That is all that is really needed to be known, hit the golf ball first and you will avoid all fat golf shots. Of course this is easier said than done.

First thing to check is to make sure that your swing is stable and that your feet remain on the ground where they began the swing. Some golfers have problems swaying a bit to the side on their back swing effectively moving the low point of the swing back a bit causing them to hit behind the ball resulting in a fat shot. To get a good feel for not swaying put something under the outside of your right foot (left foot for leftys) — a golf ball will work fine. This will not allow you to sway as much.

Some golfers have problems with swing too far to the right. This mostly happens in golfers who have corrected a slice where they were coming over the top of the ball and now they are swinging too far to the right. This will serve to move your low point back in the golf swing forcing you to hit the ground before the ball, again resulting in a fat shot. To correct this try to feel as if the golf club head is swinging more towards the target and less out to right field.

You will also be able to track your golf statistics like greens in regulation, fairways hit, number of putts, driving distance, and much more. The tracker will also give detailed statistics compiled from all your rounds to show you your strong and weak areas. You will also be able to see your progress charted overtime to see how the different areas of your game are changing overtime — are they getting better or worse?

Stay tuned, the handicap and statistic tracker will be available soon.

Stay tuned.

Now there are normally two separate situations when in a bunker or sand trap. Firstly are the fairway bunkers where you still have a good distance to the green where you are hitting a full or near full shot. These are easier to handle than the green side bunkers. To execute these golf shots you have to hit the golf ball clean. This is a must — NO fat shots. A fat shot will most likely get you out of the fairway bunker but it will probably sputter forward about 50 yards. At least your out? No. To hit a clean shot you must have a good golf swing where you take proper divots — a golf swing where you hit the ball before you hit the ground, which is how nearly (except green side bunkers) all golf shots should be. That is the bottom line for fairway bunkers: clean shot.

Now for green side sand traps where you are close to a green and possibly a pin and you need to get up and down. These golf shots take a lot more deftness. The secret to hitting the golf ball out is using the golf club properly. As you can see the bounce of the golf club is the angle between the ground and the leading edge of the golf club. Depending on the degree of the bounce the club will easily or not so easily dig into the sand. Clubs with more bounce are designed to help golfers keep from digging too deep into the sand when playing from a sand trap.

When hitting out of soft sand near a green there is one technique that works best. It is to try and hit a dollar bill sized divot into the sand. The beginning of the divot should start about 1.5 inches before the golf ball. You want to effectively “splash” a handful of sand out of the bunker carrying the golf ball with it onto the green. It is in the soft sand where a wedge with bounce will help. It will keep you from hitting too far into the sand killing your momentum and leaving the ball in the sand trap. You want a divot deep enough that after a dollar bill sized divot is taken it moves enough sand that would fit in just over a handful. This is best practiced before trying. You want to adjust the speed and angle into the golf ball to determine what works best for your golf swing and wedges. Also try experimenting with opening the club face way open too. This will help get lift on the shot to get out of deep bunkers or to help it land softly and not roll too far. Another thing that can help to hit before the golf ball is to let your hands and wrists release early sending your club head ahead of your hands and into the sand.

When playing out of hard sand it is important to not use a club with too much bounce because you’ll end up doing just that — bouncing, over the golf ball and topping it badly. You may want to take an alternative approach like running it out of the bunker or gambling on the shot because your margin for error is very small.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY1zyL_MW0U

Remember: with soft, fluffy sand more bounce will help, with hard sand less bounce will help. Go for a dollar bill sized divot in the soft sand that starts about 1.5 inches before the golf ball.

Practice these techniques and you will be well on your way to adding more sand saves to your golf game.

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Image: http://www.golfsmith.com/images/cm_selectcomp/bounce-ill.gif

Nassau is split into three separate bets:

1. Best front nine

2. Best back nine

3. Best overall

You go head-to-head with your opponent on each hole. Scores are calculated by giving one point to the golfers with the lowest score on the hole. If it is a tie then no points are awarded and it is considered a “push”. Bets can range anywhere from $1 for each bet all the way up to whatever you want. You can even bet on non-monetary items like beers in the clubhouse after the golf round.

If the golfers are not well matched in their playing abilities then handicaps can be used to give players strokes on each hole to even it all out.

Nassau is an easy to follow and quick way to add a little excitement to your next golf round with you and your golf buddies.

A lot of golfers (bad ones) have no problem keeping their right shoulder above the golf ball so to speak. The problem arises because the have no “down” action with the right shoulder. The right shoulder instead just rotates around causing the golfer to come over the top of the golf ball and hit himself a nice big slice.

Now, how do I get the feel of the right shoulder going down plane? Easy. Grab yourself an iron. Now take some nice easypractice swings, but the trick is to keep your feet planted throughout the swing until your club head passes the golf ball or where the golf ball should be on the ground. This will feel weird, but it is the feeling of the right shoulder dropping. Now this movement is a bit exaggerated but it is nonetheless a feeling you should strive towards.

Practice hitting balls while keeping your feet flat. Do that 10 times then switch to a normal swing where you allow your foot to come up naturally and see if there is a difference in the right shoulder movement. Repeat this until it is ingrained in your swing. It is important to only work on one thing while at the practice range.

It is critical to your swing as far as consistency, accuracy, and power go that you learn to let your right shoulder go down plane.

To alleviate this headache a simple solution is to purchase a quality range finder to improve your golf game immediately. Never again do you need to be guesstimating on the yardage and flipping a coin between which iron you will be using to hit your golf ball into the green. A quality range finder is a one time purchase and will last throughout your golfing years. This is also a perfect gift for any golf enthusiast.

Some people use GPS systems to try and determine the yardage, but with those you have to be sure to golf courses you play on are loaded into the system so you can get accurate readings or any readings at all. A golf range finder is quick, accurate, lightweight and easy to use and provides an immediate impact onto anyone’s golf game.

The higher quality range finders are more durable, easier to use, and more accurate than the cheaper ones and I would prefer to make one purchase now that will last a lifetime than have to replace it down the road because it becomes tedious, hard to use, or breaks.

Bushnell golf range finders are the best in the business. Not only will it speed up your play but it will help you avoid hazards by helping you quickly find the distances to those areas. No longer will you have to wander about searching for yardage markers and walking off the yardage and then praying that those yardage markers are still accurate. You can also use it to measure how far you are hitting off the tee box. Go to where the ball landed from the drive and measure back to the tee box — no more guessing. The device is USGA approved and can be used in tournaments and when tracking your handicap as well.

This is a great device to help you take out the guessing, speed up your play, and shed strokes.

For you all that carry an arsenal of tools and gadgets this golf bag is for you, it comes with 11 compartments to stow away all your stuff. It has comfortable shoulder straps for when you are humping about the course and comes at a reasonable price compared to other quality lightweight golf bags.

Features:

• 9-inch oval top with custom integrated handle and 6-way full-length dividers
• Total weight: 4 pounds
• XTT Flex Foot Base Technology with stable stand system
• 4-point double strap system with extra padding for optimal balance
• Soft Mesh hip pad for extra comfort
• 11 pockets including scorecard pocket
• Custom molded zipper pulls, towel ring and handle
• Penholder and ball marker
• Custom logo on bottom ball pocket
• 2 year warranty

First off, when hitting it far, less is more. What is meant by that is that you will most likely hit it farther when you relax and focus on making a smooth, controlled swing rather than doing your best to kill the golf ball. When you go to kill it, you tense up muscles and constrict the speed you would otherwise deliver into the back of the golf ball. So, remember: smooth, relaxed, long, full golf swing.

Now for some more technical things to do with your stance. You should incorporate a bit of a wider stance when addressing the golf ball. This will cause you to lean even more behind the ball, be sure to keep yourself back as you swing down and through the ball.

But the most important thing for hitting the golf ball farther is to have a better pivot. A better, quicker, more efficient move through the ball. It is absolutely imperative. They are a few players with absolute top notch pivots: John Daly, Sergio Garcia, and Tiger Woods (circa 2000). If you could get yourself to move from the top of the swing through the follow-through like these three do then you will be able to crush the ball. Look at the hip and shoulder positions throughout the swing — those are what drive most of the power.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q_GIvKmvqI

If you can get yourself into those positions on the downswing, then you too can crush it. Longer distance is a 100% technique thing.

Along with making sure you have the proper grip size is to ensure that the grips themselves are in proper condition. It is good practice to have your clubs re-gripped at the beginning of each golf season or at least once a year. They wear down due to use, weathering, and aging.

Once the grip themselves are in good condition and ready to go it is now time to move on, on how to properly grip the golf club itself. There are several ways to grip the club. The three most popular ways are the ten finger grip, the interlock, and the overlap grip. After choosing the most comfortable grip for yourself you need to figure out if you grip needs to be strong, neutral, or weak.

First off I recommend either the interlock or the overlap grip. Tiger Woods uses the interlock grip, Sergio Garcia uses the overlap, and I know of no professional golfer who uses the ten finger grip.

Steps to a correct golf grip:

1. Grab the golf club in your left hand (or right hand for you leftys) so the grip of the club is in your fingers and the pad or bottom of your hand is on top of the club. To make sure it is correctly held, hold the golf club out in front of you turned to the side so you can compare the back of your left hand to the club face and they should be parallel to each other.

2. Then place your right hand on the golf club, overlapping or interlocking your pinky on the right hand with the index finger of the left hand. Fold the last three fingers on your right around the club to complete the grip.

Your grip on the golf club should be firm but not too hard. Firm enough that it will not fly away mid swing, that is all the pressure you need to place on the golf club, keep your hands and forearms relaxed.

This will leave you with a neutral grip on the golf club. You can adjust this grip depending on your shot pattern or what you are trying to accomplish. This is done by rotating either or both of the hands to either the right or the left giving you a strong or weaker grip. This will be covered in another article, but for now make sure you have the proper grip on the golf club to ensure a more consistent and accurate golf game.