 Dennis Dawson Introduction
My name is Dennis Dawson I am a PGA professional. I have taught golf for over 35 years to people any where from the rank beginner to touring pros. To teach someone golf at a golf course is easy in the sense you can see the golfer’s problem right away. When a good pro sees a golf swing the problem sticks out like a broken bone to a doctor looking at an x-ray. The problem trying to learn golf by watching the golf channel or reading a golf magazine it calls for self diagnosis. Many golf articles are written on observation not on direction; you must know enough to tell which one you are reading. A lot of articles are written on cause and affect a way many pros teach. The problem is none are written on cure the thing needed to fix your problem. I am going to try and help you with many of the basic problems in golf with short articles to help fix your swing and understand if it’s your problem. So I hope you check back often to see if we can fix not just diagnose your problem. Back to Top
Lining Up
There are two important lines to line up. The first is the target line, the line from your ball to the target. The next line is the perpendicular line created by your golf shaft. This is called shaft angle, this is only a right angle to the target line in the center of your stance. A ball to far forward will change the shaft angle to the left and a ball to far back will cause a shaft angle to the right.
If you put two clubs down to practice it will help you with alignment. Now I am going to tell you something that most of you don’t believe, but your feet don’t have that much to do with correct alignment. As long as your shoulders match the target line and your shaft angle is a right angle to the target line this correct. Remember it is flat on the range but hardly ever is it flat on the golf course. This is why your feet can’t always be parallel on up hill, side hill, or down hill lies. Watch your shaft angle and you will start seeing your ball go to the target. Back to Top
Look To The Sky When You Tee Off High
Do you play on a golf course with a lot of elevated tees? If the answer is yes try this on your next time out. When you are on an elevated tee and you pick a target in the fairway this will cause you to swing down and across your real target line. A good example is if a foot ball player goes out for a short pass he always runs across field. The reason is the only way a quarterback can throw hard is if he throws down and across the field. This is what you are doing if you aim at the ball or the fairway because both are below you. Now if a football player goes out long he goes straight down field so the Quarterback can throw long and straight. So if you want to hit long and straight pick a target above your eye line. To do this hold the club shaft across your eye line and pick a target above on the line you want to hit. A way of seeing this is have a friend stand out in front of you and pretend to throw a ball at their feet you will see your arm go down and across. Now pretend to throw it over their head and see your arm stay down the target line. Try it I promise you will hit more fairways. Remember you can land a ball in the fairway but you can't hit one in. Back to Top
Topping The Ball
When you top the ball the first thing everyone tells you to do is, bend you knees, and keep your head down. Well that’s your problem. Every action has the exact and total opposite reaction! You need to stand tall and hold the club up in the air about three inches above the back of a tee first. Swing till you get down to the tee every time, then put a ball in front of the tee. This up down up move will get you down to the ball and give you some leg power at the same time. I tell my lessons if you want somebody to go downstairs where do you put them? Upstairs so when you say go, they look and see they have nowhere else to go but down. So stand tall and go down for the ball. Back to Top
Other Technical Articles of Interest:
- What is the Stimpmeter?
- Custom Fit Golf Clubs - What is the Fitting Process?
- Understanding the Golf Handicap System
- Why Custom Made Golf Clubs Are Superior to Off-the-Shelf Clubs
- How to Read a Golf Scorecard
- Golf Terms & Glossary
- Why Custom Golf Clubs Will Improve Your Game
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