by: Tom Ghormley
View Tom’s Original Article Here

You may well be shocked or at least taken aback at how many players there are who work typically on their swing action but hardly ever (if ever) work on their golf grip.

Golf Swing (Photo credit: gibsonsgolfer)

In this instance, I mean the golf grip of their hands, not the rubber grip on the shaft. When you think about it though, the full swing action begins with the golf grip, which will need to boost its relevance in getting it correct.If your golf grip does not work, why should anything that comes after work?There is a unbiased grip for any golf enthusiast. That golf grip is when your arm hangs straight down from the shoulder socket and the direction of your target side hand.

It can make no distinction whether you use an overlapping, interlocking, or ten-finger grip. What IS crucial is the slope the club is placed in your hand.To uncover your neutral grip, to begin with take your address spot, but without having a golf club, and make it possible for both arms to hang downward from the shoulders. Remain relaxed, there ought to be no stiffness in your arms or hands.

The majority of golfers find that their target side arm hangs anywhere in between the midsection of the target side thigh to the inside of the thigh, based on the width of foot position and or the width of the upper body.

As you start looking down at your target side hand pay notice to the angle it hangs. A number of of you will view two knuckles of the hand, many can see three, and a few could even see four. It isn’t going to matter how many you see. No matter what the number, this is your body’s way of informing you its natural predisposition and that is the neutral angle for your golf grip.

Whenever you place your target side hand on the golf club it ought to be at the identical angle you just saw.The golf club then extends diagonally from in between the first and second joint of the index finger to the bottom part of the pinkie finger. Shut the fingers and then shut the hand with the heel pad on top of the shaft with the thumb to the rear of the shaft.This provides force from the heel pad downward and the last three fingers apply pressure upwards.

Then take the lifeline of the trailing hand, situated between the thumb and heel pads, and position it on the thumb of the target side hand.The lifeline towards the thumb exerts the pressure. The right forefinger should be segregated, in a “triggering position”, yet with no pressure. It is crucial to fully grasp that the forefinger and target side thumb both be on the similar side and angle of the shaft for the perfect support.

The trailing thumb ought to be on the target side of the shaft. You under no circumstances want the thumbs to apply any pressure. Last but not least, as a way for the hands to perform together, they need to be parallel to each other.This might all appear tricky, but try it and see for yourself if discovering the proper grip angle doesn’t enhance your shots.

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Ok, it hasn’t been exactly the best season in his career (no wins at all much less a championship) and his personal life could be better (the marriage ended and he is said to be in another rather rocky relationship – with Steve Williams, his caddy).  He did not even automatically qualify this time for the Ryder Cup and he needs to finish within the top 5 in the Deutsche Bank tournament to even stand a chance of playing in Atlanta during the Tour Championship, but, Corey Pavin, the Ryder Cup captain, still chose to go with experience and named him to the team.

The team obviously needs some of that experience as even the automatic qualifiers, Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Jeff Overton and Dustin Johnson have not played in the Ryder Cup before and this will be Tiger’s sixth time. Some of you may be thinking that he does not have a good record at the Cup but neither does Mickelson and Woods actually does have a winning record when it comes to the singles matches.

The young golfer from Ireland, Rory Mcllroy claims that he relishes the chance to face Tiger; claiming that anyone playing for the European team said they would like their chances playing against him unless his game drastically improves by that time.

And, don’t forget Tiger Woods is pretty much the biggest story in golf and a big driver when it comes to television ratings so many will tune into the game just hoping to see him fail and others will watch hoping to see him win; either way they will watch and that’s what its all about.

From August 9th through August 15th Whistling Straits located in Kohler, Wisconsin is once again hosting one of the PGA’s four major tournaments, the Professional Golf Association Championship (also knows as “Glory’s last shot”) which is last in line after the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open. At the conclusion of the tournament the renowned Wanamaker Trophy will be awarded.

The course was designed, link style by the famous Pete Dye and lies along the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. Tickets to the famed tournament start at about $30 per person for one day (this is normally for the practice rounds that begin the Monday before the tournament) and can be as much as $1300 per day with reserved seating and the hospitality offered by the Champions Club once play commences. If you prefer grounds tickets you can obtain one for the entire 7 days for about $300; however, there is an additional cost if you would like grandstand seating.

You should note that for juniors 17 years of age and younger there is free access to the event when accompanied by a paying adult. Each adult with a ticket can bring up to four juniors for admission (tickets are available the day of admission at the “Will Call” office) to the event at no extra cost.

 This course appears to be an ode to the links found in the British Isles with confounding bunkers, craggy knobs and sand dunes; completing the transformation is a group of Scottish blackface sheep. Some of the challenges that golfers will face include a sometimes pervasive fog, buffeting winds and par threes placed on some precarious bluff edges.

If you miss this year’s championship then be sure to make plans to attend when it returns in 2015.

Former LPGA pro Dodie Mazzuca thinks it can. Dodie attributes yoga to extending her professional career by seven years. She enjoyed the effects of yoga so much, she has become an Ashtanga yoga instructor for the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale, AZ.

Instructors and videos extol the benefits that yoga can focus the mind. Because golf uses the mind, bringing this focus into your game can enhance your game as well as your overall well-being.

Breathing that is focused on in yoga can also translate to the golf course. Yoga breathing is a good way to warm up your muscles for a round of golf. Focused breath can be essential to relaxing the body, which is essential to good play.

Becoming mindful of the muscles that you use in your golf swing can lead to a better swing than just slamming into it. Taking deep and longer inhale and exhales can bring power to your swing and facilitate a good follow-through.

Yoga poses can protect core muscles and increase flexibility in golfers.

Good Poses for Yoga:

Forward folds

Back bends

Stick Pose

Triangle Pose

Basics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQI5NbAmHjI

http://life.gaiam.com/gaiam/p/10-Essential-Yoga-Poses-HowTo-Video-with-Rodney-Yee.html#Mountain Pose

The right footwear on the course can improve your game.

We have The Duke of Windsor, King Edward VIII (the king who abdicated his throne for divorced commoner, Wallis Simpson) to thank for making golf shoes a style statement. The Duke wore the first suede Oxford on a visit to the states when he was the Prince of Wales.  He is also credited for introducing Ghillies and Kilties to the USA.

Today golf shoes are sleek, high-tech as well as snazzy. These golf shoes will give you better traction on and off the course.
Lightweight

Nike Golf Air Zoom Vapor www.nike.com

Luxe comfort

Adidas Golf Powerband 2.0 www.adidas.com

Sleek and super traction

FootJoy Synr-G www.footjoy.com

Best Heel Support

Ecco Ultra Performance Hydromax www.eccousa.com

Euro styled spikeless

Callaway Vela www.callawaygolf.com

Most golfers don’t realize that the main secret to a good golf game is not to be just a big hitter off the tee, a great chipper around the green, or a great putter. These are obvious stealths to any low handicap golfer. The true secret to a predictable lower score is the tricks to golf management. Power seems to be the big attraction in golf, but pros like Tiger Woods, Phil Michelson, and Sergio Garcia rely on their golf management skills to truly shoot lower, more predictable scores. Here are the top ten golf management rules you should put in your bag before the very first swing.

1)      Find a club that you can consistently hit in your bag, regardless of lean, if it’s a 7 iron or a 5 wood or a 4 iron it doesn’t matter. For the beginning golfer these clubs are necessary because they will always allow you to advance the ball with predictability. Golfers often try to use too much club or use clubs they can’t hit to try to make shots that will only turn out with more negative results than positive. So when you’re in doubt of the club to use, pull out your most predictable club and advance the ball.

2)      Don’t try to make the miracle shot! If you possess the skills of a Tiger Woods than take a rip.  Sure, once in a while it works but most of the time it will end up costing you many more strokes than it’s worth. So do the smart thing and take an easy shot of punching out or dropping the ball for relief. You will find that at the end of the round your scores will be lower by staying disciplined and getting back into play first.

3)      When you finally reach the green there are several tricks that will help save you strokes. One is to always try to miss putts to what is called the high side of the hole. If the putt is breaking from the right to the left the ball never has a chance of going in if it misses on the low side low side of the cup. If you concentrate on making your putts, miss on the high side of the hole the ball has the highest probability of going in.

4)      Ever hear the saying “never up never in”? If, when putting, the ball doesn’t reach the hole it has a 100% chance of not going in. Concentrate on making sure your putt reaches or goes past the hole on every putt. A two foot putt coming back is the same as a two foot putt being short, except that the putt that was long had a chance to go in!

5)      Reading greens is a must in golf management. Not spending a few minutes to understand how the greens will move is a novice mistake. “Does the putt go right to left, left to right, uphill, or downhill?” are the first things to determine before addressing the ball. Not concentrating on that basic fundamental will surly add up to more three putts and needless higher scores.

6)      Chipping around the greens can be as important as putting if you’re not the Phil Michelson or Tiger Woods types that can use a variety of clubs around the green from lob wedges to hybrids. The first thing to do is find the one club that is predictable and comfortable in your hands. Try a 9, 8, 7 iron or a wedge but find the club that gives you the loft and the trajectory of the club that you can control. The more you play with a predictable club the faster you will learn to hit other shots with other clubs.

7)      If you’re in the fairway, make sure to understand the ball positioning in relationship to your feet. Is the ball above my feet or below my feet? Is it uphill or downhill from my feet? These differences will determine which way the ball will want to go naturally and help you to understand properly lining up your shot. Ball below your feet, as an example, naturally will go right. By understanding this, the correct thing to do is to aim to the left to compensate.

8)      Know your distances with both how far each of your clubs goes and how far you are on every shot. Not knowing exactly how far each club goes or how far away from the hole you are will cause you unnecessary shots and raise your scores.

9)  Stay below the hole. The easiest putt to make on any green is the straight uphill putt, but chipping and putting to remain below the hole will dramatically increase you success.

10)  Know the rules. Not knowing the rules of golf will create automatic strokes in your game unnecessarily and in some cases may cost you the game.

Golf is a difficult game to become good at, but if you want to get an edge and lower your scores without even changing your game apply these basic rules and you should see your average score drop on its own.