One Shot You Need to Break 80

Sports Illustrated blog GOLF.COM published an interesting article by Nick Dimengo last week about the shot you need to score well in every round of golf that you play. Of course, every shot counts but a good drive landing in the fairway gives you the chance to par or birdie every hole.

Control Your Swing Path
If you’re a slicer, lining up for a slice is a bad solution. To break 80, you have to eliminate your slice and avoid lost balls and balls going out of bounds. Swinging over-the-top, causes the clubface to open-up and cut across as it impacts the golf ball.

One drill that Dimengo found really helpful is to draw a line on your golf ball — similar to what you’d do to line up putts. Instead of pointing this line straight at the target, point it a little out to the right (for right-handed golfers). This is the path that you want to swing on.

Line-up your feet square to your target line and close your shoulders in line with the line on your ball. That’s the direction that you want to swing into the ball to create a straight or a draw shot. That’s going to keep your upper body closed to the target and get you to swing a little bit more from the inside.

USA Today used this photo of Scottie Scheffler after he won his golf metal at the Olympics with amazing control of his driver hitting fairways.

Shallow Your Swing Path
To ensure that you are swinging from the inside for your driver as well as your iron shots, flatten your leading wrist during your backswing so that your trailing elbow will stay close to your side during your downswing. This process was not in Demingo’s article but I find that it forces my swing to come from the inside and across the ball.

SIDE NOTE
Even Bryson DeChambeau has decided to change his approach to golf after he failed to make the cut in The 2024 Open Championship. We all know that he had ended his diet adding massive muscle and fat in order to hit longer drives. His latest awakening was to stop trying to hit every drive as long as possible with a high draw. He has now decided to add more control to the shape of his drives to account for the wind, hazards and contour of each fairway. Managing his driver for draws and fades has become his new focus.

If you are committed to eliminating your sliced drives, practice your swing in slow motion with GOLFSTR+ on your leading wrist to hold it flat. It will also shallow your downswing so that you feel your trailing elbow pass close to your side. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com