34 we can ’ t hit the ball straight with a short swing how on earth could we expect to hit it straight with a long swing ? Just a thought . The idea is that if we ’ re taking a short swing , with a driver , where the club only comes back to 9:00 o ’ clock and follows through to 3:00 o ’ clock we can feel the club opening and closing during the swing . I also like to feel like it ’ s our body ( not our arms and hands ) that opens the club going back and closes it coming through . It ’ s the hip and shoulder turn that opens the club going back and coming through . The hip and shoulders control the rotation of the club versus the arms and the hands . One key point here is that it ’ s the club that came back to 9:00 and not the left arm that came back to 9:00 . The left arm is the second step in this process . Another key point to remember is that the club will travel to 9:00 a whole lot faster than you think . What we feel like is 9:00 o ’ clock is usually 10 or 11 so look at this swing in the mirror before you try it on the range . You basically set up the same way you would to hit a full swing driver . Tee the ball up and play it in the front of your stance and then take a short 9 to 3 swing just as if you were hitting a short 30 yard sand wedge . The ball will not get in the air much at all . It will roll along the ground and go about 30 to 50 yards or so . The goal is to hit it straight . If we ’ re hitting it straight that means we squared the club at impact and at the vertical line . The second step in this process is to take your left arm back to 9:00 and let the hands hinge as in a normal swing . Your left arm will be at 9:00 and the club will hinge to about 12:00 o ’ clock . High noon . Your left arm and your club will create a 90 degree angle or the letter “ L .” The ball will go a little farther but not very much and not very high in the air . Once again the goal is to just hit it straight finding that vertical line . Hit about 10 to 20 shots at first with just the 9 to 3 swing . After you ’ re getting better move into the “ L ” swing . I sometimes call this the 12 to 12 swing as that is where the clubs stops on the backswing and the follow through . Add 20 of these to each practice session .
3 . The One Minute Driver Swing – I love this drill ! I first read about this in Pia Nilsson ’ s and Lynn Marriott ’ s first book . Pia Nilsson was Annika Sorenstam ’ s coach as she was growing up in Sweden . They ’ ve written great books on how to practice and play the game of golf . I highly recommend them all . This is a great drill and you can practice this in your house as you are not hitting balls . It ’ s just a practice swing . Use your driver and actually take one full minute to make a swing . Take 30 seconds to take it back and 30 seconds to follow through . Trust me ; it will feel like an eternity . This drill does a lot more than just help us find the vertical line , but we ’ ll save that for another time . You will feel every little thing in your swing from the takeaway , to the shoulder turn , to weight shift going back and through and the finish . Your goal for our vertical line purpose is to square the club at the vertical line or impact positions . Practice this 4 to 5 times in the mirror at home . It will certainly take a little patience but it will teach you so much about your swing . After you get the hang of it take a few swings with your eyes closed and stop at the impact-vertical line position and open your eyes and check the club face . You ’ ll learn to know where the club face is in all parts of your swing . Have fun with it !
4 . The Strength from Keeping the Elbows Close to our Body – Our swing is so much stronger when our arms stay closer to our body . This will help keep our swing connected , as well as , on plane . I know we want to get extension on the backswing to create width and a good shoulder turn but when the left arm is extended the right elbow should stay fairly close to your body . The opposite is true on the follow through . When the right arm extends down the target line the left arm should fold in close to the body . Matt Kuchar is a great example of this with his follow through . Notice how close his hands are to his left shoulder when he finishes his swing . This will keep him from becoming disconnected on the follow through as the elbows stay very close to his body during the swing . Most professional players practice some sort of drill that helps them keep the elbows close during the swing . One of my favorite drills in golf is to hit balls with a towel around our chest . I ’ m not going to go into details in this article so call or email if you have questions . The best way to learn this is to start with a short chip and run shot around 20 feet with the towel around your chest . You hold the towel in position with your biceps pressing the towel to your chest . This will basically keep your elbows close to your body . Then work on a small sand wedge shot of about 20 to 30 yards . I recommend you see your PGA Professional for help with this drill as it ’ s easy to create a few bad habits if done incorrectly ( such as taking the club back too far inside ). We