Camilo Villegas's Tip on Impact

Thursday, January 2, 2014

When Camilo Villegas was a little kid, he had a golf teacher. When Camilo is not playing well on tour, he still recalls what his teacher taught him. One of those things his teacher taught him was to keep his left wrist flat when he strikes the ball.

 

If your wrist is bent toward the back of your left hand at impact, that means you flipped your hands at impact or unhinged your wrist too early. You will hit a weak slice to the right from this position or pull it left. So try to keep your left wrist flat through impact, this will help you keep your clubface square.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/golfswing/camilo-villegas.htm

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How to Turn Your Hands Over through Impact

Slicers fail to turn their hands over through impact. That's why they leave the clubface open at impact and hit a weak slice to the right. To fix this problem and hit a straight shot a little draw, you need to turn your hands over through impact. One of the causes why they fail to do is grip. Another cause is in the head movement during the golf swing.

 

Stand up straight and hold your club in front of you. Next, swing your club horizontally. Make sure to stand up straight. You don't need to bend your upper body for now. When I ask slicers to do this exercise, most players will successfully turn their hands over on the follow through. When your arms or the club passes your body or your head on the follow through, your hands will automatically turn over. If you feel like you can't turn your hands over, your body or your head might be moving forward through impact area.  That's why you find it hard to turn your hands over.

 

How to Stop Your Head from Moving Forward

The reverse point can cause your body to move forward on the downswing. Your grip or posture can be the cause as well. If you look up at impact, your head will move forward and cause you to hit the slice. You can also focus on the clubface at impact to stop your head from moving forward. If you can focus on your clubface or clubface angle at impact or through impact, your head will stay back as you strike the ball.

 

Because the clubhead is moving at a fast speed, you won't be able to see the ball at impact. But if you focus your mind on the clubface, you will naturally keep your head back at impact. But if you focus your mind on the clubface, you will naturally keep your head back at impact. This is how you can keep your head behind the ball.

 

So forget about follow through and focus on the clubface. When you see great putters, almost all of them try hard to focus on the putter face angle at impact. You don't have to try hard to turn your hands over. It just happens if you keep your head back.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/golfswing/how-to-turn-hands-over.htm

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The Position of Your Hands at Address and Impact

There was the research done to see the difference in the positions of the hands at address and impact. Researchers analyzed 4 of the top tour pros in Japan to see the difference. By analyzing data researchers found that pros' hands at impact were closer to the target than they were at address. They found the same results in all four players. In other words, the hands' position at address at impact was not the same. They also found out that the pros' hands were about 4 inches higher at impact that they were at address.

 

Because of the centrifugal force, you will  be forced to uncock your wrist through impact. That's why hands were 4 inches higher at impact. And this is why you will see the toe down effect in golf swing.

 

Anyway, because the toe of the clubhead drops at impact (toe down effect), you want the toe to be little off the ground at address to catch the ball solid.

 

Fixing Push Slice

The push slice often happens with longer clubs such as a driver. I see golfers trying to swing the club so that the clubhead will beat their hands at impact. They are trying to fix or avoid push slice. But like we talked about, pros have their hands closer to the target than they were at address. If your clubhead wins the race against your hands, you won't put a lot of power on the ball, or you will tend to pull the shot.

 

To fix your push slice with a driver, you want your hands to be little forward of the ball and feel like the palm of your right hand is facing towards the ground at impact. When you see your shots going to the right and curving even more to the right, I understand that you want to position your ball more forward in your stance.

 

But you will pull every shot by positioning your ball too far forward. So you will aim right in order to hit it straight. Your shot might go straight, but it's really a pull because you are aiming right. The problem with this shot is that it gives you hard time hitting a draw that goes long off the tee.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/golfswing/position-of-your-hands.htm

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The Best Impact Drills

Whatever you do to change your golf swing, you have to understand what it does to the face angle at impact. Here are impact drills to help you hit more solid shots with your irons and woods.

1. Stop at Impact Drill

This is the drill that was used by Johnny Miller who won the U.S Open in 1972 and The Open Championship in 1976. He said that this is the best drill that he knows for improving your golf swing. Here is how you can try his drill. You don't need to hit a ball with this drill.

• Swing back to the top using your 7 iron
• Start your downswing and stop at impact
• You don't need to take a follow through

When you stop at impact, try to 1) close the clubface a bit, 2) open your clubface a bit, 3) make it square at impact on purpose. If you are slicer, try to close your clubface a bit impact when you do this drill. If you hit lots of hooks, try to open your clubface at impact and stop there.

If you can get good at this impact drill, it might become hard to hit a bad shot. There are lots of drills and golf tips out there, but they don't always help your game. When you feel like you don't know which drill or golf tip will help your game, try Johnny Miller's impact drill.

2. Impact Bag

Another good impact drill is to use the impact bag. You can purchase one of those impact bags at the golf shop. When you practice with your impact bag, try to hit the impact bag and stop there. You don't need to take any follow through at all. You just hit the bag and stop there. This drill will teach you to keep your head back at impact. If your head moves forward, you won't be able to put all your power into the bag. If you have an old tire that you don't use anymore in your garage, you can use it as well.

You can put your tire on the ground and try to hit it with your 7 iron. When you strike the tire, try not to hit it hard so that you don't hurt yourself. Instead, you should do it in slow motion and stop as you touch the tire with your 7 iron.

3. Hit it and Stop at Impact

After practicing with your impact for a while, try hitting some balls. As you hit your balls, try to hit the ball and stop as soon as you hit your ball. This is similar to the Johnny Miller's impact drill, but since you actually hit the ball, it is more like a practical-type of drill that you can work on. You won't be able to stop at impact completely, but that's ok. Try to limit your folloe through. This is a good way to prevent you from looking up too early. Especially if you are hitting a weak slice to the right or hitting push-slice, this drill will help you hit a straighter shot.

 

4. Push Something Heavy

You can also try to push something heavy with your iron. You can try pushing your golf bag using your 7 iron. When you are on the golf course, you can use the tire of the golf cart. Push the tire with the clubface of your 7 iron. This drill will teach you the ideal position of your hands, arms and other parts of your body at impact so that you can put all your power into the ball.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/golfswing/impact-drills.htm

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