What is the point of putting for dough unless you cannot drive for show?
The key to lower scores quite clearly starts with your tee shot.
And driving the ball consistently well begins with ensuring your fundamentals are correct.
As amateur golfers, we have to face facts and accept the majority of us will slice the golf ball.
But it doesn’t have to be that way so long as you ensure you adopt the simple and correct approach.
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You do not need to have athletic ability in order to set up to the ball in the proper way.
GolfMagic decided to take a trip down to Berkshire to visit Royal Ascot Golf Club.
There we caught up with their head PGA professional Robert Daw.
Daw broke down three of his favourite drills he teaches in his lessons to help improve driving.
And all you will need is a headcover.
Let’s take a look.
Drill one:
Creating a better angle of attack
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Grab your head cover and place it about a foot or so in front of the ball.
Take your set up parallel left of the target.
Make sure your ball position is correct and in line with your left heel.
Can you see at least two knuckles on your lead hand?
Are those Vs pointing toward your trail shoulder?
Have you got a slight tilt, making sure you are behind the golf ball?
Great.
Now practice hitting balls avoiding hitting the headcover.
This first drill is designed to help you hit up on the ball, Daw explains.
Here we are concentrating on getting an upward angle of attack.
As amateurs, our tendency is to hit down on the ball which in turn increases back and side spin.
Daw explains this is going to exaggerate any curves you’ve got.
That is no bueno.
This is purely an angle of attack drill and you should not be thinking of anything else.
Drill two: Connection
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Drill two is a connection drill designed to help make sure you get a big, powerful turn.
Losing connection in the golf swing can cause a whole host of problems.
Pick up that headcover and place it underneath your armpit on your trail arm.
A common misunderstanding with amateurs is they get fixated with a "one piece takeaway".
This can often lead to a wide move away from the golf ball, leading players to overly stretch.
Therefore, this will always result in a disconnection and it’s impossible to recover from.
For this drill a towel will also work just as well as your headcover.
When doing this drill, make short swings first then slowly progress to fuller swings.
This will help you feel the connection and develop awareness.
Drill three: Creating lag and compressing the ball
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CHIP LIKE TIGER WOODS
Lag.
Exceptional ball-strikers create lag.
Think of Sergio Garcia and have a look at his swing from a side-on view.
Simply put, we want the clubhead to lag behind the movements of the body and arms.
Then we want to club to get moving its fastest when it matters most: the impact area.
That’s why lag is so valuable to hitting good shots, Daw explains.
There is one thing you’re likely to hear when discussing this concept.
Try and feel like you’re pulling a chain.
That might be what it feels like but in reality, that is not happening.
Garcia (and as Daw demonstrates) performs a key move in the downswing.
His left arm stays connected to his torso and he starts the downswing with his lower body.
The clubhead eventually catches up and passes the body.
MASTER YOUR FLOP SHOTS
With this drill, you’ll want to place a headcover on the driver not too tight.
Now swing to the top.
Your aim is to try and keep the head cover on as much as you can on the way down.
If you cast too early the head cover will come flying off.
When done correctly, you’ll understand the feeling of creating lag.
This will give you a greater chance of compressing the ball.
Daw is a full-time coach and currently plays in professional events all over the UK.
He has won seven events including the Foremost National Assistants Championship.
