I always look for tips to lower my golf score. Many times, I often stumble across nonhelpful explanations that are far to complicated for the average player to emulate. Therefore, they are of no use to our golf game. Today, I am going to talk about three easy, repeatable, and sustainable tips that will lower our golf score. Padraig Harrington talks about three quick ways that will improve your game and lower your golf scores. The first two are very straight forward, but the third will need a bit of explanation.
First, Paddy talks about hitting the ball first and avoiding the dreaded chicken wing. These tips are very straight forward. However, the third tip, the club twirl, is something different and I think requires further explanation.
The chicken wing is something that I have in my game mostly when chipping. For some reason, I want to help the club hit and elevate the ball. We all know this is bad form, but it happens. I continue to work on this challenge my keeping my elbows closer to my body as Paddy suggests. I believe this is a mental error that can be avoided.
On the surface, the last tip does not appear to have any value except to look cool. This thought could be no farther from the truth. I believe that the club twirl forces us to hold our finish after contact. When I am playing my best golf, my follow through is effortless and exact. My thought process is to point my belly button at the target and to finish high. These two mental notes help my body complete the other basic movements of a strong follow through. Just to clear up an important point, the follow through is not only where the club finishes. It really is a whole body movement.
A proper, cool-looking club twirl only happens if I have a high and held follow through. It is impossible to twirl the club if I finish low or off balance. ‘Holding the pose’ after the follow through facilitates the ability to twirl the club in our hands. Personally, I only twirl irons, because of the type of finish I produce. Hence, the twirl does help with our golf swing and can be effective to understanding if we are finishing our golf swing properly.
I like the three tips provided by Harrington. They are simple and repeatable. Additionally, they are universally accepted as ways to help improve our game and lower our golf scores. And that is what tips should accomplish…..right?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Got another one. Hit it far. lol
I was just looking at todays away round. Last hole is a 498 yard par 5. I remember GPS gave me 202 yards for my second shot. That’s a 296 yard drive. Not carry, but total. Almost got it there too but my aim was 20 feet right or so and instead of running up the throat it buried into the wall of the first of two bunkers guarding the right side, failed to get it the 30 feet to the green but got up and down to at least finish with a par. All in, a good day and a good but not spectacular round. My putting isn’t the best there. I’ve always despised their greens. But the layout suits me to a tee so I’ve managed to have some pretty good rounds there in the past. Anyway, hope your absence means you’re playing or at least out chipping in that wonderful yard of yours.
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Kevin,
Hitting the ball far is always a good thing. Accuracy is important as well, but distance definitely changes our approach to golf.
Cheers Jim
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Yesterday, thanks to a wayward tee shot I found myself 40 yards short of the pin and just 6 feet behind a ten foot tall fence.
I got up and down for par from there only because I take the time to practice clearing those fences.
My tip to get better is to practice shots you don’t need often like that one. Had I been any closer, had the angles been less helpful I would not have attempted that shot. I’d have taken my medicine and kicked out and settled for trying to save bogie. But I have done the work. I knew I’d clear the fence and could just reach the green with a decent attempt.
As it turned out my attempt was better than just decent and I managed to get hole high. It’s rare that I end up behind those fences but when I do I have the confidence because of the practice I put in.
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Kevin,
Great shot. You are talking about advanced players who have a better understanding of their game. The tips from Paddy are for the more novice player. However, I do appreciate your comment.
Cheers Jim
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No, I’m not talking about advanced players at all. My example may need some advanced skills to pull off, but the idea is still pertinent to the beginners. An example that may be more suited to them is don’t just practice chipping from good lies. Practice chipping from terrible lies. Set the ball down in deep rough not up on top. You’re going to have to hit shots like that while playing and if you never practice them, you will never feel comfortable when you have to hit them.
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Point well taken, Kevin. Thanks.
Cheers Jim
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