Golf Articles http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:03:23 +0000 1440 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=4703
With that as the preface, I assert that golf’s greatest day in its five-hundred-year history was October 9, 2009.

If you are a diehard golf guy/gal and you don’t know what that date means, shame on you. As a patriot, I remember where I was when JFK was assassinated, when Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, and when the events of 9/11 unfolded.

And, as golfers, we should remember where we were when we first heard that the International Olympic Committee officially announced that the game of golf would rejoin the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Golf last was played as an Olympic sport in Paris in 1900 and St. Louis in 1904; before Walter, Bob, Ben, Byron, Sam, Arnie, Jack, young Eldrick and modern media made golf culturally significant.

Folks, this is a BIG DEAL.

This makes Tiger, cavity back irons, metal woods, and Natalie Gulbis’ miniskirts look like Bo Peep.

Do you know what this means?

I do.

It means that every podunk country in the world will start scrambling to figure out how to produce Olympic class golfers.

It means the likes of China, Russia, Germany, Korea, Japan, and others are going to invest more dough than is used to make a Man Versus Food pizza to create and expand organized programs to produce golfers.

It means every worthwhile country in the world will be digging their heels in and doing everything reasonable to crank up our great game on their soil.

What’s the payoff?

Well, the GAME of golf wins. We get more participants and more lovers of the game.

And, the BUSINESS of golf REALLY wins. We’ll sell more Sasquatch drivers, more Pro V1 balls, more Nike shirts (lots more Nike shirts), more Footjoy shoes, more Visiball golf ball finder glasses, more Ballzee pocket golf ball cleaners, more…

You get the picture.

The return of golf to the Olympics represents a shift of monumental proportions within the golf culture. In modern terms, it’s a paradigm shift, an inflection point. In anthropological terms, it’s on par with the industrial revolution.

But such an event begets disruptive change (like with paradigm shifts, inflection points, and cultural revolutions). The game is going to change. The business is going to expand.

Golf culture is going to hyper-evolve.

Why such big effects on golf, when it wasn’t such a big deal with other Olympic sports?

Consider the following:

· Golf is a mainstream sport with massive participation. Active golf participants cross over almost all age groups, a wide range of physical abilities (and disabilities), and even though golf has previously been considered an exclusionary sport, the Olympics will push it into a wider socioeconomic range of participants. Compare this to track and field in which the participants are typically young, athletic, and extensively trained. And, even though track and field is bigger outside the U.S., golf generally has a much bigger following. Most Olympic sports are fairly obscure, and virtually all of them–besides golf–have participation limited or at least heavily weighted to young, fit, specialized athletes.

· Golf is big business. Besides having large mainstream participation, it requires a lot of stuff: clubs, balls, bags, shoes, gloves, golf courses, golf carts, golf pros, driving ranges, golf resorts, swing aids, simulators, launch monitors… Most sports require not much more than the likes of a ball, good shoes, and some open space.

The Olympic movement is going to make golf “hip,” which will make the game a bit less formal. Participants will place more emphasis on performance, and less on decorum. Spectators at events will get more rowdy (we’ve already had a taste of it at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup–”Ole, Ole Ole Ole”). The staid game we’ve known all our lives is going to get a little crazy.

Don’t rule out that professionals on the PGA TOUR one day will be members of teams, like NASCAR (Team Nike), wearing uniforms with large numbers on their backs. Countries getting into golf in a big way for the first time will contribute new cultural nuances surrounding the game and some will find their way into the mainstream.

The modern Olympic movement is going to help transform the game of golf into a sport for every man. It’s going to get a bit rude, crude, and unattractive, and it’s going to be a beautiful thing.

I can’t wait.

Bill Bales, CEO of aboutGolf]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:03:32 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=4703 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=3158
If you listen to both golf swings (using Sonic Golf System-1, of course), you hear that the club reaches its maximum speed long before it gets to the ball. They have the same generic problem, but for completely different reasons.

Jayne’s golf swing is graceful. She swings the club back nicely with a long and flexible turn, has a beautiful transition, starts to build up speed in the downswing but just doesn’t seem to have enough strength to maintain club speed through the ball. As a result, her driver carry distance is 120 yards or so.

Jon, being your standard Neanderthal, is completely different. The backswing is slow and deliberate without much flexibility. The backswing transforms into the downswing suddenly, without much of a transition. The downswing is best described as ‘forceful rage.’ Random results follow, mostly far right of target.

We started both golfers with the resonant pendulum exercise: swing the club back and forth and back and forth and back... etc. like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. This introduces them to the sound of resonance (see the May 2009 Sonic Golf Newsletter) and gets them swinging with better rhythm and pace.

After that, we played the following game with Jayne. Working with the driver, we asked her to focus on the location of the peak sound (i.e. highest pitch and loudest volume) and then to move that peak sound well beyond the ball (for a right-handed golfer, well beyond her left foot). We also asked her to focus on the pitch of that maximum speed. We made a few practice swings to demonstrate for her that the faster the club moves, the higher the pitch. This pitch is actually a progression of musical chords, and an instructor can make a series of swings, each of increasing speed, in which each successive swing reaches the next highest pitch chord. We then identified the chord which is the highest pitch Jayne achieves in her golf swing and challenged her to reach the next chord in the progression when the club is about a foot past the ball. (Sure, we all know that maximum speed should be at the ball, but this is just a exercise designed to get her to feel what it is to keep the club moving through the ball.)

Two amazing things started to happen relatively quickly to her swing. The first was a much stronger rotation through the ball. This happened naturally as she started to learn what it is to maintain speed through the ball. The second is that the backswing became a little more compact. This too was a result of trying to keep the speed through the ball; if she overextended her long and graceful turn on the backswing, she did not have the strength to maintain speed through the ball. Within 10-15 minutes Jayne was exhausted, as hitting the ball hard can be surprisingly tiring. She was also hitting the ball noticeably farther.

Our approach with Jon was completely different. The pendulum exercise worked great in practice swings, but it failed to reform the overly abrupt and aggressive beginning to his downswing when he took a real swing - so instead of making full swings with a 6-iron or a driver, we had him hit balls with a sand wedge. This club is nice because people are willing to make smaller swings with it. We started with half shots, no more than 50 yards, with the goal of learning to become comfortable with a very quiet transition. As an extreme example, we actually had him maintain the quiet at transition while he counted to three.

Of course, this exercise removed all the dynamics from the transition (i.e. the body, the club, everything came to a complete halt). Once he became comfortable with the quiet of the transition, we asked him to focus on the gradual building of speed at the beginning of the downswing, rather than the abrupt building of speed. This is kind of fun, because the easiest way to increase speed gradually is to put a little stretch in the swing. After a few minutes, the combination of maintaining the quiet at the transition and the gradual build in speed at the beginning of the downswing caused him to start to feel the stretch at the top of the swing, with which he started to experiment. As he got comfortable with this, he worked is way up to a full sand wedge, all the while maintaining the quiet of the transition and the gradual build of speed at the start of the downswing. Now the back and forth and back and forth ... practice swing became more about him feeling the body stretch at the top of the swing, and hearing the quiet and the gradual building of speed. By the time he started hitting his 6-iron, the swing had a completely different character. There was a lot more stretch in his swing, a lot more serenity and patience in the transition. His peak speed had moved much closer towards the ball and instead of hitting slap-shot fades, he was hitting high draws.

Two very different golf swings, both with peak speed peak long before the ball, each for a different reason, both improved by System-1.]]> Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:38:24 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=3158 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1493
To get to the MATHEMATICS of the situation, as opposed to the MARKETING of the theory, I would like to offer you the following to help you to better formulate your own ideas and opinions on the matter.

If the modern day clubhead weighs in at 200 grams ( and it does ) and is 4" long heel to toe , and for the sake of this argument, we can agree that it is ( based on size of head we choose for the test ). That would basically mean that the center of gravity or the "sweet spot" is in the middle of that face or at the 2" mark from either the heel or the toe.

Now, to move that center of gravity a full 2" toward the toe, we would have to literally double the weight of the head, with ALL of that weight being added at the FURTHEST point from the middle of the face on the toe of the clubhead. In other words, we would have to add 200 more grams to the outside of the toe of our driver, not NEAR the toe of our driver ( for the sake of this particular discussion ).

The easiest way I can think of to do this would be to actually take another clubhead of the same weight and actually weld it to the toe of the current clubhead. Imagine what this looks like now!

With a double clubhead down there, we now have moved the center of gravity off its original position in the middle of the face of our driver to a position that actually sits between both clubheads, not actually on either head.

It is critically important to recognize that it took a full 200 grams of weight to move our center of gravity 2 inches along the face!

Now for the math based off an average clubhead:
100 grams added DIRECTLY to the toe would move the center of gravity 1"
50 grams added DIRECTLY to the toe would move the center of gravity ½".
25 grams added DIRECTLY to the toe would move the center of gravity ¼".
12.5 grams added DIRECTLY to the toe would move the center of gravity 1/8"
6.25 grams added DIRECTLY to the toe would move the center of gravity 1/16"

This is really quite simple math, and these numbers are provided for you, to point out that you would have to put an excessive amount of weight as far away from the original sweet spot of your driver as you can, before the golf ball would even realize a mere ¼" difference in the position of the sweetspot or center of gravity of the clubhead, let alone something as ridiculously minute as exchanging a 2 gram weight and a 6 gram weight within the 1.5" linear inch area provided to you by the most popular manufacturers of this latest revived phenomenon. We haven't even factored in the lack of repeatability of the average golfer's swing, and how many times we actually duplicate both swingpath, angle of attack and center contact. The question ultimately becomes, which swing do we set these screws for? But that is for a different article at a later time perhaps.

Now, I am the first to acknowledge that the game of golf is very much played in the 6 inches between our ears, and I am a huge fan of "if you think that it works for you, than do it", but at some point, we have to sit up and realize that mathematically speaking, changing weighted screws is an absolute effort in futility at best. Literally a placebo if you will, a marketing coup. It simply does not, or cannot, have a large enough impact on the center of gravity of the clubhead, let alone the ASSEMBLED golf club, to influence the golf ball in aany significant way!

Lead tape is a bigger mystery. There is not single a position, on any clubhead ever produced, that you can apply lead tape, where it will have any appreciable difference to either the spin profile or the launch angle of a golf ball. Period. Toe, heel, sole, backskirt, crown, even wrapping it around the top of the hosel, only will achieve one thing, making the product, in this case your golf club, heavier! Lead tape can and will increase the swingweight of the club. It will absolutely increase the overall weight of the club, and if enough of it is used, it will actually soften the effective flex of the shaft to a minute degree. That being said however, the amount of lead tape needed to make a significant difference in a player's game is quite considerable, and adding or removing a couple of strips of it is merely a mental exercise at best, and an impractical and worthless one in reality. But if you feel more comfortable over the ball by participating in this exercise, by all means I highly recommend it. But please do not confuse perception or advertising hype for mathematics or science. While some say that "perception is reality", science and math have something to say about it, and marketing companies don't understand that language all too often.

Mike Tait
President and Club Designer
SMT Golf Inc.

"The Winningest Component Clubheads In Golf History"
http://www.smtgolf.com : 888-693-4001]]> Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:35:10 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1493 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1134
Know Yourself- Get Fitted Properly

Before laying down a chunk of cash on golf clubs, it is imperative that you know what clubs to look for. I suggest a club fitting be a certified professional club maker. That is an investment every serious golfer should make, but less than 10% actually do this. And by the way, trying out a couple of different clubs at a Demo-Day does not constitute a proper club fitting. If you purchase discount golf clubs and think you have saved a bundle, what good is it if the clubs are wrong for you? Thus, if you are looking for a discounted driver, for example, you should know exactly what kind of clubhead, loft angle, shaft, club length and grip are right for you. If you know all of this, then and only then does it behoove you to purchase any clubs, be they new, used, or discount golf clubs.

Ebay Auctions

I have heard that Ebay is the largest seller of used cars in the U.S. right now. I don't know if that is a fact for certain, but they sell a lot of golf clubs as well. A search today for "golf clubs" yielded over 15,000 active auctions. So you have a lot to choose from on Ebay. You must know exactly what you are looking for, as discussed above. If you find just the right club or clubs, be sure to check out the rating of the seller. If the seller has good ratings from past auctions, it is probably safe to assume he or she is honest and you can send them money without much worry. If there is any doubt, forget it. You must be as confident as possible that the seller is honest. Of course this goes for any Ebay auction, not just for discount golf clubs. For your convenience, some Ebay auctions are listed on this web page and several others on this site. If you click an Ebay ad on our site and then make a purchase, we do make a small commission (full disclosure). This helps offset some of the costs to run the site and doesn't affect your purchase price in any way.

Golfsmith

I've always liked Golfsmith and have built a good number of clubs using components purchased from them. They have an excellent web site with tons of information. You can certainly save money buying components from Golfsmith and building the clubs, if you are up for that. Golfsmith has a lot of good instructional information as well regarding club building. If you have had a proper club fitting and know what to purchase, this is a good option. It's really not that difficult. Golfsmith also has a trade-in service, and you can get a discount on a new set of clubs by trading in your old ones. This also means they have lots of pre-owned clubs for sale. Check out the pre-owned section of their site, and you can find some pretty good deals. You can pinpoint what you want by using the search box on the site. You have two levels of protection here, the established integrity of Golfsmith and the brand of the clubs your are buying.

Discount Golf Clubs at Pro Shops

I recently was in a local pro shop and they had a new Cleveland hybrid for sale for half price. The reason it was half price was because it was last year's model. Golf pro shops have outdated equipment on sale all the time because they want to get rid of old inventory. The company, Cleveland Golf in this case, surely made a few tweaks to the clubs from one year to the next, but there probably isn't anything close to revolutionary (unless you believe the marketing pitch), and last year's model will work just fine. But, as always, that's only the case if the clubs fit you.

Discount Web Sites

Watch out here. Many discount clone or knockoff clubs look good, but if you don't know better they were probably made in a low quality factory in China using inferior materials and workmanship. Unless you can be certain the clubs were made in a factory with high quality materials and manufacturing processes, it's best to pass on the deal. What we are looking for here are discount golf clubs, not garbage golf clubs.

And remember, get yourself a serious club fitting by a certified clubmaker. You'll get more out of your game whether you are buying the most expensive set of brand name clubs or a set of discount golf clubs. He can also probably get you into an excellent set of custom made clubs along with the fitting for about the price of just buying a brand name set without any club fitting. I also recommend reading Tom Wishon's excellent book "The Search for the Perfect Golf Club".

About the Author
Walt Ballenberger is a life-long golfer and founder of Hybrid Golf Clubs, a resource site for golfers. For a Free Report entitled "How to Find the "Sweet Spot" on Your Golf Clubs in 10 Minutes" visit http://www.hybridgolfclubs.org/]]> Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:06:43 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1134 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1083
If you are hitting hooks and have problems hitting the ball straight, follow these correcting golf swing suggestions:

Is your grip turned too far to the right? You want your hands to make a v-shape that is pointing directly up. Pay attention to your ball position and make sure it is not too far back in your stance. Before hitting your driver, set up with the golf ball near your left foot if you are a right-handed player. Check to see where you are aiming. With hooks, players are often aligning their body and shoulders too far to the right. Avoid taking the club back too close to the inside during your back swing. For a straight shot, you want to be sure to take the golf club straight back and straight through with the downswing so your club face meets the golf ball squarely.

If you have problems with slices off the tee box, then these quick tips might help:

Are you hands on your grip turned too far to the left? Your hands should be forming a v-shape with your grip that is pointing up towards you. Make sure your body is aligned with the desired target line. Are you setting up too far to the left? When you are slicing you shots, your ball position may be too far forward. Try moving the ball position back in your stance. Your wedges and short irons should be played in the middle of your stance. Also. make sure you aren't taking the club out too far away from your body in the back swing. Keep an even swing plane and take the ball directly back in a straight line from your set up position.

About the Author
If you are serious about Correcting Golf Swing, then get your free e-course at: http://www.golfsecretsnews.com]]> Fri, 18 May 2007 22:52:22 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1083 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1082
The Power Ball Long Drive swing trainer by Power Ball Sports is a tool that helps you strengthen your swing, increase your accuracy, and hit farther.

The Power Ball looks like oversized 5-ounce golf ball. It's made of rubber, and although it looks like a golf ball, it isn't. They just picked that design because it looks good! It has a little 1 1/4 inch opening that allows it to slide onto your club. You slide it over the grip and down the shaft of your club, and it provides extra weight. It sits right on top of the metal hozzle.

The Power Ball has two purposes: One, it adds weight to your club and strengthens the muslces you use to make your golf swing. This will help you hit the ball harder and more easily. Second, it serves as a swing trainer. You can practice getting the ball where you want it with all the extra weight on your club.

If you practice with a heavier club, you'll end up being able to hit that ball farther, and be more accurate. Take the Power Ball out with you and practice with it, and you'll see. At first, it's heavy and ruins your swing. But, once you get used to it, you'll be able to swing a regular club like a pro. The Power Ball is a weight training tool.

The Power Ball Long Drive swing trainer is PGA approved. It's used by newbies as well as pros to sharpen their swing. Weight training is a big part of what makes the pros the pros. If you practice with a little extra added weight, you'll see that ball go just where you want it, and you'll be surprised at how far you can hit it.

Directly from Power Ball Sports, you can expect to pay $19.95 for a Power Ball Long Drive, but there are tons of deals on the Web, if you go looking for them. I found several online stores selling them for about $10. If you go on eBay, you can find them for sale for $5.95. I recommend going that route if you want to save a little cash.

About the Author
You can also find more information at golf driving distance and golf course. http://www.GetGoodAtGolf.com is a comprehensive resource golf enthusiast to improve their game through helpful tips and instructions.]]> Fri, 18 May 2007 22:51:19 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1082 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1072
Now, we can talk about the biomechanics of the golf swing; about resistance and G-force, the single plane vs. the double plane approach, go into detail with the physics and equations of the golf swing... but first, the most basic and universal piece of advice anybody can give you for your golf swing:

Relax.

The golf swing is actually a natural motion, and once you know how to do it, it's just like breathing. Don't get intimidated by all the jargon and mathematics. The most important thing, as any pro golfer will tell you, is to take a deep breath, relax and let the golf swing do its thing.

Having said that, let's look at how you swing the golf club, step by step and broken down.

Get A Grip

First, hold the club straight in front of you, just about perpendicular, with your right hand. Now, wrap your left hand around it. The club should be resting on the pads of the inside of your fingers, the digit closest to the palm, and the palm. You may hold your left hand at a little bit of an angle, so that the middle digit pad of your index finger is in contact with the club. Do whichever feels most comfortable to you. Your thumb should rest on top, pointing along the shaft of the club.

Now, re-wrap your right hand above your left hand on the shaft. You have your left hand wrapped around the shaft with your palm and base finger digits, right? Well, you should be holding the club with the right hand chiefly with your fingers. It should be just above the left hand and your right thumb should stick a little to the right.

The grip is a little tough to master, and there are a variety of ways to do it. There isn't really a "right" way, just go with what's best for you.

The Right Golf Stance

If your stance isn't right, your entire swing will be ruined. You have to get the stance just right, and it takes practice. If your stance (also called "address") is good, the swing will be a natural fluid movement. It will take some work at first, but over time, you can work on perfecting your stance.

For starters, make sure you're balanced. You should have your weight evenly distributed on both feet. Have you ever seen golfers wiggle their butts back and forth before taking a shot? They look stupid, but they're checking their balance. Make sure it's as even as possible!

Your front foot should be just ahead of where your ball is. Your legs should be shoulder-length or a little further apart. If you drew a line across the tips of your toes, it should lead directly to your target.

Keep your back straight, but relaxed. Keep your chin up. Most importantly, be comfortable.

It's Go-Time!

Now, twist at the torso and lift the club with your arms. You should coil up like your body is a spring, and you should be swinging down at the ball.

Most importantly, don't swing with your arms. Wind up, and then gently unwind your body, starting with the lower back and torso, then the shoulders, and finally let the wrists release a little bit at the end.

Don't swing too fast! Faster doesn't mean farther. Your swing should be smooth and natural, not forced and tense.

The swing is really just the final part. The grip and address are considered by most golfers to be much more important in determining a swing's success.

It's really hard to get the right swing without some one on one training. Go golfing with some buddies and don't just spend your time practicing and getting whipped; pick their brains on strategies and swing technique, and most of all, be observant.

Finally, keep track of your mistakes and always look for ways to improve. That's how the pros did it.

About the Author
You can also find more information on golf tips articles and best golf fitness. http://www.GetGoodAtGolf.com is a comprehensive resource golf enthusiast to improve their game through helpful tips and instructions.]]> Fri, 11 May 2007 04:08:32 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1072 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1071
In the short game the priority is to be as accurate as possible whilst creating sufficient power to achieve the distance required.

The flaw in many golfer's pitching techniques is that they use the same swing with their short game as they do with their power (long) game. This puts total reliance on the smaller muscles in their hands, wrists and forearms to control the distance they want to hit the ball. By doing this they are at the mercy of the touch or feel that they have in their hands to produce the shot. As you know the touch and feel we have varies from day to day. Plus during game conditions adrenaline (which we have no control over) adds power to our muscles, making it more difficult to control the ball.

To do this we need to remove the hands from the equation: to perform a synchronized turn of the shoulders and hips. The shoulders and hips should turn an equal amount on the back swing and on the forward swing and there is no creation of coil (as in the long game) or resistance between the upper and lower body.

By eliminating all coiling we stop the power being produced by the lower body. If there is no coil, and no lower body drive, the hands, wrists and forearms remain passive (dead). This produces a low power swing which is exactly what is required for consistent, repeatable and accurate results for the short game.

To feel the correct body motion where the hips and shoulders turn together and there is no resistance between the upper and lower parts of the body try the following: Assume your address position with out the club, and then place your hands on your hips with the thumbs pointing to the front. Squeeze your elbows together behind your back. This will lock your upper and lower body together. Now turn away from what would be the target, as in your backswing, and then through to the target side, as in your forward swing, with a full finish with hands and chest facing the target. Repeat this as many times as it takes for you to feel the synchronized body motion.

The preparation and executions of the pitch shot is also different to that of the power (full shot) swing:

Preparation:

The stance should be narrower than your shoulder width; feet and hips should be aligned square to the target; weight evenly distributed over both feet; your posture with flat back, arms hanging; weight forward and on midsteps to balls of feet; the ball should be centred and the club face should be square (perpendicular) to the target.

Execution:

To execute the shot your arms, hands and club start and swing back as a unit. Your weight should shift slightly to the rear, wrists cock at hip level. Hips turn to the rear with your back now facing the target. The weight then shifts back to the "target side", wrists un-cock at hip level, hips return to square with arms, hands and club extended at contact with ball. On the follow through - the wrists re-cock at hip level as the hips and chest turn to face the target. Finish in a balanced position.

Now that you know how to play the pitch shot you need to go out and practice it. It will feel uncomfortable at first but don't let this worry you, anything new always does in golf, just keep practising it. You will soon begin to see, feel and reap the benefits of removing the smaller, less controllable muscles from your short game. Your handicap will start to plummet as you gain confidence around the greens.

In my next article I will show you how to use this same swing with three different clubs to get nine different results.

About the Author
I am qualified golf coach through the European Golf Teachers Federation. Visit my site at http://bettergolfing.blogspt.com to take up the 6 week challenge to reduce your handicap by 25%]]> Fri, 11 May 2007 04:06:20 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1071 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1070
The five things you must do to get backspin on your shots:

1. At address place the ball in a position where it is slightly behind where the club will make contact with the ground - keep your hands slightly ahead of the club. This allows the club to connect with the ball on the downswing creating a divot after you have struck the ball. This forces the ball to "climb" back along the club face over the grooves, which grip the ball and create the backspin. One of the reasons it is so difficult to get spin out of a fluffy lie is because hitting down on the ball allows the ball to go forward into the grass (rather than back over the grooves), and the grass getting between the grooves and the ball limits or negates backspin.

2. Accelerate through the ball with confidence. This is so important. So many amateurs decelerate before striking the ball. To get backspin you must have confidence to commit to the shot. If you have selected the best club for the job, if the club designer has done his job, your grooves are clean, you have a quality golf ball and you have placed the ball correctly at address you can launch into it with confidence.

3. Have clean grooves. This may seem pretty obvious but it is amazing how many golfers do not clean or wipe their clubs after each shot. As the ball gets its backspin from "climbing" up the face of the club it is imperative that the grooves, which grip the ball, are free from dirt. If clogged the grooves simply act as a smooth surface and no spin will be imparted.

4. Use a new (and good quality) ball. So often we tend to play with the same ball until it is either lost or so badly damaged that it is rendered unplayable. Golf balls change character during the course of a round of golf. Professional golfers change balls every three or four holes and, whilst this is a luxury many of us cannot afford, using a good quality golf ball will improve your game. Soft covered golf balls, such as a balata, provide maximum spin characteristics.

5. And finally - Practice. It cannot be stressed how important this is. We all go to the driving range intent on "practising" but land up lashing a bucket of balls as hard and as fast as we can. If you are a very good golfer a round of golf will take about 72 shots and 4 hours to complete. Why then do we go to the range and belt 50 balls in 15 minutes? When practising work on one thing at a time and if it is getting backspin then take your favourite iron, preferably a mid iron, and concentrate on connecting the ball at the right place in the swing arc. Once you have got it right with one club introduce the others, adjusting the ball position as necessary.

Now that you know how to get backspin on your golf ball your confidence should improve dramatically. Knowing that the backspin imparted on your ball will either stop the ball very close to where it lands or spin it back towards the pin gives you the confidence to fire at or beyond the pin every time. I hope you enjoyed the 5 things you must do to get backspin on your golf ball. In my next article I am going to explain the pitch shot and how to get it close every time.

About the Author
I am a European Golf Teaching Federation qualified coach and my mission is to help people into Better Golfing. Visit my blog at http://www.bettergolfing.blogspot.com/ to take up my six week challenge to reduce your handicap by 25% through a series of weekly exercises and goals.]]> Fri, 11 May 2007 04:04:21 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1070 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1061
If you are a golfer, How to Break 80 sounds good, doesn't it!

But... do his promises come from a credible place? Is he only blowing his own horn or do others agree?

In defense of Mr. Moorehouse, I have to tell you that he is a very visible presence on the web. He has free articles everywhere offering help with golf tips on a variety of subjects. They range from improving your golf swing and advancing your chipping and putting, to what to do when lightning strikes and how to choose the right Golf teacher. He even says he is willing to answer your questions. He offers a free weekly golf newsletter that won the 2006 Apex Award for Publication Excellence. He has updated his How to Break 80 golf manual with fresh and new content as promised. Count them--there are seven new areas in his updated version.

All of these things give him brownie points!

But...what do others have to say about his product?

Hours of searching the web found dozens of credible golf sites recommending How to Break 80. The responses and reviews are positive. They like the realistic approach and going back to the basics of golf. They are enthusiastic about the easy to use drills and strategies to immediately improve your golf skills. They are impressed that How to Break 80 implemented tons of illustrations and pictures. This is great for those of us who are visual learners! Some recommend it as a great gift for yourself and other valued golfing friends. They comment that there is something for everyone, whatever your handicap. They say it is a super book, written in an easy to understand manner.

It looks like these websites are pleased and are standing behind what How to Break 80 has to offer.

But...were there any numbers to back up these reviews?

From my research I only found a handful of reviews giving numerical ratings for How to Break 80 . These numbers were based on main features, proven techniques, qualities, and effectiveness. Here are the ratings I found--based out of 10: 9.5, 9.4 8, 8, and 8. These average out to a high rating of 8.58. Like Abraham Lincoln once said, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

From these numbers I would say that How to Break 80 has pleased these people.

But...were there any testimonials about the effectiveness of this golf instructional guide?

Besides the reviews that I mentioned above, which in their own right are testimonials backing How to Break 80 , there are twenty-seven individual letters of testament on the sales page Jack Moorehouse has for this golf guide. In these testimonials, people from all handicap ranges attest to the help this program has given them and how pleased they are with the immediate results. People of varied ages and from locations all over the world have included positive feedback for How to Break 80. There are stories covering all facets of the game: lowering scores, improving swings, bettering short shots, developing driving distance, enjoying the game more, increasing swing confidence, enhancing mental preparation, and the all important--impressing their friends. Check out the person from Singapore. This person even admits not being happy when first receiving the material, but according to his story has come full circle in his feelings about How to Break 80 and the effects it has had on his golf game.

Sounds like happy customers!

But.....what are they saying about the price?

"By far the best money I've ever spent on golf" one golfer says. Others tote that it is "money well spent", "a fantastic value", and "for $37 it was a steal!" You get immediate access to How to Break 80 in ebook form. If you learn better using both reading and listening, then the ebook along with the audio program might be for you at $47. Either choice, they both come with a fist full of bonuses--six to be exact and a 60 day money-back guarantee.

Like another of the testimonials mentioned "the free items were enough for the cost of the program."

The consensus is they are getting value for their money.

Now, you have the scoop on 'what they are saying' about How to Break 80. It is feasible to conclude that Jack Moorehouse is not alone in thinking his golf instructional guide is a worthwhile investment.

Here's to Happy Golfing and Enjoying Life!

Oh, by the way, help me celebrate: On April 10, 2007 I broke 80 for the first time at Atlas Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico.

About the Author
Penny Howe is a retired teacher now residing just outside of Guadalajara, Mexico. She is now spending time on improving her golf game and enjoying the sunshine. She invites you to check out her website http://howtobreak80review.com which was made specifically to review the very popular golf ebook "How to Break 80 and Shoot like the Pros."]]> Mon, 07 May 2007 23:50:18 +0000 http://www.golfclubbusiness.com/index.php?showtopic=1061