Testing Your Golf Shot Shape (Video) - by Pete Styles
Testing Your Golf Shot Shape (Video) - by Pete Styles

Once you've done that little paperwork work exercise that it's described in the previous video, allow me to go the driving range and actually try and establish your natural shot shape for real live on the golf course around the driving range in front of yourself. So you might take ten balls, take your driver and go ahead and set up. I'd like you then to pick a target but quite importantly this isn't a target way you'd want the ball to finish or expect the ball to finish. Instead this is a start line so it might be that I pick out the red sign that's in front of me here and I intend to start the ball directly over the top of that red sign. And I'm not really too bothered about where the ball finishes more importantly, I'm going to see what the ball does in the air once it's started on the correct line.

So I line everything up get myself nice and square to hit the shot over that red sign and to go ahead and then hit 10 drives over the top of that sign. Firstly though I check, yes did it go over the top of that sign but then also, where did it finish and I just make a little mental note -- I'd written a note on a piece of paper if you want to, how far to the right, how far to the left. Then I can start to work out the percentage of draws and of fades but also how why did the finish? Were they draws, were they fades or were they sort of hooks and slices and ideally speaking, you'd expect the results that you found on the driving range to match quite closely to the results that you found on the first paper exercise from the golf course. If you're practicing and your golf course results are very different, clearly there are some other issues at play here. Maybe course management related issues or the fact that you're making a different string on the golf course to the one you're making on a range. But ideally the results that you back up here, are going to be the same that you noticed on the golf course, then you've got a really good defined target line and finishing direction. You know exactly what your natural shot shape looks like, you can then utilize that natural shot shape to improve your scores next time you go on play. 2016-07-18

Once you've done that little paperwork work exercise that it's described in the previous video, allow me to go the driving range and actually try and establish your natural shot shape for real live on the golf course around the driving range in front of yourself. So you might take ten balls, take your driver and go ahead and set up. I'd like you then to pick a target but quite importantly this isn't a target way you'd want the ball to finish or expect the ball to finish. Instead this is a start line so it might be that I pick out the red sign that's in front of me here and I intend to start the ball directly over the top of that red sign. And I'm not really too bothered about where the ball finishes more importantly, I'm going to see what the ball does in the air once it's started on the correct line.

So I line everything up get myself nice and square to hit the shot over that red sign and to go ahead and then hit 10 drives over the top of that sign. Firstly though I check, yes did it go over the top of that sign but then also, where did it finish and I just make a little mental note — I'd written a note on a piece of paper if you want to, how far to the right, how far to the left. Then I can start to work out the percentage of draws and of fades but also how why did the finish? Were they draws, were they fades or were they sort of hooks and slices and ideally speaking, you'd expect the results that you found on the driving range to match quite closely to the results that you found on the first paper exercise from the golf course.

If you're practicing and your golf course results are very different, clearly there are some other issues at play here. Maybe course management related issues or the fact that you're making a different string on the golf course to the one you're making on a range. But ideally the results that you back up here, are going to be the same that you noticed on the golf course, then you've got a really good defined target line and finishing direction. You know exactly what your natural shot shape looks like, you can then utilize that natural shot shape to improve your scores next time you go on play.