Improve Your Game With These Golf Swing Checks

Golf Monthly

In this video, golf coach Dan Hendricksen offers seven swing checks every golf should make during the off season.

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, welcome to Churston Golf Club. My name is Dan Hendrickson and we're here in the

00:08heart of the English Riviera. Now you may be coming out of the season with a few bad habits,

00:14well today we've teamed up with Foot Joy to give you a few tips that can help you moving into next

00:19season. We're going to cover seven simple checks for different parts of your game that are going

00:24to get you back on track, let's get into it. Now there's some key points that you're going

00:32to want to work on when it comes to hitting those big drives. During the season you may have fallen

00:37into the fault of moving that ball position a little bit too far back because you're trying

00:42to steer that ball around the golf course, ultimately we're trying to score. Well during the winter you

00:47can focus on two key points that can help you get that ball launched up in the air and hitting it

00:53further. So key point number one is going to be your ball position and we're going to be focusing

00:57on getting that ball position a little further up in your stance. We're going to try and focus on

01:02somewhere between the inside of the left heel and your left toe being for a right-handed golfer. This

01:08is going to enable you to be able to sweep that golf ball away off that nice high tee. The next thing is

01:13we're going to focus on our shoulder position and we're going to get the sensation of just dropping that

01:18right shoulder down a fraction again just enabling that shoulders to feel like a little

01:23bit of a launch pad again allowing you to be able to hit up and away with that driver. So once you've

01:29got yourself into this setup position you're going to get the sensation of around 60 percent of your

01:33weight is going to be on your right side on your trail leg. This again is going to enable you to be

01:39able to turn into the backswing and then again hit through and up as you deliver into that ball.

01:45So working on those two key setup points is going to enable you to hit longer drives moving into next

01:54season. So moving on from driver we're going to look at the iron setup. Where is the driver we

02:04wanted power? We wanted that ball to move up off the tee. Well with the iron the ball is either going

02:10to be on the ground or on a very low tee. Therefore we need our angle of attack to move more on the way

02:16down so we're looking to try and hit the ball then the ground as we come through. Now where I had the

02:21ball positioned very much forward in my setup with the driver with the iron we're going to have it

02:26anywhere between the center point of your stance and a club head inside that left heel. That's going to

02:33give you the optimum position to be able to hit that golf ball and then into the ground from there.

02:39So as we then put the golf club behind the ball what we're going to do is we're going to put our

02:44lead hand on the club first and as we bring that right hand down our trail hand down onto the club

02:49you'll notice that my right shoulder will naturally just drop fractionally. I'm not going to get the

02:54sense of dropping the right shoulder like I was with the driver I'm just going to naturally let it sit

02:59on the club and the sense of weight between my feet is going to be more 50-50 rather than feeling

03:05as though I'm leaning behind the ball. Remember as we come through the shot we want ball then divot

03:10getting that angle of attack correct and this setup is going to enable us to be able to do that.

03:15And the last thing to remember is with a driver we had a nice wide stance remember we were looking

03:20for power we needed a good stable foundation well with the iron we're looking for more control

03:25shoulder width apart inside the left and right heels is kind of your reference point for this shot

03:31again just giving you that stable base to be able to control that shot and with these simple key

03:37points of setup we're going to start to hit a much more crisper strike which is what we all want.

03:51So once we've got ourselves into that perfect setup position I want you to get the sensation of

03:57what I call a one-piece takeaway and this is the move of the body and the club taking that club away

04:04together everything is going to move the arms and the hips and the shoulders getting the sense of

04:10putting that club into that first point of reference. So looking at this now from a down the line

04:16perspective and once we've got our club into that first point there from a nice even takeaway we want

04:22to get the sense that the shaft is now level with the feet and if you were taking a video from down

04:28the line you wouldn't see too much of the shaft because the head would be covering it. The second

04:34checkpoint is the face of the club and in particular looking at the leading edge I'm trying to get this

04:39leading edge in line with my spine angle getting that tilt of my spine angle making sure that face

04:45is just tilted in line with that setting that club in the perfect position to be able to swing that club

04:51down the line and from here we're in the perfect position to be able to transition to the top of

04:56the backswing giving you the perfect takeaway. So by following those two simple checkpoint positions

05:02it'll enable you to get that club in a much better takeaway position swinging it on plane and hitting

05:08straighter golf shots. Just like that.

05:15So one of the most common faults that I see with golfers is alignment you see it all the time on

05:25tour ranges. Tour players focusing hard on getting their alignment right and an approach to the golf

05:31ball is the first point that I want to talk about. A lot of players tend to approach the ball from the

05:36side and as soon as they get into the ball and hit their shot they're aiming down the right hand side so

05:42what you think is a bad shot is actually a good shot because you're aiming in that direction. The

05:47other fault is the player will want to move their swing adjust their swing during it to be able to

05:53get that club back on line. Well in this video we're going to focus on a drill that you can go through

05:59that's going to help you align it much better. So earlier I mentioned about tour players and the next

06:04time you're watching a tour event I want you to focus on what tour players do when they approach the

06:09golf ball and in this situation they would be focusing on an alignment point an intermediate

06:14point of reference between the ball and the target that will be their main aiming point. When

06:21you approach this shot you're going to pick a spot just in front of the ball about a foot in front of

06:26the ball in this case we've got a leaf now it could be a divot it could be a blade of grass but it's

06:30something that you can align your club face to when you're setting up to the ball. You'll notice now

06:36that I'm going to approach this golf ball from behind and the first point is to get this club

06:41face lined up to my intermediate target which is that leaf. Once I take my stance I'm going to pick

06:47this club up and put the shaft over the top of the leaf and the golf ball going to bring that back to

06:52my feet as a second reference point for my feet to be now parallel to that point so with this setup I

07:00now have the confidence that I'm aiming down towards my intended target with just two tee pegs I'm going

07:14to help you improve your strike either at home or on the golf course. So to me strike is king getting

07:22that strike out the middle of the club face consistently is very important to better golf

07:28for those players that strike it around the club face you're going to lead to off center strikes

07:33leading to low ball speeds but also directional problems. Now there's a couple of options that

07:38you've got when it comes to figuring out where you are on the club face you can put face tape or even

07:43foot spray on the actual face which enables you to be able to hit the shot and see instantly where you

07:49struck that ball however I've got a simpler one for you which you can do either at home in your garden

07:56or even in your lounge if you've got enough space simply setting up two tee pegs now in this situation

08:02I've set up two tee pegs that are about an inch either side of the actual club head and what I'm

08:08going to do is start to get the sense of just hitting little chip shots between those two marking positions

08:16and what you're going to find is if you're someone that tends to come from the inside a little bit too

08:20much you're going to hit the inside tee peg if you're somebody that gets that club working away

08:24from you too much you may hit the outside of that club face which ultimately is going to move your

08:30strike location from kind of heel to toe and what we're trying to focus on is trying to just brush

08:35that club through those gates just trying to make sure that we get that center point through it and

08:41as I get a little bit more confident with this I'm just going to widen my stance and just increase my

08:47club head speed to try and then move into hitting full shots between the gates this is such a simple

08:54technique that can really help your strike and even when you get to the golf course you can set this up

09:00tee up a ball and give it a whack and make sure you're getting it out the center point of your club

09:08we're going to go back to basics with chipping when you come out of the season it's very common to see

09:14lots of players who have struggled with their chipping maybe move their ball position a little

09:18bit further back in their stance which during the chip shot you may feel that that club digs into the

09:24ground or the opposite of where they push the ball position maybe a little bit further forward again

09:28almost trying to help that ball into the air you've got to think about the chipping as kind of like a

09:33putting stroke ball position stays pretty much in the center of the stance even taking the grip of what

09:40you would with your putter standing a fraction closer feeling as though the heel of the club is a

09:45little bit off the ground and then simply all I'm going to do differently from a putt to a chip is just

09:51lean my weight about 70 percent onto my forward leg allow that handle of the club just to fall forward with

09:58you and then simply take that putting stroke and execute the shot

10:11so moving into the winter months and even going into the main season you may come across some slower

10:16greens and I've got three key tips that I want to focus on for you that you can work on that can help

10:22improve your putting going into these slower greens and the first thing we're going to focus on

10:28is the tempo side of it with your putting and I want you to think about the tick tock in your mind

10:35and thinking of as you take that club away that putter away you're going to focus on tick

10:39and then as you come back down through tock so it's going to focus on tick tock as you come through to

10:44impact also I want to see you maintain that stroke I like to see players that focus on trying to just

10:51lengthen the backswing slightly lengthen the follow through just to make sure you keep that tempo and

10:57that rhythm consistent these are two key points that are going to help you keep consistency in your

11:03stroke and lastly I want you to focus on ball position I want you to push it half a ball further

11:09forward in your stance the idea of this is that we're trying to increase our launch with the putter

11:16into the ball we're trying to get a little bit more loft onto the putter this will enable that ball to

11:20sort of pop off the face a little higher and get it rolling on top of that grass just that little bit

11:25easier so ball position just slightly further forward in the stance and then normal putting

11:32stroke getting that ball up and along the grass and in so take those seven key checkpoints into the

11:39winter months for some training and you'll emerge as a better golfer moving into next season from me

11:46at Cherston golf club big thank you to footjoy we'll see you again soon

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