Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Setup Lessons... 4 The Grip... 4 Ball Positioning... 5 Posture... 7 Alignment... 9 Swing Lessons - Step 1... 11 Swing Lesson - Step 2... 21 The Loop Drill... 24 Standing Baseball/Softball Drill... 28 Swing Lessons - Step 3... 29 Conclusion... 36 Page 2 of 36
Introduction This program was put together to help you fix your swing plane problems. To do this you need to understand how the golf swing works, and it's very simple. You see What happens at impact is the result of what happened in the downswing. What happened in the downswing is the result of what happened when you transitioned from the backswing to downswing. What happened in the transition is a result of what happened in the backswing. And what happens in the backswing is determined by what happened during the take away. Finally, what happened in the take away is largely the result of how you setup. The point is, you can't take the golf swing in isolation and say for example, "My divots are pointing left at impact so I need to fix that." Because what happens at impact is simply the result of everything that went before. So to fix inconsistent ball striking problems you have to go back to the beginning and work from there. Because the golf swing is a chain reaction, and it all starts with the way you setup to the ball. So before we get into this program proper we're going to look quickly at the setup first. Page 3 of 36
Setup Lessons The Grip The way you place your hands on the grip will largely dictate how you swing the club. So it is very, very important you get this right. And there s so much information on how to form a grip that it s pretty pointless to give you step-by-step instructions here, because you can get information almost anywhere on how to form the golf grip and for free. But I believe I have a better solution rather than just following some step-by-step how to form a grip instructions. But just so we ve got all bases covered in this program here is a video of how to form the grip. Before watching it, please don t get distracted by the contents. Just watch it and then keep reading because what I have to say after the video is very important. Ok, so that s a good video on how to form the golf grip with pretty standard how to information. And if you followed that advice it may help you but probably not long term and here s why. You probably have already followed instructions like in that video to get your hands into a good position. Then the next time you go out to play golf you may try to use the new grip, but chances are that you ll just go back to your old grip because that s what you re used to. It s an ingrained habit. Now habits can either work for you or against you. In your case with the habitual way you grip the club it could be hurting your golf swing and makes golf much harder than it needs to be for you. So you could watch all the How To Form A Golf Grip video s Page 4 of 36
you want, but the only way you are going to make a real change is to form a NEW habit. You see, when you grip a golf club it should not be a conscious act to do it. You need to take your grip subconsciously and automatically so you step up to the golf ball with a great golf grip that will help you to hit the golf ball as long and far as possible, and here s the best way of doing that. Get an old club and get a training grip like this one to put on it. Once you have a training grip on an old golf club then keep the club somewhere handy to you throughout the day and practice forming your grip regularly. For example, every day practice forming your good golf grip at least 10 times a day. You could do this in less than a minute in total each day, but it s a very valuable way of training yourself to grip the club automatically so that you give yourself the most chance of a good swing as possible. So that's the basics of how you should train yourself to have a good grip. But before we move onto ball position I I must mention relaxation. Your hands, arms and wrists must be relaxed when practicing and using your grip. Most golfers have way too much tension in their arms, wrists and hands, which stops the club from working as it should. And a good technique to reduce tension over a shot is to tense your arms, hands and wrists as hard as possible before a shot. By doing this you ll reduce the chances of tension creeping in when you are hitting your shots. And in fact, this is a good technique to use before every golf shot. Make it a habit and you'll have a lot looser hands when swinging. So there you go, that's the golf grip covered, let's now move onto Ball Positioning When you swing a golf club to the best of your ability you do so without any conscious thoughts. Or in other words you swing the club automatically using your subconscious mind. And the better and more consistent your setup the more you'll be able to swing automatically. But one huge determining factor as to whether or not you become a consistent ball Page 5 of 36
striker will be where you position the ball in your stance and how consistently you get the ball positioned where it needs to be for each club. Because if your ball is positioned poorly then you'll need to make a lot of compensations as you swing and this will mean you'll greatly lack consistency. So now you know this, here's where you need to position the ball in your stance to become a consistent ball striker. For your Driver and 3 Wood your ball should be positioned directly off your left foot instep. For your 2-iron through to 6-iron (includes hybrids) your ball should be positioned a ball width inside your left instep. Finally for your 7-iron through to 9-iron your ball should be positioned two ball widths inside your left instep. So there you go that's where you should position the ball for all the clubs in your bag. But after reading this you may be wondering why three ball positions is recommended when it would be so much easier to have just one ball position. Well, here's the reason. When you swing a driver you need a more sweeping motion than you do with say a 5-iron. And if you had just one ball position for both of these clubs then you would have to adjust your swing consciously to produce the correct swing motion (i.e. a sweeping one for a driver and a more downward blow with a 5-iron) and that's not good. Now like the grip, it is very easy to get into bad habits as far as ball position is concerned. So the best piece of advice I can give you as far as ball position is concerned is that every time you are practicing you should setup a hitting station that forces you to get the ball positioned correctly. To do this simply place a club down from the back of the ball to go in between your feet. Then position your left foot so it s touching the golf club for a driver. Remember when doing this, that you hit the back of the ball. So you want your ball position aid to be from the back of the ball. You can buy things like this to help you do this but golf club work just as well. Page 6 of 36
As I have said, getting the ball positioned correctly is a habitual skill and to help you further improve in this area here is what you should do. At home find some alignment aids that will help you to setup with a ball positioned correctly. Tiles or floorboards work well for this. Ball Position Alignment Aid At Home! Place a ball on a line and setup to the ball with your driver (or any other club you want) and make sure your ball is positioned perfectly for that club. Again remember, you hit the back of the ball so take the line from the back of the ball. This is something you can obviously do at home, anytime. If you don t have any alignment aids on your floor at home simply use golf clubs and practice setting up to a ball with your ball positioned perfectly for the club you re using. So like the grip.where you position the ball in your stance is a habit. So practice your golf grip and ball position at the same time. If you have a club with a training grip on it then you can do this easily and at anytime. All right, now you understand that, let's now look at your. Posture If you really want to improve your ball striking you must have a good athletic posture position. Now to achieve such a position is really, really easy, but unfortunately most golfers either don t place enough importance on posture or they think their posture is OK. Sadly, most amateur golfers have terrible posture and they don t realize what an impact posture has on the swing itself. But like I said a second ago, it s really easy to have good posture and here s the simple steps you need to take to get into a good posture position. Step 1. Stand up straight with your feet about shoulder width apart. Step 2. Flex your knees slightly to take the straightness out of them. Step 3. Place a club along your spine (downwards). Page 7 of 36
Step 4. Bend forward making sure that your spine remains straight using the golf club to check this. When you do this you want your backside to move back as you bend because it creates a balanced and more centered posture position. Naturally for a driver you won t need to be as bent over as you would if you re using a wedge. Step 5. The final step is to move your left hip slightly towards your target (or the right hip for lefties). This is a critical step as it places your head behind the ball, Once in this position, you can set up with a club as if to hit a ball. And you ll either have to bend over more or stand up straighter, depending on what club you are using. For example, you will have to bend over more for a wedge than you would for a driver simply because a wedge is quite a bit shorter than a driver is. You should practice this posture exercise a lot so it becomes second nature. And use different clubs when practicing so that you can become accustomed to this new setup with all the clubs in your bag. Now here is a picture showing you the posture position you should be in after you have completed these steps and setting up with a driver. OK, I know this may not be the most exciting thing you've ever done but these setup fundamentals are critical if you're ever going to improve your swing plane. So keep persevering to make them a habit. Page 8 of 36
Alignment Alignment is really, really easy. Because you simply want all parts of your body (e.g. feet, knees, hips, shoulders) parallel to the starting line of your target. To help you imagine the perfect alignment picture a railway track. The ball should be on one railway track and the feet on the other track and then all parts of your body knees, hips, shoulders etc. should be aligned to the left track. Imagine A Railway Track Going Towards Your Target Here is a picture of a golfer with perfect alignment (and posture). Perfect Alignment To check your feet alignment setup to a golf shot as normal and once you re all set then get your golf club and put it behind your heels (or you can use golf balls). After you have done this walk away behind your ball and see where your feet where aligned. If necessary make changes to your feet alignment so you are aligned correctly. And by correctly, I mean all of your body parts i.e. feet, knees, hips and shoulders all parallel to the starting line of your golf ball. Another good way of checking your alignment is to get someone to take a picture of you setting up to a golf shot. Or you can practice setting up in front of a large window where you can see your reflection (or a mirror), but so that you have a down the line view of your alignment. Once you re setup then look in the window or mirror and see Page 9 of 36
how your alignment is. Before we move onto the actual fix your swing plane program here s one final important point on alignment. One big common mistake golfers make when setting up to the golf ball is to have one part of their body pointing in one direction, i.e. closed, and another part pointing in another direction, i.e. open. Commonly this is done with the feet and shoulders. You ll get more consistent golf shots if all body parts are in alignment. So make sure you practice this, and it s not hard to practice this because you can do it at home. Like I have shown you for practicing ball positioning, find some part of your house that has parallel lines and setup using that as a guide. At the same time as doing this use a guide so you can make sure the ball is positioned perfectly. Again, if you don t have lines on a surface in your home just use golf clubs. There s no excuse to be badly lined up when playing golf. Now in a normal game of golf you re going to tee off 18 times. So if you practiced setting up to a shot 18 times a day with perfect alignment and ball position, then after one month of doing this you would not believe how much better your ball striking would be. OK, that's the main aspects of the setup covered. Practice them and perfect them so you're ready to put these swing lessons into practice Page 10 of 36
Swing Lessons - Step 1 As far as your swing plane is concerned, the first place you need to start improving is your take away. And to do this you need to learn how to take the club away on plane and with a one-piece motion. So that's what we're going to cover first. Now the take-away should really be named the move-away because take-away gives connotations of snatching. And all golfers that suffer from swing plane problems take the club away with their hands and move the club off plane very early in the backswing, i.e. snatching the club away. Naturally, this causes many problems in the swing. So to help fix this you need to understand that the club should be moved away with your big muscles, and here's how to do it. When you setup to any long shot, your arms and shoulders will form a triangle like this. Notice the triangle that is formed at address. This triangle should stay intact for the first 3-4 feet of the backswing. As I've said, lots of golfers start the backswing with the hands only and instantly lose this setup relationship along with getting the club off plane early. Doing this causes many inconsistencies in the swing and this translates into inconsistent ball striking. So here's what you need to know about the take away When moving the club away from the ball you should do so with the arms and shoulders as a unit. This way the triangle formed at address will remain intact for the first 3 feet or so of the backswing and the club will remain very close to the plane line that it was at during the setup. On the next page is a picture that shows you how you should take the club away with this triangle staying in tact Page 11 of 36
See how the triangle has stayed intact from the start of the swing to the first 3-4 feet. Also note that the hands have not changed much from the address position, but that the clubface appears to be open. This clubface is actually neutral and this is achieved by starting the backswing with the shoulders and arms while the hands remain passive. You can clearly see from these pictures that the triangle formed at the address position remains as the club is moved away for the first 3-4 feet of the backswing. And to help you to keep the triangle intact in your take away I have three very simple exercises that you can work on to both improve your take-away and to check to see that you're doing it properly. In this first drill I want you to experience the feeling of turning to start your backswing rather than using your hands and here's what you should do Drill 1: Setup to a ball as normal and then slide the club up through your hands and place the butt end of the club in your navel. Once you've achieved this position simply turn your navel to start the backswing and keep turning so the club goes about 3-4 feet. Do this over and over again. This is how you should start your backswing (see the pictures below that show you what you need to do in more detail). Setup Club In Navel Turn Navel To Start Backswing Once you're used to this new take-away move, the next step is to integrate it into your real backswing. And there are a couple of ways that you can check to see if you Page 12 of 36
are doing this right, and here they are: Drill 2: Place a club behind your left foot on an angle so it goes through to the front of your right foot. Incidentally, when doing this exercise do it with a square stance (all parts of your body aligned parallel left to the target). Place a club running from the back of your left foot through to the front of your right foot as this picture demonstrates. Once you're setup like the golfer is demonstrating above, the next step is to move the club away using your big muscles. Do this until your hands are over your right foot and then stop your take-away. Now look down on your club and notice whether or not the club is pointing along the same parallel lines as the club on the ground. If you ve taken the club away with the big muscles, the two clubs should be parallel. Important Note: When doing this exercise don't make the mistake of thinking that the club has to appear directly over the club on the ground, but instead it should appear along the same parallel lines and quite a bit on the inside of the club on the ground. If your club is not along the same parallel lines at this point in the take-away then keep practicing the previous exercise and check your progress by doing this exercise. It's critically important that you do not move on until you can successfully do this exercise. Move the club away until this point in your backswing and check that your club is pointing along the same parallel lines as the club on the ground. Page 13 of 36
Drill 3: Now here is a great exercise to check that you've taken the club away with a one piece take away. To do this address a ball as normal, and once again do this exercise with your feet square to the target (all parts of your body aligned parallel left of your target). Once setup similar to picture 1 below, simply move the club back using your big muscles and stop when your hands are over your back foot (see picture 2 below). 1. 2. Setup in a normal type of setup. Then from this position start your backswing with the big muscles and stop when your hands are over your right foot. From this stationary position simply move your entire body (yes, feet as well!) so you're facing the clubhead. This will put you in a similar position as if you were setting up to a shot. While doing this keep your shoulders, arms, wrists and club in exactly the same position as they were in when you stopped your backswing (see picture 3 below). Now lower the club to the ground and notice if your clubface is open, square or closed. If you've taken the club away correctly with your big muscles you should be in exactly the same setup position as you were to start with (see picture 4) only turned well to the right. 3. 4. 3. Turn to face the club and then, 4. Lower the club to the ground. If the take-away has been correct then you should be in exactly the same setup position as you were at address (see picture 1), only turned well to the right (see picture 4). Page 14 of 36
If at the completion of this exercise the clubface is either open or closed then that means you've manipulated the club with your hands during your take-away. So keep practicing these drills to help you NOT do this. Plus here is something extra that may really help you. The drills and exercises I've given you so far are good for learning a one-piece take away but they don't teach you how to take the club away on the correct swing path or plane. So here is the best drill to help you do that. Important Note: This drill requires a few things. So have a quick read through it and then at the end of it there is a list of everything you need to complete it. Now when you take the club away it should move on an arc just inside the target line NOT straight back along the target line. Why? Because a straight back takeaway gets the club travelling too much outside (off plane) and causes your arms to become separated from the body. All of this will require compensations later in the swing which will result in inconsistent ball striking. Obviously we don't want that, so here is a great drill that will help you to start taking the club on the correct path and with repetition this will fast become a habit. But to do this drill you will need a couple of things. The first is a small torch. The second thing you'll need is a golf shaft (you can also do this with a driver) with a grip on it. This is a driver golf shaft. Once you have these two things then simply tape the torch to the bottom of the shaft, as shown on the next page Page 15 of 36
Tape the torch to the bottom of the shaft like this. Then find a straight line to do this drill. And where the wall and floor meets is perfect. For this drill find a straight line and where the wall and floor meets is perfect. Now, it's a good idea to do this drill at night time because you'll be able to see the torch light easier. So to do this drill turn the torch on and then setup as normal and make sure the torch is about 2-3 inches away from the line you're going to use as a plane reference line. And make sure the torch's main light is pointing directly at the line. Page 16 of 36
Turn the torch on, setup as normal and point the torch at the line, so it's about 2-3 inches away like this. From this position simply take the club away with your one piece takeaway (concentrating on turning your left shoulder to the right and keeping your arms, wrists and hands passive) and make sure the light remains pointing at the line as you're taking the club away. Important Note: As you're taking the club away the torch will move further away from the plane reference line. And so it should as you need to take the club to the inside. But the light should also point at the plane reference line at all times in the take-away. Keep moving the club away until you get to the place where your left hand is over your right leg and then stop. Then repeat this takeaway, and I suggest you do this Page 17 of 36
drill at least 30 times a day for the next 30 days to really groove a good on plane, one piece take away. But feel free to do this drill as much as you want as it's a real good one and quite interesting. Take the club away with your one piece take away and make sure the light of the torch remains pointing at the line until your left hand reaches opposite your right leg. Then stop and repeat the drill. Things You Need To Complete This Drill 1. One small torch. 2. One golf shaft with a grip on it. A driver shaft is the best for this. 3. Some tape. Page 18 of 36
To view a video of this drill simply click here. Now the take away is so important to fixing your swing plane problem. You must get it right before you do anything else. And to check if you are doing it right here is what you need to do. Get a video of your swing with a driver. And then draw a line along the shaft when you're setup like this: Then when you take the club away your hands and club should move very close to this plane line like the picture below demonstrates. This will happen naturally if you take the club away with a one piece take away and along the correct plane. Page 19 of 36
So you need to check that you're taking the club away correctly like that. Then when you are you can move to the second step of fixing your swing plane. But before you move onto Step 2 please understand this Take aways like the ones pictured below lead to a flat backswing. A flat backswing then leads to the over the top move. The over the top move then leads to a golfer coming down on a too steep plane. And by doing this a golfer then cuts across the ball which not only costs them lots of distance, but also a lot of accuracy as well. Examples Of Bad, Off Plane Take-Aways Page 20 of 36
So if you want to hit the ball longer and straighter DO NOT continue this program until you can take the club away on plane like the bottom picture on page 19 shows. That's critical! Swing Lesson - Step 2 OK, we've covered the take away and to start this step you need to have mastered that. So assuming you have, we're now going to look at the swing plane half way into the backswing. Because this is another crucial check point in the backswing to see if your swing plane is correct or not. And if it's not it will cause big problems in the downswing and at impact so you need to know about it and check it. There's 3 main possibilities, as far as swing plane is concerned, at the half-way point in your backswing. You're either in a perfect swing plane position like this (it can also be pointing just inside the ball): This is the backswing plane you should be trying to emulate. One where the shaft is pointing directly at the ball when your left arm is parallel with the ground. Or your swing plane is much too flat (i.e. pointing to the right of the ball) like this: This swing plane is way too flat and will cause a lot of problems later in the downswing. Notice how much to the right of the ball the plane is pointing. Page 21 of 36 Golf Ball
Or you're swing plane is much too upright like this: This swing plane is much too upright but if you had to err on one side or the other it's much better to have a more upright backswing plane. Golf Ball Now to get a real accurate picture (no pun intended) as to which swing plane category you fall into you need to get a video done of your driver swing. And if you don't have a video camera you can use the video option on a digital camera as long as the quality is good enough. Once you've got the video, then at the halfway point in your backswing (when your left arm is parallel with the ground) draw a line along the shaft towards the ground like this. At the halfway point in your backswing draw a line along your shaft and down towards the ground. Golf Ball Page 22 of 36
Now for over 90% of golfers that do this, the line will be pointing to the right of the ball. This means the backswing plane is too flat, which then causes an over the top move and then that causes the swing plane to come down too steep. All of this results in ball striking problems. Here are examples of this swing plane problem Important Note: The blue line represents the backswing plane. The red line represents the downswing plane. Page 23 of 36
So after seeing this please understand this about the golf swing. The reason most golfers do the disastrous over the top move is because they swing back on a too flat plane. And then they naturally do the opposite on the downswing, which is to come down too steep. The result of this is often an out to in swing path (i.e. the divots pointing to the left of the target) and a slice, along with lots of other problems, e.g. fat shots, pulls, shanks etc. Not to mention a great lack of distance. So if you find after doing the video analysis that you have this backswing plane problem (i.e. a flat backswing plane), here is the absolute best drill I can give you to help fix it. And this drill is called Important Note: If you suffer from an upright backswing plane problem please go to page 30 to get the drill you need to do to help fix that problem. The Loop Drill Now before I give you this drill I have a word of warning. This drill that I'm going to give you to fix your flat backswing plane problem is going to feel so strange that you may not want to do it. But please do it anyway because the strange feeling you get from doing this drill is a good thing, as it's the total opposite of what you have probably been doing for your entire golf career thus far. And by far the quickest way of fixing any swing problem is to do the exact opposite. Also remember this, the results of repeatedly doing this drill will be well worth any temporary feeling of uncomfortableness. OK, now the purpose of this drill is simply to give you the feeling of swinging back more upright and then flatter on the downswing than you're swinging back. This is the complete reverse of what over 90% of golfers do. And that's why it's going to feel so weird when you do this drill. Now to help you get out of the bad swing plane habit you currently have I suggest you to do this Loop Drill everyday -- for at least 5 minutes. And then when you're swinging normally just do so without thinking of anything mechanical, like your take away or the plane of your swing. All right, to do this drill grab a club and do the following. Setup to an imaginary ball and then start your backswing in a one-piece movement as I've shown you. Do this for about the first two to three feet of your backswing. But from then on move the shaft of the club on a very, very exaggerated upright plane as the pictures on the next page clearly demonstrate and then continue to the top of your backswing. Page 24 of 36
Important Note: I don't want you to try and do what I'm suggesting in this drill when you're swinging normally out on the golf course. The idea of doing drills like this is to do them so much that when you go to swing normally the changes we want just happen automatically. After completing your backswing I then want you to feel as though the club is doing a big loop and coming way down behind you on a very flat plane as the pictures below also clearly demonstrate. Then swing through, but when you do so you should feel as though the club is going out to the right and then follow-through and finish your swing Page 25 of 36
Now I want to reiterate this because it's so important. Doing this drill will feel very, very strange indeed. But remember, that's good. Also, you should do this very, very exaggerated loop swing everyday for at least 5 minutes and then every week you should video your swing. And each time you video your swing I want you to check your take away plane and then your backswing plane position. Important Note: If after a week of doing this drill your take away plane is not as good as it was I suggest you keep doing 'The Loop' drill, but also keep doing the take away drills. When going through this process you've got to keep an eye on your take away as well as your backswing plane to make sure you're still on the right track. Now naturally this Loop Drill will be helping you to flatten your downswing plane also. But that's not really the aim of this drill it's just a nice by-product. Remember the aim of this drill is to get you swinging more upright on the backswing than you are on the downswing. To view a video of this drill simply click here. OK, so keep doing this loop drill and when you get your backswing plane to either point at the ball or slightly on the inside, then you can move onto step 3 in this program. But do not move onto Step 3 in this program until you can get your backswing plane into a similar position to this Page 26 of 36
1..or this: 2. Golf Ball At the half way point in your backswing the plane of your backswing should point at the ball (picture 1 above) or it can be up to a foot inside the ball (picture 2 above). But it should never be to the right of the ball at this halfway point in the backswing. If yours is DO NOT move onto Step 3 in this program. Page 27 of 36
Now if after you videoed your swing you find that you've got an upright swing plane problem then you need to practice the very opposite of the loop drill. And to do this here is the best drill for you to do. Standing Baseball/Softball Drill Important Note: This drill is for golfers that have an upright backswing problem. This will be less than 10% of all golfers. So if you have a flat backswing problem DO NOT do this drill. It will make you worse! To do this drill simply hold a club out in front of you and then swing like a baseball/softball player back and forth, and use your legs as you are swinging. Here's some pictures to illustrate this drill in detail. Do this drill every day for at least 5 minutes. And then once a week video your swing and look at your backswing plane. At the halfway point in your backswing you want your swing plane to point at the ball or slightly inside it as I showed on page 27. Once you have a good take away and backswing plane then move to Step 3 in this swing plane improvement process. Page 28 of 36
Swing Lessons - Step 3 All right, to be up to this step in this program you need to have a good one piece, on plane take away and at the half way point in your backswing the shaft plane either has to point at the ball or just inside the ball. So as long as you can do that then you should look at the position you get into at the half way point in the downswing. Because at that point the club's plane should be pointing at the ball or to the right of the ball like this. Page 29 of 36
These pictures are all from the downswing positions of pro golfer's swings. And if you compare them to the downswing position of the amateur golfers on page 21 you'll notice a huge difference in the swing planes. Now I've never seen anyone have a downswing plane too flat. So I'm NOT going to address that issue. Every golfer I've ever seen with swing plane issues has swung down too steep like this: Page 30 of 36
So in this final step I'm going to explain how you can swing down with a flatter swing plane. And understand the goal here, at the halfway point in the downswing the plane of your swing should be pointing at the ball or to the right. It's important you know what we're working towards. But for that to happen you need to know what should happen to the club when it transitions from the backswing to the downswing because that's where almost all amateurs go wrong. You see when you're changing directions from your backswing to downswing your club should move to the left. When you change directions from the backswing to downswing your club must move to the left to ensure your downswing is flat enough. Most (over 90%) amateur golfers bring the club straight down which causes huge problems in the downswing that are simply un-recoverable. So learning to move the club to the left at the start of the downswing is not easy, because for most golfers it's so much different from what they've done their entire golfing career. But here's a drill that's going to help you feel the correct transitioning of the club from the backswing to downswing. To do this drill get a driver or a 3 wood or something similar and attach a torch to the end of it like this: Attach a small torch to the top of your grip like this. Page 31 of 36
Then find a dark place where you'll be able to see the light from your torch easily and setup to a ball like the golfer is demonstrating below: Once setup, then swing back slowly and make sure your backswing plane is good (i.e. the light is pointing along the target line or just inside it). Page 32 of 36
Then swing to the top of your swing and start down. And to do this make sure your club goes to the left at the top of your swing, like I showed you on page 31. Then stop your swing when your left arm reaches a point where it's parallel with the ground. Now at this point the light from your torch should be pointing well to the right of the imaginary ball like I'm demonstrating above. And when you get good at doing this drill simply start to increase the speed so you do it almost as fast as a real swing. Important Note: The club should move to the left at the start of the downswing but this is not done by dropping the hands inside. But rather it's done by turning the hands. And to help you understand this, imagine the action of opening a door knob with your hands when you're doing this. Once you learn and perfect this move it will make a HUGE difference to your golf swing. This move is what really separates a great ball striker from an average one as it's the complete opposite of what an average ball striker generally does. To view a video of this drill simply click here. Some professional examples of this flattening of the downswing plane are Nick Price: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6plkf4gx9zi and Sergio Garcia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku5qaayd6ju Page 33 of 36
When you watch them swing you can easily see this move. For most of the other pros you have to get videos of their swing and then go through it frame by frame to see this happening. But trust me, it does happen in every great ball strikers swing. So if you want to improve your ball striking you've got to master this. And once you've got the feeling of what you need to do in the transition to get the plane flatter on the downswing.then you should try it out in a real golf swing. To do this you need to setup to an imaginary ball with a driver. Then swing, and once you reach the top of your backswing move the club to the left so it's very flat, and then simply swing down and through. Again, you need to exaggerate this move to make a real change in your swing. But when you've got this mastered without hitting a ball then do this same exercise while hitting a ball. And when you do this don't worry about the results, because if you're exaggerating the flattening of the shaft enough then you'll hit some terrible shots. Don't worry about them. When you make a real swing change you're going to hit some terrible shots to start with. So I suggest you keep doing that drill and then once a week video yourself hitting golf balls normally. And each time you analyze your swing notice whether your take away is on plane. Then see if your backswing is on the correct plane. And remember, at the halfway point in your backswing it should be pointing at the ball or just inside it like this. Page 34 of 36
Then at the halfway point in your downswing (when you left arm is parallel with the ground) the club shaft should be on an angle to the right of the ball. Now when you can get your backswing and downswing planes very close together like the pictures of the pros then you'll naturally and automatically hit the ball a lot better. So keep following the instructions in this program to get close to those positions, and as you're doing so you'll notice that your ball striking is getting better and better. Page 35 of 36
Conclusion If you've successfully completed the 3 steps of this program then you would have noticed a big improvement in your ball striking. But you shouldn't stop trying to improve. The best golfers don t. So to help you keep on improving I will be sending you information and advice along with great resources that will enable you to take your golf game to even higher levels. If you're keen to do this, look out for my future emails. All the best, Jeff Richmond Director of Instruction The Consistent Golf School Page 36 of 36