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Power Tips & Drills

Learn to hit it big with my 10 simple drills and tips

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6. Hinge Your Wrists. Wrist hinge is one of the golf swing’s biggest power sources. If you’re able to keep the correct grip pressure and hinge the club in the backswing, then you’re using one of the key levers in your golf swing.

Think about hitting a nail with a hammer—do you just move your arm or does your wrist hinge, too? (Which adds a snap and some speed?) I tell my students to get their wrists hinging pretty early in their swings, so when their arms are parallel to the ground in their backswing, their club points to the sky and forms a 90° angle with their left arm (see photo). Don’t tighten up like you see me doing in the small photo. Keep your wrist sockets relaxed so the club can hinge freely. Again, feeling it happen early in your swing is fine. As your arms swing back to start your swing, feel as if your left wrist is pushing and your right wrist pulling to help get the club to hinge properly.

7. Avoid The “Changeup.” When driving, your goal is to sync your body, arms and club so they produce the most speed. To do this, your head should be slightly behind the ball at impact. When golfers try to hit it hard, however, they often force their swings and get out of position. Their body moves too far forward and they lose power.

To stay in sync, consider this baseball analogy: Pitchers throw changeups so the batter swings out in front of the pitch. This sacrifices the batter’s leverage and power. If you apply that lesson to golf, you realize that you don’t want to “get out in front of it.” You want to stay back and let the clubhead swing past you and into the followthrough.

HEELS UP!

If you feel like your swing is off-balance or that your body is getting too far out in front of the ball at impact, try lifting your left heel off the ground at address. Then swing, and keep the heel up throughout the swing, not letting it touch the ground. If you get too far forward in the downswing during this drill, your heel will touch the ground. This helps keep your weight from transitioning too far forward in the downswing. Swing easy at first, then, staying in balance, feel that the club swings past your body and that its speed takes you to your followthrough.

8. Power Release. To generate power, you have to practice releasing the club. The first way to do that is to sit in a chair that has no armrests so your back is flush with the chair back. Then, holding the club at eye level, make some swings, feel your arms rotate over and release correctly through the swing. Many times when we swing a driver, we try to overuse our body and forget that it’s the clubhead that actually hits the ball. Sitting in the chair forces you to swing your arms and allows them to rotate through impact. This release will square up the face at impact.

After you’ve tried this drill, stand up and make a baseball swing, feeling the same concept as above. When you’re standing vertical and swinging parallel to the ground, it’s much easier to let your arms roll over and release. As you make these swings, make sure to keep your arms relaxed. Try to feel the weight of the clubhead as you swing. (I’ve never seen anyone make the baseball swing and have the chicken wing on their followthrough.)

Then, lower the club and make some knee-high swings, keeping the club as parallel to the ground as you can, while allowing the club to release and your forearms to roll over. Now set the club down for a regular swing and continue to feel the club release and your forearms to roll over as you swing through the shot. Again, always try to feel the weight of the clubhead when you swing, so your forearms roll over through impact.

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