No two golf swings are the same. So trying to copy Jordan Spieth’s or Rory McIlroy’s mechanics is a waste of time. They’ve honed their swings with thousands of hours of work. Plus, they have different bodies and different skill levels. The things they can do with a club are probably well beyond weekend golfers.
But we can still learn from watching their swings. You can pick up pointers from them that can help you refine your golf swing. The trick is to see what the pros are doing well when it comes to the basics. Then find and practice drills that ingrain these moves.
Once you ingrain them, you’ll take your ball striking to another level. And that will reduce both your scores and your golf handicap. Below are five simple drills that help you master key swing basics, boost ball-striking, and break 80 consistently.
1) One swing basic I often emphasize in golf lessons is syncing the movement of your club, hands, and arms with the turning of your trunk during the takeaway. This drill ingrains this move:
To feel a proper start, grip a 7-iron with a small separation between your hands, almost as if you were holding a baseball bat. This simple move gives you an awareness of what it’s like to keep your swing arc wide and on plane during the takeaway. Do this drill slowly. Rushing through it—and your takeaway—throws your swing off.
2) Another key basic is syncing your shoulder turn with the rotation of your hips. You want to turn your shoulders away from the target as your hips rotate slightly to assist. Try this drill to ingrain this move:
Raise your forward heel a little at address. Keep it up as you swing back. This simple move frees up your trunk to rotate so you can complete your backswing. You can even use this move while playing a round.
3) Part of making a smooth transition at the top is to let your arms fall a bit before starting down. A common mistake when doing this is losing your wrist hinge as you let your arms fall. This golf drill teaches you to maintain your wrist hinge throughout your downswing.
Place a golf ball under your front foot while hitting balls at the range. Then push the golf ball down hard into the turf on the downswing. This drill teaches you to use the ground as leverage to boost power as you swing the club.
4) A fourth key basic is to brace against your front side as you extend your arms through impact. As with the move above, this move teaches you to use the ground as leverage to boost power.
At address, set up so the clubhead is several inches behind the ball. This position forces your hands way ahead of the clubface. Try to maintain this hands-ahead position as you swing into impact. It’s called clubhead lag. Maintaining your lag as long as you can is the secret to powering the ball great distances.
5) Finishing well tells you that you put a good swing on the ball. The key move with your finish is to let everything release toward the target. Don’t hold back. You want your belt buckle to face the target when you’ve completed your golf swing. The golf drill below ingrains the move.
Grip your club upside down and make practice swings. Your goal is to get the club to make a whoosh sound through impact. You should hear this sound after you’ve passed the point of impact. This drill teaches you to achieve the proper finish only through the proper synchronization and acceleration.
Practicing these simple drills ingrains five key moves that help you master your golf swing. Mastering it, in turn, boosts your ball striking and accuracy, leading to longer drives and accurate approach shots.
And that can’t help but lower your scores and help you break 80. More important, it will reduce your golf handicap.
