Many recreational golfers have the right instincts about what is wrong with their swing. But problems arise when they apply a superficial “solution” that does not address reality problems in their swings.
The best example? Countless amateurs ‘scoop’ the clubhead while making impact with the ball. It translates into weak contact with too much loft and (usually) an open club face. It only takes a few of those shots before you try to do something to address the problem.
Usually this means pushing the lever toward the target in an attempt to eliminate the scooping motion. You might be able to get away with that with a short throw or chip, but when you add length and speed to the swing, that handle shove will make you scoop it up. more because your body responds by withdrawing from the intake. This dumps the club head to avoid hitting the ground six inches behind the ball.
In reality, the root cause of scooping at impact often has nothing to do with your hands or your release. It happens because you don’t rotate in a way that moves the lowest point in front of the ball, which promotes good compression of the ball at impact.
Working with my teaching partner Morgan Hale, we tackled this exact problem in the video below. The student slowed his rotation, rose from his stance and used his hands to create more speed through impact – but that doesn’t work!
To solve the problem, we gave him three simple exercises to improve his rotation, create a real pivot point and get his depth more in front of the ball. If you have trouble scooping your irons at impact, they can help you too.
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3 drills for better compression
1. Stretch and twist
Pull an exercise band against your chest by fully extending your arms, then perform slow back and through swings while keeping the band fully extended. If you stop twisting or make an exaggerated movement, you will immediately lose the stretch of the band.
2. Push with precision
Many people are good at pushing with their foot drop during the downswing, but when they do, they push everything towards the target. Pushing is good, but you need to add the feeling of pushing on your lead hip back to get the right spin through the ball.
To teach yourself this feeling, have a friend stand to the side and hold an alignment stick in front of your hip. When making practice swings without a club, make sure you rotate in a way that doesn’t bump your lead hip against the club.
3. Stretching the lawn mower
Another way to feel that is to have someone stand in front of you and hold the resistance band with their foot on the ground where the ball would be. Hold the other end of the band in your lead hand and tighten the band after impact as you make your downswing, as if you were starting a lawn mower. The effort it takes to create tension will encourage you to rotate and push the hip back rather than sliding it toward the target.
#simple #exercises #hit #sharp #powerful #iron #shots