I've noticed that I can set up to hit a driver with the shaft leaning too far forward when I'm not paying attention, with the club shaft pointing at my left hip. The mishits from a shot like this include fat shots and pop-ups, because this sort of setup encourages a downward hit into the ball. With the woods, we want an upward angle of attack.
If you look at video or photographs of professional golfers showing their driver setup positions, you will notice that most set up with their hands directly over or just behind the club head (and thus ball) at address, and the club shaft is either vertical or leaning slightly away from the target. The club shaft will point at the belt buckle or just to the left of it, and the angle of the club shaft matches the angle of the left leg. In other words, the club DOES NOT lean towards the target as it does for iron shots.
Setting up with the shaft vertical or leaning very slightly away from the target will encourage a sweeping driver or wood swing rather than a downward driver swing, which is encouraged by the opposite setup. To reach this position, don't move the arms; rather, adjust the stance to get the shaft (and thus ball position) adjusted properly.
Remember to keep the shaft pointing towards the belt buckle and this will assist in getting the driver shaft in the correct position. Also keep in mind that ball position in the stance is directly associated with the degree of shaft lean, either forward or backward, at address. The ball position for the driver should be relative to the hands and upper body, not the feet, and poorer players tend to push the ball position to far forward, especially when hoping to hit a push-draw.
It's important to experiment. It's possible that a hand position very slightly forward of the ball with a driver might assist in hitting inside-out and promoting a push-draw. Taken too far, however, will cause fat shots, pop-ups, pushes, and push-slices.
So if your hands are ahead at address, they will try to be ahead of the ball at impact promoting a "compression" of the golf ball equaling more distance and accuracy. The backward lean of the driver will promote a "sweeping" of the ball off the tee to create the optimal launch angle for your drives.
One of the most common errors with the driver is to lean the club shaft too far forward. This club shaft alignment promotes a steep attack angle, robbing you of power and accuracy. Rory [McIlroy] is a great example of someone who doesn’t lean the driver forward at address, allowing him to get behind it and achieve the necessary attack angle.
The shaft of the club will appear to lean slightly toward the target with your short irons because the ball is positioned in the center of your stance. With your middle irons, the shaft of the club will lean only slightly toward the target (or not at all) since the ball is forward of center. With long irons and woods, your hands and the shaft of the club will appear to be in line. Again, as the ball position moves forward, the hands stay in the same place so the lean of the shaft disappears. With a driver, the shaft will lean away from the target.
With the driver, most golfers play the ball too far forward and stand too far away from it. This might feel powerful, but it sets some bad things in motion.
A lot of people have the yips when they putt. But I don't think people realize that they can have the yips (or a flinch) with any golf shot, including full swings. I've been a victim of this, and you must really pay attention to yourself to catch it, because it's very subtle and insidious. It often occurs right at impact or anticipation of impact.
I call this full swing yipping phenomenon "the flinch." Yips usually involve just the hands and small muscles in the forearms, but the flinch can involve muscles in your entire body. I've flinched with my left shoulder. I even flinch with my legs--even to the point of lifting with my legs and spinning out my front foot, and part of me believes that this is left over from my tennis days. In reality, it's just tension that tries to release itself at the ball, and a flinch swing is really the opposite of a smooth swing. The tension can be due to a variety of reasons, including the effect that the golf course's hazards and obstacles have on the psyche (e.g., a long forced carry over a lake, etc.).
In a smooth swing, the small muscles of the hands and forearms don't activate. This means there's no conscious or unconscious attempt to add power to the shot, rotate the forearms, flip the wrists, or any number of other handsy movements. But a smooth swing also means a smooth lower body. The left foot doesn't spin open from its address position; the legs don't try to unconsciously add lift to the shot. It's a smooth, gradually accelerating motion of the lower body that should move passive arms.
There are probably other movements I'm missing. Heck, for all I know I'm probably gritting my teeth, flaring my nostrils, and raising my eyebrows at impact. All are signs of tension and denote a high potential for flinching at the ball and causing crazy mishits.
Ironically, a slower, smoother, rotational swing imparts far more energy to the ball than a faster yip swing that uses small muscles and causes mishits. It's like a lot of things in golf--the opposite prevails. The mind must learn that a smooth swing without small, jerky movements of the twitch muscles will give the ball it's best distance and direction.
I believe that part of beating these flinches is to first realize that you're doing it, and this requires an ability to be aware of yourself and body through the swing. If you mishit a shot, ask yourself immediately if you flinched or not. Chances are you probably did. When addressing the ball, remind yourself to relax and not flinch--especially in situations where you fear hitting the ball short or too far wide and into a hazard. Try different grip pressures, grip more in the palm with the left hand (and more in the fingers of the right) or even trusting your setup and not looking at the ball (something like this worked for Hank Haney's driver yips). Thinking of your swing as having perpetual motion (as Shawn Clement teaches) might help reduce flinching at the ball.
She recalls starting to flinch in her swing during her junior year of college, right after coming off of the U.S. Women’s Open. Following that tournament, she first noticed she was flinching through impact, better known to amateur golfers as the ‘yips.’ Instead of taking a step back and figuring out what was causing the flinch, she continued to play through it. She assumed it would solve itself over time. The flinch progressively got worse. It became mentally draining for Henderson, but she refused to stop competing.
In the latest Golf Illustrated was a good article called Quick Fix for the Yips by Stephen Aumock as he states that this word can cause a chill to go down your spine if they feel this is happening to their putting stoke. As the article states that most golfers don’t realize they have it and if they do they seem helpless in ways to fix it.
I know my son who is a great golfer has had this problem and he has tried everything from going to the long putter and tried different methods to help him to relax. This author attempts to give some suggestion on how to overcome this affliction. He mentions the Yips can happen in all sports, from baseball to basketball so it isn’t all in golf.
Many amateur golfers flinch at the ball at impact. They have a very free-flowing practice swing, but when they get up over the ball their swing looks completely different. I called this a hit impulse. The hit impulse is the moment you put a ball in front of you, you hit at the ball instead of take a full swing through the ball. A good friend of mine used to call this chopping wood. I don’t think I would consider a hit impulse full-blown yips with your swing, but is a very close cousin.
Small spasms or twitching of the muscles in the arms at impact causes an unpredictable clubhead movement, just as you see with the putting yips. When you suffer from the yips, the way your brain and muscles controlling your hands communicates is disrupted somehow, causing you to unintentionally move the club in anticipation of contact. As you would with the putting yips, you need to change the way you perceive the point of impact either mentally or physically.
Try different gripping styles with or without overlapping your fingers and see if this helps. Start by aligning your fingers onto the grip or squeezing the grip with your palms and then wrap your fingers around it for support. This can change the way your brain interprets the signals it receives from your hands. The simplest way to cure the driving yips is to change your preshot routine trigger. For example, one golf pro says that her trigger is to touch her golf bag and it mentally prepares her to swing. Try changing your key thoughts as you swing. These are thoughts you use to improve your swing; such as, keep your head down or make a full follow through. Most people watch the ball as they make contact and think: keep your eyes on the ball. One thing you could do is to start staring at your nose instead of the ball. This requires that you trust the way you set up to the ball and your swing. The benefit to this is that it reduces your anxiety or simply changes the way your brain interprets the swing in hopes to prevent the yips.
The technical name for the yips is focal dystonia—and changing where you focus your eyes can help solve the problem. Hansson had him hit balls with his eyes closed so he could focus on a different feel in his release.
However, Hank eventually developed the bane for his demons. He changed his grip, incorporated a bizarre pre-shot waggle and avoided looking at the ball. You read correctly, he found the ball to be distraction to his swing!
"Swing faster for more distance." This is a refrain that we've heard from many instructors; Hank Haney recently told Joe Namath (The Haney Project) to speed it up and swing "OUTSIDE" himself. He was pointing out to Namath that he was capable of far more club head speed than he was demonstrating. I've had my beginning swing speed measured at about 84 mph on average, and I believe that's on par with many golfers at my level of play. With my driver, I can hit it about 210 on average, which isn't really great.
Physics backs the notion of velocity adding much craved distance. For every extra mph, about 2 yards in distance is added. But how to add speed the right way?
We see players like Ernie Els swinging in apparently slow motion but with clubhead speeds well in excess of 120 mph. How the heck do guys like Els and Couples, with their languid, lazy looking rhythms, manage to hit the ball so far? These guys take 9-irons and hit them 150 yards. How do they swing slow and lazy but obviously still generate club head speed?
When I think of swinging fast, the first thing my subconscious brain tries to do is throw the club from the top really fast. And this causes mishits, OTT moves, slices, and no end of other errors, because as Namath said to Haney: "I'm trying to swing WITHIN myself." Haney was trying to relate to Namath that his swing was too slow where it counts--down in the impact area at the bottom.
In other words, a violent transition and adding speed too early will cause errors and the swing will ironically slow down before it gets to the ball. We need to start down SLOWLY and gradually add speed in the right place.
Shawn Clement had a beautiful swing analogy for speed. When pushing a child on a swing and satiating the child's desire to go higher and faster, the adult must ASSIST MOMENTUM where it makes sense--AT THE BOTTOM! The adult gives the child a gentle but firm extra shove at the bottom to increase the speed. When thought of this way, it's easy to see why many of us amateur golfers screw up the speed part and lose distance or accuracy or both. Applied the analogy above, we might kill the child with this way of thinking.
You can swing "within yourself" (with an Ernie Els-like rhythm) and still get the club head moving through impact 20 mph faster than you do now. You'll be more likely to keep some accuracy while adding distance. Start down slowly and gradually add speed at the bottom. This feels very subtle, gradual, and dynamic.Use counting rhythmic meters at a moderate tempo to help pace your swing. Just think of Clement's swing analogy and practice it that way. This also will give you two speeds to swing every club: your "normal" pace, where you get moderate distance and your "boosted" pace, where you get extra the distance.
You must also ensure that you're creating a wide swing arc going back and extending fully going through; really concentrate on straightening the right arm as the torso continues turning left. (Updated 1 Mar 15)
Simple: speed. Adding extra miles per hour to your swing is the only thing that's going to allow you to hit each of your irons farther. Most amateurs think of speed as something they generate from the top, but that's a recipe for almost every bad shot you can imagine. The secret is to maximize the fastest part of your swing, and that comes after you strike the ball.
I wrote before about my wacky left shoulder hitch. It's not my only downswing hiccup, however. This particular one--the subject of this post--can really destroy one's game unless one has a lot of talent (like Bubba Watson or other pros who can spin out and play well in spite of this error).
I had unconsciously ingrained the habit of turning my left foot outward during my downswing, such that my toes were pointing more toward the target than they were at address. I would address the ball with both feet flared out slightly (left over from the S&T days), but I would then unconsciously spin my left foot more open, so that the toes pointed more towards the target midway through my downswing. When I concentrate, I can keep it from moving during my downswing, and as a result my impact is much, much better. For me, I believe moving my left foot is just a bad habit more than a flexibility issue.
The position of the feet at address can be used to assist in creating different ball flights. Keeping the left foot perpendicular while turning the right foot out a bit can assist with hitting a powerful draw. Reversing this can help hit a fade, but it's important NOT to move that front foot once it's position is established at address, regardless of how open it is at setup.
If you're observant, you'll notice that there are a few touring and teaching professionals who allow the front foot to spin out--some significantly--on the downswing, such as Bubba Watson. But I believe they're great inspite of this error; we amateurs can't afford to allow this to happen. Another interesting point: Most teaching professionals espouse a front foot that is positioned anywhere between 20-45 degrees open (seriously...does one get out a protractor to measure this?), while the rear foot (right foot) should be positioned perpendicular to the target line. However, like most "fundamentals" of golf, you'll find teaching pros who advocate the feet positioned in every possible combination: left flared, right straight; left straight, right flared; both flared; both straight. Hogan advocated for a flared front foot and square back foot (probably why most instructors teach this), but keep in mind that Hogan also fought a hook, so much of what he taught in his famous Five Lessons book were keys to hitting a controlled fade and avoiding the uncontrolled duck hook.
Spinning the left foot outward during the downswing from its initial address position can affect weight transfer to the front foot and throw one off balance. It can cause a slice, pull, or pull hook, as the downswing path is suddenly thrown--even if minutely--off to the left; as the left foot spins open, it sets up a chain of movement from the ground up that adds more leftward downswing rotation (knees, hips, and shoulders in that order), which can exacerbate a slice or pull. Ultimately, this can affect the quality of impact, reducing distance and causing various mishits. One sign that the foot moved (other than simply being aware of it happening), is that it's impossible to maintain a balanced finish. A balanced, solid finish usually means the front foot did not move--or move much--during the swing.
Keeping the left foot in the same position from address to finish can be critical in ensuring a solid, compressing strike on the ball. This is what is often called hitting into a firm left side.
Here's an interesting theory: Keeping the rear (right) foot pointing straight ahead at setup (perpendicular to the target line) and the left foot slightly flared out may, in fact, prevent the left foot from spinning open during the downswing, whereas flaring the right foot and left foot may actually contribute to a left foot spin out on the downswing. Flaring either foot eases hip rotation in that direction, so a more rotated pelvis in the backswing (not desirable--see the much maligned "X factor") could increase rotation on the downswing, causing the left foot to spin out. Because the keeping the right foot perpendicular at setup decreases hip rotation on the backswing, it also helps prevent a sway to the right; likewise, a left foot that is too open at setup can cause too much forward sway or hip slide in the downswing.
Either way, you should experiment with keeping either the front or rear foot perpendicular at setup to see how it affects ball flight and improves power and stability. For a standard shot off the tee box or fairway, I feel one foot or the other should be perpendicular at setup; both feet should not be simultaneously flared out nor both perpendicular, though you can find any variation of these taught in golf. Remember that flaring the front and not the rear can increase the chance of hitting a fade or even OTT (in this case, pull the right foot back a bit--especially for longer clubs [see Hogan's image above]), and the opposite condition can increase the chance of hitting a draw or a push.
Make certain that you recheck the alignment of the knees, hips, and shoulders when adjusting the positions of your feet. For me, flaring the front foot while straightening the rear foot caused my hips to open without me realizing it. I started hitting it better once I re-squared my body alignments.
As most trouble shots require a stable lower body (for instance, in a fairway bunker), keeping both feet pointed straight ahead or even turned in a bit will limit the turn back and turn through of the lower body and increase the chance of solid contact and a good escape over power and distance.
This ideal weight shift allows these players to deliver the clubhead squarely into the ball at impact as they rotate powerfully around the front foot.
Does your left foot stay stable throughout your golf swing? Does it move, and if so, which direction? It can move incorrectly three ways during motion or a combination of all three. On simple terms, it can move incorrectly, side to side, rotational, and forward and back. Fix the most dominant mistake first!
If there is too much rotational movement in the foot, practice off a dry erase board on socks with some pledge for more difficulty. Objective, don't let the foot rotate during the swing.
The two stabilising points are the head and left foot. The head must be kept back behind the ball, and it must act as the upper stabilising point while the left foot represents the lower stabilising point.
The two main ingredients in a golf swing that are responsible for hitting against a firm left side are the head staying still and the left foot set correctly at address.
The head should be tilted back slightly at address anchoring the top half of the body. The left foot must be positioned almost at right angles to the target, this anchors the bottom of the body. All too often club golfers open up the left foot too much. These two small adjustments at set up can have a dramatic effect on hand speed at impact.
One of the common mistakes golfers make is to allow their left foot to spin out as they hit the shot. This leads to inconsistent golf ball striking and errant golf shots.
Since Hogan wrote the Modern Fundamentals it has been popular to open the left foot at address a quarter turn. But turning out the left foot too much can make a slice worse. Rather than being able to hit against the left side, which encourages a full release of the club, if the left foot is turned out too much there is nothing to stop the shoulders spinning open.
You have to setup with your feet in a certain configuration. What I noticed is when I told my students to do this drill with no additional instruction. They almost always setup with [their] LEFT foot flared toward the target.
To get maximum benefits you should setup with your left foot perpendicular to the target line, and your right foot flared away from the target. You should also drop your right foot back slightly. Just check out the picture below and copy the feet position.
The left, or front, foot is always turned out slightly to the left. With the foot in this position, a player can transfer their weight to the left side more easily and quickly on the downswing. They can also hit through the ball with greater power and comfort because the directional force of the swing is toward where the left foot is aiming—to the left.
Position the right foot so that it points almost straight ahead. A common mistake is to address the ball with both feet pointed out, whereas only the left foot should be in that position.
With the right foot positioned so that it points ahead, or almost so, instead of to the right, the weight shift on the backswing becomes more centralized around your spine rather than on the extreme outside of the right leg and right foot.
At address, my right foot points perpendicular to the target line, but my left foot flares out almost thirty degrees to the left. That's a lot. The reason I do this is that it helps me get my left side out of the way and turn fully through impact. The flip side of this is that the flared-out left toe restricts my hip turn away from the ball and thus limits the length of my backswing. That's not a liability for me, however, because I've been blessed with a supple body.
If you have trouble turning through the ball, I recommend that you experiment with this flared left toe. Just be careful not to allow the alignment of your feet, hips, and shoulders to open.
Conversely, if you want to make a more full and free turn on your backswing, try experimenting with a flared right toe. Just bear in mind that this can inhibit your turn through impact.
There is always lots of discussion about whether the feet should be flared, square, turned in, etc.
Just like most things in the golf swing, it is very individual and dictated by how you swing the club and what mistakes you make or physical limitations you have.
To me, the right foot (back foot for righty) should never be flared intentionally. It can cause over rotation and getting the club behind you and it can also make it difficult for your lower body to clear in sync with the shoulder turn.
The left foot (front foot for righty) has a more flexible range of how to place it. Many people get a great benefit from flaring the left foot to give the lower body more room to clear. Those with over active lower bodies that get out in front and get the swing out of sync, may benefit from a square or turned in left foot.
I can’t tell you individually what to do, but you can use this info as a guide to tinker yourself.
However, if the left foot is turned back so it is at right angles to the target, it encourages the correct transition between backswing and downswing. The shoulders can’t spin open too much as the left foot anchors the whole of the left side.
The more the left foot anchors the hips and consequently the shoulders from spinning open, the club will approach the impact area more from the inside.
To do this, dig your feet into the sand, then turn your toes inward as you take your stance. This secures your lower body in the bunker. Your weight should feel as if it's on the inside edges of your feet, and when you swing, keep your weight in that same position. Unlike a normal full-swing shot, there's not a lot of weight transfer.
I've written about the belt buckle in previous posts on golf's triangles and always keeping the club in front, so I thought I'd write a little bit to unify the ideas, especially since this can be a key swing thought. This may be the most crucial golf swing thought for the full swing. Simple swing thoughts are best, and using the belt buckle is one way to unify a lot of swing thoughts and fundamentals and keep the approach to golf as simple as possible.
Your belt and belt buckle--especially when related to the butt end of the club handle--can show you a lot of things.
First, the belt buckle shows you whether you've made a good setup posture and address position. As Brian Manzella has stated, the belt buckle should point down toward the ball at address (at an angle) and the butt end of the club should point toward the belt buckle. It's almost as if your club is an extension of your belt buckle; in a sense, your belt is a loop around which the swing is powered. This will ensure that you have the correct pelvic tilt (i.e., protruding rear end) and that the club (and thus hands and arms) is in the correct orientation.
Second, the belt buckle shows you how to do a goodtakeaway or pivot back. In the beginning of your swing, the belt buckle and butt end of the club should maintain a close relationship. That is, the butt end of the club will continue pointing at the belt buckle, or remain close to the belt buckle, during the takeaway. Only once your club reaches waist height should the wrists begin hinging the club upward; the butt end of the club will begin to point down the target line but will still be in close proximity to the belt buckle, before the right arm folds into the full backswing. Think of the club shaft as an extension of the belt buckle in the takeaway.
Third, the belt buckle leads the downswing. As the downswing begins, the club's butt end and belt buckle become the most disassociated, with the club handle trailing the belt buckle. During the swing, the butt end of the club and the belt buckle quickly and dynamically become reassociated at impact, when the left arm and club reach an inline condition. In other words, the club handle quickly catches up with the belt buckle through impact. The club and hands finally pass the belt buckle on the followthrough and fully disassociate again at the top of the finish. Simply moving the belt buckle over your left leg WHILE AT THE SAME TIME turning the belt buckle to the target (while the shoulders remain closed and arms remain unengaged) may be the best swing thought for the downswing, as this reflects starting the downswing from the ground up (i.e., leading with the hips). Think of the club shaft as an extension of your belt buckle and imagine you're hitting the ball with your belt buckle (as if a club was extending from it). This thought will help you time the arms with the body and not get stuck (arms trailing too far behind); in other words, this thought is great for properly synchronizing the arms with the body rotation. Remember, the club shaft and belt buckle disassociate and reassociate based on vertical movement of the arms from the shoulder joints, not horizontal movement; the club, hands, and arms should always stay in front of the torso!
Finally, the belt buckle shows you where your ball is heading. Turn the body through so that the belt buckle points towards your starting line. If your belt buckle points right at the end of your swing, your ball is likely starting there (with the right spin, it may not end up there). Same thing if pointing left.
Another way to consider this concept is to visualize a 4-inch elastic cord connecting the end of your club to your belt buckle (there have been similar training aids available on the market). At address and during the takeaway, the 4-inch distance is maintained, but the cord begins to stretch in the backswing, creating stored energy. As the belt buckle dynamically turns towards the target and the left leg straightens, the energy is released and the elastic cord quickly returns to its original 4-inch length at impact (when the left arm and club reach an inline condition). Finally, the cord again stretches on the followthrough and to the top of the finish.
The belt and the belt buckle is a terrific alignment tool you can legally use on the course for a number of good things in the address position, posture, and swing. The butt end of the club handle (and thus the hands) are closely associated with the belt buckle in the takeaway, slowly disassociated from it to the top of the backswing, and then QUICKLY reassociated with it through the downswing and into impact. Then they dissassociate again on the other side. But remember, the hands and club handle should be close to the belt buckle again at impact (almost as if extending out of it, center-mast)!
In order for your belt buckle to point at the target on your finish, you must rotate your hips powerfully through the ball on the downswing. Powerful hip rotation alone, however, is not enough. You must also have a proper release and good lag on your downswing. But one of the easiest things to think about and visualize is where your belt buckle ends up as you complete your swing. Therein lies the power of the tip.
At impact the golfer’s belt buckle will have shifted well left of the golf ball and will have begun turning left. The hands will also preferably be past the ball on all shots but the driver.
My coach, Chuck Cook, says I do a great job of keeping the club in front of my body throughout the swing. Amateurs tend to swing mostly with their arms, so the body lags behind; better players can get fast with the body turn, so the arms lag behind. If you focus on turning back and through with the club staying in front of your chest, you'll find it easier to square the clubface and hit straighter shots.
