Are You Searching for the Proper Golf Swing?

Finally the weather in Middle Tennessee was warm enough to begin my quest for the proper golf swing. My friend Mike called me yesterday wanting to play golf. We decided to meet halfway and play on the first course I ever played, Riverside Golf course in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

Since the last time I played there, the course has dramatically changed for the better. Before it was a small course, a par 62, now it is a par 70 filled with 12 par 4 holes. Overall it was not a difficult course, wide and straight fairways.

Surprisingly the round started off pretty good until the fourth hole, a fairly short par 3. My tee shot left me behind a tree, didn’t feel in the tree hugging mood at the moment. Next I found the water. After hitting my next shot over the green, finally I was on the green. Never have I seen greens this fast. OUCH!!

I asked Mike for some putting tips because he seemed to have a better handle on these greens. All he said was after the first hole he was just putting very conservative.

Then on the 6th hole a 300 yard par 4, we each had our best hole of the day. Mike had a birdie and I had a par. The last 3 holes on the front nine were bad for both of us, leaving Mike with a 52 and I had a 56.

As we rounded the turn, I asked for a few of golf swing tips. He suggested I keep my back foot still, my head down, and not grip the club so tight. The first 4 holes on the back 9 showed improvement, +5 on the 4 holes.

On the 14th hole, I hit a good long drive that found the water. Only about 5 holes had water hazards and of course, as usual my drives found a couple of them. As the song says 2 out of 5 ain’t bad, or something like that. If I knew the course better I would have stayed left, which was hard to do with the 30 mph gusts. The next few holes were about the same, leaving me with a 52 on the back 9 and Mike shot a 49.

Overall for me it was a pretty good round, with a little luck and some praying, a score of 100 was possible. Golf is definitely a game you play mainly in your head. By improving my golf techniques along with better concentration, I am confident in obtaining the proper golf swing.

Technorati Tags: golf swing tips, golf techniques, proper golf swing, putting tips

What Goes Around Comes Around, Even When It Comes to Learning How to Play Golf

One of the untold requirements of marriage is doing things with your spouse that you might not want to do so that, in turn, they will do things you want to do. It is a give and take thing so I decided to let him teach me how to play golf.

He is not all that skilled at the sport, but he enjoys it. Therefore, he assumed I would enjoy it. After many attempts, he finally got me to agree to go to the driving range with him. “Do I need to watch a golf swing video to get the proper golf swing?” I asked. But he said he would be able to give me some golf swing instruction.

“First off”, I asked, “why do they call it a driving range? I see NO cars there.” Then the idea of being out in the heat and possibly sweating came to my mind. OMG, I really don’t want to do this. But we drive over there, pay to borrow a bucket of balls, haul a golf bag with all the essentials up a hill and over to a spot where we are going to “drive” the ball.

Then, my husband sticks this little toothpick like thing in the ground, sets a ball on it, and tells me there’s a sweet spot. I’m thinking, there is nothing sweet about this whole thing. Next, he tells me how to stand and what to aim for (like I didn’t see that little ball there).

Ok, great! I’m ready. Or not. I swung and missed the whole thing. So I realized my golf technique was in need of improvement. Immediately, I looked around to see who might have been looking. Ok, so far so good. No one was starring at me-or worse…laughing. Since the ball was still there on the toothpick, I just put the golf club behind it and prepared again. This time I looked around to see what the others are doing. It looked like you were supposed to shake your butt back and forth a few times before you swing. I was hesitant at first, because of my weight. I was afraid that the momentum would be a problem. What if my butt and arms didn’t swing in the same direction at the same time? I could get hurt! But I was willing to risk this for HIM! So I practiced the set up several times and stopped just short of actually hitting the ball. Now that I was convinced that I would not be harmed by hitting the little ball, I was ready to actually hit the thing.

So I swung the club back into the air, came down and hit the ball. I nearly fell trying to make sure I did the proper “follow through.” Immediately I started screaming! My hand felt like it was on fire. I had a huge blister. I felt a ringing sensation in my hand. To make things worse, the ball only went about two feet, and I put a huge hole in the dirt.

My husband came over and comforted me. He said it gets easier and more fun with practice. So, being a frugal person, I walked over and got the same ball, put it back on the toothpick and prepared again. This time, I had to make sure the club was not positioned on my new blister.

After several drives, it was clear to me that I was running out of places on my hand for blisters-some of which had busted, and the ground was getting pretty beat up. Fortunately, I hadn’t given up many balls as most of them had landed in my retrievable area. So I decided that it was time to show support for my husband instead of trying to golf. So I sat down and watched him while my mind pondered on what I was going to make him do with me to make up for all my pain and suffering!

P.S. He also suggested I get more tips at http:learninghowtoplaygolf.com

Technorati Tags: golf swing instruction, golf technique, how to play golf, proper golf swing

Will I Ever Learn How To Play Golf Like the Pros?

After years of just hacking at the golf ball, I have decided to learn how to play golf the proper way. Now that I will be turning 50 this year, my years of playing basketball and softball are behind me. Having always enjoyed sports, it just seems the logical step is to improve my golf game.

My goal is to become a bogey golfer by the end of the year. At the present time my scores are usually between 110 and 120, which is, about 8 to 10 strokes more than my usual golfing partners. So with practice, a score of 90-100 is my goal this year.

Living in the Nashville area allows me the opportunity to play on many different courses. However, the weather is a different story. Playing golf in February in Nashville is a hit or miss situation. The last couple of days were perfect weather for a round of golf , but 2 days earlier the temperature got down to 10 degrees.

So for the next couple of months, weather permitting, I will visit the nearby driving range a couple of times a week to work on developing a proper golf swing. While at the driving range, I will also spend 30 minutes on the putting greens to improve my putting. Until the weather allows me to play on a regular basis, I will start getting in shape by doing stretching exercises and Tae Bo videos.

Recently after a couple of trips to Orlando and Atlanta, I met a new friend we’ll call “Bogey Bob.” Bob Miegl is his real name and during the super bowl we started talking golf. He mentioned he has a blog at www.bobmiegl.com that he is using to help his golf game. In his blog he tells us his successes and failures hoping to join the small percentage of players that consistently break 80.

In this blog, I have taken up the moniker “Johnny Hacker” and before the year is out plan to change my name to Bogey John. That means I will have to shave about 20 strokes off my game. In the past I have never taken the game seriously, only looking at it as a fun time out with the guys to drink a few beers. With the help of Bogey Bob and his golf swing instructions, hopefully we can all learn how to play golf.

Technorati Tags: golf swing instuctions, how to play golf, proper golf swing