PUNCH YOUR WAY BACK TO BETTER BALL-STRIKING 5 I’m known for my fade, but I grew up hitting a draw. It wasn’t until the summer before I went to Cal that I changed my preferred ball flight. I probably hit a thousand punch shots that summer to groove my fade. To this day, whenever my contact isn’t as good as I’d like it to be, the first thing I do is go back to hitting punch shots. I don’t always like doing it, but I know a punch iron shot solves a lot of my bad habits by forcing me to be more efficient with my body’s movements. If you’re struggling to make crisp contact with your irons, try punching it to get things back in order. Make a full backswing, but hit down and through the ball, finishing with the shaft pointing back at your belt. Sometimes momentum will carry the shaft further into the follow-through, and that’s OK. The key here is to stay compact with your movements. Hitting punch shots helps prevent you from swaying going back and stopping your body rotation as you swing through – two big ball-striking mistakes. The best part is that it teaches you to bring the low point of your swing forward, which means you’re compressing the ball with a descending blow before taking a divot. Remember that feel when you go back to full-swing iron shots.
58 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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