Most golfers don’t get the chance to practice as much as they should or would like to. Because of this many of you lose the sensation of what a good swing should feel like. A really great way to emphasize and experience the sense of key areas of the swing is the “split hand drill”. This drill is very effective because it gives you tremendous feedback whether you are hitting balls or just doing practice swings at home. Several things can be taken from this drill but I will only emphasize a few key checkpoints that you should focus on. Sense the feel of how your arms and hands work together with your body.
To Start - split your hands apart about 3 to 4 inches apart and always make sure you start each swing with correct starting position in terms of posture, alignment and ball position. To better evaluate yourself it is very beneficial to use a mirror when doing this drill.
Picture 1 Face On ½ way back (just use this instead of a caption)
On the backswing many swing problems occur which set off chain reactions that cascade into poor downswings and terrible results. Half way into the backswing with the split hand drill you should be able to experience the following sensations. You should feel the cocking of your wrists and be aware that the club is quite vertical with the butt end of the club pointing at or just inside the ball. At this point, your right arm (for righties) should be above your left arm and your right elbow should be folding while floating slightly away from your body allowing you to create some extension.
Picture 2 Face On - release position (just use this instead of a caption)
To correctly achieve a proper release of the club your arms must rotate forward. This is the first check at this point. Your right arm (for righties) again should be above your left and you should sense the hands and forearms rotating which you must allow to happen. With the split hand drill it becomes obvious that you cannot do this without allowing the lower body to turn forward which is essential to good ball striking. At this point you should have more weight on your front foot and your hips and stomach turning forward. After this point make sure you keep turning your body and arms to a full balanced finish.