Charlie King

Essential golf skills of the week: Aim and ball position

I hope the grip and posture review last week was helpful for your golf swing. This week will be a golf lesson on aim and ball position.

The video below will explain how aim isn’t as easy as it sounds and how to make your aim consistent. It will also talk about ball position and clear up the typical misconceptions.

Enjoy and keep up the good work.

Have you let these misconceptions affect your golf swing?

About a year and a half ago I was thinking about what a golf swing would look like if golf’s most common misconceptions were taken literally. I put it on videotape and here is what I came up with.

P.S. You’ve been warned, it is not pretty.

Essential Golf Skills of the Week: Grip and Posture

I think it is important to get a refresher course for our golf swing in our Essential Golf Skills. I am going to highlight them one by one over the next several weeks. I have included two videos:

1. The Introduction to my Seven Essential Skills.

2. Part 1 of the Pre-Swing, Grip and Posture.

The President’s Cup had great shots and great golf in general. These guys are so good at Pre Swing Essentials, it is second nature.

The Grip is where golf starts. Nothing happens until you grip the club. There are three functions of a good grip and the video below will highlight them for you.

Posture is how you bend over to the ball and prepare to swing. There are some keys to posture that will help you in the video as well. Watch the following video and check your current skills against the thoughts in the video and adjust if necessary.

WorldGolf.com readers: If you are a parent of a junior golfer, you NEED Henry Brunton's new book

I am writing a note to you today to alert you to a great new book. My friend Henry Brunton just released his book for junior golfers and their parents titled “Journey to Excellence.”

Henry is the Canadian National Golf Coach and is uniquely qualified to write this book. He has studied peak performance from every angle and has distilled it down to a manageable number of insights for the junior golfer and the parents.

If you have a child, grandchild, niece or nephew, you need this book to help guide them toward their potential. Most parents and grandparents need guidance from someone like Henry who does this for a living. “Journey to Excellence” will keep you from making the mistakes we are seeing so often by well-meaning but uninformed parents and grandparents.

If you have a child, grandchild, niece or nephew, you need this book to help guide them toward their potential.

Dr. Rick Jensen talks about how to reach your golf potential at Reynolds Plantation

On Friday, August 28, nationally recognized performance consultant and sports psychologist Rick Jensen spoke to a packed room at the Reynolds Golf Academy. Jensen, who is a long-time friend, presented his thoughts on “Taking Your Golf Game to the Next Level.” The high-energy talk focused on the importance of learning motor skills the right way - through practice. Jensen warned that learning a swing through the “old rules” of golf would only provide a temporary fix for a long-term problem. The fallacy of traditional teaching lies in trying to mimic a “perfect” swing through studying videos of professionals. Dr. Jensen argued that prescribing to the “new rules” of golf would prove beneficial to a lifetime of improvement. By understanding the essentials of a good swing, and realizing why your swing isn’t working, you create a solid foundation upon which to build a better golf game. And to build motor skills that truly work, you must commit to and embrace one training methodology from one teacher. It is this dedication to practice that will eventually lead to success on the course … the final step in “Taking Your Golf Game to the Next Level.” Dr. Jensen warns that too many times golfers see a tip in a magazine and take it straight to the course, thus skipping the vitally important step of practicing and developing motor skills.

Dr. Rick Jensen is the author of Drive to the Top: 5 Timeless Business Lessons Learned from Golf’s Greatest Champions, and is gratefully credited by King as the man who talked him out of becoming a tour player (he’s very happy as a teacher). Dr. Jensen’s clients have included more than 50 touring pros on the PGA, LPGA, and Champions Tours, plus other champions from Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and tennis pros from the WTA.

Upon arrival at Reynolds Plantation, Jensen remarked, “I’ve traveled through the area many times, and unbelievably never made a stop at Reynolds. This place is incredible. As soon as I made it through the gates, the wheels in my head began turning like crazy. The possibilities of this place!”

Charlie King interviews Canadian national golf coach, Henry Brunton

You may not have heard of Henry Brunton yet, but you should and you will. Henry is a pioneer in the way to set up a program that leads to golfers reaching their potential. He was my expert contributor for the chapter in “New Rules of Golf Instruction” about successful programs.

Henry has just come out with a book worth looking at if you have a junior golfer in your life looking to get better or you want to be the best parent for your child you can be. It’s called “Journey to Excellence” and is available at amazon.com click here. Henry gives you the secrets to the ultra-successful Canadian program that he heads up.

The fruits of Henry’s labor are showing up now with Matt Hill winning the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship and many others coming onto the golf scene. I hope you get insights into Henry’s philosophy from the interview below.

WorldGolf.com Readers: Turn your golf school into a luxury vacation! 2 nights at the Ritz-Carlton on us

Sign up for a 3-Day Golf School at the Reynolds Golf Academy and receive 2 nights at the award-winning Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, FREE!

Choose either our Essentials of Golf School or our Red Zone Short Game School on one of the following 4 weekends:

October 16-18 (Red Zone)
October 23-25 (Essentials)
October 30-November 1 (Red Zone)
November 13-15 (Red Zone)

The Reynolds Golf Academy is located just an hour and 15 minutes from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at Reynolds Plantation, named “Best of the Best” Golf Community by Robb Report.

The free accommodations are valued at up to $798.

Ritz-Carlton

Call 866.443.6742 to sign up. Use the promotional code: GOLF SCHOOL Worldgolf

We look forward to having you join us at the Reynolds Golf Academy and the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation!

WorldGolf.com readers need to know these five physical checkpoints for golf

The physical attributes and limitations each of us has plays a determining factor in the way we most effectively swing a golf club. In The New Rules of Golf Instruction we have a chapter on Golf Fitness and how important it is to your overall success.

Below you will find a video I did recently of the five checkpoints that give golfers and their teachers the information for any adjustments necessary for our golf swing. One size does not fit all. Old Rules Model and Method instruction does not take these physical checkpoints into account. Pass this onto your golfing buddies. They may need to know this.

A Red Zone Putting Tip for WorldGolf.com readers

Don’t just leave the putter face down there to fend for itself. I want you to put your right hand in charge. Picture your right hand as the equivalent of your putter face. Get used to the notion that, if your right hand is pointed toward your intended target at impact, the ball will go in.

Another option: Left hand low. Some players prefer to make their left hand the lower hand on the putter, putting that hand in charge of the stroke.

Either way, your putting stroke will have more authority, and your putts will fall with greater frequency.

My book “Golf’s Red Zone Challenge” has come out as a second edition with added tips and some updated pictures. The golfer’s who follow the program in the book get 70 percent better on average. Go to amazon.com to order the book or call Emily at the Reynolds Golf Academy 706-467-1660.

The Adventures of O.R. Smith #5, the Golf Tips Channel Interview premier for Worldgolf.com

O. R. Smith is interviewed on the Golf Tips Channel after the release of his breakthrough book “The Fool Proof Follow-Through Method.” Apparently a few of the questions hit a nerve.

O. R. starts out strong, but when faced with some push back about his method, he gets irritated. This is a composite of some of the claims of Old Rules method teachers. Download our e-book “The New Rules of Golf Instruction” if you haven’t already done it.

Old Rules Golf Instructor O. R. Smith wants to know: Are You Mental?

The mental side of golf is so essential to success on the golf course. The New Rules of Core Mental Toughness that I wrote with Dr. Rick Jensen are available at NewRulesGolf.com and in the downloadable e-book “The New Rules of Golf Instruction.” The essential mental skills can be learned and get to the true cause of a better mental game. The Old Rules sports psychologists and teachers reel off surface/quick fixes like deep breathing and “be your own best friend.”

Our Old Rules golf instructor O.R. Smith gives a mental lesson to Hank Headcase that can best be described as overwhelming. Watch our newest O. R. Smith segment below.

Golf's true test for distance wedges: The Happy Caddie game

The Happy Caddie game (or Unhappy Caddie if your partner doesn’t hit his pitches well) was first published in Golf’s Red Zone Challenge four years ago, which been released as a second edition a month ago (available at Amazon.com). In this game you have a partner and one ball. You need to find a field or area that allows and you and your partner to hit 20 to 70 yard shots at each other. Your partner is happy when you keep landing the ball at his or her feet each time. The focus that this drill creates is as good as any I’ve seen for wedges.

The idea for this drill came fifteen years ago as I was taking a lesson from Top 100 teacher, Craig Shankland. He told me that the players of his era were more accurate. Watch the following video to hear the rest of the story:

The WorldGolf.com premier of Anger Management

A little over a year ago a spoof golf tip called “The Proper Way to Throw a Club” was posted on Golf.com and became the most viewed video golf tip of all time with 1.9 million views and counting. I’ve waited over a year to release the sequel, “Anger Management - What Happens When the Urge to Break a Club Overtakes You.” We try to keep things light and humorous around here in between serious lessons to improve your golf game. Enjoy and pass it on.

O.R.Smith Gives a Video Analysis That Could Cripple Your Game

In our third installment of “The Adventures of O. R. Smith, Old Rules Instructor", we find O. R. giving his thorough video analysis to Hank Headcase. Please watch to see if you recognize this type of video golf lesson.

Pass this on to your golfing buddies as a cautionary tale.

Essentials Golf Swing Skill No. 7 - Width

This is the last of my 7 Essential Golf Swing Skills to be posted. You will find it below and also at our Golf Lessons and Golf Tips page. For the others, go to www.newrulesgolf.com and click the Full Swing tab.

Width is the distance from the sternum to the grip end of the club. When this distance is maintained throughout the swing, it is the radius of the swing circle. To have a picture in your mind of a circular swing is helpful and leads to consistency. I explain it more in depth in the video below: