When it comes to striking your golf ball successfully, one of the best techniques is the proper foundation of a quality golf education. You'll want to implement a simple, but effective routine that you can perform exactly the same, over and over again. Every time you step up and address your shot, you'll want the elements to fall into place, almost unconsciously.

Following are 12 steps, that when performed precisely and in succession, should lead you to orderly golf shots every time:

What the hell is a plumb bob? It's a tool used most commonly in carpentry to ensure something is vertical. In its basic form it’s just a weight attached to a string… when it comes to golf however, you see many players using their putter for this purpose. The plumb-bob technique has mixed feelings with golf professionals, some swear by it, some think it's useless and others think it’s a joke. I’ll leave you be to make your own judgments... here's how to do it properly:

 

Almost everyone relishes an uphill lie, especially when we have a fairway wood in our hands -it's one of the easiest lies to hit from. This shot does require some adjustments however, to ensure solid contact and consistency. Here are some basic tips for hitting from grass on an upslope:

 

The bladed wedge is a little known short game shot that’s very effective from a difficult situation. When your ball comes to rest on the fringe and right up against the collar of the rough surrounding the green. This particular situation makes any type of normal chip shot a for-sure chunk, and any play with a putter usually ends of topped. This is where the bladed wedge comes in… the leading edge of the wedge can sift through the grass and make contact with the equator of the ball much more effectively then either of the other shots. Here’s how to do it.

The same techniques that help the pros get out of knee-high hay and scraggly plugged lies in deep grass will help the average player as well. Listen up and take some of these tips to the course the next time you find yourself in the deep stuff.

Choke Down and Tighten Your Grip

Control of the club is imperative in the deep rough. Having to swing through all that grass will twist and move your club as it comes into impact. For added control, tighten your grip pressure and choke down on the club.

 

Some of the toughest shots to learn how to perform properly are those from sidehill lies.  There are many compensations you must make to ensure you keep your ball on the proper line.  Take a look below at the 5 essential steps needed to hit balls that lie above your feet, and learn the fundamentals that will help you on all sorts of lies out on the course.

The Stack & Tilt swing has been a popular new swing method as of late on tour. The stack & tilt swing’s identifying feature can be seen in the weight-shift. Stack & tilt swingers, don’t shift their weight back and forth on their backswing and downswing as much as a conventional swing. By keeping their weight centered or favouring their front leg throughout their swing, they can better control their impact position. With this in mind, here are five steps to a solid stack & tilt swing.

 

Step One: Centered Address

First – we need to get you stacked over the ball. To do this properly, you need align your spine so it is straight and upright. Imagine two points, one in the middle of both your shoulders, and the other between your hips. Align these points with your grip – and then your spine should be straight. Your body weight should be close to 50/50, if anything leaning slightly on your front leg (I apologize for the slightly off-center picture).

 

Step Two: Backswing: Lead Shoulder Down, Trailing Hip Back

The main goal is to keep your spine over the ball throughout the swing. This becomes difficult on the backswing, but there is a simple mental thought that will help: lead shoulder down, trailing hip back. When you swing back, your lead shoulder needs to drop down and point towards the ball – while doing this, your trailing hip must rotate back to create some torque. These two moves, will force your lead knee to bend, and your swing path to move (when compared to the conventional swing) quite inside. At the top your spine should be leaning slightly forward.

 

Course architects and average golfers are fed up with these 7800 yard monstrosities that are needed just to compete with the advances in club and ball design. On tour, the players agree – few courses have stood the test of time. But of those few, they all have one thing in common. They are placement courses, that force you to place your shots well, and they penalize you severely if you do not. Fairway bunkers are one way of creating a risk reward situation off the tee. For most players, hitting their tee-shot into a fairway bunker tends to be a death sentence – with some practice though, this doesn’t have to be the case.

Fundamentals

First things first, a bunker shot cannot be played the same way as a fairway shot. From the fairway, you should be trapping the ball against the turf as your swing arc bottoms out slightly after the ball. If you try this in a bunker, you’ll chunk it… badly. You cannot “trap” a ball in the sand, as doing this will just force the ball and your club deeper into the sand, slowing your swing dramatically, and stealing all your power. With that said, you have to literally “pick the ball off the sand”. Here's how…

 

The Bump & Run is a very useful type of chip. It can be used from pretty much anywhere, with any club, and is also very simple to perform. This shot is very much like a putt, the only difference being it’s with an iron. The idea is to get the ball to fly over the rough, land on the green, and roll the rest of the way to the hole. The key to this shot is to swing with your arms and shoulders, and not break your wrists. Taking the wrists out of the chipping equation is very useful; it greatly reduces your chances of messing the shot up.

The trick to performing this shot correctly is the positioning of your wrists. From address to the follow-through your wrists should stay ahead of the clubhead. We call this position a forward press, and using it for this shot will greatly improve your chances of hitting a solid shot. Say goodbye to chunks, skulls and fluffed shots due to a wristy stroke.