Thank you for visiting my website. I have
been teaching and studying the golf swing for 18 years. I want to share my belief
of what is most important to incorporate into each part of your golf swing.
To become a better ball striker, view my highlights on the Grip, Stance
and Posture, Backswing, Downswing, and Impact.
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1-The Grip:
2-Stance and Posture:
3-Backswing:
4-The Downswing: Coming Soon.
5-Impact: Coming Soon.
Do you have a golf problem? Send me an Email
with your golf lesson requests or any golf topics that interests you.
Why not Email me a video of your golf swing, putting, chipping, bunker, pitching
and I will post ways to fix it for free right here on this site to help other
golfers as well.
I just watched the first of three videos you
produced of grip, posture and backswing. Here is my question:
You teach that the hands are in front of the
left thigh. Is that true of drivers and woods or just irons. When driving,
I have always tried to have hands square in the center and behind the ball
and eyes behind the ball. Please advise.
Answer:
A Tip a day of My golf
thoughts: Whatever comes to my mind I'll write it.
How Ben Hogan turned golfers into slicers.
Any research on Ben Hogan you'd find that he
was a hooker of the ball earlier in his career. He later weakened his grip
to fade the ball, meaning his thumb was right down the middle of the shaft
instead of the right side. He saw maybe one knuckle only. Unless your a
hooker of the ball the grip in your left hand you should see 3 knuckle like
the photo in the middle and the "V" formed by your thumb and forefinger
should point to your right shoulder. The right hand "V" should also point to
the right shoulder. Make sure there's no gap between the thumb and
forefinger as well. To get this no gap feel hold a tee between the thumb and
forefinger.
Long Left thumb or short left? If your backswing goes past parallel or is too long it could be because
of a long left thumb. A shorter left thumb will give you a shorter more
compact backswing. How many golfers on Tour with a short backswing hits it
short? To prove my point look at JB Holmes backswing. Short of parallel and
longest hitter on Tour. 318.4 yards is his average.
Width at the top of your backswing
When you finish your backswing your hands should be away from your right ear
as much as possible. Even though you want your left arm to be straight its
the right arms job to create the width at the top of your backswing. This
will help you from casting and get you more speed with less effort. A drill
to feel the width would be to make a right arm only back swing to the
top and then place your left hand back on the club. For most golfers you'll
be lucky to reach it with the left arm.
Fairway Bunker secrets
When you address the ball dig your feet in for stability and to test the
firmness of the sand. Now that your dug in your also now about an inch or so
lower than the ball. This will help you contact the ball first then the sand
during your downswing. Any attempt to swing up and help the ball will result
in a fat shot behind the ball. Last thing take one or more club and make a
three quarter swing. This will help with your balance and the extra club
will get you back to your normal distance your trying to hit.
One ball position for all shots on the
ground Whether your playing a fairway wood or a five iron or a wedge there is
only one ball position because there is only one low-point to everyone's
golf swing and that is the opposite of your left shoulder. On the ground it
would be inside your left heel. Without you knowing it, your swing will
change slightly as the length of the shaft of the golf club changes. The
shorter the shaft the closer the player must stand to the ball. The plane of
the swing would get more upright with the wedge and flatter with the driver.
Low-point is Low-point whether your a pro or an amateur golfer. The Drivers ball position Now, when it comes to the driver it's a bit different. Trackman has
found that in order to optimize distance with a driver
a golfer needs to hit slightly upward on the ball. However, the Geometry
stays the same. The golfer just needs to move the ball one ball further up
in their stance. I like to use the left toe as a good reference. It’s really
important to tee it up at least 1/2 inch above the top of the driver. With
new technology and the center of gravity is so high in the face of the
driver. You want to tee it up high and catch it slightly on the up swing
which is just after low-point. The ball will go higher and straighter. This
will guarantee you hit a really long tee ball with a square to closing
clubface.
Understanding Low-point and impact When looking at the Geometry of the Circle Diagram, you will see that a
properly executed swing will have the 'low point' opposite of the
golfer's left shoulder. That means that if the swing is properly executed,
the clubhead will reached it's lowest point at a spot that is opposite of
the golfer's left shoulder. Placing the ball inside the left shoulder before
low-point we will hit the ball FIRST ---- THEN take a divot. So much
so that the divot winds up being IN FRONT of where the ball used to be. In
order to do this, the clubhead on the downswing comes down at the ball with
a descending angle of attack. It then hits the ball and then goes DOWN even
more. The downswing thought or picture should be 'Down, Out and
Forward'. Once the ball is hit by the club, the clubhead needs to go
downward. Down because the ball is on the ground. Out because the ball
is out in front of us. Forward because after low-point the club goes
up and in.
Bunker shot with an uphill lie
First decide if you want it to go high and stop or go lower and roll more,
so really it depends on how far away the pin is. The clubface more open
means you'll have to swing harder because it will go higher and stop quicker
and with a square face not as hard because it will roll more. The key is to
get your body / shoulders matching the slope. Put the ball position more
forward than normal, then you need to tilt your shoulders to match the
uphill and swing into the slope.
Practice for more Swing Speed
How many times I hear "When I slowed down my swing I hit a lot better." You
may hit it more square because by slowing down your swing you have more time
compensate all your swing flaws but slow means a loss of clubhead speed and
loss of clubhead speed means loss of distance. To score well you must drive
the ball as far as you can and try to have the shortest club you can on your
approach. The key is to increase your golf swing speed. Every 1 mph of
increased golf swing speed translates into about 2.5 yards of distance.
Increase your swing speed and you’ll increase your distance.
That’s guaranteed. It does not matter how old you are, or what your current
skill level is.
Call me to sign up for a
personal or group lesson 612-240-2876
Email me at
joeparkgolf@mac.com for any questions.
