Drill needed please help...

[Alias75]

Feel like im making progress with my swing, but lately im hitting the ball towards the heel of the club, i think ive diagnosed the problem in that my hands are moving away from their position at setup. On the range i experimented by standing further away from the ball and almost reaching for the ball the result was more centre hits which suggests my hands in this exagerated setup position are similar to where they are at impact.

Are the any drills or swing thoughts to help me keep my hands closer to my waist on the throughswing so they stay in the same position as at address?

Maybe the reasons for these hits near the heel arent my hands but any advice is greatly appreciated.

[msklar92]

Re: Drill needed please help...

Do not reach for the ball. the arms should hand down naturally from the shoulders. It sounds as if you are coming over the top so an outside to inside swing and clipping the ball on the heel. All this advise is suspect as we cannot see your swing. Having said that, try placing a ball or a teed up ball about 3 inches to the right of the target ball and about 1 or 2 inches outside the swing path
(o) set up ball
<<<<<<<<< (0) targe ball <<<<<<<
Swing in the direction of the arrows without hitting the set up ball.

[msklar92]

Re: Drill needed please help...

the set up ball should be to the right of the target ball not the left. it came out differently when I sent the original email.
<<<<<<<<<(o) set up ball <<<<<<<<
<<<<(0) target ball <<<<<<<<

[Alias75]

Re: Drill needed please help...

Thanks for the advice, can you explain the drill again im still not sure what i should be doing.

My swing plane should be along the line of the setup ball and i should hit the target ball?

I do have a homemade version of the inside approach i think thats to help with an over the top swing so ill give that a go too.

Im pretty sure i was swinging from the inside but what might have happened is ive been consious of coming too far inside and that may have resulted in an over the top swing, used to imagine an arrow coming from behind the ball and slightly curving to the inside this was may plane on the way back is this what i should be aiming for?

[Alias75]

Re: Drill needed please help...

Sorry ive just re-read your post and i understand the drill, ive just done a quick check on my swing and i think i was bringing the club back too much on the outside as a pointer where should the club head be in relation to your body half way back?

Thanks again for your help

[TeachingPro]

Re: Drill needed please help...

There are lots of things that can cause the impact area on the club to move towards the heel, unfortunately, but the most common things are:

1> swinging into impact from the outside
2> moving the torso towards the golf ball on the downswing, which moves the club to a swing arc parallel but outside the line
3> standing too upright and too close to the golf ball at address, which doesn't allow a rotational swing arc
4> too much lateral movement during the downswing which steepens the approach into impact or moves the "bottom of the swing" forward
5> swinging too far from the inside

Each one of those common problems can be solved fairly easily by explaining the problem, why it happens and how to solve it.

If you can narrow it down for me or send me a video of your swing, I can help you some more. Just remember: a heel shot doesn't only happen when you swing from the outside, like a slice swing. That's just what people think ...

[Alias75]

Re: Drill needed please help...

Thanks for the help, at the moment im not able to video my swing but i was swinging outside the line and ive noticed just with a few practice swings that bringing it slightly inside on the way back means my hands are closer to my hips as i hit the ball which wasnt the case before.

This was something i worked at a while back and it seems ive slipped into a few bad habits, trying hard not to be too far inside has meant ive gone too far the other way i think.

Anyway ill probabaly hit some balls today and let you knw what happens..

[Alias75]

Re: Drill needed please help...

Hit some balls this afternoon, concentrating on coming a little inside on the way back. The results were very encouraging.

Off topic slightly but i also worked on a drill thats been mentioned on these boards before whereby you stop in the halfway down position make sure your in the right position then have a small pump of the arms to build some momentumn before hitting the ball. The results doing this drill were a shot with a nice draw that went approx 150 yards with my 7 iron! (into a decent wind too) Maybe i should forget about the full swing and work on this instead, less to think about thats for sure.