The headcover gate drill
If your ball curves right and often starts left of the target, your downswing may start with the shoulders. This drill gives the club a physical reason to drop to the inside instead.
Written for right-handed golfers. Left-handed: swap left and right.
Who it's for
Golfers whose ball starts on line or left of the target and then curves right. If your ball starts right and keeps going right, read the aim guide first: that is usually a setup problem, not a swing one.
The likely cause
Your shoulders start the downswing
From the top, your shoulders turn toward the target before your arms drop. The club moves outside the line, cuts across the ball, and the ball curves right.
Set it up
Put a headcover on the ground a hand's width behind the ball, just past it on the far side. Swing without touching it. Coming over the top hits the headcover. Swinging from the inside misses it.
- Start with a 7-iron. It's easier to feel than a driver.
- Place the headcover as in the picture, then make slow practice swings without a ball.
- When you can miss the headcover at half speed, add a ball and keep it at half speed.
10 slow half swings, no ball
Three cues
- At the top, keep your back to the target for a moment longer.
- Start down by letting your arms drop, not by turning your shoulders.
- Swing out past the headcover, toward right field.
What the ball should do
If it works, the ball starts at the target and curves right less. If you hit the headcover, the club came from outside again: slow down and repeat.
Hit 10 balls with the headcover in place and count how many curve right. Then take it away and hit 10 more. If the second 10 look like the first, the new move is sticking. If they don't, go back to half speed with the headcover.
Take it to the range
Tenball logs your 10 balls in two taps each, shows your misses on a chart and tells you when a fix is working.
