Let the lead arm dominate

I had my swing videotaped this last year (face-on), and was amazed at what I saw when the impact frame was paused. My hands were behind my club head and it appeared I was flipping at the ball (the wrists had already become slightly unhinged). This explained why I consistently hit the ball too high and often hooked the ball.

Any time the trailing arm (the right arm for right handers) becomes too dominant, there is a tendency to release the club too early, which causes the 'flip' at the ball and promotes the toe of the club head passing the heel of the club head before it has reached the ball (thereby sending it to the left). It also discourages the descending blow that is necessary for good contact and it does not keep the club face square through impact as long.

The right hand should not play an overly active role in the golf swing. The majority of grip pressure should come from the pinky, ring finger, and middle finger of the left hand, and just the middle finger of the right hand. As a right hander, it does feel more natural to grip the club more firm with the right hand, but this must not happen, especially on the downswing. When the left hand grip is not firm enough, the grip actually separates from the hand at the top of the swing, which throws the club off of the proper plane.

My coach (USGTF Master Instructor Jim Perez) gave me a great drill to help get the left hand more involved and get the right hand less active. Simply take your normal grip then move your right forefinger to the top side of the grip so that the tip of the finger touches the tip of the thumb (mimicking an 'OK' sign). Hit some balls and be aware of how the left hand feels when it is forced to carry more of the load (you'll likely be surprised at how well the ball flies, especially if you've been losing them to the left previously).

These days, when I find that I'm pulling or hooking the ball, I just remove all grip pressure from my thumb and forefinger of the right hand. This is a modified version of the above drill, and it really helps me lead with with my left arm and hand, thereby discouraging the right hand from excessively rolling over the left through impact.

Another easy and very beneficial drill to help train your left arm to lead is to merely hit chip shots with only your left hand on the grip. You'll find that it's very difficult to try and flip the club head at the ball when performing this drill, and it also re-trains your muscle memory to make the correct 'down and through' move.

A great swing tip I read recently stated that "it should feel as if you're getting ready to throw a Frisbee with your left hand during your downswing." This is wonderful advice, as it gets the mind to focus more on the pulling motion from the left side of the body and less on the forced pushing, or 'flipping' with the right.

It's no wonder that many left handers find success golfing right handed, as their left hand and arm are naturally more dominant when they swing. For the rest of us though, it takes some work. I wonder if right handers wouldn't benefit from learning to golf left-handed? Something to think about.

Different club, different swing

Golfers are often told to 'use the same swing for every club'. I believe this is poor advice and will lead to wild ball flight.

If one considers the angle of the shaft at set-up, the longest club (driver) is on a much flatter plane than that of the shortest club (sand wedge). Therefore, the club must be swung in a way so that the plane of the shaft is maintained throughout the back swing and follow through.

So, if the golfer takes a driver and tries to use the same swing as they do for their sand wedge, they will be taking the club back and delivering it through on too steep of a plane. This will lead to a gigantic slice, and I think it's one of the main reasons that people struggle with the driver and the less lofted clubs.

The reverse is true. If the golfer takes the sand wedge and attempts to use the same swing that they use for their driver, it will be on too flat of a plane and they are likely to pull the ball left.

To expand on this, the initial move away from the ball with a sand wedge entails basically bringing the club head straight up and back in front of the body. Whereas, the first move with the driver is to bring the club head back very low to the ground for a foot or so and then on a wide arc around and behind the body. Even if the golfer is a 'two plane' swinger, the driver is brought back on a much flatter, wider plane than the sand wedge.

This is one of the reasons why ball position for the more lofted clubs should be played further back in the golfers stance (towards the back foot). The ball should be placed right in the middle of the stance for a sand wedge (or just slightly back of center), and move towards the front foot as loft decreases (culminating in the driver, when the ball should be played just inside the left heel). The more lofted club one is using, the steeper the swing and the bigger the divot. The most lofted club requires that the golfer hit more on the downswing, with the swing arc bottoming out well after contact and under the turf. As loft decreases this move becomes more subtle (huge divot for a sand wedge, pretty big divot for an 8 iron, shallow divot for a five iron, little or no divot for a fairway wood).

I think that people generally swing the driver and the less lofted clubs on too steep of a plane and the sand wedge and more lofted clubs on too flat of a plane, because they are trying to use the same swing with every club. This is one of the reasons why golfers have so much trouble with longer clubs and tend to slice more with them (another reason being that loft negates side-spin, so the ball is always going to go straighter with a more lofted club as the ball is generally spinning backwards rather than sideways, even on slight mis-hits. The margin for error is much smaller with less loft). On the other end of the spectrum, golfers have trouble getting the ball high enough in the air with the more lofted clubs as they are not swinging on a steep enough plane or hitting down on the ball enough.

Think sand wedge 'steep', driver 'sweep' as a general rule.