Posts Tagged ‘how to’

Putting Tips – How to Putt Consistently!

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Last time I showed you some putting secrets of how to roll the putt better by hooking it.  Well, today, let me give you couple tips that will help you putt even better.

First, I don’t really care how you grip but your putter should “hang” naturally from your hands.  This fixes many putting flaws.  When your putter is “hanging” naturally by gravity from your hands, your putting stroke will have consistency.

To do this, simply feel the weight of the putter head and make sure you can feel it “hanging” off your hands and arms right before you begin the putt.  You will also find this is easier to achieve if you stand up as tall as you can.

As for the putting grip, I find that the one with your thumbs going down the middle of the shaft works best.  Also, I have tried “looser” putting grips where your thumbs are placed diagonally across the putter grip.  These are good for light hands but ultimately make you miss short putts, where it counts.

For your putting stroke, make sure it’s a “stroke” back and forth, not a “hit” back and forth or any other fast, jerky movements.

Try to keep your putting clubhead on the ball as long as you can and that is what I mean by “stroking” the golf ball.

When you do this right, you will find you hit more putts solid and they also “feel” right in your hands.

As for the putting rhythm, try to mimic a metronome.  Just like an old wall clock that goes back and forth, your putting stroke is the same.  No need to get more complicated than “1-and-2″ rhythm.

Remember, when you practice putting, you are striving to achieve a putting stroke that will roll your ball smoothly on the green.

A great way to test your roll is to putt on a humid green when there’s a lot of fog.  Try a long putt about 30 feet and see if your golf ball “jumps” or “skips”. If it does, that means you are not doing it right, apply my tips until your golf ball “rolls” smoothly.  When you have truly master the art of putting, your golf ball should never “jump” or “skip” on foggy greens.

It’s Friday, I hope y’all have tee times, and I will have more golf tips next week!

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Putting Secrets – How to “Hook” Your Putts!

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Okay, I am going to let out another cat out of the bag, that is “hooking” your putts.

I’ve been recently noticing that I have been “naturally” hooking my putts, virtually every one of them.  This occurred naturally while just trying to make solid contact with the ball.

By the way, I have been making helluva more putts with my new “hook” method.

WHY?

When you put a slight right-to-left spin on the ball while you putt, your ball will roll more true than if you simply hit it normally.  I also found that by hooking my putts, I was able to make more left-to-right putts and right-to-left putts.

The only drawback is that you will have to adjust your aiming accordingly, meaning you might want to aim more right for right-to-left putts and play for less break on left-to-right putts.

How to Hook Your Putts

For me, an inside to slightly outside putting stroke is natural since I mainly use my wrists to putt.

I find I putt better with my wrists plus more feel when I let my hands do most of the work.

The inside-out path is natural when you simply use your wrists to putt.

To try my new putting method, simply take the clubhead back, letting it hinge on your wrists.  You will find that the path of the putter will automatically go inside.

On the follow-through, simply let the putter clubhead swing through to the target, you will find that the path of the putter will naturally go slightly outside then straight towards the target.

Because this is a natural movement and I am sinking more putts, I decided to stick with it.

When you do this right, you won’t notice any “hooks” with naked eye but you will notice that you can “hook” the ball on right-to-left putts (meaning you have to aim more right) and you will be able to hit those slightly left-to-right putts straight at the cup without compensating for any breaks.

Remember, the “hook” part is ever so slight that it can’t really be seen with the naked eye, it’s a “feel” thing so don’t over do it!  (Perhaps like 1-3 degrees of inside-outness…)

If you look at Tiger’s putting, he also “hooks” his putts.  (There’s even a golf training tool you can buy here.  They call it inside-down-the-line path but it’s really the same thing.)

I’ve also noticed that one of the greatest putters Ben Crenshaw does a similar move in his teaching videos.

Of course, you can also do this without using your wrists only but I don’t know how to teach you that.  Perhaps the golf training aid will help although I don’t believe in any training aids because you can’t use it on the golf course.

Anyways, this is really for advanced golfers.  If you are not already accomplished putter, perhaps you might want to just try hitting putts straight and keep it simple.

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How to Hit the Pop and Run Pitch Shot! [Short Game]

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Today, I was practicing this pop and run pitch shot where your pitch shot flies about 15-20 yards then rolls the rest of the way about additional 5-10 yards. (It’s also called hit-and-run but I like the term “pop and run” since it feels more like I “pop” the ball” rather than “hitting” it)

This shot can be very useful in situations where you have a lot of green to work with yet you still need to fly the ball about 15-20 yards onto the green.

Also, this shot can be useful for uphill lies/greens where the ball tends to die after landing on the green.

Okay, one more thing, this shot can be useful in situations where the green lies left to right, meaning you need to aim left of your pin and also put some nice “hook” spin to the ball. (so it will counter the left-to-right slope on the green)

Anyways, to hit this pop and run pitch shot, it’s not terribly hard nor different from your regular pitch shot.

First, setup to the ball square to your target with the ball about the center of your stance.

Second, let your hands be very “light” like spaghetti as with all short game shots.

Third, take your backswing aggressively inside, you should feel that your wrists are forced to hinge quicker because you take it back on a such flat plane.  Yes, it’s okay to be wristy on this shot, just make sure you hands stay super light throughout the shot.

Fourth, follow through inside-out without breaking your wrists.

When you hit hit shot right, you can literally take a really clean hit of the ball and very little turf.  It should feel very solid and with lots of overspin.  The golf ball should feel like “butter” at impact.

The beauty of this shot can be seen in windy against-the-wind situations where you need to keep the ball strong and also rolling once it hits the green.

I know personally that Tiger (although his MIA right now, perhaps I will have a post on that soon) practices/uses this shot a lot.

It’s hard for you to catch pros hit this shot because the pitch shot is such a small action, subtle changes in the pitch shot can be hard to see with the naked eye.

When hit right with enough force, this shot can also “skip and drop” when hit under dry, normal conditions or against the wind.

Of course, this shot isn’t for the hacker, perhaps for those of you who are already accomplish short game players.

Putting “hook” spin on the ball with small chip/pitch shots can save you a great deal of headache on very fast, sloping greens where just playing along might not be enough.  Instead, you might have to “counter” spin the ball to get your ball stopping next to the pin.

On the opposite side, there’s the slice spin chip shot but I am not going to tell you how to do that because most of you already know how to do that.  Most pitch shots can have slice spin as soon as you open the clubface.

Of course, you might think you can add “hook” spin simply by closing the clubface but I find that is a lot harder to control than using the inside-out swing method.  Anyways, that is why I am telling you how to hit this shot.

I usually use my 60 degree lob wedge to hit this shot but you can use longer club (even a 7-iron) for longer pitch shots such as 50 yards or more.

As always, my tips are meant to help you to experiment with you own short game and develop your own “feel” and shots.   In short game, there’s no single right way to hit the same shot.  Likewise, I would like you to experiment and see if you can find my method or any other variations thereof helpful for your golf game.

Practice your short game at least 30% of your practice time as having a great short game can help you score under par even if you hit your drives/irons all over the place.

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Posted in A+Featured Swing Tips, Pitch Shot, Swing Tips, lob wedge, short game, wedge shots | No Comments »

How to Practice the Driver!

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

For most of you, you probably have one shot with your driver, that is trying to hit it long as possible.

Well, let me tell you right off the bat, I can hit at least a dozen different shots with my driver including the full long drive, short knock-down drive, driver off the fairway, low-bullet slice shots around the trees, and the list can go endless.

Because of how the driver is designed, it can be a great weapon to use even off the fairway when there’s a fair amount of wind on the golf course or you are stuck under a low-hanging tree and you need to get the ball down the fairway as far as possible.

Of course, a long iron such as a 2 or 3-iron can also be good for hitting a low-bullet shot but the driver has some better results such as putting less backspin on the ball.  In the time you need to roll it more, the driver can come in very handy.

Well, let me just go over couple of these different shots you can practice with your driver so you can make 12 shots out of this driver club, not just one.

Having more weapons in your bag will help you become a scratch or better golfer but only knowing how to hit full shots will limit your potential as a golfer.

1. The Long Drive – I am sure you have this in your bag already, I won’t go much into details other than you should have a super-long drive ready to launch at a long par 5.

2. The Short Drive – At times, there’s a need for you to hit a distance off the tee, something between a driver and a 3-wood.  At those times you will want to grip down on the driver a little bit and make a three-quarter swing.  This will allow you to hit the ball little bit lower and control it better.  This short drive also works well on windy holes where a 3-wood balloon the golf ball in the air too much.  Anyways, this is probably more important driver shot than the Long Drive.  Look at the pros, even they are using it, especially Anthony Kim, he will grip down on almost every drive for better control and lower ball flight.  This isn’t an easy shot by the way if you don’t practice and learn to control your backswing so make sure you practice this before using it on the golf course. (or any of these shots for that matter)

3. The Short Drive Fade and Draw – Learn to really be able to work the ball left-to-right or right-to-left with these short drives, they can come in very handy for those dogleg-lefts and rights.

4. The Long Drive off the Fairway – This will require that you already hit the golf ball pretty solid.  This Long Drive off the Fairway can come in handy on super, long par 5s or super, windy conditions where you need to hit the ball far and run it too.

5. The Short Drive off the Fairway – This one is another one to practice for windy conditions and when you need to run the ball more than the 3-wood.

6. The Low-Bullet Shot – This low-bullet shot with the driver is basically same as a short drive off the fairway except you put the ball back in your stance slightly.  You won’t have to put the ball back too far back because the loft on the driver is already de-lofted a lot, just make a nice and short swing.

Also practice with different clubface angles.  For one, don’t close your clubface but rather open it up gradually and see what kind of results you get.

These shots can come in handy where you have to hit it under the tree then slice the heck out of it down the fairway.

Other than these, you might want to keep experimenting with different driver shots.  All these shots may seem like a waste of time but will actually help you hit the Long Drive good too because your hands will have to be light and your body will adjust to swing correctly.

Banging Long Drives one after another can be fun but they are usually detrimental to your overall golf swing and rhythm but if you mix your driver practice with all of these different ones I’ve outlined, you will make a much better use out of your driver plus better rhythm in the long run.

Remember, if you practice like everyone else on the range, you will only become like them. (a real good HACKER!)

Learn to be creative and create your own golf shots, that will ultimately be your competitive edge on the golf course when your competitor thinks you are stymied behind a tree, then stick it 2-feet from the pin using the low-bullet slice driver shot. :)

Bring out the best in yourself, don’t limit capabilities of a golf club to one shot.

Happy golfing!

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Posted in A+Featured Swing Tips, Rhythm, Special Shots, Swing Tips, low-bullet shot, trick shots | No Comments »

How to Properly Warm Up before Practicing/Playing Golf!

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

One of the most overlooked facts about golf is that most people believe it’s physically not intensive enough that you need to warm up before practicing/playing.

Actually the opposite is true, a golf swing requires proper functioning of your spine, lower body, shoulders, and the rest of the body.

I probably overlooked this fact too that I didn’t mention it so far on this golf blog but before any golf practice/play, I do a proper warm up for my body by swinging 2-clubs and stretching.

This is simple and common sense for those of you who have played golf for a long time but most amateurs do not warm up before practicing/playing golf.

Especially on cold days if you don’t warm up and stretch beforehand, you have more chances of injuring your lower back, which is critical for good golf.

So, here’s few warm up/stretching exercises you can do (that I do) before hitting any golf shots:

  • Get 2 of your heaviest clubs (for me it’s my lob and sand wedge) and start swinging very very slowly about 10-20 times until you can feel your body warm a bit.
  • Next, you can do a bit of stretching.  First, I try touching my toes with my hands while standing up.  This gets you whole body and hamstrings stretched out well.
  • Then, I will do some lateral rotations to stretch my spine, do like 5-10 of these.  When I do these, I usually hear some nice pops/cracks, which feels good and also prevents your muscles from hardening during practice/play.
  • Also do some more leg stretching such as holding one of you foot behind you and standing with one leg.

These are just couple warm up/stretching exercises you can do but do them and I assure you, your back will thank you for it.

And one more thought, DON’T SWING THE DRIVER right away!

I usually start with small 50 to 75 yard pitch shots before moving up to full shots and the woods.  If you start with the driver, I guarantee you that you are going to ruin your swing.

Of course, that’s for practice.  If you are playing, just really try to get yourself warmed up on the practice tee beforehand.

P.S. Even better, if you have a practice green near where you practice shots, try hitting putts/chips before moving to the range.  This will help you maintain a good, soft rhythm that will carry to your full shots.

I’ve seen a handful of great players who do this, start with short shots and gradually move up to longer shots.  And they have great rhythm.

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How to Take Slow Motion Golf Swing Videos!

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

I’ve actually noticed bunch of YouTube videos online of these awesome slow motion golf swing videos and noticed that everyone was using selective Casio Exilim series, which can do like up to 6,000 frames per second.

I found that these cameras below will let you take super slow motion golf swing videos:

  • Casio Exilim EX-FC100 – These go for about $219.95 on Amazon, really good deal for capturing up to 1000 frames per second, which beats most other digital cameras for the price and purpose of taking slow motion golf swing videos.
  • Casio Exilim FH20 – This is the higher end version that can cost about $550.  If you want to use it more than a slow-motion golf swing camera, this might be a good way to invest more and get more out of it.

Here’s some videos showing the capabilities of these Casio Exlim digital cameras:

Slow-motion golf swing with Casio Exilim EX-FC100:

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Slow-motion golf swing with Casio Exilim FH20:

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Of course, I don’t really advice to you analyze your own swing unless you are at least an 8 handicap and have some experience tinkering with your own swing.   Otherwise, you might be better off getting a real golf pro to look at your swing.

Also, you can use V1 swing software to analyze your swing.

I should be getting the cheaper EX-FC100 to test it out soon, I need one really bad, technology has gotten so good, it’s unbelievable!

UPDATE: I also found that Casio Exilim EX-FS10 does slow motion golf swing videos too, the cheapest of all at $179.

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Posted in A+Featured Golf News, A+Featured Swing Analysis, Golf Gadgets, Golf Training Aid, Slow Motion, Swing Tips, golf technology | No Comments »

How to Hit the Soft Floating Chip/Pitch Shot from the Rough!

Monday, November 9th, 2009

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In this blog post, I will show you how to hit that soft, floating chip/pitch shot from the light/medium rough.  This is a shot I practice and use constantly and can be a great par saver.

This method might differ from anything else you have learned in the past but trust me, this is a fail-proof method of hitting a great soft, floating chip/pitch shot from the rough.

Also, you might be interested to learn that I have devised my own method by applying a lot of stuff here and there I’ve learned from other pros.

Short game can be limitless in the number of ways you can hit different shots and this one is specifically geared towards “simpleness” and easy enough for any weekend golfer to repeat it with little practice.

Basically, this is a short game shot that’s really a chip shot and a pitch shot since you will hit the ball soft and higher than normal, but still need to get some roll after the ball hits the ground.

The basic method of hitting this soft, floating chip/pitch shot is to open your clubface (this would depend on how high you want to hit it) and simply using a “mini version” of your full swing.

There’s couple of things you need to do and that is to take a square stance, just like a full shot, you DON”T NEED TO OPEN YOUR STANCE AT ALL.

I find that you can actually hit these little pitch shots more consistently if you setup square to the ball.  Also, make sure to hit DOWN on the ball and THROUGH the ball.  Don’t be afraid to hit this shot, you need to be confident.

One more thing, you want to try to hit about 1/4 inch behind the ball and let the clubface “bounce” off the grass.

For the shot, I recommend either a lob wedge or sand wedge.  (Btw, I used a 60 degree lob wedge in the video.)

Before you hit the shot, make sure to “visualize” exactly how the ball will fly (its trajectory) and where it will land on the green.  (read the green too so you know how the ball will roll after landing)

The greatest part about this shot is that you don’t have to change your swing at all or learn a new pitching technique.

Make sure to keep your hands super “light”, barely on the grip and let your arms feel like “spaghetti”.

Light hands are essential to every shot in the short game.  Ask any pro in the world and they will tell you light hands equal great feel.

Remember, short game is about creativity and imagination, don’t be afraid to experiment and make your own chip/pitch shots.

I assure you, if you get good at this shot, you will be making a lot more pars on the course.  I find this shot more useful than hit and run chip shots.  (which are useful too but not as used often in my experience and much easier)

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Posted in Pitch Shot, Special Shots, lob wedge, sand wedge, short game, wedge shots | No Comments »

How To Make Toddler Golf Clubs!

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

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Today, I will show you how to make custom-fit (custom length) golf clubs for your toddler/kids.

Whether your toddler is a 12 month year old who’s 1.5 feet tall or a 3 year old 2.5 feet tall, making custom-fit golf clubs can dramatically improve chances of your child playing better golf.

The problem is that most of toddler/junior golf clubs bought off the rack at the retail stores or online are too long for these young, aspiring golfers.

If you want your child to be as good as Tiger Woods or to simply enjoy golf at an early age, it’s vital that you either cut junior golf clubs to fit their height or make toddler golf clubs from scratch as I am showing you in this blog post.

For one, most 2 year olds already possess enough muscle strength to hit a golf ball except there’s no golf clubs made for them!

By making these custom-length golf clubs, your child will be able to get a head start on golf, perhaps play better than you by the time they reach 9.

One of my friend’s daughters is trying to play golf and my friend has asked some advice so I’ve decided to make this 7-iron and driver for her.

And yes, plastic golf clubs would work too but real golf clubs would be ideal if the toddler wants to start improving his/her game from day one.

So, here it goes, this is actually my first attempt at making junior golf clubs and I haven’t done clubmaking in 10 years so I am a bit rusty.   But bear with me as I get the job done.

First, you will need some of the most basic golf clubmaking tools listed here:

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Epoxy – You can get any regular epoxy at your local hardware store.  Golfsmith and other golf clubmaking stores sell these golf epoxies but they are pretty much the same thing so you don’t need to spend extra $5 on them, just get it for cheaper at Home Depot.  I got mine for like $5 at Home Depot btw.

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Sand Paper – You will need some sand paper to prep the shaft so you can epoxy your clubhead to it.  If you have machine tools, that might work too but for the purposes of saving money too, you can just use some plain sand paper.

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Shaft Cutting Tool – You can use a fine-blade saw or a machine tool to cut your shaft.  If you don’t have them, the other best way is to get one of these golf shaft cutting tools.  I have had mine for over 10 years and they are great for cutting golf shafts plus they don’t take up much room if you live in a small apartment. ($9.99 at Golfsmith)
*Note – You can get the Chop Saw, which might be better if you are making a whole set of clubs.

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Junior Clubheads – For starters, you can probably start with any junior golf clubhead.  I went with a Snake Eyes Junior 7-iron($8.99) and a driver($17.99).  (There’s even cheaper ones too over at GolfSmith, check it out here.)

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Junior Golf Grips – Junior golf grips are slightly smaller than regular grips and you will need these.  I got the Junior Tour Velvet grips ($1.79 each) but there’s other choices as well.

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Double-sided Grip Tape – You need a double-sided grip tape so you can stick the golf grip onto the  golf shaft.  For this, I highly recommend the water-activated grip tape which requires no toxic solvents and easy to apply with plain water and a bit of soap.  Traditionally, you had to use toxic solvent plus a double-sided tape, which is faster to install but bad for our environment. (plus costs more for the solvent).

ferrules

Ferrules (optional) - For a finished look, you will want to get some ferrules.  The ferrules are different for irons($2.99 for dozen) and woods($2.49 for dozen).  But these are optional, they don’t really do anything but add to the overall “look” and do not affect the perfomance of your toddler golf clubs.

Standard sizes for iron ferrules are .370″ in diameter and wood ferrules are .335″ in diameter.  If you get special shafts you might need a custom ferrule but for most golf clubs, these sizes are standard, even for adult golf clubs.  There’s more styles of ferrules to choose from here but make a note that you get the right sized ferrules.

You might also want to consider getting a Ferrule installer if you want ferrule installation to be quicker/easier.

Total Cost

Total cost per club should be pretty cheap $20 per iron and about $30 per wood, still cheaper than buying off the racks.  Plus, the golf tools you buy can be used over and over for future clubmaking, not a bad investment at all.  I’ve also used the minimal number of tools here as I don’t like having big tools or spending too much money on them. (yet at least)

Not only are it’s a great skill to learn but as your toddler grows up, you will be able to provide them with custom shafts, which they will need if they are going to take golf to the next level.

How to Find the Right Length for Fitting the Golf Shaft

Before making the golf clubs, you will want to find out exactly the length your toddler needs to hit the ball optimally.

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Measure out how long your golf club should be by setting the shaft on your toddler child.  Then, make a mark with a permanent marker.  As a rough guide, try to get about 50 degrees from the ground to the child’s hands.  Where their hands end  on the shaft should be where you should mark the golf club.

Don’t worry if you do it the wrong first time, you can always cut the shaft and put a new grip if you make it too long.

Just don’t make it too short, then you will have to install a new shaft so…

How to Cut the Golf Shaft

Obviously, if you have a power tool or get the Chop Saw, you can easily cut the shaft but if you get the shaft cutting tool, you can  follow these directions.

Simply set the shaft to the shaft cutting tool in the middle groove then adjust the knob so it fits tightly.

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Rotate the shaft once  and tighten the knob a 1/4 of a turn, then keep repeating until the shaft if cut.

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You should get a nicely cut shaft like here:
And save the leftover shaft for later as it can be used as a ferrule installation tool.

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Video 1 of shaft cutting:

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How to Install the Ferrule (Optional)

If you’ve decided to install the ferrules, there’s some extra steps to do, otherwise you can skip this step.

*Note – If you bought the Ferrule Installer, follow directions for that, it should be MUCH easier/faster.  I am just showing you my hack without spending extra $10.

First, fit your clubhead to the tip of your shaft snuggly.  Then make a mark with a permanent marker where your clubhead ends on the shaft.  This will be where the ferrule must stop.

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Next, apply some oil or WD40 to the tip of the shaft so you can easily slide your ferrule in.

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Next, put the ferrule on the tip of the shaft.  If it get stuck just bang it softly couple times until the ferrule goes in.

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You should get to this point where the ferrule is about here.  If the ferrule is stuck, don’t worry, we will use the leftover shaft piece from earlier to bang it down a bit.

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Using the leftover shaft piece (you can also cut it even shorter so it’s easier to use), then place it on the ferrule.

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Use a hammer to bang the ferrule down the shaft.  Don’t hammer too hard, just a little tap at a time.

If you go too far down and it gets stuck for good, you might want to try bang it down the opposite way but use something plastic to wedge it on the other side 45 degrees.  (Watch my wood installation video as I get it down too far.)

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Don’t try to get it all the way to your mark btw, you can get it almost there, then fit your clubhead and start banging the clubhead until it pushed the ferrule in place.

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How to Install/Epoxy the Clubhead to the Shaft!

Next, once you are done getting the ferrule in place, let’s prep up the shaft for installing the clubhead.

Take a small piece of sand paper and sand  the shaft until it’s nicely “sanded”.  Of course, if you have a sand belt and machine tools, use that too.

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The shaft tip is now ready for epoxying the clubhead on:

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Next, squeeze out some epoxy and mix it with a toothpick.

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Once mixed, apply the epoxy mix to the tip of the shaft.

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Now slide the clubhead down the tip of the shaft and you should be done, make sure to wipe off any excess epoxy with a cloth.  Don’t use paper towel as it will get stuck on the club and make an ugly mess.

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Depending on the epoxy you got, it might take couple minutes before the epoxy settles.  You can carefully install the grip right away or wait couple minutes to make sure the clubhead doesn’t move.

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Video of Ferrule Installation:

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How to Install the Golf Grip!

Yey, you are almost done and installing golf grip is one of the easiest jobs so this might also be helpful if you have old golf grips and you want to install new grips.

First, you willl want to measure out and mark where you want to stick the double-sided grip tape on the shaft.

Take the end of the shaft and place the junior golf grip side-by-side.  Mark with a permanent marker where the grip ends on the shaft.

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Put the grip tape on the shaft and take off the unsticky sticker thingee.
*Note – You can also do double or triple layers of the grip tape if you’ve cut the shaft a LOT or you simply want a larger grip.

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Next, get the golf grip and cover the hole at the butt end of the grip with a ball marker or a golf tee like this:

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Then put a small bit of soap, I used regular handwashing dish soap here.

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Fill the grip with warm water and shake it so you get soapy mix.

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Now, pour that water over the double-sided grip tape you applied to your shaft.

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Put the grip on the shaft now, noting that the logo(or whatever mark you want on the grip) is aligned with the leading edge of the clubface. (or parallel to it)

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Once the grip is all the way in, you can pull the ball marker (or golf tee) out, you should hear a nice “swoosh”!

You can also adjust the grip once it’s on the shaft, you have approximately 30 minutes before the soap water starts drying off so make your adjustments here.

After everything is done, set the golf clubs against a wall for at least 12 hours before testing it out on the course.

If you are in a hurry, you could go out to the range in couple hours but probably best idea to let the epoxy cure enough and the grip to dry off completely.

Video of how to install the golf grip:

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You should get something like these two clubs:

golf-clubmaking-13

Congrats!  After making a couple of these clubs, it shoudn’t take you longer than 5 minutes to make a golf club.

As you can see, golf club making is relatively easy and you can save a lot of money too in the process.

Even if you don’t use this guide, I am sure you have friends who are avid golfers and perhaps you can tell  your friends about it.  Thanks!

Here’s more videos for reference:

How to Install a Toddler’s Golf Club – Wood Driver:

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How to Practice at the Driving Range!

Friday, November 6th, 2009

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Here’s a video I shot today of me hitting a 6-iron knockdown shot to a target about 165 yards out.

From just a look, it might look like I am not doing much but if you look carefully, here’s what’s going through my mind on each shot.

Before each shot, I take 1-2 practice swings visualizing how I will hit the ball, even the trajectory of my ball.

Once I am ready, I will take a look at my target.

Then, I will make an imaginary line from target to my ball and pick a spot about 2 feet out from the ball, that’s where I will align the clubface.

After aligning the clubface, I will take my stance parallel to my target line.  (You will see I am aligned perfectly parallel to the yellow target on each shot.)

Then I align all of my body parts such as shoulders and hips again “parallel” to my target line.

Then I take a waggle.

After hovering my clubhead over the ball (or taking just enough weight off it) I will start the swing with my whole body.

Once I reach the top, I will start the downswing with my hips then follow through with my whole body.

One thing I am not doing today I realized after taping is that I am not using my lower body through the shot, my right foot should stay to the ground more after impact.

Well, this shows how many things you should be focusing on before you even hit a practice shot, I am just telling you. :)

Btw, my cheap tripod fell off during the middle of the video, I didn’t realize until end of the practice, sorry.

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How to Break Bad Spells(Holes) During a Round!

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

You probably can remember at least a dozen times when you or a pro golfer on TV is playing incredibly well until one hole, he/she starts melting down, making bogeys, doubles, and worse.

This bogey-train is a bad spell put on you by exception of no one except yourself.  What I mean is that this “bad” break, is really all in your head when you start messing up one hole,  then following with another and another and so on.

These bad spells are probably one of the leading causes of high golf scores including the pros.

For one, you need to be able to control your emotions, not just physically but inward, within yourself.  In other words, you need to learn how to not beat yourself on the golf course as the only thing standing between great golf and bad golf isn’t your nearest competitor but just your tiny, weeny brain.

Okay, j/k, perhaps your brain is big but that doesn’t mean you have learned how to control your emotions.

The emotional control I am talking about is the one that is near “normal” state, not too happy and not too sad (or angry).

These demons in your brain are the ones you will need to beat if you have a bad hole.

A simple way Jack Nicklaus used to do (as said in one of his books) is to focus sharply on the next shot after hitting a bad shot instead of dwelling on it.  This works pretty well and I have additional tips for breaking your bad spells.  That is to really be nonchalant or “don’t care” whether you hit it great of bad on all your shots.   Freddy Couples does this well, you should watch him play golf next time on the golf course.  I don’t think Tiger does as well on this andi think he could actually play even better if he could control his emotions better.

Whateever you do, if you get a bogey or worse on a hole, make sure you make par or better on the next hole.  It’s about breaking your bad patterns in golf.  You will always have some bad holes in golf, even if you shoot 66, but you will have to learn to spring back from those on the hole right after to maximize your scoring abilities and limit the effects of psychological negativity.

Another tip is to take a deep breath after a bad hole, then really “visualize” what you need to do to create a miracle comeback hole.  A lot of times, these simple visualizations will do more than expected.  I have done things like triple-bogeying the 15th hole then I imagined myself birding out 16, 17, and the 18th hole which I promptly did and ended up 2nd for a tournament I’ve played in.

You see, your mind is everything in golf and lots of other sports.  You will see that when you can control your mind and emtions better, you will play better golf.

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