Archive for December, 2012

Creating Good Impact

Future Superstar

I was working with a young junior today on creating a much more solid impact, delivering everything at the right time and on time. This leads to much more consistency in many ways – angle of attack, swing path, shape of shot, power, distance control and much much more.

    GREAT IMPACT CONDITIONS HERE              

  TO AGGRESSIVE WITH THE RIGHT SIDE

As we progressed with the lesson as we always do, after a good solid warm up we filmed his swing from a few different angles and then we could analyse what needed to be changed and improved in this young Sussex County player.

To start with he was getting to much action with his right side and therefore all the power was spent by the time he reached impact, this had an effect on distance, accuracy and constancy amongst other things. We needed to really get to the root cause of this and start to get more control in delivering the right side on time, every time.

The swing was on a great path in the backswing with great plane being achieved at the midway stage in the backswing. At the top of the swing, the club was in a great position with the body maintaining the angles, it looked very dynamic and strong. The clubface however was a tiny bit closed at the top of the backswing and this was leading to that very early and aggressive body rotation through impact. He basically needed to try to “hold” the clubface off through impact, not letting it close down too much as this was resulting in a ball flight with too much right to left shape. The tiny change that we needed to make was in the left hand grip, it was a bit to strong and this was the root cause of the impact conditions. Once we had put the left hand into a great neural position at the set up, the clubface instantly sat in a good square position at the top of his backswing. He could then start to control his body motion much stronger through impact resulting in a much more powerful, penetrating 2 yard drawing ball flight which had instant control.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

Stand the Right Distance to the Ball every time

This is a great way of achieving the correct distance to the ball every time

Many golfers’ posture problems stem from the fact that they are unable to position their body the correct distance from the ball at address. This can often lead to poor posture, which in turn causes a number of faults.

For example, standing too close to the ball can promote an overly steep backswing. Likewise, standing too far away from the ball could encourage you to create a swing path that is too flat.

However there is a simple check that you can make at the address position, which will ensure that you are always standing the correct distance from the ball. First take up your normal address position with the clubhead placed behind the ball but holding the club only in your right hand (left hand for left handed golfers.) Then with your right arm allowed to hang down vertically from the shoulder, without looking down towards the handle of the club, swing your other hand across naturally until the palm touches the handle.

Now check the position of your right hand. If it is touching the handle of the club well below your left hand, then you are set up too close to the ball.

If however, your right hand is actually above your left, then you are standing too far away from the ball.

If you are in the correct position, then your right hand should naturally fall into place in exactly the correct spot to enable you to take up your grip on the handle of the club without any additional alterations.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

The Duffed Shot

THE DUFFED SHOT

A duff is when the club strikes the ground before the ball. It’s one of golf’s most infuriating shots, as you can follow a screaming drive 280 yards with a 20-yard fluff.

THE PROBLEM

The reason for a case of the duffs lies in not getting your weight forward during the downswing. It leaves the majority of your weight on the back foot at impact. Instead of moving subtly towards the target, your head moves away from it. Often, your front heel lifts up off the ground leaving the hands to get very active and trying to scoop the ball up into the air. It creates a horrible turf-first, ball second contact.

 THE CURE

What you need here is a more positive move through the ball. You want to feel a slight lateral movement towards the target as you unwind on the downswing. With this move your right heel should be lifted up off the ground at impact, with the majority of the body weight on the front foot.

Here’s a great drill to make this happen. Hit shots with your back heel lifted up off the floor during the entire swing. If you don’t fancy simply lifting the heel off the ground, place a ball underneath it. This sets your spine angle more forward at address, with the majority of the body weight forward. It makes for a much more positive move through the ball, with your weight moving forwards. Don’t worry too much about where the ball goes – just get used to feeling of moving forward through the ball, and note how this drill promotes a ball-turf-contact.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

 

THE SHANK SHOT

THE SHANK

 The Shank crops up when the ball is hit right out of the hosel or neck of the golf club and ends up going sideways, almost at right angles to the intended line of flight.

THE PROBLEM

The shank can often be traced back to a faulty set up. Usually the posture is too stooped with the hands too low at the address. It all goes hand-in-hand with standing too close to the ball.

This tends to encourage the golfer to drift out towards the ball during either the backswing or the downswing. That moves the centre of the clubface out towards the outer edge of the golf ball, leaving the hosel of the golf club to strike the middle of the ball. You will normally lose your balance towards your toes, and fell unstable during the follow- through.

THE CURE

It is vital you work on your set up. Pay special attention to your posture and your distance from the ball. This drill will help:

Stand upright, with a clubshaft pressed up against your front running from your chin to your knees.

Keeping the shaft pressed against your front, bend forwards from the hips until you feel the weight move into your     toes.

Flex your knees to counterbalance yourself. You should now feel your weight under the middle of your feet.

Lower the club and address the ball with it. The ball should feel a lot further away from you.

DRILLS

Once you have settled into your good posture and set up position, it is very important to keep those angles throughout your swing to avoid that drift into the ball. Here are two ways to help you:

1 TOE CURLER

Curl your toes upwards inside your shoes, and make sure you keep them that way throughout the golf swing. Your weight cannot now slip forward on to your toes.

 2 BOX CLEVER

Put an object such as a pencil or ball box down just outside the ball as you practise. This will help stop you drifting forward, towards the ball.

 

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

 

Improve your Putting Distance Control

Putt Better – Score Better

I wrote this Article for Play Better Golf Magazine a few years ago on how improve your distance control in putting, which we all know adds up to over half the game. I was looking at Luke Donald stats on putting the other day and on average every round of golf that he plays, he has 7 one putts per round…. Not bad at all!!

Maybe that is why he is at the top of his golf right now…..

Anyway below is the article that I wrote, enjoy the read and adopt the putting routine..

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PUTTING – CONTROL YOUR SPEED

STAR MAN: LUKE DONALD

Building an irstinctive link between his eyes and hands has helped Luke become one of the lag putters.

This picture captures him sizing up the putt visually….. and feeling the length of swing needed to take the ball there. Great touch putting is as much about using and trusting your eyes as good technique.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex