Lesson 3: The Pool Noodle Drill — Swing Right by Training Your Path
Of all the training aids in golf, the humble pool noodle might be the best dollar-for-dollar teacher ever made — and Lesson 3 in the video above shows why. Stuck in the ground behind the ball, it gives your swing instant, honest feedback about club path.
The concept is simple: place the noodle just outside your target line, behind the ball. If your downswing comes over the top — the classic amateur move — the club crashes into the noodle before impact. To miss it, you have to swing from the inside, dropping the club into the slot like the pros do.
How to Get the Most from the Noodle Drill
Start with slow, half swings. The goal is not to smash balls past the noodle — it is to feel the club approaching from inside the target line. Make twenty gentle swings where missing the noodle is the only objective, and your body will start to memorize the correct path.
Then add balls at half speed. You will probably hit some thin or push a few right at first — that is normal. An inside path feels strange to an over-the-top swinger, and strange takes reps to become natural. Stick with the drill for a full bucket before judging it.
Finally, take the noodle away and keep the feel. Alternate five balls with the noodle and five without, checking that your start line stays right of target with a gentle draw. When the path is right, the ball flight tells you — high, powerful draws that carry farther with less effort.
Swing right is not a mystery. It is a path, and a two-dollar noodle can teach it.
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