Hitting for distance makes golf more enjoyable. Whether you have a low golf handicap or a high one, belting a 250-yard drive is a lot more fun than squeaking out a 190-yard drive. Hitting the long ball off the tee or from the fairway also changes the game strategically, especially when it comes to those long par fours and par fives. Even generating an extra 20 yards with your shots helps. Talk distance in a golf lesson and everyone suddenly perks up.

Swinging from the inside is the key to generating distance. A recent test conducted by a popular golf magazine indicates that golfers can generate as much as 42 extra yards by swinging from the inside. The experiment used a swing robot to simulate seven swing paths at slightly above-average speed. Inside and neutral swing paths averaged 42 yards more than outside swing paths. While you might question the experiment's methodology, you can't question its results: Swinging inside generates more distance.

Check Your Setup First

A poor setup drains power. So before doing anything, check your setup. In particular, check your grip, stance, and ball position. Make sure the crease between your thumbs and forefingers are parallel and pointing to the right side of your face, if you're right-handed. Also, make sure your shoulders are parallel to your target line, with your front foot open just a bit, and your ball is positioned just in front of center for your irons and under your shirt logo for woods.

Common Swing Faults

Having checked your set up, you can now concentrate on eliminating faults that prevent you from taking an inside path to the ball and rob you of power. Below are five of the most common faults with some easy fixes:

Too Far Inside
Going too far inside causes you to re-route the club to the outside. Check your shoulders and your wrists. Your shoulders move the club around your body. Your wrists move the club vertically. Don't just turn your shoulders around your body, like many players with high golf handicaps. Make sure you also hinge your wrists up.

Swaying
Swaying-sliding your back hip away from the target instead of turning the hip-causes a reverse pivot. That in turn causes a steep downswing, making it almost impossible to come down from the inside. You should be turning your back hip, not swaying. Stick an old shaft or a broomstick in the ground a couple of inches from your back hip. If your hip touches the shaft or stick during your backswing, you're swaying.

Poor Turn
To maximize power, you must make a complete shoulder turn, as I mentioned in my golf tips. Focus on making at least a 90-degree turn with your front shoulder behind the ball. Lay a broomstick or club parallel to and just inside your back foot. When you turn, turn your shoulder so that the club shaft you're holding runs parallel to the club shaft or broomstick on the ground.

Hanging Back
If you're right-handed and your shots are going right of the target, your tendency is to swing more left. (Vice versa for left-handers.) The most common way of correcting this is hanging back on your right foot and scooping the ball off the ground. But that creates a slice. To swing from the inside, you must shift your weight forward. Stick an old shaft or broomstick in the ground so that it is touching your right side, and then practice making downswings. Your body should move forward and away from the shaft.

Casting
Casting is when you unhinge your wrists prematurely, as if you were slinging a fishing line. It promotes an over the top swing with weak impact. To eliminate casting, take the club back with both hands. Then hook the middle of the shaft with the index finger of your top hand. As you swing down, keep the hinge in your wrist by resisting the swing with your index finger. Remember this feeling when it's time to hit the ball for real.

These five swing faults prevent your from swinging the club on an inside path. Others faults exist, such as not trapping the ball and not releasing the clubhead properly. You must eliminate these faults to swing from the inside-the key to generating extra distance. Generating more distance makes the game more fun, whether you have a high golf handicap or a low one. Don't miss out on the fun.

By: Jack Moorehouse
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. Free weekly newsletter available with the latest golf tips, lessons and instructions

If you're a golfer who consistently shoots over 100, and are looking to break through, chances are the only thing that is stopping you is that you need to improve your putting. Forget about spending more time t the driving range, putting improvement should be at the top of your "to do" list. How many times are PGA Tour events and Major Championships won, and lost, on the green. No one was ever declared the Tournament Champion because they outdrove their opponent by 10 yards off the tee. Once on the green, low scores are achieved by dropping the ball in the cup in the fewest number of strokes possible. This is even more true for the average golfer, struggling to break 100. As you spend more time on the practice green and develop a consistent putting routine and stroke. As your 3 and 4 putt greens disappear, your scores will drop, quickly.

It just so happens that putting is also the easiest part of the golf game to improve. All that is required is some coordination, knowledge and experience. Most golfers have already developed a putting stroke that is comfortable for them. They have subconsciously compensated for their own coordination/abilities. There is generally no need to alter your putting stroke as it is tailored to your physical ability. What most amateurs are lacking is the knowledge and experience to be better putters.

The secret to dropping putts, is to hit the ball at the right speed along the right line. Although this sounds incredibly simple, and obvious, in order to be able to do this you must:

Accurately estimate the distance of the putt
Accurately read the green (breaks)
Accurately estimate the speed of the green

Distance can be roughly estimated by pacing the distance from the ball to hole as you survey the green.

Reading the green requires the most experience, although there are some tips like plumbing the green with your putter. This is when you hold your putter vertical (plumb) so that it passes through your ball and the hole. By comparing where the green intersects your putter you can estimate how much the green slopes, and to which side.

The speed of the green can be estimated by knowing if you are putting into or with the grain. The grain refers to the direction that the grass of the green is growing in. Even though it is only 1/10th of an inch long, it will slow your ball significantly. Remember, grass grows toward the sun. So if the sun is behind you, you're putting against the grain. If the sun is in front of you, you're putting with the grain.

Remember, low scores are earned on the greens. The fewer putts you take, the lower your score will be.

By: Mark Rocco
I'm Mark and I've enjoyed playing golf since I first taught myself how to play when I was 16 yrs old. Many years, and several lessons later, I've learned that the only way to get better is by practicing the proper technique. Hours at the range will not straighten your slice if you don't practice the proper swing. But if you don't know how to fix your own swing, why not ask someone who can. The same is true for putting. Wouldn't it be much easier to ask a pro how to read a green and estimate its speed? In addition, why not find out what drills tour pros use to keep their putting skills sharp. If you're serious about dropping your score start by improving your putting.

Do you want to learn how to lower your golf handicap fast? As we all know golf is a very fun game, but can really be tense when you are not playing well. Here I am going to show you three ways that you can improve your swing fast and start playing better golf today!

1. The first thing that you need to do is examine how you grip the club. This is the only connection you have to the golf club, and is essential to your handicap improvement. If you lower your scores, shoot lower scores then make sure you have a neutral to strong grip, which will help you hit the ball straighter and longer.

2. In addition to the grip, it is very important, it is essential that you perfect the takeaway. The takeaway is an important part of a better swing because it will dictate the the tempo with which you swing, which we all know is very important to playing better golf. Your arms and shoulders should move back in sequence while keeping your lower body stable.

3. A Part of the swing golfers often have a hard time with is the downswing, which is very important in your quest to play better golf. With the downswing it is important that you let gravity be your friend. When you complete your backswing just turn your hips and let your hands drop naturally. This will bring you into the ball on the proper swing plane and allow you to hit better golf shots time after time.

In order to lower your golf handicap fast follow these simple instructions and you will reach your goals. This strategy worked for me and I am sure that it can work for you.

By: Matthew Lord
Do You Want To Learn How To Add 20 Yards To Your Drives and Improve 7-12 strokes Fast? You Can Follow The Same Program That I Did To Do Just That!

Visit http://swing-a-golf-club.blogspot.com For Instant Access To This Valuable Information!

These preventative steps incorporate a series of golf fitness flexibility and strength exercises. The goal of these exercises is to create the supportive base in terms of flexibility and strength within the musculature of the lower back to support the golf swing.

First and foremost the process by which the lower back becomes injured from golf is quite simple. Each swing of the club requires the golfer to draw the club through a large range of motion, maintain a set spine angle, and generate power. In order to complete these physical tasks correctly a specific level of flexibility and strength is required of the lower back. If the golfer lacks the required flexibility or strength to execute these physical actions the lower back will be stressed more than necessary. This will lead to fatigue and possible injury to the lower back.

Secondly, the golf swing is a repetitive athletic action. The swing is executed over and over again utilizing the same muscles. Over time these muscles become fatigued. Once muscles are fatigued, they can easily become injured. This statement holds true for the lower back as well as all the other muscles of the body incorporated with the swing. To counteract fatigued in the lower back created by the golf swing, it is necessary for one to develop the strength and endurance parameters of these muscles. This result again can be accomplished by the completion of golf specific strength exercises.

Now that we understand the processes by which the lower back becomes injured from the golf swing, we can begin to develop an injury preventative program. As stated previously such a program would incorporate a series of golf specific flexibility and strength exercises.

The flexibility exercises focus on developing the required ranges of motion in the lower back to execute the golf swing efficiently. Exercises I often utilize for this goal are cats, openers, rotators, and windmills. All of these exercises create extensibility in the muscles of the lower back, and if performed consistently will assist in the prevention of injury.

The strength exercises of such a program look to develop strength and endurance in the muscles of the lower back to execute the golf swing over and over again. Prone holds, bent knee back holds, alternating arm and leg extensions, and hip circles are common exercises I implement into this phase of a program.

Remember, the lower back is placed under large amounts of stress each and every swing. To counteract the possibility of injury from the golf swing, we can incorporate a series of golf specific flexibility and strength exercises. These exercises will develop the ranges of motion required for the golf swing, develop the strength necessary to execute the swing, and finally create endurance within these muscles.

By: Sean Cochran
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly working with professional golfers, most notable PGA and Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean Cochran and his golf fitness exercises and training programs go to http://www.seancochran.com