Do you hit a lot of hooks and pushes? If this sounds like you and you hit these two types of shot quite a lot, then try this coaching tip as it may very well cure it. Research carried by the Titleist Perforance Insitute said that 68% of amateurs early extend in the down swing. So what is early extension? Early extension is when a golfer, as they start their move into their backswing or downswing, will either gain height or thrust their hips towards the ball (see example here). As you can see in image A and image B, image A is an early extension in the backswing and image B is early extension in the downswing. What this does, is casues a golfer to either get stuck to much on the inside, or swing over the top on the way down. It also creates very inconsistent ball striking and a very inconsisitent club face position at impact. If you look at image C and D, then you can see that in the backswing and the downswing the golfs bum stays on the dotted line and doesn’t come off it. This is the correct movement. A drill you can use to stop early extension is to hit golf balls with your toes touching the top of your shoes. What this does is it keeps the the majority of your weight, towards the middle of your feet throughout the swing, which in turn should allow you to turn better, rather than thrusting your hips towards the ball. Another drill is to dig an alignment stick in the ground just outside your front foot heel so it is running up the back of your front leg. From there, hit golf balls and try to feel your lead hip in the downswing turning onto the alignment stick that is dug into the ground. This will also help turn through impact properly. Give it a go and see how you get on. |