“This month I’m delighted to do my first Worldwide Golf instruction piece at the newly opened Peter Cowen Academy at Jumeirah Golf Estates. This is a fantastic towel drill that helps develop the following” – Stephen Dean:
- Clubface stability
- Shoulder loading
- Shallowing
1. Clubface stability
a) Equal and opposite force creates stability. If you place your two palms together and push you’ll notice they stay centred and stable. Similarly, if I grab a towel and squeeze it in opposition (imagine you’re squeezing water from it), we get the same result. We create stability.
b) Now if we place the towel over the grip end of the club and squeeze you’ll notice there’s no opening or closing of the face, it just remains stable.
2. Shoulder loading
As you know from previous articles, it’s the shoulders that are the control element of the swing. The shoulders are the linkage (transmission) between the body action (engine) and the hands, arms and club (steering wheel). If this linkage is poor then expect a similarly poor ball flight! The equal and opposite squeezing of the towel naturally locks the shoulders down and loads them correctly as you squeeze in opposition to the top of the swing. Please note – this squeezing in opposition can be soft, medium or hard, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s equal.
3. Shallowing
If we squeeze the towel in the change of direction as you start your downswing, the club will naturally shallow and create a power lag without you losing your balance.
The towel drill is simple but super effective in helping establish the correct movement patterns required in your swing.
For more information please watch the attached video or come and visit one of our professionals for further knowledge and improvement.
