Hitchhike Your Way to a Proper Swing Plane Take your address over a practice ball without a club.  Place your hands in an imaginary grip position with both thumbs pointed skyward.  Rotate your chest away from the target and maneuver your thumbs in a “hitchhiking” motion about waist-high behind you.  Now rotate back through the ball and swing your thumbs past impact into a hitchhiking position about waist-high toward the target.  This simple drill reveals the ideal swing plane on the back swing and forward swing.

5x5 Octagon Driving Mat & Simple Net shown

If you’re doing the drill correctly, you’ll discover that the ideal swing plane positions are where the club feels the lightest.  If the club gets too vertical or too flat, it will feel heavy and uncomfortable. Before long you’ll be thumbing your way to better golf shots and lower scores.

Right For Might
Proper use of the right hand will help you square the clubface at impact and increase club head speed, thus producing more consistent and longer shots. Just as a baseball player relies on his right hand to hit line drives and hockey player uses his right hand to produce screaming slap shots, so, too, should a golfer incorporate the right hand to strike the ball with force.

Place a tee in the ground and hold a golf ball in your right hand.  Take your address position without a club and rotate into your back swing with your right arm in position at the top.  On your downswing, throw the ball at the tee as hard as you can.  Repeat this exercise with the ball now in your left hand.  You’ll discover that you can throw the ball much harder with your right hand than with your left.

Another good drill to increase the role of your right hand during the downswing is to hit balls with your right arm only.  Use an 8- or 9-iron and tee the ball up.  Assume your normal address position, with your left hand on your hip or in your pocket.  Swing the club easy and concentrate on rhythm and tempo.  You’ll find you can hit the ball a good distance.  Gradually, you can try to swing harder.

How to hit the ball Farther & Straighter   The Proper Swing Plane & Right For Might   Lag Putting, Keeping Online & The Take Away   Fast Golf Facts - "Have you ever wondered why?"