Too many toe hits?

A dewsweeper writes in that they are struggling with unsolid shots off the toe of the club.

I find in my teaching that most people struggling with shots off the toe of the club have way to overactive hands at the bottom of the golf swing. Most of the time this is because of two reasons. They are either trying to add power or hit at the bottom of their swing by throwing or pushing the club head towards the ball or they are using their hands in an attempt to square the club face and prevent a shot that goes to the right.

Lets start with the first one. Dewsweeper 101 here. Remember that the hands are not used to add power. For a refresher in what the hands do in golf swing and their role in power reefer back to Hanks' Power Tip number 4. The body pivot in the golf swing is what delivers the club head to the ball and is what supplies the power in the golf swing.

In response to squaring the club face if you have a correct grip and a square club face your hands are not needed to square up the club face at impact. The rotation of the body and your pivot motion are what squares the face.

Here is a drill that will help you get out the over active hands and reduce those toe hits. Hit some balls with the ball about a balls width inside either a 2x4 or a head cover.

Another useful tool to help get the correct feel with your swing is the dream swing. Click here for more information. It is wonderful to get the feel of a swing that is on the correct path and is impossible to use your hands.
http//www.dreamswing.com/email/email.php?refid=HJSOG

Stop Drop Kicking Your Driver!

A dewsweepers writes in that they listen on the way to the course and that they have been battling terrible and drop kicked drives lately. Any suggestions?

Well we certainly can give you some suggestions here. I find that most people who are struggling with drop kicked drives are trying to help the ball into the air and lift the ball off the tee. When a person is trying to give an upward blow to the drive it results frequently in trunk that is too tilted back away from the ball. When your trunk leans back and the club is trying to swing up the result is a club that reaches its low point prematurely.

We have talked numerous times here on the dewsweepers about pivot. My preference as a teacher to have pivot that is much more level. Your trunk should appeared stacked over the ball at impact from a face on view.

Headed to the course today try these two tips. If you have a striped shirt on and if you don't pretend you do, make your forward swings trying to keep your stripes as level as possible while turning through the ball. Level stripes in your forward swing will hell take away the drop kick.

Another good one is to tee the ball down lower and make sure that you are trying to knock the tee out of the ground with your driver swing. The result will be a more downward blow which will help reduce the tilt and the drop kick.

A training aid that we endorse here that is excellent to help you learn the feel of the correct swing is the dream swing. Check it out at http//www.dreamswing.com/email/email.php?refid=HJSOG . I think you will find it useful in helping you stay level and finding the correct low point in the swing!

Club swinging too far off plane to right.

A Dewsweeper writes in and asks if we have any help for a right handed golfer who swings the club too much off the plane tot he right (for a right handed golfer).

One of the things we say here at the Hank Johnson School of Golf is that the difficult thing about golf is that you are trying to hit a ball on a straight line with a swing that is a circle. The point here is that golfers often make the mistake of trying to swing the club and/or there arms down the target line rather than swinging the club back up to the left on the correct plane.

Try these suggestions to help get the club swinging on the correct path rather than too much to the right.

1) Tuck your shirt sleeve of your left arm (right hand golfer) underneath your armpit. Make swings and hit balls keeping your shirt sleeve tucked under your arm. This will help keep your arms attached to your pivot and reduce the likelihood that your club will swing too much down the line.

2) Set up with the ball on the ground in your address position and rotate your body in a circle pushing the ball along the ground in a semi-circle. This will help you get the feeling of the rotary motion of the golf swing.

3) I would also suggest using the Dream Swing training aid. For more information on the Dream Swing email me here at the Dewsweepers.

Divots too far to the left?

A Dewsweeper who is a 5 handicap writes in that he is hitting it solid but his divots continue to point to far to the left (a right handed golfer). He asks for help!

Well one of the things I would encourage this Dewsweeper to do is to go back and read Hank's notes on the sequence of the downswing during his POWER segments. It very well could be that you are making the correct motion but doing them out of sequence. For instance, if you begin your body pivot too soon from the top before your arms fall or lower the club back down the plane you would have a club coming too far from the outside. Re read Hanks tip and see if that shed's some light on your problem.

Another suggestion I would make is to focus on the correct part of the ball. I often ask students who have come to see me down here on the coast where they are looking or trying to hit and there answer is "the ball" or "I am not sure." Lets refocus our attention on trying to hit the inside quarter of the ball.

A great training aid we use here at the Hank Johnson School of Golf is the DreamSwing which is really a wonderful tool to help you get the feel of the correct path the swing should make. I would encourage you to try one. For more information on the DreamSwing email us here at the Dewsweepers and we will get you the link!