Archive for June, 2010

When you buy a new set of golf clubs, it is a big investment for most players. Even if you opt to purchase less expensive clubs, you are still spending a lot of money. For this reason it is so vital to get the right set of clubs. Your golf clubs should be just right length and fit for you in order for you to excel at your game. You’ll need to know what to pick out when choosing the right golf clubs.

Many golfer go straight for the brand names. There are many name brands such as Callaway, Ping and TaylorMade that have great reputations amongst golfers. Naturally you can be sure when you purchase a top brand set, you are getting superb quality, but buying quality brands comes at a price. Economically, some golfers just can’t afford name brand clubs. Clone golf clubs can answer this call for top quality clubs. Golf club clones are made like the name brand with similar materials, but are extremely less expensive. Both the clone and major brand club makers buy their materials from the same places, use the same shafts, grips and even purchase club faces from essentially the same source. The big difference about clone golf clubs is that clone club manufacturers do not advertise and are able to pass the savings on to the customer.

Picking a club that is the right size and fit for you is vital. The right size and length of golf clubs will deliver for you the best possible swing, whereas the wrong size can hurt your game considerably. Consider availing yourself for a golf club fitting online or where a professional will analyze your swing.

It also makes sense to get golf equipment that is right for you. When shopping for golf clubs, take a good look at golf bags to make sure it is sturdy. Selecting their right  Golfstream shoes for women or men are important also. Another area of selection is golf balls with care. Read up on golf balls technicalities if you’re not quite sure what to get.

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Wedge shots are a powerful short game weapon, maybe the most potent . Players with high handicaps hit wedge shots from the rough, a trap, or just behind the cart path. While low handicap golfers hit them in the fairway with a full swing. It’s because they work hard to get themselves into that position.

Golfers with low handicaps all have the same key elements in their wedge shots . Below are descriptions of those key steps.

1. Be Sure Your Stance Is Open

Outstanding wedge players keep the lower body quiet . You don’t need a lot of power to hit a wedge and you don’t need a lot of lower body action . But you can’t hit a sound wedge shot without opening your hips. Opening up your stance allows you to use your arms and shoulders to hit the shot without requiring the help of your lower body.

2. Allow the Wrists to Hinge

Poor players try lifting the ball in the air when hitting a wedge shot . Good players hit down and through, creating a divot. One of the secrets to hitting down is wrist hinge. If you don’t hinge your wrists, you’ll sweep the ball of the ground . Hinge early in the backswing. Start your wrist bend in the start of take away. If you wait until the backswing mid-point , you may never hinge.

3. Adjust the Distance of Your Backswing

Tempo is a constant in golf . Backswing length isn’t. Never add speed or stop short to control the distance of a shot. The length of the backswing , not the speed of the swing, determines shot distances with your wedges–actually with any of your golf clubs. Learn how far you hit each wedge with 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent backswing lengths. Since the full-swing wedge shot we’re talking about could be 36, 42, or 53 yards away, you’ll now have options with which to hit the shot. Remember adjust your backswing, not your tempo.

4. Hold the Front Shoulder Position

Poor wedge players often lift their heads when approaching the ball. While that in itself isn’t a major crime, it forces you to bring your front shoulder up and out. That is. It’s a fault I emphasize in my golf lessons and golf tips. Work on allowing your head to rotate along with your back shoulder as it swings underneath your chin. Rotating facilitates the shifting of weight to the front side, keeps the spine angle intact, and allows the back shoulder to move toward the target.

5. Finish Low

Keep your hands low after impact on a full-swing wedge shot, almost as if you were about to shake hands with someone to the side of you. Why? One sign of a solid wedge shot is low hands after impact, which indicates hitting down and through. Finishing high tends to negate weight shift and hinders your ability to hit down and through the ball. So keep it low after impact and you’ll approve the result.

6. Adopt a Pose

A good swing and a good finish usually go together . Take a few practice swings not focusing on mechanics but on making a nice comfortable finish. So take some practice swings and finish by posing for the camera before hitting a wedge shot. Think finish first in this situation. It can help generate a smooth swing and a better result.

Assuming you have the correct golf equipment, adopting these key elements will lower your handicap.

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The loft and lie of golf clubs are often misunderstood specifications . They can be difficult to explain without the aid of pictures , but we will keep it simple and use base concepts that will help to you get the idea .

Loft: To start, envision a golf club in your hands, sitting flat on the floor in a playing position. Then envision a vertical straight line coming up from the center of the club face an extends upward to the sky. The club face angles backward to give the ball a high trajectory when it is struck. The angle between the imaginary vertical line that we envisioned and the club face is called the “loft”.

Golf clubs have different degrees of loft, lower angles for the longer clubs and getting progressively larger for the shorter clubs. For example, the typical driver loft is normally 9 degrees to 12 degrees depending on how high you want to hit your drives. The 3-iron typically has 20 degrees of loft, the 5-iron has 25 degrees, the 7-iron has 32 degrees, the 9-iron has 41 degrees, and increasing in  the wedges. The lob wedge will have the most loft at 60 degrees. So, you can readily understand that the shorter clubs have the most loft to send the ball higher .

Lie: Again, we need to envision a golf club in your hands, sitting flat on the floor   . If the bottom of the club is contacting the floor at a point that is directly under the center of the club face, it is sitting in a good position for you. In that playing position , the angle between the centerline of the club shaft and the floor (between your feet) is called the “lie”. If the toe of the club head (the end farthest away from you) is pointed upward, the contact point between the club and floor will be more toward the heal of the club (the end of the club head nearest your feet). That position is not correct for your physique and will result in shots that will travel to the left or hook left (assuming you are right handed). In this case, you would require a lie angle adjustment (bending) that would lower the lie angle by 1 to 5 degrees, depending on the amount of hook you hit .

Conversely, if the lie angle is too flat ( meaning the bottom of the club is contacting the floor nearer the toe), your shots will have a tendency to fly to the right or fade (again, assuming your right handed).

Conclusion: If your golf clubs do not sit perfectly flat , contacting the floor at the vertical centerline of the face, you may need to take them to a golf shop to have them adjusted. It should be noted that the present day stainless steel cast irons can only be changed a maximum of 3 degrees. Forged chrome plated clubs can be bent up to 5 degrees. It should also be noted that it is almost impossible to bend drivers or fairway woods. It’s a tough operation that normally leaves dents and marks on the head.

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Blade golf irons, which are also called muscle backs and tour irons, are golfing irons that aim to suit a particular playing style and player capability on the range. The name comes from the blade shape of the iron head.

Blade golf irons have been around for quite a while but the design is quite simple so little has changed. This is quite a positive aspect for many golfers and why they are recognized as the most classy and traditional style of clubs around.

Blade irons are chrome plated and also made of a soft material called mild carbon steel . The softness of the material allows for greater flexibility given a wider range, making it possible to alter loft and lie angles. What differentiates it from another set of golf irons called cavity backs is its solid design meaning the iron head has no hollow cavity behind the club face. The blade is also thinner with the weight being evenly distributed.

A full set of blade irons includes 7 to 11 clubs, which then are classified by the length of the shafts; in turn each of these are known as simply – the longs irons, mid irons, and short irons. The long irons, clubs one to four, are typically used for low straight distance shots from the tee, fairway, or trough. These are the most difficult to use among the clubs in the set because of its long shaft and small sweet spot. Fairly easy to use are the mid irons, which are comprised of clubs 5 to 7. They are capable of good distances and moderate accuracy. For the short game, irons 8 and the wedges, also known as the short irons are very useful. They have a large sweet spot which makes a precise landing possible and also allows for a lot of creativity in terms of shot making.

Blade golf irons were the standard irons to use in the 1940s to 1970s and this was when they were at their most popular. However, as technology progressed, advances in club design and technology have slowly caught up with the popularity of blade irons. Yet, if you want to master the game, you should seriously consider using these over any others.

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Making a decision between graphite and steel shafted golf clubs, for most golfers, should be easily done . The most outstanding technology in golf is the graphite golf club shaft .  Everyone should want to incorporate any available new technology to help their game and reduce their handicap. Given , there are some golfers who like heavier clubs and play steel shafts very well. But, the lighter, faster graphite has been a boon to those wanting to increase their club head speed and improve club handling characteristics.

Graphite shafts have changed the game of golf. The extra distance gained by having the correct graphite shaft can be very significant.

Accuracy will not be an issue if the golfer takes care to choose a graphite shaft with low torque (2 to 3.5 degrees) and sufficient stiffness. Be warned that there are many cheap graphite shafts on the market that are just not made well enough to improve any one’s game. In fact some of the cheap shafts may cause additional accuracy problems.

The main benefit of the graphite shaft is the lighter weight. A driver shaft, weighing in at an average of 60 to 65 grams, is half the weight of the typical steel shaft (120 to 130 grams). This results in faster swing speeds which, of course, translate to greater distance. For the typical golfer, the graphite shaft will add 7 to 15 yards to their drives. The same added distance benefit is available in graphite equipped irons.

For seniors , graphite shafts can be a huge help in several ways and extend the years of enjoying the game. The lighter clubs are easier to handle and feel better than the heavy steel shafts. Because they are easier to handle, they can be guided on a more precise swing path, producing good accuracy and good height in the shot . This will make the game more enjoyable .

Graphite shafts can be obtained through several outlets , pro shops, sporting goods dealers, and online golf stores who specialize in discount golf clubs and clone golf clubs.

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Many States will have best golf shoes for plantars. For those who are afflicted with this rather ill-timed condition, the best thing that you can do is to browse the World Wide Web and explore for the special styles you want. Thanks to the demand and competition in the modern world, an array of golf shoes are produced to be released to the market that ensurs safety as well as ease of movement. The best golf shoes for plantars are indeed pronto available thanks to the crescendo identification that has been given to this condition.

If you are not too sure on what to buy, browsing through the manufacturers website is a good idea to begin with in order to avoid disappointment at the end. With purportedly over two million Americans being upset by plantars fascilitis, it comes as no surprisal that there are quite hardly a people who trust to research for the best golf shoes for plantars. With so many people being affected by this issue it hardly comes as a surprise that manufacturers would take that extra effort to design golf shoes designed to combat this problem.

It also makes sense to understand why people would actually decide to choose golf shoes designed for this purpose. While some may not actually find much relief, there are those individuals who do end up really benefiting with the various brands that promise the best golf shoes for plantars. As one would anticipate, there really is a bit of a cost difference when you equate normal golf shoes and specially designed golf shoes. Many materials and various designed are employed in designing best golf shoes for plantars.

An important point is to consult your physician before choosing best golf shoes for plantars. The grounds being that it has to be the mastered fit since bearing the bad pair on could and would worsen the situation you are in. Consider this an investment in your feet, not only that but the proper shoes besides giving you absolute comfort and freedom of movement can actually make you feel normal and pain free!           

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