Developing A Good Draw Golf Shot
A good golf swing will not only lower your handicap, it will make the game more enjoyable. Now that you have cured your slice and can keep the ball in the fairway most of the time, you can now start working on controlling the ball. Putting the proper spin on the ball will allow you to draw or fade your shots. Drawing the golf ball causes it to hook to the left and fading the ball cause it to slice slightly to the right.
If you have worked hard to develop a good golf swing so why in the world would you want to develop a hook or slice? Most golf courses have dogleg fairways as well as complex set of obstacles that you must navigate around. One way to accomplish this is to use a draw or a fade. For a right handed player developing a draw is much harder than a fade. This is due to the natural ball spin that develops as the club face strikes right to left across the surface of the ball. The amount of spin is caused by how much the club face is open or closed as the hands release and the club face impacts the ball.
Controlling your golf swing to develop a good draw or fade requires a consistent good golf swing. Only with repeatability will you be able to confidently draw the ball on a left dogleg with your irons or hybrid. In order to develop a good draw shot you should use your normal address position, take a practice a swing to waist high through your follow through. Make sure that your arms are fully extended in line with the club shaft. As you look down the shaft your club should be pointed about 10 to 15 yards to the right of your target. If your target is obscured by trees or other obstacle then you will have to make a mental picture of your target location. Most importantly you the blade of your club should be pointing up. Move your club through to the top of your back swing. As you do so will notice that your club has to move inside around your body. This will allow you to make your swing in an inside to outside move. Taking a couple of practice swings will allow you to gain a feel for the correct motion. Now address the ball and repeat your golf swing motion. As a result you should observe a left draw to the ball in flight.
Practicing this golf swing motion on the range will allow you to develop a feel for what it takes to accomplish the draw that your desire. One additional tip to increase your draw is to lighten your left hand grip pressure through impact thereby allowing a more rapid release which will give the ball more draw spin. Another trick is to slightly close the club face to add further draw spin.
Developing a good draw shot first requires that you have developed a good golf swing that is consistent and repeatable. Only then will you be able to step up to the next level of play. Remember to plan your practice with a clear objective. To avoid confusion it is best to deal with one objective per practice session. Keep a log of your practice and include details of techniques and their results. Always start your practice session by reinforcing the skills that let you develop your good golf swing. Remember golf is supposed to be fun and the better you play golf the more enjoyable your golf game will become.
Improve Your Golf Swing And Driving Distance
The golf swing is arguably one of the most difficult athletic actions to perform. The golf swing requires you to draw the golf club through a long range of motion with proper technique and exact timing.
Any error in swing plane, timing, or sequence will cause your golf swing to suffer, and suffer it will. Unfortunately, the result of your golf swing suffering will be errant shots, poor golf scores, and frustration on the golf course.
Often the amateur is at a lost for why their golf swing results in errant shots. Countless hours are spent at the range in an effort to improve their golf swing. Hundreds or even thousands of dollars are spent on lessons each year, and not to mention the purchasing of new equipment.
It all adds up to a lot of time and money spent on improving the golf swing. Unfortunately, for many amateur golfers their handicaps and score never improve. Leading to the question “why is my golf game not improving?”
If this is you and this question lingers in your mind. The answer to your question could easily be staring right back at you in the mirror. The failure of improvement may have absolutely nothing to do with the driver you are swinging, the teaching pro helping you with your swing, or even your practice routine. It could all do with you! Yes you, the physical body swinging the golf club.
Keep in mind the golf club does not perform the mechanics of the golf swing. Nor do the mechanics of the golf swing execute themselves without you. It is you and your body executing the mechanics of the golf swing. The point to make is your body directly affects the mechanics of the golf swing.
Additionally, the golf swing requires your body to encompass certain physical qualities to execute the mechanics of the golf swing correctly. These physical qualities are certain levels of flexibility, muscular strength, balance, and power. If you are lacking the minimal amounts of flexibility, balance, strength, and power to execute the golf swing correctly. Compensations will occur even before you swing the golf club.
For example, let’s look at your flexibility. The golf swing requires you to draw the golf club through a large range of motion. The backswing requires a full shoulder turn to set the club in the correct slot for the downswing, and the finish position is almost a mirror image of the backswing.
In order to perform these parts of the golf swing correctly, the muscles of your body must be flexible. An inflexible body in which muscles are “tight” creates restrictions in movement. Restrictions in movement in relation to the golf swing will undoubtedly result in limitations pertaining to golf swing. The limitation will impede you from creating a full shoulder turn and balanced finish position. This causes compensations in the mechanics of the golf swing.
The entire body needs to be flexible for the golf swing. Certain muscles more than others are involved in the golf swing, and if these muscles are “tight” they will directly affect your golf swing. One such set of muscles is your hamstrings.
The hamstrings (back side of your upper leg) are often “tight” and cause problems to many people, not just golfers. However, they have a profound effect on the golf swing and it is not a good effect. Hamstrings that are “tight” are in a shortened position. The shortened position of the hamstrings has a direct effect on the position of your hips. Your hips will be “tucked”, directly affecting your posture. This in itself can hamper the ability to place oneself in the correct position at address within the golf swing, not to mention maintaining a proper spine angle during the swing.
Additionally, “tight” hamstrings place an undo amount of stress on the lower back. Large amounts of stress on the lower back cause fatigue, soreness, and increase the possibility of injury. If you are a golfer that has ever experienced lower back pain you know the effect it has on your ability to swing the golf club correctly.
A combination of a postural change and undo amounts of stress on the lower back, just begin to scratch the surface of the effect inflexible muscles can have on the golf swing. “Tight” muscles change the kinematics of the body. As a result, the biomechanics of the golf swing must be altered. These alterations usually lead to compensations in the mechanics of the golf swing resulting in errant shot patterns on the golf course.
And no matter what you do in terms of practice or instruction these alterations will not go away until you address them. Just as you address swing faults, you must address flexibility faults. Flexibility faults can be addressed through golf stretches.
Golf stretches enhance the flexibility of your body in relation to the golf swing. Golf stretches often times return muscles that are “tight” such as the hamstrings to their proper length. This results in the ability of your body to perform the biomechanics of the golf swing correctly. If you are one of many golfers who are not finding their golf swing improving through practice and instruction. Take a moment and look at the body swinging the golf club. This very well may be the root of your golf swing problems. Fix your flexibility faults through golf stretches and find yourself on the road to lower golf scores and more enjoyment in the game of golf.
