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Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you play smarter and better golf.
It doesn’t matter what your handicap is or how long you’ve been playing, because one thing every golfer wonders is how to be more consistent during each round.
See, golf is hard, and it takes a lot of practice to see even the smallest improvements in your game. But if you stick with it, work on what you’re struggling with and improve on what you’re good at, you’ll start to see the progress you’re looking for.
But getting there takes consistency—and it’s not always the easiest thing to achieve.
Fortunately, in today’s Play Smart lesson, GOLF Top 100 educator Don Sargent Jr. Three drills every golfer should use to help be more consistent. Take a look below to see his tips.
According to Sargent Jr., an area that many of his students want to improve on is learning how to consistently hit a golf ball. Although there is no secret recipe for achieving this, he says drills are the best way for golfers to make changes in their game, allowing them to think differently.
For those players wondering how to be more consistent, try the three exercises below.
1. Drill with two feet together (full swing)
The Feet Together drill will remedy nearly every common swing defect produced by a full swing.
When a player is hitting balls in the practice range and trying to work his way out of a slack, placing his feet two inches apart will help him hit the ball more consistently, fixing several common problems.
Things like swinging too hard, moving the head, not rotating the body, poor body movement throughout the swing, bad balance, and swinging over the top, among others, can all be fixed with this exercise.
2. One-handed pitching exercise (throwing)
A common problem Sargent Jr. sees is players struggling with simple 30-yard pitches. The most common reason this happens to golfers? Because they pull the fist in the area of influence.
When this happens, it prevents the putter from releasing—which leads to excessive drag or retardation—which results in fat shots, thin shots, shanks, and an irregular bottom of the arc.
To help mitigate this, Sargent Jr. recommends trying the one-handed pitch drill. By doing this exercise, it will help the golfer find the bottom arc (or bounce) of the club.
Simply swing the racquet with one hand and feel the timing of the swing with the movement of the body.
3. Practice from 9 to 3 in the morning
When starting a practice session, keeping and following your back swing no longer than halfway will help develop great hitting skills. In continuing, be sure to stop at the length leaves the column pointing directly at the target.
By incorporating these shorter swings, you will begin to develop consistent center contact, giving you an understanding of betting awareness of the club front.
When the shaft of the club is pointing at the target in the follow-up, the toe of the iron should be pointing straight up into the sky. If not, the ball is likely to go left or right outside the club.
But this drill helps square the club face for cleaner, more consistent contact.
Although these three exercises are simple, they are very effective. So put them into your training routine and watch the combination of distance, stroke squared, pressure and direction skyrocket.
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