Swing Drill to Improve Your Ball Contact

Learn to strike it solid with this practice drill

Hi, Robin here, with another practice tip. This tip is aimed at anybody who’s really struggling striking their iron shots solid. Perhaps you’re hanging back on your right foot, or you’re releasing the club early, scooping at impact. You’re getting contacts which are inconsistent, heavy shots, thin shots. When you do happen to strike the ball well, you’ll get a high ball flight, not much penetration; you’ll lose a lot of distance.

So if this is you, what I want you to do is get yourself in a fairway bunker.  Hopefully, your driving range has got a fairway bunker to practice from. If not, get out on the golf course late at night; drop some balls in the bunker; do a few practice swings like I’m going to show you.

What I want you to do is draw a line in the sand, addressing the line where your normal ball position would be. Now, simply, what I want you to do is make some practice swings, practicing striking the sand after the line. To do that you’ll have to be moving differently to what you have been. You’ll automatically be shifting your weight to your left foot.  You’ll be maintaining this lag angle coming down, with your hands more in front of the ball at impact or in front of the line at impact. Become sensitive to the pressure in your hand. As you’re holding this lag angle, you’ll feel more pressure on the inside of your index finger for longer. So try to become sensitive to what you’re doing to strike the sand after the line.

Now, simply, when you become comfortable with that, go ahead, put a ball in the sand on the same line, and just again, try to focus on striking the sand after the golf ball.