GOLFMEDIC

Tip From the Archives

Pop Up

Problem

The ball pops straight up into the air and only flies a few feet on your tee shot.

Cure

A pop-up during your tee shot is usually caused by too steep of a swing; often due to shifting too much weight onto the forward leg during your downswing. The top of the club makes contact instead of the clubface. Try making a more shallow swing with an improved weight shift. A lot of weekend golfers suffer from this problem because they only find time to play a round and do not schedule the necessary practice time to work on their swing.

Therapy

Place a ball under the heel of your forward foot to help discourage placing too much weight on it during your downswing. Widen your stance to help encourage a longer and wider arc during your backswing. Focus on extending your arms more into the top of your swing. A good drill to emphasize your arm extension is to take a three quarter swing and freeze it there. Note how far your arms are stretched out and how high the clubhead is when you stop your swing at this point. Now try it again but when you stop your swing, extend your arms an inch or more and then take your forward swing. Repeat slowly without stopping and continue to repeat as you increase the speed of your swing. Start taking full swings when you feel that you are making a wider arc.

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