Nick was born in Durban South Africa and is a citizen of Zimbabwe.  His parents were British.  In 1977 he began his professional golf career finally making it to the PGA Tour in the United States in 1983.  He now lives in Florida!

Mr. Price worked very hard on his golf game and by the mid 1990′s he reached the top of the golfing world spending 43 weeks as the world’s number one golfer.  In 1994 he won two majors back to back…in 1993 and 1994 he lead the PGA money list.  In 1993 and 1997 Nick won the coveted Vardon Trophy.  The Vardon Trophy, named after the fabulous British golfer from the early part of the 20th century,  is awarded each year to the professional golfer who has the lowest scoring average…in other words…Nick played better than any other PGA professional those two years!!!!  Nick won 3 major tournaments and 15 tour events!  Wow!

In 2005 he was awarded the Bob Jones award recognizing him as demonstrating the highest level of sportsmanship in the professional golfing world.  In 2003 Nick was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame!

Nick’s achievements didn’t come easy for him.  He had to work hard…and he did.  Nick kept a golfing diary each year keeping notes on his game and practice…a diary which he refered to…to help him with his game.

On the first page of his new diary each year of his competitive career…he would write…Persistence, Persistence, Persistence!!

I teach many students who don’t have a lot of confidence in their own ability to play golf well or even improve!  They want to but they are skeptical of their own ability to learn.  I have taught thousands of students and I can tell you one thing I have learned about students from all kinds of backgrounds, all ages and abilities…YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU WANT TO!

It may not happen in one day or one week…but with persistence you will learn to play golf better and better.  The game of golf is a beautifully complex game that can’t be mastered easily…we wouldn’t want it any other way would we.

Be confident…you can and will learn to play golf better!  Be determined as Nick Price was…and be persistant…and you’ll improve.  You may not win the US Open…but you’ll have some great days on the links and you’ll be very pleasantly surprised at what you can achieve with a moderate amount of work over time!

You can do it!!!!  And you will!!!!

PERSISTANCE…PERSISTANCE…PERSISTANCE…Let these words ring in your ears as your golf game improves!

Play Often, Have Fun, Respect the Game!

Barney Beard

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Lawson Little is one of Golf’s marvelous unsung heroes!  In 1934 and 1935 he won both the US amateur championship and the British amateur championship…both in consecutive years!!!!  Winning both of these national championships in back to back years is an unequaled feat to this day!! Bobby Jones said he could never defeat Little in match play when Little was on his game!

During the 1936 Walker Cup Matches Lawson Little was reported to have 31 clubs in his golf bag!!  Oh My…the unfortunate caddy!  In those days there was no rule concerning the number of clubs allowed in competition!  You could carry as many clubs as you wished! Golfers carried many different clubs for the infinitely varied shots they might encounter in the course of a round.  They wanted just the right club for the situation!

After the 1936 Walker Cup matches the rules committee instituted our modern 14 club rule…humerously known as the Lawson Little rule!

After the ruling by the USGA that limited us to 14 clubs…The great Lawson Little now had to learn to “Play With Duct Tape”!  He had to learn multiple uses of each of his clubs…he had to leave 17 clubs in his locker!!  (It’s always been interesting that one can use duct tape for your air conditioning unit…and also to tape body parts onto a 200 mile per hour Nascar!!!!)

The long hitting Ted Ray, a golf professional from England during the early years of the 20th century, was one of the first Bubba Watson type bombers who tried to hit the golf ball as absolutely far as he could with a mad thrash, which was a very long distance…and trusted his short game to get him close to the hole from difficult positions his wild swings left him…rather than try to control his driving with shorter drives in the fairway!

…anyway…in the 1913 US Open the colorful beer drinking Ted Ray finished the regulation 4 rounds of the United States Open in a 3 way tie for the lead with the famous 6 time winner of the British Open, Harry Vardon and the 20 year old amateur American unknown Francis Ouimet…everyone discounted the young American…poor Ouimet became a laughing stock when he showed up for the prestigious US Open with a 10 year old caddy!!! (Francis Ouimet won the playoff by the way…it’s a great book and movie!)

Ted Ray was reported to have used only 6 clubs for the four rounds of the entire tournament and the 5th playoff round…ONLY 6 DIFFERENT CLUBS OF ALL THE CLUBS HE CARRIED!  In essence…Ted Ray would have been perfectly happy to have only 6 clubs in his bag…and compete successfully for a major tournament!

Ted Ray used only 6 clubs for a very very wide variety of shots in a major tournament!  He would have loved duct tape wouldn’t he!  Good for him!

Back to my point from this wonderful historical byway…

You have 14 clubs in your bag…and like our modern ubiquitous duct tape…EACH OF YOUR FOURTEEN CLUBS HAVE MULTIPLE USES for success on the golf course!! Learn some of these multiple uses and you’ll make your golfing life easier and lower your scores!

Low handicap golfers have learned how to use their 7 iron to hit a lovely long second shot into the green 10 feet from the hole!  They have also learned how to use that same 7 iron…and grip down…stand very close and from 4 feet off the green’s surface…delicately hit a low chip shot that never gets more than 12 inches off the ground…and roll the ball with precision…stopping it very close to the hole with finesse  (if not in the hole!!!).

Skilled golfers have learned how to take a 5 iron…hit a beautiful high approach shot to the center of the green…and they’ve also learned to take that very same 5 iron…when they are trapped under a tree 120 yards from the green with very low overhanging branches…to play the ball back in their stance…hood the clubface a little…strike down on the ball sharply…and hit a screaming ball that never gets more than 4 feet high…misses the menacing limbs of the tree…and lands 30 yards short of the green and rolls the rest of the way to 20 feet from the flag!!!  wow…what a shot!  (but you can learn to do it too!!!)

One day I was watching the  US Senior open…it was the final day of the tournament and the leader was about 3 holes from the end and unfortunately had hit his approach shot about 20 yards short of the green..oh my!!  The flagstick was tucked in a very difficult position in the very front of the green!  Oh no!!!  How to get the ball close to the hole now for a short putt!!??

Should he pitch it high with his 56 degree sand wedge and stop it quick???…or chip it low with a much lower lofted 7 iron and run it up to the hole??  Well…while the golfer was studying his unfortunate position the announcer said, “You know…the tournament is on the line…he really needs to get up and down to save par and the tournament.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised”, the commentator continued, “if he doesn’t take out his putter and putt this ball to make certain he doesn’t make a mistake with the much more difficult and delicate pitch or chip shot!”

Sure enough…about 30 seconds later…this nervous golfer does just as the golf analyst suspected…pulled out his putter.  Putting from off the green is safer…the putter doesn’t contact the soil does it?!!!  He putted the ball over 30 feet of apron…up the slope two feet from the hole…made the putt…and then calmly went on to win the tournament! (and on his way home bought a case of duct tape with his winnings!)

I can’t list all the uses of the fourteen clubs you have in your bag…but you get the idea.

Let me fill your imagination and help you to work on lowering your scores.

Imagine allowing three or four little boys to play unsupervised one afternoon in the cockpit of 747 jet liner.  What would they do?  You know exactly what they would do!  They would push every button…turn every knob…flip every switch…their rich youthful curiosity would flow in rivers from that cockpit wouldn’t it!

And that’s the way you need to be with the clubs in your bag when you are on the driving range!  Be curious…when you are on the range…try stuff!  Your clubs will do different things if you learn how…and you can do it…if you are curious enough to flip the switches…turn the knobs…and push the buttons!

What would happen if I did this…what would happen if I did that!…what would happen if I open the face…close the face…move the ball forward in my stance…move it backward…bend my knees more…lean farther left???

Learn to be an insatiably curious little boy or little girl!

You can do this!

And by the way…you can click “follow” on the bottom right of this page to receive email notification of all my new articles!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect the Game!

Barney Beard

Here is a simple little drill to help you get your lower body involved naturally in hitting the golf ball.

1. Go to the Driving range
2. Use your 7 iron
3. Measure the distance you normally stand from the ball in your address position
4. Then…alter your address position about 5 inches closer!!!
5. Make certain when you begin hitting balls from this close position your left arm is straight (the elbow isn’t bent at all!)
6. Make certain your knees are bent a bit and your behind is back over your heels! (no weight on the toes…standing too close will force you into the position of your behind backwards)
7. You’ll have to raise your chin won’t you to get it out of the way of your shoulders!
8. Then hit some balls!

You don’t really have to think about much…learn to hit the ball standing too close!

You’ll feel your lower body moving to get out of the way of your hands and arms as you swing!  As you can guess your hands will be 5 inches closer to your body than in your normal hitting position…this new ‘practice’ position will force your hands closer to your body…force your behind back putting weight on your heels!

Have fun…try 1/2 a bucket!  You’ll discover when you go back to your old accustomed position (and maybe slightly closer???)  you’ll feel your hands, arms and lower body working together a bit more!!!  And don’t be surprised if you hit it a bit farther and straighter!  Standing closer will force you into a more upright swing which tends to hit the ball straighter!!!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect the Game

Barney Beard

I am often asked by seniors if I can teach them to hit the ball farther!  They want more distance!  Well…there is no single magic bullet for more distance in golf but there are number of little bullets you can put in your golf six shooter to gain more distance…add them together and you’ll hit the ball more crisply and farther!  From a lot of teaching experience here are a few suggestions that will help!  Each will help you hit the ball a bit farther!!!!

1. Make certain…(if you are righthanded)…the left foot stays in firm contact with the soil throughout your backswing and your downswing until the moment of impact!!  The golfer’s body is turning away from the target on the backswing…correct?  It is this turn away from the target that stores energy in the muscles of the body as the golfer winds up, like winding up an old clock spring.  The left heel is one end of the spring..and the left shoulder is the other!  If you move your left foot during the backswing or downswing you are not winding up the spring as tight as your capability!!!!   You’ll have a partially wound spring because you moved your left foot…and thus you will not generate as much clubhead speed and you won’t hit the ball as far!
2. Turn your body…your feet, your hips and your shoulders AWAY from the target in the address position!!  When you are in your address position turn your body in such a way…if there were someone down the fairway 10 or 15 yards directly between you and your target…the person down the fairway could almost read a sign attached to your back.  The opposite is true also…if you want to hit the ball a shorter distance…let that imaginary person down the fairway read a bit of a sign written on the front of your shirt!  Turn your chest toward the target…weak!  Turn your back to the target…STRONG!  Turn your back to the target and YOU ARE PRE WINDING YOUR BODY FOR A BIG HIT!
3. Make certain you can see the back of your left hand on the club handle at address!  Look down at the back of your left hand when you are in the address position.  Turn your left hand on the club at address so you can clearly see two or 3 knuckles on the back of your hand…the knuckles located where your fingers join your hand!  If you look down and you can see the inside of your left wrist your left hand is in a weakened position…and you can’t hit the ball as far!
4. The straighter your arms at address…the faster you’ll be able to swing the club at impact!  If your arms are bent at address…which means…if your elbows are bent at address then…as you begin your backswing…your body must make compensating moves in order to swing the club to strike the golf ball!  As you take the backswing…your left arm should stay straight all the way back til it stops…and then the left arm should continue to be straight all the way to impact.  If you must take a shorter backswing in order to keep your left arm straight on your backswing and downswing…it will be a good thing!  You’ll hit the ball farther with a straight left arm!!
5. The longer you keep your left arm straight on the backswing…and downswing..the farther you’ll hit the golf ball!  If you bend your left elbow a lot on the backswing and wrap the club around your neck…you’ll find it difficult to generate a lot of clubhead speed!  Bending the left arm on your backswing kills the whipping action the body uses to snap the club through impact!
6. Have both your arms as straight as you can all the way to impact with the golf ball!  Most amateur golfer’s don’t get the left arm/side moving at impact and the left arm collapses during impact…it bends a lot!…and this slows down the mighty right arm…the ball doesn’t go as far…(or as straight!)  Do your best to learn to have two straight arms at impact…as if you were holding a softball between your arms as you strike the golf ball!  This may take some time…and you may need to have a friend watch you swing…but this is a very powerful position if you want to hit the ball farther.  And you may not be 22 years old anymore…but you can still hit the golf ball with power!!!

Work on these things and it’s a certainty you will hit the ball farther and straighter!  You might even learn to draw the ball a little!

Let me know how you do!!!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect the Game

Barney Beard    PS  click the  ‘x’ beside the word ‘follow’ at the bottom right of this page…insert your email address in the box that will pop up…and you’ll get all my articles sent directly to your email the moment I publish them!  Great!!!

There are several things you can do to improve your ball striking in golf!!

1. Hold the golf club correctly…you have two identical sides to your body…and you must swing down at the golf ball..hold the club correctly and the two sides work together…hold the club incorrectly…and it’s a puzzle with pieces missing!!
2. Have a firm and stable lower body!  If your feet, knees, legs and hips are dancing and spinning during your swing…you’ll play Army golf..left…right…left…right

And here’s the point of today’s article…Stability has two ends…your lower body…especially your feet…no dancing during the golf swing…and the other end of your golfing stability is your head…if your head is moving all around like a willow tree in the wind…you will have the same problem as if your feet are moving all around during the golf swing!  And heaven help you if both are moving during your swing!!!

Imagine trying to shoot a foul shot in basketball while dancing a jig…couldn’t do it could you!

Imagine trying to shoot an arrow at a target while walking around…you need a steady platform for archery don’t you?!!

Imagine driving a car with slick tires…not a good idea is it!  And…as you have heard lately…not a good idea to read a book, apply makeup or talk on the cell phone while driving!  I want good tires and someone who is paying full attention and scanning the road ahead when I’m in a car!!

Ok…you get the picture!

When you hit a golf ball…have a steady lower platform…lock your feet to the ground on the backswing and the other end of your body must be stable and steady also!!!!  Your head must be as steady as your feet!!!  My word…what a good idea!

As you begin your backswing…POINT YOUR NOSE AT THE GOLF BALL…yes…point your proboscis at the ball…and as you begin your backswing keep your nose pointing at the golf ball…and then again on your downswing all the way to impact.  This simple act of pointing your nose at the golf ball with help you keep a steady upper body during your swing!

KEEP YOUR NOSE POINTING AT THE GOLF BALL RIGHT UP TO THE MOMENT OF IMPACT!!!

If your feet are firmly attached to the ground and not moving around on your backswing…if your nose is pointing at the golf ball and steady during your backswing and on your downswing the chances of you returning the head of the golf club to the precise spot it left on your backswing are greatly increased!  Steady as she goes!

Steady on the bottom…steady on the top…and let the middle hit the ball!  You can do this!!!

Here’s a drill to help!

1. Take your 7 iron to the practice range
2. Put your feet together…your shoes one inch apart
3. Lock your feet to the ground…point your nose at the ball
4. Hit a whole bucket of balls this way…and work on your stability…with your feet together it’s almost impossible to sway left and right like a willow tree in the wind…and it’s easy to attach your feet to the soil!

This drill will help you ‘feel’ stability and balance during your swing.  You can’t take a full backswing this drill…but I have actually had students who would discover they hit the ball so much better with their feet together…they played this way!!!…and had good scores!!!  If you practice this drill you’ll discover when you move your feet back apart to your normal shoulder width stance you can duplicate the steadiness of your body during the drill!

You can do this!!!!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect The Game!

Barney Beard

Recently in early December a couple showed up for a golf lesson with very old clubs!  As I began the lesson I asked the couple if they were in good with Santa!  They replied they had been good all year…and were on the ‘nice’ list!  I went on to explain that the new technology clubs available everywhere today are much easier to use and more forgiving than older clubs! When Santa brings your new clubs…put these antiques you have in a shadow box over the mantel!!  They laughed!

So…just after Christmas my student showed up for the next lesson with new clubs!  yea!!!!!

His ball striking with the new clubs was much better…especially with the hybrids and the new technology woods!  It was almost night and day!

A couple of years ago one of my teaching friends had a student bring wooden shafted clubs to her first lesson!  My friend looked at the clubs and asked her where she got them and why she brought wooden shafted clubs to her golf lesson.

She replied, “My husband died last year and I decided to take up golf.  I found these clubs in his closet!”

Every day I have students come to their lesson and many have older clubs…some very very old clubs.  One lady told me recently the clubs she was using were her mother’s clubs…clubs her mother had used when she lived at home over 50 years ago!!!

With the wonderful clubs available today there in no reason not to have clubs that are up to date, much easier to hit and more forgiving and clubs that suit your swing!

My Advice???   Go to a reputable club retailer who has full club fitting capability…have yourself fitted professionally for clubs!

A golfer needs the correct shaft flex to suit their swing speed…obviously the correct length of the shafts…and the correct lie angle of the clubhead…and most of all…clubs you have tried out AND YOU LIKE AND FEEL GOOD IN YOUR HAND that you can hit!!!!

If your clubs aren’t fairly new…do yourself a favor…Begin looking for new clubs!  You’ll be glad you did and you’ll strike the ball better and lower your scores!!!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect The Game

Barney

If I could encourage my students to adopt one thing…it would be to develop a smooth as silk swing…always swinging with rhythm and swinging through the golf ball.  One time a sports reporter asked the sweet swinging Sam Snead how he would describe his golf swing…Sam pulled on his chin and thought a minute…and said, “Oily!”.

If you want to work on one single thing that will help you perform the best you are able…develop an ‘oily’ swing this year!

I was giving a playing lesson with a student recently.  I had a very sore knee and I would not have ordinarily played with that sore knee but I had to this day.  A student expects it…and so I needed to play…and I did!

I knew with my sore knee that I couldn’t swing hard…so this is what I did…

Each time I had a shot…I would take at least two clubs more than I needed…and allow the ball to run a little when it hit the ground.  I didn’t want to hurt my knee further…I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the injured joint!  I had a par on the first hole…double bogeyed the second hole…and when I finished the 9 hole playing lesson I was 2 under par!!!  Wow!!

I had such a smooth tempo that day…and of course…I made a few putts!!!

What did I learn that day?

I learned my normal swing when I was healthy was too quick and hurried.  I learned I didn’t have to hit each club as hard as I could!  Of course I already knew that …but I had developed the ‘habit’ of swinging too hard and fast!!

Do yourself a favor and practice swinging the golf club with a smooth unhurried tempo and learn to control the golf ball…and not take a mad lash at the ball with all your strength!

Make this new year…THE YEAR OF THE SMOOTH GOLF SWING!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect the Game

Barney Beard

When I’m teaching and I want to emphasize the importance of lower body stability to my students I’ll ask them to imagine we are going to have a shooting contest.  We each will have excellent target rifles and compare our skill as marksmen!

The difference is…I get to shoot my rifle at the target while resting on a solid fence post…my student will have to shoot his imaginary rifle from the bed of a moving pickup truck on a bumpy road!  Who will win??  I will of course.  I HAVE A STEADY BASE!

And the simple lesson is…you can’t expect your upper body…your shoulders, arms and hands…to successfully swing the golf club away from the ball and then precisely back to the ball if your lower body is unstable.  If your feet are spinning, hopping or shifting…if your knees and hips are moving too much…your upper body doesn’t have a chance!

Here is something to try!

Go to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls with your 7 iron.  Lock both feet to the ground heel and toe.  Hit a dozen ball without moving your feet the least little bit!  You won’t be able to hit the ball quite as far maybe as you do with a full swing…but the stability will enable you to  return the clubhead with more precision to the ball!

Learn to hit a whole bucket of balls with a smooth swing…WITHOUT MOVING YOUR FEET AT ALL!  You may be surprised what you learn about your swing with this little drill!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

Play Often, Have Fun, Respect The Game!

Barney Beard

I had a student recently who played in a scramble!  Before I go further…let me explain what a ‘scramble’ is.   A scramble is a way to compete in golf in which the four players in the foursome play the best ball of the four!  Here’s how it works.  All four players will hit their drive off the tee…they will pick out the best drive of the four…the other three players will pick up their ball…go to the spot of the best drive…and then all four players will hit their second shot from the spot of the best drive!…and so forth until they hole the ball!  It’s a lot of fun!

Well…on this day one of my student’s who was a beginner was invited to play in the scramble.  Scrambles are a lot of fun for beginners and a good way to play in friendly competitions!  If you have a chance to play in one…do it!!!  You’ll love it!

They came to a water hole…and my beginning student, who was playing in this scramble,  put her good ball in her pocket and took an old scuffed up ball to tee up to hit over the water!

The captain, also a friend of mine and quite a cut-up, reached down…picked up the poor beginners ball from her tee peg…and threw it into the water!

He then told her, “You put your best ball down there on the tee…and hit it over the water!..You can do this!”, he said with a grin!  We’re not having anyone in our group who is planning to fail!!!!  You tee up your good ball and hit it over the water onto the green!!”

And you know what?  She teed up her good ball…AND HIT IT OVER THE WATER!  She learned a good lesson that day!

If you and I were driving to a nearby town and we got into the car and I turned to you as I was putting the key in the ignition and said with a confused look, “You know…I don’t feel good about this trip.  I’m pretty sure we going to have a car crash before we get there…maybe hit a tree…flip over in the ditch or perhaps hit another car head on!  I have this terrible premonition!”

You would grab the keys from me immediately and you would drive yourself wouldn’t you! You would think me mentally deranged!!!

And you can’t play golf like that either!  When you play golf…plan to succeed!  You may hit a few errant shots…but I assure you…if you believe you’re going to hit it into the water…you probably will!  Plan to succeed…See your success in your mind!…Be confident!  Don’t play golf with a black rain cloud over your head!!!

Jack Nicklaus called it, “Going to the movies!”  Before he would hit a ball…he would stand behind the ball…and in his mind he would visualize the shot he was about to hit!  He would actually see himself in his mind swinging the golf club with a perfect swing…striking the golf ball…and he would visualize the shot as it traveled high into the air and landed on the green…and rolled up beside the pin!  He wanted his mind to know exactly what he was planning on doing!

The sweet swinging Freddie Couples does the same thing.  Freddie visualizes the best shot he ever hit with the club he has in his hand!  He goes back in his memory…recalls the best shot he ever hit…watches the ‘movie’ in his mind…he sees himself hitting that wondeful golf shot…then hits what he saw!

You can do this!  Learn to be confident and aim for success…and you’ll get better and better!  “Go to the Movies” before you hit a shot!!!

See yourself succeeding before each shot!  Plan for success!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect The Game!

Barney Beard

You would be close to each other on the dance floor…wouldn’t you?

Now…imagine hitting a golf ball..and then think of your evening out!!!!!…STAND CLOSER!

I can’t remember the last time I had a student who stood too close to the golf ball at address.  Almost without exception all my students stand too far from the golf ball and instead of an effortless natural swing with all their muscles and limbs working smoothly together to strike the golf ball lying on the ground…they stand too far from the ball…and have to make unnatural ugly compensating moves to swing at something that’s just a bit too far away from them with their body awkwardly out of position!  Our arms are only so long and don’t stretch!!!!!!!!

I’ll hear my students say, “I raised my head!!” when they top a ball.  Well…of course they did!  A human can’t swing the golf club in an unbalanced position…so…when they begin their swing a bit too far from the ball…their body tries to put them into a balanced position…but a balanced position means they can’t now reach the golf ball with the clubhead…a ball they could easily reach in their stationary address position!!!  They didn’t raise their head at all…they were standing too far from the golf ball at address!!

One of the symptoms of standing too far from the golf ball is…Hitting The Top Of The Ball and dribbling it sadly down the fairway!

If you have too much distance from your toes to the golf ball it causes a basket full of problems for your attempted golf swing.  Many of my students seem to think the golf ball is like a snake…and they try to get as far from it as they can!!!!

Think of your golf swing as a Ferris Wheel at the fair…and not the Carousel!  You are swinging at a ball lying on the ground…the golfer must take the club up…up towards the sky…in order to swing down!  If you stand too far from the ball…YOU’RE FORCED TO SWING AROUND…(like a carousel) and not up like a ferris wheel…how can you swing around your body and then redirect the swing down in one motion????….doesn’t make sense does it!

When you take the club away from the ball it’s becomes an upswing (not a BACK swing)…the golfer standing the correct distance from the ball takes the club up…and then down!  Not around!!!!

1. If you stand too far from the golf ball at address you’ll have to lean over too much and be off balance toward your toes!  I’ll often tell my students that they are supposed to look at the golf ball…not smell it!
2. If you stand too far from the ball…you’re leaning over too much…you’ll tend to straighten up when you swing..and then, alas, because you are too far from the ball…you’ll top the ball!!!  It’s hard to stay bent over AND swing the golf club correctly!
3. If you stand too far from the ball you can’t take the club up…you are forced to take the club behind your back with a FLAT swing!  Instead of the club pointing up toward the moon… on your backswing…the shaft of the club gets too parallel to the ground…like a carousel…oh my…how do we hit the golf ball from this position????
4. As you address the ball…stand upright…then feel your weight on your heels…straighten your spine…and feel like you are beginning to sit backwards!
5. Let your arms hang down touching your shirt almost to your belt line!
6. Next time you go to the practice range…take a 7 iron…and with each ball you hit on the range…move a little bit closer to the ball in your address position!  Keep trying to get your weight and belt buckle away from your hands, weight on your heels and not your toes…with your arms close to your body (I really don’t know how to say it except…stick your behind out!).  Then…swing like a ferris wheel!  Keep trying to move closer and closer to the ball…this will force you to put your body into a better position to hit the golf ball!!  See how close you can stand and still hit the golf ball!

Don’t forget that wonderful starlit night at the piano bar with your sweetheart!!!!  Stand Close!

Have Fun, Play Often, Respect The Game

Barney Beard