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

 

My Golf Lesson: Laid Off

I recently took some online video lessons with famed teaching professional Bobby Eldridge out in AZ. I highly recommend giving Bobby a shout; he's very good!

To my surprise, Bobby immediately picked up on something I hadn't considered: I was too laid off at the top. In other words, my club shaft pointed well left of the target line instead of more parallel to my target line. This move was causing my pulls, pull hooks, deep divots, and slices, because one unconsciously corrects for this by coming over the top (OTT). This is something that is hotly debated among golfers and professionals, as there have been many great golfers who appear 'laid off' at the top of their swings. Ben Hogan has even been accused of this sin. For clarity, the opposite of being laid off is being across the line, meaning the club shaft points right of the target at the top, and this move supposedly leads to hooks and coming too much from the inside.

It's also important to note that having the club point left of the target doesn't necessarily mean that one is "laid off" in the negative sense. What's important is being "on plane." When you're on plane it's not neccessary to get the club to parallel (reference Hank Haney's 7-Steps book). A better description of being "laid off" is a swing plane that is too flat, regardless of where the club points at the top.

Bobby didn't think so, but from my previous Hank Haney online lesson, I know that I have failed in the past to get a full 90 degree shoulder turn; this can contribute to a laid off backswing. It's easy to comprehend that an incomplete shoulder turn will cause the club to point left at the top.

Now, what I'm describing flies in the face of a reversed loop swing that I've championed before; let's face it, a reversed loop swing is a correction (i.e., defeating a steep backswing with a shallow downswing). It works well for some professional golfers with impeccable timing, and it helped me too (for a while). But because it's a correction and requires timing, it's not easy to do (for me anyway).

As I'm a mere mortal (beginning golfer), how much better would it be if I could keep the club on plane all the way through? This is what Bobby was getting at with my backswing. The correct feeling has more to do with the arms and club staying in front of the chest, back and through. For me, it feels very vertical, but it definitely agrees with Shawn Clement's commentary on the arms "falling down the plane." It seems easier to hold the lag and allow the arcing motion of the club shaft to happen late (more due to arm rotation than shoulder rotation), thereby producing an inside-out club head motion. When I swing down this way, I focus on the inside of the ball, as if that's where I'm trying to hit it (the only way to do that is by this arcing motion with retained lag). Extension back and through seems more natural as well, and a 90 degree shoulder turn is important to get the club pointing down the target line (without the arms collapsing). And as you can see from Clement's explanation, the right elbow-right hip relationship is important too, with the right elbow falling down IN FRONT of the hip--not attaching or crashing into the side of the hip. The hips must rotate to shallow out the vertical motion.

One should feel as if one is pointing the club shaft at the target at the top of the backswing; if the club points to the left of the target, it will be too laid off, which can cause nasty slices and pulls on the way down, depending on the corrections one makes in the downswing. Here are some tests to determine whether one is laid off at the top:

Take a full backswing but stop at the top of your swing. Simply loosen your grip and allow the club to fall on you. If the club is on plane correctly, it should fall on the tip of your right shoulder. If the club falls too much toward your neck or head, your plane is too steep. If the club falls below your shoulder, your swing path is too laid off or flat.

[From Golf Swing Plane Tips]

Wherever your eyes are looking, your hands and the clubhead will want to go. If your eyes are looking at the back of the ball at address, then you are probably trying to square the clubface to the back of the ball at impact. Address and impact are two very different alignments in golf. Focus your eyes on the inside quadrant of the ball at address and your hands will strive to reach your new focal point. By making this small change, you will be well on your way to improving your downswing and obtaining much more manageable misses.

[From Classic Swing Golf School]

Following the takeaway, focus on folding the right elbow up, not out behind you. Your swing should feel much more vertical than before. More importantly, it should feel shorter. That’s a good thing since, whether you believe it or not, a good backswing is only 18 inches long. From setup to the top, your right elbow should move just about a foot and a half, from the center of your torso to just outside the right hip.

[From Golf Tips - Elbow Room]

The key is we have to fight this by trying to keep the shaft as vertical as we can in the transition and down to impact. If we let the shaft fall back it will lay off as much as parallel to the ground or more and also fall more inside. This will cause getting trapped behind the body approaching the ball, causing a big inside out swing path that will hit big blocks. To stop the blocks, big time over rotation of the arms hits big pulls.

[From Laid off at the top of the Backswing…Cures, Tests and Drills - Surge's Daily Golf Swing Tips]

One classic problem is leaving the club pointing left at the top or as we call it laid off. This can be caused by an inability or unwillingness to complete the turn on the back swing. If you only turn your shoulders 45 degrees instead of the preferred 90 degrees, the club will likely be 45 degrees left of target, a major cause of the classic pull or slice swing. Even players who typically do it correctly on the range may find that the tension of the golf course prevents them from completing the back swing and causing an improper path.

[From Club Position]

Think of yourself as a righthanded batter, with a golf ball sitting on home plate. As you move into impact, try to sling the clubhead toward right centerfield. Approaching the ball from inside the target line like this—as opposed to down the target line when you try to hit the back of the ball—relates the shallow arc necessary to make centered contact and compress the ball so it shoots off your clubface like a rocket. At impact, your clubface should strike the lower-left quadrant (the one closest to you) of the ball.

[From How to Max Out your Irons | GOLF.com]

When you reach the top of your backswing, allow your hands to drop the club straight down. If the shaft hits your shoulder, then great—you’re on plane. If the shaft missed your body and the clubhead falls behind you, you’re probably laying off too much and you need to keep your hands and shaft above your shoulder in order to get back on track.

[From No Layoffs! | GolfTipsMag.com]

 

Pitching a Fit

The short game has been the bane of my existence (as it is for most amateur golfers). I've struggled with the long game too, but I can at least ADVANCE the ball to within pitching distance. But nothing is more humiliating than to be 50 yards from the green and take a big divot BEHIND the ball and have it go nowhere. Blading or pulling the pitch are just as bad.

I've made some short game strides recently with putting, chipping, and pitching. My pitching and greenside bunker goals are basic: clean contact and hit the green.

A pitch is like a shorter full swing or a longer chip (with a little wrist action); the backswing of a pitch should be like the full swing (vary the length of backswing and followthrough for the length of shot being attempted). A pitch shot is also somewhat like a greenside bunker shot, except the pitch swing might be less vigorous for the same required distance (many of the tips below apply to greenside bunkers). The arms still must stay in front of the body, but they don't travel as high (if they go higher than 9-o'clock you're really probably hitting a full wedge shot).

• Posture is EXTREMELY important; don't setup with an arched upper back and drooping shoulders. Keep a good spine angle with the shoulders back as you would for a full shot. Either bend the knees more or use a more narrow stance to maintain the correct posture
• Open the club face (a little for lower trajectory more for higher trajectory) BEFORE taking your grip; use the bounce…not the leading edge (consider the photo of Anthony Kim's club face--the club has not turned over as in a draw shot); increases margin for error and adds loft to the club
• Go with a neutral to weak grip (grip more in the palm of the left hand with the back of the left hand facing the target, and maybe turn the right hand over the top of the club a bit more); you want to prevent opening and closing the club face and digging at impact--now you're using the BOUNCE of the wedge to glide along the grass and that provides some margin for error--don't use the leading edge (same for bunker shots) unless you have a buried lie
• Grip down on the club ONLY for added control and feel (I use the middle of the grip); gripping down reduces the length of the shot, but use shot length to do this instead
• Use a tension-free swing and feel the weight of the club; think of swinging a weighted rope
• Always consider the lie--if it's tight then consider a chip if there are no obstacles
• Open the stance a little as you open the club face; the weight can be a little more to the left instep; don't shift much going back; turn the left foot out more and make the right foot more perpendicular
• At address, ground the club behind the ball ensuring the arms are straight and elbows close together; then and only then should you raise the upper body slightly to HOVER the club just above the ground and behind the ball; this helps ensure a downward blow and helps avoid fat shots
• Ball positioned well forward (really exaggerate this--especially in a greenside bunker); position the ball off your big toe but set up as if the the ball is in the middle of your stance; you'll think there's no way you'll hit a good shot but WRONG; play ball back a little more for increased spin and lower flight (ball will run more)
• Favor the left leg by pressing into it at address; on the backswing, avoid any great shift into the right leg
• Use a shallow, U-shaped swing (unless the lie is buried--then use V-shape)
• Think of using a longer takeaway; try to keep the butt end of the club pointing at the belt buckle on the backswing
• Set and hold the wrists on the backswing and into impact; use body rotation (think of turning the belt buckle towards the target and letting the arms chase)
• USE THE RIGHT HAND TO PITCH: Think of it as an underhanded throwing motion; the key is to set the wrists and leave them that way through impact--this means the left wrist will be flat but facing the sky during the follow-through, and the right wrist will remain slightly bent back through impact; the more the right palm faces the sky on the followthrough, the more loft that was added--back off from this to flight the ball down (Lanny Watkins); this is especially important for flop shots
• Follow through more around the body instead of down the line, swinging more to the inside after impact; the arm motion should circle around to your left hip on the followthrough
• Make certain to come through with the right shoulder!
• The club will often finish in a verticle position with a slight left arm chickenwing
• Brush the grass in your practice swings; feel relaxed during the motion; the club head should not dig
• Accelerate -- don't start fast and finish slow (do the opposite)
• Turn through and complete the finish (let the right foot come up)
• Watch the ball disappear before looking up! ALWAYS, ALWAYS avoid looking up too early (on all short game shots). This is the first thing to verify if chipping, pitching, and putting go awry. Keep looking down until the club makes ball contact!
• Let the finish mirror the backswing (higher for higher trajectory; lower for lower trajectory)
• For higher shots (lobs) and bunker shots with a high lip, take a wider stance and bend the knees more

When you swing the golf club back the most important aspect of pitching a golf ball, besides for using a sand wedge, is that you open the clubface and you do it with your right wrist more in the open position as opposed to bent back. You don’t need a lot of wrist cock, but you do need to feel that the right wrist is more in an open position, one that will give you loft when you come into the shot. So if you have trouble pitching the golf ball chances are that you bend your right wrist back and take the club to far back into the inside. Open the right wrist as you go back, not a lot of wrist cock, but keeping the club out in front of you with your right wrist more in an open position will make it so much easier for you to pitch the golf ball up in the air and onto the green. Open that right wrist and just let the club slide underneath the ball.

[From Video Golf Tip | Getting a Pitch Airborne]

You don’t have to have a wrist cock in your pitch shot. Watch Steve Stricker hit his pitch shots the next time he is on TV in a PGA tournament. He sets up with an open stance and open clubface but does not have a wrist cock. His club opens and closes to the target line as his arms swing on plane around his body but he avoids wrist action. This method requires a larger swing but I believe it is the easiest method for most golfers to perfect.

[From Golf Instruction by Scott Erwin » The Basic Pitch Shot]

You should feel like your hands are in almost the same relationship to your sternum as they were at address; in other words, a “one-piece” takeaway. The wrists set slightly, but do not make a significant change in angle from where they were at address.

[From Mastering The Basic Pitch Shot]

The big thing for me on pitch shots is getting the clubhead swinging and letting that move my body, not the other way around. I start with the ball slightly forward and my hands centered in front of me. I also play the face a little open for all my pitch shots. Then I hinge the club upward going back, not around my body, with the toe pointing to the sky. Coming down, the club should unhinge the same way it went back (left). I want to feel it swinging down and through. The momentum of the club pulls my body to the finish.

[From Luke Donald: Do's & Don'ts of the Short Game: Golf Digest]

A feeling to key in on is the sense of swinging to the inside after impact (as pictured below). Be sure to keep the face open or looking up while the club tracks to the inside as this will prevent the leading edge from digging.

[From Open Face | Andrew Rice Golf]

One of the ways that the professional golfers add speed to the pitch shot is that they weaken their grip. Their right hand comes to a weaker position on the golf club. This means that the ‘V’ shape that your index finger and thumb make will be pointed towards your left shoulder. This will feel very strange at first. This will allow you to accelerate through the shot and will stop you from closing the club face through the shot. Having the weak grip will help you to open the blade in the back swing (remember, this is only for the pitch shot) and will also allow your to release the club at speed without closing the face of the club at impact.

[From Golf Pitch Shot, Golf Pitching, Golf Swing Basics, Tips]

This is the "brushing of the grass." Take a few practice swings and brush the grass each time. Notice how easy it is if you are relaxed and not "gripping the devil" out of the club. Go back and forth and back and forth like a metronome.

[From GOLF TIP - The 20 to 40 Yard Pitch Shot]

As in chipping, a lot of amateurs play pitches with the ball too far back, causing the leading edge to dig at impact. The pitch is like the sand shot, except you don't swing as hard. Play the ball about middle, and keep your weight slightly forward. The club's bounce should graze the grass the way it slides under the ball in the sand. This is more forgiving than playing the ball back, because the club can actually hit the ground behind the ball and still slide through

[From Zander Golf - Breaking 100 - Don't lean too far left on chip shots]

Try to get the ball up in the air, with a slight cut action and have it land softly. This will give you the sense of keeping the face open and using the bounce of the club correctly. It will also prevent the wrists from being overly active. A feeling to key in on is the sense of swinging to the inside after impact

[From Leading Edge Digs | Andrew Rice Golf]

 

Chip - Don't Chili Dip

Standard "fundamental" setup pointers:

1. Feet close together (use putting stance width)
2. Ball off the back foot (further back = lower shot with more run on landing)
3. Lean slightly to the left (don't over do it or the leading edge might dig)
4. Grip down on the club (the further down, the shorter the shot)
5. Use a weak or putting grip with left hand and weak grip with right (rotate the right hand over the top of the shaft); keep a flat left wrist back and through
6. Address the ball with the club head grounded at first and with both arms straight and elbows close together; afterwards, slightly hover the club head
7. Hands ahead of ball/shaft leaning forward; form a "lowercase Y" with the arms and club; the club shaft and left arm should form a straight line and it should remain that way
8. Hover the club slightly above the ball (encourages downward strike) by lifting the upper body slightly
9. Keep arms/hands firm (like in a putt)
10. Simply rock the shoulders like a putt
11. Allow the body to turn through after impact
12. Pitch-like chip: release the club for more loft (normally keep left wrist flat) - tip from Hank Haney
13. Pitch-like chip: open the club face more and then do everything else the same
14. Pitch-like chip: slightly rotate the left forearm going back and square coming through
15. Watch the ball disappear before looking up!

The number one cause of my chili dipped chips is my right elbow. It's absolutely crucial to address the ball with the elbow straight and to avoid bending it going back and through, as straightening right elbow usually causes contact behind the ball.

Raymond Floyd said to think of your chips as "putting with loft." This got me to thinking that I should just rock my shoulders with a forward leaning shaft and keep the lower body still until the turn through. This helped but I was still making silly chipping errors, especially when I committed my primary short game sin: Looking up before the ball disappeared to see where it was going.

Select clubs based on the situation. The goal is to get the ball rolling on the ground sooner. Chipping 30 yards from the green to a back pin position might require a 7 or 8-iron, while a close chip calls for a sand or lob wedge. Use the same chipping motion for all chips and adjust for distance using club selection. You may also open wedges as you would on a pitch shot to add loft to chips.

A weak or putting grip in the left hand with a flat left wrist really sets you up for success (it's easy to control direction if the back of the left hand leads). Hover the club slight above the ball to encourage hitting down through it and bottoming out in front. Keep the hands and wrists out of it--THEY SHOULDN'T MOVE (just like in putting).

But here's something that has really helped me, and it strongly relates to chipping with a putting motion. Forget using any wrist hinge whatsoever; as a matte of fact, you should keep the wrists and hands completely relaxed and loose. In other words, you should really feel the weight of the club head slightly waggling in your hands. Next, you'll notice that both FOREARMS form a small triangle; simply think of moving that small triangle back and forth, with no thought to the hands at all. Forget the larger triangle made by the full length of the arms and club. Makes it very easy to chip. The longer the stroke, the more the wrists will naturally hinge and unhinge from the weight of the club, creating very large chips or small pitch shots.

 

Watch the Ball or Keep Your Head Down?

How many times have you heard that old refrain, "Keep your head down?" Likewise, how many times have you heard the contrary advice NOT to keep your head down? Like most advice in golf, it seems that every "fundamental" has its equal share of detractors who will call that fundamental a myth. In other words, for everyone that tells you to keep your head down, there will be someone who says DON'T keep your head down!

Keeping the head down should really be thought of as keeping the eyes on the ball, because your eyes are in your head, silly. So, are we saying we SHOULD NOT look at the ball during impact?

Try this. Take a 6-iron, close your eyes, and try to hit the ball with a full swing. Not easy, is it? You may make contact, but the ball will probably go everywhere but where you intended. Now, professionals can probably do this because they hit hundreds of balls in a typical training day. But we mortal amateurs don't have that skill. Whether we admit it or not, hand-eye coordination is important in golf. (And yes, I'm aware that there are a few pros who look up before impact.)

Looking up too early to see where the ball is going is a big fault of amateurs. I know it has given me problems many times. One must hit the ball before looking up, because looking up too early can cause all sorts of mishits (but mainly fat, topped, or thin shots). The body will tend to follow the head. And looking up early can cause the hands to flip at the ball unconsciously.

Now, I'm one of those guys who likes to putt without looking at the ball, because it helps my distance and direction control immensely. But there's a big difference between rocking one's shoulders to make contact and taking a full whack at the ball with a driver. I will discuss this aspect of putting in a later post, but I just don't equate the two. It's easier to putt without looking than it is to take a full swing without looking; the main reason is that you start off with your eyes focused and staying on the hole, whereas looking up too early in any other shot means your focus shifts mid-swing.

So, keep your head down or keep your eyes on the ball? How about both?! Keep your eyes on the ball (and thus head down) until the ball disappears; then allow your natural shoulder rotation to bring the head (and eyes) up. If you watch some slow motion video of professional golfers, you'll see that most of them do JUST THAT, whereas a common amateur error is to take a peek too early. It's also ESPECIALLY true for green side bunker shots; I lock my eyes onto a spot of sand two inches behind the ball and don't look up until I throw sand.

Don't look up to see where ball has gone until after you've hit it! Watch the ball disappear on the ground before looking up. If you can't remember seeing the ball disappear on the ground in a flash then you looked up too soon.