Improve your playing ability

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

To take your playing ability to the next level, you need to learn to draw the ball. To hit a draw, start your club back more to the inside. Get your clubhead inside your hands when the club shaft is horizontal. Also, you need to keep your clubface square to your swing path. Don’t try to keep the toe straight up by rotating your forearms.

As you continue back, make sure your wrists are hinging. Let them hinge early, so about halfway, you create a 90-degree angle between your left arm and the club shaft. Getting obsessed with a wide swing arc, you won’t often get your wrists hinged fully. You cannot enjoy power and accuracy if you fail to cock your wrists. To hinge your wrists fully, you need to stay relaxed and grip your club lightly.

The worst mistake you can often make on the downswing is to lunge forward as you start your downswing. To avoid this fault, you need to start your downswing with your lower body. Begin your downswing by shifting your left knee toward the target so it gets over your left foot. You can simply move your left hip to the left toward the target. Or, just stand more on your left foot. That moves your lower body forward and keeps your club to the inside. That will eventually put you in a position to “attack” your ball.

Once you’ve shifted forward, you need to brace your left leg against the ground. To this end, you must straighten your left knee through your shot. That helps you firm up your left side, allowing you to build up more leverage. That way you can hit against your left side and rotate around it as you go through.

Also, with your club approaching from the inside, you can hit your ball with a flat left wrist. You can fully extend your arms out, too.

Succinctly, get your clubhead inside your hands, shift your hips left and straighten your left leg through your shot.

Think of hitting your driver from the fairway. To hit your ball longer, you can use your driver from the fairway, provided you have a good, even lie. Simply position your ball about where you play your fairway woods. Don’t try to add loft to your driver, trying to hit up on your ball. That will inflict fat or thin shots on you.

Instead, trust that the loft of your driver will do its job. Typically, you’ll put more backspin on your ball when you strike it on the lower half of the face. This is the club maker’s idea when they design the driver head. So don’t try to scoop your ball. Make a smooth, level swing and let your club do the work.

You will hit a low fade. Consider this when you aim your club. Your driver off the fairway is a great shot for keeping your ball low and out of the wind. More importantly, your ball will fly a long way. Stay level, finishing low and around on your left leg.

To hit your ball accurately, you need to keep your eyes level to the ground during your entire swing. That helps you preserve a consistent swing plane. Practice this in front of a mirror. Watch yourself as you slowly turn back and through. If you can keep your eyes level, you'll hit much more solid, accurate shots.

Simply driving your legs toward the target on the downswing makes it hard to control the angle your club swings on. Instead, push your legs and feet into the ground. That will stabilize your body, presenting more chances of rotating your body as fast as you can. That way you can add speed to your swing and hit your ball as hard as you want without worrying about losing control.

To this end, you need to get into a good posture first by bending from your hips, not your waist. Also, you need to feel the inside muscles of your legs tighten. That helps you push into the ground.

If you are looking for more power, let your right elbow come up away from your side at the top. Pinning your elbow to your side puts your club in a low, flat position. Then, you will lunge ahead of your ball on the downswing to hit it rather than swing your arms down. You will incur pulls or pull-slices.

Keep your hips between your feet as you turn them and lead with your right elbow on the downswing. That way you will swing your club down to the inside and create more power.

The longer you leave your feet planted, the more leverage and power you can create. Don’t immediately get up on the toes of your right foot as you begin your downswing. That pushes your right knee and hip to move forward toward your ball, spelling too steep a downswing. You will cut across your ball, making pulls, pull-slices or pull-hooks.

To keep your right heel flat on the ground, focus on your weight shift. Focus on shifting your weight from the inside of your right heel to the ball of your left foot. That way your feet will remain planted, your hips turning on the correct angle. You will enjoy more power when you hit your ball.