The following is a guest post from: Alex Weir
We have all seen the 300 yard drives and precision iron shots that tour players make look so effortless and easy.
How do they make it look so simple?
Well I can assure you no two players on tour have the same swing, yet they all somehow have the ability to hit it long and straight.
Even though every swing is different, the one thing almost all PGA tour players have in common is their impact position. Players ranging from Jim Furyk to Tiger Woods all find a way to get the club into an efficient position at the bottom of their swing.
There is no “right” way to swing a golf club, but learning your capabilities can help you to find the sweet spot more often. Here are 3 simple drills to improve your impact:
1. Water Bottle Behind Your Ball
1) Place a water bottle about 2 feet behind your ball.
2) Try to hit the ball without hitting the water bottle. This will force you to swing more in-to-out…which will help to cure that nasty slice of yours.
It will also give you immediate feedback; if you hit the bottle, your swing path was too steep. If you can manage to the club inside the bottle, you should be hitting a nice draw in no time.
2. First Then Turf
This next drill will help you hit the ball first (then turf) with your irons. Having the left-wrist break down through impact (for a righty), causing a “scoop,” is a common fault among players.
The impact position that produces consistent solid contact has the hands in front of the ball.
Try this; put a towel down, kneel on it, and try to hit the ball with the butt end of your club. It sounds silly, but the challenge of making contact will force you to keep your hands in front of the ball. Most players naturally make the adjustment after a few hard earned whiffs.
When you go back to taking full swings standing upright the feeling of having your hands in front of the ball through impact will be well ingrained.
3. The Walk-Through
Weight distribution is an often overlooked aspect of the golf swing and most players could do it better.
Typically amateurs keep too much weight on their back foot through the downswing, causing them to throw their hands at the ball. This results in either a nose-dive hook or spinning slice.
Ideally we want our weight on our front foot at impact, with our belt buckle pointing at the target.
Try the walk-through drill; On your downswing, throw your back leg through, literally taking a step towards your target. By physically picking up your leg and stepping through, you will have no choice BUT to transfer your weight to your front foot.
Having a poor impact position can result in a variety of off target mishits that do nothing more than grown our frustration on the course.
As part of the pursuit for intelligent improvement, work on the above golf tips. They will improve your club’s path, angle of attack, hand position and weight distribution. Mastering these elements will result in a more consistent impact position that regularly creates on target shots.
Pro Bio: Alex Weir is a class A PGA Professional from Kahkwa Country Club in Pennsylvania.
