This year’s Ryder Cup was one of the most exciting in years. Using nearly picture perfect golf swings. We can learn about the Cup’s players—European and American—is that these golfers are all great ballstrikers. Time and time again they struck the ball solidly. Ballstriking is no accident. Below are five golf tips that can help you find the sweet spot in your golf swing every time you swing the club. Copy them to take your swing from good to great:
• Stay centered over the ball — Among the most common swing errors weekend golfers make is swaying. It moves your chest off the ball, and that’s deadly. Why? Because it increases the chances of you mishitting and inhibits your shoulder turn, short-circuiting power.
If you sway or more while swinging, there’s an easy fix: Keep your chest focused over the ball all the way through to the top of your backswing. Doing so not only eliminates swaying but also boosts the quality of your turn, improving ballstriking and increasing consistency.
• Start your backswing with your body — Many golfers start their swings with their arms. But the Ryder Cup players all start their swings with their bodies. Starting your swing with your arms puts your shoulders too far in front of your arms when you start your downswing. That move produces slices and pull-slices. Both boost your scores.
To eliminate this swing flaw, do two things: From address, pull your right hip behind you, then turn your left shoulder to the left of your left foot. If you make these moves correctly, you’ll feel as if your chest is rotating in place. It will also feel as if your hands and arms are just along for the ride.
• Use a power slide to jump start swing — Many golfers stay rigid on the downswing. That robs them of swing speed and power. Once you reach the top of your swing, you need to lean your body forward slightly as you start down. That gets your weight going forward as it should be and helps keep the club on plane, improving ballstriking and maximizes yards.
To practice this critical move , swing to the top, pause, then shift to the left. Keep shifting until your chest and belt buckle are slightly ahead of the ball. If it feels like you were throwing a punch, you’ve made the move correctly.
As for your hips, they’ll turn automatically through the swing, so don’t worry about them. Practice this move until it’s ingrained and you’ll hit longer shots almost without effort.
• Fire your arms through impact — Some golfers think that over-rotating boosts swing speed. It doesn’t. It throws you off balance and makes you lose control of your swing. Instead of over rotating, fire your arms through your swing as fast as you can. But don’t do it before you lean forward. That throws your swing off plane.
A good golf drill to ingrain this move is to grab a club by its hosel. Then swing it. The club will feel lighter, so you’ll be able to swing it faster than if you were holding the club at the grip. Do this several times. Try to make the whoosh sound created by the club occur toward the end of your swing, not at the start. Then flip the club around and try to do the same with your normal swing.
• Glide into your finish — If you fall backward or go forward after your swing, you’ve lost your balance. Losing your balance short-circuits power and boost mishits. Instead, you should be finishing your swing by “gliding” into your finish position with your arms and body. To do this, you need to let everything go “soft.” You should feel as if the momentum from the swing is pulling you forward.
If your swing is sufficiently soft, it will feel like your arms will be able to drop in front of you with only the help of gravity. Finishing soft like this helps you maintain balance and control. And that boosts not only your ballstriking but also your accuracy.
These five tips will help you find the sweet spot on your clubhead and make your golf swing more consistently. Doing that will increase both power and accuracy. And that will take your golf swing from good to great, and will help you chop strokes off your scores and your golf handicap. That might not get you into the Ryder Cup, but it will help you take your game to the next level.
