Improving Balance in Your Swing (James Hong)

No matter what sport you've played, balance is vital to athletic success.  If you find that you cannot hold your finish, or you are moving around as though on ice skates, then you may try this on the practice range.  With a club in hand, take your stance.  With your legs flexed, try to stay firmly flatfooted as you make some swings.  You will still feel a weight shift, but it will be involuntary.  Try to stay flatfooted until the very end of the swing.  The momentum of the followthrough will pull you slightly in the finish.  Work on this, and you should notice immediate improvement with balance, distance, and accuracy.


Finding the Right Ball for Your Game

Have you ever noticed how your shots around the green react? Some run, some check. It always seems that you get the wrong result for the shot you envisioned. Well, it may not be your technique or your execution. It could be the ball you play.

 

Many players carry a cornucopia of balls in their bags. Plunk a Titleist into a pond and play the next shot with a Pinnancle. Now if you'd just had an up and down opportunity with a ProV1 and the next attempt is done ith a ball without the same spin characteristics, well, don't expect the same result.

 

Experiment with today's offerings. Find a ball that reacts the way you envision it to react around the greens. When you find that ball, buy a few dozen. The ball is the one variable that the player can control.

Play The Shot That’s Given

Around the green players often throw strokes away not because of bad execution, but more a function of bad shot selection.

Trying to hit a flop shot with a bump and run lie is just one example.

Learn to read the lie and learn to use various clubs for a multiple of shots. The player who approaches every greenside up and down opportunity with their “stock shot” and their “I do everything with this club” club, is apt to have a lower percentage of saves than the player who can read the lie, visualize and play the appropriate shot.