Towel Drill for Solid Contact

3 min
Added on January 20, 2022
To be a good ball striker you need three basic things. In order of priority, you need to hit the ball solid, you need to hit it straight and you need to hit it far. One of the key ingredients to hitting solid iron shots is making contact with the ball first, then the turf. This ball-first contact is what allows you to catch the ball cleanly and put the center of the club face, the sweet spot, on the golf ball. But as anyone who has ever chunked or thinned an iron shot can tell you, hitting the ball and THEN taking a divot is much harder than it looks.

To find out how to make this skill easier to acquire, we reached out to Titleist staff member Tom Patri. In this video, he shares a simple drill that you can use every time you practice your iron game. Tom's towel drill will give you instant feedback as you learn to move into your lead side, lean the club shaft forward and strike down through impact with authority. You'll see immediate results as your iron shot take of with more speed and a piercing, consistent trajectory.

Improve Your Game

8 Videos

  1. Categories
  2. Long Game
  3. Iron Game
  4. Wedge Game
  5. Putting
  6. Mental Game
  7. Course Strategy
  8. Golf Fitness
  9. At Home
  1. Instructor
  2. Brad Faxon
  3. Dr. Mo Pickens
  4. Me and My Golf
  5. Peter Finch
  6. Cameron McCormick
  7. James Sieckmann
  8. Mark Blackburn
  9. Michael Breed
  10. Trillium Rose
  11. Jonathan Yarwood
  12. Dave Phillips
  13. Brandon Stooksbury
  14. Joanna Coe
  15. Joe Hallett
  16. Justin Parsons
  17. Phil Kenyon
  18. Joe Plecker
  19. Layne Savoie
  20. Dr. Rob Neal
  21. Dr. Greg Rose
  22. Skip Guss
  23. Jason Baile
  24. John Kostis
  25. Jennifer Hudson
  26. Ryan Hager
  27. Corey Lundberg
  28. Tom Patri
  1. Drill
  2. Accuracy and Consistency
  3. Body/Swing Connection
  4. Bunker Play
  5. Chipping and Pitching
  6. Contact and Turf Interaction
  7. Course Management
  8. Distance, Speed and Power
  9. Drills and Practice Strategies
  10. Driver
  11. Equipment, Technology and Fitting
  12. Fairways
  13. Faults and Fixes
  14. Full Swing Technique
  15. Grip, Alignment, Setup and Posture
  16. Hybrids
  17. Irons
  18. Putting Fundamentals
  19. Shot Shaping
  20. Short Game Technique
  21. Specialty Shots
  22. Wedges
Clear All Filters
Towel Drill for Solid Contact
user icon
3 min

Towel Drill for Solid Contact

To be a good ball striker you need three basic things. In order of priority, you need to hit the ball solid, you...

Master Your Green Reading
user icon
3 min

Master Your Green Reading

In golf, 3-putt" is a four-letter word. There's not a more frustrating way to waste strokes, because 3-putts are...

Throw Darts with Your Short Irons
user icon
2 min

Throw Darts with Your Short Irons

A good indicator of low scoring in golf is number of putts per round. It stands to reason. The more one-putts you...

Playing Golf in the Wind
user icon
3 min

Playing Golf in the Wind

Have you ever hit a shot during a round of golf that completely befuddled you? You double-checked your yardage and...

Strategy for Tough Driving Holes
user icon
1 min

Strategy for Tough Driving Holes

Very few golfers hit the ball absolutely straight off the tee. We all have a predominant shot shape. Some of us...

Titleist Tips: Get Creative to Improve Your Short Game
user icon
2 min

Titleist Tips: Get Creative to Improve Your Short Game

"You have to try things," says Titleist staff member Tom Patri. "I tell my students that the two greatest short...

Titleist Tips: The Lost Art of the Intermediate Wedge
user icon
3 min

Titleist Tips: The Lost Art of the Intermediate Wedge

"The distance you hit a full shot with a wedge is only a reference, a starting point,” says Titleist staff member...

Titleist Tips: To Improve Your Bunker Play, Go on the Offensive
user icon
2 min

Titleist Tips: To Improve Your Bunker Play, Go on the Offensive

"The bunker shot has the greatest margin for error of any shot in the short game,” says Titleist staff member Tom...

Results loading...
No results