Archive for Golf Swing Tips

One Handed Golf Shots

While there might be nothing new in swinging the golf club with one hand, there are positive benefits for the golfer. It doesn’t matter which hand you try first so long as you only use one hand. In fact, try both individually and see which works best for you.

My favourite swing action is with the left hand. If you are right handed, swing with the left hand only is the natural way to swing the club head. One thing you’ll notice is you can’t rush the swing. If you are a quick swinger, this drill will slow you down, dramatically I suggest. Another benefit is that you will find it difficult to over swing using one hand only. Swinging the club this way gives you a greater awareness of what you are doing throughout the golf swing, in terms of where the club is at various stages of the backswing.

Another key area of improvement in golf to look for is in building strength in the arms and hands, as this exercise targets just those muscles that golfers use to strike the ball. Timing and balance are also improved.

“There are a few things to take note of before when practising one handed:

Don’t take too many swings when first trying this. Hitting balls with one hand is fun and challenging, but if you hit too many, your arm will be sore the next day. Start off with 10-20 swings and, as your arms and hands get stronger, add more.
Grip down on the handle. Start with your sand wedge and grip down on the handle; this will make the club lighter.
Let your body finish to the target. Often a golfer will try to hit a one-handed shot and just move their arm, not allowing their body to rotate so that their chest and belt buckle are facing at the target. When practising, allow your chest to turn back and through and finish with your torso and belt buckle looking at the target.”

If you haven’t tried this method of golf practice before it might feel a bit strange at first. You might find you need to try it a few times before you get the feel of it and the swing tempo, but that’s precisely why you are doing trying it anyway.

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How to hit a 6 iron – This Is The Way I Do It

This article is intended to give a general outline of how to hit a 6 iron. Whether this is off the fairway or from the tee, the method is the same.


If you are learning to play golf you soon realise that each club needs to be played differently. There are certain golf fundamentals that need to be in place to hit a golf ball correctly, then the golfer needs to be able to play each club in the bag to a competent degree.

I am not a golf teacher and this method of hitting a 6 iron is my own, but is written here in the hope it might help someone’s golf game.

Grip.

The grip is one of those fundamentals I mentioned above. I use my normal overlapping grip to play this club.

Stance.

There is lots of advice about how to stand to the ball, but for the 6 iron I like to have my weight mostly on my heels with my feet a shoulder width apart. I think this is a good rule of thumb for considering how far apart to have the feet at the address position, especially given that we are all physically different from one another, and of differing heights.

In normal weather conditions, I position the ball midway from my right heel at the mid point between my feet. I do this to give myself the best chance of hitting the ball before the turf. Every golfer dreads hitting the ground before the ball.

The Back Swing

Before beginning the backswing, I check that I am lining up the shot to the intended line of flight, with my feet square to the ball. This is the setup for a straight golf shot. When you get good at playing this club you can experiment playing an intentional draw or fade with a six iron. But first, you have to master the basics. I happen to believe that beginners at golf should first get used to playing at least one golf club well, before trying to play them all well at the same time.

I take the club back on the inside swing path and stop when my hands are at shoulder height. By then, my body weight will have shifted, to an extent, to the right leg, and while my left shoulder will be pointing to the ground, the hips will have rotated ninety degrees to the right.

Downswing

The down-swing is initiated by a leftward movement of the hips, and with the wrists still fully cocked until they are at the height of my hips, I then deliberately whip the club through the ball, and then follow through, keeping my head down. This uncoiling of the hips is the power base of the golf shot, and is where the power and accuracy of the shot originates. If you get this right, you will play good golf and you are on the way to a lower golf handicap.