Tip #1: Develop a takeaway that encourages you to start on the correct plane
Swinging off plane is a very common problem. It affects some 90% of amateur golfers. But, if you talk to any golfer who is committed to improving their swing, invariably they will admit to working on their swing plane. Next time you go to a house party, stand back and do a bit of people watching. There will surely be some serious golfers in the group. If there are, you will see them periodically let their arms hang down and they will sway from side to side. It might look funny, but they are sub-consciously working on timing and takeaway.
Obviously, the first thing that affects your swing plane is how you take the club away. If you have an overly flat swing plane (taking the club away too far inside the intended plane), you will fall victim to a myriad of problems. Sweeping hooks, pushing to the right and even catching the ball thin with your irons. If you are too steep, there are a number of things that will show up as evidence of this problem. Deep divots, toe first contact with the ball and an open clubface at contact are a few of these things.
Tip #2: Eliminate the fault of coming inside out or outside in on your downswing
More often than not this problem arises early in the golf swing, but it doesn’t manifest itself until you are on your downswing. Most professional golfers have a swing that is considered inside out. The reason for this is that it is almost impossible to draw the ball with a swing that is outside in. Some of you might argue that I am wrong…that your swing is outside in and the ball always goes to the left. If it goes to the left with an outside in plane, it means that you have pulled the ball, not drawn it. There is a huge difference between the two.
In the picture below you can see how Ben Hogan, one of the legends of golf, visualized a glass plate above his swing plane and would focus on not breaking the plan on the way up, and especially not on the way down. He encouraged the downswing to be more from the inside than the backswing (going up), and would drop the arms and club nicely inside into “the slot” like Tiger likes to call it. I would encourage you to focus on the same thing, and make sure you stay far away from “breaking the glass”. This will also help you encourage a draw in your ball flight which leads to more consistent shots, while you get more distance and roll with the driver.
Tip #3: Get rid of the dreaded chicken wing
Anyone who has suffered from this knows what I mean. More often than not, a chicken wing produces a slice that is also very weak in relation to ball flight and distance.
Tip #4: Work on your timing with your first move away from the ball at address
Your swing must have the proper tempo to make it perform to its utmost. My initial swing thought when trying to get this done is to “Go Low and Slow.” It sounds easy but in actuality, it is difficult to get the feeling naturally.
Tip #5: Don’t rush your backswing.
What do you think your swing speed is? Most golfers overestimate their swing speed. They often wonder why they cannot generate more swing speed. One of the reasons is that they get out of rhythm right out of the chute by rushing their backswing. When you rush your backswing the whole concept of timing is thrown off.
There is no rush in his swing, but he still hit it miles. Rhythm and tempo is truly one of the most important fundamentals of playing solid golf.the two balls. Start your backswing. If the back ball goes hurtling off into the next county, you are rushing your takeaway. Keep practicing until you can keep the distance it rolls back to two or three feet.
Tip #6: Hit the Stinger Shot and practice hitting low shots for control with less spin.
The stinger shot is one that is hit even lower than a traditional knockdown shot. It is especially useful when hitting a long shot into the wind. The shot not only stays low, boring into the wind but also runs out much farther than any other shot. Practicing this shot will improve your swing once you master it and you will have more options to choose from when you are out on the golf course, especially in windy conditions.
Tip #7: Make a bigger turn on your backswing
It is very important to maintain your spine angle to maximize distance, especially with your driver. If you are having trouble with losing distance, it may be because you have a rounded back at address. If this is a physical limitation, then such is life. If not, do everything you can to develop a spine angle that can maximize your shoulder turn vs. hips.
There is no drill for this, however, if you have access to a video camera, you can have some feedback as to your progress with this fix. Another way to get feedback is to position yourself so that your shadow tells you what is going on to some degree while you are practicing.
Tip #8: Use your hips correctly to maximize performance, especially distance
This is a tough one. I guarantee you that most players that slide their hips back on their backswing will not believe that they have fallen victim to this swing fault. The best way to catch this is on video.
Tip #9: Make the shaft an extension of your left arm
Align your club with the left arm at address. You can check this by addressing the ball in front of a mirror with your body’s target line 90 degrees angle to the mirror. Your left arm should not have any angle in relation to the club shaft. Doing this correctly forces you to tilt your head and shoulders slightly, so you get into a strong position at address. As Kevin, currently ranking 38th on the PGA Tour, would put it, “eventually my left arm and shaft must align, so why not do it as early as possible?”
Tip #10: Work on being balanced throughout your swing
A friend of mine that was a +1,4 hcp golfer at his best has this to say about balance: “I used to be a longer hitter when I was younger. Over the course of one winter, I lost 30 yards off my driver and 10-15 yards off of my irons as well. I was able to attribute this loss of yardage to an illness that affected my balance. As hard as I have tried over the years, I have been unable to get that distance back. That is how important balance is, especially when it comes to power. My advice to you is this. Cherish your ability to be in balance. There may come a time when you don’t have it.”
Tip #11: Keep your knees flexed all the way through impact.
Many times in my life, friends have made the comment to me, “Keep your knees flexed”. More often than not, their observation was correct. It is a very easy bad habit to fall into, and I’m not sure why. After watching many swings, including my own, I have come to the realization that the flex in my knees, especially my left knee, must be maintained even through impact. If you get a chance, try to find old video of Tiger Woods.
Note that he was able to hit the ball a long way and he was actually locking his left leg straight at impact. Hold on a minute!!! Why are you now instructing us not to do that??? What gives??? Yes, Tiger did this. But, he also had to endure multiple surgeries on his left knee that could be directly attributed to the stress he put on that knee. In addition, if you look at most good players you will see that they maintain their flex in the left knee somewhat through impact.
Tip #12: Pre-shot routine
This is the last thing you will do before you actually swing the golf club. The object of the pre-shot routine is to get a repeatable procedure to put you at ease before you swing. All players have their own unique pre-shot routine. Make sure you develop your own. You should try to do exactly the same every time in your pre-shot routine, and try to develop a routine that takes more or less the same time to execute every time so you don’t linger over the shot for too long.
This means that if you like to stand behind the ball before your shot, then walk towards your ball, address the club first, then setup and do 2 waggles and look at the target 1 time before you waggle and one more time in between the waggles, then you do that exact procedure each time you hit a shot and you make a habit of it. This will improve your comfort and confidence over the ball.
