Lesson #1

Right Hand Drill

If I had one lesson to give that could get the most benefit to anyone at any level it would be this one.  It can be your best friend or your worst foe. Using it correctly is the key to distance with accuracy - ungodly accuracy.

The right hand can hinge in two ways (and the left for that matter); with the hand ready to shake another hand, 1) up and down and 2) side to side. When gripped on a club you can see that #1 is "Cocking" the wrist up and down, brining the club up and over the head. #2 is opening and closing the clubface causing the club to move through the impact zone. Which to you think is the correct way to swing the club? And there is only one answer. To hit the ball straight, you must only do #1.

Greg Norman made a gadget called "The Secret" (about $18) which forces you to do just this move: Up and down and never side-to-side. It straps on the right hand and has a cupped piece of plastic that forms to the back of the hand locking the wrist in the right "side to side" position as if holding a tray at the top of the back swing. (Many pros will tell you to do this, but some if not most never tell you to keep this position throughout the swing - probably because they don't do it themselves). You see, it is easy to hit the ball by releasing the cupped position of the right hand. You release the right wrist causing the club to accelerate through impact and you hit the ball. But where did it go? If you were early in the swatting, the face is closed at impact and it went left with a hook. Late swatters get the slice.

Swatting is the death of any swing. For you to be a good swatter, you need perfect timing at every swat. You might be able to do this at the driving range because you get several swats in a row allowing you to grove the timing, but on the course, it is a different game - one swat every 4.5 minutes. Good luck timing that.

WATCH AN EXAMPLE OF THE LESSON HERE

Driving Range Lesson:  Grip a 7-8 iron with the hands slightly forward of the center of the belly button and the ball position in the middle. The right hand needs to exaggerate (for the purpose of the lesson) the cupped right locked feeling. Forcing it to stay in this position should take a little "effort" especially if you are a known swatter, but this will be able to go to that position with more ease the more you try this.  Now, take the club back to 1/2 way with the shoulder turn and allow the wrists to rise "UP" only (remember #1 - up and down is okay). The club shaft is pointing up in the air and the left arm is parallel to the ground. Your right wrist is still in this locked "right" position. In the down swing, use the turning of the hips and shoulders (in that order) to begin the rotation that causes the club to move through the impact zone. Your rotation of the hips and shoulders should be past where you were at setup, about 45 degrees. This rotation is what causes the clubface to return back to square allowing the hands to simply release the cocked position at the ball.  Allow the wrists to go "down" to the ball as the last action. Do not sneak the right wrist out of this cocked position through the entire swing. This may feel a little funny at first, but this is the drill. Your ball flight will be lower and shorter then normal since we are only taking it 1/2 way. The feeling at impact should be as solid you have ever felt and the ball should be very straight.