A prevalent issue among golfers is slicing; another is inconsistent ball striking. Maybe one time, you hit it perfectly on the sweet spot, and the next time you plug it fat (behind the ball) or thin (on top of the ball), even though your set-up, grip, and swing were practically identical between the two shots. Or maybe you hit the ball so far to the left (if you’re right-handed) that it flies in a spectacular banana arc and lands in a good spot on the fairway. Then, you set up like that and promptly send the ball soaring into the nearby trees. I want to share what has helped my golf game tremendously and perhaps can help yours after battling the same two difficulties for many years and finally discovering what I think to be the underlying cause of both.
The secret to hitting consistent golf shots is to square up the club head after impact. The ball will slice if the club face is exposed at the mark. Your image will hook if you have it closed at impact. You’ll be more likely to hit fat or thin if you don’t bring the club head back so it makes clean contact with the ground when you strike the ball. Too much lower body movement during the golf swing is one factor I’ve noticed in my own game and in studying others who struggle with these issues, though there are undoubtedly more. Having a “loosey-goosey” lower body while swinging the golf club dramatically reduces your chances of regularly making good strokes.
Please focus on the pros’ knees as they swing, especially when hitting a driver off the tee, on television one weekend. You’ll notice immediately that no matter how hard they turn, their lower body remains remarkably still during the entire motion. Until the club makes contact with the ball, the distance between the insides of their knees may remain unchanged. Watch the women’s tour on TV and pay close attention to their knees. The lack of side-to-side knee mobility is especially noticeable because many wear skirts while playing.
You are undoubtedly being too “noisy” with your lower body as you swing if you sway back and forth or if your hips move laterally more than an inch or two at most when you transfer your weight. It doesn’t take a lot of strength or expertise to fix this issue, but you will have to get used to what feels like an awkward swing at first, which will become your best friend once your muscle memory is trained to perform it instinctively.
Get a pair of quarter-inch-diameter wood rods long enough to be waist-high after you put them into the ground (3 to 3 1/2 feet), and use them as a practice drill to learn to shift your weight rather than sway it in your backyard. They cost relatively minor and can be found at any hardware shop. When you adopt a stance as if you were going to hit the ball, plant one about an inch to the right of the heel of your right foot and another about an inch to the left of the heel of your left foot. If you’ve done it right, you should be in your typical golfing stance with two wood rods put
into the ground such that their tops are level with your waist and their positions are just outside the heels of your shoes. Then go ahead and try some dry swings. Your hips and the outsides of your knees shouldn’t touch the rods at any point in the swing. Another benefit of this exercise is learning to complete a full turn in your follow-through while keeping your balance. Don’t get so tense that you can’t move forward. Keep your weight on the inside of your back foot during the backswing and on the inner of your front foot during the forward swing, turning your waist the whole way through the swing and not sliding laterally at any time.
After some practice, you can get a backswing with the proper weight shift without swaying. You’ll also be shifting your weight forward correctly without wavering on the downswing. Moving does not necessarily imply rocking back and forth. You may finally understand “coiling” your importance and shifting it forward. For years, I swayed because I didn’t know it, despite many golfing recommendations recommending coiling against the inside of your back leg on your takeaway. Since I started shifting, my performance on the field has soared.
Head to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls with your preferred iron, distance be damned, once you’ve gotten used to the new swing. A five or six-iron is a decent choice if you’re unsure where to start. Just hit some genuine shots and get adjusted to your unique swing. First, you should reduce the speed of your backswing and forward swing. You aren’t competing in a distance event to break any records. You’ll improve dramatically after you master your new swing. Once you’ve gotten the hang of your new swing, it’s time to resume average swing speed without increasing your swing force. Put your wood rods in the ground and hit several shots off the grass if the driving range permits.
It doesn’t matter if you’re hitting a driver off the tee or a wedge from 15 feet off the green; keeping your lower body “quiet” is a good rule of thumb for both. You may eliminate slices and find more consistency in your ball hitting by controlling the more downward body movement you use and learning to shift rather than sway.
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