Stemming from the last post I wrote, I wanted to add a great drill to help you feel the difference between swing paths.
Golf Drills
Cure Your Slice From Your Knees
This particular drill can be used for two different purposes, one to help fix your slice, and the other to reduce your lower body movement (which occasionally can also lead to a slice). In regards to specifically fixing your slice, swinging from your knees will promote a flatter more baseball-like swing path into the ball. This should help you move away from a common cause of the slice, a steep, upright swing. By swinging from your knees, you make an upright swing impossible… and you force yourself to flatten your swing path in order to make contact with the ball. I’d recommend staying away from this drill on a range like the one photographed here – the dividers can cause problems. Try this on an open grass range and tee the ball up – use a long iron, or wood if you’re adventurous.
Another common cause for the slice is an over active lower body. By swinging from your knees you basically take your entire lower body out of the swing, and force your upper body to coil to compensate. Therefore, this drill is very effective at reducing a common slice cause, an over-active lower body. By eliminating your lower body from the swing, you are forced to rotate fully, making it very difficult to "get ahead of the ball". This rotation, is an important factor in helping your square the clubface – leading to straighter shots.
Give it a try!
The Do's and Don'ts of Chipping
A solid short game can save you over 10 shots a round… that turns your measly 85 into a round that hovers around par. All this takes is solid fundamentals, feel and good imagination. To get to this point however, takes a lot of creative practice in every situation, with every club you could possibly think of. So, before you can start practicing and improving your short game, start with the basics… once you understand the do’s and don’ts of chipping – you’ll soon become a lot more confident around the greens.
Tips on How to Get Out Of The Rough
Driving accuracy has now become just as important as distance on the pro tours. Course superintendents can only make their courses so long before it gets too ridiculous for the average player. Instead, they are making the courses tighter and really punishing shots that creep away from the fairway.
How to Make the Perfect Putting Grip
I was teaching a student last week, and was asked this question. My answer was simple – “there is no perfect putting grip”. As long you incorporate some basic grip fundamentals, your putting grip can be as unique as your swing. This fact is proven on tour, where you will see a multitude of different grips being employed.
Master the Transition Golf: Smooth Your Swing in 3 Steps
Improve your golf swing transition for more power & accuracy. Learn 3 key steps to master this crucial movement and fix your slice/shank. Start now!
Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons”: Golf Mastery Guide
Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons” offers timeless golf insights. Explore its core principles, modern adaptations, and Hogan’s inspiring legacy. Read more now!
Practice Swing Drill – Fix your Pop-Up and Skies!
Practice Swing Drill ~ Fix your Pop-Up and Skies! Problem: The player’s weight tends to remain on the front foot into the downswing. Result: The swing becomes extremely steep, and tends to travel out to in. Especially with woods, this problem tends to lead to a shot that goes extremely high, and doesn’t travel very … Read more
Shaft Swish Drill – Gain Rhythm & Cure Your Hook
“Swing harder, and the ball will go further!”
Heard this before? It’s obvious to some degree, but not so much. When I see player actually try to swing harder, they give stiff, rigid and quick.
Ball Sweep Drill – Cure your Pull and Pop-Ups
There is one major difference between the proper swing for a driver, and for an iron. That difference is the angle of attack. The angle of attack refers to the angle at which the club is coming at the ball into impact. For irons this angle should be steeper, as to help get the ball into the air with lots of spin. With the driver however, the angle of attack should be very shallow, as the club is designed to sweep the ball off a tee.