Remember in golf, power starts from the ground up. As a result, the downswing is rushed, and the angle of attack is inconsistent. Alignment sticks are available for purchase online, your local golf warehouse, or maybe even at a course near you. Which is the goal of golf right? These players utilize higher angles of attack to increase carry and total distance. GOLF.com and GOLF Magazine are published by EB GOLF MEDIA LLC, a division of 8AM GOLF. Examples: Jon Rahm, Lee Trevino, Matt Kuchar. Instead, you need to learn how to use your left side to pull your shoulders, arms, and hands into the right plane on your downswing. My EE is still under good control but I have been fighting a steep AoA throughout the bag. You can post now and register later. Part of the equation is the arms/hands but more so its that golfers arent starting the downswing with their hips as well. Launch angle (LA) is a reference to how the ball flies after the strike. Your ball speed increases without changing swing speed and your shot dispersion tightens. You just have to make sure you arent too far on either end of the spectrum. The next time youre watching a professional play or hit balls, pay attention to the divots they take with woods and long irons. Display as a link instead, Your email address will not be published. The reason(s) why this is happening might actually surprise you. Instead of the club working around your body, it works up to the sky and back down the the ground. This has made all the difference to my driving. Keep in mind that as you "upgrade" your attack angle, should you have an adjustable driver, you might need to alter the loft. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. Now lets scale it up: When youre using a mid-iron, moving the ball up in your stance allows you to shallow your launch angle and hit the ball higher. Lots of highly successful players have played with swings that can characterized as steep or shallow. In this article, we'll cover how to shallow a golf swing. If you start the downswing with your upper body, as so many golfers do, you will have a steep swing that isnt consistent. had a really great response to the AMG EE video/thread and hoping to have another one on this. A lot of golfers who are trying to shallow out the club will try and do too much on the downswing. This proves that changing the angle of attack from a negative to a positive can result in an increase of distance with the same swing speed and impact factors. This is the simplest golf drill to improve your down swing and provides instant feed back for you. Your email address will not be published. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. I think what you are saying is that if the dynamic loft in relation to the attack angle does not change, and the attack angle becomes more descending, the ball flight will go down. In the video above, he talks about the importance of starting the downswing with the lower body. The modern-day drivers, if struck properly, produce a much lower spin rate than drivers of yesteryear. For many, there is a real connection between the ability to shallow the club and skill level. These two stats are somewhat related as AoA can affect LA, as you may imagine. Too much lateral slide will produce too shallow an angle of attack. Additionally, the lower body is not utilized, which can result in a loss of speed and power. Worse yet, its one of the most common flaws recreational golfers make. If you're guilty of massive divots and/or low ball flight then this is for you. Once your weight is on the left side, then you can use it to properly start the downswing. steep and shallow describe your swing plane, This pro is chipping one-handed in competition. The angle of attack with the driver should be ascending, because driver-ball contact should happen with the driver on the upswing for maximum distance. Shallowing the club will also help with driving distance and most likely accuracy as well. The goal is a shallow angle of attack into the ball (4-5), with the shaft leaning forward. The attack angle is a measurement of how steep or shallow your clubhead is moving through impact, and it has a direct effect on how much distance you are able to generate with the driver. Steve. Theres nothing more gratifying than hitting a nice drive down the middle of the fairway, youve got a wedge in your hand, and you stick it nice and close to the hole and you get a nice little tap in birdie and on to the next hole. Learn how your comment data is processed. By the end of this article, youll be itching to get to the driving range to work on your swing. If youre struggling with consistency, check out your left wrist when your backswing is complete. What golfers need to know, Hannah Green survives 3-way playoff for emotional victory at JM Eagle LA Championship, Tour Confidential: Tony Finaus rise, Justin Thomas career, summer trips, In defeat, Jon Rahm says 1 sentence that may inspire YOU to work on Monday, 2023 Mexico Open at Vidanta: How to watch, TV schedule, streaming, tee times, Meet the new GOLF Top 100 Teachers of America, These sleek and stylish golf carry bags are just what your game needs. Shallow your angle of attack to hit LONGER DRIVES 15,080 views Dec 4, 2017 32 Dislike Share Save Worldwide Golf 19.9K subscribers The attack angle with your driver has a direct effect on. If youre looking to hit better golf shots, you may want to focus on learning how to shallow your swing. Amateur golfers, typically, are not predictable. To get started, tie a half-full water bottle to the hosel of a pitching wedge or short iron. Understanding where you are right now is crucial in making sure you dont change things that are actually helping your game. You want to hit a higher pitch; you move the ball forward in your swing. PGA golfers average around 0-degrees angle of attack with their driver and LPGA players between 2 to 3-degrees. Morning 9: Another Tiger surgery | Ko looking to end major drought | Lexi playing hurt at first major, Controversial analyst says Phil Mickelson and LIV golf were the winners at 2023 Masters, Morning 9: Tour announced new fall schedule | Cowherd: LIV won Masters | Tiger 1997 Masters ball at auction. They are using their legs to create tons of power for momentum and torque. Not perfect, but understandable. If you understand that the body is not for producing speed, it is for reacting and supporting the arms while they produce speed, the problem disappears. The angle of attack in golf is a measurement of the direction at which your club is moving when you make contact. Watch the full video below to make sure that you are positioning the sticks correctly. First of all, what makes the 'right' angle of attack is all relative to the golfer in question and the club in hand. Here you will find advice on golf instruction, golf course management and golf tips. In the video, I share a practice drill that's one of the most effective ways to capture the feeling of the club shallowing out in the downswing so you can achieve a more optimal angle of attack and improve the quality of your ball striking, too. You absolutely do not need to increase swing speed in order to improve your attack angle or distance. Not too Big, Not Too Small: Should Golf Shoes be Snug? Shift Your Weight To Get Use Your Lower Body In the video above, he talks about the importance of starting the downswing with the lower body. Required fields are marked *. Hitting your driver longer and straighter, Focus on what Matters: The Muscles Used in a Golf Swing, Hold on to your Wallet: How to Play Skins in Golf, The Simple Steps to get a Handicap in Golf. It means this: when the club is coming into the golf ball, we want the club to be travelling relatively shallow; so the angle that it's coming through the strike is in a shallow motion, versus a steep angle of attack. Make sure you tap the notification bell so that you never miss a newly released video.#golfdrill #subscribe #golf #golfinstruction #golflesson #smashfactorgolfcoachingAlso follow Smash Factor on FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/smashfactorgolfcoaching/TWITTER https://twitter.com/smashfactorproINSTAGRAM https://instagram.com/smashfactorgolfcoachingWEBSITE http://www.smashfactor.co.uk/ And if you can keep your golf swing on plane more often, you will typically hit it more consistently. Keith Lyford, The easiest way to fix a steep swing is to fix your sequencing. Master a Shallow Golf Swing Tips and Drills to Get Started, 5 Most Important Mental Skills for Golfers, How to Hit a Draw in Golf: A Beginners Guide, View the shallowing your golf swing course, Golf Skills: 10 Skills To Improve Your Golf Scores, A Guide to Finding the Ideal Golf Impact Position, Step-By-Step Proper Golf Grip Guide: What You Need to Know. If you miss shots to the right, adding some of Vegas' downward angle with your irons could help you. From the address position aim to make a wider arc during your swing, aiming to swing up on the ball launching it over the box with a high flat trajectory. Instead of putting the tee in front of the ball, put something behind the ball like a plate fromFat Plate Golf. Hello golfers, PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb here with another segment of On the Lesson Tee; and today I want to talk to you about hitting quality wedge shots. The takeaway is a big component of this. Your submission has been received! The reason why shallowing your golf swing can be so difficult for most golfers is that there are so many ways to do it and the right way for you may be different than the right way for another golfer. This makes it nearly impossible to use thelower body to unwindon the way down. Divots are minimal, launch angle and carry are high. Often we find most amateurs will swing too steeply into the ball, between a -4 and -6 descending blow. While there is hardly a substitute for swinging harder, optimizing launch angle for carry means making up for a perceived deficiency elsewhere (swing speed). Milo Lines Golf . He has taught me how to attack a course and focus on the shot at hand and . With less turf/club interaction, youll also see your distance window with each club tighten. Implementing a proper weight shift after your takeaway will naturally lead to a shallower shaft angle, as your upper body will lag behind your lower body. With a driver, this can also produce the dreaded pop-up shot that everyone in golf hates. Shallowing your golf swing essentially means getting your club into a more horizontal position during your downswing. Thank you! You want to hit a punch or low runner, it gets moved back in your stance. Heres a quick video to explain why you need a bowed left wrist in your golf swing: When you have a slightly bowed wrist, it usually means yourecoming down from the insidewith asquare clubface. - Takes too shallow of an angle in pursuit; he struggles to keep the ball-carrier on his inside shoulder. Even if you err on the side of being too steep or too shallow, consistency breeds predictability.. Though it varies from one golfer to another, the main cause of this is starting the downswing with the upper body instead of the lower body. Angle of attack (AoA) is a reference to how your club is approaching the golf ball before you hit it. Here's why, How a popular green-reading method helped launch this young pro into contention in Mexico, This chipping drill will help you get up-and-down from anywhere, This is the secret to hitting your hybrids pure every time, Use this hip rotation drill to develop more power through your downswing, Stop topping the ball with these 10 easy fixes, Seeking power and clubhead speed? On a windy day it might be necessary to use tees to anchor the box in place. This also produces that steep motion that leads to hitting wildly inconsistent golf shots. Learning how to shallow your golf swing starts by understanding your golf swing sequence. Here isa simple drill to help you practice hitting the ball on the upswing to increase your angle of attack. Yes, how youstart the downswingin golf determines how the ball reacts off the clubface. Ged helps golfers from all over the world with his online lessons and YouTube channel, Ged Walters Golf, which includes the latest golf tips, equipment reviews and course vlogs. Your email address will not be published. Oops! Clear editor. Get a square or slightly closed clubface and the steep swing will automatically go away without using any special drills or training aids. The more your club glides across the top of the turf, the shallower your angle. Most play golf like they are in a hurry to get from their backswing to followthrough. You let your ball sail through the sky with minimal spin and can predict where its going; you don't chunk it. Not to mention, its super easy to do at home to help you ingrain the feeling of swallowing your angle of attack. Now that you understandwhyits so important and how to make the shallowing move happen, its important to have a few drills to help you practice this move. While Ive coveredhow to fix aslicein a different post, I want to give you a different reason why most players make this mistake your angle of attack. Youre making contact later in the swing, on the way up, and in most cases that will add a little distance. A steep swing has a shaft that is more vertical in relation to the ground, while a shallow swing is more horizontal. As mentioned, shallowing out occurs on your downswing, after your takeaway at the top of the swing. You must keep the handle ahead of the club head through impact. Part of that is golf but the main reason you might have these results is a common mistake that a lot of players make. Is your golf swing steep or shallow? driver can be -2 to -5 and up to -10 with short irons. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Join InsideGOLF for only $20 - includes instant $20 Fairway Jockey credit! 2022 Graff Golf LLC. Starting the lower body first on downswing with the arms and club trailing and reacting to lower body. You dont want to overcorrect the move and feel like youre pulling the club down. Some, like Matthew Wolffs, are very unconventional and quirky. 18 Shots: Wedge Attack Angle featuring James Sieckmann. If you want to learn how to shallow your golf swing you can learn exactly how to do this from Shauheen Nakhjavani, one of Golf Digests top international instructors and coach to several top ranked PGA Tour players. A steep swing has a shaft that is more vertical in relation to the ground, while a shallow swing . Having said that, lets take a closer look at how to shallow your golf swing. These will help you improve your angle of attack and make sure you dont get too steep. One of the easiest ways to do that is to shallow out your angle of attack and make sure that you arecompressing the ball. Often we find most amateurs will swing too steeply into the ball, between a -4 and -6 descending blow. a narrow downswing will typically encourage a steeper, more downward angle of attack a wider downswing will typically promote a shallower, l ess downward angle of attack Narrow Downswing Wider Downswing Club Path an overly downward strike will move the club path more from in to out For more visit. Swing the club toward the target with your arms, allowing the body to react, and it will stay back until pulled forward by the momentum of the follow through. Easiest Way To. By Rather than focusing on generating swing speed, which often leads to exaggerating flaws in your swing, an angle of attack adjustment is a minor change that can lead to added distance without sacrificing accuracy. How to stop slicing and shallow out your swing, according to Top 100 Teachers, What is a PGA Tour Special Temporary member? Steep vs. On the other hand, most amateur golfers do the opposite and begin the downswing with their upper body. Its standing up, or its laying down flatter, Dunigan says. This a great tool to help you practice in theupcoming winter monthswhenhitting off of matsas well. Now, what does shallow angle of attack mean? Their swings are consistent regardless of what clubs in their hands, and the results show. If youre hitting your driver at -10 degrees angle of attack, theres a lot of work to be done. If you want to see added distance, a great place to start would be optimizing launch angle. Well, when youre set up and you start to swing the club into the ball, I want you to feel like youre going to let the club head catch up to the hands. You can take these lessons from your living room or backyard, making them an excellent option for those who dont live close to a golf course or dont have time to make it to a course for training. This drill should help you encourage the club to work on an upward angle through impact. Place a sleeve of golf balls roughly a grips length away from the ball and tee it slightly higher than normal. Youll select the coach and then set up either live sessions or submit videos for feedback. The opposite of shallowing would be an over-the-top downswing. When utilized properly, the lower body can be the most powerful component of the golf swing. Starting the lower body first on downswing with the arms and club trailing and reacting to lower body movement will allow you to swing optimally and with the proper sequence to correctly shallow the club. Check out Montes No Turn, Cast video and check out the first cast from the top. While shallowing wont happen overnight, its definitely one that you want to focus on. The angle of attack with irons should be descending, because irons are designed for golfers to hit down on the ball. They are an inexpensive training aid that can help you improve multiple facets of your game. Having a swing that is too steep or too shallow will present problems, but being a little bit on one side or the other isnt the end of the world. As you move from your most to least lofted clubs, your angle of attack will gradually decrease.. Paste as plain text instead, Let me show what that looks like. To someone who has played golf for several years or swung a lot of drivers, the Adams Idea driver has a few visual hints reminiscent of a TaylorMade driver, but there are . I cant reiterate this enough and it was one the core lessons that the great Ben Hogan preached as well. In this video, you can see how Rory uses power from his legs to create tons of power and momentum in his golf swing: As you can see, this move allows him to clear the way for his and arms to drop down into the perfect slot for impact. If you can learn how to do this, you will shallow out your swing and hit the purest golf shots of your life! This allows them to use their lower body to use their weight and hit it extremely consistent. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com. This is what I have to think about every time I hit the ball, otherwise I fat shot it. There is no need to worry about this as gravity will do its job. As Chris explains in the video above, in this drill you want to compress the golf ball and not hit directly at the ball. Though angle of attack is an important factor, there's only a variance of about 10 degrees throughout your entire bag. This drill is another excellent option to receive live feedback on whether your swing is too steep and whether you are properly driving your hips at the beginning of the downswing. If football is a game of inches, then golf is a game of milliseconds. Shallowing is a golf term that refers to getting the club plane more horizontal during your downswing. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Trackman numbers from the tour and my goals: https://blog.trackmangolf.com/trackman-average-tour-stats/. Fixing this swing flaw is no easy task, but thanks to a few GOLF Top 100 Teachers, we have a few things to help you shallow out your swing. Use a towel to get loose instead, These 2 simple driver setup tweaks will produce longer, straighter tee shots. Copyright 2020 GolfWRX Holdings, LLC. Hitting up on the ball is something every pro will emphasize during a driver lesson to bump up carry distances and lessen spincreating more piercing strikes. Hitting down on the ball means having a steep angle of attack. In this drill, place a thin towel about 6 inches behind the ball. No matter what they do on the way back, they all find a way to reroute the club before impact. This course is the most in depth guide on shallowing the golf swing that youll find anywhere. Check out what else we're cooking up at The Club. In this article, well cover how to shallow a golf swing. So at the top of the backswing, the slicer instinctively throws the club over-the-top which causes a steep downswing and a left path. Here's a helpful sequence to practice when your angle of attack is too steep or downward. Well, the first thing we need to know is that a good quality wedge shot is all about distance control. Do this 5-10x times to get the feeling down. This will get your path more out to the right and force you to swing from inside to out. This is a costly addition to this drill! Check out their responses below. LIKE 19 LEGIT 4 WOW 3 LOL 1 IDHT 1 FLOP 1 OB 1 SHANK 5 A shallow angle of attack means coming through the ball at just a few degrees negative. Cutting this number down produces better golf shots all around. Understanding this concept can be a key component in unlocking your potential. There is a sliding scale of how to judge attack angle. So instead of rushing, become super intentional with your tempo and transition. Launch angle There is an optimum launch angle for maximum distance. 01 May 2023 20:34:54 Remove that ball from your sight and enjoy some great ball striking! The way to fix a steep swing is to fix the open clubface. Some great examples of flat golf swings are Tony Finau and Rickie Fowler. Another drill I like to use to help golfers learn to deliver an ascending strike with the driver is what I call the Box Drill pictured below Place an empty sleeve box between a teed golf ball and the target as indicated. Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. If you do make contact, its the result of being too steep on your downswing. To get started, put a tee in front of the ball to help you try and compress the golf ball at impact. had a really great response to the AMG EE video/thread and hoping to have another one on this. Andrew Rice Golf. All rights reserved. If you dont have the right angle of attack with your irons, you will continue to be inconsistent with your approach shots. Join InsideGOLF for only $20 - includes instant $20 Fairway Jockey credit! driver can be -2to -5 and up to -10 with short irons. The Trackman statistics show the significantly shallower angle of attack (+2.5) resulted in a far higher launch angle and an increase in carry distance of nearly 30 yards. Providing golf instruction for all levels of golfers. Shallowing is an essential component of the golf swing but is difficult to master and often overlooked, especially by those who play golf casually. Hitting a nice wedge shot close to the pin is one of the more gratifying shots in golf. When angle of attack goes lower, thats when you see chunks and the inconsistent ball flight that disrupts your game. Golf instruction - what is essential to the swing and what is merely style? On a windy day it might be necessary to use tees to anchor the box in place. The goal is to not to knock the tee out of the ground, or worse: pound it into the ground. Well, one of the key factors to good distance control is what we call shallow angle of attack. If you dont have a shallow angle of attack at this time, it probably means that you are coming down too steep on your transition. From the top of the swing, far too many players come over the top and cut across the ball at impact. First find your 'mostability', I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert, What's the proper footwork in the golf swing? Yes, you heard it here: INFALLIBLE! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Physics shows the optimum launch angle depends on ball speed. This can cause a slew of problems, ranging from thins to tops to fats. The Secret to Practicing Like A Tour Player. Not only is it a great way to spend the day but its eye-opening to see these professionals play golf in real life. Ive tried a lot of things to stop pulling down on the handle fromthe top, and Montes first cast move is the first thing that has made shallowing the club happen naturally. Square stance (or even closed) NOT open. The higher you go on the handicap scale, the less consistent golfers are in various shot metrics including angle of attack. When the golfer gets too steep coming into the shot, they will often hit the ball higher in the air and increase the spin rate which can cause the ball to fly higher as well. Use this shallow downswing drill with a tee first before hitting a shot. One way to shallow your golf swing is by practicing your tempo. You might hear the terms "shallow" and "steep" to refer to a golf swing, but what do they actually mean? He starts with the weight transfer which leads to the shoulders, arms, and hands all syncing together beautifully. If you have a shallow golf swing, youll likely find your ball striking improves due to the angle of attack that youre taking toward the ball. A shallower attack angle will launch the ball higher with a lower spin rate, both of which will help maximise distance. The terms steep and shallow describe your swing plane i.e. Shawn shows you why strong grips dont hook the ball and how a simple adjustment will have you belting it past the 300-yard mark. Then, attempt to hit the golf ball while missing the towel. The ability to do so typically leads to longer, straighter shots. Regardless, an inconsistent golf swing can make for a frustrating day on the course and take the fun out of the game. Understanding your lie and knowing how to approach the shot in front of you is the key to developing a good short game. Make a slow backswing and pause slightly so you can really feel it. Try the following (with either irons or driver): (all shots are struck with the ball on a tee). Knowing your numbers and knowing what you need to improve is the only way to guarantee results when you step back onto the course. A page for everybody who loves golf! All else being equal (specifically dynamic loft), the more descending the angle of attack, the higher the spin loft, equaling higher shots. Parente found that hitting down on the ball at 7 degrees, which is typical of a tour pro's attack angle, would give the average golfer 10 to 23 more carry yards with a 7-iron and 16 to 26 more . Pasted as rich text. All rights reserved. As you can see above, professional golfers have a compact angle of attack range. With too steep of an attack angle, you sacrifice distance because your launch angle will also below, which limits carry distance. Most golfers who dont hit it consistently have a divot that is behind it or non-existent. To create a shallow golf swing, youll want to focus primarily on your weight shift and your lead wrist during your downswing. If the other drill doesnt work for you, then try and reverse it. MEMBER REVIEWS: Cleveland Frontline Elite Putters! Before I get into specifics of how to shallow your golf swing for more consistent shots, its important to understand thewhybehind it. If you watch PGA Tour pros, youll find that they have varying backswings. If you are too steep as you swing your golf club down towards impact, then get doing this to shallow you out and get you hitting more solid, straighter and longer golf shots! When it comes to angle of attack, you need to be consistent. New Adams Idea driver, fairway wood, hybrid + Adams C-Groove putters, Driver Heads - Callaway Mavrik 10.5, TM M5 9.0, Callawy Paradym TD, UW19, apex pro 23 Ventus, Rare adjustable Tour issue Taylormade Stealth 2 hybrid head & Tour Issue Callaway Rogue ST Max 9 driver head, Miura Km700 (4-pw) with LA GOLF L series shafts. An angle of attack that is too steep or too shallow can cause poor golf shots. Have the ball positioned in the middle to forward in your stance. In the downswing, you want a little lateral movement into your lead side, but then you need to rotate. Use a shallow angle of attack (e.g. This generally happens because of an incorrect path on your downswing. Depending on where youre at right now, it could be a slight change or it could be a huge shift so dont be afraid to get a lesson or two as well. With any swing change, please dont try to take these ideas straight to the course without first practicing them on the range. As they work their way down their bag, launch angle will drop up to around 6-degrees, but hardly ever lower. This can producefat shots, skinny shots, and big misses to the right. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a high, upright swing is a lot harder to keep your arms and hands synced throughout the golf swing. Jamie Mulligan. Instead, you want to focus on making the proper weight shift and starting the swing with your lower body. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, most amateur golfers start their downswing from the top instead of from the bottom. Lastly, if you continue to struggle with shallowing the club, make sure to check out our post on theReverse K Setup and the role of the right arm in the golf swing. An easy way to make your angle of attack less steep is to move the ball forward in your stance. So how do we do that? A non-shallow position often occurs because the downswing is too rushed. Swing Catalyst Analysis on another level, 10 Tips to drive it like Bryson DeChambeau, Shallow your angle of attack to hit LONGER DRIVES.
how to shallow angle of attack golf