Articles

July 28, 2007

The History of Golf

A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on 26 February 1297, in the Netherlands, Here the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball.

Whoever hit the ball into a target several hundreds of meters away the most number of times usually won. However, golf is generally considered to be a Scottish invention, as the game was mentioned in two 15th-century Acts of the Scottish Parliament, prohibiting the playing of the game of ‘gowf’.

The oldest playing golf course in the world is The Old Links at Musselburgh Racecourse. Evidence has shown that golf was played on Musselburgh Links in 1672 although Mary, Queen of Scots reputedly played there in 1567.

The people of Scotland had a game where they would hit stones through the sand and rabbit holes using sticks. There are those who argue this as there was other games played involving sticks and balls but the essence of golf, putting the ball in the hole, began in Scotland.

When the Royal Family of the day took up the sport it spread to other countries throughout the world. So by the 1800’s golf was quite popular among both men and women.

By this time the design of golf clubs was very similar to what they are now.There were also many similarities to the game then and the way it’s played now. The clubs and balls were handmade and very expensive and could only be purchased by the wealthy, making it an exclusive game for the rich.

When metal clubs and mass production came along in the late nineteenth century this opened up the game of golf to ordinary folk.

Now, more people could enjoy the game as it was much more affordable to play. Golf clubs began cropping up throughout the world and the sport was at an all time high in popularity.

In 1894 the USGA was established and in 1900 golf was introduced as an Olympic event. Then 1914 the PGA was formed.

As a matter of fact, golf courses did not always have eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links in Scotland occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography.

The course that emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes.

In 1764, several of the holes were deemed too short, and were therefore combined. The number was thereby reduced from 11 to nine, so that a complete round of the links comprised 18 holes.

The major changes in equipment since the 19th century have been better mowers, especially for the greens, better golf ball designs, using rubber and man-made materials since about 1900, and the introduction of the metal shaft beginning in the 1930s.

Also in the 1930s the wooden golf tee was invented. In the 1970s the use of metal to replace wood heads began, and shafts made of graphite composite materials were introduced in the 1980s.

Today we have a huge selection of ultra moderb golf equipment available from both US and Overseas manufacturers.

Irene Forde is a writer and publisher. Visit http://www.bettergolfingskills.com for a Free Report on the Golf-The Mental Game.

 

Achieving The Perfect Golf Swing

 

To hit the ball, the club is swung at the motionless ball on the ground (or wherever it has come to rest) from a side stance. Many golf shots make the ball travel through the air (carry) and roll out for some more distance (roll).

Every shot is a compromise between length and precision, as long shots are generally less precise than short ones.

Obviously, a longer shot may result in a better score if it helps reduce the total number of strokes for a given hole, but the benefit may be more than outweighed by additional strokes or penalties if a ball is lost, out of bounds, or comes to rest on difficult ground.

Therefore, a skilled golfer must assess the quality of his or her shots in a particular situation in order to judge whether the possible benefits of aggressive play are worth the risks.

Here are some of the basic elements of the golf swing that the golfer should use as a mental checklist when taking a shot. The first thing is the alignment of the body toward the target.

Stand five to ten feet behind the ball, with the ball directly between your body and the desired target. Locate guidance targets on the ground (leaves, blades of grass, dirt, etc.) inches in front and behind the golf ball that should be on a direct line with where you are standing and the target.

Keep your eyes on those ground targets as you approach the ball.Align the clubface behind the ball, with the center of the clubface on a direct line between the two ground targets you have selected. Grip the club with just enough tension to keep it from slipping in your hands throughout the course of the golf swing.

Align your feet on a parallel plain with your ground targets, shoulder width apart, and the knees slightly bent. The front foot should be pointed slightly outward, toward the target, to allow your hips to flow freely through the swing.

Tilt your torso slightly towards the ball while keeping your back straight. The arms should now hang freely in front of the body to grip the club. The shoulders should be parallel with the ground targets and the toes, and your head should be tilted downward with your eyes on the ball.

These motions described are known as the set-up, or addressing the ball. You are ready to begin the golf swing. Keeping your back elbow tucked as closely to your ribs as possible, slowly take the club back on a straight line along the plain of the ground targets.

Keep your front elbow locked throughout the back swing and never take your eyes off the ball. This motion should naturally tuck your chin into your front shoulder.

Hips should remain still and slightly tilted, while the front knee will turn inward. At the apex of the back swing, allow your wrists to break slightly. Bring the club downward toward the ball, uncoiling the wrists, and shifting your weight onto your front foot.

You should attempt to generate force and speed on your down swing, while never take the clubface off of the target line.

Upon making contact with the ball, the clubface should strike the ground as it moves through, taking a divot from the ground in the area past where the ball was lying, and through your second ground target.

Finish the golf swing with a nice, high follow through of the club. Your hips should be turned toward the target. Your weight should have shifted, and should now be firmly on your right foot. Smile and watch the ball fly toward the target.

Irene Forde is a writer and publisher. Visit http://www.bettergolfingskills.com for a Free Report on the Golf-The Mental Game.

 

Golf Instruction, What To Do When Your Golf Swing Quits Working

 

Picture this, you have arrived at the range and are ten minutes into your practice. So far you have hit the ball great and are really getting into the groove that you thought you could. And it sure feels good to get that confident feeling on every shot. Right?

Ok .. so all of a sudden, out of no where, you can’t seem to repeat the earlier move. You are now stink’n up the joint with one bad swing after another. And you know that if this keeps up you won’t be worth a crap. But you keep at it. Swing after swing after swing. Results? You suck!

In total disgust and anger at this point you ponder what the next move is. Go home. Stay and work it out. Go putt. Chip? Maybe hit some mini swings with full swing fundamentals.

And, yes, people are looking at you. Making you feel even more useless and exposed. This is not what you came here for. So, go home. That’s right go home. Go now before you change your mind and start the foolishness all over again. Go on!!

Or……….. you could try and figure out what the heck happened to your swing. Thinking that this could happen while you were playing, you should find a way to fix it.

Ok, I agree. Good idea to fix the thing while you are there. No time like right now. Going home is the sissy way out and will leave a bad taste in your mouth and a bad swing on the range.

Bad ideas, both.

So here is what we all should do.

First go get a drink of water or take a short walk and take three deep breaths, exhaling slowly.

And believe this, it happens all the time. Even some of the best players have this exact same issue from time to time. It’s no wonder golf is such a brain twister.

So what to do.

It always gets back to basics. I know that sounds kinda cope outish. But it is the most realistic comment that anyone could make in this instance.

Re-check your grip. Double check your alignment. Triple check your ball position.

Is your posture still good? Spine angle still strong and straight. Sometimes there is a leaning toward getting a tad lazy with the little things and it gets a bit too comfortable, forgetting that all the little things in your set- up are precursors to a good solid swing.

Miss one and you mess up all the rest.

Once you have checked all of these, time for the first move. Make sure you set your angles and keep them through out what you are about to do. ( I assume you are using a lofted iron)

Now with good angles, move to the half backswing position, but make sure your shoulders turn fully. That would be 90 degrees to the target line. Or left shoulder under your chin.

The chest moves the arms and hands as they are now not active. Just let them go along for the ride. Remember to maintain your angles. This is a half swing with the arms and hands.

Your move to the golf ball is filled with objectives, but we will only be using one.

Keep you angles intact all the way through impact. However you have to do this, you must do this.

Some find that they can mentally connect the arms to the shoulders and just turn the shoulders and of course the arms go with them.

This is a minny move, you are not trying to hit the ball anywhere. You are trying to get sequence and timing, along with a sense of control back to where you are in charge of yourself.

Tempo, sequence and timing will start to come back to you as you just lazily, but correctly, muddle through this drill.

Maintaining angles is what this is about.

The golf ball should be getting off the ground crisply and may have a slight right to left movement. That is just fine. But if it is moving left to right you will need to pay attention to clubhead path. Make sure you are hitting the inside of the ball.

You are entitled to a slight weight shift with this drill if you like, but it isn’t really necessary.

A very fast review on angles, there are two we are concerned with. The angle of the right wrist to the right forearm. This is the ” trayed” right wrist position. That’s one.

note: the left wrist should not be in the awful “cupped” position.

And two is the angle that is formed by the shaft and the right forearm. That’s two.

The latter, in this drill, will be about 90 degrees as the left arm is parallel to the ground and the shaft is pointed straight up in toward the sky.

Keep this angle.

Take it casually here as you work out the stress of being the driving range laughing stock. In a matter of moments your swing will be back and you will shut them all up.

Nice feeling right?

Oh .. if you read the article on what lag is, you would have read about the drill, bump and drop.

This is an excellent drill to work on your angles and know what they are and how they feel. And the neat part of this drill is that you will never get negative feedback as you will not be hitting any golf balls.

Happy now?

If there is a magic move it’s in this bump and drop move. Harvey Penick knew it and wrote about this exact move in his ” Little Red Book”

So let me be clear that I did not make this one up. Harvey did. Try it. It works.

If you want to know if there are any real magic moves in the golf swing the answer is yes, there are four. You can learn the first one here for free and take it to the range for a spin, click here: http://www.ebooksbestbuy.com/golf

 

Golf Through a Childs Eyes

 

I was fortunate as a youth to grow up on a golf course. Besides the scenic view, there were numerous benefits to living on the golf course.

I could pull up a lawn chair and observe and take in all of the free golf lessons a young aspiring golfer could ever want. There were many good golfers worthy of picking up pointers, but the golfers that really stuck into my memory over the years were from the bad golfers.

Golf, while a serious competitive game, was taken a bit too serious by some. One of my first golf lessons was watching the turf fly further than the ball. While we have all done that once or twice, the real lesson was the four-letter vocabulary I learned that was used to describe such a shot. That lesson could then proceed to the more advanced lessons on how to ground your club hard into the ground. If it was a real special day I might even learn how golfers wrap their clubs around trees.

Living on the course I would also occasionally dive into the golf course ponds to pick up golf balls. This was very profitable as we could on a good night pick up 75 or more name brand balls and sell them the next day for 50 cents a piece. For a young kid I was rolling in the dough!

The best finds out of the ponds were not the golf balls. Once in a while we might pick up a club or two. But the grand prize of all was finding complete sets of golf clubs. Evidently for some golfers wrapping the club around a tree wasn’t enough. So if you’re that frustrated why not throw the club into the pond! Looking back I think the guy that threw his whole set of clubs in at least had something right. He knew that he had to walk away from the game. Golf is meant to be fun! We all have bad shots or bad days but don’t let it eat you alive.

I still wonder how the guy that threw his whole set ever got home that day. I still have his keys!

Stephen Long is an avid sportsman who has a passion for golf, hunting and fishing. Check out the latest golf tips, techniques, as well as some of the best golf trips in North America at Pro Golf Tips

Golf - The Power Of Negative Thinking

 

 

Much of the game of golf is played in the mind and I am going to show you how powerful negative thoughts can be and why you should avoid them at all costs. I’ll even give you an exercise that you may dare to try!

The first example I would like to give is of my own problem on my home course. The 18th at my home club is the number 1 stroke hole (that is to say it is the most difficult on the course). It also happens to be the toughest par 4 in New Zealand with an average score of 6.8. The hole is a right angle dog leg right with tree lined out of bounds on the right, a lake on the left and a very narrow entrance to the corner. The corner being where the dog leg begins. Believe me it is a tough hole. If you do get it down to the corner there is about a 220 meter second to an uphill green. The green is at least 30 feet above you as face your second shot. And just to add a bit of insult to injury the wind is predominantly against you. To be honest a bogey is a very good score.

Anyway the point is I stand on the tee and KNOW that I am not going to score on the hole. Invariably that is exactly what happens. But……the other day I played with a fellow who has resigned himself to the fact that he cannot par the hole. His tactic is now to play short, go over the trees and cut the corner with his second and then play the third on to the green. This means his club selection is anything from a 3 wood to a 5 iron off the tee (depending on the wind) followed by a 6 or 7 iron over the trees and then anything from an 8 iron to a pitching wedge on to the green. Hopefully he can two putt and walk away with a very respectable bogey. I tried this a couple of times and I am now far more positive about the hole.

Try this next time you are out on the course. Take a look at the hole you are playing and make a mental note of where you DON’T want to be. Say to yourself “I definitely don’t want to go right” (or left as the case may be). Take a swing and see what happens. I can almost guarantee where you said you didn’t want to go is where you land up!

So what use is this to you as a golfer? Well quite simply you need to eliminate negative thoughts, in particular the last thought before you hit the ball. Do not think “I don’t want to go left”, replace this with “keep the ball right”.

You may find this hard at first but if you keep consciously practising it it will become a sub-conscious habit.

I’ve also observed people in match play situations say seemingly innocent things for their opponent to “accidentally” overhear. Things like you don’t want to be short, long, left, right, that side of the fairway etc. Invariably what happens is that is exactly where the player goes as his subconscious has now been programmed to get him there.

So to conclude be aware of your thoughts and make certain they are positive.

Who was it that said something like “if you think you can and if you think you can’t you are right”? Truer words have never been spoken.

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As a qualified EGTF golf professional teacher I get great pleasure in helping people improve their game. Why not head over to Better Golfing and take up my challenge to reduce your golf handicap by 25% within 6 weeks?