Need help with skill 3 please

Hello,

Hope its ok to start a new thread - the main one seems to be getting a bit cumbersome

I bought 'Nail it' a few weeks ago and have noticed a good improvement in my iron shots, however I'm struggling off the tee with my woods.

I think the main problem lies with skill 3, where I cant seem to consistently get the club face back square to the target line.

50% of my shots are great, where I think of hitting towards 2-o'clock with the clubface either square or slightly closed, resulting in a nice long draw.

However, when I fail to get the face square and it gets left open, then it results in a wicked high slice. Unfortunatley my course has 5 holes with out-of-bounds on the right hand side (disaster )

Alternativley if the face is too closed then I'm hitting a wicked low hook.

Can anyone recommend any further drills to practice skill 3 and the club release ?

Hi Chints,

Try keeping a light grip on the club, tension will prevent your wrists from releasing and naturally closing the clubface. Also really concentrate on the clubface turning back to the inside after impact.

Hi Chints,

It sounds like you may be overdoing skill2 a little and this can lead to push/slices and hooks. You mentioned hitting towards 2 o'clock which is a bit further right than the book suggests (it says to imagine starting the ball out right between 1 and 2 oclock).

So you may well have the outermost point of the clubheads curve a little to the right of the target line after impact, from a down the line viewpoint that is. This would create the ball flights you talked of.

A good drill here is to study photo 36 on page 62, but instead of placing the headcover where it is in the photo, move it forward around 2 feet or so keeping it parallel with the dotted target line so it is past the ball.

When you hit balls now you should still not hit the headcover, if you do then then you are overdoing skill2.

Remember the answer always lies in the balance of the 3 skills.

Hope this helps

__________________
Greg Hutton
Director & Head PGA Professional
golftuitiononline.com | the global golf forum
3skillsgolf Instructor

bit late with a reply , just back from holiday.
had the same problem,and worked out from the pictures in the 3sks book,that for woods the hands needed to be level with the ball as you made contact, whereas with the irons they need to be in front of the ball.so i worked on the release of the club to coincide with the arrival of my hands at the ball posistion.getting good results with the 5wood going to try the 3 wood soon, one step at a time!!
having got the woods off the tee semi sorted i have noticed the irons off the fairways are struggling to take divots.
only been adopting this new swing since october so i know there is a long way to go yet.
hope this is of some use to you, would like to hear from the 3sks experts , as to wether or not i am correct in my interpretation of the photos.

Each golf club is designed with a natural forward lean to the shaft and that lean should be respected when hitting the ball. The driver has the shaft level with the clubface so that is how it should be aligned at impact.

If you are not taking a divot with your irons then you are not properly achieving skill one. Remember the clubface should be striking the ground in front of the ball, the more loft the deeper the divot should be as your swing path will be steeper.

so i am sort of right with my hands posistion theory.
started out with short irons ,taking divots, all ok and worked up to the 5iron.but woods hopeless. now i have got the woods going well the irons arn't so hot.but overall a major step forward.
shot 4 under on wed on a boggy course.not ideal conditions to take divots due to the flying mud.

Well played.

The less loft the club has the shallower the divot will be as you should be hitting the nail at a shallower angle.