Invariable tips for producing solid strikes

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

Korea Times Golf Columnist

There are many approaches to the swing that players claim definitely help improve ball-striking ability, but most rarely work. Here are five eternal and unchanging in-swing keys that are instrumental in hitting the ball to the best of your abilities.

Shift your weight where the clubhead goes

On days when your swing is nowhere near as dynamic as usual, focus on your weight shift, going back and coming down. This is probably because you are neglecting to shift your weight or shifting it in the wrong way.

Your bodyweight has to follow the clubhead. On the backswing allow your bodyweight and the clubhead to move together to the right away from the target, moving them to the left toward the target on the downswing.

Crucially, avoid too abrupt a weight shift to the left in the initial stage of the downswing. This inhibits you from staying behind the ball at impact, which is absolutely necessary to create an ideal in-to-out swing path and to square the clubface through impact.

Undoubtedly, you have to shift your weight to the left at the start of the downswing but you must also take care to keep most of your body behind the ball through the shot.

Keep the clubshaft parallel at four positions

Whenever the clubshaft is horizontal to the ground, it should be parallel to the target line. That is essential to hit the ball far and straight. When you start to hit the ball all over the place, take a couple of practice swings, focusing on getting the clubshaft to stay parallel to the target line and horizontal to the ground at four positions: at waist level on the backswing, top of the backswing, waist height on the downswing and waist height on the follow-through.

Adjust the speed of the arm swing

To hit the ball far and straight with an effortless, harmonious swing you need to synchronize your arm swing with the body turn from takeaway to finish.

When you are desperate for added power and distance, you are prone to swinging your arms too quickly causing you to end up in hot water. Trying too much to gain extra yards tends to unwittingly push yourself to hit the ball hard from the top. You will come over the top, looping the club outward toward the target line. This over-the-top move, in turn, forces you to cut across the ball, causing a pull or a pull slice.

Similarly, if your arms move too slowly during the downswing and fail to keep up with your body movement, the ball will travel to the right of the target.

In either case, you cannot hit the ball as far and straight as you want.

To produce straight shots, you have to speed up your arm swing if the ball starts to travel to the right of the target; if the ball starts to travel to the left, you need to slow down your arm swing by holding your hands and arms longer at the top-of-the-backswing position. Then, the ball will start to fly straight toward the intended target.

Crucially, the arms move faster and are easier to control than the legs or body. So, when you want to synchronize your arm swing and body turn, you’d better think of adjusting the speed of the arm swing rather than that of the body turn. It’s always wise to slow down the arm swing rather than attempt to speed up body turn.

Avoid trying to fix something during the swing

Once your swing starts, you cannot control it. It’s even hard to stop it. There is almost nothing you can do properly in such a blink of the eye. You simply cannot react that quickly.

When your swing turns sour, avoid trying to fix it during the swing. Try to find out and get rid of the root causes in your poor backswing, which usually stem from incorrect pre-swing preparations including grip, posture, alignment and ball position.

It’s always wise to go back to your pre-swing basics when you find yourself struggling to produce successful shots. Nothing can be fixed during the swing.

Employ your body

Power comes from the hands and arms but it also calls for a good body motion. To check to see if this is true, assume your normal address position with the clubhead behind the ball. Then, without swinging the club away from the ball, try to get the ball into the air.

Using your hands and arms only, you will have difficulty succeeding in doing so. However, you’ll get the ball airborne without much difficulty if you employ your body to move the club. This proves that you need to use your body for a more effective, powerful swing.

After all, correct arm swing, coupled with a good body motion, ensures a good golf swing. A powerful swing is not dominated by the hands and arms only. It definitely requires a good body motion.