GOLFTEC: Hit Straighter Drives with This Golf Swing Path Drill

GOLFTEC: Hit straighter drives with this swing path drill

Whether you slice or hook the ball, use this headcover drill to improve your golf swing path and find more fairways.

By GOLFTEC Digital

Use this headcover drill from GOLFTEC to hit straighter shots

Jack or Tiger. Walk or ride. Pin in or pin out. There are tons of endless debates in golf.

While we won’t bend your ear about who gets the “Greatest of All Time” crown at GOLFTEC, we will chime in when it comes to the ball flight laws.

Because if there’s one, often misunderstood debate we’ll take a stand on, it’s this: When a golf ball is struck, the direction of the clubface in relation to the target has the greatest influence on initial direction, and the relationship of the face to swing path is responsible for the shot’s curvature.

Knowing this about ball flight is vitally important to your ability to improve your golf game. Especially if you’re a golfer that has a lot of curve on your shots.

Dangerous curves ahead

Even though we often discuss ways to combat slices, many golfers struggle with over-drawing or hooking the ball as well. There can be a host of reasons leading to shots curving in both directions, but the technical cause of an over-curving ball flight (per the aforementioned ball flight laws) is centered around the path of the swing and a clubface direction that doesn’t match up with that.

If you’re a pull-slicer, this means you swing “out to in” too much. For right-handers, this happens when the path of your club moves toward the left of the target at impact, with the clubface open to your path.

If you hook the ball, you conversely swing too far from “inside to out” with the clubface closed to your path. Both swing paths cause a less-than-ideal, over-curving ball flight.

Place a headcover in front of the ball to encourage a certain swing path

Use your headcover to improve swing path

That banana slice or runaway hook of yours may seem like a lost cause, but we promise it’s not!

While there may be some hard work needed to cure your nemesis shot for good, a great starting place to iron out your path issues is a drill using the headcover from your driver.

In the video below, GOLFTEC Director of Instruction, Patrick Nuber, explains how using your headcover as an obstacle to change your current swing path can help you hit straighter shots and eliminate that big slice or hook. Take a look and practice this drill often to start seeing your desired ball flight!


VIDEO: The Ultimate Golf Swing Path Drill


Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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