The Chalk Line Low Point Drill
The Chalk Line Low Point Drill is a ball control drill from The Adaptive Golfer. Strike a chalk line to see whether your low point is before, at, or after the ball. It trains low point control, and your result is measured as Practice Strokes Gained against your handicap band.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Here's the Chalk Line drill. It's the fastest way to see exactly where your club bottoms out, and fix a fat or thin strike. Spray a chalk line straight across the turf, perpendicular to your target. Set your ball right on the line. Make your normal swing. A good strike takes its divot starting on, or just past, the line. Your low point is in front of the ball, where it should be. If the divot starts behind the line, you're hitting it fat. You're bottoming out too early, before the ball. Count how many of ten divots start forward of the line. For a mid handicap, aim for seven or eight. Log every rep in The Adaptive Golfer.
How to do The Chalk Line Low Point Drill
Draw a line about 3 feet long and ½ inch wide. Place the ball exactly at its center, with the line extending toward you and toward the target.
Hit each shot intending to strike the ground at or past the ball position, not the ball itself. Examine where the club disturbed the chalk and record each shot: pre-ball (fat), at-ball (acceptable), or post-ball (correct). Count the post-ball contacts out of ten.
Move from a mat to natural turf where divots are visible, and require the divot to start at or past the ball and extend 2–3 inches toward the target.
Lifting the head to watch the ball, which shifts the low point early. Keep your focus on the chalk line — the ball will report what happened.
How The Chalk Line Low Point Drill is scored
Count your successful attempts out of 10 post-ball contacts.
Here is what each handicap band should be hitting (post-ball contacts, higher is better):
| HANDICAP BAND | TARGET |
|---|---|
| Scratch (0–2) | — |
| 3–7 | — |
| 8–13 | 7–8 |
| 14–19 | 5–7 |
| 20+ | 4–5 |
Your result is converted to Practice Strokes Gained against your band, so you always know if you are above, at, or below where you should be.
Log each rep and see whether you are above, at, or below your band — not just the target.
The 5-pillar diagnosis tells you whether this drill is even the thing costing you strokes.
A four-week plan picks your drills and recalculates as your numbers move.
As seen in Chapter 25 — Drill 3 of The Adaptive Golfer. Every drill, benchmark, and plan in the app traces back to the published methodology.
The Chalk Line Low Point Drill FAQ
Strike a chalk line to see whether your low point is before, at, or after the ball.
A mid-handicap golfer (8 to 13) should aim for 7 to 8 post-ball contacts.
It builds your ball control, specifically low point control.
Related drills
Swing through a narrow channel of two alignment sticks to feel whether your path...
Hit irons through a narrow gate of alignment sticks just ahead of the ball to me...
A trail-hand-only exaggeration drill that builds the feel of the face rotating t...
Log The Chalk Line Low Point Drill in The Adaptive Golfer and see your Practice Strokes Gained against your handicap band.
Start your free trial →