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

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!

Proper alignment of the club face plays a major role in determining the behavior of every golf shot you make. This alignment is critical because if the face of the golf club is offset to the left or right of your target at impact, the natural reactions to the ball's flight path will cause errors in your swing path and angle of attack. It will also restrict your club head speed.

When your club face is facing directly at the target at impact (hitting the ball "square"), the swing path is momentarily along the target line as opposed to across the target line. When this momentary alignment occurs, the entire force of the club head speed delivers a proper and direct forward blow to your golf ball.

When your club face is facing right of the target at impact (hitting the ball "open"), the swing tends to naturally take a path from outside to inside, across the target line in an instinctive attempt to prevent the shot from finishing to the right. A swing that is across the target line from out to in can create both a strike that is too steep or too shallow. The awkwardness of the swing that is off center also inhibits a forceful swing, reducing the overall club head speed.

When the club head strikes the ball facing left of the target line (hitting the ball "closed"), the resulting swing path take a natural inside to outside path of the target. Swinging the club head in excess from in to out will flatten the angle of the impact and often cause you to hit the ground before you hit the ball. This can create both thin and fat shots.

Just working on this one area of your golf swing to deliver proper club face alignment will help your overall performance on the course. If your alignment is off, your natural reactions will take over and cause several other aspects of your swing to go wrong. Keep this at the forefront of your mind when you are practicing and playing a round. Eventually is will come natural to your swing.

By: Greg Schueler
If you are just learning how to play golf or if you just want to drop 7-10 strokes off of your handicap, you need to go to http://www.BetterGolf4u.com and sign up for Greg's free online golf tips newsletter. You will also get a free copy of "The Perfect Swing", but you better hurry before we start charging for it again. You can find more free online golf tips here.

Submitted by:
Josh Truegood
International Issues from Knowledge Is Power

Players who know how to shape their shots have a significant advantage scoring-wise over those who don't. Shaping your shots not only reduces scores and golf handicaps, it dramatically alters the way you play the game. So if you're serious about improving your game, you must learn how to shape your shots.

But where do you start when it comes to learning how to shape shots. Initially, you should focus on learning to hit three types of shots-how to curve the ball left to right, how to curve the ball right to left, and how to hit the low punch shot.

Golf Lesson #1: Hitting Left To Right
The fade follows a left to right path (for right-handers). To do that, you must build up air on the left side of the ball, pushing it right. Adopting an open stance at address plus having an open clubface at impact are the keys to hitting a fade.

Take your normal stance, move your front foot back a few inches, and open up your hips. You should be facing left of the target line. During the takeaway, swing the club parallel to the line of your foot. The out-to-in takeaway produces a top-of-the-swing position where the clubface points left of the target. If you follow your foot line with your swing, you'll hit the ball with an open clubface.

The keys to hitting a fade:

* Pull your front foot back slightly
* Open your stance
* Hinge wrists at about waist high
* Take a full shoulder turn
* Swing the club parallel to foot line
* Clear left hip (for right-handers)

Hitting a fade seems simple enough, but be careful, as I've warned in my golf tips. If you generate too much sidespin, you'll create a slice.

Golf Lesson #2: Hitting Right To Left
The secret to hitting a draw, like the secret to hitting a fade, is imparting sidespin. The draw follows an in-to-out path. So you must build up air on the right side of the ball, pushing it left. A closed stance and a closed clubface at impact produce the correct spin.

Take a normal square stance, then draw your back foot back a few inches, closing your stance and clubface. The clubface aims directly along the target line but it follows and in-to-out path, not the out-to-in path of a fade. Adopting a slightly stronger left-handed grip encourages a more active release of the hands.

Keys to hitting a draw:

* Adopt a closed stance
* Use a stronger left-hand grip
* Follow an inside track
* Aim right at the top of the swing
* Release the club through impact

The clubhead follows an inside track (inside the target line) on the takeaway and backswing. The club points to the right of the target at the top of the backswing. How far right depends on how much of a hook you want to play. Feel the toe of the club pass the heel, as you release your hands.

Golf Lesson #3: Hitting a Low Line Drive
To hit this shot, most players play the ball back in their stances, press their hands forward, lean left (for right-handers), and "punch" the ball with a three-quarter swing. If performed correctly, this approach drives the ball forward on a low trajectory and provides the distance you need.

But this approach carries hidden dangers. Moving the ball too far back in your stance forces you to point the clubface/shoulders right of target, opens up the possibility of hitting a shank, and causes you to lunge at the ball from the top of your swing. If you fail to punch the ball correctly, you risk increasing backspin and trajectory. Here's a safer approach.

Instead of moving the ball back, go down two clubs more than necessary and grip down on the club just above the shaft. If the situation requires a 9-iron but conditions are really windy or the pin is in a back position, drop down to a 7-iron and choke down on the club. Now take your normal set-up and swing.

The two adjustments give you distance without the loft. Choking down shortens the swing arc, reducing clubhead speed. If that trajectory is too low for the shot, drop down one club and slide your hands halfway down the grip. Then take your normal swing. Dropping down to an 8-iron lengthens your swing arc, boosts clubhead speed, and increases trajectory.

Understanding Swing Mechanics
As you can see, much of being able to work the ball comes down to understanding the impact of swing mechanics. In other words, you need to understand how and why the ball spins and how to change your mechanics to get the ball to react the way you want. Knowing how to shape the ball not only saves strokes, it also dictates strategy when playing. Remember, in golf strategy is all about controlling the ball and hitting your targets, whether you have a high golf handicap or a low one.

Copyright (c) 2007 Jack Moorehous

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. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

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