As you know by now, in my opinion, trying to hit at the ball is a bad thing. Swinging toward your target and letting the ball get in the way is a good thing. Remember, the ball is not the target; the target is the target.
Before going on, a couple of definitions are in order, flexion and extension. Merrian Webster’s dictionary seems like an adequate resource. According to Merriam-Webster flexion is “the act of flexing or bending.” Extention is “the act of extending.” (Duh!) For this post, flexing/flexion is the act of bending forward from the hips, and extension is standing up straight. Better yet, think of extension as coming out of the flexed state.
Consider your address position. If you’d like, stand up and get into your address position. Notice the bend from your hips. Your chest is pointing down toward the ground out in front of you. Imagine a stick with one end attached to your sternum the other end pointed to the ground in front of you, 90 degrees from your spine. As you turn into your backswing, some extension must take place. At the top of your backswing, your imaginary stick is now nearly horizontal with the ground. Don’t believe me? Try this. Get in your address position and make a backswing while keeping your chest pointed down at the ground. To paraphrase Doctor Phil, “How’d that work for ya?” I think we can agree that some loss of flexion takes place during the backswing.
During the downswing, you need to regain the flexion lost to achieve solid impact. Here’s where hitting at the ball rears its ugly head—most people who are “ball bound” never regain flexion on the way down. More often, they increase extension during the downswing! As they say in the commercials, “But wait, there’s more.” There is also flexion and extension of the right elbow during the backswing/downswing. In a rush to get to impact, most ball-bound folks extend the right elbow much too soon. In effect, this makes the club longer. If they don’t rise from the waist/hips, the club will hit the ground inches behind the ball. All of this makes obtaining a powerful, consistent impact position virtually impossible.
I tell students they need to regain flexion on the way down by bending over a bit during the downswing. Their response is usually, “Coach, if I do that, I bury the clubhead in the ground way behind the ball.” They would be right if not for two things; right-side bend and rotation. To get the feeling of the right-side bend, stand up straight, then move your right shoulder down toward your right hip. That is the feeling you want to create during the downswing. Bending this way essentially shortens the club to avoid hitting behind the ball. Another benefit of the right-side bend is that it brings your right elbow down toward your side, helping to prevent the right arm’s early extension. Rotation is the final component. You have to maintain your right-side bend while rotating through impact.
I’ve covered three things to do during the downswing, bend to reclaim flexion, create as much right-side bend as possible, and rotate through impact. About now, you might be thinking, “Is this guy nuts? That will never work.” Fair enough. Here’s my challenge for you. Use YouTube or whatever means you have. Watch the best players in the world in slow-motion. There are always exceptions, but virtually all accomplished players do the three things listed above. They do them to greater and lesser degrees, but they do them. Dustin Johnson is an extreme example; his head drops significantly as the downswing begins. It sinks because he is regaining flexion by bending at the hips. This action causes his rear end to move back away from the ball, creating space for his arms to swing through. Look at his swing down the line; there is a significant right-side bend as he approaches impact. Finally, his body rotation is consistent through and beyond impact.
Dustin Johnson is a superb athlete. Most of us don’t have the physical abilities to get into the positions he does. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from his example. Work on these three areas slowly, to the best of your ability. We need to re-program our subconscious, so start by swinging in slow-motion. (See Zombies and Professors.) No ball involved. Then step up to hit shots with a full swing, but only 20% speed. When that feels good, increase your speed to 30% and so on. It will take some time to make these moves habitual, but the results will be worth it. If you can improve these three areas, your ball striking will improve, and your scores will drop.
All of this will become easier if you can let go of the notion of hitting at the ball. Remember, the ball is not the target; the target is the target.
Most importantly, have fun out there!