The knockdown is a very useful shot to have in your repertoire as it allows you to lower your ball trajectory without sacrificing control or distance. The knock-down shot is most commonly used in windy conditions, to help increase the distance a ball will travel into a head or cross wind. However, it can also be used in many different situations: to get under trees, to roll and run through a bunker or towards a green and even to skip across a pond. There are some specific fundamentals to this shot that will help your ball travel further and lower if preformed correctly… so I hope you enjoy this post!
Golf Drills
Fix The Double Cross
Picture this…You’re sitting on the right hand side of the fairway, of a dog-leg right hole and the pin is just hiding behind the trees. You have 160 yards to the pin and will need to hit a 10-15 yards fade to avoid the trees on the right. You’re a little worried because if you hit the shot straight, you’ll surely be in the trees to the left of the green.
Golf Tips for Teaching your Kids
With all the life lessons golf can teach us, including honesty, integrity, perseverance, and taking each shot at a time, it's no wonder so many of us want to share the wonderful game of golf with our kids. I highly recommend you take your kids to the range when they're young, and stick a club in their hands… and let them have some fun. That being said, if you're thinking of getting them off to a good start, many golf courses host junior and kids lesson clinics. Most of these clinics follow a basic regimen of fun first, fundamentals second and a couple easy to remember tips third.
Feet Together Push Drill
Players who tend to push the ball likely have an in to out swing path into impact. This is usually created by an over-active lower body, and a slower moving upper body. A great drill to help reduce your lower body movement is the leg together drill:
With a 7 iron on the driving range, place your feet together as shown in the picture and set up to the ball in the middle of your stance. Make full swings, while focusing on trying to keep your balance and turning your hips through impact. I cannot stress this enough, focus on the turning of your upper body… and the turning of your hips. If you can make solid swings, while turning your hips – you’ll help reduce your lower body movement, and start hitting straighter shots.
Also keep in mind the timing of your hips and your arm swing through impact. This drill helps with your swing tempo, balance, and upper body rotation. Give it a try!
Beginner's Who Hook – What's the Problem?
Although statistics say 90% of golfer’s slice the ball… that leaves 10% of us that either hook or can hit it straight. Oddly enough, throughout my lessons, I see many beginner golfers who suffer from a hook. Although, yes, on occasion the fix can be as simple as ensuring the player starts with the clubface square at address, or their shafts are too whippy… but this is not always the case. I want to talk about some common causes of a the hook, that specifically affect beginners. For you better players who suffer from a hook… this post will surely help you’re games out as well.
The Wrist Hinge Drill
While this fault may look silly, you’d be surprised how many players suffer from it. At the top of the backswing, some players are gripping the club so tightly, that their wrists do not hinge at the top. If you are so focused on keeping the clubface on-line throughout your swing, you will likely exhibit some form of this fault in your attempts to keep clubface movement to a minimum. As the video below describes, this is counter-productive. Not only will you be throwing away a ton of power, your wrists and arms will be in such poor position at the top that reaching impact in a square position is all but impossible. This drill is designed to help you loosen up. Much like swinging a rope, let the club hit each of your shoulders – really focus on feeling your wrists hinge and unhinge at the top.
Hit A Ball Above Your Feet
Mountain courses tend to challenge every club in a golfers bag. You are faced with trouble shots, knock downs, impossible lies and shots where you need to hook or slice the ball to keep it in play. Compared to these ‘tougher shots’, a ball sitting above your feet would seem rather simple. But the truth is, few golfers know how to play this shot properly. How should you play this shot?
The 5-Step Stack & Tilt Swing
The Stack & Tilt swing has been a popular new swing method as of late on tour. The stack & tilt swing’s identifying feature can be seen in the weight-shift. Stack & tilt swingers, don’t shift their weight back and forth on their backswing and downswing as much as a conventional swing. By keeping their weight centered or favouring their front leg throughout their swing, they can better control their impact position. With this in mind, here are five steps to a solid stack & tilt swing.
Step One: Centered Address
First – we need to get you stacked over the ball. To do this properly, you need align your spine so it is straight and upright. Imagine two points, one in the middle of both your shoulders, and the other between your hips. Align these points with your grip – and then your spine should be straight. Your body weight should be close to 50/50, if anything leaning slightly on your front leg (I apologize for the slightly off-center picture).
Step Two: Backswing: Lead Shoulder Down, Trailing Hip Back
The main goal is to keep your spine over the ball throughout the swing. This becomes difficult on the backswing, but there is a simple mental thought that will help: lead shoulder down, trailing hip back. When you swing back, your lead shoulder needs to drop down and point towards the ball – while doing this, your trailing hip must rotate back to create some torque. These two moves, will force your lead knee to bend, and your swing path to move (when compared to the conventional swing) quite inside. At the top your spine should be leaning slightly forward.
How to Blade Your Wedge… on Purpose
The bladed wedge is a little known short game shot that’s very effective from a difficult situation. When your ball comes to rest on the fringe and right up against the collar of the rough surrounding the green. This particular situation makes any type of normal chip shot a for-sure chunk, and any play with a putter usually ends of topped. This is where the bladed wedge comes in… the leading edge of the wedge can sift through the grass and make contact with the equator of the ball much more effectively then either of the other shots. Here’s how to do it.
Figure 8 – Fix Your Pull Drill
One of the best ways to fix an over-the-top swing is to exaggerate the exact opposite move. This drill is designed to do exactly that and force an in to out swing path. It’s a very effective drill – have a look at the video and description below on how to perform it.