Today I'm sharing the most common mistakes that my students make. I'll also tell you what causes these mistakes. And, I'll show you how to fix the #1 cause of the most common mistake I see. (Future blog posts will walk you through all of the mistakes and all of the fixes.)

At it simplest, my job is to diagnose what a student is doing wrong, and prescribe/help them learn the remedy. Almost always, student full-swing issues fall into one of three (or any combination these) areas: 

1. Low Point Control

2. Start Direction

3. Excessive or Unpredictable Curve​

Let's look closer at each of these.

By "low point" I mean the part of the downswing where the clubhead reaches the lowest point. In a perfect world, a shot with an iron will have a low point that is on the target-side of the ball (hitting the ball first and then touching the ground). 
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​When the low point happens too soon, and the club hits the ground before it gets to the ball, we call that a "fat" shot. 
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​When the low point never gets to the ground, and the clubhead still contacts the ball, we call that a "thin" shot. 
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​When the low point never gets to the ground or the ball, we call that a "whiff" (totally missing the ball).
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​The top three causes of low point errors are, in order of importance: 
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​- SWAY: The player has swayed too many inches away from the target at impact.  (Make sure to watch the videos below where I explain what sway is and how to sway like the best players in the world.) 
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​- BEND: The player's shoulders/chest -- their upper body -- is too close to the ground at impact. If the upper body is too close to the ground at impact and the player swings with straight arms they will hit it fat. If they bend their elbows and/or wrists to avoid the fat shot, then they will thin it or whiff it. The motion measurement term that applies to this situation is "bend," and future blog posts will delve more deeply into this important movement. 
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​- WRISTS: The player uses their wrists -- bends, hinges, cupping/bowing, rolling, twisting etc. -- incorrectly. I'll have a separate blog post on correct wrist movements in the future. Our wrists are wonderful creations, and they can move in all sorts of ways. Some of those ways are simply NOT good for golf :) 

The the direction in which the ball initially launches is directly correlated to the direction your clubface is pointing at impact.

When describing initial direction launch, we use the target line as the reference point. If you ball starts to outside of the target line (assuming you hit the clubface and not the hosel -- that's a whole other blog post right there) it is because your clubface at impact was pointing to the outside. Same but opposite if the ball starts to the inside. 
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​Your clubface is controlled by your hands. If start direction is a problem for you, your hands are the cause. You can correct your start direction by being precise with how you aim the clubhead at address, by changing how you hold the club (your grip), or by how your hands move through impact so that the face is better aligned with where you want the ball to start. 

If start direction is a problem you experience, my money is on an incorrectly aimed clubface at address.  

This is a huge problem. Just about everyone who comes to me for lessons has problems with curve. Most of the time it is an uncontrollable slice. The cause of unplayable curve is the incorrect application of the Face to Path relationship.

If I haven't already told you this, then I should have: The goal of golf is to control your ball. 

You absolutely must know, understand, and apply the rules that govern the Face:Path relationship. I'll be doing a separate post about it too.

With your woods, and to some extent all your clubs, curve can also be influenced by where on the face you make contact. Toe-strikes will hook, heel strikes will fade. You can read more about this phenomenon, known as Gear Effect, in this blog post. 

Okay, let's get into how to fix your low point errors...

Low Point control is the #1 problem my students have. And bad sway movements are the #1 reason for bad low point control. It makes sense, therefore, to fix your sways (or at least to make sure they are not the problem) first.

Low Point control is the #1 problem that I help new students overcome. And the #1 reason for lack of Low Point control is incorrect sway movements. 

In future blog posts I'll share fixes to the other causes for low point issues. I'll also address Start Direction and bad Curve causes and fixes. 

For now, start to work on your sway movements: Reduce or eliminate them in the backswing, and increase them at impact. 

As always, reach out if you have any questions!