This carefully curated list of the 20 best ball striking lessons for amateur golfers combines the knowledge and expertise of a wide range of our Golf Monthly Top 50 coaches, giving you the best chance in your quest for improvement.
The guide is packed with things every golfer needs to know and the easy to follow drills can help you strike the ball better than ever before.
Number nine is a drill I have been using for some time now, which PGA Master Professional Anders Mankert brilliantly explains in the video below, so I can attest to the positive impact this expert ball striking advice can have on your game.
The question is... which tip will help to unlock your full potential and set you on your way to lower scores? Let me know how you get on in the comments section below.
01 CONTROL THE LOW POINT
Place a tee in the ground in the middle of your stance and make a series of swings with a mid-iron. Is the club striking the ground before or after the tee?
It should come just after the tee. If you’re slightly off, make some small adjustments at address. Consistent control of your low point will help you to compress the ball better at impact.
02 FIND THE MIDDLE
To improve awareness and ensure a centred strike more often, put three tees in the ground and address the centre one. Make three swings, striking a different tee each time - nearest first, then the furthest then the middle one.
03 STRIKE CHECK
It never hurts to know what your own, unique strike pattern is. You can do this by marking a non-permanent spot on some practice balls and hitting a series of shots.
Take a look at the clubface to see exactly where you’re making contact. This will give you a feel for the minute adjustments needed to find the centre of the face.
04 SEQUENCING DRILL
From the top of the backswing, make a very slow and deliberate downswing. Notice how the chest is still pointing at the ball here, even though the hips have rotated further.
Try to replicate this and you should be able to feel separation between your upper and lower body. Grooving this will help your power and accuracy.
This drill is great for anyone who gets out of sequence in their golf swing
05 STAMP DRILL
Put a club across your chest, turn away as you would on your backswing and then stamp your left foot down as you turn back through the ball.
Do this on as part of your driving range session before you start hitting shots as it will give you the feeling in your left glute and foot as to where and how your weight should be moving through impact.
06 TAKEAWAY TIP
The swing begins from the left shoulder, working on a line with the club.
As you start, the hips begin to turn a moment later, and the left knee moves inwards to facilitate hip turn. Put a ball behind your club and simply push it away from the target smoothly to promote a good takeaway and fluid rhythm.
07 PUSH, TURN AND EXTEND
Put an alignment stick down just inside your trail foot as here. If you were to flick at the ball or hang back through impact, you would hit the stick with your club on the way down. This drill helps to encourage the correct move through impact in which you need to push, turn and then extend down the line.
Alignment sticks are great training aids - especially in this great impact drill
08 FAIRWAY BUNKERS
Avoid shuffling feet in as on greenside bunker shots as you don't want to lower your divot depth. Create a little wedge of sand with both insteps to knock the knees in slightly and secure you in place.
09 APPLYING PRESSURE
Take a swing with a ball under your lead foot, as below. You don’t want to feel yourself pressing on the ball too much on the backswing, but on the downswing, try to apply a bit of pressure to it.
It helps you feel how your weight needs to transfer to be able to deliver a slightly downward attack angle.
This great drill helps to transfer pressure efficiently onto the lead side through impact
10 STOP TOPPING
Start with the club in front of you, and make some practice swings. The chest and hips have turned, everything is in one unit and the right heel is just off the ground.
Feel like your arms are squeezing together with the elbows coming through as one unit. Get used to a feeling of releasing past the ball.
11 ALTERING TRAJECTORY
To hit it lower, move the ball position back a little further in your stance and look low at set-up -about eight feet in front of you.
This will get your shoulders tilting, with your right higher than your left. For a higher shot, have the ball position nearer the front foot, hands slightly behind the ball, and look into the sky.
12 COPING WITH DIVOTS
To hit from a divot, swing more upright to increase the angle of attack. This often means you’ll cut across the ball a touch, so open your stance and aim a little left of target to compensate for this flight.
13 BALL POSITION ADJUSTMENTS
From wedge to 6-iron, set the ball in the centre of your stance; longer irons and hybrids just forward of centre; and driver a couple of inches inside your left heel.
Only play your irons back in the stance if you need to keep flight down, and even then never too far – no more than two inches back.
14 SHANK BUSTER
One of the most common causes of the shank is coming over the top. Put a head cover just outside the ball. From the top, let your arms come inside more to miss it. You’ll start to get the club on a much better path.
Say goodbye to the shanks with this excellent drill, just grab your head cover and get started
15 ENGAGE YOUR LEGS
If you can engage your legs a bit more, your striking should improve.
Try ‘bouncing’ your knees a little to get set up properly and feel a little tension in the thighs. It’s hard to sway if you get your legs in a good, stable place at the start.
16 TEE HEIGHT WITH VARIOUS CLUBS
Generally speaking, it’s best to tee your driver up so the ball’s equator is around the top edge of the club, and then tee every other club lower to something replicating a nice fluffy lie at most.
17 BALL BELOW FEET
When the ball is below your feet, the club wants to travel on a more vertical swing plane.
A slightly more tilted posture will accommodate this and help you get to the bottom of the ball. Don’t lean into your heels, as this will just shallow out your swing plane.
18 DIVOT PATTERN
You can learn a lot from divots. If your ball position is good, they should start just after the ball and square to the target.
Divots pointing left indicate an out-to-in swing path, whereas a divot pointing right indicates an in-to-out path.
19 FAIRWAY BUNKER STRIKES
If you come into the ball too steeply, the club will dig into the sand costing you energy and distance.
To reduce your angle of attack a fraction, move the ball a touch further forward in your stance.
20 SPINE ANGLE CHECK
Many a poor strike stems from players lifting and dipping their heads during their swings, thus altering their spine angle too much.
To help prevent this, tee a ball up at the height you would have it for your driver, but then practise hitting the ball off that tee cleanly with your 7-iron instead, as opposed to the big stick.
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