Correct set-up

As a coach, I regularly have people coming to see me with a variety of physical problems in their game such as poor set-up, an incorrect grip or bad balance. In order to help these people, we work on various drills and exercises that will help them improve their golf.

However, I also see golfers with other ‘types’ of problems. For example, I often see people who have been playing golf for a long time but have simply lost focus on what they are supposed to be doing.

In addition, there are many golfers who read a lot of technical material that they try to apply to their game only to find that they have too much going on in their head to take the club back!
 
Over the next few weeks, I would like to share with you examples of lessons that I have recently given.

I would like to highlight the problems that the person was facing and how we worked through them because the information may well be applicable to your game.

Earlier this week, I had a player come to see me who was having major problems pulling his driver (hitting it straight to the left). He mentioned that he was fairly consistent with his irons (which he later demonstrated) but that the pull with his driver was very destructive (which he also demonstrated).

Prior to watching him hitting any balls, I asked him to talk me through his golfing and his overall sporting background. As is turns out, he plays golf approximately eight times a year and maintains a handicap of 12. In addition, he used to play football, tennis, hurling and rugby to a very high level. My conclusion, prior to watching him swing a golf club, was that he was one of these frustratingly, annoying people who would be very good at every sport they tried (not jealous at all!). I was even more convinced of that after watching his first few swings.

When hitting his irons, he had a very good posture, a neutral grip and a very athletic swing that produced a controlled left to right ball flight.

I gave him a few thoughts on how he could improve this ball flight over time before we moved onto the driver. Naturally, he swung his driver with the same athletic swing but now the outcome was an uncontrolled pull to the left. He then proceeded to tell me what he thought he was doing wrong Ö and after a few minutes of listening and nodding my head we discussed what he was actually doing wrong!

On this particular occasion the pull was not caused by a horrendous swing fault, it was caused by problems in the set-up.
 
After reading a tip in a magazine, he had tried to move his ball position up towards his left foot (the correct position). Unfortunately, he had misinterpreted the information and had moved the ball too far to the left making it very difficult to contact the ball properly.

To compensate for this poor ball position he had to open his shoulders (point them to the left of the target) significantly to simply reach the ball. This meant that every time he hit the ball, the energy was sent down the line of his shoulders and the ball went flying off to the left.
 
As soon as we discussed this and re-organised his set-up, the ball started to fly much straighter towards his target. It wasn’t as if every shot with the correct set-up was perfect, however there was a significant improvement.

The important thing to remember when trying to improve your golf is that if you do not set up to the ball correctly, you will have to make compensation in your swing to hit the ball straight.
 
Naturally this cannot be consistent. Whereas, this man had excellent sporting instincts and a very good golf swing, his poor set-up was making it very difficult to hit the ball straight. It may sound cliched but before you start blaming your golf swing for bad shots, consider that your set-up may well be the problem.
 
Anyone can learn to set up to the ball in the correct way and although I am not claiming this will guarantee straight shots, it will certainly encourage them.