Golf Faults And Fixes
Is your golf swing in need of a fix? Our top tips will help you improve your golf swing and take your game to the next level.
Slice Compensation If you’re one of the millions of golfers who battles a slice, odds are you compensate for the left-to-right ballflight by aiming to the left. However, no matter how far to the left you aim, the ball still slices to the right—sometimes worse than it did before. On the occasion you do hit it straight, well, it doesn’t do you much good because you were aimed toward the trees or deep rough on the left. Hmm—you’re doing what you think will fix the problem, but it’s only making the problem worse. |
Stop The Pop Undoubtedly, the most embarrassing tee shot in golf is the drive that pops straight up, barely clearing the tee box. The pop-up is an agonizing mis-hit most often caused by an excessive forward weight shift on the downswing and a club that approaches the ball on a very steep angle of attack. The steep descent de-lofts the clubface to such a degree that the topline of the club effectively becomes the leading edge. The result? Not only a humiliating pop-up, but one of the most hated marks in golf: a scuff on the crown of the clubhead. Yuck. |
Go Topless If you tend to skull your fairway woods, it’s because you’re catching the ball on the upswing, often caused by trying to scoop or lift the ball up. To fix this problem, you have to understand that solid ballstriking is sometimes a game of opposites. To hit the ball higher with a fairway wood, you actually have to hit down—as opposed to up—on the ball. |
Three Mistakes After watching thousands of swings over the past 30 years, I’ve pinpointed three mistakes that the majority of amateurs commit, each of which can diminish power and accuracy. |
Shank Stoppers You’re enjoying a great day on the links, and you have an easy pitch to the last green where a par or even a bogey will give you your best score in a month. Easy pitch, easy swing, stick it close. But instead, some evil dragon maliciously guides your hosel toward your ball, and you shank it right of the greenside bunker. The shot so unnerves you that you proceed to shank a succession of shots around the perimeter of the green counterclockwise. |
Get Happy As an instructor, one of the most common swing flaws I see is the dreaded reverse pivot. This move wreaks havoc on any golfer’s ability to hit consistently good golf shots. One of the best ways to overcome the reverse pivot is to try a drill designed to make it impossible to hold your weight back on your downswing. I call it the baseball drill, or the “Happy Gilmore,” named after the title character in the film who steps into the golf ball the way a field goal kicker lunges toward the ball. |
Triple Overlap One of the most common causes of bad pitches and chips is the dominant
hand (right for righties) taking over the swing. The result is
typically scooped or thin contact that produces fat or sculled shots.
To alleviate this tendency, learn to make your hands work together by
experimenting with the triple-overlap grip. This technique effectively
takes the dominant hand out of the swing, and promotes a descending
blow, which is absolutely critical to creating crisp contact and
consistent results. |
Ten-Minute Swing ChangesQuick Fixes To Save You From Suffering A Bad Day On The Course The situation: You’re on the range hitting balls, extremely off line
and not very solid, with only 10 minutes remaining before your assigned
tee time. The remedy: W.O.O.D.—quick adjustments that Work Only One
Day, otherwise known as the “quick fix.” These “Band-Aids” are a
necessary part of the game and come in handy when you don’t have time
to seek out a long-term correction from your teaching pro. The key is
knowing what needs adjusting. If you choose the wrong adjustment,
things could get worse.
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Is Your Swing Out Of Date?In with the new. The swings of today?s top young golfers are vastly more efficient than those used by yesterday's heroes, which begs the question The trophy cases of the likes of Nicklaus, Irwin, Miller, Stewart and
Trevino are full of championship hardware, but all had swings that
would now be considered old-fashioned. Yesterday’s players used a
significant amount of lateral lower-body movement, which placed a lot
of undue stress on the neck, hips and back. The great young players of
today strive for a more stacked position at impact, which is both more
efficient and much healthier for the body. |
Align The Easy Way Most of my students struggle with the slice. Many of these golfers have
serious swing issues, but the majority certainly possess enough talent
and an understanding of the golf swing to keep slices at bay. The
problem is they’re trapped into hitting slices because their setup
facilitates swinging on the out-in path to which all slices owe their
existence. |
Swing Barefoot For Balance The majority of recreational golfers fail to achieve the balance needed
to excel at golf or any athletic activity. One of the reasons why most
golfers don’t swing in balance is that they swing too hard. A rule I
like to impose on my students is “Swing as hard as you want to as long
as you finish the swing in balance.” |
