Golf Swing Tip - Keep Your Knees Flexed Throughout the Swing

I have found a common problem with my golfers, lately in my clinics. Seasoned or young, they all are doing the same thing. Not keeping their knees flexed and/or standing flat-footed during their swing. Weight transfer is the major key to power and distance, but improperly transferring this weight will cause a variety of poor shots. In the following article I'll explain this problem and how to properly stay in a correct posture to make sure proper weight transfer.

In earlier articles, I have discussed a proper posture and its role in a golf swing. Part of a good posture is a proper knee bend. A proper knee bend is when looking down at you golf shoes at address you should only be able to see the bottom half of your laces, bending your knees enough to hide the top half of your shoe laces. This is the proper flex in a good posture that needs to stay consistent through-out your swing.

A stiff (straight) knee or knees, interferes with, and can prevent a proper weight shift, because it restricts the lower body's movement. An improper weight shift causes both a loss of power and a loss of control of the club head.

A stiffened right knee during the back swing will cause the head to "bob-up" and will raise the swing arc, which may cause a fat shot, or at times, a thin (topped) shot.

A stiffened left knee during the down swing causes "blocking", which prevents weight transfer from right to left and stops the power of your swing from being transmitted to the ball.

It is essential to keep your knees flexed through-out your swing. The right knee must stay flexed for a proper pivot and the left must stay flexed to allow you to "hit through the ball".

The other common problem is staying flat-footed, especially the back foot. The back foot must rotate with the turn to allow the right knee to stay flexed. A proper rotation is when the back foot turns (rotates), placing your back foot on the toe of the shoe, with the laces facing the target.

Having the back foot flat will restrict your hip turn and leave you in an open stance, causing a push/slice shot result. A half-foot rotation, where your laces are facing towards the address ball placement, might allow your shoulders to get out in front of your hips causing a pull/hook shot result.

Again, keeping the knees flexed is essential, but having the proper foot movement to allow for this is essential as well.

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Kids Golf Training Tips

Teaching your child the game of golf can be very challenging, however, with a few kids golf training tips the task can be very enjoyable. The tips I will be sharing with you here are meant for boys and girls ages five to twelve who are new to the game. It is important to remember why you are helping your child learn to play golf. The game is fun. It is something they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. If your child is not having fun hitting balls on the range, then they will lose interest and be turned off from the game. Make this quality time for you and your child and you both will reap the benefits.

When learning the game, the most important thing is that your child is having fun. If you were being taught something that you didn't enjoy how enthusiastic would you be? This isn't school, its a game. Take them to the driving range and let them swing away. It's OK to show them how to grip the club (the ten finger grip is usually the best one for little kids) and how to set up to the ball. If they resist these instructions then just forget about it and let them hit the ball however they want. Never correct them at this point. Your child is not there to learn something, they are there to have fun and spend time with you.

When you are at the range get a bucket of balls for yourself and one for your child. Take the spot behind them so you can keep an eye on them to make sure they are staying in a safe spot. Let them hit balls without trying to correct the obvious swing mistakes that you see. Believe it or not, little kids know when they hit a good one. They do not have all the swing thoughts going through their head like us adults do. Little kids actually have a better chance of repeating a good swing than most grownups.

Children love to be praised by their parents. When you see your little one make a good swing make sure you tell them how awesome the shot was. This will make them eager to do it again and earn more praise from you. Although your child will not realize it, they are actually learning something about the golf swing. If your little boy or girl is struggling to make contact, resist the urge to try to help them. If they ask you for help feel free to offer some basic instruction, but remember to keep it simple and fun.

Introducing your child to the great game of golf can be fun and rewarding for both the child and the parent. The most important thing to remember is golf for kids should be fun. The first few trips to the range or golf course will shape how they think of the game for many years to come. There really is no better way to spend time with your child than by playing the great game of golf.

Please visit my site http://www.golf4kids.siterubix.com for more information about how to teach your child the great game of golf.

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Perfect Left Handed Golf Swing - Understand the Problems and the Solutions

Golf game has always been favoured for the right handed people. Having said that, this does not mean that left handed person cannot enjoy the golf game as them. With the new technologies and techniques available today, lefty people are able to conduct the perfect left handed golf swing as well. The technique to adopt is the same but the only different is the angle of swing in the game. However, it is not impossible to get the perfect golf swing.

When performing the backswing, the common problem that lefty usually encounter is swaying instead of giving a full turning. The reasons for this to happen is because left handed golfers often swing the golf club with their shoulders and their hips at the same time. To overcome this problem, make sure you turn your shoulder in full and at the same time to restrict your hip movement. This way you can prevent from swaying and provide a full swing successfully. This can be very difficult to perform in the beginning. However, with full concentration and practice, you will be able to achieve this movement easily. Practice not to use a lot of hip movement during the swing. Focus and concentrate every single time you perform a swing and you will achieve this over time.

Another problem for left handed golfers is that as they reached at the top of the backswing, they tend to go off the golf swing line before they start the downswing. This phenomena is known as the leading problem for most left handed golfers. So, in order to avoid this problem, try to lay the club off aside a little bit when you have reached the top of the backswing. By doing so, you can get back in line to your swing position as when you go for the downswing. Yet again this will take a little bit of practice and it will get better in time. The key to achieve this is to focus every time you hit the ball. Always examine how you condition your body posture during the backswing.

The last common problem for most left handed people is that they always end up the ball with over the top problem. This is when you need to consider a proper golf grip when holding the golf club. The way you hold the club will be exactly the same way as the right handed golfers. The best golf grip you should consider to adopt is the overlapping grip whereby your leading hand which is the left hand will be connected to your right hand with your index finger. Hold the club firmly but not too tight as this will only tense up your muscles. Out of 10, the tightness of your grip should be at 7. Do not exceed more than that as this will lead you to the over the top and slicing problem.

Overcoming all these problems will lead you to a perfect left handed golf swing. The principle of left handed and right handed golf swing will not be of much difference if you adopt the right golf swing technique.

If you are serious in improving your golf swing, please pay attention to this:

Even though you're a leftie, if you take time to practice and apply the proven golf swing instruction can dramatically improve your golf game.

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