Dennis Clark

Senior Writer I

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Dennis Clark is a PGA Master Professional with 30 years of professional experience teaching the game he loves. He's a seven-time PGA award winner including Teacher of the Year and Golf Professional of the Year. "No two swings are alike; no two lessons should be either".

Clark directs the Dennis Clark Golf Academy at the Marco Island Marriott Resort in Naples, Fla. For more on Dennis go to www.dennisclarkgolf.com

 




Awards



Recent Posts

  • Remembering Ken Venturi

    Remembering Ken Venturi

    I’m a huge golf history buff and Friday, we lost one of the legendary characters of the game. Ken Venturi, a larger-than-life over achiever, was told as a boy that he would be a lifetime stammerer. Little...

    • Posted 4 days ago
    • 1
  • Learning from Woods

    Learning from Tiger’s recovery at The Players

    Great athletes have an inner source of strength, a deep reservoir of emotional control and self belief that mere mortals cannot seem to find. It is a rarer-than-rare quality that very few ever know, but beautiful to...

    • Posted 8 days ago
    • 5
  • 98758_lg

    Forget method teaching: Swing your swing

    Over the course of the 50 years, 30 of which I’ve spent teaching golf, I have seen many methods come and go. From “Square to Square” to “Stack and Tilt,” from Alex Morrison’s left-handed game to Tommy...

    • Posted 20 days ago
    • 28
  • Dennis Clark Chipping

    Simple steps to better chips

    The words “chip” and “pitch” are often used interchangeably to describe shots hit around the green, but they’re actually two different types of shots with distinct purposes. If you can understand the difference between a chip and...

    • Posted 29 days ago
    • 3
  • Hunter Mahan draw

    You can learn to hit a draw

    For many golfers, the most coveted shot in golf is the draw, that beautiful shot that starts down the right side of the fairway and curves back to the center. And I’ve got good news, even for you...

    • Posted 47 days ago
    • 4
  • The truth about spin

    The truth about spin: How to spin it like the pros

    One of the things I’m asked most often by my students is “How to get my shots to back up like the pros?” When this question was posed to Sam Snead, he asked the man how far...

    • Posted 57 days ago
    • 26
  • Chicken Wing

    Fixes for thin shots and topping

    Many golfers fight “thin” shots, “skulled” shots and “topped” shots at some point — even the best golfers in the world. All of these shots occur when the face of the club doesn’t “get down” to the bottom...

    • Posted 64 days ago
    • 4
  • The Set up

    Improve your swing with the right setup

    We have all heard about the fundamentals of golf: Grip, alignment, ball position and stance width. These are the keys to a good setup, which put a player in the correct position from which to start the...

    • Posted 70 days ago
    • 4
  • Rory McIlroy

    Wisdom teeth come young, wisdom takes a while

    I do give Rory some slack. For one reason:  He’s 23!  To be No. 1 in the world at anything is tough but at 23 it is unimaginable. But this is golf and there are two things...

    • Posted 81 days ago
    • 7
  • What is the ball doing?

    Instruction: What is the ball doing?

    John Jacobs, the great British instructor and one of the greatest teachers of all time, was one of the first to ask the question: “What is the ball doing”? It seems a simple enough question to me....

    • Posted 84 days ago
    • 16
  • Bifurcation

    A case for a different kind of bifurcation

    As most you know, I am a full time teaching professional and regularly write about instruction. But after watching the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this weekend, I couldn’t help but think of the case some are...

    • Posted 98 days ago
    • 107
  • Filming a golf swing

    Like to take video of your swing? Read this first

    Video is a great tool for teaching and learning golf. It replaced the naked eye in golf instruction, and is used by teachers world wide. A video of a golf swing can show us a lot about what...

    • Posted 104 days ago
    • 5
  • Boo Weekly

    It’s time to work on your short game

    Let me bore you with some statistics: The average handicap in this country is 18 for men, 28 for women. But that’s misleading, because the real average golfer doesn’t even have a handicap. There are 25 million or so golfers...

    • Posted 111 days ago
    • 10
  • Jim Furyk

    Swing advice is not one size fits all

    I have written a number of instructional articles over the years, and created quite a few “how-to” videos as well. I always enjoy sharing tips with my readers and students and I am grateful when a number of them respond that I have helped with...

    • Posted 114 days ago
    • 7
  • toe hits

    Clark: How to stop hitting the toe

    Last time we had fun analyzing Dustin Johnson’s toe hook and the reaction of the broadcast team at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. But I have a feeling DJ is not the only guy out there hitting...

    • Posted 126 days ago
    • 7
  • dustin johnson

    Understanding “open-faced hooks”

    At the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, Dustin Johnson hit an ugly quacker (read snap hook) off the tee on Tuesday afternoon that was headed in the general direction of Haleakala. After the shot, NBC’s broadcast team, Johnny...

    • Posted 132 days ago
    • 27
  • chicken wing

    How to fix the dreaded chicken wing

    A lot of golfers, when describing the “problem” with their swing, say something like, “I know I have a chicken wing, I just cant stop doing it!” In golf, a “chicken wing” is the shortening of the...

    • Posted 136 days ago
    • 3
  • 9E7E

    Clark: How to hit it low

    It’s almost PGA Tour time again, and as the guys head to Hawaii next week many of them will be working hard to get their games ready for competition. Despite the tropical paradise that the Hawaaian Islands are, their...

    • Posted 143 days ago
    • 2
  • barkley-golf

    Understanding “over the top” and “casting”

    “I know I cast the club, I just cannot stop doing it.” That’s one of the most common things I hear on the lesson tee. So let’s talk about why golfers think this is so prevalent, and...

    • Posted 152 days ago
    • 6
  • Swing Plane

    The Plane Truth about Swings and Things

    In his book, The Plane Truth for Golfers instructor Jim Hardy says there are at least two ways to swing the golf club: Around the body Up and down out in front of the body He labels...

    • Posted 161 days ago
    • 8
  • Ben Hogan

    Are Hogan’s “Five Lessons” for you?

    Ben Hogan stories are the stuff of legends in the game of golf. “Hey did you hear the one about why Hogan couldn’t play 36 holes in one day? Because his afternoon tee shots would land in his morning...

    • Posted 170 days ago
    • 14
  • Whiff

    Getting from the lesson tee to the 1st tee

    The longest walk in golf is from the lesson tee to the first tee. How can you retain what you have learned and take it to the course? This is a true story: I had a lady...

    • Posted 174 days ago
    • 6
  • IMG_0091

    Q&A with Instructor Dennis Clark: Why golfers don’t improve and more

    Editor’s Note: Dennis Clark, a PGA Master Professional, is the most widely read and commented instructor on the GolfWRX Featured Writers section. He has been writing instruction stories for GolfWRX since April — since that time he’s...

    • Posted 177 days ago
    • 9
  • Charl Schwartzel

    Clark: “It’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive”

    It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive, as the Zen Masters would have it. It has been said that golf is a very jealous game. If you don’t give it all your time and attention,...

    • Posted 184 days ago
    • 2
  • Tiger Woods

    Short game: By air or by land?

    When I’m working with students on their short games, I see too many players who are trying to play high shots around the greens. It’s a thing to behold when Phil or Tiger hoists a greenside shot...

    • Posted 209 days ago
    • 4
  • Jason Zuback

    Clark: “Most golfers cannot release the club too soon”

    Golfers hear a lot about release, but I honestly believe that most people do not have a good understanding of what it actually means. Here’s a working working definition of the release as I teach it: The...

    • Posted 218 days ago
    • 13
  • Rory McIlroy

    Turn, Turn, Turn: For every swing there is a reason

    Slicing and hooking are nothing more than club face (in relation) to swing path issues. If the golf club is coming from inside and the club face is aimed at the target at impact, the golf ball...

    • Posted 229 days ago
    • 5
  • post impact

    Can a golfer control the club face after impact?

    Most networks that cover major golf tournaments have a high-speed camera that shows slow-motion replays of golfer’s swings — mainly impact — during the broadcast. It shows the clubface opening and closing after impact. At the Tour...

    • Posted 237 days ago
    • 12
  • Golf IQ

    Raising your golf IQ

    There is a great line in one of my favorite books, Golf in the Kingdom, where the protagonist Shivas Irons (one of the greatest fictional golf characters ever) says:  “Our relationship to paradox is a barometer of our enlightenment.” Golf is...

    • Posted 243 days ago
    • 2
  • Dennis Clark

    How to “bottom out” your scores

    You can learn a lot about your swing by starting at the bottom.  Every swing has a low point and knowing yours can help you understand a lot about how you got there. There are three possibilities...

    • Posted 252 days ago
    • 5
  • IMG_0095edit

    Dennis Clark: More golf swing myths

    A few months ago, Dennis Clark wrote the popular instruction article “Three golf swing myths that can hurt your game.” Here are five more golf swing myths: 4. Myth: Hitting down on the golf ball causes more spin.  Fact:...

    • Posted 271 days ago
    • 6
  • corey_sidehill_lie_sanc1

    Clark: Head for the hills

    Golf is a game of the earth. It is played on fields that were there long before any architect laid a golf course on them. It is, of all games, the one that uses that very feature...

    • Posted 289 days ago
    • 5
  • Golf grip

    Get a grip: Find the perfect one for you

    Some years ago I was watching the great Spanish professional Jose Maria Olazabal hitting balls on the range at Bay Hill.  I was struck, not only by the quality of his shots, but also by his grip...

    • Posted 303 days ago
    • 8
  • Golf is a reaction game

    Clark: Golf is a reaction game

    To most of us golf seems like a deliberate, planned exercise where we act on the ball or we initiate the motion upon it.  But unlike baseball, where we react to the ball hit our way or...

    • Posted 320 days ago
    • 4
  • Question_mark

    What fundamentals?

    Last time I talked bout some common myths about the golf swing; things you might hear at the hot dog stand or 19th hole.  This article is a variance on that concept, but deals more directly with...

    • Posted 327 days ago
    • 5
  • driverimpact

    The D plane

    By Dennis Clark Special to GolfWRX Dennis Clark is a PGA Master Professional at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pa., and Marriott Marco Island Resort in Naples, Fla. He has been a professional for over 25 years. You can...

    • Posted 339 days ago
    • 6
  • Dennis Clark

    3 golf swing “myths” that can hurt your game

    Golf is the only game with more teachers than players. Go to a driving range and you will  find any number of well intentioned (but not always well informed) folks ready to help you with your game....

    • Posted 399 days ago
    • 18