Posts Tagged ‘Golf Lessons Sussex’

Cupped Wrist, Across the Line, Flying Elbow, Open Clubface

Hooks, Blocks, Push Cuts, Duffs etc….

A lot of golfers are searching for a great top of the backswing position and really struggle to find it and here is why.

The Picture above is a classic example of a flying elbow, cupped wrist and across the line position that I see amongst many golfers at my facility. These lead to poor shaped shots (blocks, hooks, push cuts etc…) and most certainly miss – hit shots from all over the clubface with a mixture of heavy and thinned golf shots. Sometimes there is a physical element that causes this position at the top, in which we do a quick flexibility test to see how mobile the arms and shoulders are, as the range of motion can be limited through injury or lack of flexibility. Some golfers can just have too much flexibility and just be completely unaware of where they are swinging up to in the backswing.  Once we have established the clients ROM we can then proceed in the below exercise on making them aware of the  feelings the correct position for them at the top of the backswing should feel like.

Grip the golf club with the Left Hand below the right for right handed golfers and the opposite for left handed golfers (right below left). Picture above.

Good position at the Top

Swinging up to the top of the backswing will feel very different, it will feel more restricted, the left wrist (for right handed golfers) will be much flatter the right elbow will be much more down and in more in front of the body. This will lead to the shaft being much more “in the slot” and the clubface will be square (leading edge matched up to the left arm). Your body will be much more in balance and engaged with the movements you are making. To start with, you will feel that you are doing less as there are fewer moving parts. Try to use a mirror when doing this exercise to link up the feel with the visual.

Your shot shape and distance will improve dramatically and so will the ball striking with the centred strikes off the clubface.

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

MIND OVER MECHANICS

THE FAULT

Many golfers struggle on the greens because they often make what is in reality a fairly simple physical action, much more difficult, mainly through thinking too much about the mechanical action of their putting stroke.

When the physical aspects of putting take over it can often lead to a loss of feel for your putts and good feel is essential, both for your stroke and also when it comes to judgement of distance.

So if you are experiencing problems with this aspect of your game try this simple drill that will help get that essential feel back into your putting stroke.

THE CURE

Next time you have a few minutes to spare prior to a round of golf or even during a practise session, find a quiet spot on the putting green and try this simple drill. Take up your normal putting stance, but before you actually hit the ball, take several practice strokes looking directly towards the hole instead of down at the ball.

Try to visualise the length and pace of stroke that would be required to roll the ball the required distance. And if possible, try also to picture the ball rolling towards the target on the given line and into the hole in your mind’s eye.

As you swing the putter gently back and through, you should start to become much more aware of the weight of the putter head and the pace of your stroke. You will soon discover that your natural feel for distance and pace will become the dominant factors in your putting stroke, rather than the physical mechanics of the stroke.

Then when you get out onto the golf course, try to introduce the same “feel” drill into your pre – shot putting routine.

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 TOPPED/THINNED SHOT

The thin appears when the golfer fails to get the leading edge of the club to the bottom of the ball. Instead it makes contact halfway up the back of the ball, which results in the ball running along the ground. This particular shot pattern is common to the beginner. The one thing they want to do is to get the ball up into the air. Ironically, it’s the scooping action this desire generates that causes the ball to bumble along the ground.

THE PROBLEM

Contrary to what most people believe, a top shot is rarely caused by the old adage of “you lifted your head”. The main reason for this particular shot is that the golfer tries to lift the ball into the air, the club rising as it meets the ball. This tends to make their left arm buckle as the club approaches the ball, narrowing the swing radius. The club swings upward, shortening the swing arc that was established at set up.

THE CURE

A great practise drill is to hit balls on the range with an object 12 inches behind the ball (fig 1). It could be anything, a tee peg or a pencil for example.

With an object behind the ball, your attention switches to making a sharper and steeper angle of attack – you don’t want the club to smash into the pencil. This creates a more downward blow, the club striking ball then turf (fig 2). This is the ideal contact for pure, well-struck iron shots – and for ditching that top/thinned shot.

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

READY, STEADY, GO

Improve your golf with a great Pre – Shot Routine

Many golfers on the Worldwide Tours all have one thing in common – A PRE SHOT ROUTINE….

A Pre – Shot Routine is very important as it helps get you set up and ready for the shot, a lot of mistakes I see golfers make each and every day is poor alignment and poor stances…. You may ask well how will a pre – shot routine help me??

Well by having a great pre shot routine, it will get you ready for the shot, it will switch you on with the shot you are about to play, get you fully engaged with the purpose of what you WANT to ACHIEVE  and it will give you a much higher percentage of achieving the good outcome, the one that you set out to do…

Have a read below of an article I wrote back in 2003, and you will see how a good routine will help your golf.

THE FAULT

One of the first things I look for when I take a pupil on the course for a playing lesson is how they set up to hit the ball. In most cases of many beginners they simply walk up on the tee, stand to the ball, and then let it fly. Furthermore, the way in which they prepare to make their swing can often change from shot to shot and as a result, produce some pretty erratic results, mainly because they don’t use a repetitive pre shot routine.

Watch the top pro’s on every main worldwide tour and you will see one thing in common amongst the players, they all have a pre shot routine, in which they follow the same step by step process prior to hitting every shot.

THE DRILL

This routine has two key functions. Firstly, it ensures that you always remember to check the key aspects of your set up, such as alignment, ball position, grip etc.

Secondly, having a pre shot routine, helps to create a repetitive sequence of actions that have a continuous flow, which should start as you step up to each and every shot and finish as you start the club back from 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

GRIP CHECK TEST

For many golfers, especially those who are fairly new to the game, faults often happen as the result of poor fundamentals in the set up including the all-important grip, rather than a poor swing. Here is a simple drill that can help you establish a good grip which will help keep your game on track.

First, take up your address position and grip the club as you would normally. Then cock your wrists directly in front of you at a 90 degree angle and look down at your grip.

If you can see three knuckles on your left hand and less than one on your right, then you have a strong grip that could cause you to hook the ball and also hit the occasional fat shot.

Alternatively, if when you look down at your grip you can see three knuckles on your right hand and only one on your left, then your grip is overly weak and this can cause you to slice the ball.

A Neutral grip would show two knuckles on both hands but for many amateur golfers, especially those who are not physically strong, then using a grip that is slightly stronger, with at least two and a half knuckles showing on the left hand will usually produce the best results.

Ideally, spend some time on the practise ground or at your local driving range, experimenting with different grips, from weak to strong, until you find the one that you are most comfortable with and which helps you to achieve greater accuracy, distance and the type of ball flight you prefer.

It’s always a good idea to regularly check that you are gripping the club the way you think you are and this simple drill only takes a few seconds to carry out.      

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

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.

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

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

 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:

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

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

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

4 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

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..

href=”http://blog.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/putt1.png”>

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