In this video, golf coach Dan Hendricksen offers seven swing checks every golf should make during the off season.
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00:00 Hello everyone, welcome to Churston Golf Club. My name is Dan Hendrickson and we're here
00:08 in the heart of the English Riviera. Now you may be coming out of the season with a few
00:13 bad habits. Well today we've teamed up with Footjoy to give you a few tips that can help
00:17 you moving into next season. We're going to cover seven simple checks for different parts
00:22 of your game that are going to get you back on track. Let's get into it. Now there's some
00:31 key points that you're going to want to work on when it comes to hitting those big drives.
00:36 During the season you may have fallen into the fault of moving that ball position a little
00:40 bit too far back because you're trying to steer that ball around the golf course. Ultimately
00:44 we're trying to score. Well during the winter you can focus on two key points that can help
00:50 you get that ball launched up in the air and hitting it further. So key point number one
00:54 is going to be your ball position and we're going to be focusing on getting that ball
00:58 position a little further up in your stance. We're going to try and focus on somewhere
01:02 between the inside of the left heel and your left toe being for a right-handed golfer.
01:07 This is going to enable you to be able to sweep that golf ball away off that nice high
01:11 tee. The next thing is we're going to focus on our shoulder position and we're going to
01:15 get the sensation of just dropping that right shoulder down a fraction again just enabling
01:21 that shoulders to feel like a little bit of a launch pad again allowing you to be able
01:25 to hit up and away with that driver. So once you've got yourself into this setup position
01:30 you're going to get the sensation of around 60% of your weight is going to be on your
01:35 right side on your trail leg. This again is going to enable you to be able to turn into
01:40 the back swing and then again hit through and up as you deliver into that ball. So working
01:49 on those two key setup points is going to enable you to hit longer drives moving into
01:54 next season. So moving on from driver we're going to look at the iron setup. Where is
02:03 the driver we wanted power we wanted that ball to move up off the tee? Well with the
02:08 iron the ball is either going to be on the ground or on a very low tee therefore we need
02:13 our angle of attack to move more on the way down so we're looking to try and hit the ball
02:18 then the ground as we come through. Where I had the ball position very much forward
02:23 in my setup with the driver with the iron we're going to have it anywhere between the
02:27 centre point of your stance and a club head inside that left heel that's going to give
02:33 you the optimum position to be able to hit that golf ball and then into the ground from
02:38 there. So as we then put the golf club behind the ball what we're going to do is we're going
02:43 to put our lead hand on the club first and as we bring that right hand down our trail
02:48 hand down onto the club you'll notice that my right shoulder will naturally just drop
02:52 fractionally. I'm not going to get the sense of dropping the right shoulder like I was
02:56 with the driver I'm just going to naturally let it sit on the club and the sense of weight
03:01 between my feet is going to be more 50/50 rather than feeling as though I'm leaning
03:06 behind the ball. Remember as we come through the shot we want ball then divot getting that
03:11 angle of attack correct and this setup is going to enable us to be able to do that.
03:15 And the last thing to remember is with the driver we had a nice wide stance remember
03:19 we were looking for power we needed a good stable foundation well with the iron we're
03:23 looking for more control. Shoulder width apart inside the left and right heels is kind of
03:29 your reference point for this shot again just giving you that stable base to be able to
03:34 control that shot. And with these simple key points of setup we're going to start to hit
03:39 a much more crisper strike which is what we all want.
03:51 So once we've got ourselves into that perfect setup position I want you to get the sensation
03:56 of what I call a one piece takeaway and this is the move of the body and the club taking
04:03 that club away together everything is going to move the arms and the hips and the shoulders
04:09 getting the sense of putting that club into that first point of reference. So looking
04:14 at this now from a down the line perspective and once we've got our club into that first
04:18 point there from a nice even takeaway we want to get the sense that the shaft is now level
04:25 with the feet and if you were taking a video from down the line you wouldn't see too much
04:30 of the shaft because the head would be covering it. The second checkpoint is the face of the
04:35 club and in particular looking at the leading edge. I'm trying to get this leading edge
04:40 in line with my spine angle getting that tilt of my spine angle making sure that face is
04:45 just tilted in line with that setting that club in the perfect position to be able to
04:50 swing that club down the line. And from here we're in the perfect position to be able to
04:55 transition to the top of the backswing giving you the perfect takeaway. So by following
05:00 those two simple checkpoint positions it will enable you to get that club in a much better
05:05 takeaway position swinging it on plane and hitting straighter golf shots. Just like that.
05:20 So one of the most common faults that I see with golfers is alignment. You see it all
05:24 the time on tour ranges. Tour players focusing hard on getting their alignment right and
05:30 an approach to the golf ball is the first point that I want to talk about. A lot of
05:34 players tend to approach the ball from the side and as soon as they get into the ball
05:39 and hit their shot they're aiming down the right hand side. So what you think is a bad
05:43 shot is actually a good shot because you're aiming in that direction. The other fault
05:48 is the player will want to move their swing adjust their swing during it to be able to
05:53 get that club back on line. Well in this video we're going to focus on a drill that you can
05:58 go through that's going to help you align it much better. So earlier I mentioned about
06:03 tour players and the next time you're watching a tour event I want you to focus on what tour
06:07 players do when they approach the golf ball. And in this situation they would be focusing
06:12 on an alignment point an intermediate point of reference between the ball and the target.
06:18 That will be their main aiming point. When you approach this shot you're going to pick
06:23 a spot just in front of the ball about a foot in front of the ball. In this case we've got
06:27 a leaf. It could be a divot it could be a blade of grass but it's something that you
06:31 can align your clubface to when you're setting up to the ball. You'll notice now that I'm
06:36 going to approach this golf ball from behind and the first point is to get this clubface
06:41 lined up to my intermediate target which is that leaf. Once I take my stance I'm going
06:47 to pick this club up and put the shaft over the top of the leaf and the golf ball. Going
06:51 to bring that back to my feet as a second reference point for my feet to be now parallel
06:57 to that point. So with this set up I now have the confidence that I'm aiming down towards
07:03 my intended target. With just two T pegs I'm going to help you improve your strike either
07:16 at home or on the golf course. So to me strike is king. Getting that strike out the middle
07:23 of the clubface consistently is very important to better golf. For those players that strike
07:29 it around the clubface you're going to lead to off-centre strikes leading to low ball
07:33 speeds but also directional problems. Now there's a couple of options that you've got
07:38 when it comes to figuring out where you are on the clubface. You can put face tape or
07:43 even foot spray on the actual face which enables you to be able to hit the shot and see instantly
07:48 where you struck that ball. However I've got a simpler one for you which you can do either
07:54 at home in your garden or even in your lounge if you've got enough space. Simply setting
08:00 up two T pegs. Now in this situation I've set up two T pegs that are about an inch either
08:05 side of the actual club head. And what I'm going to do is start to get the sense of just
08:11 hitting little chip shots between those two marking positions. And what you're going to
08:16 find is if you're someone that tends to come from the inside a little bit too much you're
08:20 going to hit the inside T peg. If you're somebody that gets that club working away from you
08:25 too much you may hit the outside of that clubface which ultimately is going to move your strike
08:30 location from heel to toe. And what we're trying to focus on is trying to just brush
08:35 that club through those gates just trying to make sure that we get that centre point
08:40 through it. And as I get a little bit more confident with this I'm just going to widen
08:45 my stance and just increase my club head speed to try and then move into hitting full shots
08:50 between the gates. This is such a simple technique that can really help your strike and even
08:57 when you get to the golf course you can set this up, tee up a ball and give it a whack
09:01 and make sure you're getting it out the centre point of your club.
09:08 We're going to go back to basics with chipping. When you come out of the season it's very
09:13 common to see lots of players who have struggled with their chipping, maybe move their ball
09:17 position a little bit further back in their stance which during the chip shot you may
09:22 feel that that club digs into the ground or the opposite of where they push the ball position
09:26 maybe a little bit further forward. Again almost trying to help that ball into the air.
09:31 You've got to think about the chipping as kind of like a putting stroke. Ball position
09:35 stays pretty much in the centre of the stance, even taking the grip of what you would with
09:41 your putter, standing a fraction closer feeling as though the heel of the club is a little
09:45 bit off the ground and then simply all I'm going to do differently from a putt to a chip
09:50 is just lean my weight about 70% onto my forward leg. Allow that handle of the club just to
09:57 fall forward with you and then simply take that putting stroke and execute the shot.
10:11 So moving into the winter months and even going into the main season you may come across
10:15 some slower greens and I've got three key tips that I want to focus on for you that
10:20 you can work on that can help improve your putting going into these slower greens. And
10:26 the first thing we're going to focus on is the tempo side of it with your putting and
10:31 I want you to think about the tick tock in your mind and thinking of as you take that
10:36 club away, that putter away, you're going to focus on tick and then as you come back
10:40 down through tock. So it's going to focus on tick, tock as you come through to impact.
10:46 Also I want to see you maintain that stroke. I like to see players that focus on trying
10:50 to just lengthen the backswing slightly, lengthen the follow through just to make sure you keep
10:56 that tempo and that rhythm consistent. These are two key points that are going to help
11:01 you keep consistency in your stroke. And lastly I want you to focus on ball position. I want
11:07 you to push it half a ball further forward in your stance. The idea of this is that we're
11:12 trying to increase our launch with the putter into the ball. We're trying to get a little
11:17 bit more loft onto the putter. This will enable that ball to sort of pop off the face a little
11:22 higher and get it rolling on top of that grass just that little bit easier. So ball position
11:27 just slightly further forward in the stance and then normal putting stroke, getting that
11:33 ball up and along the grass and in. So take those seven key checkpoints into the winter
11:40 months for some training and you'll emerge as a better golfer moving into next season.
11:45 From me at Churston Golf Club, big thank you to Footjoy. We'll see you again soon.
11:50 [Music]
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