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Tiger Woods hits his irons straighter and more accurately than most pros. By swinging the club exactly the same way, he’s able to repeat his golf swing again and again and again. The more he repeats his swing, the more often he generates predictable results. For Tiger, predictable results mean more tournament wins and higher earnings. For the rest of us, it means better scores and lower golf handicaps.

Building a repeatable swing is ultimately the goal of all golf instruction. The secret to producing a repeatable swing with your irons is keeping the clubface square to the swing path. Failing to do so forces you to make compensatory moves to return the clubface square to the ball.

Five other keys to building a repeatable swing are

Staying connected:
One common factor among good players, in addition to low golf handicaps, is “staying connected” during the swing. In other words, good players feature a one-piece takeaway from the ball, which I often stress in my golf tips and golf lessons. Staying connected means that everything—your club hands, arms, and shoulders—moves away from the ball in unison as you start your backswing, ensuring that the clubhead travels on a wide arc away from the ball.

Set the club on the correct plane
A repeatable swing sets the club on the correct plane. To do so, hinge or cock your wrists as you move into the backswing. As your arms continue to swing upward and your body to turn, the wrists point the clubhead skyward while your left shoulder replaces the right shoulder at address. The angle of the shaft to the ball stays the same and the clubhead remains square to the swing’s path.

Swing into the top slot
As the top of the backswing, your club moves into “the slot” position, where the club’s shaft is horizontal to the ground and parallel to the target line. Also, the clubface’s angle matches your arm angle. Known as square or neutral, this is the ideal position to aim for at the top of the backswing. In addition, your original spine angle and your head position remain the same as at address. Your shoulders are turned 90 degrees, while your hips are turned 45 degrees. Most of your weight is over the right foot and you feel resistance in your right knee and right thigh.

Retain the force of the swing
Settle your weight smoothly back on your left side and start to unwind the upper body, as you move into the downswing. Also, drop your right elbow (for right handers) down to your side. This flattens the swing slightly. (This is Herb Pennick’s “Magic Move,” which I’ve previously covered in my golf tips.). As you shift your weight to the left side, your right heel comes off the ground slightly. Try retaining the 90 degree angle between your left wrist and the club’s shaft as long as possible. Your hands lead the club into the ball at impact.

Open your shoulders at impact
It’s a common belief that your shoulders should return to a square position at impact. I always address this point when giving golf lessons. In fact, your shoulders should occupy a slightly open position at impact, ensuring that the club has the room needed to travel on the correct path through the ball. In short, your body has to “get out of the way” for consistent ball striking with your irons. Finish with a balanced follow-through.

Also, important in building a repeatable swing is striking the ball cleanly and crisply. Work on this drill to improve your ballstriking. It’s a staple of my golf instruction.

• Start by assuming the ideal impact position at address with one of your irons. Start by shifting your weight onto the left side (for right-handers) and lift the right heel off the ground a fraction. The hips and shoulders are slightly open with the head over the ball, creating the feeling of a good impact position. Now, move into the back swing, shifting your weight to the right side. Return your weight to the left side, swinging the club down and through at impact. Move through the swing to a balanced position, with your weight on your front foot.

Practice this drill again and again and again until you feel yourself swinging the club the same way. Building that repeatable swing produces accuracy, consistency, and a lower golf handicap. Yours may not look like Tiger’s but it can produce more consistent and better results.

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Golf swing instruction starts with an understanding of the different segments of the golf swing. Understanding the golf swing segments will give anybody a firm foundation to learn all the tricks of the trade from others and thus be able to understand any golf swing instruction aimed at helping them improve their game.

There are actually three segments to the golf swing. The segments are the backswing, the downswing and finally the impact and follow through.

Dividing the swing into these 3 segments helps to apply every individual golf swing instruction or tip to the particular segments where they apply. It also helps the golfer focus on one segment at a time in their golf swing instruction making it easier for them to remember what they learn and also to be able to work on improving their game systematically.

There is another bigger advantage to this approach. And that is the ability to be able to draw ones attention to the many different parts of the body and the many muscles involved in a proper golf swing.

This is important in helping a golfer involved in a golf exercise program to be able to appreciate the different exercises they do in the program and what particular muscles the exercises focus on.

All this makes it a lot easier for any golfer to link their exercises to golf swing instructions they receive as they seek to improve on their game.

Actually it is not possible to divorce the basics of golf swing instruction from golf specific exercises. The two go together and chances of improving your game improve dramatically when you combine the two. On the other hand progress is bound to be much slower when you work on golf swing instruction only.

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A free golf swing lesson seems a little too good to be true. But there are actually a variety of websites available that offer free videos to help you improve your swing.  Golfing is a fun sport that people of all ages enjoy. Children as young as three and four years old are playing as well as older adults that are well into their 80’s.

The Clubs

Having the right clubs can lead to a big improvement in your game. If you are playing with a club that is too small or too large, it will be difficult for you to get the correct angle on the ball. So the first step to being a golf sports star is to buy some clubs that fit you. You don’t need to buy a set of PGA professional clubs or even some expensive name brand. Just look for a set of decent quality clubs to get you started.

The Swings

Golfers are constantly struggling on improving their swing. But it is difficult to see what needs improvement while you are swinging the golf club. A good way to take a look at your golf swing plane is to tape your swing and your stance.

You could have a friend tape you making a couple different types of shots. Then later you can go back and watch yourself and your swing. Usually you will be able to clearly see areas that you can improve. You might not be swinging a complete swing or maybe you tend to look up before you have hit the ball. The video camera is a great learning tool for beginning golfers as well as more advanced golfers.

Comparison

After you have watched your golf video, you can watch some free swing videos online. While watching the professional golf swings, you will probably notice even more areas that you would like to improve. Watching the professionals swing their clubs is a great way to see how you should be doing it.

You can write down the areas where you feel you can improve your golf swing. Then work on those noted areas the next couple times that you go golfing. When you feel like you have adjusted to the areas that you wanted to fix, then take the video camera out again.

When you video tape yourself this time, make sure and get all varieties of swings so you can see what your driving, chipping, and putting all look like. You may be surprised the first time you watch the video because you will see plenty of areas that will need improvement.

Don’t let that get you down. Improving your golf game is an ongoing process that requires a lifetime of dedication. You will not be a professional after one afternoon of video watching or even one year of trying to improve your game. Golf is just one of those sports that takes a lot of time to develop your game. So enjoy yourself and play some golf, every time you play you will be working on a better game.

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