Golf Tips for Women - Getting Off the Tee and Safely in the Fairway

I love the first tee. Even after all my years golfing, I still lack the discipline to get to the range before play to warm up. Needless to say, when I get to the first tee during a round of golf, it's a big guess as to how my golf swing will be that day. I am also full of adrenaline and excitement. One thing that uncertainty and adrenaline rush does for my golf game is to force me to focus on the basics of my golf swing. Nothing fancy, just hit the ball somewhere safe in the fairway and hopefully use an effective swing to accomplish it - yes, in that exact order. The most beautiful swing in the world is useless if you end up 200 yards deep in the woods or out-of-bounds. I'll play from the center of the fairway all day long!

In this article, I would like to take attention off the golf swing itself. I am not a teaching pro and I have great respect for those that do this for a living. What I would like to expand on is one simple tip to help you get in the fairway. I would like to discuss alignment.

I see far too many golfers jump out of their cart, tee their ball up, and focus all their energy on a "Tiger-like" swing only to be lined up directly for the woods! If they do hit it like Tiger, guess where they will end up? Yup, you guessed it - 300 yards straight into the woods.

Now let's apply this to us women-golfers. The average woman golfer has about a 150-170 yard tee shot. With some basic math, you can look at the over-all yardage for your hole and figure out where a good tee shot of yours will land. If your golf hole is 270 yards long, and you hit about 170 off the tee with your driver, you will end up about 100 yards out.

Here's what I want you to do. Go to the tee box. Tee up your golf ball and then stand behind it. Look out towards the fairway and find your distance that you plan to end up. Are there fairway bunkers there? A creek to the right or out-of-bounds to the left? Pick the exact spot in the fairway that you want to land. As you are still standing behind your golf ball, I want you to start by staring down that perfect spot in the fairway and visually draw a line straight back to your golf ball on it's tee. Somewhere on that imaginary line, in front of your golf ball, will be a blade of grass, a weed, anything that makes a visual mark for you. Look at that mark and zero in your focus on that spot. Forget everything else. Forget the hazards and the white out-of-bound stakes, forget the laundry you left in the dryer, and tune everything else out but that spot in front of your ball.

It is now time to set-up for your tee shot and take your stance. I want you to square-up and align your shot to that spot you picked in front of your ball. At this point, that is all that matters, you being set up properly and square to that spot. Once you have accomplished this, look up and back directly at your perfect spot you have picked out as a target landing area in the fairway. Do not look at anything else! Turn your head back down to your ball and execute your swing.

You will be amazed at how well this alignment trick works. It may sound like this procedure takes a lot of time, but it truly only takes a few seconds after you make it part of your pre-shot routine. Good luck, and keep it in the short grass!