Tip Tuesday: Golf’s Biggest Misconception

In this installment, Ted Frick of the Classic Swing Golf School at Legends Golf Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C. shows us a simple drill his father taught him that helps dispel perhaps the biggest misunderstanding that golfers have about the downswing.

Alright, today I want to address golf’s greatest misconception, and that is when the ball is on the ground, people have a tendency to want to hit under the ball. They want to lift, scoop, help, hit under and drive the ball. Misconceptions. Those are illusions.

Hogan once stated in his awesome book called Power Golf that the answer is in the dirt. Here’s a drill my daddy taught me over 50 years ago. You ready for this one? Put a penny down on the ground. Here’s the penny. All my dad would have me do is learn to hit that penny. I’m trying to create pressure with the ground by driving the penny into the ground.

Boy, after a couple years, maybe a couple months, he just had me put that ball down but he put a penny. Take a look. A penny is sitting right here. He said, “Son, don’t go after that golf ball, go after the penny. The answer is in the dirt. Drive the ball down to make the ball go up.” That penny is gone, that ball is gone. Down makes the ball go up.