Total Game Plan

Most people who have ever picked up a golf club will have experienced the glorious highs of shooting a new personal best score. That there is always the chance to achieve such a feat is one of the main reasons we golfers continue to put ourselves through the mill despite knowing that, having enjoyed relative success one day, the game will all too often bring us crashing back down to earth next time out. It’s one of the sport’s inherent traits that makes it so frustratingly irresistible! But while it can never be mastered, there are some simple things that will help if your golf game is plagued by inconsistency. The selection of easy-to-follow drills in these pages cover every aspect of the game, from set-up to putting and everything…

1 Power from the ground Golf has become much more of a power game, and a few extra yards can give you shorter clubs in or bring longer par 4s or even par 5s into range. So how do you go about generating more power? Look to your main power sources first – the legs and the ground. Try to feel as though you’re pushing down more into your left side with your body as you start down from the top, then move back up again as you hit through to draw power up from the ground. The best players in the world move upwards and back a little bit through the ball, staying behind it with the sternum. Try this without a club first to get a feel for the…

1 You need to hit the ball on the upswing with your driver to maximise power. Set the ball forward in your stance and don’t be afraid to tee it up high. 2 As you turn back, your weight should naturally move on to your back foot – this happens as a result of your body rotation. Do not try to force the weight shift by swaying off the ball (away from the target) – this will hamper the quality of your strike. 3 In the finish position, your weight should be over your front foot and your midriff should be pointing at the target. You should be balanced and able to hold this position for several seconds until the ball lands – a sign that you’ve put a good swing on…

1 Not like an iron shot The drive I’m hitting here is from the spectacular 18th tee at Trump International, where the prevailing wind is into your face. If you had an iron in hand from tee or fairway here, you might think about leaning more on your left side at address to help deloft the club. But that approach won’t work very well with a driver, as you still need to launch the ball up into the air and make good contact. 2 Reduce speed and spin The simplest ways to control your driver flight into the wind are: 1) play for your normal shape and 2) reduce your swing speed by around five to ten per cent. The former is important as it’s often when you try to hit a…

1 The main difference between the driver and the rest of your clubs is the length of the shaft. When it comes to the backswing, there are some common pitfalls that plague golfers as a result. The longer driver shaft means the takeaway tends to be more of a sweeping motion, which can cause some players to get the club well inside the ideal plane line right from the start. From here, they are often forced out of their posture as they lift their arms in an attempt to get the club to parallel at the top. This makes it extremely difficult to return the driver to impact with any sort of consistency. 2 Instead, feel like you sweep the club straight back, keeping it low to the ground. Maintain this feeling…

1 It’s vital to rotate your hips in sequence if you want to hit the ball further, especially in the downswing. It’s useless hitting through the shot before turning your hips. While it might look pretty, it’ll be pretty inefficient. So, in order to create power, you need to create lag in the downswing and that is triggered by your hips. To do this, from the top of the backswing, you want your lead hip to move towards the target and rotate to signal the start of the downswing. 2 From here, the next thing to go will be the shoulders, which will start to unwind and drag the arms and hands through with them. Now you’re starting to store a lot of power in the club, which you want to release…