Bed and Breakfast on the Green

There are certain rules you are expected to follow when your ball is on or near the green.
Suppose one golfer in a Par-3 hole hits his ball into a sandtrap not far from the pin. Another player lands his ball on the green but it is several feet farther away from the pin than the first ball. Who shoots first? According to the U.S. Golf Association, the ball that's farthest from the hole is always played first. So in this case the ball on the green would be played first.
What about finishing out the hole? If the player in the trap gets lucky and places his ball near the cup, with only a tap-in left, can he finish it off before the other player tries his putt? It depends on whether they're involved in stroke play or match play. In either competition there is no penalty for playing out of turn. However, in match play his opponent has the option to recall the stroke and make the player finish his shot in order.

Your Posture Produces Consistent Shot Making!

Posture:  has a direct influence on the plane of your swing.  When you stand to the ball you need to bend forward from your hips so that your arms hang down from your shoulders.  You should be in a comfortable position but one that allows your arms the freedom to swing the club and allows your body to turn easily.

The bend forward from your hips should be approximately 20 degrees.  It should feel like a ready athletic position, as if you were standing to field a ground ball or shoot a free throw.  Your weight should be towards the balls of your feet and evenly distributed between right and left.  Your arms hang softly from your shoulders.   There should be no slouching forward from your shoulders.   Your upper body should be free of tension, your back fairly straight.   Your lower body should resist as your upper body turns in the backswing, hence the tension.

You want to feel slight tightness on the inside of your legs all the way down to your ankles.   Your lower body should not move much on the backswing.   Any and all movement should stem from the turning of your upper body pulling your lower body along.   Good posture has a positive influence on producing a consistent swing.

Going Deep
The Driver: The driver is the longest and least forgiving club in the bag. It will ruthlessly expose flaws that go unpunished with shorter clubs. Some golfers opt to play a safer club from the tee, such as a fairway wood or a low iron, if they are having problems with their driving action. But nothing beats the feeling of letting one rip with the biggest club in your bag.

Step 1: Take a wider stance than usual and stand two or three inches further back from the ball than you normally do. The ball should be positioned just inside your left heel. Tee the ball up so about half of it shows above the head of the driver. Accuracy is more important than distance. To focus your mind,aim at a small target such as a hollow or mark on the fairway, rather than a general one.

Step 2: Concentrate on keeping the clubhead low to the ground to create a wide arc as you take the club back.

Step 3: Do not over-swing. It's very important to control your power. Do this by keeping your right knee bent or flexes as you turn into your right side and making sure you don't overbalance onto the side of your right foot.

Step 4: Swing back through the ball as smoothly as possible letting the club do the work. Concentrate on 'sweeping' the ball off the tee.
Step 5: Follow right through to the target and into a balanced finish position.

Fairway Bunker Play: Sometimes if you still have some way to go to the green and the face of the bunker is low enough, you may want to play a mid-iron rather than a sand wedge in order to get more distance. In order to do this you need to nip the ball of the surface taking as little sand as possible. A seven-iron is often a good club to use.

Step 1: Firm footing with the ball nearer your left heel - this will encourage you to hit the ball on the upswing avoiding the sand. Move your hands down the handle to prevent you digging in and taking too much sand. Shortening the club like this raises the bottom of the swing and means you should get a clean strike. Hold the club tighter than normal as this will stop you breaking your wrists - likely to mean you take more sand than you meant to.

Step 2: Three-quarter swing and play the ball with your hands and arms. Keep body movement to a minimum. You need to deliver the clubhead to exactly the right place. Too low and you'll catch too much sand and leave the ball in the bunker. Too high and you'll top the ball.
the trap.

Step 3: You're aiming for as true a contact as possible as you clip the ball off the top of the sand.

Sand Play: The main reason most golfers hate getting into bunkers is that they do not know the correct technique to get out of them. Even the top stars can have difficulty as Thomas Bjorn found at The Open. Once you do, and you practice it enough, you may actually relish the challenge. In many circumstances, top professional golfers prefer to be in a bunker next to the green than on the grass, as it gives them greater control of the ball. The sand wedge is designed never to touch the ball. The aim is to hit the sand about an inch behind the ball and create a mini-explosion which carries your ball up and out.

Step 1: Settle into the sand to give you a nice solid base and feel for the thickness of the sand. Set up with the ball in middle of your stance. Without grounding your club, lay the face open then take hold of the club with your normal grip. This puts the clubhead in the right position so its wide sole bounces through and off the sand taking your ball with it.

Step 2: Tighten your grip but mainly with your left index and little finger. This keeps the club firm so it does not turn over into the sand but flexible. Because you have opened the clubface, it will now be pointing off to the right if your body is square to the target. To compensate, shuffle your feet and shoulders to the left until the face is square to the target again.

Step 3: Swing the clubhead back down hard along the line of the shoulders. Your knees should be more flexed than for a normal shot, so you need to concentrate harder on keeping your head steady and not dipping down towards the ball. As you swing the club back towards the ball you should feel as though you are cutting across the line from outside to in. It may feel as though this will take the ball too far left. But it won't - it'll make up for the fact the open club face is forcing the ball right. You should always take virtually a full swing - the distance can be largely controlled by changing the amount of sand you take.

Step 4: The sand wedge has a wide sole. This means rather the slicing down into the bunker, the clubhead can 'bounce' through it and lift the sand - and the ball - skywards. It requires considerable clubhead speed to remove the ball, especially when the face is steep or the sand is wet. Aim to produce a solid-sounding 'thump'.

Step 5: It is extremely important to follow through to the target. Don't allow the club to 'die' into the sand. Imagine smashing the club down onto a pool of water and wanting to watch the droplets scatter all over the green. It is the same action - the sand absorbs some of the blow but bounces the club back out. Use your shoulder and hip turn to help it along.

Up Hill Lie: Playing the ball off an upslope can help you get more distance than normal. But there are a couple of changes you must make to your set up and swing. As a rule of thumb, always lean INTO a hill.

Step 1: Aim your club and body to the right of the target as you will naturally hit the ball with draw. This is because the angle of the slope means your legs will be restricted in the shot, forcing your hands to turn over more and close the blade. The steeper the slope, the more this will happen so aim further right. Take a practice swing to get the feel for this otherwise you may overbalance.

Step 2: On level ground, your body is perpendicular to the ground but on a slope this isn't the case. In order to recreate this, shift your weight more onto the lower leg. The steeper the slope, the more your weight should be on this leg. Play the ball forward in your stance as this will encourage your swing to follow the contour of the ground.

Step 3: Be prepared for an awkward follow through as the slope will restrict your movement.

Step 4:The ball will fly much higher than normal due to the upslope.

Putting Practice: The putter is the best stroke saving club in your bag. Most golfers use a third of their total score - that's 30-35 shots per round on the putting green. And most can get better with practice. That's why it's important to groove a putting stroke that you can trust under pressure. The best place to improve your putting is on the practice putting green. Here are some practice tips that can help.

1) PRACTICE STROKING THE BALL WHILE LOOKING AT THE TARGET, INSTEAD OF THE BALL. This teaches you to trust your stroke. It also helps show you to concentrate on the target line. It's a great drill for keeping a steady hand. Try it. You'll be surprised how effective this is on short distances.

2) PRACTICE STROKING THE BALL ONE FOOT PAST THE CUP. This helps develop a feel for distance. Don't hammer it too far past. Don't leave it short. And don't worry about making it. It's just a drill. Try it from different lengths to get a feel for different distances. And make it go one foot past the cup.

3) PRACTICE GETTING UP AND DOWN FROM VARIOUS DISTANCES OFF THE GREEN. Any chance you have to putt, instead of chip, you should. Because most people use better putters than chippers. And confidence will flow into the rest of your game if you know you can get up and down from off the green.

4) ON LONG PUTTS, PRACTICE CORRELATING THE LENGTH OF THE PUTTS WITH THE LENGTH OF THE BACK SWING. Usually, one inch of backswing is needed for every two feet of putt. On medium to fast greens, a twelve inch backswing is often enough to hit a 24 foot putt. Another tip - place the back foot where it will correspond with the back of the backswing. Then simply stroke through the ball.

5) PRACTICE TWO TO THREE FOOTERS TILL YOU CAN'T MISS. Then move back a foot and work at that distance till you can't miss. Then move another foot back. Pretty soon, you will become really good on those THREE TO SEVEN FOOT PUTTS you always seem to be facing. And if you get good at them, your scores WILL DROP!

Most golf courses and driving ranges have putting greens that are free. You can even practice this at home on your carpet! You are crazy to not utilize these facilities to improve upon the most important stroke saving part of your game. And EVERYBODY has room to improve on their putting.

Ball Flight Laws: No matter what teaching method is being used, no mat¬ter who is swinging the club; no matter where you are ... at the moment of impact these laws determine the flight of the ball.

The Five Ball Flight Laws are as follows:

1. Speed — the speed at which the club head moves through impact is a great determinant of the distance a ball will fly.

2. Path — the direction in which the club is traveling at impact is a great determinant of the initial direc¬tion a ball will fly.

3. Face — the position of the clubface at impact is a great determinant of the final direction a ball will fly. (If either the heel or toe of the club arrives at im¬pact before the other, a spin is placed on the ball which will cause the ball to eventually hook or slice.)

4. Angle of Attack — the angle at which the club is either descending or ascending at impact is a con¬tributor to both the distance and the trajectory a ball will have; in addition, a ball struck above the mid¬point (equator) will roll or fly very low and a ball struck below the midpoint (equator) will fly relative¬ly higher.

5.Squareness of Contact — the degree to which the ball is contacted with the"sweet-spot" or percus¬sion point of the club at impact has a direct relation¬ship to both the direction and distance the ball will travel. Accepting the existence of physical laws governing the flight of a golf ball leads to the next level of priority, principles. To allow the learner to create the most effi¬cient movement pattern for his or her individual swing, an instructor must teach certain principles of the golf swing. Unlike the laws, which are irrefutable, the principles of the golf swing are somewhat less rigid. These are "qualities" of a golf swing which, at this point in time, are accepted to be necessary for all performers — within their individual capabilities. Please note that there is no mention of HOW principles should be done . . . only THAT they should be done!