(club swinging)
- Well hi, I'm Adam Bazalgette,
founder of Scratch Golf Academy.
And today's subject,
best golf swing takeaway drill for your driver.
(dramatic classical pop music)
So best golf swing takeaway drill for your driver.
I'll actually show you my favorite drill,
but I'll show you three different versions of it
that I think you'll like,
hopefully it'll be helpful to ya.
If you like the channel, please subscribe,
scratchgolfacademy.com is my home website.
(club swinging)
Alright, before we look at this drill,
let's touch on a couple of very critical points
just to get started.
This driver is designed on a fairly flat angle.
That means it needs to come in more this way
at a fairly shallow plane.
I'm telling you, if you take it inside too much
it's typically gonna come over the top,
you're not gonna hit the ball that solidly.
In addition, when golfers come out here,
the club prematurely gets close to the ball.
Great players that keep it back here longer
maintain more space between club and the ball.
Gives them more whip at the bottom.
So the takeaway's critical.
It's doable if you whip it inside,
but it's pretty darn difficult.
Look at a couple of top players.
We'll get right back out and check out the drill.
So Tiger Woods on the left, Brooks Koepka on the right.
Let's stop Tiger about there,
that's a pretty good pair of players.
And Brooks, let's say right about there,
we could give him one more frame,
but let's go right there.
What you'll notice, the club is more inline with that
trail or right forearm there,
and it doesn't get back this way as so many players do.
Very difficult way to play.
You'll see more of a convex kind of an angle there.
And just generally, the club is looking more that way,
and it doesn't get behind them.
Now interestingly enough, if you look at, say,
Tiger there in the takeaway, look at his right wrist
and club shaft there.
Look at it approaching contact.
That's a different look.
A really dynamic look.
Same look for Brooks Koepka.
So it is a lot easier to get there
if you get that good takeaway.
Okay, so let's look at this drill of three
different versions of it.
My favorite's actually the one we'll do third,
more of an image than anything.
First version though, grip it normally with the left hand,
take your right hand, flatten it,
and put it in front of the shaft.
So I can feel the shaft against the back of my fingers.
In the first place, you can't grab the club
and whip it inside when you do that.
Secondly, you have a real sense,
I'm telling you, if you are throwing something
or skipping a rock here like that,
you wouldn't twist your hand,
so you have a real sense for where this right hand
is aimed for the right handed golfer.
And you really have a sense that, you know what,
there is a very slight arc.
It's not aiming directly straight.
But it surely isn't aimed over here like that.
And of course your right palm in this case
really corresponds with the club face.
You start to get a wonderful sense there
of how the takeaway should feel.
You've gotta be able to feel things in order to do them
in your swing.
So here's this drill from this angle.
And again, I have a real sense of the hand and
the club looking this way.
And a real concave sense between the left arm and club,
not the convex sense that we normally see
so many people have.
Here's version number two of the drill,
and for this one, normal grip here.
And I'm gonna reach down maybe halfway off the grip
with the my right hand.
The club will probably hover a little bit off the ground.
And in this drill, you can really tell when your
hands are split when your right arm falls.
It is, couldn't be anymore obvious.
So I get the feeling that I can start back here,
right hand feels more on top.
It gives you a nice sense of some structure
in that right arm there.
And again I can feel that the golf club's looking
a lot more this way.
Just pump it a few times, get the sense of it,
then slide your hand up and see if you can
feel the same thing.
It's a nice feel.
Okay, number three, this is my favorite,
this is a good mental picture.
Picture a little light or a laser light
pointed at you sticking out of the handle of the club.
And as you start that backswing in the very first
part of it, feel like that would either point at your pocket
or even point slightly behind your right leg.
Most of the people I see immediately that light
would shine over here as they take the club to the inside
and over activate that hand.
Now, couple of things, very important.
Don't start placing the club no matter what the drill
with these hand muscles.
That's what people tend to do.
We've gotta feel the sense of the body and arms
working in harmony.
A sense of everything flowing.
But we can still have a sense of where the club is
with these hands if we're not placing it there.
And number two, quite honestly,
you know in teaching golf I see people maybe do
a bunch of drills, they look really good,
whack the ball, doesn't look like that.
What happens?
The mind's just too keen on hitting the ball.
There's too much interference.
And they just react and the old pattern shows up.
If you're gonna work on these things,
and I hope you will,
you gotta work at it here,
there's my light shining more behind me,
and just commit to that and hang in there with that
and relax and let what happens happen.
It'll start to show up for you.
So here's the feel.
Again I'm not gonna place it.
I'm gonna just feel like that club points either at this
pocket or behind it.
More of a cup feeling here.
Once I've felt it a few times, maybe some shots
on a small scale.
Maybe after a minute or two,
you start to get this and then feel in the way down
a little more what we saw the pros do.
Feel a little bit of that, let's try that feeling.
There we go.
(club swinging)
I kinda like the way that club moved there.
Felt like it had the sequence
or the positions about right.
Try these drills.
They're not just one time only.
Try them, try them, use them regularly,
you know, before you hit T shots when you're
out on the golf course.
Pick your favorite.
So I hope that helps you with best golf swing
takeaway drill for your driver.
Be patient with yourself.
Work on these things.
You can do it.
You can make some progress.
(upbeat funky pop music)