Practice Makes Perfect

When you practice at the driving range, it is OK to break your swing down into parts so you can work on the mechanics of your swing.

But when you play, you want to eliminate the mechanical thoughts so you can focus on the overall motion of the swing. When you get too mechanical, you end up hitting the ball instead of swinging the club. If you are trying to steer the ball or help it in the air, you will lose power and accuracy. Ideally you want to feel like you are just making a swing, and the ball is getting in the way. This feeling will especially help at impact.

“Brush the tee”
If you are topping the ball or hitting a lot of shots thin, it is usually the result of trying to help the ball in the air by lifting your hands or breaking your wrists at impact. When you do this, the club head tends to come up before it gets to the ball, so it makes contact somewhere in the middle. Ideally, you want the club head to slide under the ball so that its loft gets the ball in the air. You do not want to do any lifting of your hands or breaking of your wrists to get the ball up.

This three-step drill will give you the feeling of letting the club head slide under the ball, and help you to eliminate topping the ball and hitting shots thin. You can do this drill with any club. Start with a 7-iron. Then try it with other irons and even the fairway woods.

Step 1
• Put a tee in the ground so it is sticking up approximately 1/2.
• Make a swing to the tee with a 7-iron, trying to brush the tee out of the grass without digging. Any divots should be very shallow.
• Do this until you can brush the tee out three times in a row.

Step 2
• Put a ball on a tee that is sticking up approximately 1/4.
• Make a swing still focusing on brushing the tee out of the grass. Don’t focus on the ball. Just let it get in the way as you brush the tee out of the grass.
• Do this until you get the ball in the air and the tee out of the grass three times in a row.

Step 3
• Put a ball on the ground without a tee.
• Make a swing imagining that there is a tee under the ball. Focus on brushing the imaginary tee out of the grass.
• Do this until you get the ball up in the air and you make a shallow divot in the grass three times in a row.

Once you get comfortable with the feeling of this drill on the practice tee, you can take it to the golf course. When you play, take your focus off of the ball. Feel like you are just making a swing, and the ball is getting in the way as you brush the grass.

When you are able to do this consistently, your shots will be a lot more solid, and you won’t have any problems with topping the ball or hitting shots thin.

Chris Henderson is the director of the Back to Basics Golf Academy at the Falcon’s Fire Golf Club in Kissimmee, Florida. For more information, go to www.backtobasicsgolf.com.