Use A Wall To Cure This Common Swing Fault

Taking the club too far inside the target line on the backswing spells disaster.

It can lead to all sorts of bad shots—pushes, slices, duck hooks, and topped shots. A common swing fault, this move is usually caused by a backswing controlled by the hips and the dipping of the shoulders away from the ball. With practice, you can cure this fault.

Here's a six-step drill to cure this fault:
1. Situate yourself with a wall behind you
2. Take your address position with a driver
3. Make sure your backside is barely touching the wall
4. Simulate your backswing in slow motion
5. Keep moving your arms until they're waist high
6. Make sure the toe of club points straight up

If your backswing is correct, you'll eventually hit the wall. But that won't happen until after reaching waist high. Since you're not going beyond waist high, you shouldn't hit the wall. Just in case, use a head cover to protect the clubhead and the wall. At the start of a correct backswing, your clubhead should run along the target line for as long as possible. Once the clubhead reaches waist high, the toe should point straight up and away from the wall. If your club touches the wall as you take it back, you know you're moving too far inside. In that case, practice your takeaway by first leading the backswing with the upper body along the target line. Once the upper body can't turn any more, the lower body takes over. That's the correct way of making your backswing.This drill also helps golfers who struggle with "laying off"—dropping the clubhead behind the body because of a weak pair of wrists. Women and senior golfers sometimes have this problem. If your hitting slices, pushes, duck hooks, and all sorts of other bad shots, you could be taking the club too far inside on the backswing. If you think you are, use this drill to cure this common fault. It will cut strokes from your scores.

Three Most Common Mistakes Weekend Golfers Make

As a golf instructor, Jack Moorehouse has watched hundreds of students take countless swings--both good and bad. Doing so has helped him pinpoint the three most common mistakes weekend golfers make. These mistakes diminish the golfer's power and accuracy. By eliminating them, you'll not only hit the ball farther and straighter. You'll cut strokes from your scores and your golf handicap.

The three most common mistakes:
1. Overswinging
2. Overusing the legs
3. Losing the triangle

Overswinging is probably the most common mistake weekend golfers make. Overswingers don't understand how to create power. Most of your power comes from maintaining a fully loaded wrist set created at the top of your swing. Holding this position as long as you can before releasing it at impact creates power. It accelerates the speed at which your clubhead moves thru the impact zone--the seat of power.Many weekend golfers use their legs to try and generate more power. Your legs are the foundation of your swing. You need your legs when swinging. But overusing the legs saps power. Moving them aggressively thru the ball slows clubhead speed, robbing you of power. Keep your legs as still as possible. They support your swing and help control the clubface, increasing accuracy.Losing the triangle at the top of your swing is a third common mistake. Some let their arms get behind them at the top. Others let their right arms (left, for lefties) fold or collapse. When either of these things happens, your hands get behind your back, making it almost impossible to return the club to a strong position at impact. These golfers lose distance and accuracy.Eliminate these three mistakes from your swing. You'll not only find the fairway more often. You'll chop strokes from your scores and your golf handicap.

Maximize Power With Your Irons

Tired of hitting weak irons from the fairway and leaving yourself short of the green.

Maybe you're trying to lift the ball? Lifting is common among weekend golfers--especially with irons. Instead of hitting down on the ball, they try to slip the clubface under the ball and lift it through the air. This swing fault usually results in disaster, producing a weak shot, a dribbler, or some other weird mis-hit.
Here are five keys to maximizing iron power:
1. Shoulders are even at address
2. Open your hips at impact
3. Keep your hands ahead of the ball
4. Make a descending blow
5. Deliver your right shoulder hard

To hit an iron solidly, you must use a descending blow that creates a divot after the ball, not in front of it. The key to doing this is delivering your right shoulder to the ball.
Consider this: At address your shoulders are fairly even. Perhaps your right shoulder is slightly lower than your left. But this changes at impact. At impact your hips are open, your hands are ahead of the ball, and your right shoulder is closer to the ball than your left. This also means your right shoulder stays low through impact. To train your brain to keep the right shoulder low through impact, visualize a martial artist punching through a board. As she punches the board, she lunges forward with her arm, supplying the momentum she needs to snap the board. To train your body to deliver your back shoulder, make some practice strokes with just your right arm holding the club. Concentrate on moving your right shoulder closer to the ball during the downswing. This exercise ingrains the proper feel for delivering the right shoulder to the ball, and prevents an early release of the arms and hands--a major power leak. Delivering the right shoulder to the ball is the key to hitting solid irons, not lifting the ball with your clubface. You want to create a divot after the ball, not before it. Practice the exercises described above and you'll hit your irons with more punch. Godd Lukc and remeber to PRACTICE, PRACTICE< PRACTICE!!!!