A lot of golfers really battle to hit straight drives and getting off to a good start is such a confidence booster. There is nothing better than a good drive at the start of a round of golf. You will have a great day if you can hit straight drives off every tee.

The secret to straight driving is technique and confidence. If you have ever hit a straight drive then you can do it again. Its in there somewhere and all you have to do is find it and repeat it time and time again.

Many a bad tee shot is the result of tension especially on the first tee of an important round or when there is a crowd around. The result is the player gets tense and so the whole body, starting from the grip and going right through the arms, legs and torso, is overcome with tension. The result can be embarrassing and shake a players confidence.

Remember when playing that the woods are a little bit longer than the irons and therefore a slightly flatter swing plane is required (dont adjust for this because of this article!). In many cases pulling out the driver is a habit and is sometimes not even required. If you have a 350 meter/yard hole you can probably easy take two six irons to get there. Why make it more difficult by playing a driver?

A very good way of grooving the swing and getting confidence to hit straight drives regularly is to practice with a shortened back swing. When you go to the range shorten your back swing to 75%. Make sure you accelerate evenly through the ball and make a full follow through.

As you do this more and more at practice your big muscles will groove themselves to perform the same when you go back to a full swing. Try it youll be amazed at the results. You may even find that with a shortened back swing the loss in distance (if any) is so negligible that with the extra accuracy it is not worth worrying about.

Standing on the first tee knowing that you will be in play after your tee shot is a huge confidence booster. No-one ever worries about who plays the second shot first yet we all want to smack the longest drive. Funny thing the ego (intended for the men out there ladies dont seem to worry about this too much).

Give it a try I guarantee you will hit straight drives more often than you do at the moment.

As a qualified EGTF golf professional teacher I get great pleasure in helping people improve their game. Why not head over to Better Golfing and take up my challenge to reduce your golf handicap by 25% within 6 weeks?

¶ 4:21 PM 0 comments

In preparation for my overseas game for Tuesday, was practicing yesterday a particular golf thought with a buddy of mine. It seems that my hand was placed a little too far from my body. Closer observation of the professionals, like Garcia and tiger, their hands are placed very close to their lower body.

Tip #1:
I used to have a swing thought, that having the hands too close was incorrect. After having made this correction, I now bring my hands closer to my body, and not just for the short irons but for every club in the bag.

Tip #2
During the take away, its also important to move the triangle formed by the left and right fore arms in one motion to the 2 o'clock or 8 o'clock position, depending from your point of view. Erine els said the takeaway is all hands, while some people just move their entire chest to the right (if you're a right hander). To me, I think both work, so long as it is a 1 piece takeaway for the triangle formed by the left and right forearms.

Tip #3
Its also important to note that the shaft of the club does not pass the toe line. this is the imaginary line drawn across the toes of the left and right foot.

one interesting point to note is that keeping the hand close to the body, does not mean that the club head will cross this toe line. Its a false golf thought I had, and hope if you're reading this, it will help you too.

Be sure to have a golf buddy take a video for you, and read lots of golf books because have the right golf thoughts mixed with your vides will produce you a beautiful and elegant golf swing!

this is the award winning guide sherman used to build his elegant & yet simple golf swing - http://elegantgolfswing.blogspot.com

¶ 8:16 AM 0 comments