Instruction
Hold Your Finish Like A Statue
Poor pitchers usually flip their hands through impact, causing contact on the upswing that sends the ball scooting across the green. The dreaded flip is often combined with restricted body rotation through the ball -- it's a deadly combination. Your body must rotate around your front foot so your hands can remain firm, and not flip, through impact.
Make a practice swing and hold your finish, posing like a statue. Check your belt buckle, club and lead arm: They should all be pointed at your landing spot (right). Feel your body rotation and the firmness in your hands. Then create a reminder, like turn your core or solid as a statue, to trigger the correct movements through the shot.
A lot of players trying to break 90 fight a lateral sway of the lower body back and through -- and the wicked slice that results. This move also reduces power because the shoulder turn is limited and energy gets stored on the outside of the back hip instead of in the glute muscle, where it should be.
Place a club across your hips, and push it with your back hand to feel your hips turn into the backswing (right). Then pivot through to a full finish. Some golfers try to resist the hip turn to create a tighter coil going back, but the usual result is an overall lack of body turn and a steep, armsy swing.
Using this exercise, gain a sense of pressure in your right glute as you reach the top. Think glute to attach a word to the feeling of turning your hips on the backswing.
MENTAL NOTES
Pick a player on tour whose pre-shot routine makes sense to you in terms of duration and sophistication. Some players take one look at the target and one waggle, some take two looks and two waggles, and so on. Copy the elements and the pace of the routine, and I'll bet you play more consistently.
--Dr. Bob Rotella