The bottom line is if there is no technique to your golf game, you will not improve. You can't fix what you don't have. Everyone starts out just grabbing a club, walking up to the tee and whacking the ball as hard as they can. That alone can be fun, kind of like a little stress management. But it's not long and digging through bushes gets old, so we want to be a little more accurate with where we whack the ball. So, there is the beginning of developing some technique.

There are several elements to a technique so lets start with some basics. Have you given much thought to your tee placement? Tee placement will be a factor on whether your ball is launched straight up in the air and comes down at your feet, or skims through the tall grass before the fairway for a whole 50 feet, or sails high enough to catch the wind and gets diverted. There is a time and a place for these kinds of shots, but off the tee is probably not it. Wouldn't you prefer to have a smooth sailing tee shot that comes down within 10 - 15 feet of where you were aiming?

Weighing some of the factors on the course itself is one element in deciding how you want to place your tee. For example. If it's a windy day, the hole doglegs to the left and the wind is coming from the left, you don't want to hit high up into the wind and have your ball carried to the right. So you would lower your tee slightly. (or use a different club, but we'll get into that later) Or the opposite. If you have a hook instead of a slice, the hole doglegs to the right and the wind is coming from the left, you might want to place your tee a little higher to get under the ball so the wind can help carry your ball around the dog leg.

Sometimes, people don't put a lot of thought into how they place their tee, but, if your having trouble with the height your ball sails at, adjusting your tee placement can be a solution. Experiment with your tee placement and see what works for you.

Next weeks discussion will be on the basics of foot placement in your stance.

This is the first article in a series that will be address a different element of technique each week. So watch for more articles. Or you can go to http://golfingguru.weebly.com in the books and videos section to get expert advice and coaching.