cut side C between the end points as shown in the inset). Using both hands to hold the face open at that angle and keeping the heel against the wood slide the putter toward the target to simulate a putting stroke (shown from right to left in figure). If you keep the face 45 degrees open the ball will start to the right almost perpendicular to the open face (actually 45 degrees times .83 = 37 degrees) no matter how hard you hit it.

This should convince you that even with the perfect path poor face angle at the moment of impact will start your putts off-line big-time.

• Practice putts of intermediate length - 6 to 30 feet - tively small number). second and concentrate on rolling them at a speed that Don' t Be Discouraged stops any that miss about 17

In mentioning some of the problems inherent in inches past the hole. putting (all of which will be explained in more un

• Finish your practice with putts derstandable detail in later chapters) I've thrown a of less than six feet focusing fair amount of information at you and we have yet only on rolling them into the to even begin examining the putting stroke. How- cup at a firm brisk pace. ever please don't be discouraged about the com plexity of putting or the confusion you might be feeling right now. You need to understand the realities of putting so you'll be more tolerant when unexplained things happen to you on the greens. You need to believe - no you need to know - that there is no net luck in putting no matter how your putts seem to be rolling bouncing or deflecting that day.

Once you understand the reality of the problems of the game and the often cruel statistical nature of its results you will be better prepared to proceed with your learning program which will lead to your improved putting. Always remain alert to the importance of immediate accurate reliable feedback and what it can do for your practice and on-course putting. So take heart and realize your better scores will come from more areas than simply improving your stroke mechanics. There's much more to good putting than that physical stroke motion of yours.

There are many different ways for golfers to putt. Having said that it does not mean that I'm advocating all or any of these methods. But it's important that you are aware of the choices a golfer has and even a few he doesn't unless he doesn't care about the Rules of Golf (which I think you must if you're going to he serious about this game).

The old adage "different strokes for different folks" is very meaningful because some putting strokes work better than others for certain players while no one stroke works perfectly for everyone. While no strokes even perfect ones make all their putts some really awful strokes do make some putts. And sometimes the differences between good and bad strokes are very difficult to measure or see. But believe me the differences are there.

Golf Swing Tips

This is a different view of the complete follow through. Your forearms are crossed, and that is the sign that you have completed the follow-through correctly Keep your head perfectly still during the entire swing This is the last crucial step that you must master. It's by far the easiest step, but ironically it will produce the most results. The biggest problem is that you don't always know when you are moving your head. You may find that swinging easier helps keep the head still, but other than that it is just something that you will have to really concentrate on.

Golf Lessons

Golf Lessons at Stratford On Avon Golf Club

Stratford On Avon Golf Club

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"