Most people who swing over the top have too weak of a grip in one or both hands. This fundamental problem causes the clubface to open. As a result, the student must swing left to hit a playable shot, but this left-to-right ball flight comes at a price—loss of distance. Unfortunately, most students self-diagnose their swing as over the top and try to fix the path.

Whether you are learning to hold the club for the first time, improving your full swing or trying to play on the PGA TOUR, the first step in the learning process is a lesson from a PGA Teaching Professional. Self-help or trial and error rarely work over the longhaul. This is the reason why TOUR players have coaches. Signing up for the lesson is the first step.

I have come to realize that all players of all levels struggle with the short putt at some point in their playing career, when participants huddle around the green, and the money is on the line. In many cases, the short putt has ruined the careers of TOUR professionals and led some to quit the game altogether. This missed opportunity is simply referred to as the “yip.”

So what happens when you hit a ball into the trees, and you have a limited backswing? Or you bury a ball under the lip of a bunker? These adventures are the realities of the game, and the decision, not the next shot, is what separates the great players from the average weekend golfer. It is not always their ability to pull off the miraculous shot; it is their ability to process the information and make a good decision first, before executing their next shot.