|
Notes -
10 Musts to repeat a good reliable swing - my
feelings
1
USE YOUR FINGERS
Grip the club in your fingers,
not in your palms. From takeaway to finish, think
fingers and hands first; shoulders, arms and legs
second. It’s important not to categorize the roles of
your arms, shoulders, hips and legs as passive—they’re
all critical components to the overall swing motion.
It’s simply a matter of them playing a secondary role to
your hands—the true power generators.
2
PRE-ROUTINE
Not only is a
pre-shot routine important, but also is a pre-round
routine. Whether you’re rushing from your office to make
a weekday afternoon tee time, take time to think about
your forthcoming round and the things you want to
accomplish. Run over some key swing thoughts, or how
you’ll attack the first hole. For every swing, pick a
target, and make it precise. Picture in your mind’s eye
the swing you want to create and how you’ll
create that swing while balanced.
Then, pull the trigger.
3
HAVE PRIDE
Regardless of
the type of day you’re having on the course, make an
effort to give your game—and yourself—the respect it
deserves. Often, a round in the 90s will feel more like
a round in the 70s if you approach your game with an
attitude that emphasizes
conduct, not score.
4
STAY IN BALANCE
It’s not very
often you fall down while standing on a street corner,
but people often do that very thing while swinging the
club. That’s because they’re not balanced. Adopt a
stance that mimics the one you use in everyday life; not
too narrow (which facilitates too much turn and the
chance to reverse pivot) or too wide (which limits your
ability to coil). Make it natural.
5
DROP THE CLUB
It is the most
difficult thing to master in golf, but
dropping the club to start the
downswing is an absolute necessity to move
the club with power and on the desired
inside-out path. What’s
more damaging than not dropping the hands and club is
what you likely do instead: start the club back down
with a lunge forward or an early release of the hands.
From
the top, allow your hands to simply fall toward the
ground. Combine that with a gradual turn
toward the target and you’ll naturally shift your weight
to your left side and guard against the dreaded pull and
pull-slice.
6
“SPIN THE TOP”
One of my
favorite images to describe the golf swing is a top. In
order to get the top to spin as fast as possible, you
had to wrap the string around the top
as tightly as you could.
Same goes in the golf swing, where your club is the top
and your body is the string and your main goal is to
coil your body as much as your flexibility allows. The
best way to do this is to dominate your backswing with a
strong turn of the shoulders while minimizing your hip
turn. The key: set your left
knee as an anchor and your right knee as a hub around
which everything turns. Now, you’re
coiled.
7
SET UP FOR SUCCESS
All good swings
start with a good setup.
The keys to a solid address include tilting the spine
slightly away from the target so your left shoulder sits
higher than your right, about as much as your right hand
sits below your left on the grip. Angling the spine
better allows you to swing the club from
inside-out. Your head
tilt should mimic your spine tilt, as well.
A mistake many golfers make is setting up with open
shoulders, an error fueled by the desire to hit hard
with the right side. Don’t fall into that trap. Instead,
play the ball a bit back in your stance,
position your head slightly behind
the ball, and keep
that right elbow loose and on your right hip.
These setup keys will help you keep your shoulders from
opening, a malady that more often than not will create a
slice swing.
I recommend a shoulder-width
stance with the front foot flared and rear foot slightly
toe-in . If you don’t flare your front foot,
you’ll make it more difficult to execute a big turn of
the shoulders on the backswing. Furthermore, with a
flared front foot, you’ll encourage a more efficient
transfer of weight to your front side on the downswing.
As far as ball position is concerned, play the ball off
the logo of your shirt. Playing the ball too far forward
may encourage pulls and pull-slices.
8
FINISH LOW
In golf, you
shake hands like a gentleman; you never high-five. In
other words, through impact, keep your hands low to the
ground rather than lifting them high into the air. If
you try to finish low, you’ll encourage a better forward
weight shift and crisper ball striking.
9
HEAD BACK
Although it’s likely that you’ve never
placed yours on a scale, the average human head weighs
about 14 pounds, which is a significant amount of
weight. If that weight moves too far forward on the
downswing, it will throw your entire motion out of
balance. As you swing back to the ball, make a conscious
effort to keep your head back toward your right foot.
This encourages a more powerful release. As
you keep your head back,
don’t forget to turn. Allow that right shoulder to
continue its rotation toward the target.
When you
feel your shoulder approach your chin, allow your head
to turn with it.
10
GET THE CLUB UP
The golf swing
has two parts: the “around” and the “up-and-down.” Most
recreational players can execute both parts, but rarely
can they blend the two together.
Think turn
first. With your hands leading the way, simply turn the
shoulders to get the club to the top. As you do so,
imagine placing your right
thumb in your ear.
This thought establishes the “up” part of your
backswing. On the way to your finish, do the same thing:
keep your turn going and strive to again place your
right thumb in your ear. Combine these moves with a
shallow arc through impact and you’ll find extra power
and accuracy.
|
