So, I'm going to teach you two drills here
that are going to help you to get rid of the over-the-top move. Now, remember, our concern before was with
the face because that's what's making it slice. Seeing the ball slice was making you manipulate
the over-the-top move to pull it back on line. So, we're going to get rid of the manipulation
now. You'll find, when people slice the ball, they're
too upper-body orientated, shoulders. I'd like you to feel your arms more in the
golf swing, and you'll see what I'm talking about in a second. I'm going to address the ball. I'm going to get up to the top of the swing
here.
And, in our over-the-top move, you'll see
the shoulders start to downswing. So, if I had an eyeball on each shoulder blade,
which now is facing in this direction, and by the time I get to the top of my swing,
my eyeballs are to the target. So, I would call that 'back to the target'. Well, the transition move tends, for this
type of golfer, to be with their shoulders, and you're going to see, the right shoulder
goes high and the left shoulder goes low. So, someone who feels over-the-top, they're
always feeling their right shoulder high. So, if I could get up to the top and feel
the right shoulder work low, low in the shot instead of high, you can see the shaft is
on a much different plane and shallow, compared to the high, where the shaft's kicked out
and over.
So, take it up to the top. Don't be afraid to be totally static with
your feet. This is just a drill. Take it up to the top of your swing. Now, I want you to feel that your back is
to the target until your hands are at your waist. And if you do that, you can see this shaft
coming in from the inside, and we still have our lag, that we'll talk about shortly. So, we're going to do a pump drill. You're going to take the club back, you're
going to feel the rear shoulder, low… low… no… no… low. We'll take it back, pump once low, back… And, as you can see, that ball started right
down the line with a nice, beautiful draw. The second drill I want to show you is a drill
that you need to hit balls with. You need to get onto the grass tee.
You need a shaft, and here's the secret. I strongly suggest you get some tape. This fiberglass, sometimes, gives you splinters,
and I don't want you getting a splinter. So, if you get some tape, then you can use
this to push it into the ground. A piece of string and two tees is all you
need. This will be our target line. It's a wonderful drill. Let's get busy and show you how to do it. All we need is a tee, front tee anywhere. The back tee, we're going to aim at the target. Let me show you. Front tee, we'll aim at that black cart out
there; back of the tee, aim. Really important that you come back and you
check it. Now, when you do this drill, you need to have
a ball teed up.
And, you know, you tee up a ball on a par-3,
so it's no big deal, but it needs to be in a constant position, close to this string. Next thing is, I'm going to grab this shaft,
I'm going to set up to my ball, and I'm going to take it back halfway, and I'm going to
kind of see right where the ferrule is, a couple inches back here, how far that is,
and that's where I kind of want to put this shaft. If you put the shaft too far out, you won't
hit it. If you get it too close, you won't hit it. So, we want it to feel pretty much about to
where the ferrule on the golf club is, this black ferrule. What I like to do is, I'll come back here
and I'll set this in the ground, straight up.
Then, I'll come find my address position,
pull it out of the ground a little bit because it's easier to adjust, and I want to feel
that this and this are parallel to each other. Because this is four inches outside, you should
not hit this unless you come over-the-top. So, as you can see, a good backswing, in slow
motion, back to the target until my hands are at my waist, allows it to be more shallow,
or rear shoulder, feeling low instead of high. Our goal is not to hit the club. I'll come back, look at my ball flight. Got a nice, straight divot, had a little bit
of hook, which means the club face was probably a little closed, which is natural for my game. So, again, this shaft is a wonderful drill. I'd like to give you a different way to practice
the same thing.
Same shaft, just a different way. You're going to put a ball up on a tee, you're
going to get this shaft, you're going to put it in exact line of the string. You want the tip of this at least at knee
height, so I need it a little higher. Now, any over-the-top move will hit this. Obviously, the feedback of that will show
you that you were steeping over-the-top. Most importantly, whenever you do the shaft
drills, you need to make sure you're teeing the ball in the same exact spot. That's why you need a tee, because there'll
be a divot there after a shot, hopefully. And, if you switch club selections with the
drill, matching the shaft plane, then you must reset it up because each shaft's on a
different angle.
This drill here, as long as it's knee-height,
you don't have to adjust it. These two drills, I found extremely helpful,
and I'm sure they will help you..