All great players have the ability to swing every club at a consistent tempo and with great balance. Rhythm and balance are linked. Some players, like Tom Watson, exhibit faster tempos. Some, like Ernie Els, exhibit a slower tempo. Yet all remain balanced.

The key to consistency is to maintain your balance and use a smooth rhythm.

If you rush your swing you will loose your balance and the end result is inconsistent contact and poor ball flight. Outstanding ball strikers are rarely off balance at impact and their rhythm is the “glue” that bonds their positions and movements. Often their swings seem effortless and they, as Julius Boros described it, “swing easy and hit hard.” Great rhythm allows you to properly sequence your body motion and arrive at impact in a position of leverage and power.

Ten-time PGA TOUR driving accuracy champion Calvin Peete says the three keys to straight driving are “Balance, Balance and Balance.” If you want to be a more consistent ball striker, you must understand how the body should be balanced in four key positions.

I find it completely unbelievable the number of times that I have been enjoying a beautiful day, on a lush green golf course, scoring well and enjoying the company only to have it ruined by the selfish players ahead of me who can’t seem play at a reasonable pace. While I notice others playing slowly and often find myself held up, especially on weekends, I am not a particularly good golfer. I play fairly consistently to a 15 handicap and have done so for about 10 years now. The peculiar thing is that I have discussed my concern with many golfers who are both much better and much worse than I and they all have similar complaints about slow play. If all these people are complaining about slow play then who is responsible for all the slow play?

I know that most of the time that you’re on the course and complaining about slow play you’re doing your part by keeping up with the group ahead of you and usually it appears as though the group ahead of you is also doing their part. The comment is then made from someone in your foursome that it must be a group up farther ahead that is slowing everyone down. The problem is that everyone is saying this and nobody seems to be able to find the group slowing everyone down! Here’s a news flash for every golfer out there…It isn’t the group ‘up ahead somewhere’ its YOU! The fact that everyone is complaining about slow play does not automatically eliminate them from being part of the problem. In fact it is an indicator that if everyone is complaining but nobody can find the perpetrators then those doing the complaining are the most likely source of the problem.

Most golfers have at least a superficial understanding of the rules of golf. Most of the time they choose not to apply the rules that they are aware exist. I couldn’t care less if you insist on cheating. What I am talking about is using your ‘foot wedge’ to better your lie or nudging the ball onto a tuft of grass in the fairway, or take a mulligan for that sand shot that didn’t quite make it out of the bunker the first time. None of these rules infractions impacts me so basically I don’t care. Golf is a game that you play against yourself. I play against all of my previous scores and you play against all of your previous scores. Each of us trying to beat each and every round that we ever played. However, once you start to effect my round by slowing down the play for everyone on the golf course I’ve got a bone to pick with you. You might not be breaking any rules but in my mind, given that we are not playing against each other like those guys on the PGA tour, I consider you to be breaking something more important than the ‘rules of golf’. You’re breaching the fundamental etiquette of the game!

The fundamental etiquette of the game is that you should endeavor each and every time you step on the golf course to ensure that you not only don’t negatively impact the game of any other golfer on the course but in fact assist in improving each golfer’s experience. This is why we fix ballmarks and spikemarks on the green, replace divots on the fairway and rake sandtraps. While I can personally attest to the fact that most golfers that I have seen and played with are aware of these ‘rules of etiquette’ few consider the speed of their play to be a commensurate responsibility.

The fact is that on most golf courses, groups generally keep up to the group ahead of them (hopefully the course you play has a good marshal that insists that groups that do not keep up pick up their ball and move to the next tee). The problem is not that any one group is slowing things down. The problem is that the overall speed of play is too slow. And everyone is to blame for it - you included!

Let’s face it - you and don’t play with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Mike Weir. There is no need to change your mind three times about which club you are going to hit and then take six practice swings each time you address the ball. Most courses these days encourage golfers to play ready golf - do it!

Tiger Woods’ headline making play has brought more and more publicity to the sport and as a result more and more people are taking up the game. These new golfers often learn only bits and pieces of golf etiquette. Knowing only a little bit of the etiquette they ensure that they apply what they know. For the most part a new golfer will know that the lowest score goes first on the tee, farthest from the hole is next and if you’re lucky, not to walk in the line of someone else’s putt. It is the responsibility of veteran golfers to assist rookie players in the ‘rules’ and merits of ‘ready golf’. Even the stodgiest golfer is not going to be offended if you hit first when it was their honor. In fact, looking at the big picture, most will appreciate it as it will speed up play and everyone enjoys their game more when they do not have to wait.

Don’t be misled - rookie golfers are not the sole reason that golf is too slow. Often I find that, because of their eagerness, and because they don’t know any better they are the most proficient of golfers in the application of ready golf.

Golf is meant to be a social game and should continue to be so. If it were not there wouldn’t be an issue of slow play - there wouldn’t be any golfers on the course! Ready golf does not mean that you cannot converse throughout your round or tell jokes to your golf partner, it merely means that the person who is ready to go next hits their ball and the group moves on. Further, when playing ready golf it is important that each golfer is aware of where the other players balls are so that they are always aware of when a shot might take place and so that they can curb the volume of their conversation while these shots are being taken.

Ready golf is simple. Be thinking about what club you are likely going to hit before you actually stand over your ball. As you are walking or driving towards your ball guess at the distance to the pin and evaluate the lie so that when you arrive at the ball you have at least narrowed down the club you are going to hit to one or two at the most. Watch other golfers in your foursome from where your going to hit your next shot rather than standing next to them for ever shot and then proceeding to your ball. When on the green look at your putt while others are making theirs. The first person to finish reading their putt should go ahead while the others in the group evaluate their putts - regardless of who’s farthest away. If you putt and miss your first putt by a couple of feet don’t mark your ball, pick it up, clean the ball and then wait for someone else to putt. The proper etiquette to follow when playing ready golf is to politely tell the balance of the group that you are going to hole out and then proceed to do so. Likely you already know the line as a result of your first putt. Your group will always finish the hole faster using this strategy rather than waiting for your turn using the ‘farthest from the hole’ rule. Most golfers’ number one complaint is people who stand around on or around the green after they hole out making them wait to hit their shots. Mark your score on the next tee! Once your group has finished, quickly put the pin back in the hole and make your way to the next tee- preferably off the back of the green. Don’t mark the scorecard and certainly don’t ‘try that putt one more time’ or you might end up with an approach shot in your ear.

Golf is an old game with many traditions and etiquette that should be respected when possible. I get that! However, when the game is to the point where I (and many others) avoid playing golf on the weekends because of five and half hour rounds there’s a problem.

If we can all commit to playing ready golf and keeping up with the group ahead of us then perhaps more of us can finish our rounds on the weekend rather than trying to find our balls in the dark coming down the 18th fairway.

Golf is a difficult game. Yet to so many of the uninitiated it might seem incredibly simple. The objective is to strike a ball that is just sitting there. After all, how tough can it be? It’s not like baseball, or tennis, where the ball is moving as we attempt to make contact with it. It’s not like hockey, where someone is trying to knock you down. And if it is, re-thinking your choice of foursome should perhaps be the bigger priority. Why is it then, in golf, that this stationary ball is so difficult to hit? Why do we even miss it completely at times?

Golf is difficult - deceptively so - due to our perception of how to get the ball airborne. We want the ball to go up, and our natural inclination is to hit up at it. However, we need to hit down.

Part of this initial deception in golf lies in the fact the ball is round, and our clubface is lofted (angled back). On first look it might appear that our goal is to slide the lofted clubhead under the ball, striking its lower half on the upswing, and thus driving - or lifting - the ball into the air. However, it is critical to note that the golf club has not been designed to get under the ball to lift it. It has been designed to strike the ball as the clubhead is descending on the downswing.

The face of the club will then contact the surface of the golf ball just prior to reaching the bottom of the swing arc. As a result the ball becomes trapped between the descending clubface and the ground. The ball compresses. Because the face of the clubhead is lofted, the ball will - rather than be driven into the ground as a downward hit might imply - spin backwards up the clubface, decompresses (adding energy to its escape) and climb into the air. The angle at which the ball climbs (trajectory) will be directly related to the loft of the club we have chosen for the shot.

Unfortunately until the technicalities of hitting down are fully explained, hitting up seems, on the surface, more logical. If we want something to go up, we tend to hit up at it. If I gave you a tennis ball, and a racket, and asked you to hit the ball up into the air - what would you do? You would lower your racket and strike up at the tennis ball.

And the tennis ball would go up. It’s logical. So why wouldn’t it be logical with golf too? Certainly - on the surface anyway - hitting down at something you want to go up, is not logical. And until it becomes logical, your muscles may resist as a result. Gaining a firm understanding of the golf swing - and especially the mechanics of “hitting down” - is vital to programming muscle memory. And good muscle memory in golf is essential, so you can stop worrying about your swing, and concentrate on the game itself.

Distance distance distance. Distance is to the golf industry what six-pack abs are to the fitness industry. The mere word itself drives sales of golf clubs, golf balls, magazines, and training videos. We all want distance, but do we even truly understand where distance comes from? It has been said it is best not to seek that which we don’t understand. But wouldn’t it be better to simply seek understanding? The answer to where distance comes from is simpler than you might think.

Clubhead speed.
Distance is simply a result of clubhead speed. While the answer to where distance comes from may be simple, achieving it may not be. Especially if we are bogged down with misleading clichés and old wives’ tales. Pure and simple, the faster the clubhead is going at impact, the further the ball will go.

You Are The Variable
Will a tightly wound golf ball give you more distance? It may. That new 450 cc driver? It may. However, these things will also give your playing companions more distance as well. And as much as “technology” may have given us more distance on the golf course, the golf courses have gotten longer as well. Our net advantage? Zero. The thing to remember is that once you are standing on the tee of that 7,000 yard golf course, with your maximum distance golf ball teed up and your $800 titanium driver in your hand, you are the only variable. The ball won’t suddenly go further because it is in a positive frame of mind. Or because it suddenly got more tightly wound. Or the head of your driver suddenly grew bigger. Once purchased, the dynamics of ball and driver are set - there is nothing you can do to change them. But you do have control over one thing every time you tee it up: your clubhead speed. Your ability to create accelerating clubhead speed at impact will directly impact upon how far, or how short, the golf ball will travel. Understanding this - and how to achieve it - will give you a leg up on the competition.

Size Of Swing
The idea that ‘size of swing’ is the contributing factor to distance is one of the most misunderstood and misleading notions in the game of golf. If size of swing was the influence over distance, everyone with a huge swing would hit the ball a long way. Yet we all know people with huge swings who hit the ball nowhere. And people with short swings who hit the ball far. A big swing that does not create clubhead speed is just an invitation to error. And injury.

Point A to Point B
Your ability to get the clubhead from Point A to Point B quickly will have much greater bearing on the distance your golf ball will travel. Let’s consider the club half way back on the backswing - with the toe up, shaft horizontal and parallel to the target line - as ‘Point A’. And the club on the follow-through - pointed at the target, again toe up, shaft horizontal and parallel to the target line – as ‘Point B’. This motion, from A to B, is the golf swing. Anything bigger is just adding volume. If we liken the golf swing (from A to B) to a stereo, we can see that if there is a “fault”, turning up the volume just makes the sound worse. In order to develop a swing capable of great clubhead speed we must first make the swing pure from A to B. Once done the temptation is to then make the swing bigger. Yet this would be skipping a key step. If we consider learning the swing from A to B as Step One, Step Two is not a bigger swing, but a faster one. Your ability to move the clubhead from A to B with speed will have a much greater effect on distance while at the same time actually reducing the margin for error. Only after we have perfected a fast swing from A to B does it then make sense to make a bigger one. An efficient swing, with the requisite ability to create speed - and then made bigger - will result in even more distance. Then, and only then. A faulty and plodding swing from A to B that is then made bigger is akin to the poorly tuned radio station blasting at high volume. Turn it down! No one wants to hear it! Please!

Replacing your golf grips is like servicing your car; you must do it on a very routine basis to keep them in top working order. We suggest changing your grips at least once a season, maybe even twice depending on where you live and how much you play.

People think that you must have your grips replaced professionally. This is incorrect because it can get costly. Actually replacing your own golf club grips is a really simple job. You will learn a lot about your clubs and save you some money.

Below we will walk you through the quick simple steps to doing the job yourself. But first there are a few things you will need:

New golf grips
Exacto or sharp knife
Double sided tape
Cleaning solvent
Work bench vice
Follow these quick easy steps:

Place the club in the work bench vice and tighten with the grip being fully exposed. Take the exacto or sharp knife and cut the grip from the shaft up to the end of club, cutting away from your body.

Remove the old grip and clean the shaft of the club with the cleaning solvent using an old rag or brush. Then dry the club off completely.

Wrap the double sided tape down the shaft the length of the grip. Make sure that portion of the shaft is completely covered and remove the backing on the other side of the tape.

Pour some solvent over the tape. Line the grip up with the club and slip it towards the head of the club. Remove the club from the vice and place the head on the floor and make the minor alignment adjustments.

Let grips dry for a few hours (3).
Give this a try; it is a very easy process and simple task to do. It can be a great learning experience and a lot of fun. It will help you learn a little more about your golf clubs and save you some money. So get the things you need and get busy.

Golfers will do anything they can in hopes to play better golf and hit the LONG ball. Am I right? Are you in this category? If so, I’m quite confident to say you’ve taken a golf lesson or two. Golf lessons can be very effective in getting you back on track, if your swing has gone south. But, not always.

How many times have you taken a golf lesson, only to be more frustrated and hitting the ball worse than before that golf lesson? Do you know why this happens? It can be many different reasons, such as too many swing thoughts; making drastic changes that require hours at the range and hitting thousands of balls; or lastly, your body just can’t effectively move in the way it needs to, to make a mechanically correct golf swing.

I’m inclined to say that for the majority of golfers, especially the older golfer, it’s the last reason above. Your body just can’t move the way it needs to. The question now is, why?

Why can’t your body do what you know it needs to do to swing the club correctly? It can drive you to the point of quitting the game. But there is hope. There is an approach that will almost 100% of the time correct this problem. Do you want to know what it is? It’s addressing your “physical limitations”. That’s what’s keeping you from a great game of golf.

Do you ever get on the course and just feel like you can’t make a full backswing? Or, it just feels impossible to maintain your golf posture and “stay in your swing”? No amount of golf lessons or hitting balls will correct this. This is a “physical” issue with your body, and until you work on it, it will never get better. I’ve seen it time and time again. Golfers walking off the course in pure disgust. They’ve taken golf lessons, hit balls at the range, and even bought the latest, greatest titanium drive; and yet still can’t play like they think they are capable of.

Finding out your “physical limitations” is the first step to a lifelong better game of golf. Once you find out what’s keeping you from making that perfect swing, you can set up a game plan to improve it. It may be a flexibility issue, or it may be a strength issue. But either way, you’ve got to find out what it is.

The most common issue (especially for the older golfer) is flexibility. Not being able to rotate your body fully on the backswing, creating that power and torque for maximum clubhead speed. If your back swing is cut short, you will LOSE yards on your drives! And I say again; no amount of lessons or hitting balls will make that any better. You’ve got to do specific golf stretches to improve this limitation.

Now on the other side of these limiting factors is strength, specific to golf. And one of the most common limitations is weak hamstrings (the back of the upper leg). The role of the hamstring is critical. It allows you to maintain your golf posture throughout the swing and for 18 holes. It prevents undo strain on your lower back. And can give you a steady, comfortable position while putting.

If your hamstrings are weak, I can almost say with certainty, you’ve got some low-back pain or injury. This is prevalent in older golfers and even the younger ones too. Back pain is the number reason to keep a golfer from playing his/her best. Have you ever walked off the course with your back in pain? I’m sure at one time or another you have. Now do you think hitting more balls or taking more lessons will improve this? I think you know the answer.

If you have a difficult time, “staying in your swing”, it most definitely could be the above scenario. In order to maintain the forward flex in your upper body (golf posture), your hamstrings need to have optimal strength (and flexibility). If not, your hamstring will send a message to your brain saying, “get out of this position, I can’t hold it any longer”. Do you think his has ever happened to you?

So working on the physical side of your game improvement may be the missing link. I can assuredly tell you with this approach, your game WILL improve. There is no doubt. Getting your body to move just a little better will make a huge difference in your ability to make an optimal swing for 18 holes. So before you take that next golf lesson, take a look at your BODY first!

Why is it considered the most electrifying club in your golf bag? Why is it the first club anyone talks about when equipment is brought up? Why is it what everyone wants?

The answers are simple - POWER. It’s all about the power of the long ball. The golfer who drives the ball the furthest is considered the man of the moment, and everyone wants to be that man. I guess it’s an ego thing.

This mind game is played among all golfers form beginner to professional. It is on of the main driving forces behind the design of today’s best golf drivers. The manufacturers are continually coming up with newer and better drivers that go further and straighter than the competition. They come in all shapes and sizes with the bigger is better attitude coming out on top.

A lot of the big oversized drivers are built to the largest legal size specifications under PGA rules and regulations. Combine that with the ultra thin super springy club faces. What you get is a kind of loaded canon. These clubs launch the golf balls high in the air and really long. We must emphasize really LONG.

A lot of the club makers have even taken the grooves off the clubfaces around the sweet spot areas. This is to reduce spin and allow the ball more distance with less resistance. What this also causes is less accuracy off the tee. But most golfers are willing to give up a little accuracy for more distance.

Now if you throw in the new technology in today’s golf shafts it gets a little crazy. With all the different types of graphite, the raised and lowered flex and kick points, and now even tipping it almost seems out of control.