1 Dynamic posture
Fats and thins can be caused by changing your posture during the swing. Rotate your upper body without lifting or dipping to help your ball-striking.
2 Driver attack
When you have driver in hand, make sure you tilt your spine slightly away from the target at address. This will help you find the sweeping strike (and high launch) you’re looking for.
3 Grip check
Both palms should be facing each other, with two knuckles visible on both hands as you look down at address. This forms a ‘neutral’ grip.
4 Grip pressure
Players looking to hit the ball higher and further often grip the club tightly, but this restricts your wrist hinge and general swing flexibility. Grip the club lightly – about four on a scale of one to ten.
5 How close?
With a driver, the distance between the butt end of the shaft and your leg should be the width of your open hand. With an iron, the butt end of the shaft should sit a wrist’s width from your leg.
6 Dynamic aim
Place an alignment stick six inches in front of your ball, aiming at the target. If you start the ball on the line of the stick, you’re returning the clubface square.
7. Tee height
When teeing up your ball for a driver, the equator should be in line with the crown. This will help you find the ideal sweeping angle of attack.
8. Glove wear
Look out for excess wear on the heel pad of your glove. This is caused by a loose left hand rubbing on the grip and can result in a lack of power.
9 Weight transfer
Place alignment sticks into the ground either side of your hips at address. You should be able to swing to the top without bumping into the stick on your right. Then, as you swing through, your body should rotate against the other stick. This checks your stability on the way back and your weight shift on the way through.
10 Feet-together drill
Hit some mid-iron shots with your feet together and swing your arms to chest height on both back and through swings, hinging your wrists so the grip-end of the club points to the floor in both positions. Your wrist hinge, release and balance are guaranteed to improve as a result of practising this.
11 Train Stracks
“Set up square.” It’s an instruction coaches give all the time, but few actually explain exactly what they mean by it. It might seem logical to set your feet, hips and shoulders to aim at the target, but this is actually wrong. Take a look at the position below. While my club is aiming at the target, my feet, hips and shoulders are not – they are all parallel to the target line. If you struggle with a slice, your body is likely to be open to your target line, and if you struggle with a hook, it will likely be closed to that line. Next time you head to the range, get into this position. You’ll find it easier to keep the ball flight straight.
