Where do you want the most power and speed in your golf swing?
Not at the start of your swing, not at the top of your backswing, BUT at impact, right?
Well, here is the best drill we’ve discovered to help a golfer learn how to have the most power at impact.
Interestingly this drill doesn’t involve swinging a golf club but instead you will be swinging a rope. The beauty of this drill is you get instant feedback if the power in your golf swing is NOT at impact. Because if you have a lot of power at the end of your swing you’ll get hurt. So because we human beings learn quickly to avoid pain, when you do this drill you’ll quickly learn how to apply the most power to the golf ball. This will result in a lot longer golf shots. So, to do this drill you’ll need to get a fairly thick piece of rope that is 1-meter (3.28 feet) in length like the one pictured below.
A good place to find a thick enough rope is a boat shop or a hardware store. Once you get a 1 meter length (3.28 feet) of fairly thick rope you’ll also need some duct tape. This is to put around one end of the rope where you’re going to be holding the rope like a golf club and then a smaller amount down the other end, as is pictured below.
After your rope is ready then setup to an imaginary ball with your rope. From your setup position make your normal backswing move with your body. But here’s a tip – you should start your backswing with the big muscles of your back and shoulders to get the rope moving away smoothly. Once you get into your final backswing position then STOP so the rope is resting on your back.
Then from this top of the swing position you then need to start your downswing. To do this you must:
- Start your downswing by moving your weight from your right foot to your left foot.
- At the same time move your hips laterally to the left and turn them as fast as you can.
This should all happen very quickly however so you won’t be able to easily distinguish the difference between your weight being transferred and your hips moving and turning.
If you don’t start the downswing correctly with a weight shift and a lateral shift and turn of the hips you will get hurt doing this rope drill. The rope will come through very fast at the finish of your swing and hit you – and that will hurt. But it’s great feedback and you’ll probably only do it once!
To make sure this doesn’t happen however make sure you don’t do anything with your hands after they’ve reached the top of the swing position. Your hands are simply pulled through the downswing by your powerful lower body. Also do nothing with your shoulders and arms. Because like the hands they are moved as a result of your lower body movements. There should be no conscious thoughts as to how to move them in the downswing, or follow-through for that matter. And when you do this drill correctly the rope will lightly tap you at the end of your swing. It won’t hurt you at all.
Why?
Because with the correct transition from the backswing to your downswing the majority of the power in your swing is generated at the bottom of your swing — which is just where it should be. At the end of your swing the rope should be moving very slowly as it should have very little power. That’s why this is such a great drill because you learn to use your body to get the club moving the fastest just where it needs to….through the ball.
Now even though we’ve given you a thorough explanation of how to do this drill you can’t beat actually seeing it performed to get a full understanding of what we’re talking about. So to do that…click the play button on the video below to see Alex performing The Rope Drill.
When you do this drill you’ll quickly learn how to get the most speed and power at the bottom of your swing. This will help you to hit the ball a lot further, so get a rope and start doing this drill consistently to improve your ball striking. Here is a video showing JB Holmes talking about the important swing sequencing this rope drill teaches…
