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Richard Noon’s Golf Swing Tips
1. Alignment Whenever I ask a student to aim at a target they focus on their feet and neglect their shoulders. For consistent alignment get your shoulders parallel to your target line. So when you align yourself from now on make sure that your eyes are focused on your target and not looking down at your feet. It’s like shooting a basketball; your eyes are on the basket. Too often I see players set up to the ball and spend the majority of their time looking at the ball and their feet and barely glance at their target. To shave shots off your score, look at your target and glance at your ball when taking your address position. You’ll be amazed how this will free you up and help you play better golf. 2. Putting I’ll always ask a student when I give a putting lesson, “When was the last time you lost a ball on the putting green”. They will say “Never”. Then I will ask, “Why do you lift your head up to see where the ball has gone?” If you ever watch Tiger or Annika putt, you’ll never see them move their head until the ball is almost to the hole. To make more birdies try practicing hitting putts by placing your golf ball on top of a coin like a quarter. After you hit the putt, ask yourself if the coin is ‘heads’ or ‘tails’. The length of time that it takes for your eyes to focus on the coin is about the length of time that you need to look down before you look at the hole. 3. How to hit it farther Do you ever feel like that you just can’t slow your swing down? A lot of times I will see golfers trying to swing quicker in order to hit it farther. Just remember that the two biggest inhibitors of distance are tension and not completing your backswing. Tension comes from gripping the club too tightly resulting in a jerky takeaway and then ‘hitting from the top’ in an effort to generate power. Next time you practice, place a golf ball directly behind your club head and pretend that it is an egg. When you start your takeaway try to roll the egg away without breaking it. This will help you feel a smooth tempo while adding more power and distance. 4. Pick out a precise target Whenever I ask a student to tell me what their target is, I might hear ‘the fairway’ or ‘the green’. Think like a marksman shooting at a target. They will look at the bulls eye, not the whole target itself. So the next time you pick a target be very precise. On a tee shot, you might pick out a tree or even a leaf on that tree! If a building happens to be on the horizon in line with your target go ahead and pick a window! You’ll be amazed if you narrow your target of focus you might not hit your target every time but you will hit the big target a lot more often. 5. Build confidence on the putting green Have you ever noticed how people practice their putting before they go to the first tee. Most of the time I see golfers pick the hardest putt on the green, for example a downhill 10 ft putt breaking about 2 feet to the right. The odds of making this putt are very low indeed and all you are doing is ingraining negative images when it misses the hole. Instead take 3 balls and hit putts that are 20 ft in length or greater and focus on speed. If they miss don’t worry, just focus on speed. Next hit putts that you cannot miss for example 2ft straight up hill. Do both of these drills 10 times for a total of 30 putts each. When you walk to the first green you will remember the 30 putts you just made and feel confident with your stroke. 6. Check your fundamentals 1. Grip - Take your normal grip with your left hand only. Raise the club six inches off the ground, keeping only your forefinger on the grip. If you cannot do this then this proves that you are holding the club too much in your palm and not in your fingers. Grip pressure needs to be about a 4 on a scale of 1/10. Gripping the club too tightly will inhibit club head speed and the ability to release the club. 2. Posture - Imagine that your chin is resting on a table top at address. This will help you to keep your shoulders back and stand tall, not slouch! Focusing on these areas will make your practice time more productive and your playing time more enjoyable. 7. Controlling distances on your bunker shots Many amateurs have trouble varying distance on bunker shots. Part of the problem is how they finish: They swing into a full follow-through regardless of the shot at hand. As a rule, the length of the follow-through should correspond to the length of the shot. A short shot needs a short follow-through, and a long shot needs a long follow-through. You wouldn't finish with the club up over your shoulder on a short pitch shot; so don't do it for a short bunker shot either. Match your finish to the shot you need. 8. Making more putts Missed short putts are often caused by turning the shoulders in a rotary motion (around the spine) instead of rocking up-and-down like a seesaw and creating a true pendulum action. Visualize a steel rod running through your shoulders and extending outward in both directions. As you make your stroke, pretend the rod is sliding up and down a flagstick in the cup. If you rotate the shoulders the rod moves away from the stick. Don't worry about keeping the club head low to the ground because in a true pendulum stroke the putter head rises and falls with the shoulder motion. Remember: Left shoulder up for more putts in the cup. Checking your basic fundamentals: Good habits on the practice tee Remember that the primary focus when practicing is to ingrain solid fundamentally sound habits. It is vital with all golf shots to have correct alignment so here is a simple drill to do every time you go to the practice tee. Take three golf clubs and place the first in front of the ball on the target line pointing at the target. Then place a second club parallel to the first approximately 1 foot from the first on the side where the player will hit from. Finally place the third club an equal distance on the opposite side of the first club which is also parallel. You can then pick up the first club and you will have your own alignment box setting you up parallel to every target that you aim at. This is one of the simplest and most effective practice routines you can do every day! Mirror drills for perfect posture and plane In my opinion the best practice device when working on your golf swing is simply a mirror. The best players in the world will put in countless hours in front of a mirror whenever working on swing changes or just ingraining the feel of perfect posture and a golf swing. Remember that 99 % of the time spent playing golf is without the supervision of an instructor so when you work with a mirror you have your very own swing analyzer! Good posture and a solid golf swing will be ingrained if you spend just 10 minutes before and after every practice session. On the days that you are not able to play or practice, remember to spend at least 15 minutes in front of mirror at home. You’ll be amazed how much more consistent your overall golf game will become! Putting tips Listen for the ball to drop I’ll always ask a student when I give a putting lesson, “When was the last time you lost a ball on the putting green”. They will say “Never”. Then I will ask, “Why do you lift your head up to see where the ball has gone?” If you ever watch Tiger or Annika putt, you’ll never see them move their head until the ball is almost to the hole. To make more birdies try practicing hitting putts by placing your golf ball on top of a coin like a quarter. After you hit the putt, ask yourself if the coin is ‘heads’ or ‘tails’. The length of time that it takes for your eyes to focus on the coin is about the length of time that you need to look down before you look at the hole. Getting the scoop out of your chip shots Probably the most common misconception with beginners and intermediate players is the concept of having to hit down onto the ball to get the ball into the air. So many times I see players trying to scoop the ball into the air to help it get airborne. What results are some ugly shots, especially around the green? A simple and effective drill is to take a golf shaft or a yardstick and hold it next to the grip of your chipping club so that it extends out past the grip and beyond your hip. This will immediately groove the correct action of the wrists through the impact area and produce nice, crisply struck chips. When done correctly, the extended shaft or stick will stay in front of your left hip after impact. If you decide to scoop the chip shot, the extended shaft will give you an immediate reminder when it bumps your hip. Try this drill next time you have any chipping woes. It will go a long way in helping your full swing shots as well. Focus on your grip pressure It is impossible to take the club away from the ball at a consistent pace if your grip is too tight. Unnecessary pressure transmits tension from the hands to the forearms and usually leads to a jerky takeaway. Experiment to see how lightly you can grip while still maintaining your hold on the club from address to the top of the backswing. - Figure of Eight Test How tightly should you hold your club? The answer is simple. I hold on just enough so that no tension creeps from my hands into my wrists. Hold a club up in front of you and make a figure eight. If you can so that smoothly, your wrists and hands are nicely relaxed, ready to begin the swing. Pre-shot routines Be consistent with your routines Whether you are hitting a drive, putt or a chip your pre-shot routine needs to be the same every time no matter what the situation. If you watch the best players in the world you always see the same routine before they execute their shot. Next time you watch Tiger or Annika playing, count the number of second that elapse from when they set up to the ball and stop when they actually hit the ball. You will see that it is the same on the first tee as it is on the 72nd hole of a tournament. A consistent routine gives the player the optimum opportunity to execute the correct shot every time. |
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