Hitting solid shots improves ball-striking ability
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By Kim Jeong-kyoo
To improve your ball-striking ability, you need to learn to hit your ball solidly. Also, you need to speed up your club through your ball. Striving to increase your club head speed to the full, however, can rob you of your chance of making solid shots. To hit your ball consistently well, focus on your body movements so you can swing your club properly. Several keys here will help you hit your ball far and accurately.
1. Use your whole body
To hit your ball far, you need to let your whole body move freely. Limiting your body motion, you cannot make your club head travel fastest through your ball.
To prove this, throw a ball using only your hands and arms, keeping your hips and shoulders still. Then, throw the ball again, using your entire body. You will throw the ball longer when you use your shoulders and hips. The same applies to your golf swing. To speed up your club to the full through your shot, you need to use your entire body. Using your whole body, you will swing your club on plane and on the correct path.
2. Shift your weight first before you begin your downswing
Begin your downswing only after you have shifted your weight to your left side. To this end, roll your left ankle or move your left knee to the left. You can also shift your left hip left to move your weight to the left.
Incidentally, you need to leave your shoulders turned for as long as possible as you begin your downswing. You can carry out any move promoting the resistance between your lower body and upper body. The more resistance you create, the farther you will hit your ball.
If you start your downswing after you shift your weight, your club will drop about waist-high. All you have to do to hit your ball firmly is to rotate your body quickly through your ball. You will hit your ball more powerfully and accurately.
3. Make a three-quarter swing to loosen your wrists
A looser swing gets your club to move faster than a tighter swing. So, start loosening your wrists as you swing your club. Toward this end, make a three-quarter swing, or even a half swing. That allows your wrists to loosen up automatically. You can do that at home. You can do it at your practice range. Do it before you tee off. Do it while you are playing. Do that repeatedly until you feel your three-quarter swing is natural.
Imagine your club is the door and your arms are the door frame. Your wrists are the hinge. Now, think about opening and closing your door. Your goal is allowing the door to swing freely back and forth.
Keep this image in your mind as you swing your club. To swing your club the way the door opens and closes, you need to loosen your wrists. Your wrists will feel different. You need that different feeling to improve your ball-striking ability.
Practice hinging your wrists, making the three-quarter swing until you feel comfortable with the new feeling. You’ll use your wrists most effectively, hitting your ball as far and straight as you want.
4. Carry out your finish like the swing on the PGA tour logo
To hit your ball as far as you can to your satisfaction, you need to straighten your arms fully immediately after you hit the ball. That way you will release fully. To ensure you extend your arms fully, carry out your finish like on the PGA Tour logo. Finish your swing with your arms extended and your hands above your head. Don’t drop your club over your left shoulder. Your torso stays flexed forward, your spine tilted back. Forget about finishing with everything over your front leg.
5. Make your follow-through bigger than your backswing
To hit your ball consistently, you need to make your swing compact. For a compact swing, shorten your backswing, enlarging your follow-through. Indeed, your golf swing needs to be shorter and more compact. With a shortened backswing, you can better control your swing, hitting your ball more consistently. Better yet, you won’t lose your power and distance. Or rather, you’ll unleash your torque into your powerful downswing action at a timely moment.
Playing baseball, you can carry out a simple, repeated swinging motion as you don’t swing your bat way back. The same holds true for your golf swing. With a compact backswing, you will have less wasted swing motion. You will eventually improve your consistency as you’ll swing your club more repeatedly.
When you swing your club, let your left arm go back low, not high above your right shoulder. That way you will get your arms and torso working together during your swing. That also helps keep your lower body stable. You will build a solid tempo, enjoying a strong, balanced swing. Granted, you need to turn your shoulders fully and hinge your wrists.
Once you’ve made a compact backswing, just focus on making a full follow-through with your hands above your left shoulder. Your goal is making your follow-through bigger than your backswing.
You don’t need to think about your swing path or detailed body movements. With a shortened backswing, you will naturally come down to the inside and better turn your body through your shot. You will immediately start hitting your ball more solidly.
If you cut down your swing and use more force right at impact, you will get much more distance. A long, high backswing will rarely help you speed up your club to the maximum through your shot.
6. Stay in your address posture
At address, you bend forward from your hips, creating an angle between your spine and lower body. If you want to hit solid shots, you need to preserve your address posture until well after you hit your ball.
If you stand up out of your posture on the backswing, you’ll turn your shoulders on too flat a plane. When that happens, you are apt to swing your arms too far to the inside. Swinging your club back too far inside, you cannot get back down to your ball on plane. To swing your club on plane, you need to turn your shoulders around the spine angle you set up at address.
The more you rotate your shoulders around a consistent spine axis, the more consistent contact you can enjoy. You will also speed up your club more easily, hitting your ball farther. To this end, focus on preserving the forward tilt of your spine set at address. That will help you turn your left shoulder under your right shoulder.
Succinctly, preserve your address posture until well after you hit your ball. If you stand up on your backswing, you have to lower your height on the downswing. This deprives you of the chance to hit your ball consistently successfully.