In this video, golf coach Dan Hendricksen offers seven swing checks every golf should make during the off season.
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00:00Hello everyone, welcome to Churston Golf Club. My name is Dan Hendrickson and we're here
00:08in the heart of the English Riviera. Now you may be coming out of the season with a few
00:13bad habits, well today we've teamed up with Footjoy to give you a few tips that can help
00:18you moving into next season. We're going to cover seven simple checks for different parts
00:23of your game that are going to get you back on track. Let's get into it. Now there's some
00:31key points that you're going to want to work on when it comes to hitting those big drives.
00:36During the season you may have fallen into the fault of moving that ball position a little
00:40bit too far back because you're trying to steer that ball around the golf course, ultimately
00:44we're trying to score. Well during the winter you can focus on two key points that can help
00:50you get that ball launched up in the air and hitting it further. So key point number one is
00:55going to be your ball position and we're going to be focusing on getting that ball position a
00:59little further up in your stance. We're going to try and focus on somewhere between the inside of
01:03the left heel and your left toe being for a right-handed golfer. This is going to enable
01:08you to be able to sweep that golf ball away off that nice high tee. The next thing is we're going
01:14to focus on our shoulder position and we're going to get the sensation of just dropping that right
01:18shoulder down a fraction, again just enabling that shoulders to feel like a little bit of a
01:23launch pad, again allowing you to be able to hit up and away with that driver. So once you've got
01:29yourself into this setup position you're going to get the sensation of around 60% of your weight
01:34is going to be on your right side on your trail leg. This again is going to enable you to be able
01:39to turn into the backswing and then again hit through and up as you deliver into that ball.
01:48So working on those two key setup points is going to enable you to hit longer drives moving into
01:54next season. So moving on from driver we're going to look at the iron setup. Where is the driver we
02:04wanted power? We wanted that ball to move up off the tee. Well with the iron the ball is either
02:10going to be on the ground or on a very low tee, therefore we need our angle of attack to move more
02:15on the way down. So we're looking to try and hit the ball then the ground as we come through.
02:20Now where I had the ball positioned very much forward in my setup with the driver, with the iron
02:25we're going to have it anywhere between the center point of your stance and a club head inside that
02:32left heel. That's going to give you the optimum position to be able to hit that golf ball and then
02:37into the ground from there. So as we then put the golf club behind the ball what we're going to do
02:43is we're going to put our lead hand on the club first and as we bring that right hand down our
02:47trail hand down onto the club you'll notice that my right shoulder will naturally just drop
02:53fractionally. I'm not going to get the sense of dropping the right shoulder like I was with the
02:57driver, I'm just going to naturally let it sit on the club and the sense of weight between my feet
03:03is going to be more 50-50 rather than feeling as though I'm leaning behind the ball. Remember as
03:08we come through the shot we want ball then divot getting that angle of attack correct and this
03:12setup is going to enable us to be able to do that. And the last thing to remember is with a driver we
03:17had a nice wide stance, remember we were looking for power, we needed a good stable foundation.
03:23Well with the iron we're looking for more control, shoulder width apart inside the left and right
03:28heels is kind of your reference point for this shot, again just giving you that stable base to
03:34be able to control that shot. And with these simple key points of setup we're going to start
03:39to hit a much more crisper strike which is what we all want. So once we've got ourselves into that
03:53perfect setup position I want you to get the sensation of what I call a one-piece takeaway
03:59and this is the move of the body and the club taking that club away together. Everything is
04:05going to move, the arms and the hips and the shoulders getting the sense of putting that club
04:11into that first point of reference. So looking at this now from a down the line perspective and once
04:17we've got our club into that first point there from a nice even takeaway we want to get the sense
04:23that the shaft is now level with the feet and if you were taking a video from down the line you
04:29wouldn't see too much of the shaft because the head would be covering it. The second checkpoint
04:34is the face of the club and in particular looking at the leading edge. I'm trying to get this leading
04:39edge in line with my spine angle, getting that tilt of my spine angle, making sure that face
04:45is just tilted in line with that, setting that club in the perfect position to be able to swing
04:51that club down the line and from here we're in the perfect position to be able to transition to
04:56the top of the backswing giving you the perfect takeaway. So by following those two simple
05:01checkpoint positions it will enable you to get that club in a much better takeaway position
05:06swinging it on plane and hitting straighter golf shots.
05:15Just like that.
05:16So one of the most common faults that I see with golfers is alignment. You see it all the time on
05:21tour ranges, tour players focusing hard on getting their alignment right and an approach to the golf
05:27ball is the first point that I want to talk about. A lot of players tend to approach the ball from
05:32the side and as soon as they get into the ball and hit their shot they're aiming down the right
05:38hand side so what you think is a bad shot is actually a good shot because you're getting
05:42what you think is a bad shot is actually a good shot because you're aiming in that direction.
05:47The other fault is the player will want to move their swing, adjust their swing during it to be
05:53able to get that club back on line. Well in this video we're going to focus on a drill that you can
05:58go through that's going to help you align it much better. So earlier I mentioned about tour players
06:04and the next time you're watching a tour event I want you to focus on what tour players do when
06:08they approach the golf ball and in this situation they would be focusing on an alignment point an
06:13intermediate point of reference between the ball and the target that will be their main aiming
06:20point. When you approach this shot you're going to pick a spot just in front of the ball about a foot
06:25in front of the ball in this case we've got a leaf now it could be a divot it could be a blade of
06:29grass but it's something that you can align your club face to when you're setting up to the ball.
06:35You'll notice now that I'm going to approach this golf ball from behind and the first point is to
06:41get this club face lined up to my intermediate target which is that leaf. Once I take my stance
06:47I'm going to pick this club up and put the shaft over the top of the leaf and the golf ball going
06:51to bring that back to my feet as a second reference point for my feet to be now parallel to that point
06:58so with this setup I now have the confidence that I'm aiming down towards my intended target.
07:11With just two tee pegs I'm going to help you improve your strike either at home or on the
07:17golf course. So to me strike is king getting that strike out the middle of the club face
07:24consistently is very important to better golf. For those players that strike it around the club
07:30face you're going to lead to off-center strikes leading to low ball speeds but also directional
07:36problems. Now there's a couple of options that you've got when it comes to figuring out where
07:40you are on the club face you can put face tape or even foot spray on the actual face which enables
07:46you to be able to hit the shot and see instantly where you struck that ball. However I've got a
07:52simpler one for you which you can do either at home in your garden or even in your lounge if
07:57you've got enough space. Simply setting up two tee pegs now in this situation I've set up two
08:03tee pegs that are about an inch either side of the actual club head and what I'm going to do
08:09is start to get the sense of just hitting little chip shots between those two marking positions
08:16and what you're going to find is if you're someone that tends to come from the inside a little bit
08:20too much you're going to hit the inside tee peg. If you're somebody that gets that club working away
08:25from you too much you may hit the outside of that club face which ultimately is going to move your
08:30strike location from kind of heel to toe and what we're trying to focus on is trying to just brush
08:35that club through those gates just trying to make sure that we get that center point through it and
08:41as I get a little bit more confident with this I'm just going to widen my stance and just increase my
08:47club head speed to try and then move into hitting full shots between the gates. This is such a simple
08:54technique that can really help your strike and even when you get to the golf course you can set
08:59this up tee up a ball and give it a whack and make sure you're getting it out the center point of your club.
09:08We're going to go back to basics with chipping. When you come out of the season it's very common
09:14to see lots of players who have struggled with their chipping maybe move their ball position a
09:18little bit further back in their stance which during the chip shot you may feel that that club
09:23digs into the ground or the opposite of where they push the ball position maybe a little bit further
09:27forward again almost trying to help that ball into the air. You've got to think about the chipping
09:32as kind of like a putting stroke. Ball position stays pretty much in the center of the stance
09:38even taking the grip of what you would with your putter standing a fraction closer feeling as though
09:44the heel of the club is a little bit off the ground and then simply all I'm going to do
09:48differently from a putt to a chip is just lean my weight about 70% onto my forward leg allow that
09:56handle of the club just to fall forward with you and then simply take that putting stroke and execute
10:03the shot. So moving into the winter months and even going into the main season you may come
10:15across some slower greens and I've got three key tips that I want to focus on for you that you can
10:21work on that can help improve your putting going into these slower greens. And the first thing
10:27we're going to focus on is the tempo side of it with your putting and I want you to think about
10:32the tick tock in your mind and thinking of as you take that club away that putter away you're
10:38going to focus on tick and then as you come back down through tock so it's going to focus on tick
10:43tock as you come through to impact. Also I want to see you maintain that stroke. I like to see
10:49players that focus on trying to just lengthen the backswing slightly, lengthen the follow through
10:55just to make sure you keep that tempo and that rhythm consistent. These are two key points that
11:00are going to help you keep consistency in your stroke. And lastly I want you to focus on ball
11:06position. I want you to push it half a ball further forward in your stance. The idea of this is that
11:12we're trying to increase our launch with the putter into the ball. We're trying to get a little bit
11:17more loft onto the putter. This will enable that ball to sort of pop off the face a little higher
11:23and get it rolling on top of that grass just that little bit easier. So ball position just slightly
11:28further forward in the stance and then normal putting stroke getting that ball up and along
11:35the grass and in. So take those seven key checkpoints into the winter months for some training
11:41and you'll emerge as a better golfer moving into next season. From me at Churston Golf Club big
11:47thank you to Footjoy. We'll see you again soon.