Hi, this is Kevin Battersby with battersbygolf.com in Coconut Creek, Florida. In this clip, I'm going to show you how to hit a straight tee shot. What's required for a straight tee shot is that the golf club arrive on the line of play with the face square, so you have two components; you have your swing path and then you have the face direction. If you'll notice on the ground, here, I have an illustration with the golf ball, and I have a series of balls that make an arc, which we call your path. So when you're hitting a straight golf shot, the delivery of the club into the ball would be on that arc. You notice it's taking that curve, and then just prior to impact, the face will square up and be looking right down the target line. That's also referred to as the timing, or the face direction. So, essentially, you have to combine two aspects to hit a golf ball straight. The face has to be square at impact, but the path of the swing has to be moving right down the line, and you see, as it's coming down here, it's moving in an arc but then it straightens out. And the golf club's only going straight, from maybe, from this point here, to the ball and then a few inches after the ball, and then the club moves back to the inside, completing it's arc and rotation. So, if the club makes that arc and moves in that path, and the face stays completely square to my swing path throughout the shot, as you see here, the golf ball will go straight. If I come down from the inside and leave the face behind my hands and the face is open, the ball's going to curve right. Conversely, if I come down and the face passes my hands too quickly, the ball will curve left. So these are how the shot will deviate by curve. But then again, there's a swing path, which is the arc of the swing. You might think of a soccer-style kicker, in one sense. He's coming from the side, moving his foot on this arc, and then his foot actually turns more to hook the ball, but it's the same effect as far as the path. The club coming down the line, now it's moving down the line straight. Now the face is lining up to the target square. One thing you want to keep in mind when you're trying to hit a golf ball straight, is what makes a golf ball go off line is side spin. So, if you have an eight or nine or ten degree driver compared to a ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen degree driver, you'll hit the higher lofted driver straighter than you'll hit the lower lofted. So it's a definite consideration when you're selecting your club. This has been Kevin Battersby showing you how to hit a straight golf drive.
