Instruction

You can learn to hit a draw

Published

11 years ago

Apr 5, 2013

For many golfers, the most coveted shot in golf is the draw, that beautiful shot that starts down the right side of the fairway and curves back to the center.

And I’ve got good news, even for you slicers it’s not that hard of a shot. Even if you’ve never hit a true draw, you can learn to do it time after time. You just need to understand why a draw happens, and how you can achieve those circumstances at impact.

The very first thing to understand about hitting a draw is it involves two things — the position of the club face and the direction of the swing, which need to work together.

You see, the golf ball curves as a result of the clubface’s direction relative to its the path, not relative to its target line. So even if the clubface is open to the target line, a ball can still draw as long as the clubface is closed to the direction of the swing.

Yes, it seems complicated, but what it basically boils down to is that if you hope to hit a draw, you have to hit the ball from the inside. And the clubface has to point slightly left of your swing path, which means that you’re going to have to release the club.

To do this, first you have to see the inside.

Get a good visual in your mind what the inside is and where it is. The inside is defined as the area between you and the target line. The golf club must arrive at impact on that side of the target in order to hit a draw. See a path approaching the target line from your side of the ball.

When I play, I like to think of the target line as a wall; you might visualize something else, but I suggest thinking of it as something you can not hit.

A good swing arrives from inside that wall and exits after impact back to inside the wall. So if the idea is to “stay inside the wall,” the very first thing you need to do is give yourself some room to swing from the inside. And the best way to do that is to turn your shoulders in the backswing and get the hands and club behind you. That will give you some room to swing from the inside.

If there is no turn, and the hands and club swing simply swing above you, you are too close to the wall and will have no room to arrive from the inside.

One word of caution on this point: I am not suggesting that you pull the hands and club too far in behind you (from there, you will have to come out and crash into the wall). I am saying that the shoulders turn and the hands swing up over the rear shoulder. So if you slice, or you cannot draw the ball, the first thing you should concentrate on is a good full shoulder turn in the backswing.

Now that you have created some room from the inside, you can take advantage of it by getting the arms and club down from that area. The sequence will be: Turn, swing down, turn.

You probably understand what turn means — turn behind the ball, and turn through the ball — but the “swing down” part might baffle you, so let me explain, because it’s very important.

If the shoulders open too early on the downswing, which can happen when a golfer focuses too much on “turning” during the early portion of the downswing,” a golfer has no chance to hit the ball from the inside.

He or she will be forced to move their hands outside, which creates a hand path that is horizontal, not vertical, which is needed for a draw.

That’s why many teachers advocate having their students “keep their back to the target” during the downswing, or simply try keeping their shoulders closed a little longer on the downswing to keep the arms coming from the inside (see the Sergio video to see what I mean by getting the arms to fall, not push out).

The other key component to the draw is getting the golf club on a plane from where you can release it into impact.

In the Sergio video, notice how he “lays the shaft down” to get onto a lower plane to enter impact. When the golf club is on a very vertical plane, the face is often left open, and there is a reverse rotation of your hands and arms into impact, which drastically opens the club face.

A good drill to feel this is to hit balls from a sidehill lie with ball well above the feet. You will feel a more “baseball-like” swing from the inside, which gets the shaft to “lay down.” This gets it under the arms, which is critical to face control.

That’s why it is not enough to simply hit from the inside, because if the shaft is too vertical and the hands come in high, it is difficult to feel the proper release on the lower plane to control the face. My favorite golf scientist and researcher, Dr. Sasho Mackenzie describes it best:

“Starting the club below the swing plane generated positive angular momentum about the longitudinal axis of lead arm resulting in the club face completely squaring at impact. Starting the club above the swing plane generated negative angular momentum resulting in the clubface remaining significantly open to the target line at impact. Minor deviations (less than 5 cm) of the club from the swing plane can significantly affect the longitudinal rotation of the club, and thus a golfer’s ability to square the clubface. The results also suggest that the club can rotate through 90 degrees, about the longitudinal axis of the forearm in order to square the clubface for impact without a muscular torque producing supination.”

Those terms are more technical than I communicate to my students, but basically what Dr. Mackenzie is saying is this: turning and releasing from the inside is the key to drawing the golf ball.

Finally, a few considerations about set up: If you struggle to hit a draw, you may want to favor a slighly back ball position and a slighly stronger left hand grip. Also, be sure that your upper body is tilted a little to the right (if you’re a righty).

If you still can’t hit a draw, you can even try closing your shoulders and cocking your head a little to the right, which might help help you see and feel the inside. This is considered setting up “strong” on the inside, and I suggest it for all those who want to learn to draw the ball.

As always, feel free to send a swing video to my Facebook page and I will do my best to give you my feedback.

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

3 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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Instruction

How a towel can fix your golf swing

Published

2 months ago

Feb 26, 2024

Todd McGill

This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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