Ball Striking is the Key to Breaking 90
You’re ability to break 90 in golf more often is based upon a variety of skills. Within previous posts about breaking 90, John Hughes Golf featured putting, short game, mental toughness, and a host of other skills that you’ll need to conquer to make this milestone happen more often. It’s now time to discuss ball striking. And as one of the best golf schools in Florida, John Hughes Golf places a lot of importance upon improving your ball striking for sub 90 scores to occur regularly. Breaking 90 with better ball striking is now your focus.
In this blog post, we’ll dive into the importance of ball striking skills and provide specific drills that can help golfers improve their game and break that 90 barrier.
Why is Ball Striking So Important?
Solid ball striking is the foundation of any successful golfer, or golf round. From the breaking 90 milestone through all the rest of the scoring milestones you set for yourself, ball striking is the one skill that must improve and evolve along the way for you to have any chance of lowering your score.
Simply put, solid ball striking can be defined as your ability to have the golf ball contact the absolute center of each club face at impact, repeatably.
That stated, breaking 90 and ball striking are now the focus of any golfers’ skills. We’ve done what we can for now with putting. And until you hit more greens, your putting will stay the same. Same with short game. To lower your scores from this milestone forth, ball striking is where it’s at. Putting the golf ball into play more often as well as lengthen your shots. Providing shorter approach shots into greens. And more opportunities to lower your score.
Ball Striking Consistency Produces What?
When you swing a golf club and have the ball strike the center of the club face, 3 good things happen to your game.
- Accuracy: Good ball striking leads to more accurate shots, keeping you in play and avoiding costly penalties.
- Distance: Consistent contact translates to increased distance, through increased ball speeds. Allowing you to reach par 5’s in 2 shots while shortening other holes on any course.
- Control Trajectory: Solid ball striking allows you to shape shots and control the trajectory. A high ball flight, for example, can be useful for carrying hazards, while a lower trajectory might be needed to avoid wind interference.
- Consistency: Solid strikes produce more predictable results, reducing the number of unpredictable shots. While minimizing the mental frustration you experience.
Key Ball Striking Skills to Focus On
Breaking 90 requires mastering several items that contribute to solid, reliable shots.
Proper Setup
Your setup determines your ability to strike the ball cleanly. If you’re misaligned, have improper posture, poor ball position, or other ill-fit setup issues, good ball striking will be difficult to perform consistently.
Focus on:
- Aim and Alignment: The number one cause of poor ball striking is improper aiming of the golf club, in turn, you aligned to the club erroneously.
- Ball Position: For irons, position the ball in the center of your stance; for woods, it should be slightly forward.
- Balance and Posture: Your body continually seeks balance. Find proper balance in your feet and legs, so they can support the proper side tilt and arm hang of the upper body.
- Grip: Are your hands placed in a “neutral position” on the handle of the club? And are your fingers securing the club, preventing you from overtightening your hands?
Using an Alignment Stick on the outside of another can assist a golfer attempting to break 90 with finding the correct ball position for every golf club.
Drill:
Using alignment sticks, place two alignment sticks on the ground: one along your target line. The other 6 inches away from the target line stick and parallel to the target line stick. Hit balls from between the sticks insuring the leading edge of the golf club is perpendicular to the sticks on the ground. If needing to work on ball position, place a third alignment stick perpendicular to the outside of the target stick. Working this drill will provide a visual cheat sheet for your eyes to gain a better sense of what good aiming of the club and aligning yourself to the club should look and feel like. As your body adapts to what this position feels like.
Clubface Control
Proper clubface alignment at impact is essential for hitting the ball squarely. If the clubface is open or closed at impact, you’ll miss your target and lose distance.
Focus on:
- Grip: Are your hands placed in a “neutral position” on the handle of the club? And are your fingers securing the club, preventing you from overtightening your hands? Positionally, neutral also insures your hands are not too strong (closed) or too weak (open).
- Wrist Position: Keeping the front or forward wrist flat through impact creates a more consistent impact position. While avoiding excessive cupping or bowing.
Making smaller swings with the 9 to 3 drill will always allow you to create better ball striking habits.
Drills:
The 9 to 3 Drill – The most prescribed drill in golf, the 9 to 3 drill makes the swing smaller while still providing a bit of power to understand what good impact feels like. The back swing position of the forward arm hits 9 o’clock on the way back while both arms achieve a 3 o’clock position at the finish. With release of the trailing lower body towards the target. You can accomplish a lot with your ball striking using this drill in combination with others.
The Gate Drill – Set up two tees just wider than the width of your clubhead and practice hitting shots without hitting the tees. This will help train your hands to square the clubface at impact.
Solid Contact (Center of the Clubface)
Striking the ball in the center of the clubface is essential for achieving both distance and accuracy. Off-center hits—whether on the toe or heel—can result in mishits and a lack of consistency.
Focus on:
- Hit the Ball First: To Break 90, we must get rid of the fat and skinny shots. For iron shots, contact with the ball before the ground by placing your focus on an object just in front of the ball. Such as a tee. For woods, focus upon contacting the back to inside of the golf ball just as the club is on the upswing.
- Maintain Consistent Swing Path: A consistent swing path is key to ensuring you hit the center of the face regularly.
Knowing exactly where the ball strikes the club is easy with learn using foot powder to highlight the impact position of the ball with the club face.
Drill:
The Impact Spray Drill – Place impact tape or foot powder spray on the clubface to visually see where you’re making contact. Focus on making contact in the sweet spot and correct any tendencies to hit on the toe or heel.
Consistent Tempo and Rhythm
Many golfers struggle with inconsistent ball striking because of swing speed fluctuations. If your tempo is too fast or too slow, it can lead to poor contact.
Focus on:
- Smooth and Controlled Swing: Creating a smooth tempo from the takeaway through to impact. A rushed or overly aggressive swing leads to off-center hits.
- Balanced Finish: A balanced finish often indicates that you’ve maintained good rhythm and control throughout the swing.
Drills:
Close Your Eyes and Swing Drill – With your eyes closed, swing any club. Did you fall or maintain your balance? Was your swing smooth or choppy? Were you able to make a “whoosh” at the bottom of the swing? Observing these sensations and others with your eyes closed can help you establish a better rhythm and tempo for your swing.
The 3-to-1 Drill – Swing the club three times in slow motion for every full-speed swing. This helps you develop a consistent tempo while reinforcing proper mechanics.
Weight Transfer and Balance
Proper weight transfer is crucial to striking the ball cleanly. If your weight stays too much on your back foot or if you sway during the swing, it will be difficult to make solid contact.
Focus on:
- Shift Weight to Lead Leg: For the downswing, focus on shifting your weight from your back foot to your lead foot.
- Maintain Balance: A stable base throughout the swing allows for better consistency and contact.
Drills:
Pitch Shots – Hitting pitch shots, similarly to the 9 to 3 drill, can assist with establishing proper timing for weight shift while you understand the importance of club face control.
The step through drill assists any golfer trying to break 90 with improving your weight transfer. In turn, making you a a better ball striker.
The Step Through Drill – Take a small step with your lead foot as you transition into the downswing. This will help you feel the proper weight shift and balance during the swing.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Remember, braking 90 and achieving better ball striking requires more practice than before. Along with a deeper respect for the patience of yourself. Getting discouraged is part of the process. And you’ll have to find ways around your disappointments to continue the process.
Results do happen overnight. Focus on making small, consistent improvements and celebrate your successes along the way. By mastering just a few of the drills mentioned above, breaking 90 with better ball striking results in more enjoyment of the game.
Conclusion
Improving your ball striking is essential to breaking 90 in golf. With solid setup, proper clubface control, and a focus on consistency, you’ll be able to strike the ball more accurately and with more power. The key is practice, persistence, and attention to detail. By incorporating the right drills and focusing on improving your ball striking skills, you’ll be well on your way to achieving that coveted sub-90 score. We suggest visiting one of the best golf schools in Florida, John Hughes Golf, to help you work on the fundamentals of great ball striking. Doing so, you’ll be breaking 90 in no time!