Welcome to the wonderful world of kids golf.
I'm Gabby Gator and I'll be your host for this tape about one of the world's greatest
games.
And that's because golf is a sport for everyone.
It doesn't matter how big you are, if you're a boy or a girl, or how old you are.
Golf is a game of a lifetime and it's for kids of all ages.
You don't have to have a partner to play.
Golf is one sport you can enjoy just by yourself or with friends.
Golf is a game of incredible power.
The ball travels further and faster than any other sport, but there are other times when
a player needs delicate finesse and plenty of careful precision.
Golf has all the ingredients of a terrific sport and it can be enjoyed at any level.
Whether you're just a beginner or competing on the PGA Tour, you can take part in the
same excitement of golf that has touched millions.
The growth of golf has recently exploded and the huge popularity of the Pro Tour reflects
this.
Here's my pal, Wally Armstrong, who has played in over 300 professional tournaments.
But one of his favorite things is teaching golf to junior players.
He and his son, Scott, give fun and unique clinics across America that effectively teach
the feel and technique for good golf.
Now, Wally and Scott have brought their teaching methods to this videotape.
Together, they'll cover checkpoints that will graphically show you a simple approach
to golf.
They'll also show you how golf is similar to other sports.
This makes learning fun and easy to remember.
But most important is that you watch this with a friend or a family member, because
what this tape is all about is learning about the game of golf together.
Now let's meet the stars of our show, and away we go.
Hi, I'm Wally Armstrong, and this is my son, Scott, and we're excited about being
here with you today, because we really enjoy playing golf together.
And we help each other in golf, don't we, Scott?
Yep.
It's a lot of fun.
We're excited about teaching you some of the fundamentals of golf that I've learned and
I've been able to teach Scott.
But first, we need to teach you some of the terms that we're going to be using today in
our instruction.
Golf really isn't a very complicated game, and we're going to cover a few of the terms
that every golfer should know.
Scott's going to show you some different clubs, first of all.
This is the putter that you use on the putting green.
From the way his club faces, you can tell that Scott is a left-handed player.
This is the driver that you use on the tee.
Sometimes these clubs are made out of metal.
Sometimes they're made out of wood.
And this is the iron, it's made out of iron.
That's right.
And tell us the parts about the club, Scott.
Okay.
This is the grip, this is the shaft, this is the face that has the lines on it.
That's right.
And this is the toe, this is the leading edge, and this is the nozzle.
The hosel.
The hosel.
Almost.
That's great, Scott.
Why don't you sit down now, and I'll talk about loft.
They're all different numbered clubs, and all the clubs in the bag have different lofts.
This one doesn't have very much loft.
This is a two-iron.
And a ball that strikes this face is going to go off on a very low trajectory, low to
the ground.
It's going to go out pretty far.
And then we have other clubs that have very steep faces, or a lot of loft, like this pitching
wedge.
And you can see that the ball striking this face is going to go up very high and go a
very short distance.
Very interesting.
Here's two more terms that you need to become familiar with.
Scott, grab your club there.
We're going to talk about the target side of the golf swing.
And that means the side that's closest to the target.
For me, as a right-handed player, it means my left hand, my left forearm, my shoulder,
and my hip.
But for Scott as a lefty, it means his right hand.
His forearm, his shoulder, and his right side.
The other term is called the trail side, and that means the side that's farthest away from
the target, or the behind side, or the back side.
For me, it's my right hand, my right forearm, and shoulder, and hip.
And for Scott, it's his left.
Those terms will be repeated over and over during our tape.
But now, here's what we'll be covering in our fundamentals.
In this tape, we'll be taking a simple approach to the game of golf.
We're going to be covering three basics.
The grip, the stance and setup, and the swing.
Good swing, Scott.
And also, some fun tips.
But first, let's go to the key move in the game of golf.
Here we go.
All right.
You know, the game of golf is similar to other sports, and particularly baseball, because
it involves the swinging of the hand and arm back and through, around the body, and through
to first base.
And you can see it from when I stand this way, my arm swings around my body, and then
back in kind of a circular motion, and then through to first base.
That's what makes golf exciting, because it's like other sports.
And even like the racquetball sports, like tennis and racquetball, where you make a weight
shift back in a pivot, the hand swings back around the body, through the ball, and onto
the target.
Watch this now.
Back around, the wrist cocks, the weight shifts, the hands drop, and you knock it right over
the net.
That's what we're going to be talking about in this tape.
And another thing that you've all done, I'm sure, is skipping a rock on a lake.
And this is the move that we're going to be going over all through this tape to show
you the most important move in the game of golf is that of feeling like you're skipping
a rock.
Skipping a rock is a move that you really don't have to think about, and after just
doing it a few times, you pick it up.
The arm swings back, the weight shifts to the back leg, the arm swings forward, and
you skip it right on the lake.
And I'll just skip a few stones now to show you that move.
You notice how the body flows.
You notice how my arm swings back and my weight shifts forward, the elbow drops, and there's
just a simple flow of motion, just like a golf swing.
Now if I get real stiff and rigid, I can't skip the rock at all.
There's just a few things that you don't want to do when you're skipping a rock.
And these really are the same things in golf.
You can't have a real stiff wrist.
It has to be relaxed.
And one of the most important things in skipping a rock is you can't have the stone or the
rock up in your palm, but it has to be in the fingers to where the wrist can work back
and through to skip it on that lake.
Now another thing that's very important is you have to make a weight shift back.
What if you kept all your weight over here and you tried to skip a rock?
You just couldn't do it, could you?
So you have to make a weight shift going back.
And another thing is you need to keep your head nice and still.
What if when I swing my arm back I move my head back and I try to skip a rock?
It's just not going to work because you're going to throw it way up above the water.
So when you're making that move to skip a rock, your head stays nice and still as you
swing your arm back and through to skip a rock.
Now one of the most important things in skipping a rock and also in golf is that the hands
don't start back down from the top.
That you let your elbow drop on the way down as you come into the ball.
Now I'll skip two rocks to show you exactly what it looks like.
That was a good one.
Now we'll do a split screen where I'll show you on one half of the screen the motion of
skipping a rock and on the other half of the screen I'll hit a golf ball from the same
position.
I can't wait to see this.
The two really are similar.
Let's watch it again in slow motion.
Notice how his weight naturally shifts back to the trail side.
Remember keep the head still.
You can move it a little but not a lot.
On the downswing the weight naturally moves to the target side.
From this angle you can see how Wally's arms and hands swing around his body in a circular
fashion just like in baseball and racquetball.
Skipping a rock teaches us fluid motion.
Of course in golf we use two arms where the target arm pulls and leads the way.
On this shot watch Scott's arms and hands on the downswing.
You'll see that the target arm pulls through and leads the way as the trail elbow falls
and follows along behind.
Here's the same smooth motion.
Notice how he doesn't force it with his hand.
The trail elbow leads and the hands fall.
Now it's your turn to take part.
Get your hands on the golf club and follow along as together we learn how to place our
hands on the golf club correctly.
This isn't baseball we're teaching but we're using a baseball bat to show the grip in baseball
and how it relates to the grip in golf.
In baseball our target hand is facing at the center field bleachers and our trail hand's
palm is facing there also.
They work together into the ball and knock it out in the center field.
In golf we put our hands on the club in a very similar way.
You can see that as I grip this little practice club that my hands face each other.
The back of my forward hand or my target hand is facing out towards the target.
The palm of my trail hand is facing in the same direction.
If I hold this hand up in this position you can see that it's in an inline position.
The back of my target hand and the face of the club are inline.
They do line up.
You can see that can't you Scott?
Yep.
This angle is inline with this angle.
It's very important to have that in golf.
We can use some yardsticks Scott to illustrate the same principle.
Let's each grab a hold of a yardstick.
Put our hands on there.
Come on in here close so everyone can see.
Let's put our hands on the yardsticks.
You can see that the yardstick is down in my fingers and my hands roll together and
my palms are facing each other.
My target hand, the back of my target hand is facing towards the target.
The palm of my trail hand is facing towards the target.
My hands can work together as a unit from this position.
Also the thumb of my trail hand is on the target side of the yardstick.
Hmm that makes sense.
Now let's see what it looks like on a golf club with our hands in that same position.
Okay, let's grab a hold of the club now.
You can see that our hands are lined up and they're both in an inline position.
Also the club should be down in the fingers of your hand, not up in the palm.
Remember what we said about skipping a rock, how difficult it was to skip a rock when the
rock is up in the palm?
That's what the difference is between gripping a golf club and a baseball bat.
With a bat, the bat was up in our palm.
But in golf the club rests down in the fingers.
The hands roll together.
Look how they fit together.
Now they can work together as a unit.
Roll it together now, good, good.
It's essential that the target hand is put on the club in the correct position.
The club should be placed in the fingers and then the hand rolls over on top of the club.
Be sure that the pad on the top of the target hand is on top of the club and not on the
side.
That's interesting.
I never knew that.
And the right hand or the trail hand covers up the target thumb.
The thumb of the trail hand stays on the target side of the shaft.
It shouldn't be on the back because that would open up your grip.
Another thing that's important is that the thumb of the target hand fits in this little
pocket that's formed by the lifeline of your trail hand.
I see, amazing.
Another thing that's very important is the fingers need to be up close to each other.
Be sure that the fingers stay together.
The thumb and forefinger on both hands stay firm against each other.
You don't want gaps in your fingers as you grip a hold of the club.
Now I'm going to show you from behind my shoulder the way that it really looks.
You can see that my thumb and forefinger on both hands are together.
I'm going to draw on my hands right now question marks.
This is a backwards one and on this hand I'm going to draw one.
And that's the way it should look when you take your right grip.
Your hands should fit together and you should see those question marks gripping right around
the club.
How does that look?
Great.
There's no question about it.
I want to talk real quickly about the three kinds of grips.
There's the baseball grip where all ten fingers are on the club.
There's the overlap and that's where the pinky of the trail hand just kind of laps over the
forefinger of the target hand.
And then there's the interlock grip and that's where these two fingers just lock together.
I would recommend the ten finger for beginning golfers because it gives you the feeling of
your club resting in the fingers of the hands.
Ready draw.
Got you Scott.
That move shows the correct movement of the wrists in golf because the wrists are designed
to move this way and very often in golf wrists end up flopping back and forth.
You're just not going to be able to hit the ball in that position.
The wrists cock up and form a 90 degree angle if they're cocked in the right position.
That's the position you want to be at the top.
To practice that you should be able to get the correct grip and hinge the wrists up in
this position so that there's a 90 degree angle between the arm and the hands and the
shaft of the club.
This is the way the arms and the hands work as the club goes back to the top.
The wrists will hinge as the club is put in the different positions throughout the swing.
Here you can see that a good grip allows Wally's wrists to hinge correctly throughout the swing.
Now let's review the essential points that will help you get the feel for a good grip.
Here's a good way to take hold of the club.
With a target hand grab it as if you're shaking hands.
Then with the trail hand place the fingers on the grip and roll the hand onto the club.
The target hand thumb fits in the pocket of the trail hand and the hands roll together.
The palms of the hands face each other and you'll always remember that by the feel you
get from gripping a yardstick and fit those fingers snugly together, not loose and open
as shown on the right.
Uh oh, don't grip the club too hard as if you're going to strangle it.
Just give it a firm and even pressure with both hands throughout the swing.
You should be able to comfortably lift the club to a 90 degree angle.
That means the hands are able to hinge and form the proper L shape between the club and
the arms throughout the swing.
Once we've got a good grip we're ready to address the ball.
And this section starts with my favorite illustration, watch and you'll see why.
Swimmers, take your mark.
Here comes lunch.
My dad, he'll do anything to embarrass me.
Are you dry yet?
Dry?
He's lucky to have gotten away alive.
It's real important to understand the golf swing and the stance in golf that you keep
your weight forward on your toes, kind of like in swimming when you're going off those
blocks you want to keep your weight forward but not way on your toes but you sure don't
want to have it back on your heels.
Same thing in another sport, like football, you know you're a linebacker for the Eagles,
it's real important as a linebacker that you keep your weight forward on the balls of your
feet so you're ready to move and tackle those halfbacks when they come through the line.
You sure can't play back on your heels because you'll get knocked right on the back of your
lap every time.
Same way in basketball, if you're a guard in basketball you've got to be able to move
and go after that ball and make those shots.
It's real important in golf that you're able to have good balance and you're able to move
back and forth, kind of like a gorilla, the way he stands is the way your arms are supposed
to hang in golf.
Now you don't want your back slumped way over, you want it up pretty straight but you want
to kind of bow to the ball and make your knees bend just a little bit.
Balance is key in the stance and now we're going to go over and work on our alignment.
When we're talking about alignment Scott we're concerned with the ball and the target but
before we get into that I want to cover just a couple more things about stance, particularly
where the ball is positioned in the stance.
Most of the irons will be played in the middle of the stance, you don't want to play the
ball up too far forward or play the ball too far back.
Now with a wood you will play the ball up forward.
Another thing that's very important is the width of your stance, you don't want your
feet too wide and you don't want them too narrow, you want them approximately the width
of your shoulders.
When you're addressing the ball remember to bow to the ball and don't get too far back
on your heels.
The end of the club should be approximately a fist away from your body.
You don't want to reach way out and you don't want your hands in real close to your body.
Just in a natural way, letting the arms hang down, letting your knees just crease a little
bit.
Another thing that's very important is that you remember that as you take your grip and
address the ball that your trailing hand goes down below your target hand.
That means that your shoulder is going to have a little bit of a tilt to it.
Now this is something that you don't want to exaggerate but you just want it to be natural
so that as you take your grip your shoulders tilt just a little bit as your trail hand
goes down below your target hand.
And now let's get into lining up.
The most important thing in lining up is that you draw an imaginary line back from the pin
through the ball and into infinity.
See that line in your mind and come into the ball, place the face of the club along that
line straight at your target and then line your feet up.
That means the line of your feet parallel to that target line.
Your knees and your shoulders and your whole body lines up parallel and left of the target.
We don't want to be in this position or you don't want to be too open but parallel to
the line.
Now Scott why don't you tee one up and we'll both hit one up to the target and work on
our alignment.
This is great seeing how they work together, what a team.
Let's try it and see what it looks like together Scott.
Come from behind the ball, come up to the ball, put the face at the target, take your
stance parallel to the target.
That looks good Scott, let me check you now.
You notice Scott's toes are parallel to the target line and his knees and his shoulders.
That's a perfect position.
One way you can check yourself is by doing this when you're playing on the course with
a friend.
You can check them out by putting the club across their toes, knees and shoulders to
check it out.
A good way to practice is just to lay a club down on the ground parallel to your target
line and practice that way.
I'll have to try that.
Hold that position now Scott and let's work on hitting them right up at the hole.
The face is straight, our body is parallel to that target line, now let's knock them
on the green.
Boy those look awful good.
Alright perfect shot.
Let's cover once again the proper field during the set up.
Having good balance is crucial.
A swimmer on the starting block can't have her weight too far back or too far forward.
It's the same in golf.
The weight is even on both feet and slightly toward the balls of the feet.
Try to just bow to the ball from the waist.
The arms hang naturally and the knees are slightly bent.
The ball is placed in the middle of the stance for most of the irons and further forward
in the stance for the longer irons and the woods.
The feet are shoulder width apart and the shoulders tilt because the trail hand is below
the target hand.
This position is different from baseball where a hitter's shoulders are square.
Now to alignment.
Just remember four simple points.
First visualize that imaginary target line from the pin back through the ball.
Second place the club face on that line.
Third line up your feet, knees and shoulders parallel to that target line.
And fourth swing in the direction of the target.
Use this simple method on every shot because good alignment is critical.
I've got a grip that looks like a pro.
My setup feels good and ready to go.
So let's start the swing and let it flow.
All right, let's see if I can do this again.
Bingo.
What am I going to tell your mother, Scott?
Thanks Ralph.
You know the handoff in football is very similar to the takeaway in golf.
It's a simple turning of the shoulders, the arms swing back and I hand the football off
and that's the same move that you do in golf.
Turn away, making the backswing.
Remember this simple move because it's a very important thing as we now get into the swinging
of the club back and through the ball.
And now we're going to talk about the golf swing itself, particularly the pattern of
the golf swing, how to swing the club back and through in the correct way.
And to do that, I'm going to draw a happy face on my club.
You can see that this little guy is looking right up towards the top of the club and I'm
going to draw an arrow right out on the toe of the club.
And we're going to use these to really teach the feel and the pattern of the swing.
Now let me do your club, Scott, okay?
Come on.
Why?
I hate when he does his thing close.
Okay, here we go.
Here's how we use the happy face in the backswing.
As you address the ball, you simply place that happy guy right behind the ball and the
arrow is pointing out away from the ball and then we use the football drill to turn back
halfway.
In this position, the happy face is smiling right at you and the arrow points straight
up in the sky.
Now it's very important to get into this position.
When you turn back, you don't want him looking down at the ground and the arrow pointing
out that way away from you and you don't want him to go back and look up in the sky and
the arrow pointing way over your trail shoulder.
Very important, as you turn back using that football handoff drill, he's pointing right
at you.
The toe and the arrow are pointing straight up at the sky.
Now when you get to this position, the arrow goes straight up and goes around and points
right at the target.
That puts your wrist in a perfect cock position in order to make that downswing into the ball.
And this is a great way to have someone check your swing to see if you're in the right position
on your backswing.
That's what it's all about, learning to make the backswing and getting the club in the
right position.
Come on over and I'm going to tee up a ball for you and we're both going to go through
this drill together.
Now address that ball and I'll address mine.
Put the happy face right behind him, looking right up at you.
Now let's do the football drill back, halfway, great, how does my face look?
That looks good.
Toes up, arrows pointing in the sky, yours looks great too.
Alright now let's pull it up, arrow up in the sky and around pointing right at the hole.
That looks perfect Scott.
Of course when you're playing on the golf course, you can't look back at the face of
the club on your backswing to get it in the right position, so you need to develop some
kind of feel.
I use a sledgehammer to illustrate that move and to give you that feel and that's by simply
taking it back, it's a heavy weight, swinging it halfway back just like we did in the football
turn, then up to the top and the hands set underneath the shaft.
If they're not in a correct position, the weight of the sledgehammer will pull them
off to the side and from this position it's going to be very difficult to make that downswing,
almost impossible.
To give you another view of it, I'll turn to the side, turn back, toe up and the hands
fold right underneath the shaft of the sledgehammer.
You can see how my hands are supporting that weight and you can also see when I turn them
to the side, how I've got no support of the club and this is disaster.
We've talked about the feel of the arms swinging back in the position at the top, but one thing
we need to talk about is the feeling of the body as we go back into the backswing.
It's very important to develop a coil in your body, a coiling motion that as you swing back
your body coils as if there's a giant car spring embedded within your body and your
back at the top will be pointing right to the hole.
Then you're ready to spring back into the ball and knock it out there a mile.
Now that we've talked about how to get to the top of our backswing, let's talk about
how to get down and through the ball and complete the swing.
Well that's simple, we've already talked about that, it's simply skipping a rock.
Starting our weight shift, our hands fall swinging through the ball and the key is to
let the toe of the club come up on the target side of the swing.
You see on our backswing we've let the toe come up and now on the forward swing we gradually
let our hands release and they do this just naturally through the ball and the toe swings
up and points right up at the sky on the target side.
But the real feel that we want to have is that move of skipping a rock through the ball.
One thing you want to be careful of and that's that you don't use your legs too hard.
You want to simply walk over to your left side just like you're going to walk down the
fairway as simple as this.
Lying it together now, toe up at the hole, skip a rock through, toe up and we finish
the golf swing.
Thanks Scott.
We're going to use this 2x4 to show the correct move through the ball.
Just one more illustration that's going to show you how to make the correct swing.
One thing you don't want to do when you're swinging through the ball is to try to scoop
the ball up in the air.
If I were to hit this ball and try to scoop it up in the air, you know I would hit the
leading edge of the club into the board in that position which is totally wrong.
Remember we covered earlier that every club has a specific loft to give us the desired
distance and so when you swing down at the ball you want to go ahead and hit down and
through the ball.
Let your hands just release in a natural way.
And if they do, that club is going to roll through and it's going to hit the board in
that position.
This motion starts as the hands fall.
Just like when we were skipping a rock, the wrist starts back here flicking through.
And in golf as the hands fall, the hands turn over, the club head rolls through the ball
and the toe of the club should strike the board in that position.
Very important to see that to get that flow of motion, the natural releasing of the hands
through and the toe hitting the board.
Let the club do the work for you.
You don't have to force it and you'll hit that ball so much better.
Okay Scott, let's hit a couple of balls now.
Wait a minute, I want to show you a new trick I learned.
Holy sucks, how in the world did you do that Scott?
When practicing with a friend, check each other for proper positions throughout the
swing.
Have some fun and draw happy faces on your clubs too.
Then remember, it all starts off with a simple football handoff move.
This simple motion puts the club in the toe up position.
Now you can smile right back at that happy guy because the arrow is pointing straight
up into the sky.
Then keep that arrow moving straight up and allow the wrist to break.
At the top, the club will become parallel to the ground.
Now we have the feel of a sledgehammer in our hands and in order to support that heavy
weight, the hands must set underneath the club.
On the right, the hands are in the wrong position and are unable to support the club.
When you're working together, this is a good angle to check each other from.
When you're at the top, you have lots of power stored up, just ready to be released.
The shoulders are turned and the back is facing the target, thus giving the upper body a feeling
of being coiled just like a giant spring that has been tightened and is ready to unwind.
Watch it again.
Now he's ready to spring back into the ball.
From there, we simply skip a rock.
The legs start to move forward.
The weight shifts to the target side.
Let's see it again.
The target arm pulls and the trail elbow falls as the hands follow.
Then the hands naturally release through the ball and into a toe up position.
Notice how the trail foot finishes on the toe.
This is the correct position.
Just remember, hold the pose up on the toe.
Regularly, check yourself with a friend or a parent for the proper positioning throughout
the swing.
This will help you avoid bad habits.
But it's also important that when you focus on these checkpoints, that you do it mainly
while you're on the practice range.
When you're on the golf course, concentrate on letting your swing flow and always maintaining
that natural fluid feeling of skipping a rock.
Wally and Scott have an illustration to help you always remember this.
I'm back on my bridge again to illustrate a point about being relaxed when you swing.
As you can see, Scott's walking across this plank and he's very relaxed.
Imagine him being up on top of a 10-story building.
It would add a little bit of nervousness to him and he might just really start focusing
on what he's doing rather than just naturally following the plank along.
In the game of golf, that's very important.
When you swing at the ball and through to the target, you don't want to focus in on
the ball and on the mechanics of the swing, but you just want to make your swing just
naturally flow back and through in the direction of your target.
That's going to help you hit the ball with a lot less effort.
That was a great tip to help our mental approach toward golf.
Now Wally and Scott have some tips designed to reinforce the concepts we learned about
the swing.
Okay, the grip looks right, the stance feels good.
All right.
This golf ball that they've got out I know is really going to hit it a long way.
Stand back.
I hope that wasn't a new ball.
You know, for a little guy, I sure hit the ball a long way sometimes and that's because
I've learned to release the club, but it's the tempo that does that and the centrifugal
force of the club going through the ball is what we call in golf the release.
One way you can practice that is by taking a club and holding it just below the club
head and swinging it back and forth, generating a swinging motion.
The club will release at the bottom and try to make that swish go right at the bottom
of the swing and that's how you develop that power.
Maybe you can even knock buildings down with a single shot.
A common problem that I see on the golf course is people picking the club up right away from
the ball.
Of course, this mop is real light right now and I can do it very easily, but if I get
it wet, it'll make me get the feeling of taking the club back around the right way.
Scott, would you get this wet for me?
I can't wait to see this one.
Thanks, Scott.
Oh boy, is that heavy.
You see, I can't break my wrist on this one and pick it up.
I have to start the weight of the mop swinging back and then around to the top.
And that's the feeling you should have when you swing a golf club back, turning and letting
the weight of the club swing you around.
Notice how Wally doesn't pick the club up, but he allows the weight of the club, as if
it were a heavy mop, to swing him back and around to the top.
Get a wet mop or a club head weight and try this one yourself.
They say a picture's worth a thousand words and I'm going to paint one for you right now.
By the use of this broom, I'm going to show you how the forward swing is a mirror of the
backward swing.
On the back swing, the target arm straightens out and the trail arm stays relaxed and bent.
And then as we go through the ball, the trail arm straightens out and the target arm relaxes.
Therefore, you have a perfect mirroring of the forward swing with the backward swing.
I'll show it to you one more time.
And that's the way you hit the golf ball.
Let's see if that's true.
On the back swing, Scott's target arm straightens and the trail arm stays relaxed.
On the forward swing, his trail arm is now straight and the target arm is relaxed.
Gee, that makes it easy to remember the correct positioning of the arms every time we swing.
When a good batter comes to the plate, he tries to get himself comfortable and relaxed.
Scott is demonstrating how this movement helps the batter prepare to make a smooth and fluid
motion when he hits the ball.
This movement is called a waggle.
In golf, the waggle can help you relax over the golf ball as well.
It's like a tiny practice swing, just a little movement to help you get comfortable and ready
for a fluid full swing.
Try it and see if it helps you to swing easier too.
Remember, don't try to scoop the ball up in the air.
Clubs are designed to hit down on the ball and take a divot.
Now, the divot is formed in front of the ball, not behind the ball.
Having a piece of string on the ground in front of a ball will help you to learn how
to take a divot and hit down in the correct manner.
Lay the string about a half of an inch in front of the ball, address the ball, and make
your normal swing.
Hit the ball and then the string.
This one's definitely a scoop, hitting before the ball into the ground and missing the string
altogether.
Watch here again.
The divot is formed after the ball as it picks up the string and not before the ball.
Wally uses some pretty unusual props to teach golf, but they sure help me remember the lessons.
Let's take what we've learned and fit it together for our instructional wrap-up.
Now we're ready for a simple review of the key points of the golf swing.
Just like in skipping a rock, the arm swings back and around the body and the weight shifts
to the trail side.
Then the legs start the downswing flow of movement.
The trail elbow leads the hand as they fall and then release through.
When addressing the ball, we stand with our weight distributed equally on both feet and
slightly toward the balls of our feet so we have good balance.
A little waggle will help you get comfortable.
Then take it back as if you have a heavy mop.
This first move is just like a football handoff.
In this position, the toe of the club is up and then continues to move up to this position.
Now the club is about parallel to the ground and the hands are underneath the club, supporting
it as if it were a heavy sledgehammer.
As his back is facing the target and the upper body is coiled and ready to unwind.
Then Wally skips a rock.
The hands release through the ball as if the toe of the club hits a board.
Then the toe will naturally come up, which is a mirror of the same position in the backswing
and through to the top.
Work on these positions while at a practice range with a friend or in front of a mirror.
This will develop the feel you need so you'll have a natural swing when you play.
When you get out on the course, it will look and feel like this.
And that is when golf really becomes fun.
Boy, this instruction has been great.
I can't wait to get out and play and try what I've learned from Wally and Scott.
I know you'll be excited to try them too.
Wally and Scott are also very active with some national junior golf programs.
These programs provide junior golf schools, clinics and tournaments throughout the country.
Wally and Scott would be delighted to help you get involved as well.
To find out how, write to Wally and Scott Armstrong, Post Office Box, 1911, Maitland,
Florida, 32751.
We hope that you've enjoyed watching this tape as much as we've enjoyed doing it.
And I would encourage you to watch it over and over again and watch it with a friend
or with your parents.
Check up those fundamentals and go out and try them.
You may even want to rent a video camera or borrow one from a friend to check yourself
out.
So until the next time that we see you, may God bless you and may you always hit it right
down the middle.
Well, Scott, it looks like I'm right up by the pin.
Polish that one off out in the trap.
Well, I've had a lot of fun hosting this instructional tape.
I sure learned a lot and hope you did too.
And don't forget that a video tape should not be a substitute for the excellent teaching
you can receive from a local PGA golf professional.
He can really help you with your game.
So friends, this is Gabby Gator saying goodbye for now.
But be sure to keep an eye out for our next golf instructional video.
Goodbye.
Thank you.