Slow your swing down under pressure

Here’s a great tip that will improve your tempo and, at the same time, help you under pressure.

I know a lot of players struggle under pressure and don’t know how to deal with it. The problem is, when you struggle under pressure, it can affect your swing, which affects how you play.

Here’s an easy drill to try out. On the range, I put a bottle down behind my clubhead and slowly take my club back. The bottle, thanks to its weight, restricts how flicky you can become in your backswing, something most of us do under pressure. As you slowly push it backwards, it will help slow your takeaway down. It also keeps your hands, arms and clubhead more connected.

If amateurs are under pressure, they tend to get a little quick and snatch at their backswing. Consequently, things can get disconnected. However, with this drill, when you’re rolling the clubhead back and keeping everything rolling as one unit, you get more of a one-piece takeaway that keeps everything together.

I do this drill regularly because this is actually one of my faults. I get a little too quick when I’m in the thick of it. This just helps slow my rhythm.

Solid basics… still solid

Growing up, my idol was initially Faldo, then Tiger – but the more I got into coaching, the more I looked back at manuals, ones from the Hogan era and then the Nicklaus era.

If you look at the solid basics through the years, yes, the golfers might be stronger, with more emphasis on fitness, but the basics of the swing, the fundamentals, have not changed.

Look at the way most golfers stand or address the ball, or how they grip the club – it’s still much the same. There’s no need to reinvent anything. That’s the beauty of golf.

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Andy Carlton is the Head PGA Professional at Paisley Golf Club. For lessons, call Andy on 0141 884 4114. Follow him on Twitter @PaisleyPro

Originally published on bunkered on May 18, 2016.

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