Focus on Your Shoulders to Help Make Clean Contact

If you struggle with hitting too far behind the ball, this drill is for you

By Ryan Gager

Fat, chunked, digging – no matter what you call them, these shots always produce the same results – shots that don’t go very far and never reach their intended target. GOLFTEC Coach Tyler Kuhn has a great drill to help you start making clean contact.

What Causes the Fat Shot?

Chest down too much during the backswing leads to hitting the ground first. Courtesy GOLFTEC

The problems begin in the backswing when your chest stays pointing down toward the ground too much, as seen in this picture. Notice how his head and shoulders have moved back and away from the target. This move shortens the length of the backswing, so when the club comes back through on the downswing it doesn’t create much speed and leads to hitting the ground first.

When talking about shoulder bend, you want to be more upright on the backswing, instead of bent forward over the ball. In this example, Tyler’s shoulder bend is 11 degrees forward. The average Tour Pro has a shoulder bend of 2 degrees backward at this same point in the swing. This will allow you to get the club higher and farther back, creating more power and helping you stay centered over the ball, which promotes better contact.

Shoulder Bend Drill

Push your trail shoulder up and behind you to make it feel like you are leaning backwards. Courtesy GOLFTEC

A great drill to make sure you have proper shoulder bend is to push your trail shoulder up and behind you towards the target, as demonstrated in this picture. You want to make it feel like you are leaning backwards. As a result, your club will get much farther behind you at the top. From this position you will be able to create more power in your swing, and stay centered over the ball on the downswing to create better contact, and avoid those fat shots!

If you’re curious what your shoulder bend numbers are, and how close you are to PGA Tour averages, contact your local GOLFTEC Coach and visit a Training Center near you. Proper shoulder bend will have you hitting better golf shots!


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