I've Always Struggled To Create That Solid, Compressed Strike... Until I Fixed These 5 Key Moves

One thing I have always struggled with in my golf swing is compression - getting the ball-first hit that makes that crisp sound we all know and love. My tendency has been to come into impact with more of a scoop action - having released the club early. This means that I’m adding loft to every club, creating a high ball flight and if my swing isn’t synced up, a high and right miss.

So over the winter, I took on the tendencies that were causing this issue - in the hope of finally swapping that scoop for more of a squeeze into the ball.

And don’t get me wrong, I had a playable swing with that early release - one that had served me well - but I knew I would struggle with consistency of strike unless I focused deeply on changing those habits one move at a time.

That’s why I’ve been thinking about my swing as a puzzle - identifying the pieces to work on and then doing so in sections, knowing that I had to work on particular parts before I could move onto the next.

Luckily, I’ve had the help of Zack Bedford - a brilliant golf pro at my home course of West Surrey. Zack helped me understand why my swing was working the way that it was and what I needed to change on my quest for compression.

Here are the parts of the puzzle that I’ve worked on over the winter…

Fix My Inside Takeaway

I’ve struggled with an inside takeaway for as long as I can remember, so I knew I needed to start here because that move of sending the club inside was setting me up for a swing full of compensations.

My habit has been to hinge my wrists too early and too often, so my focus to fix this was to feel my left shoulder and chest driving my takeaway, rather than my hands. For me, it feels like I’m not hinging at all, trying to create that width with my hands staying close to my body and the club outside them.

I’ve made huge progress with this move and it’s something I’ve been desperately trying to improve throughout my golf journey, so that feels like a big step forward.

As soon as it began to click, I could see a shift in my swing path too, no longer having to throw the club - or my shoulders - over the top to compensate for the club being so far behind me.

Improve My Lower Body Rotation

Next, I worked on starting my downswing by shifting my weight into my left side and clearing my hips. At this point in my winter practice, I was focused on hitting ½ - ¾ punch shots and it became obvious that, as someone who was used to coming over the top, I had a habit of standing up in my downswing.

That’s why I worked on my lower body rotation, so that I could clear my left hip and make some room to come into impact. I started with dry drills to work on separating my hips and shoulders, by rotating my left hip behind me while my shoulders stayed facing forwards.

And then when it came to bringing that rotation into my swing, a thought that helped was “hips clear before I hear” - I wanted to clear my hips before I heard the sound of the ball being hit.

Stop Casting The Club

Releasing the club at the top of my swing is something I’ve always done and it was almost the first move of my downswing. That was all down to my then inside takeaway and long and loose backswing that would leave me needing to compensate for an open club face.

This move of casting was also why I needed to stand up through impact, so that I could make room for the club coming in with that scoop action.

As I worked on the other pieces of my swing puzzle, I realised that casting wasn’t something that I needed to actively fix but instead would become a less needed compensation in my swing as I improved the other areas. This was especially true when it came to my takeaway because I wasn’t fighting an open clubface - a key reason why I was casting the club.

Fix My Flat Backswing

When I started hitting full (rather than ½ or ¾) swings, it became obvious that my tendency to work my arms around me in my backswing was creating a flat backswing and that I needed to work on creating more height with my hands at the top of my swing.

As someone who has (until recently) rolled the club behind me with that inside takeaway, I’m used to a flat backswing with my hands getting deep behind me because that’s where the weight of the club would take me. That backswing position worked (to an extent) when it was partnered with a shoulder move that would throw me over-the-top to get my hands back out in front of me.

But now that my takeaway is in a better position and I’m no longer shoving my shoulders over-the-top, that deep position in my backswing is causing me to get a bit stuck as I come into impact.

So to work on this, my focus is creating height with my hands, so that I have more space in my downswing. This is still a work in progress but it feels like a big piece of the puzzle that will really come to life when it clicks.

Maintain My Wrist Angles

As a past rolly-wrister, maintaining my wrists angles in my swing has proved tricky and so it’s something I’m still actively working on. Alongside my higher hands, I’m focusing on keeping my wrist angles at the top of my swing, rather than letting my wrists collapse and creep into an overswing.

This piece of the puzzle - as well as my flat backswing - is still a work in progress and having worked on it for a couple of range sessions, I can tell it’s going to be a tough nut to crack. But I’m ready to give it a good go.

Thoughts From The Quest (So Far)

Something that’s helped has been filming my swing (on a phone and simple tripod set up), especially from front-on to see what was happening at impact. It’s funny how far apart feel and real can be and I know that I couldn’t have made this progress, if I didn’t have a feedback loop to tell me if the move I was exaggerating was making its way into my swing.

Working on my swing has been a project over the winter months and at times it felt like I wasn’t making any progress before something would click and I could see the change coming to life. There’s still lots more to work on but it feels like it’s been a solid step in the right direction.

The journey continues.