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The post Top 100 Teacher: This is ‘the best way’ to fix a common golf swing flaw appeared first on Golf.

Golfers come in every different shape and form, of all ages, from all over the world. It’s rare that you’ll even get two swings that look somewhat alike.

And yet, through some terrible kind of miracle, there’s one golf swing mistake that unites large swarths of them: Coming over the top.

There are plenty of causes that lead to golfers coming over the top — from turning too soon at the start of your downswing to poor alignment to not enough shoulder tilt — but the fact is that lots of golfers get into trouble this way. Pair coming over the top with an open clubface and you’ll get a slice; over-correct and you’ll be dealing with over-the-top’s nasty cousin: Getting stuck and flippy with your hands.

But not to worry, because this week GOLF Top 100 Teacher Scott Hamilton shared on Instagram a simple drill that he said is one of his “favorite” and “best” ways to shallow the club, and keep the clubface stable. And you only need one arm to do it!

Hamilton notes that this drill is best done with a lighter club than usual (his student here is using a junior club), because using one that’s too heavy could compromise your technique, or worse, lead to injury. But as you make swings, the weight of the club will become more apparent, which will help shallow the cub into a good spot.

“This drill is the best way I have found to use the weight of the club to learn how to shallow and deliver a stable face,” he writes.

Watch the full video below.

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The post A one-word swing thought can help you stop slicing the ball appeared first on Golf.

The post A one-word swing thought can help you stop slicing the ball appeared first on Golf.

Most golfers hit slices, and most slicers would do anything to stop hitting slices. More often than not, the reason why they miss slices comes in two parts: They swing the club too far from out-to-in (or over the top), and the clubface is too far open. It sends the ball starting left and curving wickedly to the right.

Which is why GOLFTEC’s Josh Troyer has a swing thought that is best summarized in one word: “Tilt.”

Think “Tilt” on the downswing

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If coming over the top causes slices, what causes golfers to come over the top? The answer, Troyer says, is simple: They turn too quickly on the downswing. Insisted, golfers should think of “tilting” as their first move down.

To help with this, Troyer sets up an alignment on the ground between his feet and the ball, pointing 45 degrees to the tight of his target.

Then, he places a club across his shoulders. The feeling you want to chase, he says, is to match your shoulders to the alignment stick on the ground. If you do that, you’ll be tilting your shoulders and getting your club into a position where it can swing more in-to-out on the downswing.

If you don’t tilt, it means you’re turning too quickly. Your right shoulder moves towards the ball, and with it, will drag the club over the top.

So don’t turn too early! Tilt to start your downswing, and you’ll be in better shape when the time comes to hit the ball.

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The post Coming over the top? These 2 foolproof drills will instantly redirect your swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Coming over the top? These 2 foolproof drills will instantly redirect your swing appeared first on Golf.

Coming over the top has been a problem plaguing golfers for generations. Most of us, at some point in our golfing lives, have to navigate our way around the issue, and for teachers like GOLF Top 100 Teacher and GOLFTEC VP of Instruction Nick Clearwater, it’s what they spend hours each day fixing.

“Coming over the top, cutting across the ball, really is the biggest mistake I see amateur golfers make,” he says.

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For those unsure of what coming over the top is, exactly, it’s what Clearwater describes: It’s when golfers throw the club directly at the top of the ball from the top of their swing, and send the clubhead from out-to-in. Do this with an open clubface and you’ll hit a big slice. Keep the clubface closed and it’ll pull-hook.

The golfer on the left below, for example, is coming over the top, while the same player on the right is not.

But don’t worry, because seeing golfers make this mistake so often also means that Clearwater has devised two simple drills to fix it…

1. Object by the ball

It doesn’t need to be a pool noodle, Clearwarter says. A bottle, headcover or other obstacle can work just as well. Place it just outside the ball and then start hitting (the ball, not the object!).

“The first thing I’d always recommend is putting something by the ball,” Clearwater says. “If you’re ready to cut across the ball, you’d slam right into that obstacle.”

2. Diagonal pool noodle

You’ll need a friend to help you with this one, but all they’ll need to do is stand there and hold a pool noodle, alignment rod or club at a 45-degree angle. Your goal is simple: To swing under the obstacle on your downswing.

“The ideal path is the club below the trail shoulder, with the shaft passing through the middle of your trail arm’s bicep, when your lead arm is parallel to the ground,” Clearwater says.

You can watch the full video right here:

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The post 39 degrees: Why this important number can help you hit better, longer drives appeared first on Golf.

The post 39 degrees: Why this important number can help you hit better, longer drives appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Play Smart, a game-improvement column that drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Game Improvement Editor Luke Kerr-Dineen to help you play smarter, better golf.

Shoulder tilt — it’s super important, but too many golfers don’t quite realize that. Last week, we paired with GOLF Top 100 Teacher and GOLFTEC’s VP of Instruction Nick Clearwater to explain why it’s such a key on the backswing, and now we’re following up with another explainer on how it works on the downswing. Nick has studied the effects of shoulder tilt in GOLFTEC students’ swings for years, and the evidence is in.

“The amount your shoulders are tilted at impact is one of the biggest separators between higher and lower handicaps,” Clearwater says.

Here’s why — and how you can get more of it in your swing.

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1. The best golfers have their shoulders the most tilted

What is downswing shoulder tilt? Well, if you’ve ever taken a good look at a pro’s golf swing through impact, you’ve seen it: their weight is forward, but their torso is tilted away from the target, with their lead shoulder above their trail shoulder.

Deej through impact pic.twitter.com/T4uiQxDPst

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) August 17, 2021

That is shoulder tilt, the amount your shoulders are tilted relative to the ground, and it’s really important. That combination helps the club swing from in-to-out, and allows you to hit up on the golf ball.

“The more you’re tilted away from the target, the faster the club can go up,” he said. “It’s also a way of controlling your angle of attack, by tilting yourself away from the target. Without that rightward tilt.”

Keeping your shoulders tilted like this creates a “slingshot” effect between your body and the club.

2. Higher handicaps keep their should too level

Recreational golfers tend to do the opposite: their torso and lower body are more in a straight line (usually behind the ball), and their shoulders are more level. It leads to all sorts of issues, from chunked shots to an out-to-in swing path that results in ugly pulls and slices.

“The more your shoulders are level, or even tilted toward the left, the easier it is to internally rotate my shoulder and push it towards the left,” Clearwater says.

All of which brings us to the golden number we promised in the headline: 39 degrees. That’s a good target to shoot for when it comes to tilting your shoulders at impact. Some players do it more — it’s a hard to overdo this move — and Clearwater suggests feeling like your trail arm stays bent and more behind you if you’re looking for a swing thought to help with this.

In conclusion, tilt your shoulders more; your driver will thank you.

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The post This trash-can drill will boost your ‘arm speed’ and help you hit draws appeared first on Golf.

The post This trash-can drill will boost your ‘arm speed’ and help you hit draws appeared first on Golf.

Keeping your arms and body in-sync throughout your golf swing is an important part of consistent ball striking. That doesn’t mean they move at the same speed, but it does mean they’re moving in accordance with one another. Most golfers know it as a sequence, and if it gets off, there’s a good chance your ball isn’t going where you want it to.

One common issue higher handicaps encounter is that they over-use their body as they transition to the downswing. They heave the club over-the-top; their arms are just along for the ride, and the result is a big, weak, wipy-slice.

Ask any good teacher, like newly-minted GOLF Top 100 Teacher Brech Spradley, and they’ll often say the best solutions don’t require slowing one part of your body down, but rather speeding a different part of your body up. In the case of the lunge over-the-top, that means using the muscles in your shoulders, arms and wrists to move faster. It’s a power source that can often get overlooked nowadays, but one that three-time major winner Padraig Harrington says is an important one for the recreational golfer.

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“Many golfers…start trying to turn and all these other things, when what they actually need to be doing is using their hands and arms to give it a good hit,” Harrington says. “These guys will hit it a lot farther with a shorter, whippier, hands-and-arms swing than they will with anything else, and that will keep them in the game for longer and enjoying it more.”

Which brings us back to Spradley, who shares on Instagram a simple way to give your arm speed a boost: Sit on an upside-down trash can (or a higher-top chair) and begin hitting golf balls. Swing hard and keep your backswing planted in the object the entire time. You’ll find the only way to hit the ball far is to activate your arms, wrists and shoulders. With your arms not able to tag along with your body for the ride, you’ll be increasing your hand speed by grooving a full release.

“Body pivot, sequence, ground force are all important, but without the lag and snap of the hands and arms you are missing out,” Spradley writes. “Your body is certainly the big engine, but the hands and arms need to crank for speed, especially with the big stick.”

Check out some videos of the drill below:

For more help with your game, get fit for clubs by the experts at our affiliate company, True Spec Golf.

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The post Try this ball-flight test on the range to sync-up your golf grip appeared first on Golf.

The post Try this ball-flight test on the range to sync-up your golf grip appeared first on Golf.

There’s no one way to grip a golf club. Just look at players on tour and you’ll see a range of different golf grips. It’s about finding the right grip for you, that matches your unique body.

If you think your grip is off and you’re not sure what to do, here’s a way you can check.

Your first check point will be your ball flight, which includes the start direction of your ball.  The next time you are on the range, place a ball on the ground, then take an alignment stick or golf shaft and walk ten paces directly in front of your ball. Insert the stick in the turf directly in line between your shaft and your target, like you see below.

Now hit a group of shots (I’d suggest five-to-10), paying attention to whether your ball starts out to the right, center, or left of the stick. 

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Pay attention to what is happening to the golf ball. Watch the flight of the ball as it flies beyond the stick to see which way it’s spinning. This will give you the information you need to then make your grip adjustment accordingly.

For example: If your ball is starting to the left of the stick — aka, your target — and curving left, that means your clubface is closed in relation to the path that it was swinging. Check out your right-hand grip to see if your placement if ‘under’ the shaft.  If it is, start to hit balls with a more neutral grip where your palm is aimed more towards your target rather than facing the sky.

If the opposite is happening, your grip may be too weak. In this case, you may need to move your right-hand grip so it’s more under the shaft, like you see below.

If you can’t correct your ball flight on your own, please contact a PGA instructor who will know a variety of assessments that will allow you to learn the grip that best suits your physical makeup.

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The post Use this simple drill to get rid of your slice for good appeared first on Golf.

It’s not often we get days with temperatures in the high 50s up here in New York City in December, but that’s just what happened on Christmas Eve. It was a little soggy from melted snow and occasional drizzle, but all in all, you couldn’t ask for better weather during winter in the northeast. So, even with the holiday just beginning, I headed out to the range in hope of getting in one more practice session before storing away the clubs for the winter.

Living in New York City, I don’t usually get time to grind on my game. If I get out to the course, I’m usually playing, and the course is not the best place to work on changing things up in your swing. Despite the limited practice time, I had a pretty solid year of golf as I worked my handicap back into the mid single digits.  

But even with some great rounds under my belt in 2020, there are still plenty of things I want to work on in my swing. Although I can’t practice much, I do take inventory of what needs to be ironed out in my swing. One of the biggest changes I want to make in 2021 is getting shallower as I come into the ball.

With my lanky frame, I play with very high hands in my swing. It’s not the worst position, but it does make it difficult to get shallow on the downswing. This causes me to cut across the ball and play a fade as my typical ball flight (or, if I mishit it, a dreaded slice), but oh do I ever wish I could play a big, beautiful draw.

So, with the forecast in my favor on Christmas Eve, I decided to take some time to really work on shallowing out and change my club path as I come into the ball. I’m not armed with any fancy training aids, but I did use one simple drill that really did start to improve my path.

All you need for this drill is three range balls — one to hit, and the other two to serve as guides. Set up with the ball like normal, and then put one ball outside your club path just behind the first ball. Then, put another inside your club path just in front of the first ball.

The goal of the drill is to hit the center ball without making contact with the other two balls. If you can do this, you’ll know the club path is coming from the inside and help you hit a draw.

Conversely, if you want to hit fades, set the “gate” balls up inversely, with one ball inside your club path behind the ball and one ball outside the path in front of the ball. This will encourage your club to work from out to in and produce a fade.

There are obviously many more factors to shaping the ball than just your club path, but if you struggle losing the ball with hooks or slices (or just want to learn how to work the ball in both directions) try this drill. If you can start controlling the club path coming into the ball, your ball striking will improve dramatically.  

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The post Rory McIlroy has a new swing key that has eliminated the big miss appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory McIlroy has a new swing key that has eliminated the big miss appeared first on Golf.

Rory McIlroy was on some kind of run in the spring. From March of 2019 to March of 2020, he had four wins, 14 top 10s and was named PGA Tour Player of the Year. Then, the world shut down and golf was shuttered for over two months. When play resumed, McIlroy was a shell of his old, dominant self.

Since golf’s restart in June, McIlroy has just two top 10s, and one of them came at the handicap-adjusted Tour Championship. Outside of that and the U.S. Open, McIlroy has been painfully pedestrian. His Strokes Gained: Off the Tee metrics were still in the upper tier, but every other metric ranked him outside the top 70. Hardly the form he wants as he searches for the final leg of the career grand slam.

But in his availability with reporters on Tuesday at Augusta National, McIlroy indicated that he’d found something in his swing: A key change that has him more comfortable than he has been for the last six months.

“I’d say over the last two months I’ve worked on some technical stuff in my swing that I needed to,” he said. “Swing was getting very flat and very deep underneath the plane on the way down.  I feel like I had to sort of hang on to it through impact to hit it straight, where now it’s getting back down on plane, I feel I can fully release it and the ball is going it’s starting straight. I don’t have to feel like I hold onto it to hit a straight shot.”

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It might not seem like McIlroy’s swing has changed much, but when the margins are as slim as they are on Tour, every little tweak is important. When you get your hands too deep (behind you) on the backswing, it can be easy to develop a hook. Coming from the inside and being a touch out of sync will make your hands flip at impact and sent the ball careening left, which is the miss McIlroy was alluding to.

Now, however, he is able to turn fully through the ball without having to rely on timing to hit the ball straight. His hands can fully release without having to “hold on” in order to find fairways.

If this new swing thought can hold up under pressure, we might have a new member of the career grand slam club come Sunday night.

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The post Women’s golf tips: If you’re looking for more solid contact, check your right hand’s position on the grip appeared first on Golf.

The post Women’s golf tips: If you’re looking for more solid contact, check your right hand’s position on the grip appeared first on Golf.

Your only connection to the club is your hands, and the better you swing your arms and hands, the better your body will respond and move throughout your swing.

To that end, it’s important to make sure your right hand is on the handle properly, because your right hand, forearm and elbow play a huge role in your overall swing path. The hinge, the backswing plane, downswing and angle of attack (and therefore, how you use the ground) are all related to the right-hand grip. 

The arms also create speed, so it is imperative to get the right-hand grip on the club correctly, or you will end up making compensating moves to square the face at impact. My good friend and Top 100 Hall of Fame Teacher Mike Adams taught me this simple checkpoint to determine what works for you.

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The right hand can be placed in any one of three ways on the handle. In the picture below, you will see I have my palm on the side of the handle (left), on top of the handle (middle) and under the handle (right). Each of these placements will work. To figure out which one is best for you, close the hand after you move the palm in these three places, and swing the club half way back and through and figure out which feels the most stable.

Once you complete that assessment, put your feet together and tee up five balls to simply work on swinging the clubhead around your body. Initially, you should be looking for a ball to curve to the left. 

After successfully doing that 10 times, spread your feet apart, and allow your body to shift and turn in response to the speed you have created. You’ll enjoy more solid strikes right away.

Want more women’s golf content? Check out our new landing page for all things women’s golf, including news, instruction, gear and more, at golf.com/womensgolf.

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The post 10 things golfers need to do to hit longer drives appeared first on Golf.

The post 10 things golfers need to do to hit longer drives appeared first on Golf.

There aren’t many of us who don’t want to hit the ball farther, especially with our driver. Nothing is more fun than ripping a shot off the tee, approaching the green from close range, and making birdie. A solid, long drive starts the chain of good events. It’s like a domino effect that leads to better golf and lower scores. Here are some fundamentals and techniques that will help you to gain this additional yardage.

1. Groove center contact

While it may seem a bit obvious, hitting your driver properly in the center of the face makes a huge difference. One of the wonders of all of today’s technology is that we can actually measure the percentage of distance loss in off-center hits. You can mark your driver face with face tape or a powder spray that will show you the contact point of the ball and the face. Grove good contact by starting with slow and small swings, with a good grip and setup. Once you find the sweet spot doing that, add speed. I will often say to my students: “As you gain confidence (usually comes with good shots), add speed.

2. Get a good setup

Most of your set up fundamentals apply to all clubs when the ball is on the ground. The driver breaks the rules. Proper ball position should be very forward and typically in line with the lead foot instep. The high tee allows this. When your ball position is forward with your driver, the ability to tilt your shoulders back and away from the target allows the shoulder alignment to stay relatively parallel to the alignment of the face, but yet contact the golf ball on an upward angle where the club makes contact with the back of the ball. It can make a huge difference in distance. A great way to check this is to hug your club in the middle of your chest and then bow forward until the club shaft drops between your legs. Next, tilt away from the target until the club shaft makes contact with your lead leg. This will help you to feel proper bowing posture as well as the tilt away from the target needed to hit longer and often better launching drivers. If you tend to hit your driver solidly but too low, this is often one of the best fundamentals to check.

3. Turn your torso

Now that you are set up well and making good contact, you want to start gathering power. A backswing that is powerful includes an upper body rotating away from the target. While different flexibilities allow for different degrees of rotation on the backswing, this can be adjusted with foot flare. The more your flexibility is limited, the more you should consider turning your toes out to help increase your bodies ability to move. The simplest way that I have discovered to promote this is by keeping your arms connected and in sync with your torso. You can also practice this by crossing your arms close to your chest, like you see my fellow GOLF Top 100 Teacher John Tillery demonstrating above. All this will help you feel a circular rotation away from the target with a more athletic turn.

4. Get a good grip

Have you ever hit a slice? How did it feel? I have and I didn’t enjoy it because the ball goes so depressingly short. One of the quickest paths to hitting your driver longer is a good grip that will produce a square club face at impact. This allows square and direct contact versus and open face with a very glancing feeling at impact. A great practice is placing your lead hand onto the club exactly as it hangs and in the fingers. Try this. Relax your lead arm and let it hand and see what it looks like. How many knuckles do you see? This is how many you should see when your lead hand is on the club. Each and every one of us is different and our grip should match.

5. Swing in a circle

A golf swing is a circle and proper swing path has a lot to do with maximizing distance. A club head that cuts across the golf ball will produce a glancing contact and not produce the distance you might like. A great way to insure proper path is to practice with an alignment aid just outside your golf ball. This will help proper swing path at impact. Great posture, grip and rotation on your backswing are the building blocks to produce this.

6. Speed with your hands and arms

You can produce an incredible amount of speed with your hands and arms alone. Two moments come to mind that made a big impression on me that show the value of this.

I remember watching Jim Flick teach at PGA National to a school of students and he asked them where power was created. The group of students had a lot of different answers and he then sat in a chair, picked his feet off of the ground and pounded drivers down the middle of the fairway using only his hands and arms. It was impressionable and memorable.

On a separate occasion, I had a long drive contest with my friend Kathy Hart’s brother, Dudley, where he hit from his knees and I could make my regular swing. Yes, he won. The value of generating speed from your hands and arms is a huge part of distance. And I am certainly not saying that your body doesn’t add to this, but this is certainly an important part of distance. When you hold your driver properly, it is important not to squeeze so tightly that this tension works it way up your hands, and arms so that you are able to take advantage of this.

A great practice is to hold the club so that you are able to feel the weight of of the club head throughout your swing.

7. Get fit

If you could buy more distance, would you? I would and I did. Being fit for your driver, by a premium clubfitter like True Spec (editor’s note: True Spec and GOLF are owned by the same parent company, 8am Golf) or even just taking advantage of demo days you may have at your club or in your area will allow you to try new technology that may help you to hit the ball farther. Having the proper loft, shaft flex and driver length are all a part of this equation. The fitters have an incredible amount of product knowledge that can help you to max our your potential. And while it can get a bit expensive, the club shaft is also known as the “engine” of the club. For the increased enjoyment that you may gain, this expense is certainly a consideration.

8. Try Speed Training

For the small percentage of golfers who naturally have speed, I am happy for you (but a bit jealous). For the rest of us, we need to practice to gain and maintain speed. One of the simplest ways is to take one of your woods or your driver and turn it upside down and hold the shaft just below the club head. Making your normal swing, you will want to make the grip make as loud of a swooshing noise at the bottom of your swing, where the ball would be. As you swing the grip of your club, try to increase the speed and therefore the pitch of the swoosh. One of my favorite training systems is SuperSpeed Golf. The system is not particularly time consuming and has a real track record of increased distance.

(Editor’s note: Get 20% off on SuperSpeed using code golfmag20 at checkout)

9. Know when to swing hard

The more you play your course or courses you play regularly, you will find landing zones where the ball lands and kicks forward. You can see this as you watch golf on television where the professionals have amazing control of their ball flight. Often they are great at knowing where to land the golf ball to take advantage of speed slots that project the ball forward and help to yield shorter approaches to the green.

10. Play the right golf ball

Does the right golf ball make a difference? Yes! It does. It can be incredibly confusing with all of the options out there and the names and design characteristics change every year. Some companies offer ball fittings, and if you have the opportunity to take advantage of this you should. If not, feel free to ask your club professional what golf ball they think you should try and start there. It can also be fun to try your own experiment. Ask for three suggestions and try each. I think you will be surprised how obvious it is when you find the right golf ball for you.

Drive for show and drive longer for lower scores. Bryson DeChambeau certainly showed us the value of distance in the U.S. Open recently. His pure strength and distance were able to overpower the rough and the course. It certainly would be nice to hit it as far as he does, but I think each of us would be happy just hitting it farther than we do now. It certainly makes the rest of our golf games easier, but the fun factor with hitting that “big drive for you” is a lot of fun.

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