YOU MIGHT BE wondering why a person who makes a living teaching golf would want to show you how to play better without needing one of my lessons. Good question. Ideally you would come visit me or one of my academy instructors when problems arise, but I know a lot of times that’s not practical. So in a bit of the paying- it-forward spirit, I wrote a book that addresses 72 of golf’s most menacing issues from tee to green and explains how to fix them without me – or any other teacher for that matter. My new book – Fix It Yourself – is very much a self-help troubleshooting guide. In this article, I’m going to give you a sample of some of the common issues addressed in the book and teach you how to teach yourself. Let’s get started.
NO DISTANCE OFF THE TEE? ‘SNAP’ THE CLUBHEAD
ergy. Instead, your grip pressure should feel relaxed and the start of your downswing unhurried. You want your driver moving its fastest through the hitting area. You don’t hit at the ball, you swing through the ball. A time-honoured drill to get a feel for this snap is to flip the club upside down and grip the shaft at its neck. Now make practice swings creating a whoosh sound as the grip end passes over the ground where your teed ball would be sitting ( above ). Keep the grip pressure light and let speed build. If you hear the sound halfway into your downswing, you’ll know you’re still gripping too hard and swinging too fast at the start. Try to create that sound much later. When you go back to hitting drives, you’ll be out of “hit” mode, and your swing should feel much more free.
If you’re struggling to maximise your distance potential with the driver, the problem could be from misunderstanding what
you need to do to generate good clubhead speed. The first mistake is thinking you need to grip the club harder to hit it further. The second is starting your downswing with everything you’ve got. In both cases, it’s wasted effort. Let me explain why. When you grip the club too hard, you can’t utilise the suppleness of your hands, wrists and arms to provide a snap-like action into the ball. That “snap” really generates a lot of power. When you start down from the top as fast as you can, there’s a good chance your clubhead will be slowing down when it gets to the ball. Like I said, it’s wasted en-
– WITH RON KASPRISKE
Adapted from the book Fix It Yourself , by David Leadbetter, with Ron Kaspriske, |St Martin’s Press
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