(Part 1)

If you’re like most golfers, you are a chronic slicer who wants to draw the ball. You probably have good inten­tions. You want to hit crisp shots that start out slightly right then, ever so slightly, move from right to left. Instead, however, most shots probably go to high and too far right.

The most common cause of right field airballs is turning the body before swinging the club. Too often, l see people facing the target even before their club has hit the ball! Their hands, holding the club, are well behind their torso. This is out of sync. You are in what I call the dead zone. There is no way to hit anything but a high banana to the right or occasionally, a snap hook. This is no way to play golf, unless the greens on your course are all in right field. Almost every time you swing, your body will be unbalanced at impact; your club will be lagging behind your body; and when the club face gets to impact, it won’t be close to square.

What to do? Good news. Your swing probably isn’t the problem. Most pupils come to me complaining that they can’t stop slicing. “Fix my swing,” they moan. “Please!” Almost always, after watching them hit a few practice shots,
l can see the problems, and it’s usually not in the swing. Rather the problem is their sequence.

A little explanation. There are two primary moving parts in the golf swing: The torso and the arms. Both moving parts rotate, ideally in sync with each other. At impact, most golfers l see need to delay, or slow down, the rotation of their body so that their arms can deliver the club to impact at the perfect time and position.

l call this DELAYING the body turn so you can properly DELIVER the clubface. l never saw Ben Hogan play golf, but judging from pictures of him, Mr. Hogan did what I’m talking about as well as anybody ever has. Look at most any picture of Mr. Hlogan just after impact. His clubhead is slightly ahead of his body. His hand s are slightly ahead of the impact area. Both feet are firmly grounded. But, unlike most amateurs, Mr. Hogan’s body is still facing the impact areas, more so than the target.

Compare this to an image of yourself just after impact. Probably, your body has spun through the ball and your stomach is facing the hole. Your arms and hands are lagging way behind the ball. Your feet will be wildly active; they’re certainly not grounded at impact!

This is no good. The ball has probably sailed off to the right and into the forest, mabe even a backyard.