Are you hitting snap hooks because your club face is to closed, you might be suffering from a shallow swing syndrome. Jokes aside lets look at ….. look at just about everything you need to know about how to shallow your golf swing.
The Importance of Shallow Golf Swings
You can find some benefits from shallow swings, even if you get great scores. Becoming familiar with shallow swings will let you handle your club all the more to get an even lower score on the hole.
By familiarizing yourself with your muscle movements, notice that your shots will become even more reliable.
Performing shallow golf swings will increase your chances of landing shots on the fairway each time you use your driver.
This is important in cases where your shots are over the top. Shallow swings will let you hit more on the inside of the ball making room for straighter ball flight.
Probably the biggest reason for you to learn how to perform shallow golf swings is that it doesn’t take much strain on the body. This makes them more effective compared to other swinging approaches. This lets you play easily for hours without exhausting yourself.
Now that you know what shallow swings are and how you can benefit from them, let’s find out. Let’s look at if your golf swing can be too shallow and a few drills to improve your shallow swing.
Can A Golf Swing Be Too Shallow?
The shallow approach angle lessens the possibility of smacking the ground first and hitting the ball last. However, a swing that is too shallow can leave you with some nasty duck hooks. This is when the ball turns sharply and quickly into the ground shortly after impact. Remember that the smaller the angle, the flatter you will swing.
Drills to Practice for Shallow Golf Swings
We’ve covered all the major benefits of shallowing your golf swing and how it can be too shallow.
Now it is time to look at some of the fantastic drills you can practice. Take into consideration that not all of these drills are completely committed to shallowing your golf swings. Instead, a few of these drills are intended to improve your overall performance as a golf player.
The Body Isolation Drill
The key to tap into the swing that you want is by isolating your upper body and lower body. Well, here is a drill you will have to practice just for that. For this you will need an alignment stick or one of your clubs.
- First, position yourself in your usual golf posture. Keep your knees bent and hips pushed forward.
- Take your club or alignment stick and grip it crosswise over your chest by crossing your arms over your shoulders.
- Start practicing moving your lower body without moving your chest. Emphasize on moving your body from the waist down.
- Alternate movements and do the same with your torso. Your lower body should remain motionless as you move your torso.
The Exaggerated Drill
Here we’ll overstate the things you should be doing. In this drill you are going to shallow your club nearly directly parallel to the ground behind you.
- Assume your usual stance and get your club to the highest angle of your swing.
- Move the club down in such a way that the club is parallel to the ground.
- Rest directly in the middle of the downswing. This could feel a little bit unusual, but that is what we are aiming for here. The trick here is that as soon as you shallow your swing more than you need to, your ordinary swing will be useful to the right angle.
- You have to feel the club at a few positions and angles that are not the same while hitting the ball until you land a straight shot.
The Water Bottle Drill
Feel like taking a few risks? If so, this is the best drill for you. In this drill get a water bottle that is filled half-way. You are going to attach this bottle to your short iron or your pitching wedge. The water bottle drill is fairly simple to do, but extremely effective at improving your shallow swing.
- Get into position with your uniquely improvised club.
- Perform a backswing and move the weight.
- Should the weight transfer be at fault, the water bottle will hit you in the head. Remember that bit we said about taking a risk? Yea, that’s what we meant.
- Move your body weight in a way so that the bottle doesn’t hit you. Your movement has to feel natural and the club should move downward from inside your body.
- Keep practicing this drill until you get it right. If you don’t, well you won’t look so bright getting smacked by a water bottle.
The Wall Drill
This drill is better suited to be performed at a place that has lost of walls, you know like your house? This is how you do it
- Position yourself approximately 6-10 inches in front of a wall.
- As you perform your backswing, the club shouldn’t be touching the wall in the slightest. In case this happens, you will have to work on your backswing before progressing to the downswing.
- When kicking off the downswing, here you should connect with the wall and move the club face across it for roughly midway throughout the swing. If the club drags beside the wall, this means that you are swinging at a shallow angle.
- If you lose contact with the wall, it means your swing is too steep.
Reasons Behind Steep Swings
Given the fact that you’re reading this, means that you’re suffering from some swing issues. The common of which being swinging too steep.
Below are two of the most common reasons that your golf swing may be a little steep.
Cupping Your Lead Wrist
The incorrect way you move your wrists is one of the main reasons you may be getting steep swings. When you get to the top of your backswing, your lead wrist has to be faultlessly parallel to your forearms. Your trail wrist should be curved backward to pay off the backswing.
Should it happen that you see that you can’t get your lead straight go back to the drawing board and learn more about decent backswings.
When you have gotten this down to a size, you can focus on your downswing.
By bringing the club down gradually, you might spot that you’re bending the lead wrist upward as you move the club down. This happens with a lot of golfers, but the opposite should happen.
Your wrists should bend to the front rather than bending upward. When your lead bends, your club shaft angle is now shallowing. Doing this will also make sure that your clubface is square to the target when you strike the ball.
Your Lower and Upper Body Moves Together
It’s a little known fact that both sections of your body will constantly want to move together. This can mess up your golf game. You need to be paying close attention to cut off your upper and lower body movement.
You will be able to get a shallower golf swing by opening your body. To succeed in getting the right rotation of your hips, you need to use your body weight at the right time.
In essence, you might be moving your entire body together or perhaps you’re holding it close to the target. Not opening your body enough will result in hitting the ball more to the right than you want.
How to Do a Shallow Swing
Even though shallowing your golf swing will have substantial benefits, every party of your body needs to work together as one.
Below are just a few tips to help you shallow the club.
Relax Your Right Arm
There seems to be a tendency among fresh right-handed golfers to stiffen their right arm too much. By doing this your right arm is moved away from your body when you perform a backswing. The result will be that your left arm raises your upper body.
One of the most beneficial factors about relaxing your right arm is that it gives you a lot more flexibility on the backswing. Consequently, you will be able to position the club in a better spot while letting your rotation direct your clubhead down a steady direction towards the ball.
If you don’t relax your arm enough, you will definitely run the risk of making a steeper attack angle. You don’t want to end up chunking your shot, do you?
Moving Your Hands Inwards
Another great idea would be moving your clubhead around your body rather than taking your clubhead right back or away from your body. This is a simple yet effective trick, as this movement will let you create a shallower downswing.
Rotate Your Hips More
The best golf shots are almost always made by the great hip movements. Likewise, rotating your hips is essential to an outstanding shallow golf swing. Focusing on moving your hips will let you produce the most control over your backswing and downswing. It also helps in giving you more direction through your shot.
If you don’t rotate your hips enough, you will not be able to move your club down into a shallow spot when you reach the top of the downswing.
It will also make it a lot more problematic for you to adjust the swing plane, and you will also create a steep angle of attack.
Shallow Out Your Shaft
Being unable to get your shaft into a shallow position at the top of your downswing, will be quite problematic to correct without enough practice.
Check that when you reach the top of your golf swing, your clubhead is behind your back and not over your head.
Use the movement in your hips as this will help you move the clubhead downward to an appropriate position before guiding it towards the ball.
Tilting Your Trail Side
Our last bit of advice to shallow your golf swing, is quite simple. As you start your downswing, simply tilt your trail leg in the direction of your front leg. Doing this sets off a strong leg drive that leads to the best distance. Oh! And It also allows you to get your clubhead into the right position at impact.
Conclusion
Even though shallow golf swings are what many golfers strive for, it is not always possible for everyone to achieve at first. Remember, in order to get the best out of your golf swing you must accept and work on your mistakes.
If you’ve been battling with shallowing your swings, try out the tips we have and techniques we have discussed. With enough practice, your swings should improve in no time.
