Golf Swing Drills-The Driving Range

In another discussion we talked about some thoughts on taking a golf lesson from your local teaching professional and how you can get the most out of those lessons and golf swing drills.

For today, I’d like to give you a couple of ideas on how to get a bit more out of your practice session and have a bit more fun while practicing your golf game.

First of all, the most common problem I see with golfers on the practice tee or driving range is that they just hit a shot – reload – hit another shot – and on and on with no purpose (at least that I can determine) to what they are doing. Actually this is an outstanding way to develop some really bad habits in your golf swing.

To make your practice session more productive and interesting play a round of golf as you practice.

By that I mean (after proper warm up) approach your first shot as though you’re standing on the first tee.

Pick out a target down the fairway and hit your drive (did you hit the fairway or not – make notes of fairways hit).

Then pick out a target of shorter yardage for your approach, and select your golf club for the distance (did you hit the green or not – make notes of greens in regulation).

To Get the most from these golf swing drills, you must be completely honest.

If you really want to make it interesting take along your score card from your course and play each actual hole in this manner. Then evaluate your stats.

The idea here is from a couple different angles.

First, this will heighten your focus. It will also put a small element of pressure on your golf swing and shot making.

It will force you to vary your distances.

Doing this will also help you emulate a real round of golf where you’ve only one chance to hit the shot that you want to hit. Down the road this will help you in an area that so many golfers struggle with… getting their range golf game to follow them and show up at the first tee.

And probably most importantly, from what I see the vast majority of golfers on the driving range doing; it will slow you down and keep you from rapid firing golf shots down the range.

Remember, it’s very important to be honest and no mulligans!

Make sure before each shot you go through your pre-shot routinebefore executing each shot.

Give these golf swing drills a try and have some fun.

Golf Slice-The Golf Grip

OK…

Now that we have ourselves properly aligned we need now to put the golf club in our hands and discuss the golf grip and what role it plays when it comes to getting rid of your golf slice that you have.

The traditional type of golf grip will have the thumb of your left had down the shaft of the club.

The area between your left index finger and your left thumb that forms a ‘V’ shape should have the point of the ‘V’ pointed back up toward your right shoulder.

Your right hand should wrap over your left with your left thumb coming to rest in the palm of your right hand. The ‘V’ created with your right thumb and index finger should also be pointing toward your right shoulder.

Essentially, with this grip, if someone is standing directly across from you they would be able to see the first two knuckles of your left hand (your index finger and your middle finger knuckle).

In the picture to the right, the student’s right hand is rolled under slightly out of the way to demonstrate the two knuckles of the left hand golf grip.

As far as golf grip pressure goes, probably the best description of proper golf grip pressure that I have ever heard (from one of the best – Sam Snead) was to hold the golf club as though you were holding a small bird. Firm enough that bird cannot fly away, yet not so firm as to harm the bird. A good analogy.

I don’t know if that is helpful for you, but I have always remembered it and thought it was a good way to describe your golf grip pressure.

When it comes to the grip and curing your golf slice the common mistake with the grip is to have what is termed as a weak grip.

By that, I am not referring to the pressure of your grip, rather the positioning of your hands.

A weaker grip will have your left hand rotated in a manner that has the ‘V’ we discussed pointing more toward your left shoulder instead of your right.

The illustration to the left is a bit of an over exaggeration just to show you the direction of the rotation of the hands and hence where the ‘V’s’ are pointing more toward the right shoulder.

When your grip is set up this way a couple of things occur during the execution of your golf swing.

First the club face will have a tendency to open at contact and secondly as you contact the ball you will not be able to get as much rotation of your hands which will have the affect of not getting the club face to begin to close as you pass through the golf shot. This causes not only to impart a slice spin upon the ball but if your swing path hasn’t compensated for this you’ll get the direction going right with the arc flight of the ball taking it even further to the right.

Let’s talk about putting your golf stance, and your golf grip, together with some basic swing mechanics and get that golf slice under control with your golf swing mechanics next.

Fixing A Golf Slice

For the majority of us golfers one of the first major undertakings of our golf game once we consistently are getting the ball air born is correcting a golf slice.

We all seem to be blessed with this natural ability when we first begin learning about the golf swing.

For some it may be a runaway hook, but for most (and for the purpose of this article) we’ll discuss correcting a golf slice.

Slicing the golf shot for many is a ritual in frustration for many golfers simply because they don’t know what in their golf swing and mechanics causes it.

They only know that it continues to happen.

If you are frustrated by the constant golf slice, then you also know that if you are ever going to develop any consistency in lowering your golf score, you know the slice must be cured.

So, let’s take a look at few tips and techniques to get you started on the road to recovery.

First and foremost is you alignment to your target. Your golf stance. The width of your stance should be about that of your shoulders.

The alignment of your shoulders and hips should be one of pointing straight down your target line.

Your feet should be in line with your shoulders and hips with your toes just slightly pointed outward (duck footed) allowing for an easier full hip and upper body rotation.

This slight outwardly point of your feet will allow for an easier rotation of your torso. In other words, once you are setup in your golf stance, your nose should be pointing a perpendicular line to that of your target.

From a position of proper alignment is where all of your practicing should begin. Don’t give in to any old habits over what you know is a proper alignment.

Getting comfortable with you golf stance will take some time and some pretty ugly looking golf shots. But, this is what the range is for. I can’t over emphasis this enough… stick with proper alignment.

Getting used to properly aligning yourself to the target not only will take some time getting used to physically, but mentally as well.

Even as your body gets used to this new golf stance and set up, your visual perception of your target will change, and so will you mental perception as you execute your golf swing. Both of these perceptions will seem uncomfortable and out of sync for a while, but again give it time.

Your golf stance and setup are the foundation from which you give your swing to work from, let’s make a solid one.

Up next on correcting the golf slice, let’s discuss your golf grip and what causes what.

Curing A Golf Slice

Along with some adjustments in your set up, your stance, and your golf grip, the final element in curing your golf slice is understanding and probably recreating your golf swing itself a bit.

Along with some adjustments in your set up, your stance, and your golf grip, the final element in curing your golf slice is understanding and probably recreating your golf swing itself a bit.

Once you’ve completed your setup over the golf ball the golf swing begins with the take away.

Now that you have yourself properly aligned your take away should follow the line you have established with your stance, hips and shoulders.

In other words your takeaway should track right down your target line.

Your takeaway should start smoothly with your hands, arms, and shoulders working together to get the golf club properly started back on the correct line all in one smooth motion.

Note the full extension on the takeaway to the right (no lifting with the hands or premature wrist cock) with the golf club still on a line straight back and down the target line.

With the proper swing mechanics your golf swing will arrive at the top of your swing arc in a smooth natural fashion with very little hand activity.

Oddly enough, from the top of your golf swing, the downward march toward the golf ball should begin with your foot action and weight shift.

With proper foot action and weight shift your hips and torso will begin to naturally rotate and as a result the last action taking place is your hands and club moving toward the impact zone.

Now note the picture of the that golfer to your left.

The picture of Tiger to the left is an excellent example of what I explain in the next paragraph.

Look at the full extension of the his arms and club down the target line while his head remains down and behind the spot of where the ball was.

This type of excellent extension is set up by a full extension on the takeaway.

With hand action staying out of the shot until they are actually called upon naturally by good golf swing mechanics, your head will stay behind shot (which is a good thing) and allow your arms, hands, and golf club to not only stay online and on path; but also allow for them to fully extend through the impact zone and track further down the target line without coming across the golf ball from the top of your swing and producing an ugly, frustrating, golf slice shot.

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