Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro

With this swing tip, we are going to have a look at how to correct blocked shots to the right, and in order to do this, we need to understand what's causing that shot to happen. So blocked golf shots to the right and shots that fly straight, but they are to the right of the target. And what's causing that to happen, if we look at our alignment pole on the floor here, if this represents our target line of where we want to hit the ball down that line to the target, is that as you are swinging back, you are approaching the ball too much from your side of this line, too much on the inside of that target line. That’s going to mean that the club head will swing in on too much of an arc, it won’t be swinging straight down the target line.

And, the clubface is pointing in the direction that the club head is moving in, so the ball flies straight, but it flies straight to the right of the target. The club head isn’t swinging along the target line. Okay, so now we now, what's causing that block shot to happen, we can set about working on improving it and this is a great drill to help you with that. If we know that the issue is that the club head on the downswing is too much on the inside of the target line and approaching, I am going across from into outside the target line. Then all we need to do is place an object on that inside area, to block the club head from going in and to help you get the feeling of how to swing around that object. So you start to swing straighter along that target line.

So what I will suggest you do, when you are at the driving range, is take your golf ball, with an alignment pole or another golf club, just aim the pole of the golf club, directly at your target, so it’s showing you where your target line is. And then we need to block this area on the right and on the inside of that golf ball. So about a foot to the right of the golf ball, a foot, foot and a half, just place your head cover from your driver, into the area. So it’s just about three, four inches inside that target line and once you have set that up, you should be able to make your takeaway without hitting that club head or the head club.

So you are moving the club head around and down the target line and then you can start to work on bringing that club head back around the head cover. If you do clip the head cover to start with, don’t worry, it’s giving you the evidence and the feedback to show you that you haven’t made the change that’s required yet. So on that downswing, start to make a few moves to get used to coming in from around that head cover. So what that’s going to get you to do when you are up at the top of the swing, if you now need to rotate your body more into the downswing. So you are rotating, making the club head go around that head cover and then down the target line, so the swing path of the head, club head, the direction it’s traveling in is much more along the target line, as you connect with the ball.

And once you are feeling happy with that and you have done that a few times without the ball, then start to put the ball in. But if you do clip the head cover, don’t worry, that’s what it’s there for, it is to give you the evidence that you are reverting back to where you are more comfortable, put the head cover back in, start to work on hitting your golf shots from around the head cover, you should find that you are starting to hit much straighter.