One of the most embarrassing things to any golfer is missing that short putt for birdie or par. What I have found is that most of the time this is caused by not accelerating through the putt. It is an easy habit to get into and ends up costing you strokes.

Hitting a solid putt whether it is from 40 feet or four feet is no different than hitting a full shot from the tee or fairway. You must accelerate your swing through the entire shot. Many bad things will happen when you decelerate the club head on either.

If you’re missing a lot of short putts, you may be failing to accelerate the putter through the stroke. Some would suggest that you need to change your grip or your stance. You see players on tour make these changes all the time, but is this an adjustment that we need to make.

To me it seems as though there is really only a few things we need to be concerned about with putting.

1. Are you reading the putt correctly?
2. Is Your alignment correct?
3. Are You accelerating through the putt?
4. Are You keeping Your head down through the putt?

Any of these can cause you to miss putts. If you feel that none of these are issues for you, then it might be time to experiment with a different grip or even a different type of putter.

Before changing the way you putt, here are 6 tips for improving your putting.

1. Review Your Putt from multiple angles.
2. Pick a spot a short distance down your line to focus on, rather than the cup.
3. Keep your hands ahead of the ball.
4. Minimize excessive wrist movement.
5. Accelerate through the putt.
6. Hold the finish for a couple of seconds.

Before making huge changes to your putting, try spending some time practicing these basics.

There are more strokes lost on the green than there are from tee to green.

For more help with your putting, check out: Breakthrough Putting Secrets

© 2009, David Wakeman. All rights reserved. On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.

Playing Consistent golf is one of those things that many golfers only dream of. Most amateur golfers only have so many hours for the game of golf.

All too often we have to sacrifice playing time for practice time. It is a real balancing act when it comes to improving our game.

So how do you go about playing consistent golf without giving up a lot of playing time?

One of the mistakes I think amateur golfers have a tendency to do is to try to develop a perfect golf swing rather than a consistent golf swing.

There are a couple of flaws in that approach. First is although there may be a perfect swing, the likeliness of achieving it and maintaining it is unrealistic. Secondly, the perfect swing may not be the best swing for your game.

Make the time that you put into practicing your golf game effective. When you practice, spend less time on the things that you do well and more time on the shots that need work. For instance, if you have a strong short game and your week off the tee then spend 80% of your time at the driving range on improving your tee shots and only 20% of your time on your short game.

You’re more likely to improve your scores and lower your handicap, if you follow these six simple tips.

1. Take the time to develop a pre-round strategy. Review the golf course and map out how you want your round to play out. Break the round down into smaller 3 hole mini rounds.

2. Develop a pre-shot routine. Put your mind to visualizing the shot you are about to play. Follow the same steps in preparing to take your shot and your subconscious will take over naturally.

3. Adopt the right swing thoughts. Forget about that missed opportunity or poor swing. Everyone has a bad shot or putt from time to time. Put your mind at ease by not trying to make up for it with the next shot.

4. Know your distances. Don’t fall trap to trying to get another 5 yards out of the club in your hand. If the shot you are going to play is in between clubs, go to the longer club, choke down a bit and take a relaxed swing.

5. Work on your short game. You will take more shots from inside 150 yards in a given round then you will hitting your driver. Develop a strong short game and watch your scores go down.

6. Avoid those disastrous three putts. Spending quality time on the practice green is one of the most important and easiest ways to become more consistent. Knowing how to lag a putt from 40 feet to inside three feet will eliminate those dreaded three putts.

Yes, all golfers can play more consistent golf by just following these six tips. Why not take some time to work on the things that will help you the most. Stop worrying about the perfect swing and start putting lower scores on your golf card.

For more tips on how to improve your game and lower your scores, check out our eBooks.

© 2009, David Wakeman. All rights reserved. On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.

Golfers at all levels have one thing in common; they are all trying to improve their game. It’s a never ending challenge to play better golf. One of the biggest issues I see golfers dealing with is slicing and hooking the ball.

For me, like with many golfers, when you hit an errant shot it is natural to try and determine what you did wrong.

Have you ever asked yourself one of these questions in the middle of a round?

Geez, I hooked that shot; what did I do to cause that?

Or maybe it’s, I really pushed that one; How did that happen?

You head down the course thinking that it was just an anomaly, but your subconscious is churning away trying to answer that question. Before you know it you are missing a shot here and there. What might have started off as a good round quickly goes south.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to make just one adjustment to correct either of these problems? It would be great if you could do this on the golf course during a round.

This may sound too good to be true, but I was watching a video from one of the training courses I have and was blown away by what I learned. By just making a small pressure adjustment to your grip, you can correct the slice or hook.

You have to watch this video…

To learn more about this and other golf swing tips, click here.

For more great golf tips, check out our library of eBooks. They have helped me improve my game and I am sure they will help you improve yours!

© 2009, David Wakeman. All rights reserved. On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.