Why Senior Golfers should have a Forward Shaft Tilt at Impact to Improve their Ball Striking (Video) - by Dean Butler
Why Senior Golfers should have a Forward Shaft Tilt at Impact to Improve their Ball Striking (Video) - by Dean Butler

Okay, so why should you have a forward tilt or impact in the shaft? Very simple, by having a forward tilt, now as you've got your hands forward in front of the clubhead, you are going to hit down and through. And that’s the key really to golf is to hit down and through with the vast majority of golf clubs. So if you're over this ball, that’s what a forward tilt is. Most golfers tend to come in and force you like this. And you can see that’s completely the opposite to what we're trying to strive for. If we come in there, you can see the hands are now going behind, it’s certainly not a forward tilt and that’s where you want to be in that position there, where we are hitting down and compressing that ball, so it rolls back up the clubface.

So that is what is all about, that is what a forward shaft tilt it. So, here is a very simple exercise for you. If we take an impact bag and we sit it up on the side there, let's get me that ball out of the way. What we want to do, the whole idea of this is to create an exercise, so you can create the feeling of this forward shaft tilt. So if I'm over this, over this impact bag now, we're not going to try and come in and hit it with the clubhead like this because that would be wrong. We're going to try and come in and hit this part of the shaft and catch the upper half of this impact bag to knock it over. And if I do that, then I know that we've got that shafts forward tilt just where we want it to be. So there is the hands forward which is crucial in the setup. It was in the start level. Keep your hands forward. Now, from here, we're going to swing that club, but we'll do it very slowly first, that's where you want to go into the area and you can see the position here. Remember, it's all about building up a muscle memory, building up a feeling. So let's get over the impact bag again, do the same things, take your bag and you can see that, in most place it looks a bit Harry-Scary, the sound of it. But it's great fun coming into it and hitting and feeling that sort of resistance there. But remember, it's all about a forward tilt, that means hands must come in forward. If the hands come in level or behind, that is where so many faults come from. So get yourself one of these ‘worth their weight in gold’, and cure that problem. 2013-10-22

Okay, so why should you have a forward tilt or impact in the shaft? Very simple, by having a forward tilt, now as you've got your hands forward in front of the clubhead, you are going to hit down and through. And that’s the key really to golf is to hit down and through with the vast majority of golf clubs. So if you're over this ball, that’s what a forward tilt is. Most golfers tend to come in and force you like this. And you can see that’s completely the opposite to what we're trying to strive for. If we come in there, you can see the hands are now going behind, it’s certainly not a forward tilt and that’s where you want to be in that position there, where we are hitting down and compressing that ball, so it rolls back up the clubface.

So that is what is all about, that is what a forward shaft tilt it. So, here is a very simple exercise for you. If we take an impact bag and we sit it up on the side there, let's get me that ball out of the way. What we want to do, the whole idea of this is to create an exercise, so you can create the feeling of this forward shaft tilt. So if I'm over this, over this impact bag now, we're not going to try and come in and hit it with the clubhead like this because that would be wrong. We're going to try and come in and hit this part of the shaft and catch the upper half of this impact bag to knock it over.

And if I do that, then I know that we've got that shafts forward tilt just where we want it to be. So there is the hands forward which is crucial in the setup. It was in the start level. Keep your hands forward. Now, from here, we're going to swing that club, but we'll do it very slowly first, that's where you want to go into the area and you can see the position here. Remember, it's all about building up a muscle memory, building up a feeling. So let's get over the impact bag again, do the same things, take your bag and you can see that, in most place it looks a bit Harry-Scary, the sound of it. But it's great fun coming into it and hitting and feeling that sort of resistance there. But remember, it's all about a forward tilt, that means hands must come in forward. If the hands come in level or behind, that is where so many faults come from. So get yourself one of these ‘worth their weight in gold’, and cure that problem.