KPJ’s Cardiogolf Game Improvement Program

Heading into the last week of the Cardiogolf Game Improvement Program, your focus should continue to be on tightening up all areas of your game so there are no obvious weaknesses and polishing your swing technique so you can concentrate on scoring when you finally get out on the golf course this upcoming season.

During this week, we will focus on refining key scoring skills.

Don’t neglect your golf fitness.  Continue to practice golf-specific stretches and warm up routines.

Today-Monday-Basic Refresher Course

Tuesday-The Swing/Warm Up

Wednesday-The Long Game/Strength Exercise

Thursday-The Short Game/Flexibility Exercise

Friday-Practice/Balance and Endurance Work

Grip Essentials

Nobody’s hands are the same, so you grip might not be the same as your fellow player’s, but that doesn’t mean it is wrong. How you join your hands together is up to you. There are three basic grip choices to find one that best suits you. Use whatever grip feels comfortable to you. Most importantly, use the grip that helps you square the clubface at impact with the least effort. Experiment with your grip by hitting balls with the different grips to see what works best.

Strive to form a neutral grip.

The Vardon Grip: The most widely used grip by golf professionals is called the Vardon grip, named after the grip’s inventor, Harry Vardon. This is where you piggyback the pinkie finger of your right hand on top of the forefinger of your left hand.

The Interlocking Grip: The interlocking grip is where you interlock the pinkie finger of the right hand with the forefinger of the left hand.

Baseball or 10-Finger Grip: This is where all 10 fingers are securely on the shaft, as if you were holding a baseball bat.

Learn to waggle

It is important to get the correct grip pressure before each swing, to keep your swing consistent.

Place your hands on the club and hold the club head just below waist high. The club head should feel heavy. If it feels light, you are gripping way too tightly and your won’t be able to release the club face and hit a good shot.  Make sure the grip pressure is the same in each hand, not tighter in one than the other. Keep the grip pressure the same throughout your swing. Don’t tighten or loosen your hands at the top of your swing, especially not at impact. Learn to waggle. A waggle is a little motion each golfer does before hitting to ensure proper grip pressure and take tension out of her hands and arms. Hold the club above the ground just below waist high. Now make small, controlled clockwise circles with the club head, making sure that your hands stay securely on the shaft. The club head should feel heavy. If it feels light, you are holding it too tightly.  When you are confident that your grip pressure is just right, you are ready to place the club head behind the ball and swing.

Posture Essentials

Everything you do before you swing determines how well you strike the ball. With a poor setup, even the best golfers in the world will not hit the ball straight. Take the time to correctly set up each time for a consistent swing.

*A quality set up is completely relaxed and tension free.

*The stance is about shoulder width, providing a stable base from which to swing.

*Bending from the hip sockets as opposed to the waist will allow you to make a powerful body coil.

*Flex the knees only slightly.

*Let your arms hang naturally, not too close or too far from the body.

*Your back hand (the right hand for right-handed golfers, the left hand for left-handers) is lower on the club than the front hand. Hence, your back arm, shoulder, and hip will be slightly lower than than the front side.

*Bend from the hip sockets, not your waist.

Ball position and weight distribution are closely, related. The distribution of your weight at address can affect your swing significantly. In fact, weight distribution should change to match the shot you are playing.

With short irons, there is slightly more weight on the lead leg and the ball position is in the middle of your stance. With the rest of the irons and fairways woods, the weight distribution is about even. When driving, there is slightly more weight on the back leg than the front leg.

Ball position for short irons is just to the right of center for right-handed golfers and just to the left of center for the left-hander golfer. As you progress to longer clubs, move the ball a half of a rotation toward the target. The ball position for the driver will then end up opposite of the front heel. With a driver, the ball should fall underneath your front ear, making your head start behind the ball.

Trouble-Shooting

The “slicer” tends to keep too much weight on the front leg at address for all shots, which restricts the shoulder turn and encourages a steep out-to-in swing.

Someone that tends to “hook” the ball too much will have too much weight on the back leg and play the ball too far back in the stance. Adjust your weight distribution to correct your swing flaw.

Alignment Tips

Alignment is the easiest fundamental to work on, and probably one of the most neglected principles of golf. A good shot is useless unless it is going toward your intended target.

First, you align the clubface square to your target line, and then you align your body. One of the biggest mistakes I see as a teacher is when people line up their body to the target first, then set the clubface down. This sequence usually makes people misalign their bodies, causing them to twist and turn inappropriately to get the ball to the target. Do not make the mistake that 90 percent of higher-handicappers do by not taking the time to align the body correctly.

The easiest and most effective way to align correctly is to set-up in an alignment station. Place a club down on the ground, pointing parallel to your target. With a secure grip and stepping forward with your back foot, set the clubface down behind the ball with the leading edge perpendicular to your target line. Then set your front foot into position and adjust your back foot into place so that both are parallel to your target line. Your feet, hips, knees, shoulders and even eye line should be parallel to your target line.

On-Course Exercise

Practice your posture with each club. Although clubs are different lengths, the basic golf posture remains the same. One key point to remember is to try to keep your spine in a neutral position, not too straight or not slumped over.  The purpose of the golf posture is to create a position from which you can make an athletic swing.

Ball Position for an Iron

Off-Course Exercise

Check your set-up and posture in front of a mirror and compare it to a photo of a professional golfer from a golf magazine, make sure your model is similar to your build and stature .

On-Course Exercise

Practice hitting shots with correct alignment: aim the clubface is the first and most important part of correct alignment. Use a club on the ground as a reference point around which you can position your feet and body correctly. Remember also that while the clubface aims at your intended target, the rest of your body aims parallel to the target line.

Off-Course Exercise

Complete the Pre-Swing Muscle and Joint Warm Up chapter from the Cardiogolf DVD.  To order your own copy of Cardiogolf visit cardiogolf .

Preview Cardiogolf

Send me your questions and comments to KPJ@swingbladegolf.com