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Hitting the ball from the tee is one of, if not THE, most challenging tasks in golf. Not only is your physical strength tested, but so is your mental ability to focus among the distractions. The tee is where every hole starts – and where you mist hit your first drive. Your ball must be teed between the markers that define the teeing ground’s width. Most courses have at least three sets of tees, and the areas where several sets of tees are grouped together are called tee boxes.

To begin the drive, make sure your ball is positioned off the left instep (if you are right handed). If you tee it up too far back, the ball may pop up into the air because the angle of attack into the ball will be too steep.

Make sure you keep your head behind the ball through the impact of your swing. This will insure an upward strike and will get the most launch and distance.

OK, let’s set the record straight. Nobody has a perfect golf swing. Watch a golf tournament on TV, and you will see a wide variety of swings that each of the pros have decided works best for them. All of them have had instruction some time in their lives, but they all settle on the basics – Grip, Aim and Setup.

The most important way to make your swing more powerful and accurate is to work on making it consistent. If you absolutely know how your swing will work every time, you will plan your shot much better.

Golfers complicate their swing by thinking too much about it. Do your best to get a good, smooth rhythm to your swing. A forward swing is improved when you take your time going back to set up the motion. If it’s too fast, your club and your body will be out of synch and the shot will not be successful. You’ll know right away when it’s too fast – you just won’t feel in synch.

The object is to create speed on the downswing (toward the ball) rather than the backswing. A good backswing starts with the arms. As you bring your club back, your left shoulder and hips should turn naturally to allow weight to transfer to the right side. As your club continues to the peak, your shoulders should continue to turn with the swing.

The object of the downswing is to return the club head to the ball with maximum speed, but keeping it in control at the same time. Don’t swing too hard – this can cause your ball to go anyplace but where you intended it to go.

To finish the golf swing, it needs to be high, not left. It may feel more natural to go to the left, but your club head needs to stay square to the ball, and after impact to create good flight.

Again, the golf swing can become more of a mental action than a physical one. Even the pros feel the pressure of perfecting their swing. The most important thing to remember is that your swing should feel natural, not manufactured. No two golfers have the same swing, so just remember the basics!

If you have flexibility in your muscles, you will have a definite advantage in the game of golf. Not only will you be less sore after walking the three or four miles on an 18-hole course, but, more importantly, your swing will be much more powerful.

The golf swing is a very dynamic movement. You put all of your weight into the rotating action, and it just makes sense to work the muscles in your body to accommodate your soon to be explosive swing.

You don’t need any special equipment to practice golf swing flexibility exercises. You can do them anywhere! Even just doing rotational exercises every day (swinging your arms around and around a few times) will loosen you up enough to assist your swing. For more detail on what types of exercises are recommended for flexibility, ask your golf pro or instructor.

Always remember that the golf swing is a rotational movement, so you should train your body to the goal of rotational strength and flexibility. Increasing your flexibility is the quickest and easiest way to see real results from your golf swing.

It goes without saying that athletes who participate in football, basketball and hockey use weight training to prepare for their grueling sport. But golf? Compared to the others, golf is a much slower paced sport which, at last look, did not have the most muscular players traversing the course.

However, the explosiveness of the golf swing places significant stress on your shoulders, elbows, and wrist joints, and even affects your hip and leg joints. So, if you are not strong in these areas, not only will you probably not hit the ball with all of your desired strength, but you run the risk of injury, as well.

As you achieve higher levels of strength through weight training, you will have more power with less effort expended. Your swing will become much smoother, and you will have more force for longer drives.

You can learn more about weight training exercises from your instructor or golf pro. And keep it up - even when you achieve a high level of muscle conditioning, regular strength training will be needed to maintain performance.

OK, so you may not be Tiger or Anika…yet. But, you can still prepare for your Saturday morning round of golf like the pros do. Imagining that you are preparing for a golf tournament, rather than just a casual game, will be a key to playing your best golf! Here’s how…

Many tournament players start the day with stretching. It warms them up and helps to prevent injuries by loosening their muscles. Stretches may not lower your golf score but they will help you avoid some common injuries, especially as you get older.

The day of the tournament also begins with some time on a practice tee. Before hitting, take two or three clubs from your bag and swing them a few times together. This will also warm you up and prepare your muscles for the day ahead.

Next, get ready to hit a few balls. Start with a wedge to see how your swing is reacting today then, move to an iron. Work on your technique. After a few minutes of this, start hitting the ball. Picture yourself on the course and in a specific situation. Visualize the shot.

Finally, a good game routine includes putting. Find a hole on the practice green that has a slope to it. Then take five balls and spread them in a star pattern around the hole about 3 feet away. Practice putting from this distance. Then move the balls out to 4 feet until you feel comfortable. By using this star pattern, you’ll have a chance to putt a ball in almost any situation you could encounter on the green. Every day, it’s good to spend about 15 minutes practicing your putt.

Who knows – maybe someday you will be ready to play in a tournament yourself. Following this pre-tournament routine will get you ready for the real thing!

Go into any sporting goods or golf pro shop and you will find a myriad of products aimed toward improving your golf game. There are DVDs, books, and lots of equipment you can buy to assist you with your stance, swing and putting.

If you are thinking of purchasing a few training products to increase the finesse of your game, ask yourself these questions:

Where do I need the most help? What are my weaknesses? Chances are very good that once you identify what you need to improve, there will be a product to help.

If your problem is distance and accuracy, a weighted club can give you some help. And they’re not expensive – usually around $20.

The stability ball is a training product that every golfer with a back problem should look into. You can do a lot of stretches with it, and you can deflate it, so it won’t take up a lot of space.

Of course, there’s always the putting green that you can roll out anywhere – even in your office if you want to appear like one of the executives in so many movies!

How much do I have to spend? Training products come in a wide array of choices and price tags to match. Sometimes it’s best to spend your money on an actual game of golf or a day at the driving range than it is to purchase a product for the home.

Will I really use this product? Garages across the country are full of workout equipment. Once you get it home and try it out a couple of times, will it improve your game enough to be worth the money, not to mention the space it will take?

Let’s face it – golf is just as much a mental game as it is a physical one, if not more so. The sport requires you to analyze, be alert and remain logical at all times. You also have to have a certain amount of intuition to play well.

It’s also a sport that requires physical flexibility. There’s no better preparation for both of these stresses – mental and physical – than yoga.

Yoga is a collection of techniques and practices all aimed at integrating your mind and body to achieve a state of enlightenment. If it sounds sorta ‘zen’, that’s because it is! Yoga, through a series of stretches and poses provide you with the opportunity to relax, meditate and become more flexible. All will give you a more centered feeling that will help at home and on the course.

During the yoga sessions, you will learn exercises to help leg strength, upper body strength, body alignment, and strengthening the back, arms and shoulders.

So if you want to improve your game and get into the “zone”, find a yoga class or instructor near you!

Sure, golf is a physical game that requires strength and flexibility. But the mental game of golf is probably the most challenging part of the game, and what attracts so many people to it. It has said that playing a round of golf brings out the best and the worst in us; playing a round provides the opportunity for all to see how we react under good and bad conditions and how we handle unexpected situations. Keeping your cool during a game of golf is important, although sometimes hard to do!

Almost every golfer knows someone who gets so frustrated when their ball ends up in the water or the trees that they throw their clubs – that person may even be you! Remaining composed, calm and focused during a round is the best way of giving yourself a chance to win.

It’s not always easy. There are distractions along the way, and we become our own worst enemies as we squint and try to focus on putting the ball in the hole. Saying to yourself, “I’ve got to make this” as you a putt is a sure fire way to make sure you don’t!

Focusing and letting go of the distractions is obviously easier said than done, but the fact is that you are the only one in control of where and how you focus your attention is something to remember. If your attention is on something other than the immediate task, it’s probably unreasonable to expect a good result.

Golf requires an individual to keep improving his or her mechanics and to play in the present one shot at a time. Rob Mangini, an assistant golf coach at Arizona State University once said: “If you are interested in improving your game, I would highly recommend helping your head as much as you are helping your swing. What makes me laugh is you see golfers spending hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours on their golf swing only to walk around the golf course with a ten cent head. Believe me, your mental approach is every bit as important as your physical approach”.

Keep this quote “in mind” the next time you tee off!

At most golf courses, you have a choice of walking the 18 holes or renting a golf cart. For those of you who have become involved in the game of golf not only for the joy of the sport, but also to increase your exercise level, then walking the course is definitely for you. But for others, being on their feet for 4-5 hours and walking about 3 miles around the course is not the option they prefer. For that second group, a golf cart is the way to go!

Most golf courses rent electric golf carts, which were the first mass-produced electric vehicles for private use in the U.S. They are relatively safe, as they don’t move at high rates of speed and they are easy to maneuver. Basically, you just put your foot on the pedal and you are off!

If you live on a golf course, owning your own golf cart is a must! Modern golf carts typically have car-like styling and some even come with accessories like radios, custom wheels and body panels in a variety of colors. There is even a “Hummer”-style golf cart available from many dealers for about $20,000. However, most golf carts run somewhere around $5,000 for a new cart. A used cart is always an option, as well.

Whether you rent or buy, using a golf cart allows you to focus on your game instead of your sore feet!

It’s winter - just not the right weather for a round of golf! Not only is it chilly, but it’s awfully hard to find a small white ball in a snow bank! So, what do you do in the winter to keep yourself in practice, motivated and ready for the first game in the spring?

There’s no sense going into a depression when there are ways you can work on your game, even in the winter. This is your “off-season” and like most athletes, they work during that time to take their game to the next level. This is a time where you evaluate your game and work on your weaknesses.

Your first stop should be a local gym. Most golfers need to increase their physical fitness, and strength and aerobic training will help prepare you for the powerful swing to which you aspire.

Also, check out your local golf course or country club. They may have golf fitness trainers who can be your personal assistant and provide you with a workout to follow during this down time.

Also, in some areas, there are indoor driving ranges that can help you perfect your swing and drives. There will also, most likely, be an area where you can practice your putting.

If you train in the winter, you will be amazed at the progress you make and the advantage you have over your golfing partners who took the winter off. So, don’t get depressed – keep your game in mind all year long – you’ll be happy you did!