DrillDown

1. ONE-HANDED DRIVER
For effortless power, your upper and lower bodies must resist one another and create whip or torque. To achieve this, keep your right knee flexed and turn against it.

1. Place your right hand on the club and your left hand on the outside of your back knee. Swing your right arm back and stop at the top. Feel the resistance of the left hand on the flexed back knee.

1. Release that tension and fire the right knee toward the target with the hand and club sweeping the tee through the finish.

2. Start by making slow-motion backswings to feel how your weight stays in the middle of your feet, then slowly move to impact position and hold it. Feel the weight moving to the middle of your forward foot.

2. Once you’ve stayed balanced at a slow speed, increase the speed until you stay balanced throughout the swing. Don’t fall off!

2. SWING YOUR IRONS ON A 2X4
To make consistent contact with your irons, you have to make a balanced swing. Too often, players move too much weight toward their toes. This results in poor contact and loss of power. Swinging on a 2×4 will help you improve your balance.

3. Place two tees where you believe the putt will enter the cup, then stroke the putt along the imagined path. Repeat this until you trust your read. With trust, your stroke will be smooth and confident.

3. PUTT THROUGH A GATE
Too many golfers practice only mechanics when they do putting drills and forget that they need to practice with playing in mind.

Since you’ll rarely have a straight putt, try this gate drill to find the line in your putts. It will help you read not only greens and the break of your putt, but also that all-important spot where the ball enters the hole.

Rick Sessinghaus, PGA, is the director of instruction at Chevy Chase CC in Glendale, Calif., and the author of Golf: The Ultimate Mind Game. Known as Golf’s Mental Coach, Rick has coached players on all Tours.

To learn more, visit www.ricksessinghaus.com.

Rick’s Equip Tips Improve Your Game With Equipment! Wilson Smooth Driver I play the new Wilson Staff Smooth driver. It was built with an 8_¡ head and a fairly stiff Matrix shaft to control my high fade. The Smooth is a beautiful, traditional-looking club that has helped me to gain distance; I also love the way it sounds and feels. Wilson Pi7 Irons I play the Wilson Pi7 irons. They have a great traditional look and are very forgiving on off-center hits. These are the same irons Padraig Harrington plays. Wilson STAFF ZIP I play the new Wilson Staff Zip golf ball. This is the softest, multilayer performance ball on the market at 56 compression. I get great distance off the tee, and it has unmatched feel on and around the greens. For more information, visit www.wilsonstaff.com.

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