It’s been a long journey. You (and your golf ball) have traveled hundreds of yards, and though you’re not quite in the house, at least you’re in the driveway, so to speak. Now it’s time to park your ball in the bottom of the cup. In other words, you’ve reached the green. A key to [...]

So you want to learn how to pitch? First, a quick quiz just to make sure you are in the right place: Whom would you consider a better instructor on pitching, Greg Norman or Greg Maddux? And no peeking. If you answered “Norman,” please move to the next paragraph. If you answered “Maddux,” you really [...]

Congratulations, you’ve chosen a comfortable grip, or hold position, and learned how to place your hands on the club. You have an idea about the basic concepts of a fundamentally sound swing, and our gurus have shown you the proper way to address each shot and where the ball should be positioned in your stance. [...]

There are plenty of bad lies in golf and not all of them deal with the score you tell your friends! Most revolve around how and where your golf ball is sitting. Because most practice facilities provide only flat surfaces or carpeted tee boxes to hit from, the only time most golfers encounter an uneven [...]

Admit it. Even your sandy surroundings sound menacing: “bunker” and “trap.” But you’re not trapped. Hardly. All you need to do is advance your ball a few feet, and you don’t even have to make contact with it. Sound simple? It should. After you eliminate the fear of being in a bunker, getting from the [...]

Practicing golf and playing golf are two different matters. On a practice range, there is some comfort in knowing that you don’t have to chase after every ball. But actually stepping onto a golf course for the first time can be a little intimidating. After all, every shot counts. That is why you might want [...]

Let’s clarify one thing right off the bat, er, club. The term “driving range” is a misnomer. Teaching professionals refer to those large patches of terrain as “practice ranges” for good reason. In fact, most pros will advise you to use your driver sparingly on the range, as you would on the course. Whatever you [...]

You’ve decided to take up golf. Great! Now it’s time to make a decision about clubs. Yeah, you can use that hand-me-down set Uncle Bob unloaded on you a few years back. Persimmon woods haven’t been cutting edge for, oh, about 20 years, but they might work okay at the practice range. For a while, [...]

If you go to a miniature golf course, selecting a ball is pretty easy. You can choose from cherry red, lemon yellow, bright orange or lime green. Like M&M’s, it doesn’t really matter what is inside the colorful coating. Life isn’t so easy on a full-scale golf course. About the only thing you can’t choose [...]

You probably have a basic idea of what golf is all about. Maybe you’ve caught a glimpse of a tournament on TV. Perhaps your friends or co-workers got you thinking about it. Now you want to give it a try. There is only one nagging question. Where to begin? Glad you asked. Too many newcomers [...]

Watch four touring pros hit golf balls on TV and you likely will see four variations of the swing. That’s because, though certain fundamentals are essential to hitting a golf ball correctly, the “perfect” swing is the one you personally feel most comfortable with. So relax. No one becomes Tiger Woods in a day. In [...]