I have appeared on The Golf Channel's original instruction show “Golf Academy Live” four times.
It was really live, and in the call in section the calls were random in that there is no clue what the caller's question was going to be.
So, you had to thing quick on your feet and get to the point real quick.
One key part of every call was that every caller, and I mean every one of them, at the end of asking their question for help on the swing always ended the same way by asking for some “swing drills.”
So now, it seems every teacher as part of his knowledge of the swing has to have an arsenal of swing drills ready to fire off on every and all swing problems.
With that said, I am going to throw out two big questions:
1. Does anybody practice these drills?
2. And two, do they really help the swing?
From my observations on the lesson tee, and I have spent a fair amount of time on them the past 25 years or more, I can honestly say that I very, very, rarely ever see a player on the range doing swing drills.
So, the only conclusions I come to with my observations is that if everyone wants drills, and they do practice them, they must only do them in the privacy of their garage or basement at home.
And, or, since they do not practice them on the range, right where they can really test the effectiveness of the drill helping their swing, these swing drills for the most part “DON'T WORK or HELP.”
I like most teaching pros have a big supply of drills.
Every lesson I give includes a written form that I call my “Diagnosis and Prescription” evaluation that I fill out and give to the student at the end of the lesson, and the last point on the form is titled, DRILLS.
The D & P form is my way of giving them something to keep or file away to be able to refer back to that lesson. And, I always ask them to bring it to their next lesson.
I do this because it helps me remember the lesson, but most importantly, we use it as a way to track the student's progress. I had a student a few weeks ago show up with a D & P lesson sheet from 1986.
Well, let's get back to discussing drills and do they work.
Yes, they absolutely do work'¦And No, they absolutely don't work and are a waste of time and energy.
Like everything in this world, there is good and bad.
A good drill is easily determined by the fact that it helps you learn the swing move it is intended for and your swing is changed and you hit the ball better.
If swing improvement and hitting better shots is not achieved, then that drill is worthless.
I absolutely believe many to most drills are a waste of time for most players because most swing drills do not treat the number 1 thing needed for improvement'¦
The real cause of the problem.
Golf, like everything in the world must act in conformity to the laws of physics of cause and effect.
Treat the effect, and not the cause and you get no change or improvement.
Let me give you an example.
One of the biggest problems of most amateurs is straightening the right leg in the backswing causing the torso to tilt forward or reverse tilt as it is called.
I have seen pros stand behind the player holding a club by the head and placing the grip end on the back of the player's right knee, so if in the backswing the right leg begins to straighten, the club stops it.
The feedback is the player feels the grip pressing into his knee and this tells him his leg is straightening.
This works as long as the pro holds the club behind the knee. But as soon as the club is removed the leg straightens.
Why can't the player keep the flex in his right knee in the backswing without the club pressing into his knee?
It is because his swing theory is in “direct contradiction” to his body design.
The legs are attached or connected into the hips.
The vast majority of likely 98 percent of golfers, have limited suppleness and flexibility, and are doomed to never being able to keep the right leg flexed if they make a backswing with more than 70 degrees of turn as I teach.
We know the vast majority of modern instruction today advocates 90 degrees of turn or more of the shoulders and the hips will turn around a ratio of ½ of that or 45 degrees.
The key is that the above mentioned 98 percent of golfers with limited flexibility will and cannot stop their right leg from straightening with that much shoulder and hip turn.
Why?
Because as long as their legs stay attached / connected into their hips, the turning of the torso / hips too far will automatically, every time, guaranteed, pull the right leg straight.
And, when the right leg straightens, guess what?
The left one (because of the physics of for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) gets pulled inward and breaks down causing the “reverse tilt.”
So, the point of this discussion of drills is that there are good ones and bad ones.
But, even the good ones are doomed to failure if your swing theory violates the laws of physics and the design of your “human” body.
Lastly, as I have said my D & P sheet has a slot for drills at the bottom of the page, and I usually will write down a drill or two or three. But, I know all the ones I use are 100% in conformity to the laws of physics and the design of the human body and thus will work. But, the bigger point to make here is that when a player learns a swing theory and technique that conforms to the laws and the body, Swing drills are rarely needed !
When you learn the Peak Performance Swing, which is based 100 percent on the laws of physics and human body design, the way God created the word to turn and function, your swing motion is correct and your ball striking will be better and more consistent.
You will not need swing drills to break bad swing motion hoping to learn or train good motion.
You may only do a few drills to better grove your already good swing motion, and then hit more good to better shots.
Heck, you won't have to practice as much, and be able to do more of what we all really take up golf for in the first place, to'¦
Play Golf !
You can learn the PPGS in (literally) just two buckets of balls in the DVD's.
Grab them now — with an unheard of 365 day guarantee, and free shipping — at:
So here's to doing less drills and less practice and more playing!
Don Trahan
“The Swing Surgeon”