The Golf Slice

There’s a lot of science that goes into the construction of a golf ball. Take the dimples on the ball, for instance. The dimples on a golf ball are there to help the ball get lift into the air and to promote spin. It’s similar to how an airplane’s wings are specially built to allow the plane to get lift and get into the air.

Every golf ball has what is called a compression number. This number refers to how tightly packed the contents of the golf ball are inside the shell. So a golf ball with a high compression number will feel much harder on impact than one with a lower number. Typically the numbers range from 80 to 110.

I recently ran into a question over at Yahoo! Answers about the best way to clean a white Nike golf glove.

Now it just so happens I use the same golf glove myself so I feel I’m more than qualified to answer this question.

The best way to clean a white Nike golf glove is to throw it in the trash.

I probably go through at least two golf gloves a season anymore. They’re only $10-$15 and you can usually buy them right at the pro shop at your favorite course.

Most golfers, new or advanced, have much bigger aspects of their game they should be worrying about over the cleanliness of their golf glove. And a lot of them are asking really intelligent questions to help improve their game over at Yahoo! Answers so I suggest everyone heads over there and checks them out.

A lot of golfers are using long putters more and more it seems. Personally, I’m just not a big fan of these longer putters but plenty of people would disagree with me.

The argument for using one of these non-traditional putters is that they allow you to create a more natural, pendulum-like stroke when you’re on the green. I’m so used to my current putting style that I’m leery to make a drastic change like switching to a longer putter.

There are basically two types of these long putters. The typical long putter you see are as long as a normal club and the handle comes up to the golfer’s chest. The newer variety of long putter has the handle come up to about your stomach. The stomach, or belly putter, is becoming the more popular option of the two.

If you’re interested in switching to a longer putter you might want to take a trip to your local sporting goods store and try one out. I bet you’ll know right away whether or not it’s the putter for you.

Shanks are the worst. There’s nothing more embarrassing than having your golf ball rocket away from you at a right angle.

You greatly increase your chance of hitting a shank shot if you stand to close to the golf ball or shift your weight to your left foot before impact. Either of those situations will cause the hosel of the club to hit your ball and produce a shank.

The easy way to avoid these is to setup evenly and make sure there’s about a fist length of space between your grip and your body when you’re holding your golf club.

A lot of people will recommend practice drills with shafts and body placement to cure a shank but I think you’re better off concentrating on how close you are to the ball when you swing. That’s probably the root of the problem the majority of the time.

New golfers tend to have some confusion over whose turn it is or who should go first off the tee.

The general rule is the golfer with the lowest score on the previous hole is the first to tee off. If there’s a tie, then the golfer with the lowest score from two holes ago gets to hit first.

After everyone has teed off, the next player to hit is whomever’s ball landed farthest away from the hole. This rule also applies to putting when everyone has reached the green.

A lot of casual golfers, or people who are hardcore about the game but like to keep things moving along, have a “ready golf” policy. When you’re playing “ready golf” whenever someone is at their ball and ready to hit they swing away. It doesn’t matter if they’re closest to the hole, farthest away or whatever. If they’re ready, they hit and move on.

This is the way my friends and I usually play especially when we’re in a hurry because of a shortness of time or incoming bad weather.

Two of the most popular, or common, causes for penalty strokes are lost golf balls and hitting into an unplayable lie.

Most often these situations both arise when you’ve put your golf ball somewhere in a wooded area. Golf course designers love to put treed areas off to the sides of fairways so be careful when you’re around such conditions. I’ve spent more time than I’d care to admit rooting around the woods looking for lost golf balls. If you can’t find the ball you can go back and hit again and take a penalty.

The unplayable lie is a really good opportunity to strictly follow the rules and be an honest golfer. It’s also a good time to look the other way and cheat a little. Honest golfers will either more the ball two club lengths and take a penalty stroke or go back and hit another shot from their original spot and take the penalty stroke. Dishonest golfers (i.e., everyone I know and play with) will just kick the ball slightly to give it a better lie then hit their shot. The choice is yours to make.

When my friends and I first started to pick up the lovely game of golf we had a really bad problem with hitting topped shots. A topped shot, as the name implies, is when the head of your club doesn’t get under the ball and instead grazes the top of the ball. The result is less than spectacular.

It turns out fixing this problem is relatively easy. All you need to do is keep your head level throughout your swing. When you move your head or lift it up during your swing you have a tendency to top the golf ball.

An easy way to work on this is to have your playing partner watch you while you swing. In our group, everyone yells out in unison “Keep your head down!” whenever someone lifts their head and hits a topped shot.

In all honestly, putting from out of a bunker is going to be an absolutely terrible idea 99.99999999% of the time.

Yet under a very specific set of conditions it might be possible and in your best interest to try and putt your golf ball out of the sand instead of using a wedge.

Here’s my list of rules under which putting out of a bunker will be at least justifiable to the rest of your group:

1. The sand in the bunker is packed and hard. I’m talking cement quality sand.
2. The bunker does not have a lip at its edge.
3. Your golf ball does not have to go across a lot of sand to get out. This is pretty obvious but very important. God did not intend you to putt along sand so make sure the distance your golf ball needs to travel is at a minimum.

Putting out of a bunker is the kind of golf shot you take when you’re relaxed and trying to have a little bit of fun. If you’re trying to shoot your record low for a round or something then please reconsider your bunker putt.