The Towel Drill

[Baraethon]

How exactly do you do this?

I am referring to the drill where you place a towel 6-8 inches behind the ball, and try not to hit it. A couple questions I had upon trying it:

Are you not supposed to hit the ball going up as well as back down?

Why do I always top the ball when I do this?

Is there any good way to tell if you just maybe light skimmed the towel?

[ks8829]

I am not quite sure what that drill is for, but my guess it to have you hit down on the ball. I personally would use the towel differently, I would have you hold the towel ends under both arm pits and have you swing you club. This will help you promote a compact swing. Vijay Sing practice with a golf glove under his arm pit.

[Zeph]

The purpose is to hit down on the ball, yes. If you are topping it you are still coming up. Try moving the towel, or a tee for that matter if you don't want to risk damaging the towel, right behind the ball. Really promote hitting down on the ball.

[jambalaya]

You are probably topping the ball because you are lifting even more to avoid the towel. Let your self hit the towel if necessary or move it back a few inches until you get comfortable with it being there and ease it back. You apparently have a bad habit of flipping or lifting the club that is going to take a while to break. Do 1/2 swings to start out with until you get the knack and then gradually increase.

[zeg]

The towel is a good suggestion. I have a big problem sweeping iron shots and was trying to achieve that same goal by putting a second ball 8-10 inches behind the one I'm hitting. I think I ended up hitting both balls about 30 yards almost every time. Partly that's because my swing is pretty flat at the bottom, but I think there's a psychological effect of seeing another ball in the target area. I bet a towel would be less of a distraction!

[grantc79]

You could also set your bag on its side a couple of feet behind your ball.

The point is it makes you release the club later and hold onto the lag longer which gives you more consistency and distance.

[UP&DOWN]

I have used this towel drill myself several times and found it useful. I believe it was in one of the golf magazines a couple months ago. You're right about the concept of it attempting to promote a steeper path to impact versus sweeping at it.

The one thing you may want to make sure you are doing is using a 5 iron or higher otherwise the length of your shaft will be longer and you will need to pull the towel further back.

Another good drill that I use that is similar to this is placing a tee an inch in front of your gollf ball (right handed to the left of the ball toward the target) about a 1/2" out of the ground. Try hitting the ball and the tee to improve your contact.

[kfowler]

Another option. Get one of styraphone pool noodles and place it behinde the ball where the towel would normally go. Take two long tees and stick them through the noodle into the ground. This will keep it in place during your backswing.

[wachesawgolfer]

Try looking forward of the ball on the target line say 7 inches or so and hit. Its helps some stay down and swing down and through the ball. Plus you can take that setup to the course.

[Baraethon]

Yah, I've used the tee in front of the ball drill before. i will move it back and work some more, thanks for the tips.