Sidehill lies in Golf

Golf is a difficult game as it is, unfortunately you have to factor in other components such as side hill lies. Sidehills seem like very difficult shots to hit, however once you understand the basic, like any other shot, then you can easily master hitting them.

Just like reading the break in a green, you have to determine which way the hill is slanted. If you are standing above the ball (and you are a righty) then the ball will go to the right. If above the ball and you are a lefty, then the ball will go to the left. However, if you are under the ball, the ball will tend to go the opposite direction of your hand  (righty goes left, lefty goes right). These are the basics of hitting a side hill lie. Also if the hill has a small slope then you do not have to factor in the conditions of left to right/right to left as much. And if the hill has a great slope than you must factor these conditions in a lot more than you would with a small sloped hill.

So, putting the sidehill lie conditions into affect you must aim the opposite direction of which the ball will tend to go towards, so it ends up at your target.

Good Luck!

"The Step"

If you watch golf 20 or 30 years ago you will see the players lift there heal slightly off the ground in the backswing and then step down as they swing through the hit. "The step" is for power just like baseball players when hitting step forwards and for more power. This "Step"" is very essential for getting "power" and hitting the ball far. Most players on tour currently do not do "the step" anymore, but they do something similar. All players that don't do "the step" just transfer their weight onto their front foot as they swing through the hit, but do not picking up their heal and step down on it. However, there are some players that still do it, such as the world's fourth best player Phil Mickelson. So "the step" might be an old move but it is still affective. 

Over the summer my golf coach and I were working on having a better weight transfer (for more power) and I just couldn't do it, so I began to do "the step" and every since I've being playing the greatest golf I've every played in my life. 

Try "the step" and you'll see an increase in your distance.

Teeing up the Ball

The tee markers are on either side of the player.

How/What//When/Where/Why to tee up the golf ball.


A player is only allowed to tee up the golf ball at the beginning shot of the hole. There is a specific area for a player to tee up the ball called "the tee box" and inside that tee box a play must tee the ball up inside "the tee markers". The advantage of teeing up the ball, is the ball is higher up and it makes for a cleaner hit because it is less friction because your club isn't hitting the ground. The ball should be teed up with half of the ball above the club face, and half under. Teeing up the ball is a big advantage that some people do not take advantage of. Tiger Woods said that players should tee up the ball every single time they're on the tee box. Teeing up just leads to a better hit.

If you weren't teeing it up before, try it out. Good Luck!

How to Hit from the Bunkers

  Hitting from a sand trap isn't that hard once you understand the basics. Sand Traps a.k.a Bunkers are thought to be very hard to hit out of. However, they can become very easy to hit out of. In the US Open at Beth Page Black in 2009 the rough was so thick that players would rather be in the bunker than the rough. Players would purposely aim for bunkers instead of the rough, when they knew they couldn't hit the green. Professional Golfers are very good out of bunkers and it's easy to become good out of bunkers too.




How to hit from the Bunkers

Step 1:  Dig your feet into the sand for balance, also to test the thickness of the sand. The softer the sand the easier it will be to swing your club through and the less sand you should scoop underneath the ball. The thicker the sand the more sand you should scoop under to help lift the ball up in the air.
Step 2: Open up your stance. If you're a righty aim your feet left of the target, lefty right of the target. Opening up your stance allows your hands to come in and get underneath the ball more. Also to equal out for opening your hands, which leads to step 3.
Step 3: Open up your hands. Where ever your feet are aiming, aim your hands the other way to even out for your open stance. An open close face also adds loft which  helps shoot the ball out of the bunker.
Step 4: Lean all your weight onto the front side. I don't know why it works, it just does. All pros do it and so do I.

Next time your in a bunker try this out. Good Luck!

Reading Greens

Reading greens are pretty easy, once you understand the concept of it. Putting greens are not perfectly flat, therefore the ball will move according to the slope of the green. If the green is tilted left, the ball is going to tend to go left, so by aiming right the ball will go left, and end up at your target. Reading greens is as simple as that. knowing which direction the green is slanted. The more slanted the green is the more break it will have and the same goes for less slanted hill, less break.

When I am walking up the fairway approaching the green I look for the lowest part on the green, and Then I know generally which direction the ball is going to want to move towards. Then I go behind the ball and look even closer to see how severe the break is and approximately how much break I should play it. The break of the green varies from each course do to the speed of the greens. The faster the greens are the more break there will be, the slower the less break.

I along with many other golfers go into a squatting position behind the ball, to determine the break of the green, the only reason why people do this is because the lower to the ground the easier it is to determine the break. Reading greens takes some practice, but the basics are the slant of the green determines where the ball will tend to go.

Distance vs. Accuracy 2

I found this a magazine I am subscribed to called 'Golf Digest' which is a monthly magazine that publishes the newest equipment, and also tips to improve ones golf game, kind of like my blog. So I am writing my paper about Accuracy being more important than distance, and it just so happens that I found an article on the comparison of distance vs. accuracy. PLEASE READ THIS TO THE RIGHT!

Although statistically in the pros distance and accuracy produce similar results, distance can cause off target shot, as the article said "cause you misses to veer farther off line". Obviously, long and straight is ideal, and debatably long and a little off target is better than straight and on target. Being in the rough is OK, in the fairway is better and longer is better than shorter. However, when your drives get to a point where they aren't even hitting the rough, and they are going into the woods/out of bounds/water hazards, then that should be a signal to stop aiming for distance and hit it short and accurate.

Visualizing Your Shot

As you see, most professional golfers stand behind there ball with their club in their hand right before the address the ball and hit it. This is part of their pre-shot routine. As I discussed already, the pre-shot routine is very important. When the golfer is behind the ball, what they're doing is visualizing their shot before they hit it. Visualizing your shot helps get you in "the zone", think about where you want to hit it and most of the time that second of focus helps, believe it or not.

Sometimes, even from behind the ball I see stuff I didn't see before. From behind the ball, you might see extra sand trap, or water hazard, or out of bounds that you now put into consideration that you wouldn't have seen before. Try this, and you might see some improvements.