Lisa’s Tips from the 2016 Peanut Butter Classic:
Warm up before you play. (Corkscrew drill with club held out at chest height twisting side to side.)
Close your NON Dominate eye (triangle drill) and line your shaft up over your ball towards your target, standing behind the ball. Pick an intermediate target 1-2 feet in front of your ball. Line your club face up to that first, not your feet!
Tee the ball up off the instep of your front foot. Use the feet together drill, then simply move the back foot (for driver). Also, you should see at least half the ball over the back of the driver when you tee it up. Both of these tips promote hitting the ball on the upswing.
Fan your front foot to a 45 degree angle to make it easier to clear your hips through impact and takes pressure off the lead knee. Do this for all of your clubs!
Grip: Suitcase drill in your lead hand. Make sure club is in the base of your fingers on both hands. Grip Pressure: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the death grip), your grip should be about a 3 or 4. If your grip pressure is too tight you will not be able to release your wrists, robbing yourself of distance and opening the club face. If you slice the ball, this may be why.
Posture: Stand straight with shoulders back, bow at waist (bottom sticks out) & crack the knees.
Make a good shoulder turn. Get your front shoulder underneath your chin. This rotation helps create power and ultimately distance. Think of trying to get your back to face the target in your backswing. You need to turn your torso not just lift your arms. The girls will come with you 😉
Don’t start your downswing with your arms. You will lose all of the coil and torque you have built up. Instead, start your down swing by turning or firing your front hip. This is a turn, NOT a slide. (Swing thoughts: think fire front hip, or front pocket, or belt buckle, or guts. This will make you turn the lower body 1st). Turn your shirt in backswing, turn your pants in down swing!
Tempo: Don’t rush your takeaway. Take a slow back swing. Let your swing/turn load up, and make an aggressive follow-through. Swing thought… Ernie Els!
If you Pull the ball you may be starting your down swing with your back shoulder or arms. To stop a pull, start your down swing with your lower body first! If you Slice the ball watch your grip pressure and make sure your weight gets on your front side in your follow through!
Swing through the ball. Your club head should be moving fastest after impact. Keep swinging until the finish! This will stop you from chicken winging and leaving weight on your back foot.
Finish with your belt buckle towards your target with your weight on your front side in balance! See if you can lift your back foot. If you can’t you haven’t transferred all your weight and have lost yardage and it could cause a slice.
Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk is the 7-Time Canadian Long Drive Champion and ranked Top 5 in the World. She hosts her own Golf School for Women Only to help women improve their whole game, add distance, and/or be Corporate and Charity Golf Tournament ready. She can be reached through her website www.lisalongball.com or follow Lisa on Twitter @lisalongball