Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.

Close the Clubface for Better Impact with the Impact Bag Drill

After this video, you'll be able to:

  • Feel how to properly rotate the clubface through impact
  • Identify the difference between closing the face and straightening your arms
  • Practice using the impact bag to create checkpoints in your swing

In this video, you'll learn how to effectively close the clubface during your downswing using the impact bag. This drill helps develop the necessary face rotation for improved ball striking and consistency.

Video Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.270
This drill is face closing with the impact bag. Many golfers struggle with

2
00:00:05.270 --> 00:00:06.160
closing the

3
00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:10.880
clubface during the downswing or getting the club to rotate through the down

4
00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:11.920
swing. They tend to

5
00:00:11.920 --> 00:00:16.500
want to hold the face pre-square and then square it more by straightening the

6
00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:17.680
arms as opposed to

7
00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:21.140
rotating the face. The problem with that method is if you straighten it more by

8
00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:22.160
straightening your

9
00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:26.530
arms then it's very hard to have any amount of shaft lean because shaft lean as

10
00:00:26.530 --> 00:00:27.520
you can see opens

11
00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:32.030
the clubface. So what the better golfers tend to do is they have this rotation

12
00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:33.040
of the clubface

13
00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:37.880
to match that shaft lean. That's part of the reason why you don't see that with

14
00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:38.640
wedges where

15
00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.990
wedges you want the bottom of the swing a little bit more in line with the golf

16
00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:43.360
ball. Okay so to

17
00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:47.470
work on face rotation early enough in the downswing we're going to use the

18
00:00:47.470 --> 00:00:49.440
impact bag. So again I'm

19
00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:55.380
not a huge fan of using the impact bag to actually train impact but it's a good

20
00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:57.360
way to stop the club

21
00:00:57.360 --> 00:01:02.580
at various points during the swing and give you a little checkpoint. So and it

22
00:01:02.580 --> 00:01:03.120
's something that

23
00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:08.780
I've done in the past with using just a bag or pillow type thing but this is a

24
00:01:08.780 --> 00:01:09.600
easy way for you

25
00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:13.670
to do it at home. So I've got the ball roughly in the middle of alignment stick

26
00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:14.240
and this is

27
00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:21.280
somewhere pretty close to the toe line. Now what I'm going to do or another way

28
00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:21.760
you could look at

29
00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:28.300
it's about chef 30 degrees 45 degrees back about kind of like so. Now what I'm

30
00:01:28.300 --> 00:01:29.920
going to do is I'm

31
00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:36.270
going to try and stick the toe into the club or into the impact bag kind of

32
00:01:36.270 --> 00:01:37.680
like this and I'm just

33
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:43.000
going to get the feeling of closing that down and turning that toe down. Many

34
00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.160
golfers when they

35
00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:48.670
first try to do the motorcycle and when they're trying to close the face more

36
00:01:48.670 --> 00:01:50.320
will end up doing

37
00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:56.000
it more like this. They'll do it more with shaft rotation and getting the club

38
00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:57.120
well outside. So

39
00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:03.230
having this position deep enough forces you to use that ulnar deviation and

40
00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:04.720
forces you to do it

41
00:02:04.720 --> 00:02:12.090
in a way where you'll still be coming from the inside. So this kind of gives

42
00:02:12.090 --> 00:02:13.440
you a reference of

43
00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:17.930
what it's like to get that club face closed early. The other thing it gives you

44
00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:18.720
a feeling of or

45
00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:23.600
a sensation of is instead of hitting the ball with more of the club passing the

46
00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:24.800
hands you kind of

47
00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:31.340
get the sense of hitting the ball more with this rotation or that palm press or

48
00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:33.280
palm strike feeling.

49
00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.120
So I get the feeling that I'm basically going like this and then what I'm going

50
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:37.680
to do is I'm

51
00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:42.190
going to try to make there's my release and I'm going to try to use my body

52
00:02:42.190 --> 00:02:45.120
rotation so that that

53
00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:50.780
release there gets the impact. I'm going to try to use my body rotation to move

54
00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:51.920
impact from there

55
00:02:51.920 --> 00:02:58.460
to there. I'm not going to use my hands and arms to move the impact from there

56
00:02:58.460 --> 00:02:59.760
to there.

57
00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:03.360
That's a little tricky concept but hopefully you can follow what I'm describing

58
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:04.000
there.

59
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.400
Now if I was going to adapt this for a driver the question is what I make it

60
00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:11.360
happen earlier

61
00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.730
or later? Well what we really want to have happen is we're going to move this

62
00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:16.240
up so I'm going to

63
00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:23.670
grab a chair and it's going to happen earlier. So if I was doing this with a

64
00:03:23.670 --> 00:03:26.480
driver I would be

65
00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:31.740
basically getting that same amount of rotation right around there. Actually

66
00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:32.880
probably a little

67
00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:37.760
bit below that but I'm limited in the chair I've got here. So right around

68
00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:39.120
there and then now

69
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:43.490
same rules. I'm closing it to that position and I'm going to use body rotation

70
00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:43.760
so that

71
00:03:43.760 --> 00:03:50.180
what my arms feel like they're doing there is happening until there. So you can

72
00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:51.200
see that if I do

73
00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:59.790
that facing the camera so if I get that position let's bring this back just a

74
00:03:59.790 --> 00:04:01.760
touch so it's roughly

75
00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:07.540
in line with just inside a shaft parallel to the target line. So now if I close

76
00:04:07.540 --> 00:04:08.640
that down kind of

77
00:04:08.640 --> 00:04:15.180
like this and then I use my body rotation so that felt like I did the exact

78
00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:16.480
same arm movements to

79
00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:21.280
hit it there but that's ending down there at impact and you can see if I had

80
00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:23.600
driver I'd be well

81
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:30.140
behind it um those would match up. So with an iron it happens a little bit

82
00:04:30.140 --> 00:04:32.000
lower to the ground

83
00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:39.020
kind of like there not quite as side bend and rotated with the iron as I would

84
00:04:39.020 --> 00:04:39.760
be with a driver

85
00:04:39.760 --> 00:04:43.140
but this gives you a sense of what are the arms going to feel like and where

86
00:04:43.140 --> 00:04:43.760
are they in space

87
00:04:43.760 --> 00:04:47.830
compared to your body and then gives you the challenge of how can I use my body

88
00:04:47.830 --> 00:04:48.720
to get that to

89
00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.790
impact. So then what you can do is you can set up a little circuit. So I've got

90
00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:54.720
the ball there

91
00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.400
here's my here's my station right so I'm set up to a golf ball right in line

92
00:05:01.400 --> 00:05:02.080
with the camera right

93
00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:07.110
about here I do a few hit that impact bag get it closed but make sure it's not

94
00:05:07.110 --> 00:05:08.320
coming outside

95
00:05:08.320 --> 00:05:14.240
and then use body rotation to get it to there and then I step forward with that

96
00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:15.600
same timing so I'm

97
00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:22.980
trying to kind of close it early to there and then that feeling of getting it

98
00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:24.480
closed through there

99
00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.760
I'm just going to use the body movements so that that happens at impact so we

100
00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:31.040
'll do that again

101
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:39.080
so we get there so now I'm trying to hit there but watch my body makes it so

102
00:05:39.080 --> 00:05:39.520
now

103
00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:45.330
if I took my body away but if I add my body back in the body moves the contact

104
00:05:45.330 --> 00:05:47.040
from there to there

105
00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:51.670
the example would be okay there's just throwing a ball with my arm but now I've

106
00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:52.640
got a time it so

107
00:05:52.640 --> 00:05:57.180
that that movement matches what my body is doing that's what I'm trying to do

108
00:05:57.180 --> 00:05:58.320
here so I get that

109
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.440
closing through the club face that motorcycle and ulnar

110
00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:10.270
and then let my body kind of bring that through pull that just a touch but

111
00:06:10.270 --> 00:06:11.120
overall pattern

112
00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.490
pretty close so if you're struggling with getting the club face or closed early

113
00:06:15.490 --> 00:06:15.680
enough

114
00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.050
you're not getting penetrating ball flight or you're not getting it to turn

115
00:06:20.050 --> 00:06:20.640
over a little bit

116
00:06:20.640 --> 00:06:25.150
this is a good way to check and make sure that you're getting that club face to

117
00:06:25.150 --> 00:06:26.320
close early enough

118
00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.670
and that usually transfers to that stronger ball flight or a little bit more of

119
00:06:30.670 --> 00:06:31.360
a draw

120
00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.000
once you sync it up with what's going on with the body

Have questions?

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Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.

Close the Clubface for Better Impact with the Impact Bag Drill

After this video, you'll be able to:

  • Feel how to properly rotate the clubface through impact
  • Identify the difference between closing the face and straightening your arms
  • Practice using the impact bag to create checkpoints in your swing

In this video, you'll learn how to effectively close the clubface during your downswing using the impact bag. This drill helps develop the necessary face rotation for improved ball striking and consistency.

Video Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.270
This drill is face closing with the impact bag. Many golfers struggle with

2
00:00:05.270 --> 00:00:06.160
closing the

3
00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:10.880
clubface during the downswing or getting the club to rotate through the down

4
00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:11.920
swing. They tend to

5
00:00:11.920 --> 00:00:16.500
want to hold the face pre-square and then square it more by straightening the

6
00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:17.680
arms as opposed to

7
00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:21.140
rotating the face. The problem with that method is if you straighten it more by

8
00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:22.160
straightening your

9
00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:26.530
arms then it's very hard to have any amount of shaft lean because shaft lean as

10
00:00:26.530 --> 00:00:27.520
you can see opens

11
00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:32.030
the clubface. So what the better golfers tend to do is they have this rotation

12
00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:33.040
of the clubface

13
00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:37.880
to match that shaft lean. That's part of the reason why you don't see that with

14
00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:38.640
wedges where

15
00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.990
wedges you want the bottom of the swing a little bit more in line with the golf

16
00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:43.360
ball. Okay so to

17
00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:47.470
work on face rotation early enough in the downswing we're going to use the

18
00:00:47.470 --> 00:00:49.440
impact bag. So again I'm

19
00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:55.380
not a huge fan of using the impact bag to actually train impact but it's a good

20
00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:57.360
way to stop the club

21
00:00:57.360 --> 00:01:02.580
at various points during the swing and give you a little checkpoint. So and it

22
00:01:02.580 --> 00:01:03.120
's something that

23
00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:08.780
I've done in the past with using just a bag or pillow type thing but this is a

24
00:01:08.780 --> 00:01:09.600
easy way for you

25
00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:13.670
to do it at home. So I've got the ball roughly in the middle of alignment stick

26
00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:14.240
and this is

27
00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:21.280
somewhere pretty close to the toe line. Now what I'm going to do or another way

28
00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:21.760
you could look at

29
00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:28.300
it's about chef 30 degrees 45 degrees back about kind of like so. Now what I'm

30
00:01:28.300 --> 00:01:29.920
going to do is I'm

31
00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:36.270
going to try and stick the toe into the club or into the impact bag kind of

32
00:01:36.270 --> 00:01:37.680
like this and I'm just

33
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:43.000
going to get the feeling of closing that down and turning that toe down. Many

34
00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.160
golfers when they

35
00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:48.670
first try to do the motorcycle and when they're trying to close the face more

36
00:01:48.670 --> 00:01:50.320
will end up doing

37
00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:56.000
it more like this. They'll do it more with shaft rotation and getting the club

38
00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:57.120
well outside. So

39
00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:03.230
having this position deep enough forces you to use that ulnar deviation and

40
00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:04.720
forces you to do it

41
00:02:04.720 --> 00:02:12.090
in a way where you'll still be coming from the inside. So this kind of gives

42
00:02:12.090 --> 00:02:13.440
you a reference of

43
00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:17.930
what it's like to get that club face closed early. The other thing it gives you

44
00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:18.720
a feeling of or

45
00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:23.600
a sensation of is instead of hitting the ball with more of the club passing the

46
00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:24.800
hands you kind of

47
00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:31.340
get the sense of hitting the ball more with this rotation or that palm press or

48
00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:33.280
palm strike feeling.

49
00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.120
So I get the feeling that I'm basically going like this and then what I'm going

50
00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:37.680
to do is I'm

51
00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:42.190
going to try to make there's my release and I'm going to try to use my body

52
00:02:42.190 --> 00:02:45.120
rotation so that that

53
00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:50.780
release there gets the impact. I'm going to try to use my body rotation to move

54
00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:51.920
impact from there

55
00:02:51.920 --> 00:02:58.460
to there. I'm not going to use my hands and arms to move the impact from there

56
00:02:58.460 --> 00:02:59.760
to there.

57
00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:03.360
That's a little tricky concept but hopefully you can follow what I'm describing

58
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:04.000
there.

59
00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.400
Now if I was going to adapt this for a driver the question is what I make it

60
00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:11.360
happen earlier

61
00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.730
or later? Well what we really want to have happen is we're going to move this

62
00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:16.240
up so I'm going to

63
00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:23.670
grab a chair and it's going to happen earlier. So if I was doing this with a

64
00:03:23.670 --> 00:03:26.480
driver I would be

65
00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:31.740
basically getting that same amount of rotation right around there. Actually

66
00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:32.880
probably a little

67
00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:37.760
bit below that but I'm limited in the chair I've got here. So right around

68
00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:39.120
there and then now

69
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:43.490
same rules. I'm closing it to that position and I'm going to use body rotation

70
00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:43.760
so that

71
00:03:43.760 --> 00:03:50.180
what my arms feel like they're doing there is happening until there. So you can

72
00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:51.200
see that if I do

73
00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:59.790
that facing the camera so if I get that position let's bring this back just a

74
00:03:59.790 --> 00:04:01.760
touch so it's roughly

75
00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:07.540
in line with just inside a shaft parallel to the target line. So now if I close

76
00:04:07.540 --> 00:04:08.640
that down kind of

77
00:04:08.640 --> 00:04:15.180
like this and then I use my body rotation so that felt like I did the exact

78
00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:16.480
same arm movements to

79
00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:21.280
hit it there but that's ending down there at impact and you can see if I had

80
00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:23.600
driver I'd be well

81
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:30.140
behind it um those would match up. So with an iron it happens a little bit

82
00:04:30.140 --> 00:04:32.000
lower to the ground

83
00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:39.020
kind of like there not quite as side bend and rotated with the iron as I would

84
00:04:39.020 --> 00:04:39.760
be with a driver

85
00:04:39.760 --> 00:04:43.140
but this gives you a sense of what are the arms going to feel like and where

86
00:04:43.140 --> 00:04:43.760
are they in space

87
00:04:43.760 --> 00:04:47.830
compared to your body and then gives you the challenge of how can I use my body

88
00:04:47.830 --> 00:04:48.720
to get that to

89
00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.790
impact. So then what you can do is you can set up a little circuit. So I've got

90
00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:54.720
the ball there

91
00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.400
here's my here's my station right so I'm set up to a golf ball right in line

92
00:05:01.400 --> 00:05:02.080
with the camera right

93
00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:07.110
about here I do a few hit that impact bag get it closed but make sure it's not

94
00:05:07.110 --> 00:05:08.320
coming outside

95
00:05:08.320 --> 00:05:14.240
and then use body rotation to get it to there and then I step forward with that

96
00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:15.600
same timing so I'm

97
00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:22.980
trying to kind of close it early to there and then that feeling of getting it

98
00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:24.480
closed through there

99
00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.760
I'm just going to use the body movements so that that happens at impact so we

100
00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:31.040
'll do that again

101
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:39.080
so we get there so now I'm trying to hit there but watch my body makes it so

102
00:05:39.080 --> 00:05:39.520
now

103
00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:45.330
if I took my body away but if I add my body back in the body moves the contact

104
00:05:45.330 --> 00:05:47.040
from there to there

105
00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:51.670
the example would be okay there's just throwing a ball with my arm but now I've

106
00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:52.640
got a time it so

107
00:05:52.640 --> 00:05:57.180
that that movement matches what my body is doing that's what I'm trying to do

108
00:05:57.180 --> 00:05:58.320
here so I get that

109
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.440
closing through the club face that motorcycle and ulnar

110
00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:10.270
and then let my body kind of bring that through pull that just a touch but

111
00:06:10.270 --> 00:06:11.120
overall pattern

112
00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.490
pretty close so if you're struggling with getting the club face or closed early

113
00:06:15.490 --> 00:06:15.680
enough

114
00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.050
you're not getting penetrating ball flight or you're not getting it to turn

115
00:06:20.050 --> 00:06:20.640
over a little bit

116
00:06:20.640 --> 00:06:25.150
this is a good way to check and make sure that you're getting that club face to

117
00:06:25.150 --> 00:06:26.320
close early enough

118
00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.670
and that usually transfers to that stronger ball flight or a little bit more of

119
00:06:30.670 --> 00:06:31.360
a draw

120
00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.000
once you sync it up with what's going on with the body

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