Drills to build a reliable golf swing:
- Low Point Control Drill
- Stock Shot Drill
- Swing Speed Training Drill
- Target Focused Drill
Golf is an amazing game!
Unfortunately, it can be amazingly frustrating at times.
Have you ever played a round of golf where one day you feel like you have everything going well?
You starting thinking, “I have found it!” Golf almost seems easy on those days! However, you head to the course the next time you play and nothing seems to go right. You leave the course just hoping to find some sort of reliable golf swing
What just happened?
If this sounds like your golf game, you are like most golfers.
Many go from one swing thought to the next and fail to really ever create a consistent or reliable golf swing that they know will be there for the majority of the rounds.
Golf will always have some inconsistencies, but we can train and utilize drills to help us keep our swing on track. I have four awesome drills below that will help you reach that next level of a reliable golf swing in your journey!
Update: The first and most important drill is the low point control drill. This is a remarkable difference between high handicap level golfers and low handicap levels golfers on the ability to control low point. When you can control the low point, you can hit solid shots, maximize your distance and control your distance on approach shots! Check out the low point control drill below!
Drills For A Relatable Golf Swing
When it comes to consistent golf, we want to be able to make solid contact, control our start line and have enough distance to play the course!
These are actually the three major fundamentals of golf:
- Make solid contact 99% of the time.
- Control the start line and curve of the ball.
- Have enough power or distance to play the course.
When we work on these three fundamentals, we are able to build a reliable golf swing that will provide some consistency week in and week out in our journey during a season or over an extended period of time of getting better and enjoy the game of golf!
Drill #1: Low Point Control Drill
- Take some yard paint and patina a 1-2 yard long line.
- Setup with 55% of your weight on your front side.
- Try to hit the target side of the line and see how many times out of 10 you can do this successfully!
- Repeat this drill every day for a month, tracking your progress and your ability to to this successfully in trials of ten.
- You may need to start with half swing and progress to full swings.
If you are struggling, put more weight forward and work on keeping your head still to help control the low point in the swing. We know that solid contact is vital in our development of a golfer.
When you are hitting a shot from 150 yards over water, your last worry should be about the water in front or making solid contact. Instead, your focus should be on the target and the shape shot that you want to hit!
This drill can get you to this point in your journey. Stay with this drill and work on until you can strike the ground where you need to 99 times out 100.
Drill #2: Stock Shot Drill
Why is this dril important? The goal here is to know where your ball will start at least 7 times out of 10. Some golfers stand over a shot and have no idea if their ball is going to start to the right or the left. One time they may hit the big push and then follow that up with shot that they pull.
What we want to do is work on a drill to control our start line. This will build confidence and ultimately help us create a reliable swing to produce consistency in our ball striking and accuracy.
The goal is to be able to stand over a shot from 150 yards with water guarding the left side of the green and know with some good certainty that your shot will start slightly to the right and draw back towards the target. I prefer the stock draw shot as a go to shot.
I believe that once you have developed the stock draw shot, you can learn to play a fade from a similar swing slot.
Here is a wonderful drill you can use to build a stock shot:
- At the driving range, set up an alignment stick about 6-8 yards in front of you, straight down your target line.
- If you have a second alignment stick, set the stick 3-4 yards right of the first stick (for a draw) or left of the first stick (for a fade).
- Complete your initial assessment and see how many times out of 10 you can start the ball to the right or left of your target. Pick one side and measure your game at this point.
- The goal is to eventually get 7 out of 10 shots to start to the correct side and draw back towards the target.
Here is the drill being explained by Kyle Morris:
Drill #3: Swing Speed Training Drill
Now that we have the consistent contact with the ball down and we can hit a stock shot 7 out of 10 times, let’s talk about speed.
For years people would often say, “drive for show, putt for dough” when the reality is that distance is important not only to overall scoring, but to consistency in the scoring.
Those that have the greater distance have shorter shots into greens. This means hitting it closer on average, which results in more putts made.
There is a big difference between someone that can swing a driver 85 miles per hour vs someone swinging at 105 miles per hour. Even an increase in 5-8 miles per hour can mean 30 yards of extra distance. The really neat part is that recently there have been research studies on the best way to increase swing speed.
What we have learned is that overspeed training with lighter clubs can help train the mind and body to be able to swing faster. My example is that I used to swing between 98-101 miles per hour.
After training with the SuperSpeed program I am now between 105 and 108 miles per hour. In order to swing faster, you have to train by swing faster. With the lightest club in the protocol by SuperSpeed, I am swinging between 122 and 129 miles per hour. This than coverts to between 105-108 miles per hour with my actual driver when playing golfer.
The difference of 20-30 yards is important and one of the fastest ways to get better at golf. Would you rather be hitting a 7 iron from 155 or a PW from 125 after your drive?
If you give yourself the shorter shot over the course of 18 holes, you are going to hit more greens in regulation, hit the ball closer to the hole, which then gives you a better chance of making the putt.
The formula is simple. The important part is to start training for speed using SuperSpeed Golf and improve your speed and gain 20-40 yards. It will make a massive difference!
Check out current pricing on SuperSpeed Training Sticks
Here is the training drill at the first protocol level:
Drill #4: Target Focused Drill
Oftentimes as we stand over a shot, we can get locked into our swing thoughts or thinking about mechanics. At some point, we need to turn our focus externally and start looking at our target and playing the course.
Through the development with the drill above, one of the goals is to get you to focus on the target. This is helpful in the stock shot drill, as you are looking out right of the alignment stick. This next drill, will get you focused even further down the course and looking at the big picture.
This will allow your body to naturally respond and you can move away from thinning about all the positions that you hit. The reality is that we are not designed to try to hit all of these positions in the swing and can get bogged down and lead to paralysis by analysis as we stand on the tee box or a shot in the fairway. Instead, let’s work on this drill and then take it to the course.
Target focused drill:
- Pick your target out on the range (A flagstick, tree, yardage marker, etc.)
- Pick a target even well beyond that target like a tree or some marker out in the distance.
- Draw a line in your mind back to where you can pick an intermediate target about 1-2 feet in front of the ball.
- Determine your “fight plan” (Draw, Fade or Straight Shot).
- Go ahead and set up over the ball.
- Focus on what shot you want to hit and where your target is.
- Keep the target in mind and get the ball started in the direction of the target.
- Picking a “flight plan” ahead of time will give your mind clarity in combination with the target.
- Hit the shot and measure how many times out of 20 you are within an acceptable range of your main target.
What you will find is that by keeping your mind target focused, your body responds naturally to the task at hand and it frees your body up to hit a tension free golf shot. Relax over the shot and allow gravity to help you swing effortlessly.
Shawn Clement is an amazing instructor and he has a wide range of information on youtube. Check out this video below on a target based approach:
Great Add On To Help You Measure Your Swing
A complete game changer that can give you instant feedback in your path and club face is a portable launch monitor. These devices are incredible and are actually somewhat affordable.
The great thing is that you can utilize these devices at the range, on the course, or in a setup in a golf simulator space at home. Or a simple net and mat setup at home.
If you visit any PGA Tour stop you will see the majority of professionals use a launch monitor at some point throughout the week . Many are monitoring their clubface, swing path relationship as well as swing speed. These are important numbers to monitor to make sure you are keeping your swing within a certain range.
While many won’t have $16,000 to spend on a Trackman, there are some great affordable options that can be used at your local driving range, on the golf course or in your garage or house as part of a practice area of golf simulator setup.
Here are my top 3 recommend affordable golf launch monitors:
Some of the key information that you will be able to received immediately after every swing includes:
- Ball Speed
- Club Speed
- Launch Angle
- Spin Rate
- Spin Axis
Over time, knowing where your numbers are when you are making quality swings will help you groove a swing and become more consistent. When you are struggling, you can use your launch monitor to see where your numbers are at.
Is it a clubface or swing path issue? When your spin axis number is really high either way, you know there is a major gap between the two. In the ideal world, you have a 1-3 degree difference between clubface and swing path, unless you are trying to hit a hook or slice intentionally then a bigger gap is desired.
Next Steps
You can either start with one drill at a time and master that drill before moving onto the next, or give each drill a shot and work on them at the same time. Go ahead and set an hour aside at least twice a week for your game development. The speed training protocol only takes 15 minutes, every other day of the week.
Overall, if you truly want to take your game to the next level, you have the drills above to create a reliable golf swing that produces consistent results. Master these drills and the game becomes a lot more fun.
Stop searching for the swing thought or mechanic that will take your game to the level you desire and instead utilize these drills to help you get there!
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.