Jason Birnbaum, Top 100 Teacher
It’s easy to get too steep on the downswing, but this drill from top golfer Jason Birnbaum will help you make it a little shallower.
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Your downswing is too steep and to the left. How do you know? You can hit a wicked draw, a fade, and a fade, depending on the action of the clubface at impact. You need to make your swing flatter. This is a simple exercise that only needs to be repeated a few times to help solve the problem.
Set up like normal, but place the second ball about two club head widths in front of the ball you’re actually going to hit. As you might imagine, the goal here is to hit the first ball and miss the second, which is difficult to do if you swing over the top.
Before you start, reach out and touch your calves to remind you to stay on one side of the trail longer as you begin your descent from the top. When you actually swing the golf club, think about it, it’s flat at impact, not steep, it just feels like there’s a little bit of back and the club is moving up.
Remember, these are really feelings, i.e., you never want to be “indecisive” when hitting an iron shot. Sometimes you learn faster when you make an exaggerated swing. Give it a try.
Jason Birnbaum is a Top 100 golf instructor and the Director of Instruction at Manhattan Woods Golf Academy in West Nyack, NY
