PRACTICE DRILL
The brain is the ultimate taskmaster, but you have to give it the right concepts. This drill is designed to present your brain with a picture of impact. Set up to a ball, but before you swing, simulate impact. Rotate your left hip open, apply pressure into your left heel, and push the club against the ground with your right arm directly behind the shaft. From your perspective, most of your body will appear to the right of the shaft, with your lead hand palm-down ( below ). Now your brain has a snapshot of impact. Make some half- swings, reproducing that impact position. Do this until you groove the feeling of pushing into the ball. That’s what great ball-strikers feel.
The majority of golfers grip the club with the back of the lead hand facing the target and the handle in the palm instead of the fingers – called a weak grip ( above ). Then, when they swing into impact and the weight of the club pulls the lead hand into its natural hitting position (palm down), the clubface spins open. That’s why they fight a slice. It’s much simpler to grip with the palm down at address and the glove logo facing upwards. That allows you to use your natural instinct to hit and also square the face without any manipu- lation. A weak grip requires extra rotation from the hands and arms to close the face at impact, which is very difficult to time, especially at high speeds. THE BIG MISTAKE
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 69
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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