For most golfers, the push feels a little better than the slice. The ball goes straight to the right (for right-handed players) and it’s typically not as severely offline as a ball that won’t stop turning farther right. Pushing iron shots is a common miss and there are a few quick ways to correct it and square your clubface.
What causes the push?
The push is different than a slice or a fade in that the shot is straight. It just goes right off the target line. The push is caused by:
- A club face pointing right of the target (open to the target line) at impact.
- A swing path that is also traveling out to the right (inside-out); the face is typically square to the swing path.
The face is aimed along the path and both point to the right of your target.
Put a tee in your glove
One of the best drills to prevent this is to keep your lead wrist flat at impact. The angle of your lead wrist controls the clubface and if it’s cupped or bent, it leaves your clubface open.
Tee-in-glove drill
- Put a tee in the top part of your glove on your lead hand. Don’t push the tee all the way in. You want it to run up the back of your wrist.
- Take some slow practice swings, keeping your wrist flat enough that you don’t feel the tee press into your forearm
- Do this 10 times with the tee in, take the tee out and try to hit a golf ball.
The tee-in-glove drill is a simple fix that helps get your clubface square at impact.
If you want more technology, try the HackMotion. It measures your wrist angles in real time and alerts you when they will cause your clubface to be open at impact.
Maintain your posture
Early extension in golf is most easily explained as “standing up.” When you reach the impact position, your hips move towards the golf ball, open up, change the club path and often cause the ball to go to the right of the target.
Some golfers stop rotating their bodies when they get to the ball and notice a big push.
The stay-in-posture drill helps bring awareness to what your body is doing through impact.
Stay-in-posture drill
- Set up with a short iron, something easy to hit.
- When you set up, imagine a chair or golf bag is directly behind you.
- As you swing through the ball, focus on keeping light contact with that chair or golf bag instead of letting your hips jump forward.
- Start with half or three-quarter swings, feeling your chest and hips rotate through impact, not just to impact.
If you can keep your posture instead of the hips moving towards the ball, your hands travel on a better path and it will help you stop pushing iron shots.
Set up a gate
The gate drill is one of my favorite ways to fix most swing flaws, not just the push. In fact, when I practice on the range and notice inconsistency, I almost always set up the “gate” to help improve my path and clubface awareness.
Gate drill
- Place two tees a few inches apart on the ground, one on the inside heel of your iron and the other off the toe. You want the tees to be slightly wider than your clubhead.
- Position the ball so it’s in the center of this “gate.”
- Take your swing and clip the ball cleanly without hitting either tee.
Start with smaller swings to get comfortable. Make fuller swings and move the tees closer together as you gain confidence. The tee drill gives immediate feedback and helps you get the correct your path.
Pushing iron shots can be frustrating because it feels like you’re swinging pretty well. These three drills should help you fix the push and start hitting straight shots. Luckily, all you need to do them are a few golf tees.
The post How To Stop Pushing Iron Shots (3 Easy Drills) appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
