Are you looking for a more consistent golf swing?
Are you looking to find a way to be better every single time and not have those wild
misses on the golf course?
Today, I'm going to give you two drills.
We're going to get you cleaned up in your swing, and then cleaned up on the golf course,
as well.
So, let's get into how we're going to fix your golf swing.
So, when I'm working with players on a lesson tee, and we're trying to dive into the best
swing and we're looking for certain pieces on video, one thing that we focus on is where
the golf club aligns in their downswing, at right about here.
I want to see the shaft line up with the right form, so that way, we can get an effective
delivery through to our finish.
And if we don't have the golf club lining up properly in the downswing, it becomes very
difficult to have a consistent impact.
But, on top of that, just because we put it in the right place in the downswing doesn't
mean we'll deliver it the same way.
So, we've got two alignment sticks we're going to use here, and it'll help us find the better
way to deliver the golf club in the downswing, and that way, we can have a greater hit on
the golf ball.
So, first, we'll line our sticks up.
We'll get set up.
We're trying to keep it on a similar plane as our golf club.
We move it just outside the club head, about a club-length back, and we push that in the
ground.
This one's just going to be a friendly reminder to swing underneath.
This one will be further away than our other stick, which will, again, will be on the high
side of the golf club, close to the plane of the club that we're swinging.
And what this will let us do is hit a shot, the ball should go underneath the stick, and
we should be able to not hit the stick with our golf club, as well.
And because, the reason why the stick in the front is located there is, I'll see players
line it up perfectly here, and then send their golf club out to the alignment stick.
Well, if we do that, we're just going to hit blocks, and it could get worse, too, if the
golf club travels too far out, if you catch my drift.
So, we get set up, and our goal is to swing underneath the blue, down, and line our arms
up correctly where our elbow's hitting right in between our belly-button and our spine,
club head's behind our hands, and the golf club will exit underneath the yellow.
So, if we do this all correctly, it should look a little something like this.
And so, the goal here is, we're trying to swing underneath that and underneath this
one.
Now, let's say you struggle from Old Mr. Over-the-Top, and you get up on the ball and it's 'Whap!',
and you're just nailing the stick, right, and the club head's too far out.
I want you to get set up, take the club back, and pretend you made a full golf swing.
I want you to pull the club down, elbow in.
Your right arm's going to look like it lines up with your right leg, and the golf club
should look like it still points to the golf ball.
From here, I want you to try and make a golf swing and hit the ball.
If you need a little pump, give me a little pump to get some speed, and we're going to
hit our shot.
Now, if you hit the stick, it means you didn't turn enough to the finish and get your hands
going up and in.
So, what I mean by that is, once you get to this little magical moment where your right
arm lines up with your right leg, the golf club points to the ball, your hands shouldn't
drift out.
Your hands should come up and into your left leg to your left pocket.
So, you should feel like you're shutting a door, and your left hip is the door, that
which you swing around.
So, it's back, a little pull down, give a little pump, and around the door we go.
Now, "Coach, I've mastered your alignment stick drill, but I can't get it done on the
golf course.
I suck on the golf course.
I need to get better."
The next part is tempo.
Most players will range from a backswing-to-impacts ratio of two-to-one.
So, if their backswing takes two seconds, downswing would take one second, but that's
obviously exaggerated.
It's less than that.
It's actually a quarter of a second for most downswings, but the ratio still remains the
same, just two up, one down.
So, if we do that, they can go all the way up to three-to-one.
It can range from two- to three-to-one, and it depends on who you are as a player.
So, for me, I'm a two-to-one, two-and-a-half-to-one ratio, so when I get set up, I like to do
a drill where I go, "1, 2, 3," and I'm trying to get back to impact by 3.
I start my golf swing on 1, and I try and hit the ball by 3.
So, let's give it a shot.
"1, 2, 3."
Now, if you hear a quick grunt or acceleration to your voice on the 3, or impact, you are
swinging too hard and exerting yourself too much.
So, the goal is to try and even it out.
And yes, you have to say it out loud.
You can't stand there and whisper it in your head because you won't grunt.
So, it's out loud, "1, 2, 3."
And our goal is to get away from that grunt and even out our downswing voice.
That way, we're exhaling our air and getting all the air out of our gut as we hit the ball.
And that way, it's not a tense hold-our-breath moment where we have all this because if we
tense up, hold our breath, when we hit the ball, all that goes out and that's why you
hear that high accelerated pitch at the third position.
Now, some of you are, you know, 3-counters, right, so you, 2 may be too quick.
So, you can go, "1, 2, 3, 4," and hit it, but that's too slow for me.
I'm better at that two-and-a-half to two range.
So, try that on for size for tempo on the golf course.
Try it on the practice range first, get a feel for it.
Then, on the golf course, count out to your head, "1, 2, 3," and that will transfer you
out on the golf course.
You have your alignments for your downswing, your tempo for the track, and I'll bet you
have a better consistent swing at the end of the day.