How Can I Stop Blocked Shots? (Video) - by PGA Instructor Dean Butler
How Can I Stop Blocked Shots? (Video) - by PGA Instructor Dean Butler

So, how can I stop blocked shots? Well, better – it’s all about promoting a better rotation for the golf ball. So, what is a blocked shot? Well, you might hear the terminology push. Block and push are exactly the same thing. It’s just that some people call that push, some call it a block. So, what is a block or a push? Imagine this is the direction that we wish to hit the ball. Ideally, if we hit the ball straight down in between these two sticks straight to the target. A push or a block is a ball that goes to the right and it goes straight to the right. It doesn’t curve from left to right or whatever. It tends to move its journey in this direction when it’s going that way to the right hand side. So, that is what a push or block is as far as a visual contact.

What causes it? The biggest cause really of actually causing – getting a block is where we tend to move the club too much on the inside and as we come down, we actually end up with the body staying quite still, and the club comes in and we hit it from the inside. So, the club is travelling across this line here. It’s coming inside. They tend to come out that way. What causes this sort of swing? It’s more of an actual sort of hip movement. So, a hip movement which is kind of moving like this, going to the right and going to the left. That’s what tends to happen to create this sort of movement. So, you understand what the shot is. You understand what causes it. And if you’re unsure, put a couple of sticks down. And if you find yourself excessively coming in here and going out that way, then you can see clearly that this is what is actually happening to you. If you want it too, you could put a line of tee pegs standing in the ground here. I put them a little bit closer. So, if you do come in and you’re doing this shot, you may well just catch one or two of the tee pegs on the way down and through to the golf ball. So, what we need to do is we need to encourage you to pivot. We need you to basically get a little bit more movement in your body. So, the key, remember is you came into the ball, the swing was coming in and you were coming in from the inside and going out. And these were really staying quite static the hips. They weren’t finishing off the swing. To finish off the swing, these hips should be going inside 45 degrees, back to the ball and then the hips must go through the ball and turn. So, we finish through – so we get a nice finish where the body is facing the target. So, what I want you to do with this is to set yourself up, don’t change your setup but I want you to feel as if the hips are actually just doing a little bit more for you. I want you to think about turning these hips. Turn the hip, get to the ball, then when you hit the golf shots, just turn those hips through. So, an easy of actually doing this as far as did I actually achieve what I needed to achieve will be – imagine my belt buckle here. So, I’ve got my belt buckle on. I’m going to set up to the ball. If I was to swing and hit this ball and I pushed it, as I hit the ball, I will be here. The belt buckle is still facing towards you or the camera. And what needs to happen is to set myself up, turn those hips and this time as I’ve gone through my belt buckle is now facing towards the target. So, it’s a very, very simply way of not getting too complex, getting over the ball, you know what a push is that’s why we’re watching this, now from here, pivot by using those hips and the shoulders turning as we get into the ball. Remember – let’s do a mirror image of what we did in the backswing. Turn and finish, face the targets at the end, and you should kiss goodbye to that push once and for all. 2014-05-14

So, how can I stop blocked shots? Well, better – it’s all about promoting a better rotation for the golf ball. So, what is a blocked shot? Well, you might hear the terminology push. Block and push are exactly the same thing. It’s just that some people call that push, some call it a block. So, what is a block or a push? Imagine this is the direction that we wish to hit the ball. Ideally, if we hit the ball straight down in between these two sticks straight to the target. A push or a block is a ball that goes to the right and it goes straight to the right. It doesn’t curve from left to right or whatever. It tends to move its journey in this direction when it’s going that way to the right hand side. So, that is what a push or block is as far as a visual contact.

What causes it? The biggest cause really of actually causing – getting a block is where we tend to move the club too much on the inside and as we come down, we actually end up with the body staying quite still, and the club comes in and we hit it from the inside. So, the club is travelling across this line here. It’s coming inside. They tend to come out that way. What causes this sort of swing? It’s more of an actual sort of hip movement. So, a hip movement which is kind of moving like this, going to the right and going to the left. That’s what tends to happen to create this sort of movement.

So, you understand what the shot is. You understand what causes it. And if you’re unsure, put a couple of sticks down. And if you find yourself excessively coming in here and going out that way, then you can see clearly that this is what is actually happening to you. If you want it too, you could put a line of tee pegs standing in the ground here. I put them a little bit closer. So, if you do come in and you’re doing this shot, you may well just catch one or two of the tee pegs on the way down and through to the golf ball. So, what we need to do is we need to encourage you to pivot. We need you to basically get a little bit more movement in your body.

So, the key, remember is you came into the ball, the swing was coming in and you were coming in from the inside and going out. And these were really staying quite static the hips. They weren’t finishing off the swing. To finish off the swing, these hips should be going inside 45 degrees, back to the ball and then the hips must go through the ball and turn. So, we finish through – so we get a nice finish where the body is facing the target. So, what I want you to do with this is to set yourself up, don’t change your setup but I want you to feel as if the hips are actually just doing a little bit more for you. I want you to think about turning these hips. Turn the hip, get to the ball, then when you hit the golf shots, just turn those hips through.

So, an easy of actually doing this as far as did I actually achieve what I needed to achieve will be – imagine my belt buckle here. So, I’ve got my belt buckle on. I’m going to set up to the ball. If I was to swing and hit this ball and I pushed it, as I hit the ball, I will be here. The belt buckle is still facing towards you or the camera. And what needs to happen is to set myself up, turn those hips and this time as I’ve gone through my belt buckle is now facing towards the target.

So, it’s a very, very simply way of not getting too complex, getting over the ball, you know what a push is that’s why we’re watching this, now from here, pivot by using those hips and the shoulders turning as we get into the ball. Remember – let’s do a mirror image of what we did in the backswing. Turn and finish, face the targets at the end, and you should kiss goodbye to that push once and for all.