Lesson #2: The Feet Together Warmup Drill

It's  been raining a ton and a lot of the courses around the Bay Area are a mess. We haven't had the chance to hit the range and our swings are starting to get rusty.  I have been hearing it a lot on the range lately "I haven't hit a ball for 2 months".  This will be especially important for you golfers that come out of the snow country where your courses are closed for the season.

One of the best drills I have found when you start getting your swing back in shape after a long off is the feet together drill. It helps find balance, tempo and swing sequence. Pick up a 7 iron and start with the ball in the middle of your stance your feet together, swing easy...1/2 swing waist high to waist high, ...if you don't do this slowly you'll likely tend to lose your balance. Remember short and easy is the key. Keep your eye on the ball, you should actually see the club make contact. The key is finding your tempo and balance.

You should be striking the ball right on the sweet spot and it should be an effortless strike of the ball. The sweet spot is so important in maintaining distance with your shots.  If one is too fast with the arms and upper body you'll be hitting the ball fat or looking up will result in topped shots. Widen your stance with the same swing and maintain your balance. Increase your swing length little by little. If you start loosing the feeling you get when striking the sweet spot, dial it back some until you're nailing it again. This drill is not only a great warm up for lost practice time. You are practicing the impact zone of your swing which is the most important part of your swing. Practice this drill and it will lead to greater ball striking and more consistent play with your irons. 

Mike Lloyd

Assistant Golf Professional 

Poplar Creek Golf Course  

Swing Speed Vs. Sweet Spot

There is a very interesting small article in this month's Golf Digest.  In the article they say that there are millions of lessons given about how to increase clubhead speed, but focusing on speed ignores a gigantic piece of the distance puzzle:  hitting the sweet spot.  Golf scientist Dave Tutelman in the article says it hinges on the "smash factor"...the balls relative performance, depending on where on the face you've hit it.  A tour player hits the sweet spot a lot and his smash factor (ball speed divided by clubhead speed) approaches 1.48, but a 20-handicapper makes contact all over the face and is usually under 1.30.  If that 20-handicapper swings the driver 100 mph, that 1.30 smash factor could cost him or her up to 40 yards.  Another way to look at it:  Hitting the sweet spot is the equivalent of gaining more than 12 mph of clubhead speed which is dramatic.

Some articles say that a 1 mph increase of swing speed will increase your distance 3-4 yards. So....a 12 mph increase by hitting the sweet spot can give you up to 36 - 48 more yards! You can gain the same distance of a 10-12 mph swing speed increase by hitting the sweet spot of your club with your current swing!