How do i become a better ball striker

[WhiteTigerman]

Practice and lessons, no short cuts to improvement

[L. McIntyre]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned it in the simplicity which its to be examined as.

 

Hit down on the ball. That's all, & exaggerate the motion.

Just give it a shot and then thank me

I've seen more than one person screw up their swing with the "hit down on the ball" mindset. While physically that's what happens, the wrong mental interpretation can really mess a person up. I've seen it take people with decent swing planes start to come in too steep trying to swing down on the ball.

 

Key word - swing... Nothing good comes getting stuck on the ball. I guess its more about what works for the individual, but going back to the but end of the shaft getting into the wall - perfect immage for me. Thanks for the help!

[cplof]

Here's the deal. Hit the quadrant of the ball that is the lower right. You split it into 4 quadrants and you drive the head into that part of the ball, driving through the ball into the ground.

 

You can sweep it, but I think you will become a better ball striker if you focus on hitting behind the ball and driving it into the ground. If you can't do that, then it's going to be hard to become good at striking it.

 

I know people that can't get off the tee for crap, and hit thin iron shots all day, but then save themselves from 100 yards in and putt like Tiger. They end up with great scores and it blows my mind. Then again, when they are off with the short game, it gets ugly. "I don't know how I shot 87 today." Because you didn't get up and down 13 times, like the last round.

 

Ha ha, that guy is me. But I must have a really good short game because i rarely shoot over 80. But I'm also working on my ballstriking.

[David C]

You've got more drills here than the Army...

 

First of all, get an expert opinion on your ball-striking. A video down-the line and front on are important for people here to analyse, but a pro's eyes are better.

 

For example, I hit it high, but my shots cut through the wind. The shape of your ball-flight and how it gets out there are more important. If your irons shots are high, penetrative and stop quick, then your ball-flight is pretty damned good already. If however, your shots go up and get blown about, you need to look at your swing.

 

Cause and effect: your swing determines your ball-flight. If, for example, you come through too early with your hips and your arms are playing catch up, you'll have to flip at the ball to strike it. This can cause all sorts of problems - pull, push, hook, slice, top, fat. Over-use of your hands can cause you to strike down too much on the ball, causing more spin and a higher trajectory. You might then come out of the shot with your body in an attempt to time the shotand strike it a glancing blow, steep and out-to-in, sending it higher and weakly so.

 

All this is conjecture and may not apply. First of all, you need to know where you are going and where you are at. What you need to achieve.

 

Firstly, get a pro. Tell him you are committed to whatever practice time and lesson frequency you can spare. I have fortnightly lessons and I practice 12 hours per week. If I don't practice enough, I postpone the lesson and vice versa.

 

The first thing we did was analyse my ball-flight: I was missing it left, right and fat and thin. So we are working towards one 'shot-family': a miss that is a slight pull or pull-slice.

 

We looked at my set-up first and got me taking the club back with my shoulders in one piece. We didn't care where the ball went, we were looking for a good takeaway, good posture and more depth to the sound of the strike. I was too deep, so I felt like I was taking it up steeply. I was to feel my weight was more towards my toes.

 

This meant I would hit it straight or pull it.

 

Next, we got me balanced. I swung on two inflatable balance cushions, one under each foot and then after five swings, to locate my balance in setting up and hit a shot. This gave me purpose to my set-up - I get all my posture set, I feel my balance left-to-right and back-to-front (toe to heels) and waggle the club whilst looking alternately at target and ball. I used to brush my teeth on one leg each day as well! Sounds daft but it helped. This was the easiest lesson.

 

Next, we got me on plane, as I was too steep. I start my swing now with my takeaway what feels like 2 inches back from the ball and almost immediately (in reality it takes a moment more and is more like 12") **** the club onto plane, to be fully cocked by hip height. I know I'm on plane when I feel it in my index finger of my right hand and I check in the mirror: with my learning club, my 5 iron, when my hands are hip-height, in line with my spine in the mirror reflection, the shaft bisects the middle of my right shoulder. In reality, my reaction time and momentum take me to 3/4's back. I could go back a little more by softening my arms, but having previously had an overswing, this is fine for now.

 

Next, I was to finally look at my shot direction. My arms were out of time with my hips, so now I practice starting my arms STRAIGHT DOWN whilst uncocking the club out in front of me (so it doesn't get stuck behind me and hit the ball right because I've come too much from inside). My hips are motionless while my arms drop. Then I turn through the shot together. I no longer think about my hands at all. My shots after this lesson were straighter, lower and much more solid.

 

So my point is, by knowing where I was (all over the place), where I wanted to go (one-way miss, better technique) and by committing to practice and to the pro's advice (how stupid is it to pay for advice and then not take it?) my ball-striking has improved. I also know how my swing works, where it can go wrong and so on. I have a simple swing (in thought anyway): takeaway, wrist ****, arm-drop and turn and I can now work on the other parts of my game for the meanwhile. I have confidence in my instructor too.

 

Previously, I'd done drills to improve my club-line throught impact, by assuming impact against a block of wood and pushing this 3ft long block of 2"x4" forward with the blade of the club, feeling the toe of the club begin to push the wood after 6" or so; my hands leaning the shaft forward whilst staying balanced, with slightly more weight on my left foot (I visualised a pro's impact position). This will get your ball-flight down, however, it may not be necessary if your mechanics need improving.

 

Above all, what might work for me may not work for you, you may already have good trajectory and distance control, but what will work is a commitment to practice and to one instructor's thoughts and to map out a way ahead - that's what we did on my first lesson: no more band-aids; no more him seeing one swing this week, another the next.

 

It took 4 months from that 'first lesson' to get to where I am now. 3 & 1/2 months of not playing so often or when playing, not caring about my score, my ball-flight or whatever. That is harder than it sounds by the way. But it was winter anyway! :) and a lot of discipline to swing slowly at first, not hit it so far until my speed returned in my better technique. The arm-drop was a bit demoralising at first, but even with a half-speed swing, I could see the distance was better, the trajectory stronger and contact more solid and consistent than my old swing at the same speed. My speed has come back now as my instructor said it would.

 

Trust and commit. If your mechanics are sound, then you should think about the advanced aspects of ball-striking, but only if you are sure you have an understanding of where your swing is at and what needs to be done yet.

[dougcankles]

David C,

 

Can we see a video of your swing, and can you maybe demonstrate some of the drills you mention?

[JOEGOLFWRX]

I'd suggest the following:

 

1) Understand the flat left wrist at impact.

 

2) Understand what happens when a ball is properly struck with an iron

 

3) Understand the 'new ball flight laws' (aka D-plane)

 

4) Understand that the pivot is the lifeblood of the golf swing and to accomplish 1-3, you need to have an effective pivot. So understand what a good pivot is and find a way to execute a good pivot.

 

But, lots of chipping and pitching help make that transition into the full swing more and more seamless, IMO. 1-4 are all prevalent in the chip and pitch shot swings. I feel it's best to get 1-4 down pat with chip and pitch shot swings before trying to get it down with the full swing. Many will disagree.

 

3JACK

 

+1

 

feel drill

 

short to mid irons,

feet closer together than normal, drop right foot back and raise right heel, keep heel raised through back swing.

 

as i said its a feel drill, so play around with it, (eg 1/2 swings 3/4 distance)

[David C]

Hi Dougcankles, attached are two swings from this afternoon.

 

You'll see that I'm out-to-in, a bit deep at the top. My blade might be slightly shut but I think it is square - I was in a rush to set the camera up on our academy course. You'll also notice I'm slightly open.

 

When my pro is with me, and can monitor things, dropping the arms first as I put the club in front of me, on plane, stops me lashing across to the left as in the videos. Normally, I don't swing parallel to the shaft angle on my good swings. I think some people try to swing parallel throughout their swings which I think is crazy. I find I miss it left AND right with my old swing.

 

Still got a way to go, to get my rhythm and speed back as well but I used to be very deep and took the club immediately inside from the beginning and not on plane. I've hit about 4000 balls practising over the last 4 months and about 2-3 hours slow-motion stuff, so not too shabby. I had hoped to practice more over winter but was ill and between jobs, so that out me back a bit. But I'm on track! :)

 

No surprises, I cut the first shot - a gentle 6 iron, pull-hooked, that landed at the blue squiggle. The red it where the flag is and the tree in the middle of the green at 12 o clock is where I thought I was aiming! Wind from 8 o clock fairly strong.

 

Second shot is a 7 iron. This I hit a bit firmer - "7-8/10" as opposed to "5-6" with the six iron, as the people in front had left the green. Green is about 230yds away and I had about a 40 yard wedge left.

 

Was v.happy with the trajectory of the second shot, which was closest to a full shot. It zoomed out fairly straight and only drifted right to the flag at its peak. I'm hitting out of rough-ish grass, quite a bit of give where it rained a lot yesterday. I'll get some of me front on and off proper fairway so you can see divots and get a better idea of how I strike it later this week.

 

I'll video the drills when I can. They're not so much drills as movements within the swing that we're working on, so as to improve my understanding at the same time. Drills can be a bit of a 'sticking plaster' cure.

 

The block of wood drill is a good drill though. It's similar to Leslie King's 'front end therapy' and helped both my trajectory and ball-striking. It is as simple as pushing a block of 2 by 4, lengthways and forwards.

[David C]

Can anyone help me upload two vids from cswing? They are stored in my documents as Windows Media Player files, video clips. Many thanks!

 

Dougcankles: hopefully I have attached the drill!

[avrag]

I'd like to refer to the original title of the topic and the question.

I have reached the point where I believe some people can't, myself included. I've read everything, I've watched all the videos, I know everything in theory, I practice all the drills, but I just can't do it. My hands simply don't want to stay passive. They start the downswing with a cast from the top, throw away all the lag, and then I move through the ball with a very flat angle of attack and a sweep. I can hit shots with driver and fairway woods beautifully with this swing, and fairly long, too, because I rotate through fairly quickly, but iron shots are simply down to luck. I hit the ball in the heel-toe center of the clubface most of the time, but I never come through the ball with the clubhead at a consistent height. Fat, thin, fat thin. I just can't get rid of that.

I witnessed a great display of ball-striking by one of my playing partners in today's round. I think he hit 16 GIR, if I am not mistaken. He told me he found one thought, and suddenly he was able to strike the ball so purely. In his case it was simply pulling the butt end of the club towards the target and let the rotational forces take care of the rest. It is that easy for some people, it is impossible for others, who have stupid, uneducated and uneducatable hands, like me.

[Richie3Jack]

I'd like to refer to the original title of the topic and the question.

I have reached the point where I believe some people can't, myself included. I've read everything, I've watched all the videos, I know everything in theory, I practice all the drills, but I just can't do it. My hands simply don't want to stay passive. They start the downswing with a cast from the top, throw away all the lag, and then I move through the ball with a very flat angle of attack and a sweep. I can hit shots with driver and fairway woods beautifully with this swing, and fairly long, too, because I rotate through fairly quickly, but iron shots are simply down to luck. I hit the ball in the heel-toe center of the clubface most of the time, but I never come through the ball with the clubhead at a consistent height. Fat, thin, fat thin. I just can't get rid of that.

I witnessed a great display of ball-striking by one of my playing partners in today's round. I think he hit 16 GIR, if I am not mistaken. He told me he found one thought, and suddenly he was able to strike the ball so purely. In his case it was simply pulling the butt end of the club towards the target and let the rotational forces take care of the rest. It is that easy for some people, it is impossible for others, who have stupid, uneducated and uneducatable hands, like me.

 

We'd have to see your swing to what's going on.

 

Take a look at this swing:

 

 

This swing is perfectly fine and will result in many great shots. But, it doesn't have that 'snap release' action ala Hogan or Sergio. This is a 'full sweep release' (in TGM terms) and this *might* be the type of swing that works for you.

 

But the left wrist is flat at impact and there is clubhead lag.

 

The hands don't have to be 'passive.' They have to be 'educated' to some degree. Some golfers can just improve their pivot and the hands will fall into place. Some can improve the pivot and still need to 'educate the hands.'

 

But again, we would have to see your swing.

 

 

 

3JACK

[Tanner25]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned it in the simplicity which its to be examined as.

 

Hit down on the ball. That's all, & exaggerate the motion.

Just give it a shot and then thank me

 

 

Like hit down damit. I don't know, when I hit diown, I move some earth.

[Racurl]

In his case it was simply pulling the butt end of the club towards the target and let the rotational forces take care of the rest.

 

Wow....talk about a "blast from the past" for ME! About 5 years ago, some random golf instructor-dude told me the same exact thing. "Just try to pull the butt end of your club towards the target and the rest will take care of itself", he said.

 

I played with that swing thought for the better part of a year. It felt very strange to a guy that had a rather habitual "flip of the hands" to his swing, but the results were very good. I was striking the ball very solid and acurrate.

 

Alas, I never was able to ingrain that thought into my brain and, over the years, it sort of drifted out of my swing. Thanks, AVRAG, for reminding me. I am off to the range to try to ingrain that into my head.

[glcoach]

I once thought that "get a flat left wrist and the kingdom of golf would be mine" If you check out some of my old swings on youtube.com/glcoach you will see that I have as flat a left wrist as you can have, but my pivot was screwed up and my setup was too. I had a big "upper body mash" and in looking at my swing, it just looks bad.

 

Fortunately I have worked hard on my pivot since those videos were taken early last year and consequently my swing is much better. I will post some better video in the next couple of days.