Swing drills can be a great thing if you get one that is fundamentally sound and that’s not always a sure thing.  Here is a good example of two from a great player named Justin Rose.

This first drill is as good as it gets, this is a tip that Sam Byrd taught to Ben Hogan in 1945 that helped him change his mind and his swing, The great Babe Ruth taught this to Sam for his Baseball swing back in the 30’s.  Tennis, Baseball, Hockey and Golfers have been using this drill to force them to keep the upper left arm connected to the core throughout the swing for many years.  There has also been numerous training aids  some good, some bad that try and create this move, just use your shirt, its legal and easier.  All Justin is doing here is keeping a little bit of his shirt under the left armpit while hitting balls.

Now here is a tip in the same article that completely contradicts the previous drill and what Justin does not know is that if you try to do this there is no possible way to keep the shirt under the armpit and finish like he wants in the other picture.  Here he wants you to feel like your catching the ground with the heel of the club.  Wrong, every great player works the toe of the club around the ball.  If you drag the heel of the club this digs ugly big divots that go left of the line of flight.  Great swings work the toe of the club, this cuts nice clean divots that go down the line of flight.  The heel digs, the toe cuts.  So think drills through that you may try, do they make sense, don’t just automatically try something that a coach or even a tour player tells you to, look at what they do….not what they say they do, it’s often different.

Just a little test here, which two players are the best on planet earth right now, and which one can hardly make a cut anymore and USED to be one of the best on the planet??  If you look at their lead arms this will give you a clue.  Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis are the two best right now, and if you look at their lead arms they are keeping a little bit of shirt and the elbows are hinging nicely.  Mike Weir is the guy struggling to do anything right and he is putting tremendous pressure on his right wrist, elbow, shoulder and his lower back.  All because of crappy instruction and when he came out on tour years ago, he looked just like the girls, perfect. Maybe he is trying to catch the ground with the heel of the club.  This is exactly why you must find a good drill that will actually help not hurt your game……