The post John Daly has brilliantly simple advice for fixing your bad golf shots appeared first on Golf.

The post John Daly has brilliantly simple advice for fixing your bad golf shots appeared first on Golf.

John Daly has one of my favorite swings in all of golf. Golfers tend to focus on on his extra-long backswing (which is, admittedly, very awesome), but I like Daly’s golf swing for another reason: it’s so simple. He sets up with textbook fundamentals, and thinks of nothing other than turning back freely, and swinging hard. It’s a brilliant reminder of how simple the golf swing can, and maybe should, be.

And when things do get off, Daly uses a series of simple solutions to get everything back on track. Things like hitting a bunch of balls with only his left arm, which helps him control the clubface and improves his rhythm.

I was reminded of another of Daly’s simple golf swing solutions this week, when the PGA Tour Champions posted this video from 2018 featuring Daly alongside his son John Jr., who will tee it up at the PNC Father-Son Challenge later this year. In the video John Jr., who has a pretty epic golf swing himself, is working on hitting a draw, which John Sr. says is as simple as altering your ball-position. When John Jr. wants to hit more of a draw, John Sr. tells him to simply move it further up in his stance.

“The more the ball is up [in your stance], the more the clubface should be rotating right to left, which makes you hit it further left,” Daly says.

Your ball position is so important that it can solve all sorts of issues, both directional and when it comes to contact.

“Always check your ball position. If you’re hitting it fat or too far behind it, just move it one way or the other so you don’t. Just make it simple,” Daly says. “Even in Little John’s young age, he knows where that ball’s got to be.”

Watch the full video below…

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The post This 439-yard super-bomber has golfers freaking out—here’s how he does it appeared first on Golf.

The post This 439-yard super-bomber has golfers freaking out—here’s how he does it appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Play Smart, a new game-improvement column that drops every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Director of Game Improvement content Luke Kerr-Dineen to help you play smarter, better golf.

Last week, many golf fans were introduced to golf’s newest bomber: Wilco Nienaber, a 20-year-old from South Africa. When Nienaber turned pro last year, he immediately vaulted to the top of the European Tour’s driving average with a whopping 341-yard average (which is 40 yards longer than the tour average!). At the Joburg Open last week, he smashed a mind-boggling 439 yard average en-route to a second place finish, shooting rounds of 63-67-67-70.

But what’s perhaps most amazing of all isn’t his speed itself, but the fact that his speed looks so smooth. Effortless, even.

If that alone didn’t convince you to buy-up some Wilco Neinaber stock, let’s take a quick look at some of the reasons why Ninaber is able to hit the ball so far, and why we’re going to hear his name a whole lot more moving forward.

1. A new generation of athlete

Speaking on the Drop Zone podcast shortly after his win at Winged Foot, Bryson DeChambeau made a prediction that I think is simple fact: That the kind of bigger, taller, stronger athletes that had been funneled to sports like football and basketball are starting to flood into golf. It’s only a matter of time before we’re seeing 6’7″ athletes on the PGA Tour, he says, which is why DeChambeau so fervently wishes he was taller himself.

Nienaber isn’t 6’7″, but it’s plain for all to see that he’s an elite-level athlete. He stands 6’2″ with long, powerful legs and not an ounce of fat, the prototype for golf’s new wave of athletes with extra biological tools.

2. Huge upper body turn

As for how he uses his body; one of the key elements golfers should focus on is how wide his backswing “arc” is. There’s no hint of cheating his backswing turn by collapsing his trail arm — one of the most common “golf swing killers.” His arms are stretched far away from his body, which helps him make a huge shoulder turn. That lengthens his hand path, which is a scientifically-proven way of boosting your swing speed, and allows him to unleash into the ball.

3. He uses the ground

On the downswing, notice how Nienaber launches up off the ground through the ball. He coils into the ground on the backswing, and then pushes up off the ground helps on the downswing. That squat-jump motion helps him whip his club through the ball.

4. There’s more speed in the tank

If you caught Nienaber’s Trackman round from a few months back, you may have been struck by how much speed the South African has in the tank if he wants it. He’s a bit like Tony Finau in that regard; he pretty much cruises at 193 mph ball speed hitting a spinny fade, but can crank up the heat in a hurry when he wants to. It’s a gear not many other golfers have, but one we’ll likely see more of from Nienaber in the future.

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The post WATCH: LPGA Tour player swings and misses with driver appeared first on Golf.

The post WATCH: LPGA Tour player swings and misses with driver appeared first on Golf.

Beatriz Recari is an extremely good golfer; she has won three times on the LPGA Tour and represented the European side in the Solheim Cup. But she also has the misfortune of playing a game that can make even its best participants look a bit foolish every now and then.

Recari was already unlikely to make the cut at Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic as she stepped to the 18th tee on Friday, but she had one bit of real excitement left in store.

In the middle of her swing, her foot appeared to slip out on the tee box and she completely missed the ball. We’ve seen whiffs from strange lies or near trees or in your buddy’s weekend foursome, but a whiff with a driver? In an LPGA event? That may be a first.

You can watch the complete swing-and-miss below. Recari played her second shot (yes, the whiff counts as one) and went on to make a double-bogey 6 on the hole. She missed the cut by four shots.

Never seen that in a professional event. Foot slip and complete miss. @LPGA pic.twitter.com/awzG9GYGRO

— Chris (@GolfGuy77) July 7, 2018

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