3 Most Important Golf Swing Tips for Consistency
While there are countless golf swing videos and articles you can find on the web sharing the latest golf swing tips, you should really focus on these 3 things if you want to improve your golf swing.
Let’s keep it simple and not worry about all the mechanical terms you hear golf instructors throwing around like hip rotation, spine angle, torque, swing plane, etc.
Instead, focus in on these 3 things and your golf swing will become more consistent and produce better golf shot results.
#1: Consistent Ball Striking – Contact the Ground in the Same Spot
When the golf club comes down from the downswing, we want the face to strike ball first then ground. This is ideal for producing the best ball striking results.
When you hit ground before ball, the club can bounce causing a thinned shot or it can dig causing a chunked golf shot.
Mark the golf ball position on the driving range by placing a tee in the ground a few feet outside the ball. Check you divot against this tee to see if the divot started before the tee (chunk) or after the tee (ideal).
Once you can move the golf divot forward of the tee and hit the ground in the same location on each shot, you’ll be achieving more consistent ball striking.
One of the factors to check is your weight shift. If you are getting your weight shifted properly forward during the downswing, this can help your body move ahead of the ball and achieve the forward divot that results form ball then turf contact.
If your weight gets stuck behind the swing, this can lead to your club releasing into the ground behind the ball, making ground then ball contact (bad things happen).
One way to prevent this is the misconception of shifting weight to the back leg during the back swing. To much swaying and leaning can cause more harm than good.
Instead, try keeping your weight centered during the back swing, twisting your body (coiling) around this set position to build up power from the coil and shoulder turn.
RESOURCE: How to Break 70 Golf Training Plan
#2: Get Your Club Face Angle in Line with Your Swing Path
Here is a fundamental part of the golf swing that most beginners don’t know about. Once you learn this aspect of the golf swing, every shot you hit will make sense in why the golf ball flew the direction that it did.
The golf club face angle refers to the angle the club is at when it strikes the ball. The face will be one of three things; open, closed, or square relative to the target line.
Swing path refers to the path the golf club takes on the down swing and as it hits the golf ball. Swing path can be open, closed, or square relative to the target line.
Now here comes the advanced part that is hard to understand at first.
The face angle is not only open, closed, or square to the target line but it’s also open, closed, or square relative to the swing path line.
If your swing path is out to the right of the target line, you’d expect the golf ball to go to the right instead of straight. But if the club face angle is closed relative to the swing path, the ball can still fly straight since it was struck with conflicting angles.
The club face would need to also be open the same as the swing path, which would cause the club face angle to be “square” to the club path, but “open” relative to the golf ball.
This wouldn’t cause a slice since the face angle is equal with the club path (both are open to the right). But it would cause the golf ball to be pushed to the right of the target.
A slice occurs when the club face angle is more open than the swing path angle. And a hook occurs when the face angle is more closed than the swing path angle.
So if you want to learn how to hit a draw, get the club face angle to be slightly closed relative to the swing path angle and the golf ball will create draw spin.
Swinging to the right and not closing the face will lead to pushed shots that fly right of the target and don’t draw back to the left.
If this made sense then you now are a step closer to a golf swing you can control. Do further research on the club path to face angle relationship and you’ll unlock the key to success with your golf ball’s flight trajectory.
#3: Hit Closer To The Sweet Spot
Lastly, you must master the ability to hit the ball close to the sweet spot on the face of the club. When this happens, the club makes the best possible contact with the golf ball and this produces the longest distances and ideal ball flights.
Hitting off the heel or toe (further outside the sweet spot) can cause loss of spin, loss of distance, etc.
Hitting the sweet spot is hard to do but with lots of practice you can make improvement and build consistency.
Start by buying some face tape to place on your golf clubs so you can check the face after each shot on the range to see if you hit center of the face or missed the sweet spot.