Drills to improve ball striking

[golfergray]

Having struggled for a few years and seen my handicap rise to 8 I bit the bullet and had a few lessons last year. Having sorted out my alignment, posture and swing plane I'm now back down to 6 and things are looking good! I'm hitting the ball consistently straighter and finding more fairways off the tee. My big problem now is ball striking from the fairway, possibly caused by a change to my posture last season (more upright) and not helped by lack of practice and dodgy course conditions over the winter. My biggest problem is catching the ball a bit thin, although I do hit the occasional fat when trying to dig out of a nasty winter lie. Does anyone have any good drills to improve ball striking? I'm a fairly steady swinger, no overswing and am definitely in the 'slider' camp and not a 'digger'.

[saevel25]

Keep more pressure in your front leg through impact, so try keeping a bit more flexion in the front leg

Keep your head steady

check your ball alignment, for irons, depending if you widen or shorten your stance, or keep the same stance width, your ball can range from anywere from the center of your stance, to 6" left of center (for righty). Easiest way is to lay down two clubs forming a cross shape, and use that as a guide when practicing.

[iceman777]

Found I had way too much lower body motion  , especially in my backswing . Tried concentrating on bracing my right leg , so hips turn , but my right leg doesn't sway several inches to the right . At least at the range  I've had much greater contact . We'll see what happens in a month or so when the weather improves and we can move to the course .

[golfergray]

Thanks for the reply, are you saying my front (left) leg should be bent or straight at impact?

I've also been told to try and clear my left hip out of the way rather than sliding it towards the target, would this also help?

[123Putt]

You should think about sliding the hip towards the target and then clearing. The hip slide is pretty important.