Distance is valuable off the tee, and it is also critical from the fairway.
Our goal is to get that ball on the green in regulation. In order to achieve this, we need to strike it solid on a regular basis. In this lesson, we’ll discuss the main culprits that zap distance from the fairway.
These culprits include backswing NO-NOs such as:
Overswinging
Left-Arm Breakdown
Lateral Slide
As we transition into the downswing, we’ll discuss:
Releasing our angles too early and what we need to do to keep them.
We discussed overswinging in the bad shot fixes off the tee and it’s the same deal from the fairway. A club well beyond parallel with our weight failing to transfer to our back foot makes it a real challenge to get back to the ball. Instead, we need to load into our backswing by focusing on our feet. Feel the ground with your feet, bear into the ground, and turn against this with your upper body. At the top of your backswing, you should feel the pressure points on the inside of your back foot and inner thigh. I almost feel like my back hip is going back toward the target and that I am sitting into my back hip. This is a good feeling to have. By doing this, you’ll coil instead of slide and your backswing will be compact and powerful, not long and sloppy.
Another big culprit is the left-arm breakdown. In fact, I see this more often then the overswing. If your left arm bends at the top of your swing, your killing the arc of the golf swing. A shorter arc equals less distance. Instead, we need to maintain the triangle and turn this triangle to the top; keeping my left arm straight, not rigid. I like to feel my hands far from my head at the top. Work on this at home in the mirror to visually see a straight left arm.
And lastly, let’s discuss club angles. Releasing our angles before the club reaches the ball kills any shot for distance. Instead, we need to keep the angles created during our backswing well into the downswing. And as we release the angles through impact, we get that amazing pop as the ball flies off the club’s face at warp speed. Angles are lost if we fail to initiate with our legs. It’s the change of direction that creates that lag. That can only happen if you start the downswing with your legs, which drops the club in the slot ready for delivery.