The post Why this common advice is actually terrible for your swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Why this common advice is actually terrible for your swing appeared first on Golf.

Golfers have been told for ages to “keep your head down” through impact. It’s one of the most common pieces of swing advice in the game. But according to GOLFTEC Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer, it’s also one of the most damaging.

“The problem with ‘keep your head down’ is that it physically restricts what your body needs to do to create speed,” Troyer says.

When golfers interpret the phrase literally, they tend to lock their head and eyes down on the ball throughout the swing. That may feel disciplined, but it comes at a cost. Limiting the movement of your head restricts shoulder rotation and makes it extremely difficult for the chest to extend upward through impact — two movements that are essential for powerful, consistent ball striking.

“If you try to look straight down at the ground and then point your chest up toward the sky, it’s uncomfortable and hard to do,” he says. “Now imagine trying to do that at full speed with a golf club in your hands.”

That’s exactly what many amateurs are attempting. They’re keeping their head down while trying to create upward chest extension, and the body simply can’t move that way very easily. The result is restricted rotation, reduced speed and weaker contact.

“The best golfers in the world allow their head to turn and their neck to tilt slightly to the right,” Troyer says. “A better piece of advice is actually to follow the ball with your head, not keep your head down.”

By allowing the head to rotate naturally, the shoulders can turn more freely, the spine can extend properly, and the chest can move upward through impact. These movements make it easier to generate speed and strike the ball solidly without feeling forced or restricted.

One thing you’ll never see, Troyer says, is a Tour player frozen over the ball after impact.

“You’re not going to see a professional hit a shot with their head still looking down where the ball was,” he says.

If you want proof, Troyer suggests watching high-level players in slow motion. Dustin Johnson is a great example.

“By the time the club reaches the ball, his head is already starting to move down the range,” Troyer says.

An easy checkpoint for golfers watching swings is the brim of the hat.

“It’s never firmly pointed straight down at impact,” Troyer says. “It’s always moving toward the target, following where the ball is going.”

So if you’re struggling with distance or feel stuck and restricted through impact, the fix may be simpler than you think. Stop trying to keep your head down and start letting it move naturally with the swing.

If you want to learn how to correctly keep your head moving during the swing, book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post This key relationship is crucial for maintaining posture during the swing appeared first on Golf.

The post This key relationship is crucial for maintaining posture during the swing appeared first on Golf.

One of the biggest challenges recreational golfers face is maintaining their posture throughout the swing. Standing up out of the shot — also known as “losing your incline to the ground” — leads to thin shots, inconsistent contact and all sorts of compensations.

According to GOLFTEC Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer, the fix starts with understanding one simple relationship: the connection between your forward bend at address and your shoulder tilt at the top of the backswing.

Every golfer begins the swing by establishing an incline to the ground at setup — essentially your posture, spine angle and forward bend. On the PGA Tour, players average about 40 degrees of forward shoulder bend at address. Keeping that posture intact throughout the backswing is crucial.

What elite players do exceptionally well is maintain that incline to the ground by matching their shoulder tilt to their original posture as they turn. They don’t hold their body static, but they do coordinate their movement.

Tour pros typically tilt their shoulders to the left about three degrees less than their original forward bend at address. So, if a player begins with 40 degrees of bend at address, they’ll arrive at the top with around 37 degrees shoulder tilt. That close relationship is what keeps their head steady and their posture intact.

Most amateurs, however, don’t tilt nearly enough. They might start at 40 degrees forward but reach only 20–22 degrees of shoulder tilt by the top of the backswing. That creates a much flatter turn, and on camera you’ll see their head rise out of posture.

“They start to stand up,” Troyer says. “They come out of their posture, and that creates inconsistent low points and a lot of compensations in the downswing.

The key point: the actual numbers matter less than the relationship between them. If a golfer sets up with 30 degrees of forward bend, maintaining posture means reaching about 27 degrees of shoulder tilt at the top of the backswing. Trying to force a 30-degree setup into a 37-degree shoulder tilt would actually cause the head to dip toward the ball and disrupt posture in the opposite direction.

Understanding that relationship between your incline to the ground and your shoulder tilt is essential. Get those two elements in sync, Troyer says, and you’ve solved one of the foundational pieces of a consistent golf swing.

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The post The secret to consistent ball striking? It starts with this key appeared first on Golf.

One of the biggest differences between elite players and amateurs happens before impact ever occurs. It’s how they maintain their incline to the ground throughout the swing.

Your incline to the ground is set at address, determined by how much you bend forward from your hips and spine.

“You set your inclination to the ground at address based on your posture — your spine angle and how much you bend forward,” says Josh Troyer, GOLFTEC’s Director of Teaching Quality. “On average, Tour players are about 40 degrees forward with their shoulder bend.”

The best players in the world are able to keep that angle remarkably consistent as they rotate. But it’s something that many recreational players struggle with.

“They maintain that inclination to the ground as they make a backswing,” Troyer says. “You can think of it like trying to pound a nail into a wall — if your body is moving all around while you’re doing it, it’s really hard to hit the same spot.”

So how consistent are great ball strikers at maintaining this angle? At the top of the backswing, their shoulders are tilted about 3 degrees less than they were at address.

“If the Tour average is 40 degrees forward at address, at the top of the backswing the best players tilt their shoulders about 37 degrees to the left,” Troyer explains. “That small difference is what maintains your incline to the ground.”

Amateurs, on the other hand, often tilt too little.

“What bad golfers do is start at 40 degrees forward, but they only tilt their shoulders maybe 20 or 22 degrees,” Troyer says. “That’s a flat shoulder turn — and when that happens, their head raises up and they stand up out of their posture.”

The key, Troyer says, is understanding the relationship between your setup and your shoulder tilt at the top — not just chasing specific numbers.

“If a golfer is 30 degrees forward at address, they should have their shoulders about 27 degrees to the left at the top,” he says. “That’s how you maintain your incline. If they went to 37 degrees instead, they’d actually dip down toward the ball.”

It’s not about memorizing measurements — it’s about maintaining the correct pattern. “

“The numbers are important,” Troyer says, “but understanding how that relationship works is what really matters.”

When your shoulder tilt matches your setup bend, you stay in your posture, rotate efficiently and make solid, repeatable contact — just like the pros do.

If you want to learn how to correctly maintain forward bend in your own swing, book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post The 1 move you need to hit pure iron shots out of thick rough appeared first on Golf.

The post The 1 move you need to hit pure iron shots out of thick rough appeared first on Golf.

When your ball settles deep in the rough, it’s easy to feel like there’s no good way to make solid contact. You swing harder, but the club still seems to grab and twist in the grass.

According to GOLFTEC’s Josh Troyer, that’s because the problem isn’t a lack of swing speed — it has to do with your angle of attack.

“Players with steeper angles of attack tend to handle the rough better,” Troyer says. “It allows the club to come down on the ball more directly, instead of skimming through the grass too early.”

That concept closely ties to something Troyer (and all GOLFTEC teachers) harp on daily: hip sway. This is the manner in which your hips move toward the target during the downswing. Most skilled players shift their hips about six and a half inches toward the target from the top of the backswing to the finish, which helps control two key things:

“Good players move their hips enough toward the target so they can hit the ground in the right spot and on the correct path,” Troyer explains. “Bad golfers either don’t move forward enough, or they stay too far back. That’s when the club path gets out of whack — too far in-to-out or too steep and down.”

Here’s where it gets interesting: golfers who move their hips too far toward the target often produce an in-to-out path that’s too extreme, leading to a shallow angle of attack. That’s the kind of swing that sweeps across the turf rather than driving through it — and it’s a killer in thick grass.

“When you start hitting out of thicker rough, it becomes really hard to get clean contact with a shallow attack angle,” Troyer says. “You see a lot of players who hit big draws really struggle from the rough because their club gets too close to the ground too early — the grass grabs it, and they can’t get through to the ball.”

That’s why Tour players often talk about trying to hit fades or cuts when they’re in gnarly lies. Those shot shapes naturally promote a steeper angle of attack — exactly what you want when you need to chop the ball out cleanly.

“They might not even know why it works,” Troyer says. “But when you hit a fade, your club’s coming down a little steeper. It’s easier to get through the grass and make solid contact.”

So next time your ball buries in the rough, don’t just swing harder. Adjust your setup and your thought process: aim slightly left, feel like you’re hitting a soft cut and let the club descend a bit more steeply. You’ll catch the ball cleaner — and give yourself a much better chance at hitting a pure iron onto the green.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing, book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post Want to hit your long irons pure? Focus on these 5 keys appeared first on Golf.

The post Want to hit your long irons pure? Focus on these 5 keys appeared first on Golf.

Hitting your long irons pure on a consistent basis is a challenge for most recreational golfers. Sure, they may catch one solid a couple of times per round, but sprinkled in there are chunks and thins that are unplayable. I know that’s been the case in my own game at certain points in my golf career.

If that sounds like you, just know you’re not alone. When you stick a long iron in the average player’s hand, they typically have very little shot of hitting one stiff. It can be a disheartening feeling, but with a few key swing tweaks, you can exhibit improvement.

In the text below, GOLFTEC‘s Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer shares five swing keys you can focus on to improve your strike with long irons. Put them to use, and you’ll quickly see improvement.

5 keys for pure long irons

Long irons — the 4, 5 and even 6 iron — can be some of the most satisfying clubs to strike cleanly, but for many amateur golfers, they’re also the most frustrating. While hybrids and higher-lofted woods are excellent alternatives for players who struggle with launch and consistency, and club fitting can absolutely make a difference, the real key to mastering long irons lies in your swing fundamentals.

1. Ball position forward

The first step to success with long irons is putting the ball in the right place. A ball too far back in your stance encourages a steep angle of attack and path too far to the right, while if it’s too far forward you’ll be too shallow and to the left.

According to Troyer, you should place the ball just inside the lead foot’s instep — slightly forward of center, but not as far forward as a driver. This position promotes a slightly downward strike, helping you compress the ball while still launching it high.

2. Widen your stance

You should also be mindful of the width of your stance when hitting a long iron. With longer clubs, you need a slightly wider stance to maintain balance and create the proper swing arc.

With a long iron, this means widening your stance by about an inch more than you would with a 7 or 8 iron. This stabilizes your lower body and accommodates the longer swing arc without sacrificing control.

3. Smooth tempo and balance

When golfers struggle to get the ball in the air with their long irons, they’ll tend to force the issue and try to swing even harder. And while this can be effective for generating clubhead speed, it often comes at the cost of a center strike.

Instead of swinging harder, try focusing on a smooth tempo that will allow you to find the center of the clubface. If you do that, you’ll find that it’s much easier to not only get the ball up in the air, but also send the ball in the direction you want it to go.

4. Maintain your posture

Another symptom that arises when golfers struggle to get the ball in the air is that they’ll lose their posture as they come through impact. They do this because they’re trying to get underneath the ball and “scoop” it in the air. This rarely works out.

Instead of dipping back to help the ball in the air, focus on maintaining your posture and keeping your weight moving forward. This encourages solid contact and ensures you’re delivering the club with the right angle and loft, which in turn will launch the ball in the air.

5. Trust your club

Modern club technology is a wonderful thing — but you’ve got to trust the club to do its job if you want to get the most out of it.

“You don’t have to create height by manipulating your body to get the trajectory that you want,” Troyer says.

Don’t lean back or flip the wrists at impact to add loft. Let the correct setup, solid contact and club technology do the work for you. If you trust all of these factors and make a solid pass at the ball, you’ll be amazed at how much better your ball striking becomes with your long irons.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing — and learn how to properly sway your hips — book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post Why hip sway matters more than you think in the golf swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Why hip sway matters more than you think in the golf swing appeared first on Golf.

When it comes to the golf swing, there are quite a few components that need to work together to properly function. And if even one of them is just a tad off, it can wreck the whole thing.

You likely know (and focus) on a few of the main ones. Club path. Face angle. Shoulder turn. You get the picture. However, hip sway is one that is equally important — yet it’s often overlooked.

So, what makes hip sway so crucial to the swing? And how can you make sure you’re doing it correctly? GOLFETC‘s Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer explains below.

Why hip sway is important

If you’re serious about improving your golf swing, it might be time to take a closer look at something most amateur golfers overlook: hip sway. The reason hip sway is so important is that it plays a huge role in where the low point is in your swing. If you get it wrong, it can have disastrous effects on the quality of your strike.

Low-point control — where the club bottoms out in your swing — is a major key to consistent ball striking. According to Troyer, the best players move their hips approximately 6.5 inches toward the target from the top of the backswing to the finishing position.

“The best players go from 0.3 inches at the top of the swing to 3.1 inches toward [the target] by the time they hit, to 6.5 inches toward by the time they finish,” Troyer says.

That forward shift of the hips helps get the low point if your swing into the proper spot at impact. Players who don’t consistently make this move often struggle with contact, hitting behind the ball or catching it thin.

Swing direction is also influenced by hip sway. In fact, it can be a huge reason that golfers struggle with a swing that is too far out to in.

“If you don’t move your hips towards the target from the top of the swing all the way into the follow-through, you’re gonna start to see your turns open faster than they should,” Troyer says. “That’s when the club starts to shift too far out to in.”

But be sure not to overdo it, because if you do, you’ll eventually start swinging too far in to out, which can lead to problems of its own. Chief among them: struggling to create solid contact out of the rough.

From the thick stuff, it’s important that you increase your angle of attack and hit down on the ball. But when you’ve got a swing that is too far in to out, you’re typically shallowing the swing out, which can cause the clubhead to get caught in the rough prior to impact.

“Tour players, a lot of times, don’t know why they’re doing stuff — they’re just really good at golf,” Troyer says. “But when you start to understand the dynamics, it all starts to make sense.”

So, next time you find yourself struggling with low-point control or swing direction, check on your hip sway. There’s a good chance that fixing it will lead to better ball-striking and more consistent play on the course.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing — and learn how to properly sway your hips — book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post These 2 swing components are crucial for consistent and powerful ball striking appeared first on Golf.

The post These 2 swing components are crucial for consistent and powerful ball striking appeared first on Golf.

When it comes to the golf swing, there’s no one tried-and-true method. Sure, you can try to copy Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus, but ultimately you’ll have your own unique flair in the swing.

That’s not necessarily always a bad thing. Take the swing of Scottie Scheffler, for example. No one would confuse his move with Hogan’s, but thanks to the proper matchups, he’s able to make it work. There’s more than one way to swing the golf club and find success.

However, that doesn’t mean every swing will work. There are certain moves that, no matter how much it’s practiced, will not yield solid results. That’s why it’s important that you learn some of the key elements found in all great golf swings and implement them in your own move.

GOLFTEC is a great resource for that. Thanks to their OptiMotion technology, they can pinpoint moves that work — and ones that don’t — to help you swing the club like never before.

Check out the text below from GOLFTEC’s Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer for more on a couple of key moves that help promote powerful and consistent ball striking.

Why hip and shoulder bend are important

When it comes to building a powerful, consistent golf swing, two often overlooked keys are how your hips and shoulders bend. According to our findings from OptiMotion, these movements are critical for rotation, control and clubhead speed.

So, what does hip and shoulder bend look like? In golf biomechanics, shoulder bend refers to how much your upper body tilts forward or backward relative to the ground. Hip bend, similarly, measures how much your pelvis tilts as you move through the swing.

“These are the postural movements that let you create and manage energy,” Troyer says. “We pay close attention to them because they help create speed and control low point.”

Backswing: The case for bending back

As you start your backswing, you should slightly bend backward — away from the ball. It might seem subtle, but it’s a move that separates skilled ball-strikers from amateurs.

“That backward bend helps make the swing longer and easier to rotate,” Troyer says. “And it keeps your head centered. That’s huge for low-point control.”

If your chest points too far toward the ground during the backswing, your head and neck drift away from the target. When you move off the ball like this, it can move your low point and make it difficult to make solid contact on the way back down.

Downswing: The squat and explode

As the downswing begins, great players bend forward into the ground — re-flexing their knees, hips and shoulders. Then, as the club approaches impact, that bend reverses. Everything extends upward.

“That’s when we talk about the ‘explode’ — like a vertical leap at the NFL Combine,” Troyer says.

From the top of the swing to impact, shoulder bend shifts from 2° back to over 40° forward before rebounding. The hips follow a similar flex-and-release pattern. This is a product of golfers pushing into the ground and creating ground reaction forces during the downswing.

“It’s what the best players in the world do to move the club fast and hit the ball far,” Troyer says.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing — and learn how to perfect your hip and shoulder bends — book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post 2 swing faults causing you to top the ball — and how to fix them appeared first on Golf.

The post 2 swing faults causing you to top the ball — and how to fix them appeared first on Golf.

There are few things in golf more frustrating than ruining a solid drive with a lackluster approach. The worst is when you don’t even give the ball a chance with a shot that is poorly struck. It’s a feeling that is all too common for weekend warriors, and it holds them back from consistently shooting lower scores.

There are two main misses when it comes to poor contact: the chunked shot and the thinned shot. We’ve covered what causes a chunked shot, but today we’re going in the opposite direction as we share some advice on how to guard against the top.

In the text below, GOLFTEC’s Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer explains what OptiMotion tells us about the causes of topped shots, and offers solutions to fix them.

Why you top the ball

If you’re topping the golf ball, it’s usually not random — there are two common swing faults behind it, and both are fixable.

1. Hips hanging back

One of the biggest issues is poor hip movement during the swing. Instead of shifting the hips toward the target, golfers will hang back, leading to poor low-point control.

“The best players in the world, when they hit, their hips are about 3.1 inches towards the target,” Troyer says. “Golfers who top the golf ball tend to be more away from the target at all of those spots.”

In other words, you’re likely staying too far back. That lack of forward sway causes you to instinctively try to avoid hitting the ground behind the ball — which leads to the next issue.

2. The chicken wing

To avoid chunking the ball, many golfers pull their arms in toward their body — resulting in the dreaded chicken wing.

“They basically are pulling their arms closer to their bodies so that the club doesn’t smash into the ground,” Troyer says. “When you do that and you don’t time it well, that’s when the sweet spot gets too high and you top it.”

You’ve got to keep your arms extended at impact if you want to swing efficiently, and the chicken wing doesn’t allow that.

How do you fix these issues?

One easy fix for the issue of your hips staying back is to pre-set them a touch closer to the target. When you address the ball, try bumping your hips a couple inches closer to the target.

With your hips pre-set like this, try making some smaller half swings. And when you do so, focus on your hips shifting toward the target and keeping your arms extended through impact.

“Try to squeeze your elbows really close together as you go to hit the ball while you push your hips towards the target,” Troyer says.

If you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to eliminating topped shots for good.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing, book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post Why you can’t stop chunking the golf ball — and how to fix it appeared first on Golf.

Picture this: You’ve just crushed your drive right down the middle of the fairway. You’ve got a wedge or a short iron in your hands, and the pin is easily accessible right in the middle of the green. It’s the optimal time to fire at the flag and make birdie.

You pull the club back and make a swing … only to catch the turf several inches behind the ball. Instead of plopping down right next to the hole, the ball comes up woefully short of the green. What was only a few moments ago a prime birdie chance has turned into you scrambling just to make par.

If you’re anything like me, this is a scenario you’re all too familiar with. For the past few seasons, the chunks have plagued my iron play — and it’s killed my ability to score. When you’re laying the sod over simple shots from the middle of the fairway, it’s damn near impossible to put together a solid round.

Luckily for me, I’ve finally learned why I couldn’t seem to stop chunking the ball — and an easy fix to solve the issue. GOLFTEC Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer has more in the text below.

Why you chunk the ball

When you chunk the ball, you’re striking the turf behind the ball instead of in front of it. So, why does this happen? Often times, it’s a result of too much lateral movement in your swing.

When a golfer sways too much during the backswing, they move their pelvis and upper body laterally away from the target during the backswing. That motion shifts the bottom of your swing arc — known as the low point — too far behind the ball.

“Golfers who tend to chunk tend to move more away from the target,” Troyer says. “So an inch, two inches, three inches, if you’re really bad at it.”

When you watch a Tour player swing, you’ll notice that this sway is minimal.

“The best golfers in the world basically keep their sways at zero,” he says. “So this end of their pelvis and the center of their shoulders [stay centered] as they make a backswing.”

The Tour benchmark

The key move Tour players use to make sure they keep their sways to a minimum is called “re-centering.” You see, when elite players make a backswing, they actually do sway off the ball just a touch. But once they get to about arms parallel to the ground during the backswing, they have already started shifting their weight back toward the target. And by the time they get back to impact, their hips are several inches closer to the target than they were at setup.

“Tour players have the center of their hips 3.1 inches more towards the target than they did at setup,” Troyer says. “So by not moving as far away on the backswing, you’re making it easier to move towards the target on the downswing.”

This movement toward the target ensures that the low point of the swing occurs in front of the ball — exactly where it needs to be for crisp, clean contact.

The fix

If you want to hit the ball like a Tour pro, you’ve got to learn how to perfect that re-centering move during the backswing. Then, during the downswing, you’ve got to get your hips to that point several inches in front of where they started.

“Your hips don’t recenter and stop,” Troyer says. “They keep moving three inches further towards the target when they start.”

If you can do that, you’ll eliminate the chunks for good and become a more consistent ball striker.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing, book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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The post Focus on these 3 overlooked keys to smoke your fairway woods appeared first on Golf.

The post Focus on these 3 overlooked keys to smoke your fairway woods appeared first on Golf.

Scrolling through social media recently, I came across a mesmerizing video of Rory McIlroy hitting a fairway wood off the deck. The ball comes out high and with a tight draw, soars through the air and drops on the green 275 yards away. It’s the kind of shot that most of us can only dream of hitting.

If you’re anything like me, you know that hitting an approach shot like that will never happen. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hit some great shots with that type of club in my hand. All it takes is fine-tuning the technique a bit.

Most recreational golfers struggle in this regard. They grab the fairway wood out of the bag and have no idea what they’re doing — which you can tell by the way they hit it.

Luckily, hitting a fairway wood pure is not nearly as hard as it looks. All you need to do is focus on a few keys, which GOLFTEC Director of Teaching Quality Josh Troyer explains below.

1. Focus on ball position

You’ve got to have a consistent low point in your swing if you want to learn how to properly hit a fairway wood, and the easiest way to achieve this is by maintaining the proper ball position. With a fairway wood in your hand, Troyer says this should be one clubhead inside the instep of your lead foot.

“I see so many amateur golfers move the fairway wood ball position up to where they have a driver,” Troyer says. “As you move that ball further forward in your stance, your swing direction shifts more to the left. So even if you do catch it solid, you’re probably going to slice it.”

You want your ball position to be near the front of your stance, but don’t overdo it. A clubhead length inside your lead foot will do just fine.

2. Don’t forget about your stance

Your stance width will vary depending on the club and shot type you’re trying to hit. For the fairway wood, you want your feet to be just outside shoulder width apart. This is achieved by simply moving the trail foot slightly back, while keeping the ball position the same relative to your lead foot. This maintains a proper setup without changing your swing arc.

“You just move your trail foot, maybe a quarter step further out,” Troyer says. “So now effectively, what you’ve done is you’ve moved the ball slightly forward in your stance, but you haven’t changed where it is positionally relative to your lead foot.”

3. Swing down on it

GOLFTEC has analyzed millions of shots with their OptiMotion Technology, and they’ve noticed that all pros swing slightly down on the ball when hitting a fairway wood. This can be difficult for recreational golfers to commit to, as they try to help the ball up in the air. When they do this, though, it only makes their contact suffer.

“Basically, just let the club do its job,” Troyer says. “Essentially, you’re setting your swing arc and your path and your angle of attack with your setup, where you’re putting the ball — now just swing. If you take a tiny divot, that’s fine.”

A shallow angle of attack is still ok, but don’t forget to take a tiny divot. When you do, you’ll hit your fairway woods much better.

If you want to get some expert insights into your swing — and learn how how pure your fairway woods — book a swing evaluation with GOLFTEC below.

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