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The Royal Golf Club's PGA teaching professional James Martin gives tips on hitting balls from a downhill lie
AS a golf professional one of the biggest faults I see from amateur golfers is poor weight transfer.
Right handed golfers tend not to have the majority of weight on their left leg at impact (the opposite for left handed golfers). This can cause a knock-on effect through the golf swing and lead to a poor strike.
Personally I would like to see 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the golfer's weight on the left leg. This would help:
Improve strike.
Create the correct angle of descent into the ball.
Help create more distance
Maintain the correct loft of the club.
Create a better ball flight.
Improve the path that the club travels on.
The best way for the golfer to feel the correct positioning of weight at impact is to use a downhill slope or the slope mat here at the Royal Golf Club.
Hitting shots off a downhill lie on the slope mat will encourage the golfer to have more weight placed on the left leg at impact. If the golfer's weight was to stay on the right leg at impact they may find that they hit the ground first or even miss the ball completely.
Not all tour players set up or swing the club in the same manner; however, they all strike the ball well with weight on their left leg at impact.
I would recommend the golfer to be conservative with the choice of iron they use when performing this drill as a lower lofted iron would make this drill very difficult to perform - using an eight or nine iron would be the most beneficial.
