Several people have reported having a bit of trouble with directional control after they start hitting the ball with good power. There are two areas of concern when we deal with accuracy, they are 2/3 of the entire perfect shot equation. The 3 parts of the perfect swing are, club head speed, club face squareness and club head path. All three of these factors must exist in equal proportions to get that perfect shot. This drill is to train the hands to keep the clubface square in the bottom section of the conical release arc.
The little club shows the correct hand release motions, and they must be mastered to control the alignment of the club as it travels at a speed that cannot be conciously controlled through impact.
The little club drills should be bolstered with a drill done against a vertical surface such as piece of plywood standing on edge or a wall that you don’t mind scraping such as a closet wall.
While doing the drill keep the hands directly in front of your belt buckle, make no effort to turn either the hips or the chest (the hands must remain in place as we use the wrist axels only), swing the club while keeping the toe of the club on the wall. Do this by feeling as if you are twisting the shaft 1/8 of a turn counter- clockwise as you set the right wrist straight back. This will result in the club swinging in an arc with the club face perfectly perpindicular to the wall throughout the arc. The arc will stop when the shaft is 45 degrees to the floor, on both sides of the ball. As the backswing of this small hand motion stops the left wrist will be slightly bowed and the right wrist will be fully cupped. To test your ability to contrl the clubface as it releases, swing the club slowly back and forth with your eyes closed. Stop anywhere in the arc and open your eyes, the lines on the clubface should be perpindicular to the surface of the wall. If they are not more practice is needed.
This drill must be done until the hands keep the club perfect through the arc, without thought, when this happens they will perform the release without concious control during the full swing.
Of course during any larger swing, as the elbows trombone and the body turns the clubface will come off the wall as it travels up the plane. The feeling of the hand actions that you will have practiced will be your guide. Done in the full swing as practiced they will control the clubface as you release through the ball.
The muscles that we will be using swinging back down will have been stretched and thus will guide the club perfectly back through the ball as we make the return swing. Only when the natural return of the stretched muscles guide the club will it fly through the hitting area at maximum speed while having full control without our conscious help.
If you are still having directional control, tune in next week, I will post a tip on path control.
