by Andre Sanchez

There are many ways to improve your golf game, and here are my top five ways to improve your swing.  They might not be everybody’s five best ways, but they are mine based on personal experience and not what I have read should be the best ways.

Not everybody has the same problems with their swing.  You could be slicing the ball every other shot, or have developed a vicious snap hook.  Perhaps your length has been reducing lately, and your 300 yards has suddenly become 250.  You might find yourself occasionally topping the ball or even (God forbid) shanking it.  Whatever your problem is there could be a multitude of reasons for it.

In order to rid yourself of any of these problems, and a lot more, you have to improve your swing, and there are many ways to do that.  Here are five ways to achieve that.

The First Two Tips begin before you even get onto the first tee.  You must be fit for golf, and that does not mean that you can lift a couple of hundredweight as a power-lifter.  Your strength must lie in the muscles you use when playing the game, not when lifting weights, and although stamina is a good bonus, your swing will not improve by walking on treadmills all day.  You might be able to walk round all eighteen holes, and the another eighteen, but it won’t make the blindest bit of difference to your swing.

Your swing is a rotational movement that is not natural to your body.  If you take time to think about it, when do you ever use that rotational movement at any other time?  Never.  So your muscles are not used to it.  You have to train these muscles to work in the way that they do, and the first tip is to practice your swing with weights in your hand:  a barbell or even a weighted club.  That will strengthen the muscles used in that rotational twisting movement so that you have the strength to whack your club through the ball with full power and right up into a full follow through – not just once, but for a full round of golf.

The Second Tip is to warm up and carry out some stretches before your round.  That will loosen up your joints and muscles so that you can get going with your full swing from the first tee.  If your muscles are cold or tight, then not only can you damage them but also your length will be a lot less than it should be.

Tip Three is to get your stance right.  The positioning of both feet to the target is very important, since you will tend to drive the ball in the direction that your are facing. Getting the angle of your stance right is half the battle.  Much of the rest is the distance between the front and back foot.  Many faults are caused by your front foot being too far in front!  Practice various options on the driving range and find what works best for you.

Number Four relates to hooks and slices.  Everybody develops these, especially a slice, at some time in their golfing life.  It is beyond the scope of this article to give you the low-down on the cause and permanent cure for a slice or hook, though both are caused by you putting side-spin on the ball.  To improve your swing you should practice with various grip positions until you are hitting the ball straight.  Your swing should close the club face straight on to the ball at the point of impact, otherwise if you are too late you will slice, and if too early, you will hook the ball away out to the left (or right for a left hander). Practice frequently and keep your grip the same each time unless you have developed a problem.

A quick tip on hooks and slices:  move your front foot back a bit – that could make all the difference to both problems.

Tip Five is connected with your mental attitude.  This is generally ignored by most amateur golfers, but the top pros train themselves to believe that their swing will be perfect, and have no doubts when they unleash all that power into the ball.  It is not easy to do when you are playing your usual foursome on Saturday morning, but if you can get into the habit of taking a positive attitude to every shot, then it can be rewarding.

You have to think of the shot, and imagine that no matter what you do it is going where you want it to go.  Don’t think too much on the shot – that is why so many people make mistakes, because they concentrate too hard rather than be confident and just drive. Your natural ability and practice will come through if you worry less and just play.  This is true of all sports, and the reason that you practice.  You are building a memory into your muscles as to what they should do in a specific circumstance, just relax now and again and let your body do what you trained it to do.  Sometimes, too much use of the brain can screw you up!

You might not agree with these top five ways of improving your swing, but I’ll tell you what – if you take them to heart your swing will sure improve, and along with it the rest of your golf game.

The Top Five ways to Improve Your Swing was originally published at http://www.golfplayernow.com