Improving consistency with your wood!

Introduction  

Golf is a sport that requires precision, consistency, and a lot of practice. Sophia, a young golfer who started playing at the age of 7, has been playing competitively for the past two and a half years. However, her woods' consistency is not up to par, and this is something that she wants to improve on. To assist her in this endeavor, Ted Oh, a golf instructor at Epic Golf Studios, will help Sophia analyze and fix her swing to improve her wood's consistency.

 

What's causing her miss? 

Ted had Sophia hit some test shots, which went a little bit to the right. To see why the shot was going to the right, Ted checked Sophia's setup through the playback system. He found that Sophia had a very good setup, with a good take-back, top, and posture. Her wrist angle and arm were coming down the shaft angle really well. However, although Sophia was doing exactly what she should when coming down to the ball, she was coming out of the shot a little bit.

Upon closer inspection through playback, Ted discovered that Sophia's path was in-to-out, but her posture was causing her ball to miss to the right.
This is a common occurrence in amateurs who tend to slice the ball due to coming over the top or because their club face is open due to losing their posture when coming out of the swing.

 

To help Sophia square up the face a little bit, Ted starts Sophia off with a short iron and placed something behind her, such as a chair or a golf club. With something behind her to help her square out the face, Ted had Sophia take the swing to the top and perform a 3/4 swing and come down. In order to avoid a miss to the right, Ted had Sophia get a feel for keeping the left wrist flat, butt in place, and rotate. 

 

 

Sophia hit a test shot, and her club path was in-to-out. The ball curved back to the left, and the side spin was a 400 left draw spin thanks to maintaining her spine angle. Sophia hit a few more test shots before moving on to the 3-wood.

 

 

How to help the swing in the long run?  

To help her swing in the long run, Sophia has to work with the short irons because the longer the club, the shaft has more momentum, which will shoot out. For right now, Sophia has to keep working on her spine angle, keeping her butt in place, and practicing this drill consistently.

Sophia's setup was really good, and the swing she just took with the 3-wood had an identical swing path. She was keeping her spine angle very well and keeping the face square. It's a common misconception to think that you sliced the ball due to coming over the top, but there are many ways to slice a ball. For Sophia, she was slicing the ball because she was losing her posture and leaving the club face open.

 

 

Conclusion  

Improving golf skills, such as wood consistency, takes time and effort, and Sophia is taking the right steps to achieve her goal. With the help of a golf instructor and consistent practice, Sophia will undoubtedly improve her game and reach new heights.