Improve Your Golf Swing to Hit the Ball More Consistently

One of the ways that beginners can learn to hit the golf ball with more consistency is to focus on developing and improving their golf swing.  The goal of this article is not to imply that everybody needs a perfect golf swing, but to provide some tips that can help steer beginners in the right direction and get all players on the path of consistency.

Let’s talk a little bit about how to actually become a more consistent ball striker.  The obvious answer is to practice.  The goal is develop a golf swing that you don’t have to think about when you’re actually out on the course and playing a round.  A good analogy is to think of a great guitar player like Eddie Van Halen.  When he plays it appears fluid and effortless – he’s not thinking about where to place his finger to play the next note because he has practiced and rehearsed what he needs to do and it becomes second nature.  In fact, actually thinking about what he’s doing would be detrimental and counter-productive to his goal of playing amazing guitar.  Now, contrast this with your typical amateur golfer who is trying to execute a consistent golf swing so that his next shot doesn’t end up in the woods.  If our amateur is anything like I was when I first started playing, he or she is probably thinking to themselves thoughts like, “keep your left arm straight, bend at the waist, flex the knees…” during their swing.  The problem is that this person is thinking instead of performing. Ask yourself this: Is Eddie Van Halen thinking or performing when he’s playing Hot for Teacher on stage?

Thoughts like keeping the left arm straight, keeping your head down, assuming a proper stance, are all things that any golfer should have been focusing on during their practice time so that they can perform when it comes time to actually play.  However, this is where many amateurs fall short. It’s extremely important that any player does the right kind of practicing in order to develop the right kind of golf swing, but not many beginning golfers are aware of exactly what the right type of practice entails.  If you already know this then you are among the minority.  If you would like some great golf swing tips that worked  – and continue to work – for me, please read on.

Best Golf Swing Tip Ever?

I don’t know if everyone would agree, but here is tip that I think can really help anyone improve their swing and ball striking consistency almost immediately. It sounds simple, but I think if you get in the habit of doing this with every swing you make, you will see a big improvement. So what’s this great secret?

COUNT!

That’s right – count! Count to yourself during your entire golf swing from backswing to follow-through. The actual count (or tempo) you decide on is somewhat of an individual preference.  Here’s what works for me, but understand that you can vary this to your liking.  I count in the following manner: Once I have taken my proper stance and squared my club face to the ball, I begin my backswing and start counting to myself, “One … and …  two … and … through…”.  I begin this mental count as soon as I begin my takeaway.  At the word ‘two’ I am at the top of my backswing.  When I get to the second ‘and’ I am approximately half-way through my downswing and I strike the ball at the same time I say the word ‘through’ in my mind.  I especially like the word ‘through’ since it also reminds me to swing through the ball – as opposed to swinging at the ball. The key is not so much what you say in your mind during your swing, but that you focus on something other than thinking about your swing mechanics.

Don’t Worry About Results

Just like any great athlete, beginning golfers need to practice enough so that execution becomes second nature. Then trust the fact that excellent execution of the golf swing will yield desirable results. You can’t force results and sometimes even the best hit ball will catch a tree branch or wind up buried in a patch of mud, but everybody has control over the execution of their golf swing and this is where else to spend the practice time.

Now this isn’t rocket science and it certainly helps if you have done some work on golf swing basics before you incorporate these mental golf exercises into your routine. Remember the goal of the tips in this article are to help you hit the ball more consistently after you have developed a good golf swing that works for you. Taking your mind off your swing but concentrating – instead – on doing these things in your mind can actually help improve your golf swing, help you hit the ball more consistently, and make you a better golfer.