Follow-through self-diagnosis
4A goal of mine in coaching is to try to make the pupil independent. Being able to self-diagnose your swing is a good skill to learn, and it’s much easier with half swings.
Swing halfway back until you create an L between your arms and the club and then swing halfway through. At this widest point in the follow-through there will be plenty of clues as to what is going on. If you’re hooking too much, you’ll probably look narrow here with the clubface closed and the clubhead overtaking the hands. If you’re slicing it, the club might be too far to the left from a face-on position with the clubface almost parallel to the ground.
Ideally, the clubhead should be almost, but not quite, vertical. If you’re hooking it, you can work on extending more and keeping the back of your hand more towards the sky. If you’re slicing it, you can work on letting the clubhead overtake the hands a bit faster and allowing some rotation to kick in. I’d recommend playing a specific course or certain holes in your mind as you practise. Greg Norman did this all the time. Let’s say the 1st at your course is a fade with a driver then a draw with a 4-iron – play those shots in practice until you get both spot on. If you hit a perfect drive but then duff the 4-iron, start again. It’s a good strategy for playing holes that don’t fit your eye as it can help you take good memories forwards for next time you’re there.
Adrian Otaegui has become a very consistent performer on the European Tour and his swing has a lot to do with his success. He sets up to the ball in an athletic, balanced posture and keeps the clubhead outside his hands as he moves it away from the ball.
As the backswing continues, the arms move up as he sets the wrists, getting the butt of the grip pointing at the ball-to-target line when the lead arm is parallel to the ground. At the top of the swing, his arms have great structure and his lead wrist is slightly cupped, resulting in his clubface being in a slightly open position. His hip turn is restricted and he retains a good amount of knee flex.
Adrian starts down with great lower-body transition as he