This simple exercise will help you achieve better contact

If you fight to make clean contact with the ball GOLF Top 100 Teachers Tina Tombs has a simple exercise you can practice to help.

In a video posted on LPGA Professionals YouTube PageTombs explains that practicing good contact will pay dividends in every part of your game, from tee shots to approaches and close range chips.

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The exercise Tombs proposes is simple: draw a white line on the ground (a white foot powder does the trick) perpendicular to your feet. Ideally, you would have a range stick on the ground to make sure your aim is sound. The idea behind this drill is to identify the low point or bottom arc of your swing. Take a few swings and work to consistently wash the grass along the white line.

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“When I know I’m really comfortable hitting the white line, then I know I’m always going to make good contact with the ball,” Tombs says. “This is an important foundation in golf. If I can hit the ball consistently in the center of the face and at the bottom of the arc, I’m going to hit really good shots. So when you practice that without the ball and you can hit the white line, you’re going to have a lot of confidence in hitting the ball hard.”

Once you can hit the white line consistently, Tombs says you can move on to hitting balls. Place a ball directly in front of the white line and take a swing. You should find that you paint the white line the same way with the ball there as without it. Another benefit of the line drill is the visual it gives you of the alignment of the clubface.

“You’ll also notice here if you’re deciding whether the clubface is straight or crooked, maybe pointing right, left or straight. So that’s another way you can use this white line to target your club face,” says Tombs.

As Tombs demonstrates hitting the ball down the line, she says she notices she missed the line by just a touch with the bottom of her bow, but still hit the ball in the center of the face, resulting in a pretty good putt.

“Even when you miss just a little bit and hit that white line, you’re going to have great contact,” she says. “And even your mistakes will be as good as your best shots.

“So remember: Be good enough to miss and you can play great golf.”

Watch a full video of the Tombs summit above and for more tips from the Tombs, click here.