It is impossible to 'top' a golf ball and it is impossible to 'slice' a golf ball.

These are the top two things that trouble club golfers.

The club head will pull itself to the bottom of the ball if allowed to (eliminating topping the ball) and will square itself through impact if allowed to (eliminating the slice).

Firstly then, it is important to be rid of any left to right (for right-handers) movement on our golf ball.

This is achieved by having a suitable grip (make sure you have at least two knuckles visible in your top hand) - and then allowing the club head to release over through the ball thus squaring itself and avoiding the sidespin that makes the ball bend.

It is critical the club-head is 'allowed' to roll over as that way it is self-governing,.

If you choose to actively 'flick' your wrists over as you hit the ball, it is almost impossible to time consistently and therefore you will almost always over-do one, under-do one and get one right - inconsistency.

Now the ball is flying in a straight line, we must to start it straight at the intended target.

This is, as highlighted last week, possibly the most difficult thing to get your head around in playing the game.

The club-head swings on an arc around us and is only square to the target at the time it hits the ball and is never swinging in a straight line with the target.

That's too much for most people to cope with, so they will either 'square' the face early or try to hold the face square through the ball resulting in pulling irons left of target and slicing their longer clubs.

As much as an astonishing 90 per cent of golfers are 'affected' by this.

Through reading this only, it is almost impossible to get this sorted on your own so.

However, if this is starting to ring some bells, why not make some time to come see me.

It is unlikely that lack of ability is holding you back and very likely that you have been simply barking up the wrong tree - any intelligent person would, the game is counter intuitive.

Tony White is the golf operations manager at Gibraltar Country Club, Bowral.

He can be contacted on 4862 8615 or you can visit www.gibraltarbowral.com.au