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About Golf Carts And Their Surprising Uses
Golf Carts -- An Amazingly Diversified Niche Industry
Golfers out for a Sunday afternoon game just take them for granted on the golf course, and never think about their origin. I am talking about golf carts, those miniature vehicles dotting each...
Exercises For Golfers Pay Huge Dividends
Exercises for golfers may seem like an oxymoron, but I'm here to tell they are most definitely not. Golf is physical! Golf causes injury! Golf can very easily break down the body! To hit the ball maximum distance, your body has to...
Improve Your Game with Sport Performance Sunglasses
Sunglasses are fundamental in protecting the eyes from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays and eye damage. With the popularity of almost every imaginable outdoor sport such as snowboarding, skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking and golfing to...
Save $ with Golf Ball Used
Golf s sometimes a frustrating game. Many have been known to lose their cool after hitting a ball into the rough, a sand trap or the water. Sometimes, the ball just seems to disappear. Tired of wasting all that money on golf balls that don't seem to...
Senior Exercise For Golf Prolongs Golfing Life
Senior exercise for golf is becoming evident, but not enough to make a dent in the aging golfers’ approach to golf improvement. So many golfers who reach their 60’s and up are looking for anything that will help them improve and yet the last thing...
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Simple Ways to Groove Your Stroke
Golf is a game filled with exasperating contradictions. All golfers understand that the game requires concentration, but not over-thinking, a strong focus, yet the ability to see the "big picture," and a rigid routine, but one which allows for creativity. As Bob Hope once remarked, "If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."
Nowhere are the contradictions more apparent than on the green, where a simple task--pushing a ball into a hole in the ground--is loaded with tension and anxiety. Golfers have attempted everything from expert instruction to hypnosis trying to make every putt on the green. Relax, even the pros can't do that.
Rather than making the occasional monster 35 foot putt, your goal should be to master a few techniques that will enable you to sink those most important putts--those pesky 3 to 10 footers--with greater confidence and much more frequency.
Three primary skills need to be mastered in order to become a proficient putter. First, keep you head down! Seeing the ball at impact is a simple idea, but it is too often over-ridden by the excitement of wanting to see where your ball is going. Lifting your head, even slightly, to watch the path of your ball before it has been struck can mean a change in the angle of your putter head, which often results in a line significantly off target, even for short putts. Just as important as keeping your head down is keeping it still.
A second major skill is to learn to visualize. Amateur golfers typically read their putts by examining only the immediate path from the ball to the hole. In fact, you should scan as broad a
perspective as possible when assessing a putt. Try to develop a mental picture of the entire green--where the high side is located, the severity of the tilt, and a general idea of speed, break and ball path.
Once you have evaluated the entire green, narrow your focus to the area where you'll be putting. Visualize how you think the ball is going to track. Imagine its precise path directly into the hole. By starting with the big picture and then narrowing it to a more manageable size, you take control.
Finally, think distance, not speed! While the ultimate objective of getting your ball in the hole doesn't change, a subtle shift in approach--emphasizing distance, not speed--can bring major improvement in your overall putting ability. Distance control comes primarily from the symmetry of your stroke.
The ideal putting stroke moves as far backward as it does forward, with both parts of the stroke in equal temp. This even rhythm can be achieved through a combination of diligent practice and the real understanding that the putter, not you, is responsible for doing the work.
By keeping your head down and still, visualizing from broad to narrow before you putt and concentrate on distance rather than speed, you'll start making putts that you formerly missed.
About the Author
Larry Denton is a retired history teacher having taught 33 years at Hobson High in Hobson, Montana. He is currently V.P. of Elfin Enterprises, Inc., an Internet business providing valuable information on a variety of timely topics. For a golf cart full of advice, resources and tips about golf, visit http://GolfTBox.com
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