Archive for March, 2014
Keep a Check on Your Alignment
Keep a Check on Your Alignment
A common problem amongst golfers in general!
The amount of golfers who align themselves completely wrong at the address position will have a major influence on how they swing the golf club. You will compensate for this during the golf swing. I have helped golfers tremendously to stop shanking with this just one fault alone.
Most golfers from my experience align their bodies too far to the right of their intended target, in a closed position. At some point during the golf swing you are going to compensate for this and it usually happens in the downswing. You are fully aware of where the target is but due to the closed off stance you are going to swing over plane in the downswing to get the club back to the ball.
This moves the club much further out in front of you in the downswing leading to the hosel contacting the ball first. Some golfers even lose their balance: falling forwards in the through swing.
Great ways to improve your sense of alignment is to pick a point just in front of the ball (2ft approx.) which is directly on line to your intended target.
Align the club face square to that point.
From there build your stance keeping as square as possible to that point.
Practise your alignment on the range by picking random targets and working through your pre shot routine of the above.
Another great way is to place down 3 alignment canes on the range, one aligning to a target on the left side of the range, another aligning to a target in the middle of the range and the last one aligning to a target on the right side of the range.
Practising in this manner will most certainly make you more self-aware of how you are lining up correctly. You will instantly be aware if you have aligned correctly or not.
From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent
Hit the Ball Longer
How to Gain More Distance from the Tee
The way you set up to the golf ball is vital when you have the driver in your hands. It is so important to establish the correct spine angle so that you can create a full body turn which leads to more distance.
Many amateurs set up with the in correct spine angle which also gives them poor body alignment, this could be the main reason behind your SLICE!!
In the video below I give you a great drill to help you set up to the ball correctly for more explosive drives.
Check out the video below and try it next time your at the range.
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From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent
KNOW YOUR DISTANCES
KNOW YOUR DISTANCES
One of the most important aspects of great golf is knowing how far you hit your clubs and controlling your distances with your wedges.
You can learn this while you are practising out on the range or the course, pay attention to how far each shot is going, especially the carry distance. Professionals know how far each club goes and sometimes their caddie knows even better than their player.
Knowing how far you hit each club makes life so much easier out on the course in tournament conditions, it will save you shots during a round. Most amateurs come up short of the green as they overestimate how far they can hit each club.
There are factors to consider and your distances may vary and change due to wind and temperature as well as the kind of ball you use. On average you lose about 2 yards for every 10 degrees the temperature drops, which is why you hit the ball further in the summer than the winter.
Everybody has their 150 yard club in the bag (for most it’s a 6 or 7 iron) so knowing what club you hit the magic 150 yards is a good start. Next you can work out what gap you have between clubs, it’s normally 9 to 12 yards as a rule. When you have all your yardages note them down in a course yardage book so you have all the info at hand during your round.
With your wedges find out how far you hit each wedge with a hip to hip swing length, chest to chest swing length and a shoulder to shoulder swing length. Knowing how far your wedge distances are will save you a bundle of shots during a round.
From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent
Championship Problem Solving
The first step in championship problem solving is to make sure you determine the exact nature of your problem. Many a tournament has been lost by the player who attempts an impossible shot from the rough in the vain hope of making birdie where bogey will win the day. The six or seven he winds up making takes him right out of contention. Precisely defining the problem is an art in itself.
Golf teacher Tommy Armour, author of the timeless masterpiece of instruction, How to play your best golf all the time, was a master at finding a player’s problem and no one was better at accurately defining it. One day a club member approached him to schedule a lesson.
“What seems to be your problem?” questioned Armour.
“I can’t get backspin on my long-iron shots, like the pros do,” he said.
“How far do you hit your 3-iron?” asked Armour
“About 175 yards,” replied the member.
“Then why on earth would you want to put backspin on the ball?” asked Armour.
Ben Hogan had a similar laserlike approach to problem solving. He believed in breaking the problem down to its simplest form. Late in 1992 he sat down for lunch with one of his greatest admires, Nick Faldo, who had recently won
his third British Open. Both men realized they had similar attitudes to hard work, practice and determination. For his part, Faldo was fascinated by Hogan. He found himself in total agreement with everything the Hawk said. At one point during lunch, Faldo asked Hogan for any advice he might have on how to win the US Open. Hogan remained silent. As their meeting was about to end, Faldo again asked if there was one secret that could help him win that elusive US Open. “Shoot lower scores,” responded the great champion.
From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy
PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at
Mark Wood
PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach
The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent