Magic Golf Tips for striking the golfball solid and consistently

[Bogey Master]

I'm a 67 year old golfer who has lost his way in striking the ball solidly and consistently. Can someone

give me some unconventional methods in achieving this? Tips like where to play the ball relative to the stance; addressing the club face on either the toe or heel; unique grip, and where to look on the ball & etc. Even if tips are a temporary band aid. Help!!

[bPol]

Unconventional? No.

Play the ball just forward of center of your stance. Address the club face in the middle. Grip the club the right way (see Hogan's 5 lessons). I personally like to look at the back of the ball. For ball striking, I would say to focus on making sure the back of your left hand or knuckles of your left hand are facing the ground at impact. Make sure your weight gets to the left side.

[lewisbeardwell]

Shot in the dark without seeing a swing but moving my hips more towards the target helped with ball striking

[Switter]

You may want to search for "Mike Malaska" on youtube and review some of his teaching vids. His methods are simple & IMO its well worth the study time.

 

If your not making good contact @ impact you may want to look at the club face at the top, is it open, closed or neutral. IF the face is to open or closed at the top, try adjusting your grip. If your OTT or casting, the reverse motor bike drill (@ link) should help to square the face and temper the OTT or cast. Good Luck, /S

 

 

Motor Bike Drill:

 

This drill is designed to get you to square the face earlier in the downswing and create a better impact position. At the top of your backswing take your left hand and feel like you are turning your hand counter clockwise on the downswing. Start doing this as soon as you start the downswing. This will get the clubface of the club to square to the ball earlier and will allow your body rotation to take the club down into the impact position. This is a great drill to give you the feeling of what the lead hand should do during the golf swing. It will help anyone that has an early release and a cast or scooping swing fault.

 

 

Harley Drill:

 

[pusb365]

Bowed left wrist.

[BenjiHogan]

Put your change in your left pocket. Now, tie your left shoe in a double knot. Turn the hat backwards. Turn your hat around. Take A tee and stick it behind your left ear.

[Switter]

"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast"!

 

Since your seeking quick "magic" you may want to try Tour Strikers drill that begins around the 3:00 min. mark in the vid below. I advise begin viewing the vid from the start then pay close attention @ the 3:00 mark.

 

Tour Striker - "Manzella Style" Driver Release Dr…:

 

 

Nothing will help if your casting an OTT club head. Slow down the take away & backswing, @ first EXPERIMENT with holding back your right shoulder as the ds transition begins which should indicate to you whether your shoulder turn is to early & OTT/casting. Holding the shoulder back (not good) in the transition will signal that your transition is possibly to fast, and the swing parts are out of sync. Speed (force) kills when applied at the wrong time! Begin the transition into the DS smoothly & allow the momentum of the club head to gain speed prior to applying force. If you begin trying to fully accelerate the club from the top, it will result in an early extension (early right shoulder turn) & release & prolly result in a cast & flip, etc., more importantly the club wont drop on plane & into the slot where you can properly apply the forces of your body pivot & turn. (search "dropping into the slot")

 

The right hand controls the club face (open, closed, square), the left hand controls the path & AoA. Whenever I run into problems with my swing, there are two things I look at first: 1. The grip & the face angle at the top & 2. Speed! In most, not all cases I'm rushing the transition & not timely (in sync) applying the additional forces (speed) which creates all kinds of problems. My arms then take over the swing resulting in a loss of power, distance & accuracy. Many golf teachers teach that GRAVITY, not "forcing the arms" into the transition first drops the club into the slot.

 

Golf Drill: Gravity Drop

 

 

I must constantly remind myself that "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast", when it comes to the gravity drop "one must give up control to get control" at the proper time!!!

 

Maybe some of these experiences I have endured will help you. Prolly best to post a vid of your swing and receive the opinions of some of the forums members who know far more about teaching & analyizing swing faults, etc. then me.

[Dave D]

get your intent to have impact out past the ball

 

Just got back from the range working on the above and it was an absolute stripe show, haven't hit the ball that solid in a while. Playing Friday so will see if it works on the course. Doesn't really feel that different just that the release is out in front of the ball rather than at the ball

 

What is your intent now as far as impact is concerned?

Basically that my "impact" is out infront of the ball, that I want my arms extended and club all in sort of a line a couple of feet past the ball. Almost the thought that I'm achieveing maximum speed at that point past the ball rather than at the ball. As silly and simple as it sounds that my hands are leading the clubhead when I make contact with the ball and everything releases into a straight line a few feet infront of the ball. Hopefully these pictures help show what I mean/feel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this Rory photo the purple line is where I visualise/feel my intent is for my arms to both be straight and extended, not at the ball.

[Switter]

You may also find the vids below of interest. FWIW I'm a big fan of Malaskas vids on teaching methods & logic employed to the BASIC golf swing. I wish I knew about him years ago. This is not to discredit or discount Monte or any of the other great teachers & players opinions or styles on the forum, as they all have their time & place resolving the complexities of the swing as ones handicap declines lower & lower. This is to say that to me Malaska provides basic swing fundamentals in an easy to understand, well explained & comprehensive style for the higher handicap players of the game.

 

In my case I live 35+ miles from the nearest teaching pro, a 70 mile round trip for a half or one hour lesson. This is why I'm so grateful for the various participants sharing their golf teachings, knowledge, experiences & vids on the forum.

 

Golf Swing Release Drills

 

 

Improve Your Golf - Swing Tips - Drop Into the Slot

 

[Switter]

Mike Malaska And Bob Toski -- Hitting The Driver …:

 

[pmcuk]

 

Play the ball just forward of center of your stance. Address the club face in the middle.

 

 

In theory correct. But in practice this may be quite wrong.

 

I believe that any golfer should use impact stickers or powder or whatever to check the actual point of contact between ball and club face. Even tour pros may not address the ball in the centre of the face - this topic came up previously with photo evidence.

 

Placing the ball in the centre of the face has been a disaster for me and I only started hitting consistently when I checked the impact point on the face. Paradoxically I swing out with the driver and in with irons and wedges. So I set up my driver with the ball on the toe, and irons and wedges towards or on the hosel, depending which iron/wedge.

 

Massively improved my game.

[Darth Leverage]

Mile Adams S swing. That is all you need. Swing designed to get the best results for the older/less flexible player.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Play-Better-Golf-Seniors-Adams/dp/0805059202

[landshark]

i've seen several of the malaska videos. i know my mistake and error is coming too much from inside and hitting ball fat. his move and idea that really helps me a LOT is just to think getting hands down and inside or into me more. i let the clubhead go out. this has enabled me to not swing in such a diagonal path from so far inside to out. my draw with my irons is now maybe a 1 yard fade----and i'm not hitting it fat! only been to the range twice, but i'm pumped by what i've done with this tip

[MMB1500]

Here's my tip. Take online or in person lessons with a respected instructor, of which there are several on this site.

 

Searching for the answer on YouTube is not the way to go.

[BillyZ2]

magic? good luck with that. There's always a lesson or two you can get. Also, get rid of the hard to strike golf clubs like low lofted irons and exchange them out for some hybrids. Also trade in your Pro-V1s or similar and buy some Top Flite XL distance or the likes. straight is greater then long and in the woods, and a mind geared that way surprisingly makes the ball easier to hit. Just saying.

[UCBananaboy]

My all-time favorite drill is to (assuming you're RH) lift your left toes up on your takeaway and step them down on your downswing.

[Switter]

Sent this link to a friend that was having some post winter swing troubles. This link fixed him first range session. WTG Al.