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Straighten out your irons in four steps

January 5, 2018

Top 100 teacher Carol Preisinger (@CarolPreisinger) shows you how to turn pulls into draws with a simple setup tweak that’s almost too good to be true.

STEP 1

LISTEN TO YOUR DIVOT​This is frustrating: The strike felt pure, but from the shape and direction of the resulting divot, it’s obvious that you cut across the ball and pulled the shot way to the left. You’re reluctant to make wholesale changes, however, because you flushed it. Nevertheless, missing greens is costing you serious strokes.

STEP 2

THE PATH LESS TAKEN​The good news is that your clubface is square (to your swing path) through impact — that’s why the strike feels so solid. So let’s not tinker with that. Instead, think about adjusting your setup, which can almost instantly turn your out-to-in path (above) into a thing of beauty.

STEP 3

FULL TILT​To get your path moving more from the inside and down the line, add some side tilt at address. Stand in your normal golf posture while holding an alignment stick. Now tilt your torso away from the target while holding your left hip still. The stick should now point ahead of the ball.

STEP 4

PROBLEM SOLVED​Adding side tilt automatically closes your shoulders relative to the target line, making it much easier to trace an inside-to-out downswing (above). Position the ball back a tick in your stance to account for the tilt. Instead of yanking your irons left, you’ll produce a nice little draw that starts out right and curves back toward the target.

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