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Can some on please tell me the things needed to strike the ball well. My balls striking at times can be poor for example of hard ground with patchy grass, i would really like to work on this aspect and get some consistancy going thanks

The practise mats where I hit have black rubber that you stand on. I'm hitting ball off that rubber until I hit the little ball before the big ball. If you don't get it right the club just sticks on that rubber. Really lets you know it you blew it.

Hit shots off a good mat! Start with no more than 1/2 or 50% in length (backswings). Club to start with is the PW. (In your mind) Drive the ball up and over a 8 foot wall that's about 10 ft in front of you. Your goal is to have crisp club/ball contact, not while the ball is going! When you are finally hitting each ball crisp, move to the 3/4 swing. Each club, each type of swing, always move the wall slightly further out, thereby lowering it to match the loft of the shaft. When each 3/4 shot is crisp, move to the full swing. Hitting no more than 5 full swing shots before moving to the next club, (crisp or not)! Do all the clubs up to the 6 iron that way. Here's is the key: You must see an image of something on the ground, about 1/8" or 1/4" behind the ball, i.e., a penny, a white line, a red dot, a ladybug, etc. . When swinging, watch for the bottom edge of the club to come in and hit that spot, right now, right away! That's every swing! Think of hitting the ball here in front of you, with the ball becoming higher than the top of your head, right away! Don't try to hit the ball way out there! If your focus is out there, it can't be on the spot/the ball! Remember it is where your shoulders are pointing, at and around impact, that starts the ball out on it's direction. Counting on that for direction leaves you free to think, (to focus) only on hitting the spot, which puts you in the Zone. ( This single focus blocks the Mechanical Left brain from acting) Because we humans can only focus on one thing at a time and with the golf swing taking only about 2 seconds to happen, this is the only way, one can walk into the Zone at will! This key is the real secret of crisp shots, build them with repeated smaller swings, and watch the club's edge/ground/ball contact to happen! Good luck!

rite, ill gove that a go, ive also heard hitting out of fairway bunkers is good practice....

I honestly dont like the mats unless the ground is wet from fresh rain. I think they make bad shots look better than they actually are. As for ball striking, good hip movement promotes hitting the ball first. The pros will hit the ball and take a divot far in front of the ball. This makes back spin and helps stop the ball on the green. Of course in the rough one can't make as solid of contact so you end up sweeping the ball more, which takes backspin off the ball.

Make sure your hands are ahead of the ball at impact. Try a steeper angle of attack to hit down and through the ball.

My three rules are maintain my head movement, an even tempo and lastly believing in my shot. If I'm at the range I will try different shot, but I always try to maintain my three core disciplines.

Crawford... ball striking in that situation is difficult... the question is how is your "standard" ball striking (on good, even grass in the fairway)? Are you asking us how to improve your ball striking in substandard conditions or are you having overall problems?

In response to the above example... when I play courses with hard ground (hardpan) with patchy grass, I tend to do 2 things... 1) Play the ball further back in my stance. This will help the club approach the ball more steeply and will help insure that I make contact with the ball first. 2) Choke up on the club. This just helps me control the club better and also has helped prevent me hitting behind the ball, resulting in a "bellied" shot.

I expect less spin in this situation, because I'm not swinging at my standard 85%, so I anticipate the ball trickling forward more on the green (this is assuming I hit the green... lol). If the pin is tucked or close to the front of the green, then I try to play a high fade, since I cannot get under the ball with a standard swing due to the tight lie and hardpan conditions.

Crawford...you are describing my home course 6 months out of the year (dry season)...it is just coming to an end and the grass is really growing in now that the rains have started...so much easier to play...I play the ball back in the stance just slightly from where I would ideally like to hit (no more than an inch or two) and this really improves contact, although it takes a bit at the season start to get my alignment right (or somewhat as the case may be)...