In this video, golf coach Dan Hendricksen offers seven swing checks every golf should make during the off season.
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00:00Hello everyone, welcome to Churston Golf Club. My name is Dan Hendrickson and we're here in the
00:08heart of the English Riviera. Now you may be coming out of the season with a few bad habits,
00:14well today we've teamed up with Foot Joy to give you a few tips that can help you moving into next
00:19season. We're going to cover seven simple checks for different parts of your game that are going
00:24to get you back on track, let's get into it. Now there's some key points that you're going
00:32to want to work on when it comes to hitting those big drives. During the season you may have fallen
00:37into the fault of moving that ball position a little bit too far back because you're trying
00:42to steer that ball around the golf course, ultimately we're trying to score. Well during the winter you
00:47can focus on two key points that can help you get that ball launched up in the air and hitting it
00:53further. So key point number one is going to be your ball position and we're going to be focusing
00:57on getting that ball position a little further up in your stance. We're going to try and focus on
01:02somewhere between the inside of the left heel and your left toe, being for a right-handed golfer. This
01:08is going to enable you to be able to sweep that golf ball away off that nice high tee. The next thing is
01:13we're going to focus on our shoulder position and we're going to get the sensation of just dropping that
01:18right shoulder down a fraction again, just enabling that shoulders to feel like a little
01:23bit of a launch pad, again allowing you to be able to hit up and away with that driver. So once you've
01:29got yourself into this setup position you're going to get the sensation of around 60% of your weight
01:34is going to be on your right side, on your trail leg. This again is going to enable you to be able to
01:39turn into the backswing and then again hit through and up as you deliver into that ball.
01:45So working on those two key setup points is going to enable you to hit longer drives moving into next
01:54season. So moving on from driver we're going to look at the iron setup. Where is the driver we
02:04wanted power? We wanted that ball to move up off the tee. Well with the iron the ball is either going
02:10to be on the ground or on a very low tee. Therefore we need our angle of attack to move more on the way
02:16down so we're looking to try and hit the ball then the ground as we come through. Now where I had the
02:21ball positioned very much forward in my setup with the driver, with the iron we're going to have it
02:26anywhere between the center point of your stance and a club head inside that left heel. That's going to
02:33give you the optimum position to be able to hit that golf ball and then into the ground from there.
02:39So as we then put the golf club behind the ball what we're going to do is we're going to put our
02:44lead hand on the club first and as we bring that right hand down our trail hand down onto the club
02:49you'll notice that my right shoulder will naturally just drop fractionally. I'm not going to get the
02:54sense of dropping the right shoulder like I was with the driver, I'm just going to naturally let it sit
02:59on the club and the sense of weight between my feet is going to be more 50-50 rather than feeling
03:05as though I'm leaning behind the ball. Remember as we come through the shot we want ball then divot
03:10getting that angle of attack correct and this setup is going to enable us to be able to do that.
03:15And the last thing to remember is with a driver we had a nice wide stance remember we were looking
03:20for power we needed a good stable foundation well with the iron we're looking for more control
03:25shoulder width apart inside the left and right heels is kind of your reference point for this shot.
03:31Again just giving you that stable base to be able to control that shot and with these simple key
03:37points of setup we're going to start to hit a much more crisper strike which is what we all want.
03:51So once we've got ourselves into that perfect setup position I want you to get the sensation of
03:57what I call a one-piece takeaway and this is the move of the body and the club taking that club away
04:04together. Everything is going to move the arms and the hips and the shoulders getting the sense of
04:10putting that club into that first point of reference. So looking at this now from a down the line
04:16perspective and once we've got our club into that first point there from a nice even takeaway we want
04:22to get the sense that the shaft is now level with the feet and if you were taking a video from down
04:28the line you wouldn't see too much of the shaft because the head would be covering it. The second
04:33checkpoint is the face of the club and in particular looking at the leading edge. I'm trying to get this
04:39leading edge in line with my spine angle getting that tilt of my spine angle making sure that face
04:45is just tilted in line with that setting that club in the perfect position to be able to swing that club
04:51down the line and from here we're in the perfect position to be able to transition to the top of
04:56the backswing giving you the perfect takeaway. So by following those two simple checkpoint positions
05:02it'll enable you to get that club in a much better takeaway position swinging it on plane and hitting
05:08straighter golf shots. Just like that. So one of the most common faults that I see with golfers is alignment.
05:24You see it all the time on tour ranges, tour players focusing hard on getting their alignment right and
05:30an approach to the golf ball is the first point that I want to talk about. A lot of players tend to
05:35approach the ball from the side and as soon as they get into the ball and hit their shot they're aiming
05:41down the right hand side. So what you think is a bad shot is actually a good shot because you're aiming
05:46in that direction. The other fault is the player will want to move their swing, adjust their swing
05:52during it to be able to get that club back on line. Well in this video we're going to focus on a drill
05:58that you can go through that's going to help you align it much better. So earlier I mentioned about
06:03tour players and the next time you're watching a tour event I want you to focus on what tour players
06:08do when they approach the golf ball and in this situation they would be focusing on an alignment
06:13point an intermediate point of reference between the ball and the target that will be their main aiming
06:20point. When you approach this shot you're going to pick a spot just in front of the ball about a foot
06:25in front of the ball. In this case we've got a leaf now it could be a divot it could be a blade of grass
06:30but it's something that you can align your club face to when you're setting up to the ball.
06:35You'll notice now that I'm going to approach this golf ball from behind and the first point is to
06:40get this club face lined up to my intermediate target which is that leaf. Once I take my stance
06:47I'm going to pick this club up and put the shaft over the top of the leaf and the golf ball going to
06:52bring that back to my feet as a second reference point for my feet to be now parallel to that point.
06:58So with this setup I now have the confidence that I'm aiming down towards my intended target.
07:11With just two tee pegs I'm going to help you improve your strike either at home or on the golf course.
07:19So to me strike is king getting that strike out the middle of the club face consistently is very
07:26important to better golf. For those players that strike it around the club face you're going to lead
07:31to off center strikes leading to low ball speeds but also directional problems. Now there's a couple
07:37of options that you've got when it comes to figuring out where you are on the club face. You can put face
07:42tape or even foot spray on the actual face which enables you to be able to hit the shot and see
07:48instantly where you struck that ball. However I've got a simpler one for you which you can do either at home in
07:55your garden or even in your lounge if you've got enough space. Simply setting up two tee pegs. Now
08:01in this situation I've set up two tee pegs that are about an inch either side of the actual club head
08:07and what I'm going to do is start to get the sense of just hitting little chip shots between those two
08:14marking positions and what you're going to find is if you're someone that tends to come from the inside a
08:19little bit too much you're going to hit the inside tee peg. If you're somebody that gets that club
08:24working away from you too much you may hit the outside of that club face which ultimately is going
08:30to move your strike location from kind of heel to toe and what we're trying to focus on is trying to
08:35just brush that club through those gates just trying to make sure that we get that center point through
08:41it and as I get a little bit more confident with this I'm just going to widen my stance and just
08:46increase my club head speed to try and then move into hitting full shots between the gates. This is
08:53such a simple technique that can really help your strike and even when you get to the golf course you
08:59can set this up tee up a ball and give it a whack and make sure you're getting it out the center point of
09:04your club. We're going to go back to basics with chipping. When you come out of the season it's very
09:13common to see lots of players who have struggled with their chipping maybe move their ball position
09:18a little bit further back in their stance which during the chip shot you may feel that that club
09:23digs into the ground or the opposite of where they push the ball position maybe a little bit further
09:27forward again almost trying to help that ball into the air. You've got to think about the chipping
09:32as kind of like a putting stroke. Ball position stays pretty much in the center of the stance even
09:39taking the grip of what you would with your putter standing a fraction closer feeling as though the
09:44heel of the club is a little bit off the ground and then simply all I'm going to do differently from
09:49a putt to a chip is just lean my weight about 70% onto my forward leg. Allow that handle of the club
09:57just to fall forward with you and then simply take that putting stroke and execute the shot.
10:11So moving into the winter months and even going into the main season you may come across some slower
10:16greens and I've got three key tips that I want to focus on for you that you can work on that can help
10:22improve your putting going into these slower greens and the first thing we're going to focus on is the
10:29tempo side of it with your putting and I want you to think about the tick tock in your mind and thinking
10:35of as you take that club away that putter away you're going to focus on tick and then as you come back
10:40down through tock so it's going to focus on tick tock as you come through to impact. Also I want to see
10:47you maintain that stroke. I like to see players that focus on trying to just lengthen the back
10:52swing slightly lengthen the follow through just to make sure you keep that tempo and that rhythm
10:57consistent. These are two key points that are going to help you keep consistency in your stroke and
11:04lastly I want you to focus on ball position I want you to push it half a ball further forward in your
11:10stance the idea of this is that we're trying to increase our launch with the putter into the ball
11:16we're trying to get a little bit more loft onto the putter this will enable that ball to sort of pop
11:21off the face a little higher and get it rolling on top of that grass just that little bit easier
11:26so ball position just slightly further forward in the stance and then normal putting stroke getting
11:33that ball up and along the grass and in. So take those seven key checkpoints into the winter months
11:40for some training and you'll emerge as a better golfer moving into next season. From me at Cherston
11:47Golf Club big thank you to Foot Joy we'll see you again soon.