Golf advice

First of all... There are two rules.

Everyone should learn the fundamentals of golf if you want to play the game. Second... fast golf is good golf. If you are going to make a 9 on a par 4, please pick up and move the fuck on. Nobody wants to be stuck behind you or stuck playing with you. It’s the cold hard truth. It’s not enjoyable to watch, and hinders confidence for the growing golfer.

As the fundamentals go, there are really only five of them. The first two are the most important; Grip and setup. As long as I have played the game, nearly 17 years, I have never seen a good player without them. Never. It’s almost unbelievabley easy to spot a bad player. As you walk up and down the driving range their grips and setups just scream for me to help them; but I cannot. Consequently the grips and setups of good players stand out to me as well, but they say things like, “take a look at this” and “you honestly think you are better than me”. After all these years and tournament golf, one thing is clear... you must nail these first bits. Now to the lesson.

Building a solid grip is the crucial binding in any golf swing. The connection between the hands and club will directly relate to the club face, and how your arms function in the swing itself. If you watch the video above, I asked former masters champion Trevor Immelman about the grip, and you can tell he takes his time explaining the process to me... very important. One specific item of the grip he doesn’t cover is pressure. The amount of pressure you transfer from your hands to the club must be very light, with the pinky and ring finger of the left hand and middle finger and ring of the right hand giving out the most. If I was to rate the pressure it’s a 6 of 10. Do not forget I told you this.

Setup is the second most important fudamental because it builds a connection with the ground, allows you to repeat your swing, and helps you with BALANCE. How we set up also affects our backswing and downswing... which are the third and fourth fundamentals which I will cover in the next vocal post.

What we are looking for in setup is a slight bend of the knees, neutral spine, arms hanging down in a comfortable position. There should be no effort to reach for the ball. Feet should be a shoulders width apart for most mid iron shots, a little wider for driver and narrower for short irons and wedges. You should have pressure in the balls of your feet and if I was to try to push your on your backside, I shouldn’t even come close. If you refer to the late and great Mr. Ben Hogan’s setup, you will see that it meets these requirements.

One keen area that I would like to focus on before ending this vocal post is the mental aspect of golf. While I have much to say on this topic I will keep it brief for now. Mental attitude in golf is a direct influence on how well you play. This involves playing the game by the rules of course, because those who cheat will never fully experience the game and all of its rewards. I’ve known many cheats over my time playing. They’ll drop balls when they’ve clearly lost their tee shot, they’ll fix lies or “fluff” the ball as so to feel better about the shot at hand. This attitude will completely destroy your golf game. You must stick to the traditions of the game in order to improve. This will enevitably set the tone for any shot, lie, obstruction you face in your conquest to break even par. If you build your game around the rules and abide by them there’s no doubt you will be awarded. This attitude is respected amongst your playing competitors and will set a standard for what you expect from your game. Plus an added bonus of playing the ball as it lies will build a foundation of striking down and through the ball, what every accomplished player does. If you give yourself a perfect lie every time you will develop the dreaded “scoop” that will send you down the road of plus 80s golf.

Thank you for your interest in golf and it is your duty and mine to share this information and help grow this wonderful game.