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SET UP
Position # 1
The reason for this obsession with the setup is simple: As I tell all my students, you can make an average swing from a good setup and still hit a good shot. However, from a poor setup, the quality of your swing is irrelevant, and the chances of hitting good shots consistently, are nil. One reason most golfers struggle with their games is that the proper golf setup runs contrary to the average player’s natural posture. Rarely in everyday life do you bow at the waist, keeping your back straight, your chin up, and your shoulders tall and square. I can think of very few everyday-life activities where you stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly flexed, with the majority of your weight on the balls of your feet, and your left hip slightly higher than your right. Those are the positions of a proper setup, positions you rarely practice or experience anywhere other than the golf course.
It’s a sad fact, but most people have poor posture in their everyday lives.
Your muscles aren’t conditioned properly, so you revert to what feels natural and comfortable: a stiff, hunched position, from which swinging a club to our seven key positions is all but impossible. From a physical standpoint, a good setup is not terribly demanding. You don’t have to balance on the ends of your toes like a ballerina or hold an iron cross like a gymnast. I reiterate, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly flexed, bend at the hips so that your back remains reasonably straight, keep your chin up, and grip the club so that your left shoulder is slightly higher than your right. Your head should be positioned behind the ball. What makes a proper setup feel so different is that it is different from most of our daily “stances”. As if the setup itself were not unnatural enough, adding a golf club to the mix creates a whole new host of problems. However, for the golf, it is ESSENTIAL we bend at the hip, thus maintaining that straight spine. This is a key element in every great setup. This is what you should learn to feel over every swing.
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INITIAL TAKEAWAY
Position # 2
The sole purpose of the takeaway is to set in motion, a sequence of swing events which will deliver the clubhead back to the ball, at maximum speed, with the clubface square and moving along the intended target line. Great players sweep the club back, letting the core muscles, upper back, and shoulders, initiate the backswing by pushing the club away from the ball. When the hands reach hip high, the shaft and left forearm forms a straight line. The torso and hips have also turned slightly as the club makes its way back. This is the classic “one piece” backswing, the one used by every successful professional, and sought after by every motivated amateur.
A true one-piece takeaway is when the club, the arms, the shoulders, and the torso all moves as one piece. The upper arms stay “connected” to the body. There is no added separation between your triceps and your sides.
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TOP OF THE SWING
Position # 3
I like to compare the top of the backswing to a locked and loaded catapult or the flexed limbs of an archer’s bow at full draw. Enormous energy is harnessed in these taut, “loaded” parts of these machines. Once released, the arm of the catapult or bow unleashes that stored energy, firing the projectile toward the target. The same principle applies in golf. The golfer with the longest extension and greatest coil at the top of the backswing will usually hit the ball farther than anyone else in his or her group.
“Width” and “extension” are two more of those well-worn buzzwords in golf. Width refers to the distance between the hands and the torso during the backswing. Extension of the arms, away from the torso is how we achieve the “width.” For the most part we can use these expressions interchangeably. The farther away the hands are from the ball at the top, the more leverage you have, and the more clubhead speed you’re likely to generate on the way down. Think of your catapult again. If the arm is twenty feet long, it generates more speed at the moment of release than would a 10 foot arm. A player who has a straight left arm, a full shoulder turn and good weight shift will create the greatest distance possible between his hands and the ball at the top of the backswing. That’s good width.
At the top of the backswing your shoulders and torso have coiled around a flexed but firm right leg. Coil is what separates great players from the beginner, or even the average weekend players. If you look at the backswings of a truly accomplished player, you will see shoulders turned more than 90-degrees, with their right leg and right hip acting as a brace for this coil. Their turns are so full that the point of their left shoulder is completely underneath, or even past, the chin. This is the ultimate power position in golf. It is what allows tour players to hit mammoth drives that seem to defy the laws of physics. Failure to achieve this position is what inhibits amateurs from hitting it longer. A full coil of the shoulders, a steady right leg and hip and great extension on the backswing are the keys to hitting the ball twenty, thirty, even fifty yards farther.
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INITIAL DOWNSWING
Position # 4
Everything you’ve done so far – the setup, the connected initial takeaway, the coiled and fully extended backswing -- has been designed to build and store energy. Now it’s time to unleash that energy; time for the swing to change directions; for the club to start on its downward path back to the ball, and for your body to maximize all its speed and efficiency in preparation for the moment of truth: the instant club meets ball.
Different players have different ideas about how to initiate the downswing.
During the first critical moment of the downswing, the club has to go into freefall. The
key is to get the feeling of pushing your weight straight down into both feet. This allows the shoulders to unwind a little bit, while balancing you enough to make a powerful turn through the ball. Vardon had it right: The whole body contributes to the backswing. It makes sense that the whole body should deliver the club back to the ball.
If you’ve done everything correctly on the backswing, the left arm is extended, the shoulders are fully turned, the right leg and hip are steady, your head has rotated behind the ball, and your spine angle has remained steady. Your abs are tight, the muscles of the back are engaged, and you feel a spring-like tension in your hip flexors, groin, and glutes. From this position you are ready to uncoil and unleash the all power you’ve built up.
Professional golfers transition to the downswing by moving their lower bodies. In every great golf swing the legs and hips move first. The torso follows the hips; the shoulders follow the torso; the arms follow the shoulders; the hands follow the arms; and the club follows the hands. That’s the order of the downswing. : The sequence is from the ground up. The lower and upper body have to be synchronized. Strong hips and stabilizers create strong downswing.
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IMPACT
Position # 5
It all comes down to this. Everything you’ve ever done in golf – the equipment you’ve bought, the lessons you’ve taken, the green fees you’ve paid, the swing changes you’ve made, the drills you’ve worked on, the swing thoughts you’ve implanted in your noggin, the waggles and twitches of the pre-shot routine you’ve mastered, your setup, your takeaway, and your downswing -- has been in anticipation of this decisive moment. This is the millisecond when clubhead meets ball, and your talent, ability, and efforts are laid bare for all to see. The ball flight will be the report card for every minute of “school” you have attended to improve your game.
The physics of impact are straightforward. The coiling action of the backswing and uncoiling action of the initial downswing creates centrifugal force, much like a track and field athlete tossing a discus or hammer. The straight left arm follows the lead of the hips and shoulders and pulls the club toward the ball. Your hips have rotated to the left and your weight continues to shift down the target line, while the shoulders turn into a position similar to your setup. Meanwhile two critical hinges formed by the folded right elbow and cocked right wrist unhinge at the bottom of the swing’s arc, at the last possible moment, unleashing the swing’s afterburners and generating tremendous speed. The clubhead will still be accelerating as it passes through” the ball.
“Release” in golf refers to the point when the club catches up with the hands, and the hands catch up to the arms. This occurs when the right elbow straightens, and the right wrist returns to a neutral position, the position you had at address. This is when the levers of the right elbow and wrist “release” their energy and the club travels its fastest. Hopefully this happens at the moment of impact.
Pros make hitting the golf ball look easy, because they use all the appropriate muscles of the body, to generate consistent clubhead speed. Their motions look effortless and their power limitless, because their bodies have been trained to create maximum acceleration at the millisecond club passes “through” the ball. At other points, their swings might appear fluid, “oily,” even lazy. But don’t be fooled. Every tour player, on every tour in the world, has trained his or her tail off to groove a repeating swing, for that moment when club compresses and launches the ball.
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EXTENSION
Position # 6
In the context of the post-impact golf swing the word “extension” refers the straightening of the right arm and the continuation of the club along the target line after the ball is on its way. It’s called “extension” because both arms are fully extended in the initial follow-through. Then the left arm begins to fold and the right arm remains straight as the club continues in its elliptical path around the body. By the time the club is hip-high on the follow-through, the right arm and club should form a straight line that points directly at the target.
Extending the club down the target line is important because the path of the club after impact mirrors the path before impact. If you point the club at the target in the moments immediately following impact, you’ve probably delivered the club to the ball along that same path. Furthermore, this emphasis on extension has guaranteed that the club is still accelerating when the ball gets in the way, at impact.
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FINISH
Position # 7
There’s nothing a pretty finish will do to improve a poor shot, however an ugly finish rarely follows a good shot. If you maintain your spine angle through impact, you should be standing tall at the finish. If you shift your weight properly from the top of the backswing though impact and extension, 90-plus percent of your weight should be on your left side. And if you extend the hands and arms properly through impact, your hands will finish over your left shoulder, and the toe of the club will be pointed at the ground when the swing is complete.
Finish on-Balance. The other critical component of the finish is your balance. There is no more telltale sign of a bad golf swing than the awkward little dance a player goes through on the follow-through to keep himself from falling over. I’ve seen players who finish with both feet facing the hole, wondering why the ball hasn’t flown directly to the target. A balanced swing leads to a balanced finish. The weight shifts to the right side at the top of the swing, down the target line during the swing, and onto the left side at the finish. Rocking back on the right foot, falling forward onto your toes, and moving your feet to catch yourself at the finish are all signs of a swing that has thrown you out of balance. But consciously focusing on the finish by remaining tall, balanced and on plane throughout the follow-through, will have had a positive effect on your entire swing. If you work on the finish, other parts of your pre-impact swing will fall into place, and the quality of your golf shots will improve dramatically.
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