golf tips
Feel of the draw is like spreading butter

Continueing his occasional series, PGA pro John Hoskison, who plays on the European Seniors Tour, offers some quick tips to help golfers improve their game.

THERE is no shot in golf that gives an amateur more satisfaction than a powerful draw, especially with a driver, that starts up the right of the fairway and curves back to the middle.

In the days of wooden-headed clubs they used to call this the ‘spread’ shot.

The name comes from a tip that was regularly used to describe the feeling of how the hands and forearms work through the ball, turning right over left to impart a draw spin.

Today the feeling is still the same. Imagine spreading butter on a piece of toast with a knife - the feeling of gripping the handle and automatically rolling the right hand and wrist over to spread butter over the surface.

This is exactly how the hands should work for a right-handed golfer when hitting a draw (reverse for a left-hander). Take your grip on the club and through impact roll the right wrist and arm over as if spreading the butter. Imagine if you didn’t allow the knife to roll over, the leading edge of the blade would immediately cut into the bread instead of smoothing the butter over it.

So if you want to hit that draw shot paint that spreading picture in your head and allow the hands and arms to roll over through the shot and release the clubhead.

John Hoskison is attached to the Newbury Golf Centre and plays on the European Seniors Tour, having earned a conditional card after finishing 10th at Qualifying School at the Pestana. He returned to the UK to rebuild his career in tournament golf after spending time in China, where he was instrumental in the building a driving range for underprivileged children Fuzhou. He won the 2005 Jamega Tour Order of Merit with six victories from 12 starts. For further information visit John's website at www.johnhoskisongolf.com.