Improve Impact Position with the Side Saddle 9 to 3 Drill

The side saddle 9-to-3 drill is a powerful way to improve your impact position, sharpen low-point control, and train your body to move the club more efficiently. If you tend to throw the club with your arms, struggle to get open through impact, or hit weak contact from a poor body position, this drill gives you an exaggerated but useful model of what solid impact should feel like. It teaches you how side bend and spine rotation work together so your body can lead the motion and your arms can stay more responsive instead of dominant.

How the Drill Works

The drill starts from an unusual setup: instead of taking your normal address position, you stand almost side saddle to the target, with your body already oriented much closer to impact. That exaggerated starting position helps you feel the shape your torso needs at strike.

The key idea is simple: you are trying to preset a strong impact alignments and then make a short 9-to-3 swing around that structure. In golf terms, 9-to-3 means a shorter motion where the club travels back to about waist height and through to about waist height. Because the swing is compact, you can focus on body motion without the complexity of a full backswing.

What makes this drill especially useful is that it highlights two important pieces of impact:

• Side bend — your trail side compresses while your lead side lengthens
• Rotation — your body is open, especially the pelvis, while the upper body supports a downward strike

When you combine those correctly, you create a strong impact position with the hands ahead, the chest organized, and the low point in front of the ball. That is why the strike tends to sound crisp and the ball flight often comes out lower. You are delivering more shaft lean and a more stable strike, but because your body is properly tilted and rotated, the club can still feel surprisingly shallow rather than steep.

This drill is somewhat related to the Trevino drill, but it is even more exaggerated. That exaggeration can be helpful if you struggle to feel the difference between simply opening your body and actually creating the correct impact geometry. Many golfers can turn open a little, but they still lose posture, stand up, or throw the arms early. The side saddle version makes the body alignments much clearer.

Step-by-Step

1. Set up facing the target. Stand so your body is much more open than normal—almost as if your chest is facing the target. This is the “side saddle” look. Your lower body is preset in an open orientation, giving you a head start toward impact.

2. Add side bend. From that open setup, tilt your torso so your shoulders angle down toward the ball. You are not trying to max out the bend, but you do want a strong enough tilt that you can clearly feel your trail side shortening and your lead side stretching.

3. Rotate your upper body into an impact-like position. Once you have the side bend, rotate your torso so your shoulders are organized in a way that resembles impact. The shoulders should feel turned while still maintaining that downward tilt toward the ball.

4. Preset your hands slightly forward. Let the hands sit a bit ahead of the clubhead, as they would at impact. This helps you feel shaft lean and puts you in a position to strike the ball first, then the turf.

5. Notice the body sensations. At this point, you should feel a “crunch” on the trail side and length on the lead side. This is exaggerated, but it points you toward the kind of torso organization that supports a strong strike.

6. Make a short 9-to-3 swing. Without changing your lower-body orientation much, swing the club back to about waist high and through to about waist high. Keep the motion compact and centered around the preset impact shape.

7. Listen for crisp contact. If the drill is working, the strike should sound clean and compressed. The flight will often be lower than normal because of the forward shaft lean, but the contact should still feel solid rather than chopped down.

8. Repeat until the strike becomes predictable. The goal is not speed at first. It is to build a clear sense of how your torso supports the strike and how your body can move the club without your arms taking over.

9. Transition to a normal 9-to-3 setup. Once the exaggerated version starts to feel familiar, return to your regular address position. From there, try to recreate the same body alignments by impact without pre-setting them excessively.

10. Let your body lead in the downswing. In the normal version, be patient with your arms. Your hips need time to open so your torso can arrive in that same impact shape. If your arms fire too early, they will interfere with your body’s ability to rotate through.

11. Add a little “pop” once the pattern is stable. After you can make smooth, clean strikes, add a small burst of rotational speed through impact. Think of it as a compact, athletic push from the core and pelvis—not a violent hit with the hands.

What You Should Feel

The best drills are built around sensations, and this one gives you several strong ones. Because the setup is so exaggerated, the feelings are easier to identify than in a full swing.

Trail side crunch, lead side stretch

One of the main checkpoints is the relationship between your two sides through impact. Your trail side should feel shortened or compressed, while your lead side feels longer. That pattern is a sign that you are using side bend instead of simply standing upright and turning.

Open hips with organized shoulders

You want your hips open, but not in a way that leaves your upper body disconnected from the strike. Your shoulders should still be tilted down toward the ball. In other words, you are not just spinning level—you are rotating while maintaining the structure needed to hit down and forward.

Hands ahead without forcing the handle

You should sense some forward shaft lean, but it should come from the body alignments and sequencing, not from a rigid attempt to drag the handle. If you do the drill correctly, the hands naturally arrive ahead because your body is in a better impact position.

Body-driven strike

The club should feel as if it is being moved by your core and pivot, not slapped through by your arms. That does not mean the arms are passive. It means they are responding to the body’s motion rather than racing past it.

Low, compressed flight

Expect a lower launch than usual, especially with an iron. That is normal. The lower flight is often a sign that you are presenting the club with better shaft lean and a more forward low point.

Smooth speed, not rushed speed

Even when you add some “pop,” the strike should still feel smooth. Good sequencing often produces more ball speed than you expect from such a short swing. If it feels jerky or handsy, you are probably missing the point of the drill.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using too much arm hit. If you throw the club from the top of the short swing, your body will stall and you will lose the purpose of the drill.
• Spinning without side bend. Open hips alone are not enough. If your torso gets too level, you may rotate but still miss the proper impact shape.
• Overdoing the hand lean manually. Trying to force extreme shaft lean with your hands can make the strike steep and tense. Let the body motion create it.
• Cheating the normal setup. When you transition back to a standard 9-to-3, do not excessively preset yourself open. The goal is to learn to move into the position, not fake it at address.
• Lifting up through impact. If you lose posture and stand up, you will lose the trail-side crunch and the shoulders will no longer support a downward strike.
• Making the backswing too long. The drill works because it is short and controlled. If the club travels too far back, you may start adding compensations.
• Trying to hit it hard too soon. First build the alignments and contact. Then add speed. If you chase distance immediately, the sequencing often falls apart.
• Confusing shallow with flipping. The club can feel shallow because of the body’s tilt and rotation, but that does not mean you should release the club early or scoop the ball.

How This Fits Your Swing

The side saddle 9-to-3 drill is not meant to become your actual swing. It is an exaggerated training tool that helps you understand how the body should organize itself through impact. Once you can feel that twisted, side-bent, open-through-the-ball position, you can start blending it into more normal motion.

This is especially important if you are working on the concept that the body swings the arms. In a good downswing, your arms do not independently fire from the top and force the club into impact. Instead, your body opens, tilts, and sequences properly, and the arms are carried into a better delivery. That is what allows the club to approach the ball with both compression and consistency.

The drill also ties directly into low-point control. Solid iron play depends on getting the bottom of the swing arc in front of the ball. When your body is open, your torso is properly tilted, and your hands are forward, it becomes much easier to strike ball first and turf second. If your body stalls and your arms take over, the low point tends to drift backward, leading to fat shots, thin shots, or weak contact.

As you improve, you can progress through a simple sequence:

• Start with the side saddle version to exaggerate the impact shape
• Move to a regular 9-to-3 while recreating the same feel dynamically
• Expand to a 10-to-2 swing once the contact stays reliable
• Blend it into your full swing without losing the body-led sequencing

If you film yourself down the line, this drill can be especially useful when you notice that you are not getting enough side bend through impact or your hips are not opening enough. Those are common issues in golfers who get steep, flip through the ball, or rely too much on their hands. The exaggerated setup gives you a much clearer reference point than trying to fix those problems in a full-speed swing right away.

Ultimately, the side saddle 9-to-3 drill helps you connect impact position, body motion, and solid contact. It teaches you that a good strike is not just about where the club is—it is about how your body delivers it. When you can take the sensations from this drill and bring them into your normal swing, you give yourself a much better chance to compress the ball, control the low point, and hit your irons with a stronger, more repeatable flight.