Impact – The Key to Consistency

The most common thing that Golf Professionals hear from their students is that they want their ball striking to be more ‘consistent’. In order to be more consistent, we must look at the best ball strikers in the world, PGA / LPGA Tour players for the answer.

If you watch golf on television, you will see that most players look similar at address, have varied backswing and forward swing styles yet have almost identical impact positions.

3 ESSENTIALS FOR PROPER IMPACT
POSITION ARE:

1. A flat lead wrist at impact.
2. A forward leaning clubshaft at impact (the handle of the club must be ahead of the clubhead when striking the ball).
3. Having your swing bottom ahead of the ball (this means that the lowest part of your swing occurs on the target side or post contact)

Having these essentials at impact will mean that your clubhead is travelling forward and down when you contact the ball which is a must. Based on testing done by Bobby Clampett for his book ‘The Impact Zone’, the lowest point of a PGA Tour players swing is 4 inches ahead of the ball while with most amateurs the bottom of the arc occurs before the ball. Hitting the ground before the ball makes hitting solid golf shots almost impossible and leads to inconsistent ball striking.

Here is a great drill to work on a proper impact position

• Place 2 tees in the ground about 2 feet apart.  Address the space between the 2 tees with a 9 iron. (figure A)
• Move into your impact position, remain at impact for 5 seconds and return to your address position. (figure B)
• Make a ¾ swing and try to have your divot begin between the 2 tees and continuing towards the target. (figure C)

The more times you can make a divot starting between the tees and continuing down and forward, the more consistent your shots will be.

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Cory Jones, CPGA – Class A Teaching Professional The Granite Golf Club Cory is a T.P.I Certified Teaching Professional who played the Canadian Tour from 2003-2005. His teaching practices are focused on finding efficient ways for his students to play golf based on their specific physical attributes.
Note: The teaching methodology solely reflects the views of the author and may not reflect the views or opinions of the Ontario PGA or GolfScene About the Ontario PGA Established in 1927, the Ontario Professional Golfers’ Association is a non-profit association comprised of approximately 1,300 golf professionals from Belleville to Windsor with a mandate to promote and advance the game of golf, serving the needs of both its membership and the golf public through professional and junior golf development programs and high-calibre competitive events. For more info, visit www.ontariopga.com

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