Your Best Golf Swing

Golf has been played since around the 15th century and it has been frustrating and delighting players alike round the world since then.

In essence golf is a very simple game, hit the ball from one part of the course to another finishing up by knocking it into a hole. But that is where the simplicity ends, which of course is where the challenge and achievement take over to make it such a rewarding sport to pursue.

It is possible to spend an enormous amount of money on learning the basics of golf and some of the equipment is very expensive and, for the newcomer, usually a waste of money. It takes experience and not a little amount of skill to effectively play with the latest drivers. Why you even see the professionals getting it wrong and see how much they practice.

Getting started in golf requires some basic equipment but what is really essential in order to get going?

Well I recommend that you start by perhaps borrowing a club or two from a friend and getting some initial practice down at your local driving range. Taking lessons from a pro is a great way to get the grooving of your swing started. If you are like most people that start golf you will already know at this stage that the game is for you.

I can tell you that you will know pretty quickly whether this is so, the golf bug bites pretty quickly! If this happens to you then the best thing to do next is to get some professional lessons. Try to book your lessons in blocks so that the cost is more manageable. Learning good habits is important when starting any sport and never more so in golf which is what golf lessons will give you.

Of course whilst you are receiving lessons you can borrow some clubs from the pro, this will enable you to see which types are the most tailored ones to suit your particular build and stance.

Yes this does matter, a great deal in fact, you will see lots of shiny new clubs in the golf stores but most of these will be useless to you if they are not set up correctly for you, this requires adjustments to the lie and loft of the club to suit you personally. You can have all the expensive gear but if it does not suit your golf swing technique what is the point?

Once you have your clubs and a few lessons behind you, you will need something to hit, some low cost balls to start with. Remember that you will probably be losing quite a few at first so there is no real need to buy anything expensive. You could try buying one of those packs of ‘lake balls’, a very inexpensive way to get started with balls that have literally been recovered from lakes.

Finally, clothing. Shirts are readily available at any golf shop, use golf shirts particularly because they are longer in the body to cope with the movement of your swing, you don’t want to be tucking your shirt in after every shot it gets quite annoying.

Trousers need to be comfortable and most people wear flannels or chinos.

Shoes especially need to be comfortable remember you will be on your feet for four hours or so walking round, this is not the item to save money on.

Hopefully this article on the golf swing basics has given you a good start from which to progress.

Lastly if you live in one of the wetter regions of the world make sure you get a quality golfing wet suit designed to breathe.

In this article, I will try to give you a foundation for the importance and variables that go into building a set of custom golf clubs. For the purpose of this article, we will deal with building your iron set and look at custom fitting your woods in a future article.

I`m sure that you agree that consistently hitting a golf shot, both solid and at your target, is a very difficult thing to do. Careers and businesses have been built just concentrating on helping golfers hit good golf shots. Well, here`s the problem, you have a great, repeating golf swing but you are still not getting the results you want. The problem exists with your clubs. If your clubs don`t fit you and your swing, you are going to hit shots that are pushed, pulled, fat and who know what else you might be doing.

That`s where custom golf clubs come in. It is very important that you are playing with golf clubs that suit you! I am going to look at the different variables that come into play when building a custom golf club set.

Here are the components that make up the custom golf club.

1. GRIP SIZE

2. SHAFT FLEX

3. SHAFT TYPE

4. LENGTH

5. LIE

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1. GRIP SIZE:

Here, we are going to measure from your wrist to top of your middle finger and from the top of your thumb to the top of your middle finger. As a general rule, let`s say that if your first measurement, wrist to top of middle finger, is 6 inches or less you need a small grip, 6 to 8 inches a standard grip and 8 inches plus a midsize grip.

The grip is important because the right grip allows you to swing the golf club freely. A grip that is too small won`t allow you to grip the club securely and a grip that is too large won`t allow you to release the golf club through the hitting area. Also, it is recommended that you use the same grip type through your whole set.

2. SHAFT FLEX:

There are two different measurements that are used, one for your irons and, secondly, for your woods. We will address the irons.

Here`s the iron range ( how far you carry your 5 iron ):

180 yards plus = S Flex

170 to 179 yards = Firm Flex

160 to 169 yards = R Flex

130 to 159 yards = A Flex

129 and under = L Flex

The benefits of swing the correct flex are obvious. If you are swinging the correct flex you are going to max out your distance/accuracy quotient and as can imagine the wrong shaft flex can lead to all kinds of problems.

3. SHAFT TYPE:

Here we are talking about steel or graphite. I would say this mostly personal preference. The graphite shaft may give you a little more distance with less vibration back into your hands but less accuracy. The steel shaft will be more consistent and, also, there are steel shafts specifically made to lessen the vibration. So, I guess the choice here is all about personal preference. For what it`s worth, you see very few graphite shafted iron sets on the professional tours.

4. LENGTH:

This mainly deals with how tall or short you are. Without getting into the specifics, let`s just say that if you under 5 feet 7 inches you should be looking at shorter clubs and if you are 6 feet 1 inch and over, longer clubs. These adjustments are made in small increments, starting at quarter inches and up.

5. LIE:

This is the angle that the clubs lays at address. Again, depending on your height your lie angle may need to be adjusted, plus or minus. This adjustment is very important because this lie angle may be what is causing you to push or pull your shots. The lie angle needs to be adjusted depending upon a combination of your height and a measurement of your wrist to the floor.

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Those are the components that go into a custom golf club set. As you can see, there are many ways that your clubs can throw your game off and with a few adjustments you can turn those negatives into positives.

The best and easiest fitting system that I have seen is GigaGolf`s eFit System. The system is super easy to use and, as a bonus, GigaGolf has extremely high quality golf clubs at manufacturer direct ( that`s a good thing ) prices. Take a look, I think you will like it.

You can see more golf game improvement, custom golf club building and additional golf information at Golf-Swing-PLus.