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Lesson
10
Drawing the Ball.
(Changed
- 31/05/2010)
The ability to create
a draw shot is a big advantage when you require the
ball to bend to the left, for example if you need to
bend the ball around the corner of a dog leg hole or
if you need to bend the ball around a tree that is directly
in line to the target point.
To make a golf ball bend to the left,
it requires the ball to leave the tee peg with a very
fast anti-clockwise spinning motion.
Therefore to impart any sideways spin on the golf ball
you need to alter the swing path of the golf swing so
that the club head cuts across surface of the ball and
therefore using the grooves of the clubface to dig into
the ball and cause it to spin.
However to make the ball spin in
an anti-clockwise motion, you do not need to alter the
basic swing action, you simply have to alter your stance
so that the club head swings through the contact area
with a cutting action.
Therefore the swing action that is
required to create a draw shot is identical to the swing
that is required to hit the ball straight. --The only
difference is the way that you set up your body at the
address position and the adjustment that you need to
make to realign the club face.
The Set Up.
The set up that the golfer has to
adopt in order to play a draw shot is identical to playing
a straight shot, the only adjustment you have to make
is to alter your stance so that the shoulders
and the feet are aligned to a point that is to the
right of the actual target point - this is called a
closed address position.
(The target point is where you want the ball to stop.)
Because of the "closed"
set up at the address position, most high handicapped
golfers find it difficult to draw the ball.
This is because the golfer is actually facing slightly
away from the target area, although only by a few degrees,
but this psychologically affects the golfer and can
lead to the head being lifted early so that the golfer
can see where the ball is going.
Therefore to draw the ball, set up
your body with the feet, the hips and the shoulders"Parallel
to the Target Line" (The
direction that you initially aim the ball.) As
if you are to play a golf shot that you intend to go
straight.
Look down at the area where your
feet are placed and also look at the position of the
ball on the tee peg you will notice that if you draw
a line between your feet and then draw a line from the
the ball to each of the feet, you will see that the
three lines form a triangle.
Using the ball position
as the pivotal point of the triangle and whilst strictly
maintaining the distance between the feet and also the
angles between the feet and the ball, shuffle the feet
around the pivotal point of the ball to your left, until
your whole stance is facing slightly to the right of
the original stance.
Your body position at
this point will indicate that the feet, the hips and
the shoulders are now aligned in the direction that
is slightly to the right of the target area.
If you carried out
your normal swing with out any adjustment to the club
face, the ball would fly in the direction that your
whole body is aligned, which is to the right of the
actual target area.
This is the correct
set up in order to play a draw shot.
The Swing
Therefore as I have
stated, the actual mechanics of the golf swing required
to create a draw shot is exactly the same as if you
were to hit the ball in a straight line - you do not
have to make any adjustment to your swing.
The only adjustment
that you need to make after you have adjusted your stance
to create a closed position is to close the club face
a few degrees so that clubface is aiming at a point
that is in between the line that your feet, the hips
and the shoulders aligned,(i.e.
to the right of the actual target point.)
And the actual target point.
Because you have set
up your body so that the feet, the hips and the shoulders
are aligned to a point that is the right of the actual
target, this means that the revised swing path of "in
to out" will cause the club face to be cutting
across the ball at the point of contact.
The whole swing process
must be focused on swinging the club head through the
contact area whilst the shoulders are held "Parallel
to the Target Line" which is to the right of the
actual spot you wish the ball to finish.
(It is important to note
that the target line is where you aim the ball initially,
not the actual target area that you intend the ball
to finish.)
The other point to consider
when drawing the ball is that when you select a golf
club in order to play a draw shot you must allow for
the fact that the clubface of the club that you would
normally choose to hit a ball a given distance will
effectively be slightly de-lofted -- this means that
the de-lofted club face will cause the ball to fly on
a lower trajectory and therefore the ball will run further
upon landing.
Therefore in order to
compensate for the extra distance that the ball will
travel you will need to use a club face that has a higher
degree of loft.
So remember, the swing action that
you must use to "draw" the ball, is identical
to the swing that you learnt during in Lessons 3,4,5.
The only difference is that you
must set up your body at the address position in order
to alter the swing path so that the swing path cuts
across the "Straight to the Target line" which
imparts a sideways spin on the golf ball.
When you practice the swing in order
to to draw the ball remember:-
1) To rotate the "Upper Body" (as
taught in lesson 2)
2) Keep the head slightly behind
the ball and also in the "Fixed Frontal" condition"
3) Watch the ball until the club
head makes contact.
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