Now imagine you are drawing a circle using a compass, if the compass point doesn’t move from its start point then the chances would be pretty good to make a complete circle. In terms of the application of this theory to the swing, take your set-up position with your shadow directly in front of you. Try to position your head shadow on something like another golf ball, now make a normal backswing, stopping at the top. Stay in this position but look up and see where your shadow has moved to.

If you notice the shadow of your head has moved significantly to the right, in some cases I’ve seen the entire head move a full width off the ball, and then to consistently return the club back to the start point will be mission impossible. This fault will lead to topping the ball, hitting the ground before the ball, hooking, slicing, and power loss.

We must re-educate the swing concept from a swaying action to a turning action. A drill I use that provides the correct feel is to practice swinging with your feet together.

Happy Golfing

A very large percentage of slicers have a grip that is too weak, that is where the top hand is showing two knuckles or less when you look down from the set up position. While some tour professionals use such a grip my opinion for the vast majority of club golfers is to use a stronger grip position. Please remember that a stronger grip refers to the position of the hands and not grip pressure.

If you are experiencing a slice try turning your top hand (left hand for righties or right hand for lefties) over until at least 3 knuckles become visible this will allow for more hand rotation at impact and help the clubface to return to square to the target line at impact. The second drill is called the knee high drill, that is where we hold the club head above the ball at our knee height and swing the club back and through at that height.

The advantage of this drill is it allows the feeling of a more rounded swing and creates an inside the target line approach to the ballplayers that slice approach the ball from outside the target line. The target line is simply the line from the ball to the target. Good golfing until next week.

These days we are fortunate to have so many choices of great putters and wedges by comparison to yesteryear, however shot feel, imagination and delivery are characteristics that we must learn through practice and professional advice. Developing a top quality short game, and effective putting stroke doesn’t happen by chance, so incorporating a lesson and practice schedule for these areas is equally important as the long game.

Some time ago I started teaching a player who played off 5 handicap.I reviewed this players game statistics and with a putting average of 33 putts per round I developed a lesson package heavily biased toward putting and chipping. Today this player is off a handicap of 1 and his putting average is now 29.

I used to believe that great putting was a gift that only some players are blessed with and to some degree I still hold this thought, however experience has shown me that even the worst putters can improve their averages with a solid understanding of the putting stroke and consistent putting routine.

The same can be said of all short game shots, including bunkers, chipping and pitching so there is no need to throw strokes away with poor concepts or execution. With very little effort many shots could be saved from every round and decrease the pressure on ball striking with an effective short game.

Good golfing to all until next week.