If we are to compare a tour player and a club golfer, one of the biggest differences that we would see on a consistent basis is their ability to strike the golf ball. Generally the tour player is not going to mess a shot over the course of a whole tournament the ball striking is going to be pretty good. They might hit it a bit left and a bit right but they’re not going to hit it topped, thinned, or fat all that often. But when we look at a club golfer that’s generally a mistake that they make on a fairly regular basis, hitting the top of the ball, catching it thin, or hitting too low behind the ball chunking it and hitting it fat.

So if that’s the difference between the tour player and club golfer, we need to analyze what does the tour player do differently and why? And often the difference is going to be where the hands are at the point of impact. I often see with club golfers when we video their swing and look at their impact positions, we see this sort of position as they strike the ball: the hands are too near to the right thigh for the right-handed golfer, the hands are behind the ball, and there’s a positive angle between the left wrist and the golf club. And this sort of impact position here is quite a weak position, it’s a little bit lifty, it’s a little bit scoopy. And you’ll often find that if the hands are behind the club head the club head is now on the rise, it’s on its way up. And if you’ve got a ball on the floor how can you hit up on the ball on the floor without either hitting the floor first or hitting the top of the ball. And there’s the issue, there’s the problem for the club golfer. His club head starts to rise from about here as it overtakes his hands and then it’s lifting up. So we hit the floor or we miss the floor but then we hit the top of the golf ball.

And every golf shot that you see a tour player hit barring tee shots where the ball is pegged up they will have their hands ahead. I stress when the ball is on a tee peg you can hit it on the way up because it’s lifted off the floor, so driver for a tour player hands are back hitting on the rise. But every iron shot, every shot they’re hitting from the floor they’re hands are going to be ahead. So we have the hands setting up ahead. The left hand points at the left hip with the shaft line pointing at the left hip as well. Then through the impact position the tour player has his hands ahead for impact not behind. Strong angle in the back of the left wrist, hands coming in this way. But one of the issues for a lot of club golfers is they’re trying to hit the ball up. They get the feeling that they need to help the ball into the air. But a good player knows that their job is to hit the balls forwards with a downwards leaning shaft. If you can hit down and forwards on the golf ball you’ll strike the ball much more solid and much crisper. So a good set up with a nice ball position, hands pressed nicely ahead, hold the angle, deliver the club head ahead. If you can get that right you’ll be a better ball striker too.