Golf Drills

The SW Chipping Mentality

by

The mentality that the sand wedge is the one and only club to chip with is a common mistake among amateur golfers. I see many players use their sand wedge to chip from everywhere – anything from a shot over a tree to a tight pin, to a back pin from a tight fringe lie. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for using your sand wedge to chip; but it isn’t all the time…

chipping tips

I think that the ‘sand-wedge-only’ thinking stems from a lack of confidence chipping with other clubs. Practice creates confidence. To become a more rounded player, you need to work on chipping with your lob wedge, pitching wedge all the way to your six or five iron, even consider using your putter. Learn through practice what types of situation you would use each club. The general concept for chipping is to get the ball as close to hole as possible with the least room for error.

Hitting a sand wedge from a tight uphill lie to a back pin with no trouble in the way isn’t the right play. A six or seven iron will the get the job done with more consistency and control. The next time you’re at the range, forget the driver. Take that large bucket to the putting and chipping green and have at it. Better yet, invite a golf buddy and compete against each other. Improving your short game and versatility around the greens will lower your score far faster than an extra 5 yards with your driver. Besides, you get to reuse your bucket of balls as much as you want anyway.

A solid short game is the key to lower scores…

Don’t forget that!

Read more

How to Hit out of a Fairway Bunker

by

hitting a fairway bunker shot

Course architects and average golfers are fed up with these 7800 yard monstrosities that are needed just to compete with the advances in club and ball design. On tour, the players agree – few courses have stood the test of time. But of those few, they all have one thing in common. They are placement courses, that force you to place your shots well, and they penalize you severely if you do not. Fairway bunkers are one way of creating a risk reward situation off the tee. For most players, hitting their tee-shot into a fairway bunker tends to be a death sentence – with some practice though, this doesn’t have to be the case.

Fundamentals

First things first, a bunker shot cannot be played the same way as a fairway shot. From the fairway, you should be trapping the ball against the turf as your swing arc bottoms out slightly after the ball. If you try this in a bunker, you’ll chunk it… badly. You cannot “trap” a ball in the sand, as doing this will just force the ball and your club deeper into the sand, slowing your swing dramatically, and stealing all your power. With that said, you have to literally “pick the ball off the sand”. Here's how…

 

Read more

HELP! Lifting Up At Impact

by

Today, we’ll look to answer a question from a reader – if you have questions yourself, be sure to drop us a line on our contact page.

I am a girls' high school golf coach and have a player with a habit of going up onto her tip toes at contact with every club. She can't seem to break the habit and I'm out of ideas as to how to help her. Suggestions and drills PLEASE.

Todd

Hi Todd, thanks for the question. I’ve got some insights and suggestions to help you on your way. First things first, I want to understand the severity of your students habit of standing on her tip toes at impact. On tour, and as the image below shows, you’ll find many professionals have their trailing heel off the ground at impact. This isn’t a bad thing. It shows that your weight and power is transferring through to your front foot.

feet positions at impact

Now, likely as a golf coach you would already know this. So I will assume, and your e-mail suggests that you mean your student is going up on her tip toes of both of her feet at impact? If this is so, it makes me wonder what would cause this motion…as it’s not natural; it’s likely something in her swing caused this to happen. I can only think of one cause – and that would be a ball that is too close to her body at address. To compensate for this, she would have to lift up at impact to even make contact with the ball. Likely her body position fundamentals are out of whack. Double check that her clubs are properly fit to start and then her address fundamentals.

 

Read more

Stop Shanking Checklist

by

fix your shank video

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by – we’ve got a quick little post today. The shank plagues many of us; quite often it creeps into our swing when we are in high-pressure situations. This is when fundamentals are key. Ensuring you’re the proper distance from the ball and your weight is properly balanced is key to avoiding the shank. ‘The Golf Fix’ has a rather high octane version of this fundamental check up. Watch below…

 

 

A re-cap…

1) Stand the proper distance from the ball – bend at your hips, with a straight back. Your arms should be resting in front of your belt buckle. When viewed from behind your arms should be hanging close to straight down. Standing too tall or too far from the ball will cause poor posture, leading to poor contact.

2) Balance – your body weight needs to rest on the center of your feet, if it rest either on your heels or your toes, your weight will shift during your swing leading to inconsistent contact.

Enjoy!

 

Read more

How to Hit the Bump & Run

by

how to hit the bump & run

The Bump & Run is a very useful type of chip. It can be used from pretty much anywhere, with any club, and is also very simple to perform. This shot is very much like a putt, the only difference being it’s with an iron. The idea is to get the ball to fly over the rough, land on the green, and roll the rest of the way to the hole. The key to this shot is to swing with your arms and shoulders, and not break your wrists. Taking the wrists out of the chipping equation is very useful; it greatly reduces your chances of messing the shot up.

The trick to performing this shot correctly is the positioning of your wrists. From address to the follow-through your wrists should stay ahead of the clubhead. We call this position a forward press, and using it for this shot will greatly improve your chances of hitting a solid shot. Say goodbye to chunks, skulls and fluffed shots due to a wristy stroke.

Read more

3 Easy Slicing Fixes

by

9 out of 10 golfers suffer from a slice. As common as the fault is, there is only one cause – an open clubface at impact. Here are three easy quick fixes to help stop your slice in a hurry. Use them if need be on the course, for a mid-game fix, but I would highly recommend trying to groove them on the range so they because ingrained in your swing.

stronger grip slice fix

Stronger Grip

I’m talking hand position here, not grip pressure. Most slicers grip the club in too weak of a position (hands too much on top of the club) – to help combat this poor position, rotate your hands to the right on the club. The V’s created by the webbing between your thumb and index fingers should point either at your right shoulder or the right of it as shown in the image. A stronger grip position will help encourage you to grip the club more in your fingers, and it will make it easier for your wrists to rotate through impact helping to square the clubface.

 

Read more

Stroke Saving Chipping Drill

by

save strokes chipping drill

Poor chippers setup with their weight on their back foot and make a flippy, wristy stroke at the ball. Good chippers on the other hand, know that solid contact is of the utmost importance when it comes to chipping. This drill really helps with contact.

The next time you’re out practicing your chipping – setup with your body weight resting on your front foot and your back foot resting on its toes (as shown in the picture). You will likely need to move your trailing foot back from the ball (effectively closing your stance) to ensure you can complete the stroke.

Read more

How to Hit the Ball High or Low

by

how to hit the ball high or low Getting your game to the next level requires you to understand how to manipulate your ball flight to fit different situations. Being able to utilize these skills will allow you to get the ball over trees, under the wind and recover from trouble whenever its necessary. Personally, I enjoy finding creative ways to get out of difficult situations on the golf course. Use the tips below to really take your golf game to the next level.

Read more

Flagstick Putting Setup Drill

by

Putting is the most personalized part of the golf game; it is all about individuality, feel and confidence. That being said, putting styles differ quite a lot from player to player, especially on tour. Because of this, there are many things about putting that are not worth teaching. Take the putting grip for example – when it comes to putting, I’ve seen all sorts of grips work… on tour for example, you will find players who putt using left hand low, reverse overlap or even the claw. That being said, there are two fundamental of putting that needs to be used by all golfers.

Read more

How & Why Odd Golf Swings Work

by

There are plenty of odd golf swings on the professional tours that are quite effective. From abbreviated backswing's and follow-through's to out-to-in and in-to-out swing paths, on tour we have seen it all. The question is how do the oddest swings on tour, like Jim Furyk's, produce repeatable and dependable results? This video will explain the one thing all professional golf swings have in common… and it’s likely not what you think.

Read more