Golf Ball Striking Drills: 8 Proven Drills for Consistent and Clean Contact
When a beginner golfer heads to the driving range, the goal is to make contact with the ball. As our games improve and handicaps lower, the focus shifts to something more precise: clean and efficient ball striking.
Most amateur golfers are striving for better ball striking, and incorporating specific golf ball striking drills into your practice is a great way to get there.
We’ve put together these drills to improve your ball striking and help you feel more in control of your shots.
Which Ball Striking Drill Is Right for You?
If you already know what your issues are that are causing your inconsistent contact, here are some shortcuts to the appropriate drills:
- Coming up short on your shots – Clubface-Down Delivery Drill
- Hitting behind the ball (fat shots) – Towel Drill
- Flipping the wrists at impact (causing weak, high shots) – Hit Hard, Stop Quick Drill or Release Drill
- Slicing or pushing shots right – Motorcycle Drill (HackMotion)
- Topping or thinning iron shots – Playing with Point Drill
- Losing arm structure (elbows separating, inconsistent strikes) – Ball-Between-Arms Drill
- Leaning back at impact, losing power – Wrench Drill (Preset Weight Forward)
The Secret to a Better Golf Swing Starts with Your Wrists
Your clubface angle at impact determines 80% of your shot’s direction—your wrists control that angle. Click here for the best drills to master your wrist action and take control of your game.
The 8 Best Drills for Superior Ball Striking
Towel Drill
The Towel Drill is one of the simplest golf drills every golfer should know.
With the Towel Drill, you’ll learn how to make ball first contact and get your hand position and shaft lean correct at impact.
If you are struggling with flipping or inconsistency in contact, this drill can help.
- Video Timestamp: 1:17 – 2:40
Towel Drill – Step by Step:
- Lay a towel on the ground about one grip’s length behind the ball.
- Address the ball so the club head sits just in front of the towel.
- Make a normal swing, trying to miss the towel and hit the ball first. If your wrists uncock too early or you “flip,” you’ll likely contact the towel before the ball.
- Focus on maintaining your lead wrist flexion (flattening/bowing) as you approach impact.
- If you keep hitting the towel, move it slightly farther back at first and then inch it closer once you gain more control.
HackMotion Motorcycle Drill
The Motorcycle Drill can be done with or without the HackMotion device.
However, the HackMotion app has a live version of the app, so you can practice the Motorcycle Drill in real time.
Motorcycle Drill – Master Wrist Flexion in the Downswing
Focus on continuously adding flexion until the club reaches parallel, then smoothly complete your swing.
With the Motorcycle Drill, you’ll work on moving the lead wrist into flexion as you approach the golf ball.
This will help with reducing slice and weak shots by keeping the clubface from being open at impact.
Motorcycle Drill – Step by Step:
- Open the HackMotion app and set it to the Motorcycle Drill.
- Take your backswing.
- At the top of your backswing, imagine twisting a motorcycle throttle with your lead wrist.
- Increase lead wrist flexion (bowing) and trail wrist extension (bending it back) simultaneously.
- This helps the clubface point more down instead of opening to the sky.
- Practice with slow half-swings first, checking your HackMotion or simply watching that the face doesn’t fan open.
Playing with Point
The low point in your golf swing is where the club comes into contact with the ground. If you can control the low point with your irons, it becomes easier to make consistent contact.
Ball position changes with the irons so having some control over that low point will help you become a better ball striker.
- Video Timestamp: 1:00 – 2:10
Playing with Point Drill – Step by Step:
- Place a couple of tees or balls on the ground as markers where you want the club to brush the turf.
- Make easy back-and-forth swings, adjusting your upper-body tilt and arm extension to change where the club hits the ground.
- Focus on having the club strike the ground slightly ahead of the ball for solid iron contact.
- Monitor how your wrists release—avoid flipping early or holding on too rigidly.
- Learn what adjustments you have to make to change the low point.
Wrench Drill
The Wrench Drill is a unique one that helps ensure your weight stays more on the lead foot.
The Wrench Drill could be considered a preset drill as it helps you preset the weight on the front foot to feel that ball first contact.
If you struggle with fat shots or falling back and hitting the ball thin, the Wrench Drill can be a good solution.
- Video Timestamp: 0:00 – 2:00
Wrench Drill – Step by Step:
- At setup, shift most (or all) of your weight onto your lead foot as if your pelvis has moved forward.
- Keep that lead-side pressure and “turn like a wrench” around the front leg.
- Make small to medium swings, maintaining most of your weight on the lead side throughout.
- This helps the club bottom out in front of the ball, improving compression and consistency.
Ball-Between-Arms Drill
For this drill, you will need an object or inflatable ball that fits between your forearms at address. The goal is to help you keep your elbows in the correct position and maintain your swing radius for better ball striking.
This is a drill that professional golfers use even as a way to warm up before a round. Staying more connected improves ball striking.
- Video Timestamp: 2:00 – 4:00
Ball-Between-Arms Drill – Step by Step:
- Place an inflatable ball (or similar aid) between your forearms at address.
- Make a backswing, feeling your elbows stay the same distance apart (keeping the ball from falling). It’s ok to make the backswing abbreviated.
- Swing through to impact and into a half- or three-quarter follow-through, still holding the ball.
- Gradually increase swing length once you can maintain consistent contact with the training ball.
Hit Hard, Stop Quick Drill
The Hit Hard Stop Quick drill is an interesting one because it does the work for you. All you need to focus on is stopping the club just after impact.
The result will be a more stable impact, better shaft lean, and no flipping. This drill helps improve your contact and the direction of the clubface.
You can practice first without hitting a ball and work in slow motion, and then you can learn how to do it at full speed.
- Video Timestamp: 4:38 – 5:30
Hit Hard, Stop Quick Drill – Step by Step:
- Make a normal backswing.
- As you power through impact, commit to stopping the club quickly around waist-height in the follow-through.
- The rapid stop helps train you to release the club at the right moment without letting your wrists roll or flip.
- Gradually increase swing speed while holding that abrupt finish.
Clubface-Down Delivery Drill
An open clubface at impact will not help you improve your contact and maximize your distance.
To gain distance, you’ll need better compression by adding flexion to the lead wrist and keeping the face slightly turned down.
The Clubface Down Delivery drill is great for golfers who slice or push their shots. It helps to wear HackMotion while working on this so you can monitor wrist angles.
- Video Timestamp: 7:00 – 8:06
Clubface-Down Delivery Drill – Step by Step:
- From the top of your backswing, move your lead wrist from extension (cupped) toward flexion (bowed).
- As you approach the downswing “shaft parallel” point, check that the clubface points slightly down (not laid open).
- Continue rotating your body while maintaining that bowed lead wrist so the shaft is leaning forward at impact.
- Practice in slow-motion reps—pause at the top, pause halfway down, then swing through while keeping the face from fanning open.
Release Drill
The release drill is a great practice drill for golfers who struggle with their impact position.
With this drill, you train your release on a short swing before adding more power and length to the golf swing.
If your release from club parallel to club parallel is perfect, the rest of the swing should fall into place.
Perfect Your Release with HackMotion
Fine-tune your release for consistent contact. Start with a short swing to master control before adding power.
HackMotion Release Drill – Step by Step
- Set Up: Address the ball with a shorter swing in mind.
- Club Parallel to Ground (P7) to Impact: Swing from club parallel in the downswing into impact.
- Hands Forward: Aim to keep your hands slightly ahead of the ball at impact.
- Check Wrist Angles: Use HackMotion to confirm your wrist angle is in the correct “in range” zone.
- Perform at least 10 reps before you add speed.
Final Thoughts
Now you have plenty to work on to become a better ball striker and make clean contact with the golf ball.
Becoming a great ball striker takes time, and you must be more diligent as you work through this process.
Wearing your HackMotion can help speed up the learning process and make you more aware of the position of your wrists and clubface in your golf swing.
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