Last week, we referenced golfers who use too much of their hands, wrists and arms on the downswing and not enough body rotation to release and square the clubface. The final result for this “flipper hands” golfer was to incorporate more body rotation in order to release and deliver the golf club more consistently with less use of the hands.
Now, on the other side, what if you are using too much body to deliver the club and your hands and arms are too late? What happens then?
Typically, a golfer who uses too much body rotation to deliver the club will experience shots that persistently fly to the right. This is the result of a golf club that gets stuck behind the golfer on the downswing and delivers too much from an inside path, leaving the clubface open and sending the ball off to the right.
This is common for golfers who have been told to fire their hips first to start the downswing. It also applies a golfer who’s just trying to hit the ball too hard.
A good drill for a golfer with too much body rotation is to hit balls with two feet together. By hitting balls that way, you will limit your body rotation and speed up your hands and arms. By doing so, the club will now have a chance to stay in sync with your body rotation.
Think of this as two Blue Angel aircraft flying in unison through the sky and banking around a corner like a golf club would through impact. The plane on the outside position will have to fly faster than the plane on the inside position for them to stay side by side.
Ultimately, speed up your arms and the golf club, and you’ll now be in sync with your body.
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Peter Harris is the director of Golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears weekly in the Recreation page during the golf season.