Most valuable tip/drill

[bigbill46]

Like most of you, I've taken a few lessons and tried a wide variety of tips, drills, and training aids to improve my swing. And like many of you, I've found that most of them either: a) don't work, b) have only a temporary effect, or c) solve one problem only to create some other problem. I've also noticed that what works for one person does not always work for another.

I recently encountered a drill that finally seems to have improved my swing more than anything else I've tried, and this got me thinking. Why not use the vast experience on this site to sort out the best-of-the-best swing tips? What is the most valuable tip/drill/training aid that you have tried, and what problem did it solve?

Here's mine.
Problem: Slight over-the-top swing. Inconsistent ball striking with most of the misses either fat or pulled to the left (right-handed).
Most valuable drill: practice swing while holding a balloon between the forearms (this was demonstrated by Brad Bryant on the Champions Tour Learning Center program). The key to this drill keeping the legs still while practicing the upper body turn and proper arm path. Place a 12" balloon between the forearms while gripping the golf club and position the stem facing away from you. Keep the balloon close to your stomach on the back swing while you rotate your arms so that the stem of the balloon is facing the sky when your left arm (for right-handers) is parallel to the ground. Next is the tricky part. Extend your arms outward (not straight up) so that the balloon is away from your body. This will be the top of your back swing. Start the down swing by bringing the balloon back down to your stomach and keep it there as you turn to impact position. Finally, follow through with the hands over the left shoulder.

You will need to do this in slow motion a number of times to get the feeling of the arm path before you can do it full speed and hit balls. For me, it only took one session on the range before I saw major improvement. My swing path was more inside out. Even with a shorter back swing, I was hitting the ball with more power. Instead of missing fat and taking deep divots behind the ball, I was hitting the sweet spot more often and taking shallow divots in front of the ball.

The weather hasn't allowed me to try this on the course yet, but I'm very optimistic.

[rotator]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Hi bigbill,

I also saw that drill by Bryant. I've been experimenting with it as well in the backyard, but I do not have a balloon, so have been trying with a variety of other objects. These have not been satisfactory for a variety of reasons. I'm about to try it with a sofa cushion.

I suspect that the balloon, or foam ball (provided that with the foam ball, you mark the point which will serve as the stem reference position on the balloon), is the best though, and I'll drop by the Dollar store and pick some up (for a dollar, or less).

It was amazing that he hit the ball as solid as you would want.

Apparently, this is one of Leadbetter's favourites.

I like the butt end of the grip drill referred to in "swing related" for swing plane and retention of lag. I also like the swinging in unison of two clubs in each hand drill for tempo.

Ted

[bigbill46]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Hi Ted,

The advantage of the balloon is that it has virtually no weight and is easy to hold between your arms. I tried it with a small pillow at first, but it didn't work very well because it felt like it was slipping out of position during the back swing if I didn't hold it tight. That generated too much tension in my arms and was also distracting.

I haven't done the "butt end of the grip" drill yet, but I'll give it a try before my next trip to the range.

Bill

[rotator]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Hi Bill,

The problem you described is exactly what I experienced with the various alternatives I tried. I tried an empty plastic 2 quart water jug, an eight inch diameter plastic flower pot, and those were too slippery to stay put. I see that the pillow would not work well also.

You are right about the balloon.

Ted

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Best tip(s) ever given to me was a combination of three tips. Those three tips included a (1) one piece take away (2) a little to the inside, and on the down swing (3) have the feeling that I was swinging the club head to right field. With those swing thoughts, everything in my swing pretty much took care of itself. Of course I put in a lot of practice time, and was playing 3 or 4 times a week in my younger days, which helped those swing tips pay dividends for me. Of course there were other swing tips that I am sure will be included in this thread. Those three were the ones that got me to scratch. GJS

[bigbill46]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

It was cold and windy here today, but I finally got a chance to try the butt end of the grip drill and go to the range. I never had a lot of lag in my natural swing, so getting the timing of snapping the wrists straight at impact was a bit of a challenge. Started out slow and finally got to where I could make half-way decent contact with a 7-iron. Made some progress with a 5-iron and 3-hybrid as well.

Had a few balls left in the bucket and decided to finish up with my driver. I normally hit a high fade, which I need to fight to keep from becoming a slice. Today I was hitting nothing but low draws to hooks. No hint of a fade anywhere.

[killer]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

It was cold and windy here today, but I finally got a chance to try the butt end of the grip drill and go to the range. I never had a lot of lag in my natural swing, so getting the timing of snapping the wrists straight at impact was a bit of a challenge. Started out slow and finally got to where I could make half-way decent contact with a 7-iron. Made some progress with a 5-iron and 3-hybrid as well.

Had a few balls left in the bucket and decided to finish up with my driver. I normally hit a high fade, which I need to fight to keep from becoming a slice. Today I was hitting nothing but low draws to hooks. No hint of a fade anywhere.

Hello there,
I wonder could you summerise whats involved with the butt end of the grip tips.

Thanks in advance

[bigbill46]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Hello there,
I wonder could you summerise whats involved with the butt end of the grip tips.

Thanks in advance

See Rotator's post #11 in the "Swing related" thread for a detailed description.

Both this and the balloon drill are useful for learning to stay on plane during the swing. As far as I can tell, the difference is that the balloon drill focuses on keeping the arms connected to the body and achieving width at the top of the back swing, while the "tee in the butt of the grip" drill is more helpful for developing lag and staying on the target line.

Another good drill for people with a lateral sway in their swing is the "feet together" drill. Lateral sway makes it difficult to bottom out the swing at the same place each time, which leads to inconsistent ball striking. You can't keep your balance and sway side-to-side if your feet are close together, so practicing longer irons and woods in this position will help eliminate the sway.

Bill

[killer]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

See Rotator's post #11 in the "Swing related" thread for a detailed description.

Both this and the balloon drill are useful for learning to stay on plane during the swing. As far as I can tell, the difference is that the balloon drill focuses on keeping the arms connected to the body and achieving width at the top of the back swing, while the "tee in the butt of the grip" drill is more helpful for developing lag and staying on the target line.

Another good drill for people with a lateral sway in their swing is the "feet together" drill. Lateral sway makes it difficult to bottom out the swing at the same place each time, which leads to inconsistent ball striking. You can't keep your balance and sway side-to-side if your feet are close together, so practicing longer irons and woods in this position will help eliminate the sway.

Bill

Many thanks Bill

[rotator]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

It was cold and windy here today, but I finally got a chance to try the butt end of the grip drill and go to the range. I never had a lot of lag in my natural swing, so getting the timing of snapping the wrists straight at impact was a bit of a challenge. Started out slow and finally got to where I could make half-way decent contact with a 7-iron. Made some progress with a 5-iron and 3-hybrid as well.

Had a few balls left in the bucket and decided to finish up with my driver. I normally hit a high fade, which I need to fight to keep from becoming a slice. Today I was hitting nothing but low draws to hooks. No hint of a fade anywhere.

Hi Bill,

I don't know about the snapping of the wrists straight at impact. That seems contrary to keeping the acceleration going through impact and beyond. I stressed starting slow and accelerating.

I don't think about snapping the wrists at all. Although the butt end drill is good to "educate" people in what the body parts should feel/look like to achieve proper swing plane and to retain the lag, after the swing is ingrained the idea is that the motion should be fluid and with no restraint or "holding" of positions, or of throwing the arms or snapping the wrists.

As I flow into the delivery position (hip height shaft parallel position), I think of keeping the body rotating with the arms in front, and trying to keep the lag as far into the throughswing as possible, but with passive arms and wrists. As for the wrist cock uncocking and the rotating of the arms to square the face, it will happen naturally from centrifugal force. I once had a question about this, and saw that is what Sergio Garcia said about this. There is no snapping, the acceleration has been part of the flow of the swing, and it continues into the followthrough, the uncocking and release is natural.

Note there is a wrist uncocking, but there is a difference between wrist cock uncocking and flipping, such as you will have with the back of the left hand flipping forward and the right hand losing the backward bend. The wrists uncocks from the "thumbs up" cock position, but the right wrist does not lose the backward bend. I have the thought in my mind to keep the right hand bent through impact, and because it is unified with the left hand, the back of the left hand will be slightly bowed through impact. When I feel that I am starting to flip, I do drills, actually think about wiping the open face of the palm and fingers of the bent back right hand over the ground in front of me.

I think it's safe to say that previously you must have had an over the top outside in path, which this drill alleviated so you are coming in on plane. You are also now likely closing the face through impact, because the notion of letting the butt end trace the line after the throughswing shaft horizontal position makes your arms having to cross over. This is resulting in the draw.

Ted

[rotator]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Here's a video of Jeff Sluman, whose swing is a good example showing how the butt end works through the golf swing. There was a swingvision video of Justin Leonard shown on the tournament coverage recently, which showed the same thing.

If the video does not show, because of an "embedding" message, click on the black and white "you tube" logo on the bar at the top of the video screen.

This is the route of traditional swingers. Note that there are many great golfers whose backswings in particular do not follow the ball/target line tracing route. Furyk, of course, is one who points the butt end straight down and well inside the line on the takeaway. There are countless others whose clubheads do not even point towards the ground, they lift the clubs abruptly so the shaft is well outside the ball/target line on the takeaway, but they do drop the shaft down on plane (with the butt end tracing the line on the downswings).

Ted

[bigbill46]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Hi Ted,

The use of the term "wrist snap" was a poor choice of words on my part. What I really meant to say was that I'm still self-conscious when doing the butt end of the grip drill and tend to hold on to my wrist cock too long after impact rather than releasing the club in a natural way. So when I do straighten my wrists, it feels like they are snapping straight. Went to the range again today and felt a little more comfortable and fluid.

You are right about my natural swing being a little over the top. In the past I've compensated by strengthening my grip and closing the club face a little, but decided its time to correct the underlying swing flaw if I'm ever going to improve. I enjoy experimenting and practicing on the range and feel like I've made progress. However, the moment of truth will come when I take my new swing to the course this week. I know the tendency is to revert of old habits when faced with the pressure to score.

Thanks for the video and suggestions.

[long tee]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Hi Bigbill.
A good drill given to me by my teacher is where you hit the ball with both feet together. The idea is that if you can strike the ball in this position, then your swing, technique, and overall basics cant be too wrong. I always start a session at the range with this drill using a wedge for maybe 5 or 10 balls.

[bigbill46]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

Got a chance to take my improved swing to the course after working on the balloon drill at the range. Shot my first under-90 round of the season, so I feel like the work is paying off. Felt the fade starting to creep back in to my drives on the back nine, which means that I still have a ways to go before my new swing feels natural. I also need to work more on the butt end of the grip drill to improve lag and distance. Still, I feel optimistic that this old dog can still learn a new trick or two.

[rotator]

Re: Most valuable tip/drill

That sounds good, Bill.

BTW, the butt end drill will help you with the plane. I have been fooling around with the balloon drill and see that it may cause one to be quite steep coming down with the arms, which may be the cause of the fades creeping in, i.e. a bit of the outside in, because you have not gone back "in" so much to start with.

The butt end drill will make you take the club back on plane and if you trace the ball/target line with the tee, it will take the club more around, so that it will be horizontal over your right shoulder and will be pointing parallel left of the ball/target line. When you get the tee to get back tracing the ball/target line on the downswing, that will bring you back on plane, and swinging from inside to out, which should get rid of the fade.

When he was young, Davis Love 111 would extend the butt end farther from the target by a few inches from the horizontal position of the club at the top of the backswing, before he started a downward motion. Imagine that. He got that much more of an arc and increased his lag by so much.

I think you are well on the way to a solid dependable swing.

Ted