These simple concepts will give you the consistency you've always wanted
SWING KEYS
THE WAGGLE HELPS PRIME MY BODYEveryone asks me about my waggle, and why I do it. Honestly, I really don't give it much thought. I played a lot of baseball growing up, and I always hit better if I kept moving before the pitch instead of standing still in the batter's box. I think a waggle does the same thing in the golf swing. It keeps you relaxed and gets your body ready to hit the ball.
SWING KEYS
THE CLUB STAYS IN FRONT OF MEMy coach, Chuck Cook, says I do a great job of keeping the club in front of my body throughout the swing. Amateurs tend to swing mostly with their arms, so the body lags behind; better players can get fast with the body turn, so the arms lag behind. If you focus on turning back and through with the club staying in front of your chest, you'll find it easier to square the clubface and hit straighter shots.
SWING KEYS
MY RIGHT FOOT STAYS DOWNThis is more evident when I hit my irons, but I keep my right foot on the ground for a long time during the downswing. It helps my stability and lets me create more leverage to deliver a lot of energy into the ball. Plus, if you get up on the toes of your right foot too quickly, you can bet the club is not staying in front of you. Think about keeping your back heel grounded for as long as possible as you swing down. You'll be surprised how well you start striking the ball.
SWING THOUGHTS
'GET THE RIGHT SHOULDER AWAY FROM THE BALL'Sometimes my backswing gets a little short. When that happens, I don't have enough time to square the clubface to my target by impact, so I hit it right. To make a better backswing, I think about moving my right shoulder as far away from the ball as I can. Here's a drill I do to feel it (above), and what it looks like in my swing.
SWING THOUGHTS
'MOVE THE RIGHT SHOULDER TOWARD THE BALL'When I start down from the top, I try to feel as if my right shoulder goes directly to the ball, and this improves my swing path. Chuck also says this makes the body square the face at impact, which is more reliable than trying to do it with a lot of hand action. Here's a drill I use (above), and then my normal swing.
MY NEW THOUGHT
'SWING THE HANDLE TO THE LEFT'I want my swing path to be inside the target line coming down, and then back inside the target line after impact. At times, I have more of an in-to-out path, and it's hard to find the fairway. To fix it, I think about swinging the grip left of the target, closer to my left hip, in the follow-through.
