Golf is one of the most frustrating sports going, one day you can be hitting the ball like Tiger Woods and the next you're slicing it into the trees at every tee shot. For many golfers their biggest problem stems from a bad swing, whilst this is usually associated with new players some experienced golfers still suffer because they have never been taught any other way. Many golfers resolve their swing problems by taking lessons from a Pro but the success of this will depend on the ability of the teacher and the willingness of the pupil.
The following tips are aimed at identifying and resolving the bad habits that exist in many of our golf swings. (All tips are based on a right handed player)
Golf Swing Tip #1: The Grip
The grip is one of the most important aspects of your golf swing. Applying the right grip is essential if you want to be hit the ball longer and straighter. Always try to keep your hands in a neutral position to allow the club face to remain as square as possible during the swing. There are a number of different grips that a golfer can use but listed below are a few of the more common ones:
- The Interlocking Grip - With this grip the index finger of the left hand and the little finger of the right hand combine and interlock to create a grip. This is commonly used by those who have small hands to enable them to keep the hands bonded together during the swing. This grip is popular with golfers because it allows you to create proper leverage for maximum power, however it can result in players holding the club in the base of the fingers of the right hand which can lead to the club face being too closed during the swing.
- The Overlapping Grip - This grip has the little finger of the right hand sitting on top of the index finger and second finger of the left hand. This grip is also know as the Vardon grip and is popular with male golfers because it does require strong wrists and forearms.
- The Baseball Grip - All of the fingers of both hands hold the club with this grip, with the index finger of the left hand and little finger of the right hand touching but not overlapping. This is usually the default grip for most beginners but many golfers will change from using this grip as it can lead to problems as a result of many players having a stronger grip with a particular hand which results in a poor shot.
Golf Swing Tip #2: The Stance
The key to an ideal stance is to have your weight equally balanced. It is important to stay relaxed over the golf ball as any tension will affect the quality of your golf swing so make sure to follow this important golf tip. You want to bend at the hips when addressing the golf balls and also have a slight flex in the knees whilst keeping the spine straight.
Let your arms hang naturally once you bend your hips, avoid extending your arms straight as there should be an angle between the arms and the shaft.
Golf Swing Tip #3: The Backswing
Keep the left arm straight (right handed players) during the backswing and go back as far as you can. The speed at which you move is dictated by you, some people are naturally slower than others so it is important to do what is most comfortable for you.
Golf Swing Tip #4: The Downswing
One of the key elements in the downswing is to keep your head in the same position. Begin your downswing with the hips and keep your head behind the ball until your follow through. Do not use your hands to try to generate more power as all of power in your golf swing will come from the leverage in the angle between the club and your wrists. Try to hold the angle between the clubs and the wrists as much as possible in order to generate maximum power.
Do not rush the downswing as this will usually result in poor shots and inconsistency. You want to have a gradually increasing speed on the downswing and make sure that you have good balance and swing well within yourself. Do not try to muscle the club or swing hard, just make a smooth and controlled movement and you will find that this will help you to hit the ball solidly on a regular basis.
Golf Swing Tip #5: The Follow Through
After impact you want the club to fully release while keeping your head behind the ball. Your head should naturally come up with your right shoulder, so your chin should be over your right shoulder and your head facing the target to complete the follow through.
Always try to remember that golf can be a tiring sport, you will be swinging your club a lot in the day so do not try to whack the ball as hard as you can when you swing as it will only end up in the trees or lake. Stay relaxed and maintain a nice easy swing as the more you think about hitting the ball hard the less you will think about the mechanics of your swing.
I found the above advice to be very valuable when I started playing golf but I still continued to struggle with aspects of my game. Like many I took advice from a Pro but I did not consider it to be worthwhile considering the cost of lessons. I then discovered the Simple Golf Swing System that helped me improve my game, follow this link to find out more.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neil_Nicholas
Monday 25 January 2010
Sunday 24 January 2010
Power
If you want to send the ball into orbit, or you're just looking for a few extra yards. These tips are for you.
Drive your right knee to unlock the secret power in your swing
This story is for you if...
• You make contact all over the clubface, but rarely in the center.
• You tend to slide your hips rather than turn them on your downswing.
Try this!
STICK a shaft or dowel into the ground at a 45-degree angle (I've added a yellow foam pad to better illustrate the drill in this lesson), and take your stance over the shaft as shown. Set your feet so that the shaft bisects the middle of your body.
Now make your swing.
What It Does
This drill lets you know if you're correctly driving your right knee past the midline of your stance. This is an important downswing move that allows you to turn your torso through impact and get solid contact in the middle of the clubface and a penetrating ball flight. You know you're doing it right if you feel your right knee hit the shaft just before impact. If you don't drive your right knee, it's impossible to turn through the ball. Your thighbone plugs into your pelvis, so if you don't drive it toward the target, your pelvis — and core — can't turn.
The Move That Makes It Happen
If you have difficulty driving your right knee forward on your downswing, you're stranding weight on your right side and swinging with just your arms and hands. At the top, make sure your weight is on the inside rim of your right foot, and then drive your right thigh toward the target. Setting your weight like this and driving your thigh gives you the leg lean you're looking for, and automatically unlocks the power of your core.
No If your right knee doesn't drive past the midline of your stance on your downswing, your ballstriking will suffer.
This story is for you if...
• You lack distance because you release the club too early...
• ...or you don't release it at all, which robs you of clubhead speed.
The Conventional Wisdom
Keep your left wrist flat through impact.
Why It's Wrong
You forget about releasing the club with your right wrist, which slows down your clubhead speed through impact and costs you distance.
What to Do Instead
Your waggle is a rehearsal for hinging your right wrist in your backswing.
At address, make a couple of smooth waggles, focusing on how you're going to hinge your right wrist in your backswing. Make sure you start your downswing with your hips, with your arms naturally following. When you approach impact, release hard with your right side and snap your right wrist through impact.
Learn This Move
This is the same motion as an infielder making a sidearm throw to first base. You know you're swinging correctly if your right wrist is flat just after impact and the butt of your club points to the center of your body.
This story is for you if ...
• You don't feel a "snap" at impact
• The ball doesn't come off your driver with much power
• You mix pop-ups with weak slices
The Problem
Your drives lack distance. You're turning your hips, but not in the right way.
The Solution
This all happens pretty fast, so practice these moves in slow motion.
Step 1: Start down from the top of your swing by moving your hips toward the target slightly.
Step 2: With your hips set forward, turn them toward the target as normal and swing the club down with your arms.
Step 3: When your hands reach waist high, start moving your left hip up while continuing to turn it behind you. Your left leg should straighten as a result.
By moving your left hip up and straightening your left leg, you do two important things. First, you create resistance that your right side can smash through as you turn toward the target. Second, you ensure that your release happens at the bottom of your swing, not before or after. The combination gives you the explosive power you've been missing.
How to Add Yards to Your Irons
This left-foot trick helps increase your turn
This story is for you if...
• You don't hit your irons as far as you used to
• Your backswing is shorter than it used to be
• You'd play and practice more if it didn't hurt your back
The Problem
You're a full club shorter with your irons than you were five years ago because you can't turn back as far as you once could. The reason? Your back feels stiff. The result? You hit longer irons into the greens.
Shifting your weight allows for a fuller turn without pain. Raise your left foot for proof.
Why It Happens
If you don't have severe back problems but your back still feels stiff, you're turning but not shifting your weight as you do so. That's why your backswing — and distance — are shorter.
The Solution
Make your normal backswing and hold it at the top. Now, raise your left foot a few inches off the ground. Notice how this frees you up to turn a few degrees more and — voila — makes the pain in your back disappear. That's because all of your weight — and the stress that comes with it — went to your right foot.
Use a variation of this drill during play. Instead of raising your left foot, roll it to the right and lift your heel slightly. Feel like you're pushing off with your big toe and moving your weight into your right foot. This should help relieve the pressure from your lower back and allow you to make a full turn.
How to Set Up for 20 Extra Yards
Three one-inch changes will turn your address position into a launching pad
This story is for you if...
• You want to hit shorter irons into par 4s.
• Shorter irons? I just want to cream it!
Try This!
The next time you really need to bomb one off the tee, or if you're in desperate need to hit your driver 20 yards longer than your current average, make the three one-inch changes to your setup pictured here. They may be small (notice the subtle difference between my "normal" address below and and my "power" address at right), but they pay off in serious extra yards.
Power Change #1
Pull your right shoulder back one inch from its usual setup position. This move points your swing plane slightly to the right, which will help you swing right of target and increase your chances of adding draw spin.
Power Change #2
Move the base of your spine one inch closer to the target, which will tilt your spine slightly to the right (upper body leaning away from the target). This encourages an inside-out swing, an upward strike and more yards.
Power Change #3
Play the ball one inch back of where you usually position it in your stance. This is another setup change that will get you in the habit of swinging slightly right of the target on your downswing and adding the right-to-left spin common to mammoth tee shots.
How to Add Juice to Your Irons
Tap the hidden speed in your release to use one club less into every green
The Problem
YOU'RE hitting 6-irons into greens when your buddies are hitting 7- and 9-irons from the same distance.
The Solution
Simple: speed. Adding extra miles per hour to your swing is the only thing that's going to allow you to hit each of your irons farther. Most amateurs think of speed as something they generate from the top, but that's a recipe for almost every bad shot you can imagine. The secret is to maximize the fastest part of your swing, and that comes after you strike the ball. Copy the release positions here and you'll learn to accelerate through the ball and into your follow-through, making your impact faster and adding yards to your irons.
CENTERED HEAD It's important that your keep your head centered over the impact area. This allows you to make your swing as wide as possible on the target side of the ball (just like you should on your backswing). If your head moves in front of the ball, then you're limiting the radius of your through-swing and robbing your swing of crucial miles per hour of speed.
LEVEL AND STEP Swing into your release with level hips (or as close to level as possible) and steep shoulders. Notice how much lower my right shoulder is compared to my left — that's evidence of my right shoulder working under my chin, not in front of it. This right-shoulder-under move allows you to move your club at a right angle to your spine, which is the fastest route possible.
RIGHT-HAND SLAP Notice how far the clubhead has traveled from impact to its position in the release, but how my hands have only moved a few inches. The difference between these two distances is what makes your release the fastest part of your swing. You can achieve this hidden speed by giving the ball a right-hand "slap" through impact, and continuing the slap in your release so that your right arm gets very long with the club as far away from your head as possible.
Drive your right knee to unlock the secret power in your swing
This story is for you if...
• You make contact all over the clubface, but rarely in the center.
• You tend to slide your hips rather than turn them on your downswing.
Try this!
STICK a shaft or dowel into the ground at a 45-degree angle (I've added a yellow foam pad to better illustrate the drill in this lesson), and take your stance over the shaft as shown. Set your feet so that the shaft bisects the middle of your body.
Now make your swing.
What It Does
This drill lets you know if you're correctly driving your right knee past the midline of your stance. This is an important downswing move that allows you to turn your torso through impact and get solid contact in the middle of the clubface and a penetrating ball flight. You know you're doing it right if you feel your right knee hit the shaft just before impact. If you don't drive your right knee, it's impossible to turn through the ball. Your thighbone plugs into your pelvis, so if you don't drive it toward the target, your pelvis — and core — can't turn.
The Move That Makes It Happen
If you have difficulty driving your right knee forward on your downswing, you're stranding weight on your right side and swinging with just your arms and hands. At the top, make sure your weight is on the inside rim of your right foot, and then drive your right thigh toward the target. Setting your weight like this and driving your thigh gives you the leg lean you're looking for, and automatically unlocks the power of your core.
No If your right knee doesn't drive past the midline of your stance on your downswing, your ballstriking will suffer.
This story is for you if...
• You lack distance because you release the club too early...
• ...or you don't release it at all, which robs you of clubhead speed.
The Conventional Wisdom
Keep your left wrist flat through impact.
Why It's Wrong
You forget about releasing the club with your right wrist, which slows down your clubhead speed through impact and costs you distance.
What to Do Instead
Your waggle is a rehearsal for hinging your right wrist in your backswing.
At address, make a couple of smooth waggles, focusing on how you're going to hinge your right wrist in your backswing. Make sure you start your downswing with your hips, with your arms naturally following. When you approach impact, release hard with your right side and snap your right wrist through impact.
Learn This Move
This is the same motion as an infielder making a sidearm throw to first base. You know you're swinging correctly if your right wrist is flat just after impact and the butt of your club points to the center of your body.
This story is for you if ...
• You don't feel a "snap" at impact
• The ball doesn't come off your driver with much power
• You mix pop-ups with weak slices
The Problem
Your drives lack distance. You're turning your hips, but not in the right way.
The Solution
This all happens pretty fast, so practice these moves in slow motion.
Step 1: Start down from the top of your swing by moving your hips toward the target slightly.
Step 2: With your hips set forward, turn them toward the target as normal and swing the club down with your arms.
Step 3: When your hands reach waist high, start moving your left hip up while continuing to turn it behind you. Your left leg should straighten as a result.
By moving your left hip up and straightening your left leg, you do two important things. First, you create resistance that your right side can smash through as you turn toward the target. Second, you ensure that your release happens at the bottom of your swing, not before or after. The combination gives you the explosive power you've been missing.
How to Add Yards to Your Irons
This left-foot trick helps increase your turn
This story is for you if...
• You don't hit your irons as far as you used to
• Your backswing is shorter than it used to be
• You'd play and practice more if it didn't hurt your back
The Problem
You're a full club shorter with your irons than you were five years ago because you can't turn back as far as you once could. The reason? Your back feels stiff. The result? You hit longer irons into the greens.
Shifting your weight allows for a fuller turn without pain. Raise your left foot for proof.
Why It Happens
If you don't have severe back problems but your back still feels stiff, you're turning but not shifting your weight as you do so. That's why your backswing — and distance — are shorter.
The Solution
Make your normal backswing and hold it at the top. Now, raise your left foot a few inches off the ground. Notice how this frees you up to turn a few degrees more and — voila — makes the pain in your back disappear. That's because all of your weight — and the stress that comes with it — went to your right foot.
Use a variation of this drill during play. Instead of raising your left foot, roll it to the right and lift your heel slightly. Feel like you're pushing off with your big toe and moving your weight into your right foot. This should help relieve the pressure from your lower back and allow you to make a full turn.
How to Set Up for 20 Extra Yards
Three one-inch changes will turn your address position into a launching pad
This story is for you if...
• You want to hit shorter irons into par 4s.
• Shorter irons? I just want to cream it!
Try This!
The next time you really need to bomb one off the tee, or if you're in desperate need to hit your driver 20 yards longer than your current average, make the three one-inch changes to your setup pictured here. They may be small (notice the subtle difference between my "normal" address below and and my "power" address at right), but they pay off in serious extra yards.
Power Change #1
Pull your right shoulder back one inch from its usual setup position. This move points your swing plane slightly to the right, which will help you swing right of target and increase your chances of adding draw spin.
Power Change #2
Move the base of your spine one inch closer to the target, which will tilt your spine slightly to the right (upper body leaning away from the target). This encourages an inside-out swing, an upward strike and more yards.
Power Change #3
Play the ball one inch back of where you usually position it in your stance. This is another setup change that will get you in the habit of swinging slightly right of the target on your downswing and adding the right-to-left spin common to mammoth tee shots.
How to Add Juice to Your Irons
Tap the hidden speed in your release to use one club less into every green
The Problem
YOU'RE hitting 6-irons into greens when your buddies are hitting 7- and 9-irons from the same distance.
The Solution
Simple: speed. Adding extra miles per hour to your swing is the only thing that's going to allow you to hit each of your irons farther. Most amateurs think of speed as something they generate from the top, but that's a recipe for almost every bad shot you can imagine. The secret is to maximize the fastest part of your swing, and that comes after you strike the ball. Copy the release positions here and you'll learn to accelerate through the ball and into your follow-through, making your impact faster and adding yards to your irons.
CENTERED HEAD It's important that your keep your head centered over the impact area. This allows you to make your swing as wide as possible on the target side of the ball (just like you should on your backswing). If your head moves in front of the ball, then you're limiting the radius of your through-swing and robbing your swing of crucial miles per hour of speed.
LEVEL AND STEP Swing into your release with level hips (or as close to level as possible) and steep shoulders. Notice how much lower my right shoulder is compared to my left — that's evidence of my right shoulder working under my chin, not in front of it. This right-shoulder-under move allows you to move your club at a right angle to your spine, which is the fastest route possible.
RIGHT-HAND SLAP Notice how far the clubhead has traveled from impact to its position in the release, but how my hands have only moved a few inches. The difference between these two distances is what makes your release the fastest part of your swing. You can achieve this hidden speed by giving the ball a right-hand "slap" through impact, and continuing the slap in your release so that your right arm gets very long with the club as far away from your head as possible.
Consistency
Getting a consistent golf swing is the most important factor to start your scores tumbling. Master hitting the ball consistently by preventing fat and thin shots.
To be consistent with your swing you need to have a stable foundation. Check out my posts on basics and fitness for golf.
How To Stop Fat & Thin Shots
Turn your hips in a tight circle to improve contact and consistency
This story is for you if...
• You didn't strike your irons crisply during the round you just finished...
• You're not sure what a proper hip turn feels like.
Try This!
Find a hula hoop (or coil a garden hose), drop it on your back lawn and address an imaginary ball with your feet inside the hoop. Make a few swings.
What You're Looking At
Your hip rotation. Swinging inside the hoop reminds you to make a full — yet tight — hip turn both back and through, and to fight the urge to sway away from the ball on your backswing or slide toward the target on your downswing. When you turn your hips while keeping them inside the hoop, you lessen the chance of catching it fat or thin.
If you tend to hit your irons fat...
Focus on your backswing hip turn. Try to keep your right hip inside the right side of the hoop. If it strays outside, you've moved too far off the ball. When you turn your right hip correctly, you should feel your weight work into your right foot, and your upper body should be "stacked" above your right knee.
If you tend to hit your irons thin...
Focus on your downswing hip turn. Try to turn your left hip along the left-hand side of the hoop (keep your left hip above your left foot). When your left hip slides outside the hoop, you'll tend to hit down on the top of the ball. If you do it correctly, you should feel your weight move only into the heel of your left foot.
Use this club drill to get your swing online
Your swing is too up-and-down, which causes either a fat shot or a wild slice.
The Solution
A too-steep backswing creates two problems: 1) The resulting steep downswing will force you to stick the club in the ground before impact (fat), and 2) When you take the club back too high, your forearms tend to rotate down, cupping your left wrist and opening the clubface (slice). To swing the club properly around your body, think about keeping your elbows level at the top.
The Drill
Here's a good way to learn how to keep your swing on plane. Take the club back and find your position at the top. Then, have a friend grab another club from your bag — something long like your driver or 3- wood — and try to balance it between your arms (see photo). If your elbows aren't level, the club won't be straight. Practice this until you can feel the correct position all the time.
Hit Clean Iron Shots
Make solid contact, avoid mis-hits and start knocking down more pins
When you want to punch the ball under a branch, it shoots up like a rocket. When you want to boom a towering approach shot, the ball barely gets airborne. What's going on?
Irons are tricky to master because what your instincts feel is the right thing to do is really dead wrong. To hit irons solidly, which is the key to distance control, you need to hit down and compress the ball between the ground and the face of the club. This produces backspin which, added to the club's loft, makes the ball rise.
These tips should help take your iron game to new heights.
Learn from your divot
Good iron players hit the ball first, then the ground. Next time you're at the range, press a tee into the ground about 1 inch from the ball outside your target line.
Hit the ball with your 7-iron. If you make ball-first contact, the divot will be on the target side of the tee. If the divot starts slightly behind the tee, you hit a little fat and sacrificed distance and accuracy. If the entire divot is behind the tee, you chunked it.
Practice goal: Hit 10 shots in a row with your divot starting on the target side of the tee.
At left, the clubhead is ahead of the hands. At right, hit a series of balls and stop the clubhead below the level of your waist.
Incorrect: Getting flippy
If you hit low-flying skulls, chances are your clubhead is whipping ahead of your hands as you try to scoop the ball into the air. That puts the leading edge of the club into contact with the ball. At impact, the back of your left hand should face the target an your right wrist should bend slightly away from the target.
Correct: Full Extension
To check your impact position and get a feel for hitting solid irons, hit a series of balls and stop the clubhead below the level of your waist. You'll find it impossible to scoop at the ball and achieve this shortened finish. And don't be afraid to shorten your follow-through if you mis-hit a few irons in the middle of your round.
The Drill:
Address a ball in the middle of your stance while holding a 5-iron. Bend your right knee, point your toe into the ground and hit the ball. By dropping your right foot back, away from the target — a classic reverse pivot — as you make your downswing. Instead, you will rotate around your left foot and make a descending blow on the back of the ball.
Three Steps to Better Contact
Legendary golf instructor Eddie Merrins explains the motions you need to make better contact
Your golf swing is three-dimensional. It has height, width and depth. If you understand how each of the three dimensions works separately, you can properly blend them together.
1. Get a vertical hinge
Your hands and wrists hinge the club up and down relative to the ball. To practice the height dimension, hold your 5-iron in front of your chest so the shaft is perpendicular to the ground.
Now, raise the clubhead over your head. Feel how your wrists hinge the club upward, and your biceps lift it higher? That's how you should lever the club up on the backswing. Now move it back down — your hands and wrists unhinge. That motion should occur in your forward swing.
2. Make a jab
Your left arm determines your swing width. To feel the proper width, take your address position without a club, turn your shoulders back and throw a left jab at the air to your right, extending your left arm as far as it can comfortably go. On your forward swing, extend your right arm.
Throw a left jab to feel how wide your swing should be.
3. Lead with your forearms
Your right forearm creates depth as it pulls your hips and shoulders into a full backswing. That movement needs to be fairly level: If you move your right elbow up and down, you won't get the depth you need to make a full backswing turn and you'll likely mis-hit the ball.
To gain depth, move your right elbow over your right hip.
To practice this movement, take a 5-iron and swing to a three-quarters backswing. Your right elbow should be over your right hip at about the same height it was at address. It's also as deep as you want your swing to get. From here, you have a direct path to the end of your backswing, as your wrists hinge the club up and your left arm provides the width you need to complete the three-dimensional effect and make solid contact.
To be consistent with your swing you need to have a stable foundation. Check out my posts on basics and fitness for golf.
How To Stop Fat & Thin Shots
Turn your hips in a tight circle to improve contact and consistency
This story is for you if...
• You didn't strike your irons crisply during the round you just finished...
• You're not sure what a proper hip turn feels like.
Try This!
Find a hula hoop (or coil a garden hose), drop it on your back lawn and address an imaginary ball with your feet inside the hoop. Make a few swings.
What You're Looking At
Your hip rotation. Swinging inside the hoop reminds you to make a full — yet tight — hip turn both back and through, and to fight the urge to sway away from the ball on your backswing or slide toward the target on your downswing. When you turn your hips while keeping them inside the hoop, you lessen the chance of catching it fat or thin.
If you tend to hit your irons fat...
Focus on your backswing hip turn. Try to keep your right hip inside the right side of the hoop. If it strays outside, you've moved too far off the ball. When you turn your right hip correctly, you should feel your weight work into your right foot, and your upper body should be "stacked" above your right knee.
If you tend to hit your irons thin...
Focus on your downswing hip turn. Try to turn your left hip along the left-hand side of the hoop (keep your left hip above your left foot). When your left hip slides outside the hoop, you'll tend to hit down on the top of the ball. If you do it correctly, you should feel your weight move only into the heel of your left foot.
Use this club drill to get your swing online
Your swing is too up-and-down, which causes either a fat shot or a wild slice.
The Solution
A too-steep backswing creates two problems: 1) The resulting steep downswing will force you to stick the club in the ground before impact (fat), and 2) When you take the club back too high, your forearms tend to rotate down, cupping your left wrist and opening the clubface (slice). To swing the club properly around your body, think about keeping your elbows level at the top.
The Drill
Here's a good way to learn how to keep your swing on plane. Take the club back and find your position at the top. Then, have a friend grab another club from your bag — something long like your driver or 3- wood — and try to balance it between your arms (see photo). If your elbows aren't level, the club won't be straight. Practice this until you can feel the correct position all the time.
Hit Clean Iron Shots
Make solid contact, avoid mis-hits and start knocking down more pins
When you want to punch the ball under a branch, it shoots up like a rocket. When you want to boom a towering approach shot, the ball barely gets airborne. What's going on?
Irons are tricky to master because what your instincts feel is the right thing to do is really dead wrong. To hit irons solidly, which is the key to distance control, you need to hit down and compress the ball between the ground and the face of the club. This produces backspin which, added to the club's loft, makes the ball rise.
These tips should help take your iron game to new heights.
Learn from your divot
Good iron players hit the ball first, then the ground. Next time you're at the range, press a tee into the ground about 1 inch from the ball outside your target line.
Hit the ball with your 7-iron. If you make ball-first contact, the divot will be on the target side of the tee. If the divot starts slightly behind the tee, you hit a little fat and sacrificed distance and accuracy. If the entire divot is behind the tee, you chunked it.
Practice goal: Hit 10 shots in a row with your divot starting on the target side of the tee.
At left, the clubhead is ahead of the hands. At right, hit a series of balls and stop the clubhead below the level of your waist.
Incorrect: Getting flippy
If you hit low-flying skulls, chances are your clubhead is whipping ahead of your hands as you try to scoop the ball into the air. That puts the leading edge of the club into contact with the ball. At impact, the back of your left hand should face the target an your right wrist should bend slightly away from the target.
Correct: Full Extension
To check your impact position and get a feel for hitting solid irons, hit a series of balls and stop the clubhead below the level of your waist. You'll find it impossible to scoop at the ball and achieve this shortened finish. And don't be afraid to shorten your follow-through if you mis-hit a few irons in the middle of your round.
The Drill:
Address a ball in the middle of your stance while holding a 5-iron. Bend your right knee, point your toe into the ground and hit the ball. By dropping your right foot back, away from the target — a classic reverse pivot — as you make your downswing. Instead, you will rotate around your left foot and make a descending blow on the back of the ball.
Three Steps to Better Contact
Legendary golf instructor Eddie Merrins explains the motions you need to make better contact
Your golf swing is three-dimensional. It has height, width and depth. If you understand how each of the three dimensions works separately, you can properly blend them together.
1. Get a vertical hinge
Your hands and wrists hinge the club up and down relative to the ball. To practice the height dimension, hold your 5-iron in front of your chest so the shaft is perpendicular to the ground.
Now, raise the clubhead over your head. Feel how your wrists hinge the club upward, and your biceps lift it higher? That's how you should lever the club up on the backswing. Now move it back down — your hands and wrists unhinge. That motion should occur in your forward swing.
2. Make a jab
Your left arm determines your swing width. To feel the proper width, take your address position without a club, turn your shoulders back and throw a left jab at the air to your right, extending your left arm as far as it can comfortably go. On your forward swing, extend your right arm.
Throw a left jab to feel how wide your swing should be.
3. Lead with your forearms
Your right forearm creates depth as it pulls your hips and shoulders into a full backswing. That movement needs to be fairly level: If you move your right elbow up and down, you won't get the depth you need to make a full backswing turn and you'll likely mis-hit the ball.
To gain depth, move your right elbow over your right hip.
To practice this movement, take a 5-iron and swing to a three-quarters backswing. Your right elbow should be over your right hip at about the same height it was at address. It's also as deep as you want your swing to get. From here, you have a direct path to the end of your backswing, as your wrists hinge the club up and your left arm provides the width you need to complete the three-dimensional effect and make solid contact.
Slice tips
Slices can becaused by a number of things. Below are some common thinking processes of slicers; the reason that these ways fo thinking cause the problem are described and drills suggested to fix the faults.
1.If you don't feel like your backswing is long enough to give you the yards you need, you will lift your right elbow to bring the club back even farther. This causes your arms to swing way past the point when they should naturally stop. Now you're officially across the line (clubhead pointed right of the target at the top), and headed for inconsistent contact and those misses that go way high and to the right. If this is you, then see drill 1 and drill 2
2. If you think that extending your arms in your follow-through prevents chicken-winging and the tendency to hit a slice, then you have been mislead.
When you try to extend your arms — instead of allowing the force of your swing do it for you — you fail to properly rotate your forearms, specifically your left one. You know you're making this mistake if your left hand is above your right deep into your follow-through, with your left shoulder much higher than your right.
If this sounds like you, then see drill 3.
3. If you think you need to make big swing adjustments to eliminate your banana ball, then see drill 2 and drill 4.
Drill 1
Many players would benefit from stopping at what they think is three-quarters in their backswing. If that doesn't work, practice your backswing with a Nerf football wedged between your elbows. Try to keep the ball from falling out by keeping your elbows together. Make sure you complete your backswing with a full wrist cock. That's what gets you parallel at the top, not your arms.
Keep your elbows together with the clubhead pointed parallel to the target line for a powerful top position.
If you lift your right elbow, the ball will fall out and you'll lose power.
Drill 2
Make practice backswings with your wristwatch on your left wrist. Before you start, slide a pen under the face so that the cap end reaches the middle of the back of your left hand. As you swing to the top, can you feel the cap dig into the back of your left hand? If so, you've discovered the cause of your slice.
The pen drill tells you if you're cupping your left wrist. A cupped left wrist causes your clubface to rotate wide open at the top. Unless you make a serious compensating move, the face will stay open on your downswing.
Continue to practice your backswing with the pen under your watch until you can bring the club to the top without the pen jamming into your hand. Keep your left wrist perfectly flat. A flat left wrist means that your clubface is square at the top, which increases the chance of it being square at impact.
Watch Out!
If you start hooking the ball after performing the pen drill, you'll know that you've overcooked the idea of a flat left wrist by bowing it. You want your left wrist flat, not bent
Drill 3
As you swing through impact, rotate your left elbow so that it points down at the ground when your hands reach waist height in your follow-through. This kind of elbow rotation allows your right hand to properly turn past your left — the real way to beat a tendency to slice.
When you do it correctly, you'll feel like your left elbow is actually bending instead of snapping straight. When your left elbow stays soft, your right arm extends as if by magic. It's this right arm extension that gives your swing power and extra accuracy, and makes chicken-winging almost impossible.
Drill 4
Assume your normal address position with your arms crisscrossing your chest and holding a club parallel to the ground. Make a mock swing and note how far back the club turns and how far through it turns. If you're a slicer, you'll notice the club turns less in your backswing than in your follow-through. The unequal turn creates a cut motion through impact that sends the ball right.
THE QUICK SOLUTION
• Look down at your feet and imagine each is in the middle of a clock face.
• Flare your right foot to 2 o'clock and position your left foot at 12 o'clock.
• Now swing the club for real and feel the increase in shoulder turn going back and the lessening of it into your follow-through.
As you do this, make sure you maintain your posture and forward tilt. Straightening up through impact only encourages a slice. This tricks also works if you hook the ball. In this case, position your right foot at 12 o'clock and your left foot at 10 o'clock. This will decrease your turn back and increase your turn through. You'll hit the ball more with your body and less with your hands so they can't take over and shut down the clubface through impact.
1.If you don't feel like your backswing is long enough to give you the yards you need, you will lift your right elbow to bring the club back even farther. This causes your arms to swing way past the point when they should naturally stop. Now you're officially across the line (clubhead pointed right of the target at the top), and headed for inconsistent contact and those misses that go way high and to the right. If this is you, then see drill 1 and drill 2
2. If you think that extending your arms in your follow-through prevents chicken-winging and the tendency to hit a slice, then you have been mislead.
When you try to extend your arms — instead of allowing the force of your swing do it for you — you fail to properly rotate your forearms, specifically your left one. You know you're making this mistake if your left hand is above your right deep into your follow-through, with your left shoulder much higher than your right.
If this sounds like you, then see drill 3.
3. If you think you need to make big swing adjustments to eliminate your banana ball, then see drill 2 and drill 4.
Drill 1
Many players would benefit from stopping at what they think is three-quarters in their backswing. If that doesn't work, practice your backswing with a Nerf football wedged between your elbows. Try to keep the ball from falling out by keeping your elbows together. Make sure you complete your backswing with a full wrist cock. That's what gets you parallel at the top, not your arms.
Keep your elbows together with the clubhead pointed parallel to the target line for a powerful top position.
If you lift your right elbow, the ball will fall out and you'll lose power.
Drill 2
Make practice backswings with your wristwatch on your left wrist. Before you start, slide a pen under the face so that the cap end reaches the middle of the back of your left hand. As you swing to the top, can you feel the cap dig into the back of your left hand? If so, you've discovered the cause of your slice.
The pen drill tells you if you're cupping your left wrist. A cupped left wrist causes your clubface to rotate wide open at the top. Unless you make a serious compensating move, the face will stay open on your downswing.
Continue to practice your backswing with the pen under your watch until you can bring the club to the top without the pen jamming into your hand. Keep your left wrist perfectly flat. A flat left wrist means that your clubface is square at the top, which increases the chance of it being square at impact.
Watch Out!
If you start hooking the ball after performing the pen drill, you'll know that you've overcooked the idea of a flat left wrist by bowing it. You want your left wrist flat, not bent
Drill 3
As you swing through impact, rotate your left elbow so that it points down at the ground when your hands reach waist height in your follow-through. This kind of elbow rotation allows your right hand to properly turn past your left — the real way to beat a tendency to slice.
When you do it correctly, you'll feel like your left elbow is actually bending instead of snapping straight. When your left elbow stays soft, your right arm extends as if by magic. It's this right arm extension that gives your swing power and extra accuracy, and makes chicken-winging almost impossible.
Drill 4
Assume your normal address position with your arms crisscrossing your chest and holding a club parallel to the ground. Make a mock swing and note how far back the club turns and how far through it turns. If you're a slicer, you'll notice the club turns less in your backswing than in your follow-through. The unequal turn creates a cut motion through impact that sends the ball right.
THE QUICK SOLUTION
• Look down at your feet and imagine each is in the middle of a clock face.
• Flare your right foot to 2 o'clock and position your left foot at 12 o'clock.
• Now swing the club for real and feel the increase in shoulder turn going back and the lessening of it into your follow-through.
As you do this, make sure you maintain your posture and forward tilt. Straightening up through impact only encourages a slice. This tricks also works if you hook the ball. In this case, position your right foot at 12 o'clock and your left foot at 10 o'clock. This will decrease your turn back and increase your turn through. You'll hit the ball more with your body and less with your hands so they can't take over and shut down the clubface through impact.
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