4. Incorrect Aim

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Aiming incorrectly simply means that the golfer is not aiming where he/she wants the ball to go.

This could be on any shot, be it a full swing or a putt and believe it or not approximately 80% of golfers stand to the golf ball aiming somewhere other than where they want the ball to go.

As a general rule most golfers will aim to the right of target if they are right handed and likewise way left if they are left handed. The next time you are out on the course stand behind a fellow golfer and check out their aim, you may be surprised!!

In an ideal world a golfer would aim the body (Feet, Knees, Hips and shoulders) on a line that is parallel to the line that the ball needs to take to the target. This is where the idea of a railway track is promoted. For a right handed golfer the body would be positioned on the left hand rail while the ball travels down the right hand rail. Therefore, the golfers body actually should aim anywhere between 2-8 yards left of the target for right handers and vice versa for lefties.

To check your aim simply set yourself to a golf ball as normal and while keeping your feet still put the golf club on the floor touching the toes of each shoe. Then stand well back and have a look at where the club is pointing.

Results
With an incorrect aim it is never as simple as the ball just travelling where you are aiming. What happens is that the brain and body then have to start compensating with the swing to try and get the ball going to the target. This is often the start point for an out to in swing path (see Out to In article). Imagine a right handed golfer aiming to the right. Unwittingly then he/she will try to swing across the ball to the left to try to get the ball going to the target. Over time the problem then can escalate and the golfer ends up hitting all manner of shots.

Why?
You may think it easy to aim in the right direction. Why is this issue so prevalent then? There is no proven evidence to suggest why golfers struggle to aim in the correct direction as there could be many reasons for this but the most likely two suggestions are:

1.       When we are setting up to strike a golf ball we will always turn and look towards the target to set our sights. As we are doing this side on we have to move our shoulders to an ‘open’ position (to the left for right handers) to look properly. This can give us the impression that we are aiming left and so we shuffle more to the right. Obviously reverse for left handers.

2.       Our dominant eye. As we have two eyes, one tends to be more used and so more dominant than the other. For a right handed person, those of us who have dominant right eyes tend to turn more to look at the target and thus tend to aim more to the right. Golfers who are left eye dominant tend to be straighter or even aim slightly left. To check which eye is most dominant  extend both arms in front of your body and place the hands together so as to make a small triangle between your thumbs and the first knuckle. With both of your eyes open, look through the triangle and focus on a specific small object. Close your left eye. If the object remains in view, you are right eye dominant. If your hands appear to move off the object and move to the left, then you are left eye dominant.

Corrections

Aiming correctly at a target requires a good routine. This is covered in my Pre Shot Routine blog post

3. The 'Out To In' Swing
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This is when we see the club head travel across the ball in a direction other than straight.

If a golfer wants to hit the golf ball in a straight line where he/she is aiming then two things ideally have to happen.

1. The club face needs to point at the target at the moment it makes contact with the ball.
2. The club head needs to travel through the golf ball on a line straight towards the target.

Unfortunately this tends to happen less than you would think. The most popular trend for golfers is to swing the club head across the ball in an 'out to in' motion. For right hand golfers this means that the club head travels right to left across the ball and vice versa for left hand golfers.

Results (Reverse directions for left handed players)

This problem causes a number of results.

1. The ball travels as a 'pull' shot and travels straight left.
2. A slice or fade. This is a shot that curves from left to right. Here a recovery with the hands occurs and as the golfer swings across the golf ball to the left, the hands hold the clubface open to the right which produces a huge amount of slicing left to right side spin and the golf ball curves from left to right.
3. A ‘shank’. This shot occurs when the hosel (point where the shaft of the club is joined to the club head) of the club head connects with the golf ball instead of the clubface. Because the golf club head is swinging from outside of the line of the golf ball, sometimes the golfer does not pull the club head across the ball fast enough and so the club is further away from the body than where it started.
4. A low shot. This action can be a very steep downward action and so the club head can strike too steeply downwards into the ball causing too low a shot and a huge divot to be taken.
5. A loss of distance. The club is not hitting the ball forwards in this motion, it is sending the ball sideways instead. Therefore the energy created in the swing is being lost through the ball. Combining that with increased loft through an ‘open’ clubface and the ball will also be sent too high again losing distance.
   

Usually the results differ slightly from club to club: the higher numbered clubs tend to send the ball either high and straight(ish) to the right or just straight to the left while the lower numbered clubs tend to swing the ball viciously from left to right as the lower loft on these clubs produces much more side spin than back spin. As a result I often hear golfers say that they hit the short clubs well and straight but slice the driver. In reality the short clubs fade or slice a little but because the golf ball ends up in the right place it is deemed a straight shot even though the ball did curve in the air.

This problem is usually caused by hitting at the ball either too hard or too early or both. The golfer turns to the top of the backswing and then turns hard and drives the club downwards and forwards from the top of the swing rather than guiding the club on the right line and then accelerating through the ball at the bottom of the swing. The terms describing this can be 'throwing the club over' as in over the top of the shoulder, 'casting' as in casting a rod from the shoulder in fishing, or 'hitting from the top' as in hitting the ball from the top of the golf swing 

Corrections

As you may imagine this action is not an easy one to correct as the club needs to be brought down from the top of the swing more rather than forwards and down into the golf ball. This feels like the club approaches the ball from behind the golfers backside (1st Pic). Right handers need to feel like they are hitting the golf ball to the right and vice versa for left handers.

The exit of the club from the ball is just as important as the clubhead still needs to be driven forwards through the ball. Here the arms need to remain straight and point out to the target while the forearms rotate and cross over turning the clubface at the same time (2nd Pic).

1. The ‘Chicken Wing’

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As with posture 99% of golfers tend to encounter this problem. The ‘Chicken Wing’ is when the golfer pulls upwards with the arms during the hit of the golf ball bending the left arm dramatically and pulling the hands inwards towards the body. 

This action causes the golfer to mis-strike the golf ball resulting in all manner of inconsistencies such as distance loss, ‘duff’ shots and direction problems.

This problem tends to be caused by two things.

1. Lifting the ball into the air. As we all should know the ball can only get airborne consistently and fly full distance by the club head striking downwards through the ball and into the ground. (My You Tube ball strike video is here)This causes the ball to ride up the club face and rise into the air. Unfortunately most golfers do not know this and try to get the club head under the ball (there is not enough room) to lift the ball upwards. 

2. The generation of power. As humans we tend to use our arms in every activity we perform. Therefore we associate our arm muscles, biceps in particular, as strong muscles. When it is time to hit a golf ball as far as possible these are the first muscles we use as it feels like we are putting good effort in to achieve a strong shot. 

In reality the speed of a golf swing comes from the rotation of the golf club around the body. I cannot physically pull a golf club at a hundred miles an hour, however I can get the golf club to slingshot in a circle around my body that fast as that club can overtake my arms and travel far faster than I can!

Problems

Physically this movement puts a lot of stress on the upper body, particularly the upper arms, shoulders and upper back. Generally the golfer will not suffer physically as a result of this action but it could aggravate existing injuries.

This action requires a certain amount of strength as the golfer is effectively pulling the ball as far as possible. Therefore as the golfer gets older the distance that he/she can hit the ball will decrease dramatically as physical strength reduces with age.

Results

A pull up and away from the golf ball with the arms can cause a few different problems.

1. The obvious and most popular result is a ‘top’ shot where the golfer contacts the top of the ball with the bottom of the club leaving the ball to scuttle along the floor or embed itself into the ground.
2. The second most common result is when this pulling action can not only cause the club to be pulled up away from the ball but also sideways away from the ball and into the body. This would cause the ball to be hit from the ‘toe’ end of the club head (the furthest part of the club from the golfer). This causes the ball to shoot sideways at an alarming angle away from the golfer, to the right for a right hander and vice versa.

Lastly a more subtle and uncommon result is that if the golfer pulls away during the strike of the ball it could be dragged away to the left (for right handers & vice versa) as the arms pull into the body late.

It is important to note a misconception here. I’m sure that you have heard the phrases ‘head up’, ‘I looked up’, ‘you lifted your head’ etc etc on the golf course before. Golfers seem to use these phrases willy nilly to explain away bad shots, particularly ‘topped shots’. Generally golfers do not lift their heads or look away from the ball. The human brain will not let you look away from an object you are trying to hit. In most cases it is the action of pulling up away from the ball that causes these bad shots and not anything to do with the golfers head.

Corrections

When we stand to the golf ball correctly in good posture (see here) our arms should hang pretty straight when the golf club is sitting behind the golf ball. Logic dictates that to strike a ball well we need to be in this exact same relationship at the impact position. If the left arm is bent at impact we must have shortened the distance between the body and the ball and therefore must be higher than we started and so top (or toe) the ball. The left arm does not need to bend at the elbow all the way through the swing until it is shoulder height in the follow through.

This all happens incredibly quickly and so the best way to turn the body and not use the arms is to be in a good position in the backswing and then a good position in the follow through. Unfortunately the only way to check this is to stop short of the normal finish position in the swing so that you are pointing your arms at the target. Both arms should be straight at this point. Swing any further and you will not know whether they were straight at impact or not, stop at that point and they have not had time to bend and then straighten again. Difficult but practice and it will get easier and easier.

I was asked in a lesson by a golfer recently:

“Does everyone find improving their golf swings this difficult or is it just me?” My answer of course was:

“Everybody! If the game was that easy, everybody would be great at golf!”

The truth is that it takes a long time to really improve and change what you currently do. If you are patient and work at it you will improve and for the rest of your life you will be a better golfer and enjoy the game much more.

That golfer then thought for a moment and asked me if I would write a blog post on the 5 most common swing problems that I see. I thought that it would be a great idea to hopefully help golfers realise that they are not on their own and that although each golfer has their own issues, they are not on their own in the problems that they have.

So in no particular order here is number 1…..

1. Poor Posture

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I think that 99% of golfers who come for their first ever golf lesson have poor posture. This, in my view, is the most important part of the golf swing to get correct. Poor posture not only affects the swing but also your health and can cause all sorts of issues.

The golf swing is all about rotation - swinging the golf club around the body in a circular fashion. For this to happen we need to have an axis, a straight line to swing around – this is your spine.

Usually poor posture is caused by standing too close to the ball initially. The lower back becomes too upright in the stance which means that the golfer cannot reach the ball and so bends from the shoulders causing a ‘hump’ in the upper back to lower the club to the ball.

Problems
If the spine is not straight (remember the spine has natural curvature and can never be truly straight) then we cannot turn properly and what little we do turn causes the vertebrae and the hips to grind against one another. This will not hurt necessarily but over time muscles will stiffen and wearing will occur eventually.

Results
What tends to happen if a golfer has poor posture is that there is an overuse of the arms and legs in the swing. Because the body cannot turn we cannot achieve a full swing and so compensate by lifting the arms and moving the legs excessively instead. This then gives the golfer problems through the rest of the swing. Usually we will see a swing that is too upright, too steep and there will be a lack of control of the clubhead and clubface as the wrists are overworked causing mishits and loss of direction. Also there can be big problems with balance and striking the ball as the body weight is never in the correct place because of the movement in the legs.

Corrections
1. Stand the correct distance away from the ball. This is achieved by standing to the ball making sure that the body weight is in the balls of the feet with the knees slightly flexed. Then with the golf clubhead resting on the floor behind the ball lower the grip end of the club onto the front leg. As a rough guideline the grip end of the club should rest approx 2” above the knee. This depends a little on the shape of the golfers body but is a reliable measurement for 95% of golfers. This is the same with any club.

2. Following this measurement, stand straight and bend from the waist until the hands hang underneath the chin.

3. Push the hips backwards and upwards, push the ribcage up and out and slightly flex the knees if they have straightened.

At this point you should be in good posture but it will feel completely ridiculous if you have never done it before!!