Fix – Ultra Golfing

The key to better ball striking? Fix this part of your swing

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:04:19 +0000

Many golfers struggle with slices, blocks and inconsistent contact without realizing that the real issue is often the clubface, not the swing path.

When the clubface is in a poor position during the downswing, golfers are forced to make last-second compensations to square it before impact. Sometimes those compensations work, but they can also lead to inconsistency and poor ball striking.

One interesting observation from studying elite players is how quickly many of them begin closing the clubface during transition. In fact, some of the best players in the world make this move within the first few inches of the downswing. The challenge is that doing so requires tremendous skill, awareness and timing.

For most recreational golfers, I prefer a simpler approach, which you can watch in the video below.

How to fix your clubface

One of my favorite drills uses a short club, such as a wedge. Grip the club normally with your lead hand, then place your trail thumb on the toe of the clubhead. As you make slow-motion practice swings, feel your lead hand twisting the grip while your trail thumb provides light resistance.

The goal isn’t to aggressively roll the clubface closed. Instead, the drill helps create awareness of how the clubface is moving throughout the downswing.

As golfers develop this skill, they begin to understand that clubface control is largely a timing equation. For a right-handed golfer, if the face closes too early, the ball tends to start left. If it closes too late, the face remains open and the ball starts right.

By improving awareness and learning to square the face earlier, golfers often find they can rotate more freely, strike the ball more solidly and eliminate many of the compensations that lead to inconsistent shots.

Sometimes better golf starts with a better understanding of what the clubface is doing rather than making wholesale swing changes. So if you’re struggling with your ball striking, check what your clubface is doing during the downswing. If you fix it, you will start making better contact in a hurry.

Source link

How to fix a right miss with your driver using 1 simple feel

admin — Mon, 11 May 2026 20:11:25 +0000

Hitting the driver straight can feel impossible some days. Even though the big stick is the most forgiving club in the bag, it can still give golfers fits.

This past winter, I found myself in a bit of a funk with the driver. While I was gaining speed (and distance), my accuracy suffered. Missing the fairways with a little added distance isn’t the worst thing in the world, but when you start introducing the big miss, things can get ugly in a hurry.

The miss I dreaded the most was the high, spinny right ball. It’s one that comes off the face weak and floats in the air forever, leaving me miles from the green.

If you’re someone who struggles with the right miss with your driver, worry not. The fix is simpler than you may think.

Fix your right miss

After I missed a few drives off to the right during my “Driving Accuracy Bootcamp” with GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jason Baile, he explained to me a simple feel that he teaches his pupils to help them straighten it out.

First, he teed up a second ball about a club-length behind my ball and a bit inside of my target line. Then, he told me that when I swung, I needed to feel like I was getting the clubface square to that ball as soon as possible.

“I call it ‘Turn 4 at Talladega,’” Jason said. “If the face is open to Turn 4, you’re going to have to twist the steering wheel quite a bit. If I can get the hood ornament of the car — which is the sweet spot — square to the arc early, then I don’t have to twist the shaft at the bottom.”

When your clubface is open to the arc once you pass P6 in the downswing (club shaft parallel to the ground), one of two things happens. Either you leave the face open and hit the ball off to the right or you twist the face closed coming into impact, resulting in a nasty hook.

Once you start to visualize the secondary ball on that swing arc, try to feel that you are squaring the clubface to it as soon as possible. If you can do that, you won’t have to make any compensations through the impact zone. You will simply have to turn your body and the clubface will be square to your target.

“Any ball that starts too far right, square it early,” Jason said.

Remember that key and you’ll stop losing the ball off to the right — and start hitting more fairways.

Source link

6 Reasons You’re Hitting Your Wedges Too High (+ How to Fix)

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:14:39 +0000

Many golfers think that hitting a wedge shot high is a great benefit. However, there are problems with getting too much ball flight on your shots.

I have been paying close attention to professionals and their equipment, and you can see that they are now working on keeping the ball a bit lower but still including plenty of spin in their shots. For instance, the new Titleist SM9 wedges have a lower launch than previous models to help with this added control.

Here are 5 reasons why you’re hitting your wedges too high and how to fix it.

1. Bigger Swing Than Necessary

One of the first things that golfers should look at when trying to get their ball flight down is the size of the golf swing they are taking. If you are taking a big swing instead of a shorter, more compact motion, you may notice the ball getting up a little higher than necessary.

It’s easier to get a higher trajectory on the golf ball when you have more speed and a larger swing. To fix this issue, you can simply choose a different club and make a more compact motion.

How To Fix This Issue

Take a look at the distance you have to the hole.

Do you need to be using a 60 degree lob wedge to get you to the pin? Could you use something like a pitching wedge, take a more compact motion and keep the ball down just a bit?

The smaller swing is going to help make it easier on you when it comes to controlling the flight of the ball and the angle of your clubface.

2. Opening The Face

When you set up to take your backswing, ensure you are not opening the face of your club too much. For pitch shots and most chip shots, you can let the club sit as it lies and then uses this angle when you make contact with the ball.

Opening the face is really only necessary on full wedge shots where you are trying to go over a bunker or something. You will see some players do this with a sand wedge in the bunkers, but it’s not necessary around the greens.

How To Fix This Issue

Learn what a square club face looks like. Setup with the clubface at a square angle, and then work on maintaining that in your takeaway.

If you have a tendency to open the clubface on the backswing, make sure you have a swing thought of keeping the club square.

3. Ball Too Far Forward

The ball position could be the reason you are hitting your wedges too high.

When you want to hit approach shots to the green from a shorter distance, you will probably want the ball back in your stance. This, of course, does not mean behind your right foot (for right-handed players). Instead, it will just be back of the middle.

Some golfers have a hard time with ball flight being too high when they have the ball in the middle of the stance. Pushing it back just a little allows you to hit the ball on the way down and create a more penetrating ball flight.

How To Fix This Issue

When you are practicing on the driving range, use a golf alignment stick to see where your ball position is. Adjust accordingly and play around with different angles to find something that works for your needs.

Be careful not to get the ball too far back in your stance – this will result in poor shots.

4. Stance Too Wide

Keeping your stance too wide is not just a problem for ball flight, but it is a significant reason that golfers struggle with wedge shots as a whole. Regardless of your skill level, it is much easier to control a golf ball when your stance is more narrow. In addition, keeping that clubhead speed constant and accelerating is also much easier with a narrower stance.

The narrow stance can help players that are struggling with backspin on their golf chip and pitch shots as well. Again, that larger stance opens up the door to inconsistent turf interaction and more movement in the body and the hands.

I have always chipped with a narrow stance that is also slightly open. The open stance encourages a bit more rotation towards the target and a softer overall feel to the golf shot.

How To Fix This Issue

Learning how to get your feet closer together when you chip is one of the easiest adjustments you can make to your game. The average distance your feet are apart is about equal shoulder width. However, on these types of shots, I like to get my feet even more narrow than shoulder width.

It’s important to remember that the further you get away from the hole, the further your feet may need to come apart. Sometimes when you need that extra distance, your feet will have to go back to shoulder width.

5. Incorrect Angle of Attack

An incorrect angle of attack can cause a golfer to hit the ball too high. Many players try to hit the ball up in the air by lifting it.

These golfers often lean back on their right side and try to lift the ball up in the air. It’s so important for golfers to remember that this is not how the ball gets up in the air, and it certainly won’t help you get the spin and ball flight you need to approach a shot in this way.

The proper angle of attack for a chip or pitch shot is to hit down and through the ball. Golfers should hit the ball first and then take a divot after the ball. When you approach from this angle, the ball stays lower, but no spin is lost.

How To Fix This Issue

There are plenty of drills to help you learn to hit down on the golf ball. However, one of my favorites is the line drill. All you need for this is a bit of spray paint, where you can draw a line to use for practice on the driving range.

Spray the line and then set your golf ball up at the beginning of the line. As you hit shots, you are going to want to hit the ball and then take a piece of the line with you. You can keep practicing along this line with the concept of hitting down and through the ball.

The shot will have a cleaner feel, and it will actually even sound crisper. This drill will not only help you from hitting your wedges too high, but you will also have a better time making solid contact with other clubs in your bag. If you can’t spray a line on your green, you can always put a loose tee in front of the ball and focus on hitting this as well.

6. Wrong Equipment

Although playing with the wrong equipment may seem like an excuse for poor golf, sometimes it really does apply. If you have a wedge that is high lofted but also tries to increase loft because of a low center of gravity, you may notice that the combination creates a launch angle that you can no longer control.

As I mentioned, this year, golf manufacturers are starting to put out options to the market that actually help players control the ball flight and keep it down a bit on their wedges. We saw this with the new Vokey line and the Milled Grind options from TaylorMade.

If you watch the pros in person, you can see that their wedges have a much more penetrating ball flight, and the shots have quite a bit of spin as well. The shaft and clubhead combination you choose could encourage you to hit your wedges too high.

How To Fix This Issue

The best way to fix an issue where you are playing with the wrong equipment is to go for a golf club fitting. Launch angle, spin, direction, and total distance are just a few key parameters that a club fitting can teach you about the clubs you have in play.

If you don’t want to pay for a fitting just yet, try a friend’s wedge and see if you hit the ball the same height. If you do, then the equipment may not be the issue.

Brittany Olizarowicz

Britt O has been playing golf since the age of 7. Almost 30 years later, she still loves the game, has played competitively on every level, and spent a good portion of her life as a Class A PGA Professional. Britt currently resides in Savannah, GA, with her husband and two young children. Current Handicap: 1

Source link

This common takeaway mistake kills your swing. Here’s how to fix it

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 01:11:56 +0000

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.

I’ve become pretty militant about my practice routine this winter. In the past, I’ve gone to the simulator maybe once a week to get some hacks in, but this year, I decided to up the intensity. Each week since November, I’ve made it my goal to hit balls at least three days a week. That may not sound like a ton, but when you’re in NYC, it’s quite the commitment.

This has been great for learning about my golf swing. Whereas I once relied entirely on feel to build my swing, I now have a much better grasp of technique — and how certain movements impact my ball striking.

One of the most important things I’ve learned is that the way I start the swing is fairly flawed. As I begin my takeaway, I typically rotate my trail hip back too quickly. Instructor Justin Kraft posted a great video illustrating this flaw recently, which you can see below.

This is a flaw that afflicts lots of golfers and can lead to all sorts of issues. When I do this, the club has a tendency to get sucked a bit inside, and then once I get to P3 (lead arm parallel to the ground) I can’t turn back with my hips any more. To compensate, I have to lift my hands to the top of the swing. From there, I have a hard time delivering the clubhead with the correct attack angle and have an inconsistent low point, both of which are crucial for consistent ball striking.

So, what’s the fix? It all starts with the sequence in which you turn to the top of the backswing.

As Justin explains in the video above, you need to focus on rotating the chest away from the target first and then turn the hips back. If you do that, you’ll start your swing with the correct sequence and be in a much better position to deliver a solid strike on the ball.

Divot Board

The Divot Board is a revolutionary golf training aid that gives golfers instant feedback on every swing. By showing exactly where your club contacts the ground, the Divot Board makes it easy to spot errors and correct them on the spot. Whether you’re practicing indoors or outdoors, this tool helps you improve ball striking, swing path, and low-point control. With consistent use, the Divot Board builds muscle memory so you can strike the ball cleaner, hit straighter shots, and lower your scores.
Instant Feedback for Faster LearningResearch shows that immediate feedback can accelerate learning by 50–70%. The Divot Board provides real-time feedback on your swing so you can make quick adjustments and refine your technique instantly.
Improve ConsistencyDid you know 70–80% of golfers struggle with inconsistent contact? The Divot Board reveals exactly where your club struck the surface, helping you identify flaws and build a repeatable, reliable swing.
Train AnywhereCompact and portable, the Divot Board can be used at home, on the driving range, or even in the office. Its high-quality construction ensures durability through countless practice sessions. Proudly designed and assembled in the USA.
Using a Divot Board consistently will transform your practice routine. It’s the easiest way to gain awareness, develop better ball striking, and see results faster.

View Product

Source link

6 Key Steps to Finally Fix Your Over The Top Golf Swing

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 21:41:56 +0000

Swinging over the top is a problem that so many golfers struggle with.

It doesn’t matter if you are brand new to the game or have been playing your entire life; getting a swing path that is a bit over the top is something that needs to be fixed.

For some golfers, a simple swing thought can have you on your way to square shots. However, for most players I have worked with, a combination of drills, training aids, and good old-fashioned practice have been the only ways to fix your over the top golf swing.

Take a look at my six key steps to finally fix your over the top golf swing, and start swinging through the golf ball with confidence.

Step 1: Record a Video

The first step in this process may seem like a simple one but both pro golfers and average golfers that have done it will tell you it’s a must.

Start by recording a video of your golf swing.

One of the most challenging things about the game of golf is that we can’t see the golf club when we swing. Trying to determine where the swing path or swing plane is wont’ be easy. However, with modern technology, a quick video will let you see quite a bit.

So many players say to me, “I don’t know how to diagnose the video.”

I understand you may think that is the case. However, chances are you will be able to see a great deal of what you are doing wrong. Also, you want this video as a comparison when you finish fixing your over the top swing.

Take two videos with the help of a friend. One of the videos should be down the line; another should be a face on video.

If you don’t hit the big slice that has been bothering you, record a few swings so you have some evidence of the problem.

Step 2: Check Your Setup

The next part of this process is to look at the most obvious errors in the game. Players who have their grip, feet position, shoulder line, hips, or even their head position wrong at setup.

So many players want to fix their over the top swing by working on their angle into the ball, their rotation, or ensuring they make a good transition. These are all important but are you setting yourself up to get to this position?

If your feet and your shoulder lines are crossed, straight shots are hard to achieve.

We know that practicing your setup and stance is quite boring compared to other things on this list; it’s well worth getting this down before you try and fix something that may or may not even need to be fixed.

Step 3: Perfect The Takeaway

The takeaway of your golf shots should be low and slow. Taking the club back with just your arms, swinging back really fast, or forgetting that important transition between backswing and downswing can cause poor shots and an over the top swing.

Most golfers struggle at the top of the swing, but there are issues at the start of the swing that can cause this problem.

The golf takeaway is often overlooked by amateur players.

One of my favorite swing tips for golfers working on their takeaway is to take a small blade of grass or even a leaf and place it just a few inches behind the ball.

On your backswing, make sure you may contact with this. To do so, you will have to engage your lower body, keep the arms out of it and ensure you are having the golf club and the body work together.

Step 4: Get To The Inside

Now that the basics are out of the way, it’s time to do the actual work to fix your over the top golf swing. There are two things you need to think about here, getting the club path more on the inside and ensuring the club face is rotated so that it is square at impact.

The first part of this process is ensuring a more inside club path. This club path encourages a golfer to keep their right elbow (right-handed golfer) more connected throughout the swing. The right elbow should even feel as though it is touching your body as you make your transition at the top of the downswing.

One of the simplest and best drills for this is to put a golf glove or even a towel under your right armpit and ensure it stays in place as you make a good transition.

Another drill to consider here is over-exaggerating the inside to out swing path. Most golfers that come over the top have an out-to-in swing path. What this typically looks like is a golf club that starts coming down with the arms and shoulders from the top of the swing.

The club never appears to drop into place and fill in that space that you created with a good rotation.

Exaggerating this move so that you feel as though you are coming way inside on the approach to the ball is a good way to get your lower body sequence worked out and feel what you need to do.

When you go back to hitting balls, chances are you won’t be exaggerating nearly as much, and you will actually be in the correct position. Some players that struggle with this common problem of coming over the top will add an exaggerated inside approach to their pre-shot routine.

The next thing to work on is the club face angle. If you get to the inside, but your club face is not square to the target line, the shot won’t work out. Most golfers struggle to rotate their forearms.

Step 5: Training Aids to Help

Feeling this inside-to-out path and getting rid of the over the top swing plane will be hard for some players. If you have been swinging like this your entire life, you won’t fix it with one good swing. In fact, it will take quite a bit of time and effort to work this out.

Some of the best options for fixing coming over the top is to use alignment sticks or something like the Eyeline Speed Trap. All you need to do with an alignment stick is set it in the ground at an angle just above the golf ball.

The goal is to swing under this alignment stick. If you swing over the top, you will hit the alignment stick.

Start with slow swings here, as you won’t want to make contact with the alignment stick and hurt yourself.

The Eyeline Speed Trap is another excellent device that allows you to see the proper path and eventually leads to golfers having a square face at impact. The latest release of the Eyeline Speed Trap makes it much easier to use the device without damage to your club or yourself.

I love the visual benefits of a tool like this.

When you head out to the golf course, you can be sure that your mind is in the right place and that you are prepared for what impact position should look like.

Step 6: Transfer to The Course

As a golfer (and teacher of the game) who has had issues with swing path in the past, I know how it can feel simple to fix issues on the range and then an entirely different situation to fix them on the golf course.

You are not alone in this frustration of transferring knowledge to the course.

The best way I have found to help this issue is to work on making your driving range practice more like the course.

Most amateur players head to the driving range with a bucket of 75 golf balls and then just start firing away. This is, of course, not the solution. Even if you do come closer to fixing your over the top swing, chances are you have ignored other issues that could be creating inconsistency.

Instead, take some time to work on the drills we talked about. Hit ten or twenty golf balls using the drills. Then take out a training aid like alignment sticks or a path trainer and work with that for some swings.

The idea is that you are building the muscle memory to then use when the pressure is on.

Once you feel like you understand the motion, you have to start putting pressure on.

Pick a target and try to hit it just as you would on the golf course. If you miss the green because of a slice, chances are you were over the top. If you hook it or draw it, maybe you came a little too far from the inside.

Make a mental note of this shot and then move to the next one. Don’t stand there and rapid-fire golf shots; it gets you nowhere. Make your practice like the course, and everything will transition to the course independently.

Brittany Olizarowicz

Source link