How would you like to shave a few strokes off your handicap? Here, some of the most accomplished PGA professionals at some of America’s most renowned golf clubs offer tips on how to get the most out of your game.

 

USE ENOUGH CLUB

Ron Branca, Salt Lake Country Club, Salt Lake City

Most amateurs don’t use enough club for the required shot. In other words, they try to force an 8-iron when a 7-iron is a better choice. They might try to muscle a 5-iron when a 4-iron will get the job done with less effort. The more club you use, the less swing you need. The shorter the swing, the fewer things there are to go wrong. Good balance usually is the first benefit of using more club with less swing. Better balance leads to more consistent shots.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP

John Dahl, Oxbow Country Club, Oxbow, North Dakota

The more a player’s head drops down during his setup, the higher the handicap. When you watch a very good golfer from a front-on view, you will see a good portion of his face. On the flip side, when you watch a higher-handicap player from the same position, the top of his head is visible while the face can’t be seen. If your head is buried into your chest in the setup, it is almost impossible to move behind the ball as needed during your backswing. The next time you get in position to make a swing, try glancing down but keep your face up. Don’t stare down at the ball.

SWING THE WEIGHT

Mike Harmon, Secession Golf Club, Beaufort, South Carolina

I have swung a weighted club (it has extra weight in the clubhead) daily for almost 40 years in order to develop and maintain my golf swing. If you do this —even if you seldom play and rarely hit practice balls—your golf muscles will remain toned. You can purchase a weighted club at a sporting-goods store or look for one online. Then swing it in slow motion 20 times daily, using the same technique and motions that you use when playing. It takes only two to three minutes, but if you do it religiously each day, you soon will feel flexibility returning to your swing motion and a muscle memory that helps immensely when you are on the course.

RELAX GRIP PRESSURE

J.D. Turner, Turner Golf Group, Inc., Savannah

Most players hold the club too tightly. By squeezing the grip, you lose rhythm, speed and balance. An effective exercise to learn proper grip pressure is to play catch underhanded with a golf ball. Toss the ball back and forth with a friend or up and down by yourself. You will toss it the perfect distance, height and speed every time. This is because you automatically hold the ball softly in your fingers. If you hold the club as you hold the ball, your accuracy and power will increase.

MAKE THOSE SHORT PUTTS

Bill Safrin, Myopia Hunt Club, South Hamilton, Massachusetts

As someone who has struggled to sink short putts, I found a solution to this problem. Follow these steps, and your percentages will increase substantially…

  • Take the putter slowly away from the ball.
  • Make your backswing short.
  • Make sure your follow-through is twice as long as the distance you pull the club back.
  • Listen for the ball to go in with your head down so as not to prematurely look up and possibly make a jerky stroke.

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