If you want to close the face, you have to release the club. There’s a lot of advice out there that you have to have a bowed wrist at impact and therefore you should hold that wrist position and drag the handle past the ball, turn your body a ton, and try to hit down on the ball from that position to compress it. It’s all bad advice.
You cannot close the club face if you’re dragging the handle past the ball. The reason pros look like they do in that iconic impact position is because the club slows massively when it hits the ball and ground.
There’s a point in the swing where you go from pulling down on the club handle toward the ball to pulling up on the handle toward the sky. That’s when you’re able to extend your lead leg and generate power. You want to move that point earlier in your swing. Notice how your lead leg doesn’t fully extend until the ball’s already gone?
When you get to about left arm parallel to the ground, try feeling like your hands slow down and push back against the handle away from the ball a little bit to launch the club head so it feels like it’s passing your hands. That’s not what will actually happen. What will actually happen is you’ll drop the club into the slot and make nice contact with greater club head speed and you’ll close the face more. Takes some getting used to but really, try to release the club as early as possible and you’ll see immediate results in quality of contact, distance, ball flight. Good chance you have to start fighting a hook, which is the problem good players have. It will help monumentally with driver.
A lot of people will say “No!!! That’s casting!” when they read my advice. But it’s not, it’s lag. Don’t listen to those people.
The other thing to try is thinking only about your finishing position. See how you finish your iron swing low and to the left? That’s a consequence of what I’m talking about above and it’s not where you want to be. Focus on finishing high. Like swing the club so it finishes straight up. Give it a shot.
Sorry for the novel. But it takes explaining and the opposite, bad advice is absolutely everywhere.
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If you want to close the face, you have to release the club. There’s a lot of advice out there that you have to have a bowed wrist at impact and therefore you should hold that wrist position and drag the handle past the ball, turn your body a ton, and try to hit down on the ball from that position to compress it. It’s all bad advice.
You cannot close the club face if you’re dragging the handle past the ball. The reason pros look like they do in that iconic impact position is because the club slows massively when it hits the ball and ground.
There’s a point in the swing where you go from pulling down on the club handle toward the ball to pulling up on the handle toward the sky. That’s when you’re able to extend your lead leg and generate power. You want to move that point earlier in your swing. Notice how your lead leg doesn’t fully extend until the ball’s already gone?
When you get to about left arm parallel to the ground, try feeling like your hands slow down and push back against the handle away from the ball a little bit to launch the club head so it feels like it’s passing your hands. That’s not what will actually happen. What will actually happen is you’ll drop the club into the slot and make nice contact with greater club head speed and you’ll close the face more. Takes some getting used to but really, try to release the club as early as possible and you’ll see immediate results in quality of contact, distance, ball flight. Good chance you have to start fighting a hook, which is the problem good players have. It will help monumentally with driver.
A lot of people will say “No!!! That’s casting!” when they read my advice. But it’s not, it’s lag. Don’t listen to those people.
The other thing to try is thinking only about your finishing position. See how you finish your iron swing low and to the left? That’s a consequence of what I’m talking about above and it’s not where you want to be. Focus on finishing high. Like swing the club so it finishes straight up. Give it a shot.
Sorry for the novel. But it takes explaining and the opposite, bad advice is absolutely everywhere.