Let Ex-LET Professional Sophie Walker take you through some simple drills to help you hit shots more consistently
Golfers often struggle to consistently make clean contact between the ball and the clubface, so try these drills to help you hit solid shots.
Find the sweet spot
Place a tee on the ground in line with the back of the ball and another in the ground 6-inches in front of the ball.
Aim to deliver the club to the ball and ground in line with the tee (by the ball). After impact the club should make contact with the front tee.
Visually this will help you to see where you need to strike the ball and create a more forceful blow and ground contact (possibly a divot). It will also encourage the club to travel lower and be more stable through and after the strike, allowing the path and clubface to be more neutral. Both these aspects aid the quality of strike on the ball.
Learn from the very best
You don’t have to hit the practice ground to work on your ball striking, just learn from Seve. He spent his youth hitting golf balls on the beach in Pedrena, Spain.
Aim to strike the ball and then the sand, and in turn move the bottom of your swing arc forward.
The sand holds no prisoners and gives you instant feedback on whether you have struck the ball or the sand first.
Slopes can aid success
Transferring force from your back to front foot in the downswing is critical for making the ball travel further, like when you throw a ball.
Practise shots off a downslope. Maintain your weight on your front foot and allow your body angle and swing to follow the slope.
As you make contact, feel your body moving towards the target in order to stay with the shot (walk after it).
This will help with the feeling of hitting down on the ball but still following through. The slope forces you to transfer your pressure towards the target and have your weight on your front foot in the follow through.
Use the ground
Many women lift onto their toes on the downswing and don’t use the ground to generate power. The body is then too square on and the hips cannot open. This drill will help with power and balance. If you have a tendency to fall forward and to the right (if you are right-handed) in your follow through, then this is the one for you!
Place an alignment stick on the ground at a diagonal angle. Your back foot should sit on the stick and the front foot should be placed in front of it. Take your backswing as normal, but on the downswing focus on keeping your back foot pressing down on the stick whilst opening your hip and moving it around on the line of the stick.
Your pressure should move from the back foot to the heel of your front foot, a feeling of cork screwing your front foot into the floor and therefore using ground forces to help keep your lower half stable. Your follow through should be more round yourself.
To find out more about Sophie Walker or to book a lesson visit sophiewalker.co.uk. You can also follow her on Instagram here.
The above Instruction article was taken from the Jul/Aug 2019 issue of Women & Golf magazine.
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