Straight leading arm at the point of impact is critical but if your swing is off-line, so is your ball. So why not choose a swing that you know will give you a consistent long hit. A slight draw with some top spin is the goal for your longest hits.
NOTE: The drive is the only shot where you are trying to hit UP on the ball to impart topspin (the same way you want your putter to roll the ball over). Limited topspin will allow your ball to cut through the air and roll for extra distance.
1/ A straight leading arm is required to contact the ball on the sweat spot, near the top dead center of the club face. This just makes sense. You need to bring your club head back to the point of impact which is exactly the same point when you addressed the ball. This is the point when your wrists are unloading and the head of your driver is firing through the ball.
2/ Bending your arm in the back-swing causes you to “swinging over the top” and to attack the ball at too high of an angle. Hitting down on the ball and from the outside will cause a slice. GOLFSTR is the brain trainer which reminds you to keep your leading arm straight. By keeping your lagging elbow near your side and hinging your wrists in the back-swing you can attack the ball with a lower plane and swing up on the ball. That’s why you setup for a drive by teeing the ball up so that the top of the driver is in line with the equator of the ball. You also place the tee in line with the heel of your leading foot allows the radius of your swing to travel up on the ball at the point of impact. Voila . . . . TOPSPIN . . . . for distance.
3/ The final component of the impact is side-spin. For distance and control you want to draw the ball. You want to be swinging from the inside to outside at the point of impact. Previous blogs in GOLFSTR: YOUR Swing Support Center have presented Sergio Garcia’s “Power Swing Plane”, wrist lag and impact from the inside of the ball. To learn the feel for this motion, move your back leg an inch or 2 back from the swing line. This stance will force you to swing from the inside.
Use these 3 areas of focus and make adjustments as you learn this new motion. What a joy it is to see that sweet shot floating for extra distance.
GOLFSTR is a wonderful Brain Trainer that helps you learn the straight leading arm swing in the takeaway, at the top and through impact. Enjoy.
