Here’s the most simplest yet great tip for any aspiring pro golfer:

Play several different courses with different features on a daily basis.

What do I mean?

You want to go out there and play many different courses in order to learn to score.

I know, you belong to a country club and you get to play the same course over and over for free but if you play there all the time, your golf game will never improve.

Why?

It’s simple.  You get used to the surrounding, you know every yardage from every tree, you get too comfortable.  When you get too comfortable, you will score good but as soon as you walk onto an unfamiliar golf course, this might shoot right back at you attacking your psychological and physical states.

To become really good “scratch” golfer, not just a scratch golfer, you need to rotate 3-5 different courses every time you head out to create the “randomness”.  Once you get in the mindset that you can play good regardless of the course, you will play much better under pressure.

Anaylsis

Face it, golf IS like playing different race tracks on your Playstation.  You need to learn to cope with new and random tracks so you learn the ability to adjust and play any course you encounter, not just your home course.

Besides that, you will also benefit from playing different courses and never get bored.

better golf, daily basis, golf course, golf game, golf tips, mindset, physical states, playstation, pro golfer, race tracks, randomness, scratch golfer better golf, daily basis, golf course, golf game, golf tips, mindset, physical states, playstation, pro golfer, race tracks, randomness, scratch golfer If you like this post, please subscribe to the ProGolferDigest via RSS or via E-Mail to receive updates.

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Here’s a re-cap of the best posts at ProGolferDigest this month:

1. Greg Norman can win the British Open this year!
2. Does Steve Elkington have the best Stack and Tilt swing?
3. go GREG NORMAN!
4. Nick Faldo tips on golf.
5. Sensoglove may help you play better tournament golf.
6. Swing Analysis of 2-time 2008 PGA Champion Anthony Kim.
7. Bob Tway’s chip shot at 1986 PGA Championship may not happen to Greg Norman tomorrow.
8. Ben Hogan’s swing secrets revealed.
9. KJ Choi might win the British Open too.
10. Ernie Els has a great swing even though he might be sucking it this week.
11. My 4-iron swing was lookin’ good, now it’s even better.
12. Davis Love III also has a very good swing.
13. Fred Funk is still one of the straightest drivers on the PGA Tour.
14. Matt Kuchar may have the flattest swing on the tour today.
15. Ben Hogan’s knockdowns are so pretty.
16. Moe Norman’s swing may have a lot in common with Tiger’s swing.
17. Adam Scott copied Tiger’s swing.
18. Ball flight is important in the wind.
19. Annika Sorenstam’s swing may be the best swing out of all male and female golfers.
20. Learn to hit that 30 yard pitch shot crisp.
21. How to practice like a scratch/pro golfer.
22. Ian Poulter has a good swing too.
23. We love Greg Norman, don’t you?

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For most of 90s, my two favorite golfers were Nick Faldo and Greg Norman.  They always seemed to win tournaments more than others during that time and also shared number one and two of the world back and forth.

Although Nick Faldo may be a sportscaster right now, he may be the best pro golfer to be a sportscaster.

You look at some of the other guys but no one else has an extensive resume like the Masters winner Nick Faldo.

I’ve even bought every book he wrote and although they were all too technical and confusing for most hackers, Nick is really good at details of the golf swing.

Let’s take a look at his downhill iron swing here.

For the downhill iron shot, Nick Faldo sets up with his weight favoring his right and his ball about center of his stance to make up for the hill.

At takeaway, Nick sets his wrists slightly early but looks very good.

At top of Nick’s swing, he has a perfect 90 degree angle between the arm and the club while not swinging more than 3/4 of his full backswing.

On half-way down, notice the 90 degree of lag Nick has.  A lot of tour pros go beyond the 90 degrees which is not necessary and Nick proves the point here.  Too much lag can actually produce a smaller swing arc.

At impact, Nick looks really good.

After impact, Nick chases down the slope with his arms, fully releasing his club.

At finish, Nick looks very good, standing super tall.

Nick Faldo has one of the best swings in golf with one of the best rhythms to go with it.

If he kept playing competitively, he would have won couple more majors but I am surprised he decided to retire from competitive golf.

Here’s Nick Faldo’s downhill iron swing in slow-motion explained by the man himself:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Having Nick on golf channels is a really good thing.  I rather hear him saying stuff than an Peter Kostis.

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Today, I will explain couple basics about how to putt like a pro.  Trust me, I have read more books about putting than most people will ever in their life and I have spent $2000 on a lesson with Stan Utley, one of the best putters on Tour.

So here’s how to putt like a pro:

1. You need to learn to sink a lot of short putts within 3-10 feet range.  To do this, think of the short putts as the “short game” of putting.  That’s right, these short putts are the most important and count as much as a 350 yard drive.  If you can’t sink ‘em, go home.  If you can, you might become a pro.

2. Soft hands, hands like noodles, gentle grip, or whatever you want to call it but make sure you are holding the putter very very lightly while you putt.

3. Learn to lag putt real good from 20, 50, 100 feet.  Lag putts are great for absorbing the speed of the greens.  The more you can lag, the better putter you will be overall.

4. Putt for money.  Next time you are with a buddy, play an 18-hole putting match, one dollar per hole.  Without putting pressure on your putting, you never know how it’s going to be in a real tournament situation.

Heck, most of the time I play with my buddies, we are betting like $20 per putt or hole.  Pressure games make you better.

5. Develop a consistent putting stroke that rolls the ball true.  Whether you are putting a 20 footer or a 100 footer, your ball should roll very true from the start to finish.  If your ball bumps up in the beginning or at the end, you might want to work on your putting stroke so you putts roll true.

When your putts roll true, you will notice that your putts roll a lot smoother and also get less effected by any breaks in the putt.  Probably the biggest difference between an average golfer and the pro golfer is how true the pro golfer “rolls” the golf ball while the average golfer doesn’t even understand that putting can be so complicated.

Well, that’s it for today, I might need to go hit some balls. 

As Ben Hogan said, “Everyday you don’t practice is another day longer it will take you to become a good golfer”.

Practice, practice, and practice while playing pressure games in your head.  That’s right, you should be putting for the U.S. Open win on every practice putt.  (Damn, I let anther worst kept secret out…)

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Today, we are going to study the “head” of a pro golfer.  Last time I did a Down-the-Line swing analysis of Adam Baddeley, but today we will do the front view.

How much should your head move during your golf swing?

Most good pros, including Tiger Woods, will move about 1-2 inches on the backswing and come back to the same head position addresss at impact.

Let me prove the point by going through Adam Baddeley’s swing:
(Note the red line I put on Adam’s left ear.)

Notice Adam’s head moved about 1-2 inches already on the takeaway?

This is good, Tiger does this too.  But it doesn’t matter whether you move that head on the takeaway or at the top of the swing, it just matters you do move it.

Note: Moving the head means you have successfully transferred some of your weight to your right foot, critical for hitting the ball straight and far.

Look at the top of his swing, it’s now clear he’s in perfect position. 1-2 inches of head movement is usually the best.  Anything more or less means you are either doing a C-reverse-weight-shift OR you are swaying too much.

Note: Sometimes even I sway a lot by overswinging (thus my head moves about 3-4 inches), simply keeping a keen eye on your head movement will help you not overswing plus stay in perfect balance.

Notice that Adam’s head has come back to the same position at address.  This is a good sign he’s transferred his weight back to the left foot.

Here, Adam actually pulls his back a little.  (Your goal is try to keep it near where the head was at your address)  He might be trying to hit it a little hard here but it’s not going to affect his shot that much.

Notice how the head now is way right of the original red line.  This is good and shows that you’ve completely transferred your weight to the left foot “after” hitting the ball.

Today’s Lesson?

Take a video shot of your swing from the front like Adam’s swing shown above.  Then download the free V1-Home software and see how your head performs.

It’s a very simple but effective way to correct your swing, by looking where your head is.

I assure you if you can achieve that 1-2 inches consistently, you will hit the ball consistently too and hit the ball farther and straighter.

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