golf-clubs-share

There IS a technique for finding the center of gravity on your club face. Finding the center of gravity is crucial to your success and CONSISTENCY! I would rather swing the golf club 85 miles per hour and hit the center of gravity than swing 95 miles an hour out on the toe of the golf club.

The purpose of any iron shot is to hit the ball straight. We must also move the ball a specific distance. What good does it do to swing perfectly, (as far a club head speed is concerned) for a five iron shot to travel let's say 180 yards, and then hit the ball on the toe or the heel and only travel 165 yards. Same goes for the driver. Hitting the ball right on the center of gravity of your driver will not only add distance but also accuracy putting you in position to attack the green with an aggressive approach from a good lie in the fairway.

Today there are computers and strobe lights that are used to find the center of gravity on any golf club. Some of these studies are done by independent companies, (yea right). You also might not be able to count on the information the manufacturer gives you about where the center of gravity is on their golf club. In fact, changing the grip or bending the lie angle can change the center of gravity and balance point of the golf club. As cookie cutter as the manufacturers try to make their golf clubs today, there still can be a discrepancy from club to club within a set.

Here's my method, (it might seem like Cuban engineering and it is, but it has worked for touring pros for many years and still works today). Hold the clubface up close to your ear and bounce a golf ball off the face. Bounce it all around the club face. You'll notice a different sound and a different bounce off different positions on the face of the golf club. Of course we haven’t mentioned that hitting the ball off the center of gravity also creates additional torque that will open or close the club face and send your shots off line.

Continue to bounce the ball until you find one spot that seems to sound the best and you get a better bounce off the face of the club and the club face doesn't wiggle as much, (torque) in your hand. On most golf clubs, the center of gravity will not be the exact center of the club face. It should be slightly inside of center.

Once you find what you think is the center of gravity put some face tape on your club face. You can buy some at most golf stores or go on line to a company called Longshot and buy it by the roll. If you're serious about your golf game you should be checking yourself for centeredness of hit constantly so you will use up the roll faster than you think.

The driver is especially crucial. Don't fall for the gag the golf club companies tell you about having a bigger sweet spot. Bravo Sierra! Center of gravity is center of gravity! You may need to set up your driver at address with the ball appearing to be a little inside of center to get your eye used to hitting the ball where you're suppose to. Most golfers don't realize that they hit the ball out on the toe with their driver.

My suggestion is to get some face tape, find the center of gravity, hit balls until you can get your contact as close to the center of gravity as you can. If you find you're hitting on the toe try choking up on the golf club. If that doesn't work try taking a shorter swing. You may be surprised at how far you hit it with a smaller swing and you'll be more consistent. If you're still hitting on the toe you might be swinging over the top and have your club face open. If you're hitting the heel constantly you might be swinging too shallow or too inside out. Or you could be rolling the golf club open on the takeaway.

Address: The process of placing the club behind the ball and taking a stance in preparation of hitting it.
Alignment: Having the shoulders, hips, knees and feet in proper alignment with each other.
Aim: Having the shoulders, hips, knees and feet properly aligned and pointed in the same direction, usually at a 90-degree angle to the target.
Backspin: The spin of a ball where the forward area of the ball rotates over the top area of the ball causing the ball’s forward movement to slow on impact.
Backswing: The start of the swing as the club moves away from the target.
Ball Flight: The path and trajectory of a ball while in the air.
Closed Club Face: Occurs when the club face is turned slightly counterclockwise
within the swing path. Can cause the ball to hook.
Club Face: The front of the club, which makes contact with the ball.
Compensation: A movement for the purpose of overcoming another flawed motion.
Divot: The mark left in the fairway or rough, caused by the removal of turf by an iron. Indicates the [proper] descending blow of an iron.
Downhill Lie: The angle caused by the ball being on a downward sloping hill.
Draw: The flight of a ball where it bends slightly to the inside, relative to the swing.
Fade: The flight of a ball where it bends slightly to the outside, relative to the swing.
Flier Lie: The lie of a ball on fluffy grass, which causes the ball to pop up more quickly than expected.
Green: The manicured portion of the hole where the cup resides.
Grip: The rubber, plastic or leather sheath on the shaft.
Heel: Where the club head is attached to the shaft.
Hook: The flight of a ball where it bends sharply to the inside, relative to the swing.
Inside Path: The path of the club when it is inside the plane.
Lie: How the ball is sitting (good, bad, flier, etc.)
Lie Angle: The angle of the club shaft in relation to the sole of the club head.
Loft: The face angle relative to the sole of the club head.
Open Club Face: Occurs when the club face is turned slightly clockwise within the swing path. Can cause the ball to slice.
Outside Path: The path of the club when it is outside the plane.
Par: The number of strokes designated by the golf course for each hole and tallied for a total amount. Most 18-hole courses are between 70 and 72.
Pivot: The turning or “coiling” of the upper body during the swing.
Pull: Ball flight characterized by going straight and left of the target
Pull Hook: Ball flight characterized by starting left of the target and bending/curving even more.
Push: Ball flight characterized by going straight and right of the target
Push Slice: Ball flight characterized by starting right of the target and bending/curving even more.
Shank: Hitting the ball off the heel area of the club, which causes the ball to squirt low and to the inside.
Slice: The flight of a ball where it bends sharply to the outside, relative to the swing.
Square Club Face: Occurs when the club face is perpendicular to the swing path.
Sweet Spot: The area on the face of a club where the impact is most beneficial, as designed by the manufacturer.
Toe: The outside of the club, or part of the club head opposite the heel.
Unplayable Lie: A lie where the ball cannot be played due to natural obstructions. See the Rules for details on penalties.

Over the winter is an excellent time to make lasting changes in your swing movement. Why? Because it takes slow deliberate repetitions to teach your body to change motions or patterns which you probably would not be willing to do during the season because you want to play.

I once saw a very rare video of Ben Hogan. I tried to get it from the person that showed it to me but he wouldn’t even let me boot up a copy. It’s hard to find. The video showed Ben Hogan out at the beach swinging in slow motion, and I do mean slow motion.

He was performing his swing over and over again in a motion so slow, well I tried to mimic it myself and it took me about a minute and half to make one swing. Now that’s slow! The purpose was to feel the swing at every point and communicate to the mind what the position felt like slowly and deliberately.

Most of the tips I will give you in this report will be similar in nature. No golf ball needed. Just your golf club and a position far enough away from any lamps! Of course I will practice close to my wife’s cat in case I get lucky and cut a divot down his back. Rrrraoow!

1) You Must Have a Good Grip.

Most golf professionals have a golf club along side they’re sofa. After all, we do have to make any television viewing productive. When a silly commercial message comes on you hold the golf club in your hands right up in front of your face so you so you can see your grip. Grip the golf club slowly.

Notice where your fingers are and how it feels to you. You need to grip the golf club in your fingers. If you have one of those training grips that would be a good idea as a reference. One commercial use the training grip, and next commercial use the golf club. Compare the too and keep doing it until the golf club grip feels and looks very similar to the training grip.

Once you think you have the two grips feeling similar then stand up and make a stance. After you make a stance lift your grip up in front of your face again so you can see and feel the proper grip.

2) Drills for Your Address Position.

It would be best if you could do this in front of a full length mirror. You’ll also need a helper the first time to help put masking tape on the mirror.

Stand before the mirror as in the picture below. Then place the tape where I have the lines drawn. If your address position does not match the one in the picture below, please put your masking tape according to my picture and now follow those lines and angles in setting up to a golf ball.

Step back and set up to the ball again once the tape is on the mirror. Once you think you’re set up properly swivel your head up so you can see where you are. BE CAREFUL NOT TO LIFT YOUR BACK OUT OF POSITION! Just slowly swivel
your head. If the angles are perfect step back and do it again. You can’t do this too much. If you can’t set up to the golf ball perfectly every time, how can you expect to produce the same ball flight every time.

Next get to work on your down line view. Look at the picture below and follow the same procedures. The big key here is the 90 degree spine angle found in every successful golfer.

3) Top of the Back Swing Position.

Remaining in the down line view make a back swing, hold the top of the back swing position, turn very slowly and swivel your head looking at the mirror to see if you have lifted your spine out of position. You MUST maintain spine angle to be consistent! You may need to feel as though your chest is working downward on the back swing in order to stay level. Many golf professionals talk of the back swing as being down hill.

I’ve shown you a perfect example here in the picture comparison to a touring professional.

Now go for the frontal view and see if you remain in the proper position at the top of the back swing. Also notice if your head moves slightly backward at the top of the back swing. Moving your head laterally if fine just avoid any upward or downward movement.

4) Starting the Down Swing.

Once you’re at the top of the back swing position, stop and look at the mirror, then very very very slowly start your arms straight down toward the ground while holding your body perfectly still. The more you do this the better.

The arms and golf club have more territory to cover on their way to the impact position so they must get a head start on the body. This drill will really help in
your creating a feeling of the arms moving first on the downswing without the body helping or shifting laterally prematurely. An early turn of the body is the killer of many a good golf swing.

5) The Finish.

Go ahead a make a full golf swing now. Once you make a swing hold your finish. If you have trouble holding your finish position you have a problem somewhere in your swing motion.

Once holding the finish swivel your head over to the mirror and see if your back is nice and straight and that you’re balanced on your front foot. Any bending in your spine, (the reverse “C”) is not desirable.

Of course once you work on these drills there is nothing wrong with going to a driving range that is covered and heated and hitting a few golf balls too see how the drills are effecting your ball flight. With today’s covered ranges it certainly provides an opportunity earlier golfers never had.

Follow these five easy steps, hit some balls in the meantime and sneak out for a round or two if you get some decent weather and I will assure you that you will see a significance difference next spring.

Your initial golf shot is your most important golf shot in my estimation. It's sort of like first down in football. If you're second down and twenty every time you get the ball you're going to have a long afternoon. I'm used to it, being a Dolphin fan.

If you're having trouble during a round of golf with hitting your golf driver in the fairway then drop down to your three wood immediately. Maybe after some success with your three wood you will gain your confidence back to try your driver again. The little bit of distance you’ll loose by hitting your three wood will be more than compensated by being on the short grass in the fairway. Work out any problems with your driver in practice not on the golf course.

The first thing you need to understand about a Driver is that the length is probably doing you the most harm. A golf swing is very similar to a group of skaters turning in a circle or a group of soldiers marching in a circle. The outside skater or individuals will have to move that much faster than the rest of the line to keep up. Sure the longer the driver the faster the club head will travel in theory, but eqaully the harder it will be to square the club face at impact thus causing that dreaded slice off the fairway.

To square the golf club up at impact, (impact is actually about three degrees closed with a driver) you need to start rolling your forearms over earlier. Why, because the golf club head is further away from you. If you’re having trouble squaring up the club face first try choking up a little on the golf club. My opinion is golf club manufacturers make the modern drivers too long anyway. Most are about 45 to 46 inches. I prefer 44 inches. Tiger Woods only hits a 43 ½ inch driver.

I also prefer the smaller club heads. Everyone is raving about the hybrid woods that are replacing three irons. Golfers rave about how easy the hybrids are to hit. The heads are SMALL and have a low center of gravity. In contrast the new Drivers have a head the size of a basketball and golfers wonder why they can’t square it up. I recommend the 395cc head as the largest acceptable size, not the 460cc style which is actually more difficult to square up at impact.

Some golfers try to keep their head still or over the top of the golf ball. To make a full turn on a swing with your driver your head might move a little towards your back foot. That’s fine if not desired. You need to be well behind the golf ball at impact. One should have a straight line from the front shoulder to the ball at impact.

Another thing I noticed is that most golfers tend to hit their driver out on the toe. Use some face tape on your driver and witness for yourself where you are making contact with the face of your driver. Usually the best place to make contact is high on the face and just a little inside of center. Different drivers have difference centers of gravity. See my Blog report on finding the center of gravity on your golf club for help.