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Rehearse Impact, The Moment of Truth in Golf

From Jonathan Yarwood On April 27, 2020

Throughout history, great golfers have swung the club in an endless variety of ways - slow and syrupy, quick and aggressive, flat plane, upright plane and everything in between. Yet for all the... idiosyncrasies you’ll find among golf’s best ball-strikers, their impact conditions are remarkably similar.

As Titleist staff instructor Jonathan Yarwood explains in this video, impact is the “Moment of Truth”, the only fundamental that really matters. Get impact right, and all the other details of the swing are negotiable. Idiosyncrasies in your swing can make the job harder or easier, but the golf ball only reacts to the conditions and the forces applied by the club at collision.

To develop proper impact conditions, Jonathan shares a great drill that you can do at home. Simply set up with a golf club, pressing the face of the club against a solid, anchored object, like a door frame or table leg. Rehearse what solid impact feels like by applying pressure, through the club head and into the stationary object. As perform repetitions of this exercise, keep Jonathan’s following keys in mind:

At Impact…

• Your center of mass should shift about 3 1/2 inches towards the target
• Pressure should shift into the middle of your lead foot
• Start to extend your lead side - lead shoulder up and back, rib cage rotating open and hips rotating open
• Your hands and the handle should lead the clubhead at impact. The lead arm is rotating and the lead wrist is flexing (bowed vs. cupped)

Practice this drill and see how it improves the quality of your ball striking.

Throughout history, great golfers have swung the club in an endless variety of ways - ... slow and syrupy, quick and aggressive, flat plane, upright plane and everything in between. Yet for all the idiosyncrasies you’ll find among golf’s best ball-strikers, their impact conditions are remarkably similar.

As Titleist staff instructor Jonathan Yarwood explains in this video, impact is the “Moment of Truth”, the only fundamental that really matters. Get impact right, and all the other details of the swing are negotiable. Idiosyncrasies in your swing can make the job harder or easier, but the golf ball only reacts to the conditions and the forces applied by the club at collision.

To develop proper impact conditions, Jonathan shares a great drill that you can do at home. Simply set up with a golf club, pressing the face of the club against a solid, anchored object, like a door frame or table leg. Rehearse what solid impact feels like by applying pressure, through the club head and into the stationary object. As perform repetitions of this exercise, keep Jonathan’s following keys in mind:

At Impact…

• Your center of mass should shift about 3 1/2 inches towards the target
• Pressure should shift into the middle of your lead foot
• Start to extend your lead side - lead shoulder up and back, rib cage rotating open and hips rotating open
• Your hands and the handle should lead the clubhead at impact. The lead arm is rotating and the lead wrist is flexing (bowed vs. cupped)

Practice this drill and see how it improves the quality of your ball striking.