Tip From the Archives

See Your Hands

Problem

Your friends call you an army golfer because you swing hard and the ball tends to fly off to the left and right of the target.

Cure

You are trying to add too much power to your swing. Try making an easier swing at eighty percent power. You will get just as much of a distance out of the shot as you would at one hundred percent power. Because it is a more natural swing instead of forced, you should see the ball flying straighter and even further than before.

Therapy

If you have a hard time powering down your swing, try swinging so that you can still see your hands in your peripheral vision. So, practice swinging slowly at first and end your backswing when you can only see a little bit of your hands in the corner of your eyes. Now hit the ball and once you bring the club up into the follow through, end the swing just before you lose sight of your hands. Practice this swing several times until you get a feel for it. Then slowly begin to add speed to the swing each time. Just remember not to hit too hard. You can get just as far with an easy swing and the bonus to it, is that you can also find it on the fairway.

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12 votes

 
Russell | 4 years ago, at the start of August

I'm a person who gets caught up in trying to crush shots and then spraying the ball all over the course. The more I learn to swing within myself the better I do and this is a good tip

pbailey | 4 years ago, at the start of August

If you swing slower, smoother, do yo need to drop down in club; say from a 7 iron to a 5 or 6 iron???

Michael Henry | 4 years ago, at the start of August

For tempo in the swing, I have found that approaching the ball, I hum to myself or 'in my head' the old Scot's tune, "The Skye Boat song". Have found that it slows my actions to just the right tempo.80% swing speed.This has added 30 yards a club from the PW upwards! You may have a favourite tune that will perform for you? Far from a 7 iron to a 5 or 6 iron, it has gone the opposite way.Where as previously I used a 9iron, now using a PW right down the grip almost onto the metal and a half swing!"Speed Bonny boat, like a bird on the wing....."

DBurke | 4 years ago, at the start of August

I have found that loading the weight on the inside of the right foot encourages a less violent swing. If you keep the weight to the inside of your right foot on the back swing you will have better balance. For me this encourages hitting the ball dead center. This starts at address push the right knee over the instep and keep it there through out the back swing. Limit the hip turn as well and think about the solid contact

MrCarney | 4 years ago, at the start of August

pbailey: You do not need to club up to swing easier in this case. This is because of at least two things that usually occur when you swing very hard. 1. Your hands are beating your body to the ball. This will cause a very large loss in power because you can't use your body to hit the ball -- it's all in your arms and hands. 2. You will swing outside-in. If you place a clock face around your ball (with the 9 pointing to the target for right-handers) you are probably swinging so that the club crosses the 2 and the 8 (it might even be worse -- close to crossing the 1 and the 7). This is because you understand that the angular velocity of the club can be greater if you swing it more like an axe. While it's a faster swing, it's not imparting all of its energy into the ball. Most of the energy is used to spin the ball clockwise -- creating a very strong "power-fade", or, if the club face is closed at impact, it creates a pull hook. Once you get the timing down, which will happen much, much easier when you swing at 80%, you should see the ball traveling much farther with less effort than you are used to using. You will also see a more consistent swing because it is easier to reproduce. As for this drill, be careful not to stop your swing too soon after you hit the ball, this will cause you to leave your club face open and fade the ball a bit.



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