A very common thing I see when coaching are off centre shots. Centred strikes are important for improving both distance and direction, however I often find players are unaware of exactly which part of the face has connected with the ball. For example, shanked shots are often diagnosed as a toe strike. Having poor strike awareness can lead you down some very dangerous rabbit holes with your golf swing. Golfers are quick to change something in their swing when hitting a couple of mis-strikes but is it necessary?
The best players in the world have small variations in their movement from swing to swing but are very good at finding the sweet spot more often or not. They could probably swing with many funky different swings purposely and still hit it sweet as a nut. Why? They have unbelievable golf club and strike awareness!
I can guarantee you will improve your golf by improving your strike awareness.
Vertical vs Horizontal
When we refer to strike, we refer to both vertical and horizontal. Horizontal is the strike pattern from heel to toe and vertical is the strike pattern from bottom groove to top groove. If you have a strike pattern which is low on the face its most likely that you have very shallow divots or if any at all.
Where am I hitting it from?
If you don`t have very good strike awareness, then let’s start building it with some feedback on contact from the clubface (this can be done with face tape or foot spray). After each shot at the range look at the face and see where you struck it. What you will start to do is build a better awareness of the sound/feel of the different strikes and hopefully be able to link them together.
Errorful Training
Using the foot spray on the face, try and purposely strike different parts of the face. You can just start off by going toe, heel, and centre and if you start to achieve this with success then start to add the vertical component in there such as low toe or low heel, but this would be much more advanced. I would encourage doing this on a tee to start with. For good feedback draw a cross through the middle of the face so you have four boxes to try and hit the ball into.
Join the dots
A fun and cost-effective game to help improve your strike and intention. Draw a dot on the centre of the clubface and one on the golf ball and simply see if you can match the dots on the face. This will give you great feedback but also a good one to add into your practice sessions.
Tee peg drill
This is a great drill for improving the vertical and horizonal strike pattern. Just start off without a ball. Swing between the tees hitting the middle one without hitting the outside ones. Try take the middle one out of the ground and bruise the ground after the tee. If you are a shallow striker of the ball and generally catch the ground behind the ball or strike the ball low on the face, then place an alignment cane 6 – 8 inches behind the station and try miss it whilst trying to achieve the same intent. You can also vary which tee you aim at (always starting from the centre tee) so you can feel what needs to change to improve strike location.
Need help? Kat uses Trackman 4 Launch Monitor in her coaching sessions which provides strike location information. If you'd like to book an Assessment to establish your strike and/or understand your swing patterns, please BOOK ONLINE or contact Kat directly (07939 252977) for a free consultation.
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