Instruction – How to Hit the Draw
The most common tendency I see in my students is slicing the ball. This can be a frustrating ball flight, but I believe it is also one of the easiest faults to fix. I have several different drills and thoughts to help you start hitting beautiful draws.
If you find yourself slicing and are frustrated, send a swing video to kpikegolf@gmail.com with the subject “fix my slice,” and for $25 I can help you with a video analysis of your swing, as well as personalized videos and drills to fix your slice. This can be as easy as taking a couple of quick cell phone videos and sending them over.
Why do players slice theball in technical terms?
The reason your golf ball slices is because your clubface is open to your swing path through impact, which causes side spin making your ball curve.
One of the most important things to me as a coach is for students to understand what causes their mistakes. I want a student to be able to fix their mistakes when I am not around.
What are some reasons people slice the ball?
Too weak of a grip
Ball position too far forward in stance
Aiming right at setup
Shoulders and hips open at setup
Open clubface
Out-to-in swing path
Hitting the heel of the clubface
The simplest way to create an in-to-out swing path and stop coming over the top and slicing is by using feedback drills like placing a head cover or bucket as shown in the picture in the way of your swing, giving you an object you must avoid. This gives you immediate feedback and helps train your muscles to do what you want. To set up this drill, place an object as shown with my bucket just outside the golf ball, about an inch and a half and six inches behind the golf ball.
Keys to help come more in-to-out on the downswing
Set up with your tail elbow bent into your side at setup; from here focus on keeping your back to your target on your downswing or starting your downswing by rotating your lead hip. Most players start the downswing by rotating their shoulders, which pushes their clubhead out on the downswing and makes the player swing out-to-in. Starting the downswing by rotating your shoulders almost always causes a slice.
WRONG
RIGHT
While playing, the only two places you can line up your ball is on the putting green and the tee box. With this being said, almost all golf balls have a line, words or logo on them. Place the logo toward the sky so you can see it at setup or use the line on your ball to aim the ball at an intermediate target just in front of you to help you with aim, as well as give you a focal point when setting up. To help have a more in-to-out swing path, focus on hitting the inside of the logo (the side closest to you) rather than the outside of the logo (furthest part of the ball away from you). Hitting the inside of the golf ball helps to swing more in-to-out.
This drill is to give you a visual of impact. Place a golf ball on the ground, impact bag or another item you have and practice swinging to impact, keeping your chest behind the object. If your shoulders rotate to start the downswing, you will look like the left image in the picture and the buttons of your shirt would be in front of the golf ball at impact. The more your chest stays behind the ball at impact, the more in-to-out you will swing and the more the clubface will rotate over, causing draws and hooks. To hit more draws, you need to look like the right image at impact.
This image is for a visual of post impact on a draw swing. Pay attention to how my arms are leading and my chest is lagging back behind my arms. The more the chest stays behind the ball through impact, the more the ball hooks. Also, notice how my forearms are rotating over each other; the more the forearms rotate over, the more the ball will hook. The forearms rotating over helps to close the clubface.
If you have any specific swing faults you would like me to write on, please e-mail kpikegolf@gmail.com with the subject article idea. I get so much joy helping others play this game better.