This Compression Drill Makes You Dangerously Good!

Are you looking to increase your ball speed and improve your overall golf swing? The key to achieving this lies in proper compression and understanding how your body works through impact. In this post, we’ll break down essential concepts around creating more compression in your golf swing, the importance of low point control, and the drills that will help you develop more ball speed and distance.

The Importance of Compression and Low Point Control

One common mistake golfers make is focusing solely on clubhead speed. However, true distance comes not from swinging faster, but from creating more ball speed through better compression. The low point of your swing is crucial for this. If you're hitting the turf just after the ball, you’re setting yourself up for solid, consistent strikes. Tour players, for instance, usually hit the low point around 4 to 5 inches after the ball when using a 7-iron. For amateurs, however, the low point is often behind the ball, which leads to weak, high shots that lack power.

The goal here is simple: compress the ball at the right moment to ensure you’re creating maximum ball speed. How do we do that? By controlling your low point and ensuring you're delivering the club efficiently. The body’s movement, combined with arm action, makes all the difference in creating compression.

Understanding Compression and How to Create It

Compression is all about transferring energy to the golf ball in a way that maximizes the launch and minimizes spin. To achieve this, you must move your body into your lead side as your arms start to unload. This is when proper wrist release, full arm extension, and the correct spine angle come into play.

Key Points to Focus On:

Shift to the Lead Side: As you swing down, ensure your body moves toward your lead side while maintaining proper arm extension. This allows for full wrist release after the ball, ensuring the ball is struck cleanly with power.

Avoid Staying on the Back Foot: If you stay too far back or spin your body too quickly, you won’t be able to compress the ball effectively. Instead, focus on moving your body into the left side (for right-handed golfers) and extending through the ball, just like you would with a throwing motion.

Controlled Release: You need to accelerate through impact, but it's just as important to stop quickly afterward to maintain control of the club. This controlled, structured release helps you generate more speed and compression.

Drills to Improve Compression and Ball Speed

Now that you understand the importance of compression, let's dive into a few key drills to help you achieve it.

1. The "Hit Hard, Stop Quick" Drill

This is a great way to practice acceleration and a controlled release through impact.

Setup: Start with a small swing. Focus on keeping your body structured and your spine extended as you swing down.

Execution: As you approach impact, accelerate through the ball, and then come to a complete stop right after. The key is to feel your arms fully extend and your body move into your lead side.

Tip: Use alignment sticks to help visualize your body position. Your pelvis should be ahead of the center alignment stick, and your arms should extend fully through the shot.

2. The Pointy Stick Drill

This drill helps you feel the proper body movement and extension post-impact.

Setup: Place an alignment stick vertically in front of you. Hold it with both hands, arms close together, with a small gap between them (roughly the size of a tennis ball).

Execution: Take the club to the top, then focus on pushing your body forward and opening your torso. The stick should begin pointing downward if you’re in the right position.

Tip: As you open your body and thrust your arms through, aim to feel the stick pointing down in front of you. This sensation helps create the compression needed to generate more ball speed.

3. The "Throw the Club" Exercise

This is a fantastic drill for developing a better feel for the release of the club.

Setup: Start in your address position, then imagine you're throwing the club like a ball. The goal is to feel the clubhead accelerating through impact.

Execution: Swing the club back slowly, then release it through the ball, feeling like you’re "throwing" it at the target. The feeling of compression will happen as you move into your lead side.

Tip: This drill should feel natural and similar to a throwing motion. The key is to keep your body aligned and let the arms extend fully.

Conclusion: Creating Compression for More Ball Speed

To hit longer golf shots, focus on creating compression by controlling your low point and maintaining proper body mechanics throughout your swing. By practicing these drills and focusing on body movement, wrist release, and arm extension, you'll be able to increase ball speed and strike the ball with more consistency. Remember, it's not about swinging faster—it’s about using proper technique to generate maximum energy transfer to the ball.

Implement these drills into your practice routine, and with time, you’ll see noticeable improvements in your ball striking, ball speed, and overall performance on the course.