Hover Craft

I think Jack Nicklaus' preference to hover his club at address could help many players, and I have found it helpful to me with all the clubs--even the putter. Why? It definitely smooths the takeaway and backswing because the club can't catch on the ground and be jerked off plane. It prevents unnecessary tension from forming in the arms and hands which can happen when "snatching" the club off the ground to execute the takeaway; in other words, it helps keep the arms passive in the swing, as it should be. Hovering the club or "underreaching" provides for the feeling of the arms and club hanging freely from the shoulders, so there's an enhanced sense of the club head weight. Fat and thin shots are greatly reduced, because the wrists are allowed to extend more fully at address instead of starting less extended and then extending more in the downswing.

In the case of the driver, it can preprogram your driver head to help find the sweet spot on the downswing. But it's important to hover it properly to promote this: Tee the ball so that you can hover the club to position the ball just a hair above and right of dead center, which is the sweet spot of modern drivers. Therefore, the club is just barely off the ground. Don't hover the bottom of the club even with the bottom of the ball.

With fairway woods I position the club on the barely touching the ground because I like to think of the ground as my tee; with fairway woods, I'm trying sweep the ball like a driver.

With the putter and irons, it's the same: just barely above the ground.

Provided the arm tension and posture remain constant, hovering the club should ensure clean contact. The key is to use your posture with fully extended arms (not locked) to hover the club; don't fall into the trap of lifting the club up with your arms.

...The problem is teeing up higher and placing the driver on the ground at address. For example, let's say that you tee the ball up so that 2/3 of the ball is above the driver head. If you return the driver head to its address position, you will hit a pop-up. So you will have to raise the driver head off the ground at impact. But if you do this, the driver head moves further away from your body and cause heel hits.To fix this and hit it in the middle of your clubface with higher tee height, hover the driver head (off the ground) just behind the ball. I think you will be able to fix your heel hits with this adjustment.

Can't Hit The Driver - Golf Samurai

When I watch a PGA Tour event, Champions Tour event or LPGA Tour event, I'm often struck by how many players hover the club at address. They do not rest it on the ground before starting their takeaway. To name a few players: Bubba Watson (click on the link here), Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Davis Love III, Jay Haas, Greg Norman, Yani Tseng, Cristie Kerr. Get the picture? Yet, I rarely see average golfers do this. These tour players all hover the club when the ball is teed, but a number also use the same technique on pitches and even putts. You should try it, too, especially if you feel you have difficulty bringing the club back, or would like to smooth out your takeaway, or have trouble making solid contact on pitches from tight lies.

Weekend Tip: Don't sole the club at address: The Instruction Blog: Golf Digest

JIM FLICK: I'm reminded of what the legendary player and teacher Paul Runyan described as "measuring out" or "underreaching" at address. Paul contended that if you didn't sole the club but held it just above the ground, and then kept your grip tension and spine angle constant throughout your swing, you would always hit the ball cleanly.

This principle is especially true for pitch shots, but it also holds for irons, fairway woods and, yes, the driver. And with today's fairways mowed so tightly, it really helps you make perfect contact. You want the club to return to the ball in a precise manner every time.

Jim Flick And Jack Nicklaus: Hover The Club At Address: Golf Digest

Another simple way to stay loose over the ball is to hover the clubhead just off the ground (above, right). Hovering the club promotes a free-flowing movement away from the ball and sets the stage for a smooth, rhythmic backswing. In many instances, when players rest the clubhead on the ground for any length of time, they freeze over the ball, which encourages muscle tension to creep in.

By hovering the clubhead you'll begin to feel the weight of the head. This will help you to start back at a nice, controlled pace.

David Leadbetter: Hover To Beat Tension: Golf Digest

The biggest problem amateur golfers like me and you have when it comes to the short game is chunked shots. To help prevent fat chips, try the under-reach technique. Begin by assuming your address position, with your arms hanging to their natural length. Choke down on the club about an inch (I go even shorter, about two inches), and hover the club just off the ground as you get ready to execute the shot. The combination of choking the grip and hovering the club will help you guard against hitting the shot fat. When you finally make a swing, simply concentrate on contacting the bottom half of the ball.

Golf Short Game Swing Tips at GolfGist.com

 

Spine Angle Required

I've briefly touched on this in a few other posts but wanted to give some more time to discussing the topic of maintaining--throughout the swing--the spine angle that was established at address. The golfing world has bestowed several different clever phrases to discuss this subject. It's been called "covering the ball with your chest," "keeping the head down," "staying over the ball," "keeping the upper body still," "staying in your posture," and, of course, "maintaining the spine angle." The opposite of this--the mistake--also has many names, like "standing up," "coming out of the shot," "losing the spine angle," "early extension," "losing the posture," "raising the head," etc.
For the purpose of this post, I'm referring to the primary spine angle, which refers to the angle of the upper body to the legs when viewed down the line. The secondary spine angle refers to the axis tilt to the right when viewed from the front, primarily caused by the right hand being lower than the left hand on the grip.
The mysterious "spine angle" really isn't solely about the spine, as the S&T creators have eloquently argued, because the spine bends all over the place during a golf swing. It's not really about keeping the head down either, because you can still change the head position vertically from the neck while maintaining spine angle. I like "covering the ball" best as a description, because it drives home the point for me that the overall angle of the upper body established at address (i.e., posture created by bending over from the hips) should be maintained at least through impact; I would argue that amateur golfers should work to maintain it well after impact, as they risk coming up too early otherwise. This is that "head on a pillow" look in the followthrough and finish position, or looking at your initial ball flight through slanted eyes.
In other words, the "tush line" should be maintained through impact; if the pelvis begins to move forward (i.e., the upper body comes up)--even a little--at any point before or during impact, the radius required for the swing gets longer, making it harder to hold lag through impact when it's needed. As a matter of fact, losing the spine angle is a major factor in many mishits and bad results, to include inconsistent, short, fat, thin, pulled, and sliced shots. Most expert golfers may come up a little well after impact, but you'll notice that they are still bent over towards the target line, even in their finish positions. Some professional golfers have upper body positions that actually sink even lower than their address positions before impact!
An additional, related aspect of spine angle is shoulder plane. The left shoulder should point down towards the ground (in the direction of the ball) at the top of the backswing (right shoulder rotated up and behind the head), maintaining a perpendicular relationship to the spine angle. The left shoulder should be touching or very close to touching your chin at the top. On the downswing, the right shoulder should replace the left shoulder's previous position, and vice versa. Keeping the shoulder plane more "vertical" allows the arms to hang more from the shoulders as they should through the shot. The correct shoulder plane is actually a side bend; stand up and bend fully sideways to the left from the waist. Now simply rotate to the right (pointing in between both feet) and the shoulder plane should be in the correct position to maintain the backswing spine angle.
Believe it or not, the right knee can affect your spine angle. Notwithstanding Stack and Tilt, you should strive to keep a bend in your right knee at the top of your backswing.
Maintaining one's spine angle or covering the ball is important for EVERY shot in the book, to include putting, chipping, pitching, and bunker shots. It encourages movements that make drives long, powerful, and accurate. It encourages you to keep lag through the shot, because otherwise you will hit fat. It helps prevent fat shots due to an an early release or cast (usually a direct, autonomic, and unconscious manipulation as a result of "standing up"). "Standing up" and "casting" are directly related to each other. Staying over the ball frees you up to swing faster while still feeling in control; you can really pop the driver when covering the ball.
Actually, the only way you can really deliver lag to the ball is to maintain the spine angle. Now you'll have to learn how to lag the club by keeping the wrist angle late into the ball to keep from hitting fat. You will have to learn to keep the wrist cocked late and make contact with the ball with the right wrist still feeling bent back or dorsiflexed. If you lose the spine angle or stand up then you must cast or straighten the wrists to have any hope of contacting the ball; the result in this case is a powerless poot shot, duff shot, or skull across the ground!

Here's how to diagnose that "coming out of the shot" is a problem causing some of your mishits. First, take your address position (ground the club if you usually hover it), execute your takeaway, and stop when the club is parallel to the ground. Now, immediately rotate back to the front without bending from the hips and see if your club re-grounds itself in the same position behind the ball. If your club comes back above the ball then the distance from the club to the ball represents how much you stood up on the takeaway! In all cases, make sure your arms are fully extended and knee flex remains unchanged.
If the takeaway isn't your problem (or even if it is), do the same procedure above with the only exception being to stop at the top of your backswing. Again, any distance between the ball and club represents how much you came out of your spine angle. Now, slowly rotate to your usual impact position and do the same procedure. In each case, you will learn exactly how much your spine angle is changing throughout the swing. Do the same procedure again for takeaway, backswing, and downswing and pay attention to your pelvis; it's very easy to see when you're standing up when you pay attention to it. Video analysis also works, or you can have a friend touch a club to your head while you work through these exercises.
You may only be standing up in one part of the swing, or if you're like me you could be doing it some throughout the entire swing. It's possible to do well at first but start losing the spine angle late into a round as one begins to get tired. The tendency is always to stand up, because it requires strength and endurance in the core muscles to keep covering the ball as one must to execute good shots.
Now, it's important to drill the correct feeling, which is literally a feeling of covering the ball with your chest through impact. If you've been standing up, you'll notice a distinctly new feeling of the right should coming down and through the shot and replace the position of the left shoulder as the upper body rotates through.

The whole idea of keeping your spine angle consistent is that it will help you to keep the “shape” of your swing consistent. When the shape of your swing is consistent, it is much easier to deliver the club face in a square position at impact.
Newsletter: The 3rd Key To Consistency: Spine Angle | Target Centered Golf
There are two main ways to lose the spine angle. A dive and a loss of “tush line.” A dive is what Tiger does and to see if you have this problem, put your finger on the end of your nose on a video from behind and down the line. If your nose moves out or down toward the ball, that is not good. If it happens a little, it’s nothing to worry about, so don’t go out and ruin your swing by trying to keep you head still.
To see if you are losing the tush line, you need a vertical line (same camera angle as above) like an imaginary wall your behind is up against and your body pulls away from that line during the swing. This is also known as standing up or pulling out of it…not to be confused with keeping your head down.
Maintaining spine angle | Monte Scheinblum's Blog

One crucial element for good iron play is to maintain a constant spine angle throughout the swing. This enables you to hit down at impact, correctly taking a divot after the ball. Many amateurs tend to rise up as they swing the club down in a mistaken attempt to help lift the ball into the air. Lifting leads to poor contact such as fat or thin shots. To correct this tendency, swing to a finish position and then hold it for a moment. Then bring the club back down as if someone hit the rewind button. You should be able to get right back into your address position. That's maintaining your spine angle.
How to play consistent golf: Golf Digest

Avoiding the Inside Takeaway

Yes, we amateur golfers hear over and over again that we should swing inside-out and not over-the-top (OTT). In an unconscious effort to achieve this, we often roll the wrists and bring the hands and club inside too quickly, often well below the waist, during the takeaway. This often leads to the very thing we're trying to avoid--an OTT move that is unconsciously utilized to get the club back on line and hit the ball. The result is often pulls and pull-hooks for better players who can close the club face well; for others who can't, it produces a slice. Another symptom of this condition is a very narrow swing arc going back, with the right elbow bending too early and getting too close to the right side. The right elbow will drop into the right side coming down; it's no help to you there early.

Incorrect: club too inside

One should always ensure that the clubhead stays outside of the hands for as long as possible, when viewing the takeaway down the line. In other words, the clubhead should only move inside somewhere in the upper trunk area--around the right shoulder. If it moves inside at waist level or even below, the club is being jerked inside by the hands and/or the right elbow is bending too early. The right elbow should ONLY FULLY bend late in the backswing. The hands stay in front of the body and only move inside due to the correct shoulder rotation. Actually, the correct shoulder turn in the takeaway and backswing SHOULD prevent you from doing this, provided you're not using the small muscles in your arms and hands to move the club.

Watch slow motion video of professional golfers (down-the-line view) and pay attention to the takeaway; specifically, look at their hands in relation to the club face, and pay attention to the bending action of their right elbow. You'll see that the right elbow bends late (and only reaches a full bend REALLY late in the backswing), and you'll notice that the clubhead stays outside of their hands (when viewed down the line) for a long time. The club head only comes inside (passes their mid-body line) somewhere around their right shoulder, not down near the waist like us inside-early schmucks. Their hands remain in front until waist high or even slightly above the waist; in other words, it's as if the hands move backwards in a straight line during the takeaway. And when the club head does finally move inside, it's due only to the motion of the shoulders turning; the arms and hands have nothing to do with it!

If you're guilty of this huge golfing transgression, you will feel like you're taking the club OUTSIDE the line when you first start doing the correct motion. But you're not going outside as long as you move everything--shoulders, arms, and hands--back together. You're on your way to achieving WIDTH in your backswing, which will help in numerous ways.

Correct: Club outside hands

Coming down, the right elbow will drop in close to the right side around the right hip, as you fire through. In essence, the swing is going from wide to narrow to wide again in the through swing. In other words, the swing flattens some coming down, and if you traced the club head all the way through, you would see that the club head actually loops up and then under a bit, giving your swing an inside-out path naturally. The OTT swing has the opposite loop: up and over.

Another key point: When you move the arms and club back in this way with the club head staying outside your hands, you'll be prone to swaying your hips to the right, especially if that's already one of your problems. To counter this, imagine that your right hip moves straight back and towards the target in the takeaway to counter the weight of the club head staying outside the hands. In a sense, you want to think of them moving in opposite directions. Sounds silly, I know, but if you look at DTL video of pro swings, you'll notice that their right hip moves backwards slightly during the takeaway. This will get you swinging the club back on the right plane without your swing center moving off the ball.

With any "fundamental" in golf there come the gotchas. For this aspect of the takeaway, remember that the arms and hands should simply move up during the takeaway in relations to the chest, while the club head stays outside the hands! In reality, the hands also move inside (inside or back, and up simultaneously), but the inside part of the equation happens only because the shoulders are turning. The hands and arms should not roll the club open, pull the club inside, nor should they move out away from you; if your hands move out away from your body and not inside and up during the takeaway, you're setting up for an OTT swing even if the club head stays outside the hands.

This is an especially good thought for the open-clubface-at-impact slicer. Most of these slicers create their open clubface because they roll the club wide-open during the first three feet of the swing. As a result, the club usually gets way behind them at the top, and from that position, it is very difficult to square it up. There must be some wild, compensating move made coming down. If you think "hands inside, club head outside", this will keep your clubface square at waist high, and will also help put you in the proper shape at the top of your swing. It will definitely prevent that clockwise, rolling-open action of your forearms and club, which has led to many disastrous shots over the years. So remember, "your hands are in, the club head is out...as a result, you will be square throughout".

Golf Tips - Hands Inside the Club Head During The Swing

Take the club straight back low to the ground and allow the turning of your shoulder to bring the club inside on the back swing. Do not pull the club to the inside with your hands and wrists but also guard against reaching too far back. Reaching will cause you to sway off the ball. Prevent reaching by keeping your weight on the inside of your right foot.

golf long drive take away and back swing

Another great practice drill requires the use of two alignment clubs. First, place a club above the ball, parallel to the target line. Then place a second club eight to 10 inches inside this line. You’ll notice the two clubs form a path, which should be your track on which to swing the club. At first, it will probably feel like the club is moving to the outside of the target line, but after a number of repetitions, the proper swing path will begin to feel normal. Practicing this drill will help keep your shoulders, hips and feet in alignment, and promote a more on-plane backswing.

Staying On-Plane | GolfTipsMag.com

My point in that article, and in this tip, is, if you will make a conscious effort to take the club back straight for as long as possible, you'll give yourself the optimum chance for a powerful, square-faced return of the clubface to the ball.

Instruction Tip #39 - The Takeaway

The most influential component of swing arc is the position of the right arm throughout the backswing. A player with a narrow swing arc tends to fold the right arm too early or keep it unnaturally pinned to the right side all the way to the top. Both flaws pull the club in too close to the body. The player with this flaw will feel the need to free the club by throwing it way over the top and away from the body.

Stop Coming Over The Top | GolfTipsMag.com

The best way to fix an inside golf swing takeaway is to work on your wrists and the role they play. The first initial movement should be the hinging of the wrists vertically instead of horizontally. You need to ensure your left wrist does not flatten out too early which pulls the golf club on the inside. Next you need to move the golf club across your chest as you hinge your golf club vertically.

How Your Golf Swing Takeaway Is Destroying Your Golf & How To Fix It In Just 5 Minutes

What is the one flaw in the golf swing that leads to inconsistent golf shots time and time again? If you hook, slice, hit fat or thin shots and can’t figure out the cause, you may be bringing the golf club back too far to the inside. If you want to master the takeaway, then you must keep the golf club outside of your hands in the backswing. In this article, we are you to cover a few simple golf tips that you can use to stop taking the club back too far to the inside.

Stop Taking the Club Back to the Inside: Fix Your Takeaway Today!

To determine if your hands and clubhead are properly positioned, assume your normal golf stance with a full-length mirror to your right (left, if you’re left-handed). Watch your takeaway and note where the shaft points when your hands have reached the right pocket. If it points in front of you, good – the clubhead is outside your hands. If it’s already parallel to the target line or pointing behind you, your takeaway is too far inside.

A simple way to instill a “clubhead outside the hands” takeaway is to keep the butt of the club pointing at the right hip as it passes by. If the butt points left of this spot, you’ve got too much wrist action and/or an inside path.

Be mindful of the rotation of your forearms on the takeaway. If you pull the club straight back without the arms and hands rolling naturally, the clubface will become closed. Check the toe’s position at the parallel point as described above; if it points well in front of you, it’s closed.

Think “Clubhead Outside the Hands” for Solid Takeaway

A good takeaway sets the pace for a good swing. Unfortunately, many amateurs get off to a shaky start: They lift the club and roll their hands away from their body, which draws the clubhead inside and opens the face. As a result, they make erratic contact.

Perfect your takeaway - Golf.com - GOLF.com

Address Procedure, Shaft Angles, and Taller Posture

I recently discovered a simple error I was making at address that affected the consistency of my contact in the full swing, especially with the driver. This unlikely culprit was also causing me to bend over too much from the hips with too deep a knee bend at address. What was this error? The angle of the club shaft to my arms was not large enough. In other words, I had preset too much radial deviation and not enough ulner deviation at address; my wrists were preset with too much wrist cock (too close to 90 degrees), which meant I had to bend over more from the hips, bend the knees more, and widen my stance in order to address the ball!

Taller posture, larger wrist angle

The result was inconsistent contact on the club face, and the club was also bottoming out behind the ball (fat) or hitting the top of the ball (thin and skulls). I would get a lot of pop-ups and skulled shots with my driver. The wrist angle naturally increases in the downswing as the wrists uncock, which means the difference between my address shaft angle and impact shaft angle was too great; the impact shaft angle is usually always more upright than at address, but too much can cause the errors I was experiencing.

I should note that the two work in tandem: a taller posture should cause one to address the ball with a more upright shaft and, thus, a straighter wrist angle (shaft-arm angle). And the opposite is true. Therefore, as the angle of posture (legs to trunk) decreases (moves away from 180 degrees towards 90 degrees), the shaft-arm angle also decreases (i.e., the hands get closer to the ground). And vice versa.

Other variables play a role. One's body type and equipment (length of shafts and lie angles) have an impact in this equation. You should experiment to find what's best for you to make solid contact in the center of your clubs. I wrote before about having the grip point at the belt buckle at address, but the truth is that this may be too flat for some players: it should point somewhere between the belt buckle and the belly button.

Every golfer needs a good procedure for helping to ensure a proper setup or address posture with respect to stance width and distance from the ball. It's easy to overlook the importance of a good address procedure as a fundamental, but when done consistently the same way with all clubs, it helps eliminate inconsistency introduced into the swing BEFORE the first move off the ball in the takeaway.

I've written before on how a wider stance helps promote a hook and higher ball flight, while a more narrow stance helps promote a slice (a wider stance presets the upper body further behind the ball and theoretically produces a flatter swing). What set me off on my quest was learning that I tended to bend over too far from the hips (also using too much knee bend) when addressing the ball, especially with the driver; this meant that my posture was not upright or tall enough. Increasing or straightening the wrist-club angle at address automatically induces a taller posture and reduces the amount of the downward wrist uncocking (ulner deviation) that occurs during the downswing! It's important not to go too far and completely straighten the angle, but getting closer to straight will help reduce the vertical variance in club movement through the ball when the wrists uncock. In reality, it also reduces the amount of horizontal variance, helping to return the ball to the center of the club face at impact, because you're presetting both downward and outward movement of the club head.

Using chalk on the club face, I noticed that my contact with the driver face was consistenly too high. Most of my misses were no longer left and right (horizontal) but up and down (vertical) with respect to impact on the club face. I could compensate slightly by hovering the club completely above the ball at address, but this was ridiculous as no golf professional does this, and the contact was still too high on the face. So, on a whim, I addressed the ball as usual and then raised my posture a few inches. Doing so caused the angle between the club shaft and arms to increase as my wrists had to increase in ulner deviation to keep the club aligned with the ball. Standing taller can also cause the stance width to decrease slightly, but what's more important is to recognize the relationship between the angle of the address wrist cock and the amount of upper body bend (or posture) over the ball at address. Subsequent drills using chalk as an indicator produced many more impacts located in or nearer to the center of the club face, which is essential for distance with any club but especially for the driver.

So I asked myself if there might be a more failsafe method of addressing the ball to achieve a taller posture, better stance width, larger arm-shaft angle, and correct distance from the ball, and I remembered something that I had poo-pooed away before but that most professionals do some form of when addressing the ball.

After ascertaining the proper aim behind the ball, one should first place the club behind the ball on the intended starting or target line (aligned to a close target a foot or so in front of the ball on the intended starting line). This should be done, initially, with both feet together with the ball located on a line running between both feet and perpendicular to the target or starting line. Most important is that the wrist angle at address is extended or closer to a fuller down-cocked position. The knees, hips, and shoulders should be on lines parallel to the target or starting line. The head should be located slightly behind the ball. At this point, one should assume the correct upper body posture by bending over from the hips with the arms hanging to get the correct distance from the ball; if you've suffered from too much wrist cock at address, your posture should feel much taller.

Address procedure

Now, all that's left to do is to move both feet to a stance comfortably wide enough, with a very slight knee bend, to maintain that upper body posture relative to the ball established when both feet were together! Your head and upper body should not move vertically when you take your stance. In other words, the posture stays taller. With the driver, only the right leg need move, as the ball position should be more forward. The shoulder, hip, and knee lines shouldn't move from their original positions; if they do, then the stance assumed has been too wide. If one wants to hover the club (to improve impact or smooth out the takeaway) then one should hover it when going through this procedure; otherwise, the upper body's posture will change when raising or grounding the club.

Notice that tour players look “big” compared to their clubs. Even with a longer iron, say a 4-iron, they seem to be standing “on top” of the ball, meaning the ball is not too far from their feet. Their spines are generally bent forward a fair amount, and the shaft of the club points at the belt-line, and often higher.

Are Your Golf Clubs Too Long? | Golf Things Considered

The clubshaft should be pointing to the belt buckle or slightly above it…

10 Checkpoints For Proper Setup Position ~ Create Golfers

In establishing the correct shaft angle, we also resolve the question of the correct position of the hands at address. Far too many players hold their hands too low at address - few hold them too high. Holding the hands low at address is a major cause of excessive wrist action in the swing. A vice to be avoided at all costs!

Here once again, is the routine:

1 Evaluate the shot.

2. Take up your grip and square the club face to it.

3. Ground the club correctly behind the ball.

4. Now place the feet into position.

Note that the positioning of the feet came LAST.

The average golfer often reverses the procedure, placing his feet first, then vaguely grounding the club he juggles with his grip in an attempt to get the club-face square. There is no logical sequence in his method and his last minute grip adjustments account for the fact that his grip is never the same one shot from the next.

Golf Lessons - Lesson 4 from Golf Today

In an athletic address position the arms hang comfortably from the shoulders with a slight cocking of the wrists as you grip the club. The toe of the club should be off the ground slightly, with the club resting more on the heel of the club. From this set up position it is easier for the wrists to cock correctly, starting the club on plane and setting the club at the top of the back swing.

Club lie angle at address and impact are not the same | Derek Hooper Golf

 

Driver Downswing: See the Ball at Eye Level

One feel I use to shallow out the driver is to feel that my eyes are behind and level with the back of the ball up to the point of impact. Impossible, I know, but we're talking about a feeling here, not reality.

The head and chest are behind the club shaft, the head is actually behind its original position.

Another way to put this is that--of all the clubs--it's most important with the driver to exaggerate staying behind the ball! It's true that the longer the club the more behind the ball you should be at impact, but it's an absolute necessity to hit good, penetrating drives with the driver.

Look at slow motion video of most professional golfers and you'll notice that, up to the point of impact, their heads are located over their right leg when swinging the driver. In many cases, their heads move FURTHER right from the initial address position, which was already behind the ball! (You'll still notice that their heads are behind the ball with other clubs too--just not that far back.) Thus my feel of trying to get my eyes behind and level with the back of the ball. The continuing motion of the arms and club will pull you fully over into the left leg and into your balanced finish.

A wider stance and increased rightward tilt at address will help with staying behind the ball at impact, but it also encourages a hook. Remember that a wide stance is a hook condition, meaning that it inhibits lower body movement and encourages more arm movement through impact. If you find yourself hooking the ball wildly, you may need to go with a more narrow driver stance to help straighten out your drive; a narrow stance is a fade or slice condition, because the body can get ahead of the arms; as the stance widens, the swing plane becomes flatter, and the plane becomes more vertical with a more narrow stance. There are many such characteristics associated with different ball flights that you can use to encourage a shot shape you desire, but remember that you still must be able to get behind the ball and stay there up to impact.

Swinging this way also allows you to tee the ball up higher to encourage a high draw without the fear of sliding the club UNDER the ball and hitting pop-ups, which is common with golfers who swing the driver too steeply.

Staying back like this with the driver helps to shallow out the downswing and produces a flatter swing plane, causing the golfer to catch the ball on the upswing and impart an upward angle of attack, which reduces backspin, helps ensure an inside-out motion (often resulting in a nice draw), and thus, increases distance. Some instructors teach setting up with an exaggerated spine tilt to the right, but this doesn't help if the golfer immediately begins moving back over the ball (as if hitting an iron). As a matter of fact, it might be best to set up with a rightward tilt with the understanding that this right tilt will, initially, increase when the downswing begins.

Some golfers try to keep their head still or over the top of the golf ball. To make a full turn on a swing with your driver your head might move a little towards your back foot. That’s fine if not desired. You need to be well behind the golf ball at impact. One should have a straight line from the front shoulder to the ball at impact.

Golf Tips with Bobby Lopez: Why Is It More Difficult To Hit Your Driver Than Any Other Club?

David Leadbetter in 100% Golf, 2004, states: "the head and upper body stay behind the ball as you unswing and accelerate into impact." Try to maintain your spine angle from the set up all the way to the moment of impact and don't worry if your head has a little lateral movement. Your head and spine are behind the ball at impact.

Keep Your Head Back and Behind the Ball Through Impact! Six Top Golf Pros Agree

The key to solid driving is that you first get fully behind the ball as you wind up your backswing. Only then can your truly stay behind the ball as you unwind on the way back down. With the driver, one of the problems that I see a lot of amateurs struggle with is they get too far ahead of themselves on the way down, which results in the swing being too steep coming in to the ball.

Remember, you have to get back to the left side to strike the irons properly, which involves making sure that your body weight is centred more on top of the left foot as you hit the ball. With a driver, if you can first get behind it and then stay behind it, you will enjoy flighting your tee-shots with a good powerful trajectory.

The BIG Feeling - Denis Pugh

Anchor the head at the beginning of the downswing. There is no need to shift the weight forward the same as on an iron shot where you have to hit down onto the ball. Keep the head back to hit the ball on the upswing.

Driving the Golf Ball - Golf Swing Driver Tips

In the swing you will need to feel that you are staying behind the ball with your upper body as you aggressively drive the hips and weight over onto the front foot. This is where the “uphill” sense comes from – as the hips drive the head stays back you create the body motion that allows for the clubhead to move up into the hit. I like to refer to this as body curve.

Driver Set Up | Andrew Rice Golf

 

Load Wrists for Lag

Search here and you'll find several posts that refer to the wrists in the full golf swing; there's even a previous post on wrist action at the top of the swing, and I wanted to expand on that fundamental quite a bit in this post.

First, it's important to make a few concepts clear. Many wanna-be golf instructors (and some legitimate ones) tend to use "hinge" and "cock" interchangeably when referring to the wrist action in the golf swing. The wrists actually cock up and down in the golf swing (more correctly called radial and ulner deviation), and the right wrist also hinges backwards or dorsiflexes on the backswing. The wrists should up-cock on the backswing (radial deviation) and down-cock on the downswing (ulner deviation); the right wrist should delay straightening from its hinged position; and the left wrist should NEVER dorsiflex or hinge backwards during the downswing (also known as a flip).

It's important to allow the weight of the golf club to cock the wrists vertically at the top of the backswing; this explains why so many golf professionals say that you should learn to feel the club head and use light grip pressure with soft wrists. Doing this effectively sets or cocks the wrists (especially the left wrist) at the top naturally. The feeling of the left wrist setting or loading at the top (due to the weight of the club head) should be felt at the base of the left thumb and the side of the wrist (as the left thumb somewhat supports the shaft) and felt in certain forearm muscles. TGM circles call this using Power Accumulator #2. This feeling of loading the wrists (sometimes called float loading) can be used as a trigger to begin the downswing weight shift; doing it this way will serve to keep the lag well into the downswing and helps provide that whip-like feel at the bottom. When one gets to the top, there's a sense of everything collecting, as the club should be the last thing moving before and during the transition. No conscious effort to hold lag is needed, because you'll be delivering the lag you loaded at the top. Finally, it's not necessary to rush down when you feel that load in the wrists; you should transition smoothly using the lower body to start down.

I feel you can still float load the wrists at the top while setting the wrists earlier in the backswing. You should experiment to find what feels and works best for you.

If your grip pressure is about a 3 on a scale from 1-10, the club head will eventually pass “Top Dead Center”, fall on its own and automatically hinge your wrists correctly. What it looks like, is a flat to bowed out front wrist (a la Paul Azinger, Dustin Johnson, Trevino, or Hogan’s supination just before impact). Now we’re talking. This wrist hinge has the club face square to the plane. You will know it is right if the toe of the club looks about 45 degrees to the plane not in line with it. This correct passive wrist hinge ALLOWS THE BODY TO TURN AS HARD, FAST OR SLOW THROUGH TO THE FINISH without any need for manipulation. There is no need to stop and throw the club head at the ball. In fact that messes everything up.

DUPLESSISGOLF » Active Hinging vs. Passive Hinging of the Wrists

In a word, if there's no "give" at the top of your backswing, you start losing your wrist cock almost immediately. If you have some "give," the club doesn't react immediately. Instead, it absorbs the energy at the change of direction and holds it for a few microseconds while you start down, then gives you a bounce that adds power to your downswing. That "give" comes from several areas, like your overall flexibility, but there are primarily two sources that concern us.

Ruthless Golf: Why Holding Your Wrist Cock Doesn't Work

Shaping Shots Consistently

I must have a ga-ja-billion posts on shaping shots (i.e., coaxing fades and draws), and that's because I'm always in search of the best way to do it. The best way is the way that is consistent and reliable for you to perform on the course (i.e., 90% of the time the ball bends as you intended). Click on the tags or keywords at the end of this post and you'll discover the numerous ways it's possible to influence the ball's starting line and follow-on ball flight.

I think this method--along with Jack's method--may be the easiest.

To fade the ball, tee up the ball LOW (even with the top of the driver) and on the right side of the tee box. Aim the club face towards the left side of the fairway (pick a tree or other target on the left); this represents the starting line. Place the club down aligned with this starting line. Make the address stance slightly open to the starting line; this means the hips, knees, feet, and shoulders should be aligned to the left. The upper body should still be tilted away from the target, and one must still shift the weight correctly and stay behind the ball for this power fade (sort of a push-fade, as you're still hitting inside-out ala Lee Trevino). Position the ball off the inside of the left instep (or roughly with the left shoulder). The further forward the ball position, the further left the ball should start on line before curving. Experiment with tee heights and ball position to get the right mix for the shot shape you want. Hit through the ball as if hitting four balls in a row on the starting line. Finally, use your normal grip, as most amateurs and high-handicappers hit with a slightly open club face even when trying to close it. Done correctly you should impart a nice, narrow fade on the ball.

To draw the ball, tee up the ball HIGH (one quarter to half the ball above the driver) and on the left side of the tee box. Pick a target on the left side of the fairway and place the club on that starting line. Make the address stance slightly closed to the starting line (pull the right foot back and align the shoulders and knees to the feet). Position the ball back in the stance (a few inches to the right of where it would be for the fade); the ball should be inside the left heel or roughly even with your shirt logo. Finally, rotate the club face slightly closed compared to the stance and then take your normal grip (most amateur golfers have trouble closing the club face enough for a push-draw, so manipulating the club at setup is easiest). Instead of hitting through all four balls, pretend you're hitting only the first ball of the four. Experiment to find the right mix; you will draw the ball (if you hook it then either move the ball slightly forward, tee it lower, lessen your closed stance, or try combinations of all).

A few notes. The lower the loft of the club (6-iron and up to driver), the easier it is to slice and the harder it is draw (another reason for manipulating the club face slightly closed for a draw). The higher the loft of the club (i.e., 7-iron and higher), the easier it is to hook and more difficult to fade. Draws tend to fly lower, further, and run more on landing. Fades tend to fly higher, shorter, and land with less roll. Take this into account when selecting a club. Don't be afraid to exaggerate adjustments to get the ball spinning like you want (i.e., if you lose your draw, get the ball hooking by standing with your back to the target and hitting balls).Full extension adds power and helps close the face (obviously useful for a draw but maybe for the fade too if the fade is too close to a slice). Hit both shots with the same swing shape--inside-out. And inside-out fade is called a power fade, and this was used by the greats like Hogan, Trevino, and Nicklaus.

Trevino’s swing is unorthodox, and so is his method for hitting the fade. The conventional way is to align the body left of target, aim the clubface at the target, and swing along the line of the body. Trevino follows the first two steps, but swings down the target line rather than with his body. The deviation actually produces a swing path that’s inside-to-out relative to the body, and directly down the target line. Trevino produces the left-to-right spin necessary for a fade by delaying the release (rolling over) of his hands through impact. According to Trevino, his routine produces more power than the traditional technique. He acknowledges that the ball will finish right of the target, but suggests simply lining up the body and clubface farther left to compensate.

Try Trevino's Unorthodox Power Fade Swing

Most players think of the swing as a circle. Trevino saw it as something different. Instead of folding his arms up after impact to remain on the circle, he chased his right shoulder toward the target to 
 the point where the club pointed straight down the line. He made this move with such force that it 
 looked like his right arm was going to rip straight out of its shoulder socket. It’s actually a move that most great ballstrikers have used over the decades.

Eventually, your left elbow must fold and get the club moving up the circle again, but try chasing down the line first, like Trevino did. I bet you’ll find yourself hitting the ball a little straighter and, if you can hold off your release just that much longer, creating a power fade. While the word “fade” has negative connotations for a chronic slicer, a controlled cut in the hands of a good player like Trevino leads to a Hall-of-Fame career, five Vardon Trophies and half a dozen major victories.

Johnny Miller - Lee Trevino signature chase move can help you hit it straighter | GOLF.com

"Inside out?" you might ask. "Doesn't that cause a draw?" Yes, it does, but only when your swing is inside out in relation to your target line. This swing is inside out in relation to the body alignment, but straight back to straight through in relation to the target line (see illustration). You won't draw the ball with this swing. If anything, you will contact the ball after the club has swung down and back to, the inside on the forward swing, thus putting a slight left to right spin on the ball .

So you have two big pluses here: First, you have an inside to outside attack in relation to your body. This is much more powerful than the outside-to inside swings that many amateurs use to fade the ball. Second, you have the club moving down the target line, producing either a straight ball or slight fade. You can't beat that combination.

Here's a trick that might help you understand this a little better. After you set up, imagine that there are three golf balls in front of the one you're about to hit. For the fade, you want to hit through all four balls. This will force your right shoulder down rather than around on the downswing, with your arms extending toward the target on the follow through. Keep in mind that the right shoulder doesn't dip. That would cause fat shots. Instead, the shoulder simply swivels underneath the chin. As a result, you will hold your release, keep the club moving down the target line, and push the ball to the hole, with very little sidespin.

I have, however, encountered one "problem" among people who have tried this method. They say to me, "Lee, when I swing your way, I hit the ball way to the right. I just tell them, "Aim farther left.” Don't open your stance more; just shift your entire orientation to the left. In other words, rather than aim the clubface down the fairway or at the pin, aim it at an intermediate target more to the left and shift your body alignment farther to the left as well. There's no rule that says you have to aim down the middle. Line up for the trees on the left and push it down the fairway. It's easy, when you know for sure that you can hit the push/fade.

The beauty of the balls in a line image is that you can use it to draw the ball, too. For the right to left shot, line up your body parallel to the target line and aim your clubface at an intermediate target to the right, to allow for the draw. Then, simply think of picking off the first ball in line, the real ball, without touching the three imaginary ones. This brings the right shoulder and club up quickly in the follow through, and whenever the club and shoulder move up, they go counterclockwise as well, which closes the clubface. Result: a draw.

You Can Learn to Hit My Fade - Lee Trevino - Golf Magazine - Dec 1979