A foolproof method to stop gaining the upper hand during downturns

Your slowdown is too stiff and left. How do you know? You hit nasty draws, pull hooks and slices, depending on what the club face is doing at impact. You need to groove a little more for a flatter swing. Here’s a simple exercise that will help you solve the problem in just a few repetitions.

Set up as usual, but with a second ball placed about two clubhead widths in front of the one you will actually hit. The goal here, as you can probably imagine, is to hit the first ball and miss the second, which will be difficult to do if you swing over it.

Before you begin, reach out and touch your trail leg to remind yourself to stay on the side of the trail longer as you start at the top. When you actually swing, think: flat at impact, not steep, feeling just a touch of suspension and the club rising.

Keep in mind that these are indeed sensations – that is, you never want to “hang back” when you hit – an iron. Sometimes you learn faster by taking exaggerated swings. Try it.

Jason Birnbaum is a GOLF Teacher Top 100 who is the Director of Instruction at Manhattan Woods Golf Academy in West Nyack, NY