Golf Downswing Slot

Begin your downswing by shifting your weight to the side closest to the target. If you have reached the apex of your swing correctly, your downswing should be on the same plane as your backswing, and you should begin to feel more comfortable swinging the golf club. The downswing is about a quarter second, if you want to get your weight left, as you’re starting the downswing, you just don’t have enough time to shift your weight over there. So that’s your first big key with this, you have to get that weight left much earlier than you think you do.

Golf Downswing Slot

Why You Need This: In this video, you'll learn how to start the downswing and get into the slot.

• Golf Pro Drill – Finding the “Slot” on the downswing. Right wrist hit the golf ball before the momentum and the shaft wants to flatten out that, that right.
• Golf Tip: Find the slot with this drill. Most golf swings is that players tend to overuse the upper body during the downswing which leads to a steep, over the top movement pattern that creates.

I'm sure you've heard the term 'get into the slot' but there's all sorts of questions about it.

What exactly does 'get into the slot' mean?

And how do you perform this swing move?

You'll discover the answers to those questions, and more, in this video.

Find out...

• What angle your club path should travel on,
• How not getting into the slot hurts your swing, and
• What you should feel in the swing to make sure you're getting into the slot.

Watch this video now to get your club into the slot and boost your consistency and power!

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard

Video Duration: 5:07

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Video Transcription:

All right, guys. Hit that one pretty well. How do we start the downswing and get into the slot? Everybody wants to get in the slot, that ensures that your club is going to be delivered squarely to the golf ball with a lot of power.

So the way we’re going to think of the slot is, when I’m coming in my downswing, and the big piece of this is getting the camera lined up correctly.

I want to line up the camera behind my body shooting through my toes and then out to my distance, out to the target in the distance.

If my camera’s set up to where it’s too far this way or it’s too far that way, it’s not going to be lined up to where I can really see if the club’s in the slot or not.

What I want to do, is I want to go ahead and have this club working down my forearm in the downswing. So this club shaft is coming through my forearm and the club head will be kind of traveling through my forearm.

I’m going in slow motion here, so I’m not sure I have this exactly right, but that should be basically traveling down through my forearm into the release through the ball. That ensures that I’m coming into the ball correctly.

Now if I’m steep, if my club shaft is over top of my forearm, that would be kind of an over the top type move, or some people get steep and they kind of back up out of it. If you’re losing your posture that’s very common, you’re getting steep and then having to move back out of the way.

If I was steep and I just kept on going down, I would just slam the club into the ground, so I’ve got to back up out of it to create space. That would be too steep. It would also be an over the top kind of slice, would be to steep this way.

If I’m too shallow or underneath, now my club’s getting stuck in under. I’m blocking out to the right, or I’m hitting some of those snap hooks that really start to turn over, where you just miss them a mile out that way. Either way, we’re going to have a little bit of trouble.

The first key is, what starts our downswing? What’s a good visual to start our downswing that we can actually take out to the range? Then second, what’s a good way to feel how I get in the slot.

So to start the downswing, the thing that I would recommend – let me grab this tee so I can set up another ball – I would recommend feeling like you have a 2,000 pound concrete ball or steel ball, and the center of your hips is the middle of that ball. It’s just kind of wrapped around your body.

As I start this downswing, I’m going to feel like I do that with my lower body. My legs, and my hips are going to get that ball starting to kind of rotate.

Imagine a 2,000-pound ball, I’m not going to be able to rotate that very fast, I’m just talking about building momentum.

The lower body, the big piece is the big muscles of your body create momentum in the swing, so that my arms and hands and club can add speed to that, that can add the snap at the end of the momentum.

So feel like in your downswing, I’m going to go ahead and get a little bit of a weight shift to the left, start that ball rotating, and then at that point I’m going to be in the slot and I can go ahead and release my hands and arms, get a lot of that snap and that speed.

So now how do we feel like we’re in the slot? Well I’ve got a great little drill for you. If I go ahead and set up my club like I’m going to swing it like a baseball bat, if I set it up in front of my right shoulder – I’ll try to get as lined up as well as I can with the camera.

This left arm’s going to be nice and straight, it’s going to look like that. My left wrist is going to be flat or even a little bit bowed, and then my club face, my club head, or let’s talk about the right arm first.

My right elbow’s going to be pointing up, my back of my elbow’s going to be pointing toward my hip. My palm is going to be up toward the sky like that.

Now from there, this club is going to be down below that a little bit. So if I’m swinging this baseball bat, it’s dropping below it slightly and then kicking up square.

So it’s slightly below that, now you notice if I go this way, and I get into that position slightly below with my club head, as I tilt forward, now that’s in the slot. I’m perfectly on line with my forearm.

So again, it’s about right shoulder height. My hands are jut below my shoulder, if I had to get really technical with it. This club is going to dip down about, let’s call it 10°.

My right arm is up, and then from there I’m going to hinge forward, and now I’m in this position where I have a bunch of lag and my club’s coming down in the slot.

The way I’m going to practice this, is I’m going to make four or five swings first working on momentum. Imagine that big ball around my hips that has a bunch of weight.

Once I get that momentum going, I can add to that with my hands and arms. So I’m just going to do a couple little practice swings feeling that, and swinging on through.

Golf Downswing Slot

After I’ve done about five of those, now I’m going to do the one where I get in the slot here. Get that same position, I’m going to hinge forward with my hips.

You’ll notice as I start to videotape from down the line, that’s about where it needs to be as far as coming into the slot. In slow motion it may not be perfect there, but we get the idea.

Five or six of those swings, and then I’m going to be ready to put those two pieces together, and get a good momentum, start the downswing in the right way, and then be in the slot where I can go ahead and rip this golf ball.

There we go, guys. Work on starting the downswing the right way, getting in the slot. You’re going to play some great golf.

Chances are that you've heard of 'the slot.' It's a position halfway into your downswing from where you can hit the ball on a slightly in-to-out path. You might think of it as the lower part of your swing plane, starting at the point when (if you're a right-handed player) that your right elbow drops down close to your right side.

Step 1

Address the ball normally. Everyone's setup is slightly different, but your feet should be about shoulder-width apart when using your driver and slightly narrower for the shorter clubs. Bend forward from your hips so your spine leans toward the ball and your knees are slightly flexed as if you were squatting to lift something. Let your arms hang down, with your triceps resting lightly against your chest and the club head behind the ball.

Step 2

Start your takeaway by turning your shoulders, keeping your arms relaxed without bending your elbows.

With your triceps resting lightly against your chest and your knees slightly flexed, you'll be able to turn your shoulders and carry your hands (and the club) to nearly waist high before your right elbow will need to bend. You'll have made most of your shoulder turn at this point.

Step 3

Bend your right elbow toward your right shoulder. This will simultaneously cock your wrists and allow you to finish your shoulder turn.

When you finish this part of your swing, your shoulders will have turned roughly 90 degrees from your address position, pointing the club shaft down the target line and parallel to the ground. A quick checkpoint: At the top of your backswing, your right shoulder will be visible underneath the upside-down V formed by your hands and forearms, and your right forearm will be parallel to your spine.

Your hips will be turned slightly to the right and your left knee pointing slightly behind the ball. You'll feel tension in your right knee as it resists your hip twist; this is what most golfers refer to as a 'weight shift.'

Step 4

Drop into the slot by letting your knees return to their address position – both flexed – and let your arms drop slightly so your right elbow moves closer to your right side. Although this action causes a chain reaction. Your hips will start to unwind, your shoulders will start to uncoil, and your downswing will start. Dropping into the slot feels as if you are just exhaling so you can relax for an instant – but only an instant.

Step 5

Golf Downswing Slot Machine

Hit the ball as hard as you want. The 'relaxing' started your hips unwinding and, as Ben Hogan wrote, 'After you have initiated the downswing with the hips, you want to think of only one thing: hitting the ball.' Once you're in the slot, it's hard to go wrong. All you need to do is straighten your right elbow, finish your downswing, and hammer the ball toward the target.