How To Improve Your Impact!!

Now it's no secret that the most important part of the swing is impact. Now for the majority of beginner and intermediate players, we teach mostly swing mechanics that lead up to impact. The reason being is that if you set-up incorrectly and therefore cause a chain of events that affect your backswing and downswing, it wouldn't matter if you were Tiger Woods, it would still be hard to return to the ideal impact position. Therefore before trying to have a great impact position, ensure first you apply correct set-up fundamentals as well form at least a sound backswing.

Once you have an idea of the general motion of the swing, you then want to learn the correct way the body and the club is positioned through the ball. In terms of the body you want to feel at least 70-80 % of weight is on the front foot upon impact as well the body rotating. You also want to have the hands in front of the clubface. Now as the hands win the race over the clubface through impact, you also want to have the clubface square to the target line.

What most beginner and intermediate players do though is have the clubface in front of the hands through impact. This is the primary source of 'topping' as when the hands stay back, the clubhead will have a tendency to rise early and make contact with the top of the ball. The main reason for the hands staying back is due to the body staying too long on the back foot. The other reason is that our instincts tell us that we must lift the ball in the air and hence keep our hands back, however as you've realised the correct way is having the hands in front as this will enable you to hit more down on the ball especially if you're ,moving onto the front foot. The more down you hit on the ball, the more you will correctly use the loft of the club.

One of the best drills to fix impact is the 'drag' drill. This where I will have the student set-up in their normal position without a ball. I will then have them position the clubhead in the middle of the stance with their hands in front. I will have them keep their hands in front while they drag the clubhead along the ground until they reach their left toe. After this moment they can then stand up and finish their swing. The big key to this is that not only are the hands in front, but you want to apply force into the ground with the clubhead almost like you're puncturing a hole. This will then give you a great feel of what it's like through impact as you want to hit down and through the golf ball.

While you're performing this action you also want to have your weight pushing onto your left foot with the body rotating. Try this drill for 6 times and then hitting 6 golf shots having the same feel. Keep repeating the process until you feel compression through impact.

If you'd like to understand the ideal impact position just contact myself at David Waters Golf located at Emerald Lakes Golf Coaching Centre.