Many golfers face the challenge of slicing at one point or another. Slicing is the single most common golf mistake. It is a result of having an open club face to the swing path, often, one that moves too far left or from the outside inwards.
Issues related to the swing path usually begin in the transition from the backswing to the downswing. Golfers have to shift, rotate, then spring up during the downswing. Failing to do so, or doing so in the wrong order, will often lead to errors in the swing path.
This is what makes the transition such a crucial part of a golf swing. If you are not able to get it right, your ability to make good shots is inhibited.
During the transition, the first thing that you should feel is a lateral movement into your lead side with the lower body. Keep your chest from spinning open as your weight shifts to your lead side. What you want is to feel as if your chest is facing away from the target. When correctly executed, you will get the feeling of the ball dropping shallow or to the inside.
The Meaning of Shallowing Your Golf Swing
In the golf swing, more so the downswing, shallowing implies getting the golf club more horizontally flattened. This angle is too steep for the majority of golfers, resulting in poor golf shots.
No particular perfect angle of aiming exists, as it is dynamic. It changes from one golfer to the other according to body size and height.
What you want is the ability to get the golf club to split the right forearm during the downswing, meaning the golf club has been moved low enough to achieve an optimum angle before striking the ball.
The Mistake Made By Most Golfers
As we focus on shallowing your golf swing, we predominantly discuss shallowing out the downswing. This is due to the fact that this is where the crucial part of your swing occurs as you try to have the club face strike the golf ball at an ideal angle. When you have this attack angle right, you will be hitting golf shots that are pure and compressed.
Getting the angle wrong translates to hitting a lot of fat golf shots, toe golf shots, thin golf shots, golf heel shots, and all other intermediate shots. Many players are too steep coming down in their downswing, putting the club head on a wrong angle. This exposes the heel and toe of the golf club.
The only time you will get the type of golf shots you are looking for is when you come down on the right golf swing plane.
Reasons You Might Be Struggling to Shallow Out Your Downswings
For a right-handed player, most of what you do is with your right hand. This habit tends to make you overuse your right side when making a golf swing. The outcome is a negative influence on the swing.
The golf swing is dominant on the left side. For a right-handed player, you are supposed to pull from the left side during downswing, delivering the club to the golf ball. Your right side should not take over in the downswing, as this will throw the club too far over the top or outside to inside the swing plane. The path to impact then becomes steep.
Reducing the effect of the dominant side is the secret to learning how to shallow out your golf swing.
Methods Used to Shallow Out Your Golf Swing
Three critical moves are necessary for you to shallow your golf swing. When you do these three correctly, you will be guaranteed an improved ball strike and reduced scores. The three drills are:
Shift the body weight to make use of the lower body
When you have your downswing started with the upper body, which is wrong, you will end up coming down too steep into the ball. Instead, you need to shift most of your body weight to the left at the top of the swing immediately.
Upon the weight being shifted to the left, you can then use this weight to correctly begin the downswing. This makes it possible for you to have a slight squat down as you begin your downswing.
Check your left wrist
Coming down too steep can also be attributed to many golfers not having a flat lead wrist at the top of their backswing. Their wrist is instead cupped. In the end, you want to ensure that the left wrist is bowed or flat before embarking on the downswing.
When your wrist is slightly bowed, it implies that you are getting down from the inside with a square clubface.
If you encounter a challenge with consistency, look at your left wrist at the top of the backswing. You should lay off the club slightly if the wrist is bowed, making it possible for you to drop the golf club into place as you come down.
Allow gravity to do its work
Many golfers who try shallowing out the club end up trying to do too much during the downswing. You should avoid over-correcting the move, which gives you the feel of pulling down the club. Let gravity take care of this for you.
If your positioning is correct, with the left wrist in position and about 80% of your body weight transferred just at the right time at the apex of your swing, gravity automatically takes over and does the rest.
Conclusion
To improve your scores, you should improve the consistency with which you squarely hit the golf ball on average. Shallowing out the angle of attack is the easiest means of achieving this and ensuring that you compress the ball. Once you realize the shot, your strokes are going to be straighter and longer than you have ever had before.
Every golfer is unique in their own way. When you learn the correct lower body sequence in the downswing, it will be easy for you to shallow the club during the transition, swing more from the inside, and find your swing pattern for an even more powerful and crisp shot without the risk of slicing.
