Swing Path Drills

Fix Getting Underneath It

by

Many players suffer from fat shots. Instead of laying the sod over the ball, quite often you can get underneath the ball and pop it up, or sky it. The ultimate symptom that causes this swing fault is an overly steep swing into impact. As this video shows, the most common fault for such a steep swing is poor ball position. If the ball is placed too far back in your stance, you can’t properly sequence your downswing. Instead you’re forced to release your wrists early, and it becomes very easy to pop it up. The simple fix – keep a close eye on your ball position. One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply place a shaft on the ground, pointing at your ball – setup to the ball, and you’ll get instant feedback on your ball position in relation to your stance.

 


Read more

Fix your Push, Pull or Shank with only a Range Bucket

by

Many swing faults are caused by an incorrect club path into the ball. Whether you pull it (over-the-top), push / block it (in to out) or shank it (either or), your swing path is to blame. There are many drills on this site that can help you fix any of these faults, but today I want to go over some drills you can perform to cure these faults with something as simple as a range bucket.

Read more

How to Maintain your Spine Angle

by

If you’re one of those players who often hits thin, topped, skulled, fat or even shots off the heel, bottom groove or toe of the club, your spine angle is likely to blame for your inconsistency. Truth be told, the age old adage of “not looking up” isn’t necessary if you can retain your spine angle – case and point, Annika Sorenstam’s swing.

Read more

Stop Topping and Thinning It

by

 thin topped shots drill

For players who suffer from an overly flat swing, getting solid impact below the equator of the ball is often difficult. Especially with the irons, a steeper swing path into the ball is needed to produce better contact. In case you don’t understand the difference between a flat an upright swing, here is a quick rundown.

 

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

Quit Coming Over-the-Top and Save $60

by

Who has seen that infomercial for the Inside Approach or the Path Pro? Trust me, if you have The Golf Channel you’ve seen it, its a little foam bar that can be used to help players rid their swings of that dreaded over-the-top / slice move. Anyway, I have used something similar in my lessons to help my students with this swing fault and I thought I would share it with you.

Read more

Hitting Blocks? Check your Hips

by

Often I find junior golfers have an issue with sliding their hips on the downswing in attempts to get extra distance.  Unfortunately this causes your spine angle to change leading to anything from pop-ups to big blocks.  The biggest problem with this fault is that after awhile, this fault becomes ingrained, and then very difficult to get rid of.

Read more

Line Drill — Cure your Fat Shots

by

The constant talk about the secrets of the pro’s has always given me a bit of a laugh. First of all, the golf swing is no secret, nor is anything the pro’s can do with their swings. The secret is actual being able to perform the moves we all talk about. For example, creating lag; … Read more