Having Trouble Hitting Ball Off the Toe?

Having trouble hitting too many shots off the toe?

The question came in from a Dewsweeper who has problem with too many toe hits and not enough shots hit in the middle of the club face. The cause for this generally speaking is overactive hands . Remember that the hands are there simply to hold the golf club. The job of the hands is not to add power or to square the club face. When done correctly, the pivot motion provides both the most effective power source and also squares the club face.

Here are some drills to help you hit the ball more in the center of the club face. Understand what the hands are trying to do. As Ive said in other segments here on the dewsweepers you want for a right handed golfer a bent right wrist at impact. Practice small shots monitoring your finish position with your hands. Know what your hands are supposed to be doing then monitor them.
Make sure you have a pivot motion to supply the power so you don’t have to use your hands. Most golfers who have over-active hands either have an incorrect pivot motion or an incorrect grip.

I also use the training aid the key frequently to help people learn to achieve the correct hand positon at impact . it’s a wonderful aid that can help you hit the ball more on the center of the face. The Key is available in the dewsweepers store.

Another trick that I use to help get the ball hit more in the center of the face and to improve ball striking is to hit shots with a ball place about an inch away from a 2x4 leaned up on its side. This will help improve your path and reduce mishits.

What Is Impact Supposed to Look Like

A question comes in from a Dewsweeper that asks what does he want impact to look like and is there any thing he can do to improve his impact position.

Lets start with the hands at impact. For a right handed golfer I firmly believe one of the real essentials to becoming a better player is to have a bent right wrist at impact and a flat left wrist.
What this means is that if you can get to this position you will have developed a golf swing in which there is no club head throw away and that there is lag in your swing as well as a forward leaning shaft.

The results of this position will be a compressed ball against the ground and a proper low point. All of you Dewsweepers know how much I have harped on proper low point and compression. Achieving this impact position will help you achieve this. If the right wrist has straightened at impact the club will be moving up away from the ground in most cases and make it impossible to compress the ball and to find the proper low point.
The other things I look for ideally at impact are as follows. I like the hip to be rotated out of the way past the ball and to be pulling the chest through.

If we were to look at a video of you from the face on view I would want the shaft leaning forward and your left wrist flat, hip out of the way and the shaft your left arm and leg all to be in a straight line.
To improve your impact position start with chipping and monitor your hand position after impact.

One of the truly great training aids we use to help you learn to keep a bent right wrist is the “key” you can find it in the Dewsweepers store at dewsweepersgolfshow.com

Improve Your Scoring on Par 5's!

A dewsweeper writes in about this scenario that I see all too often from players of all skill levels but especially your 14 to 15 handicap and below players.
How many times do you get to the end of the round and look at your card and realize that you really messed up a few of the par 5s? Even more frustrating is when you realize that most of the time when you had to take a big number on a par 5, you had started the hole right from the middle of the fairway with a beautiful drive. Use the following guidelines for par 5 play and you will soon see less big numbers and more birdies on your par 5s and your score card will look better.
Most big numbers begin when a player hits a nice drive and then tries to go for the green in two. Remember that the landing areas are narrower close to the green on par 5s. This is the penalty for taking an aggressive play at the green for your second shot. Players too often feel that they have to take their 3 wood and hit the ball as far down and close to the green as they can for their second shot. What this does is give you a smaller landing area and brings into play more trouble and the possibility of a very difficult third shot.
Use this rule: If you cannot reach the center of the green with your second shot on the fly with a club that will hold the green then the best shot for you is to hit your second shot to a yardage which leaves you your favorite wedge shot into the green. If you can hit your wedge 100 yards try laying all of your second shots back at the 100 yard marker. Most of the time you will find that you will get a full 100 yard wedge closer to the hole with a better birdie opportunity that you will from trouble and the difficult shot that is left for you from an offline fairway wood second shot.
Tom Kite during his hey day on tour was routinely one of the par 5 scoring leaders on tour yet traditionally not one of the longer hitters. He outscored the field by becoming a great wedge player.
Develop great wedge shots and distance control then play to these strengths when navigating your way through the par 5 ‘s
Use this little bit of course management to lower your scores next time you tee it up! And see if you dont lower your scores.

Improve Fairway Bunker Play

We recently have had a great deal of questions both from students and listeners regarding fairway bunker shots.
Lets start with the primary rule and that is whenever you hit a tee shot out of play make sure you analyze the lie and shot to see what is the maximum club you can hit but still with 100 percent certainty get the ball back into play. A fairway bunker with a high lip or a poor lie may dictate that you use a more lofted club to get out and lay back well short of the green
Now assuming that you have a good lie and the ball is positioned in the middle of the bunker where the lip is not an issue we need to try and play the ball the following way.
First as you want to have occur from the fairway make sure you are trying to hit the ground or sand in front of the ball.
Second choke down on the club slightly. This will promote the club being less likely to hit sand early.
Third quiet your lower body. If you have a golf swing with a great deal of leg movement we want to quiet down that lower body movement here in the bunker. Leg movement has the ability to move our low point around and increases the chances we will hit the shot fat.
Don’t try and hit a shot 100 percent. Take more club and hit the shot 60 or 70 percent of full. This will make it easier to keep your lower body quiet and hit the ball more solidly.
Keep your top button on your golf shirt tall during the swing. Up and down movement reduces your ability to rotate and increases your chances of hitting the fat shot out of the bunker.
One of the real problems with fairway bunkers is that few practice facilities give us a chance to practice these shots and we encounter very few of them. Next time you are out in the evening playing a few leisurely practice holes drop a few in the fairway bunker and try and get more comfortable and confident from the fairway bunker.
Try these suggestions next time you are in a fairway Bunker and see if you don’t improve your Chance at advancing the ball on to the putting surface.

Improve Fairway Bunker Play

We recently have had a great deal of questions both from students and listeners regarding fairway bunker shots.
Lets start with the primary rule and that is whenever you hit a tee shot out of play make sure you analyze the lie and shot to see what is the maximum club you can hit but still with 100 percent certainty get the ball back into play. A fairway bunker with a high lip or a poor lie may dictate that you use a more lofted club to get out and lay back well short of the green
Now assuming that you have a good lie and the ball is positioned in the middle of the bunker where the lip is not an issue we need to try and play the ball the following way.
First as you want to have occur from the fairway make sure you are trying to hit the ground or sand in front of the ball.
Second choke down on the club slightly. This will promote the club being less likely to hit sand early.
Third quiet your lower body. If you have a golf swing with a great deal of leg movement we want to quiet down that lower body movement here in the bunker. Leg movement has the ability to move our low point around and increases the chances we will hit the shot fat.
Don’t try and hit a shot 100 percent. Take more club and hit the shot 60 or 70 percent of full. This will make it easier to keep your lower body quiet and hit the ball more solidly.
Keep your top button on your golf shirt tall during the swing. Up and down movement reduces your ability to rotate and increases your chances of hitting the fat shot out of the bunker.
One of the real problems with fairway bunkers is that few practice facilities give us a chance to practice these shots and we encounter very few of them. Next time you are out in the evening playing a few leisurely practice holes drop a few in the fairway bunker and try and get more comfortable and confident from the fairway bunker.
Try these suggestions next time you are in a fairway Bunker and see if you don’t improve your Chance at advancing the ball on to the putting surface.