3 golf tips to help hit straighter drives
This is a Ryder Cup Special Impact Show filmed at The Golf National in Paris home to the 2018 Ryder Cup.
It gives 3 tips to help hit straighter drives.
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You Can Correct Your Golf Slice!
Golf can be a frustrating game. Today we’re going to analyze one of the most frustrating parts of the game: The golf slice. We’ll also show you how you can correct your golf slice.
What’s happening:
Golfers are slamming their clubs on the ground, uttering four-letter words and having a miserable time on the tee-box! Why? Because they are slicing the ball! If this is happening to you, you are not alone. Golf slices are a big problem for most golfers.
What is a slice?
A slice occurs when you hit a shot, and it spins off to the right. (to the left for lefties). This often occurs when the club face is open, and the path of the golf club comes from the wrong angle. This usually happens when your club is on an outside-to-inside path as the club nears the ball. If your clubface is open while on that outside-to-inside path, the slice can be extreme!
How to correct your golf slice
It’s one thing to know what is happening. How are you going to fix it?
We have a few quick tests that will help you correct your golf slice.
1. The Rope Test – when your hands are at the top of your backswing, imagine that you are holding a rope that is attached to a tree straight in front of you. Now your object is to pull the rope straight down. As you begin the downswing, you want that same straight down motion. This will force your right elbow to stay close to your body, and prevent you from going “outside-in” with your swing motion.
2. The Box test – Get along, skinny box, and lay it on the ground. You will be hitting the end of the box with your driver. Your goal is to make the box go straight in front of you. If you hit the end of the box and it goes to the right or the left, than your swing is off. This is a good way to test new improvements to your swing if you can not make it to the driving range.
3. The Tennis test – If you’ve ever tried to put topspin on a tennis ball, you know that you have to turn over the racket as you hit the ball. This same rolling of the wrists needs to happen when you hit a golf ball. As you are impacting the ball, make sure that your right hand ends up on top of your left hand. Just as you want that to happen in tennis to get topspin, your goal in striking a golf shot is to roll the hands. When you roll the hands over properly, you can be sure that you are closing the face of the club, when will severely decrease the likelihood of a slice.
Hopefully these tests gleaned from years of experience by golf professionals, can help you to correct your golf slice.
Don’t just play golf. Understand it.
Your Golf Swing vs. How You Play the Game
I recently played in the Southwest PGA Senior Open. I was hitting the ball great, but it didn’t translate on my scorecard. This reminded me of a few lessons I’ve shared over the years.
1. Remember that your score is not necessarily a reflection of who you are as a player. Use your experiences on the course to learn and improve.
2. Playing the game and working on your golf swing are two entirely different things.
Here’s a great conversation I had with Brendon DeVore @bebettergolf, talking about this very subject. It’s part of a 6-Part Golf Talk Series you can watch at malaskagolf.com.
How to Hit a Golf Shot From a Downhill Lie or Ball Below your Feet
When the ball is lying on a downhill lie, the play is not difficult, but a little skill is required here. Set up with your body leaving a little forward and your hands well ahead of the ball.
The big must is that you must hit the ball first. Stay down on the shot and try for an extended follow through. As a result the ball will fly low and a little longer.
So, as you take a less lofted club for your uphill lie, so you will
take a more lofted club for your downhill lie. The slope of the hill takes the loft from your club,
so a seven iron can become like a 5 iron and a pitching wedge like a seven iron.
Perhaps not as extreme as this, but you get what I mean I think.
What about when the ball is above your feet?
Well, the biggest danger here is hitting it fat, or hiring the
ground before you hit the ball.
Play this shot like a chip shot. You will see what I mean in a
minute.
Because the ball is above your feet, then you will not have to go
down so far to reach the ball. This means that you stand more erect.
To further avoid hitting the ball fat, position the ball
further back in your stance than normal.
Have your hands well ahead of the ball.
Now, as I said you hit the ball as in a chip shot.
This means with firm wrists.
The actual swing is as needed for the distance required.
Keep the hands ahead of the club head at all times and
as I said, hit with firm wrists.
Move your wrists towards the target. To be more exact, move the back of your left hand toward the
target. If you want more loft, open the clubface a little.
GOLF SWING DRILL: NATURAL BACKSWING PLANE
A Simple golf swing drill to get your backswing plane perfect for you and your personal move.
