Top 100 Teachers: When you can’t hit a fairway, try this on-course ‘feel’ drill

There’s a time and a place for grinding on the range, working to improve your technique. The golf course isn’t it. But what about when struggling? Is there something golfers can do to fix their issues, without much thought?

That’s when GOLF Top 100 Teacher Trillium Rose recommends a simple drill: Getting into your golf posture, placing a club across your shoulders, and swinging through so the grip of the club points at the golf ball.

It’s a move that only requires a few seconds to do, and better yet doesn’t require any thoughts, Rose says. Instead you’ll be left with a specific feeling that you can used on your next swing.

“By focusing on a specific feel, your body will respond and your mind will remain calm,” she says. “On your next shot, simply reproduce the feel of your drill and your swing will get right back on track!”

Fellow GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood is a fan of the drill, too, and often has his students use it on the range before the round. It’s great for golfers who tend to slide their hips too much on the backswing and catch the ball chunky as a result.

A few swings with this drill, and you’ll be cleaning up your technique with the feeling of your chest “covering” the ball.

Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Director of Service Journalism at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University and in 2017 was named News Media Alliance’s “Rising Star.” His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.