Golf is a sport that requires practice in order to play our best. Rarely can a golfer just pick up the clubs and naturally score well. It takes practice and effort to hone our skills. There is one vital aspect of practice that many amateurs overlook when practicing and that is immediate feedback. As Chris Ryan suggests, without feedback during practice sessions your time wasted. Instant feedback is best when practicing and Ryan suggests an easy drill that will help improve our ball striking when playing our irons.
I never really thought much about keeping my head still while striking any club, especially my irons. I seem to do this movement naturally……or do I? I am definitely going to try this drill and see if it is the challenge that is causing my left hits with my irons. I can see how keeping my head as still as possible helps with ball striking and now I can measure my success.
Practice time is precious for all golfers. To maximize the effectiveness of practice, everyone needs feedback. Instant feedback is best and Chris Ryan has shown us one quick and easy way to achieve this goal. If you have tried this drill before, let me know how it works for your game.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
I haven’t done that one. I used something else to help me turn instead of sway. I don’t own alignment sticks. Never saw a need to buy them when a club shaft will work. And that’s what I used. In this case it was an old driver shaft. Stuck in the ground with the butt end pointed somewhere around the upper thigh area of my trail leg. With just about an inch of space between me and it.
When I sway with that old shaft set up like that I get instant feedback. My leg hits the shaft and I know I failed.
Here’s another thought for you on head movement:
It’s only the lateral head movement we want to limit. We’re allowed to have our head swivel a little. That’s going to happen if we make a shoulder turn more than our neck muscles allow which should be ok to do if you have a body that allows it. And we’re allowed to let our head travel vertically. In fact, if you want more distance, it needs to travel vertically. Power comes from the ground.
This is something I was thinking of showing the high handicappers this weekend. I can put the same amount of effort with my upper body into a smooth easy swing and change only the amount of knee bend in the back swing and see a significant change to club head speed. You can hear the difference easily. The more I dip, the more I have to push off. And it’s that push off/up (just at/after release I can’t really tell lol) that creates the extra club head speed.
It’s something we may all know intellectually, but it’s almost surprising how much of a difference just dropping an inch or two lower to the ground can make. It’s how we snap the whip so to speak.
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Kevin,
Dropping an inch or two needs to be practiced. I am an advocate of as little movement as possible if I am set up properly. But, that is for my game. I bet if you show the higher handicappers your thoughts, it might take a bit of time to sink in. Regardless, improving our game takes effort and trying something new.
Cheers Jim
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