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In this video, I demonstrate the "ball above your feet driver" drill, which helps golfers with steep swings by utilizing an uphill lie to encourage a shallower, more rotational swing path. This classic drill is beneficial for those struggling with a chopping motion, often seen in newer golfers or those with an upper body-dominant swing. The goal is to swing up the slope, keeping the club close to the same height as it approaches the ball to achieve a shallower contact with the driver. Practicing on a hill provides excellent feedback, and it's a great way to naturally improve your driver swing.
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This drill is ball above your Feet driver. Um,
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so this is an old classic drill for helping shallow out a swing. Um,
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so many golfers who struggle with the driver have a little bit more of kind of
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a, a chopping motion. This can happen to, um, newer golfers, uh,
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or golfers with kind of a really poor palm grip or just golfers who are really
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upper body dominant. Um, so that ends up causing a lot of problems.
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If I was down here and I kind of chop down like this, um,
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I can get away with that with some irons, but I'll tend to hit some pop-ups. Um,
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and I'll tend to hit a lot of, uh, slice shots, um,
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from the steep path angle of attack. Um, it's a really pa uh,
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bad driver pattern.
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So one of the old classic drills is swinging with the ball above your feet. Now,
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I happen to have kind of the perfect scenario for this,
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where I have a graduated hill, um, that comes down to a,
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a flat spot, but you can just work. Um, I, you know,
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I've given it to students who just do it in the backyard, just practicing, um,
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swinging, either hitting wiffle ball or just practicing swinging on the hill.
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'cause the, the benefit of the hill is when you're on a,
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a ball above your feet situation like this,
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if the ground is higher up on the outside of the golf ball.
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So if I come from the outside,
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I will be more likely to hit the ground before I hit the golf ball.
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And that is really good feedback for helping your brain figure out how to
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shallow it out.
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So normally what we'll do is we'll start with it pretty much up here where I've
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got this on a hill where this would almost be knee height.
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And then my goal is to feel a little bit more of a
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rotational swing where I have the club working a feeling,
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a phrase that I'll use a swing up the slope. Um,
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so I'm basically trying to trace the slope where the club is about the same
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height as it goes from before the ball. Uh, you know,
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let's say from even with your right foot to the ball,
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that would be a very end to out path,
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and that would hit it on a slightly ascending blow.
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So if I can do that and keep the club face pretty square, I'm gonna get a nice,
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um, shallow driver contact. Now if you do have this situation at your range,
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I think it's really good and beneficial to actually hit golf balls. Um,
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so what we would do is we would start by putting a golf ball where I'm at,
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kind of the, the peak or the higher point of the slope.
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And then I would go down to where it was a just a slightly slope,
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and then I would go down to where it was flat trying to recreate that feel and
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kind of going back and forth between the severe ball above my feet where I feel
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like I'm swinging a little bit more up the slope or around on the way
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through. Um, to then when I'm here on the ground, that's gonna feel,
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uh, in order to swing it up the slope,
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that's just gonna feel like it's a little bit more into out path.
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So if you're really struggling with getting steep by pulling down in the club is
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in a very vertical position, swinging a driver with the ball above your feet or,
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uh,
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on this up slope is a great way to shallow out your swing kind of naturally or
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intuitively. Okay. So as a quick demo,
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I've got three balls here set up kind of gradually working up the slope.
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Not a lot of driving range have this. So, um,
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even if you just practice doing the demo or doing the swing in your backyard,
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uh, that tends to help. Um, but basically this one here, I've got it at about,
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uh, you know, close to just the bottom of my knee. Um,
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this one will be more close to the top of my shoe,
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so it's probably a good three, four inches above.
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And then this would be more of a flat lie. Uh, so the,
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the goal here is to swing up the hill, get the ball to launch a little bit,
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right, and, uh, feel like the,
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or make sure that the club face is close enough that it doesn't slice.
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I don't mind the little push, um, but I don't wanna see a big slice.
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Usually if you come outside in, you're gonna hit a really low pole, um,
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in order to not ground it out. Um, but I want to, if, uh,
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if you're brushing and you're looking at the, the path of the club,
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I wanna see the path of the club brushing the grass kind of up the
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hill. That's a phrase that I use a lot when I give, um, kids or newer golfers.
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This task is, uh, swinging up the hill.
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So first one here might feel,
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you'll naturally see some golfers start to close their shoulders and,
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and tilt a little bit more because,
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'cause it now starts to make sense if I'm going to swing up the hill
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just like that. So that was a little bit more of a push, but, um,
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I would count that that was a pretty good, pretty good, uh,
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up the hill swing path. So then this one is just slightly there,
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but it still makes me feel like I want to swing a little bit more around,
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Kinda like that. So that was a pretty good, um,
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ball flight for what I'm trying to demonstrate here. And now, uh, lastly,
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I'm gonna try to recreate the same feel. Ideally, I'd,
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I'd have an alignment stick down, but I,
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I forgot to bring one over here to this part of the driving range. Um,
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but I'd have an alignment stick down to help kind of visualize what I just felt
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there of swinging more into out or more up the, up the hill or up the stick. Um,
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so basically trying to exaggerate or recreate that feeling of
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going up the hill,
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kinda like that little, little toy, little pull. Um,
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or not really pull a little overdraw, but, uh, overall you get the picture.
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If you're,
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if you're getting a little bit choppy and a little steep with your driver, um,
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swing on a hill,
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that'll be a natural way to figure for you to figure out what a little bit more
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shallowness or around is gonna feel like with your driver.