Even when the weather is good, there are plenty of benefits you can glean from practicing your game indoors, and GOLF Top 100 Teacher Trillium Rose has a simple drill you can do inside to help you improve the quality of your contact.
In a video posted to Titleist’s YouTube channel, Rose explains that recreational players tend to focus on the backswing but ignore the follow-through.
“We’re gonna focus on the follow-through,” she says. “So much emphasis goes into the backswing. I think sometimes people just forget about the rest of it and figure, well, the ball is long gone, it doesn’t matter.”
But the follow-through does, of course, matter, and Rose has a few pointers that will help improve the quality of your strike. First, though, she shares a quick overview of the swing motion.
“My theory on follow-through is this: The club only has a little runway through impact,” Rose says. “The club’s gonna move through impact and hopefully hit the center of the face. If your tendency is to bend your arms real quick and you pull the club closer to you, you’re gonna limit the amount of time that you have for that club to hit the center. In other words, you could be pulling the club right off track. So instead of doing that, you want the club to linger through impact a lot longer.”
To practice this idea, Rose demonstrates moving your arms through the impact zone in slow-motion, avoiding any tendencies you have to pull the club off-track. It doesn’t have to be an exactly straight line, but Rose says it can be helpful to imagine your arms and clubhead on a runway through the hitting zone. Ingraining this feel will ultimately help you make more solid contact.
The next thing to remember is staying in posture. Avoid lifting or pulling up through the impact zone. Combine that posture — remaining in your forward bend — with the “runway” hitting-zone motion to get a good feel.
Indoor perfect contact drill
With these swing feels in mind, you’re ready to perform the drill.
First, place your club horizontally behind your head across your shoulder blades.
Then, while holding each end of your club, tilt your body approximately 45 degrees and make a backswing and follow-through motion. Using a mirror will help, so you can ensure you are staying in posture throughout the motion.
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Next, you can practice the impact zone motion, reaching with your arms all the way to the horizon line.
“Check for that side-bend plus long arms, at least to the horizon line, and then fold away,” Rose says.
One thing to remember as you’re doing this drill:
“Make sure you use a lot of your glutes, hamstrings and quads, abs, to support this position,” Rose says. “Otherwise you’re gonna start to feel it in your lower back and of course, we don’t want that.”
Mastering this drill indoors will play dividends when you get out to the course.
“When you add a ball and you add the grass and the golf course,” Rose says, “you’re much better at making contact.”
To watch a full video of Rose’s drill demonstration, click here.