Instruction – Sequencing the Driver
“How do I get more consistency?” is one of the questions I get most from my students. There are many variables that equate to more consistency. Clubface direction at impact, club path, setup, and ball to clubface contact at impact are all factors that must be considered when trying to become more consistent. Last month we worked on improving setup, this month we are working on swing sequence which will improve the consistency of the clubface direction at impact, swing path, and ball to clubface contact at impact.
There is no club or ball required for this feel drill. Get a resistance band and place one end of the band under your lead foot and grip onto the other end making sure there is little resistance on the band at setup as you can see above. From here focus on rotating your lead shoulder under your chin as your trail hip rotates, it will feel as if your trail pockets are pulling backwards, and your trail leg is straightening. You should feel your weight on the inside of your trail heel and resistance in the band if you do this drill properly. If you laterally shift your hips to your trail side instead of rotating, you will feel your weight outside of your trail foot and have little resistance on the band. This drill helps you learn how to rotate properly. I see far too many students “sway” or laterally shift their hips to their trail side rather than rotating their hips going to the top of their backswing.
Once you’ve worked on the drill without a club, do the same drill with a club making sure to focus on getting the same feel you do without the club. You can even hit half shots with this drill.
Once you’ve done the resistance band drill working on proper rotation, it’s time to work on the club path. Path equals the curvature of the golf ball, rather the ball is moving right to left and drawing or moving left to right and fading/slicing (for right-handed golfers), while the clubface at impact equals the golf ball starting direction. Most students I see tend to hit fades or slices and have an out to in swing path with a steep angle of attack, with either a closed clubface or open clubface depending on the student. With this being said, I think it’s important to give you a drill to help you achieve a shallow angle of attack and more in-to-out club path.
Start by setting up with your clubhead next to the golf ball then from there move your clubhead a foot behind the golf ball as seen above and hit golf balls from the clubhead starting a foot behind the ball. This drill sets you up for a shallow angle of attack and more in-to-out club-head path.
The final drill helps with angle of attack. Put a headcover six inches in front of the golf ball and hit drives missing the headcover, if you hit the head cover your angle of attack is downward instead of upward, how it should be for a driver. If you are consistently making contact with the head cover do drill two several more times, then come back to drill three. If you are still hitting the headcover, tilt your trail shoulder towards the ground at setup, this will set you up for a more upward angle of attack (shallow angle of attack). All these drills will help you achieve a more consistent, repeatable swing.
