Backswing

Recently a student wrote me about getting the club to the top of the back swing. The student in question said he could get the club back half way, but not to the top.

Well, what makes the club continue and get to the top where it is suppose to? Inertia, continuation of motion, not disrupting centrifugal force, maintaining your arc, turning.   A good way to practice getting “the feel” is to practice the swing a couple of feet off the ground. Swing the arms back and forth. Once you can feel the arms and the club move and wait together at the point where the club changes directions, start turning the upper body with the arms and club. Feel the right arm fold on the way back and the left arm fold on the way through. Now pause at the top and after the follow through, hold your finish. There’s the golf swing.

Well, that sounds easy Jeff but what about getting the club back from a standing position at address? Well what makes the club move at take away? It’s a combination of things working together in unison. The hands, arms chest all work together to get the club to the top. I like to feel the club head move just a little first, then my arms and then my chest. Other days I feel my chest move the arms like two pieces of rubber hose. The feelings you’ll develop will change from day to day or week to week. I have several feelings to do everything in my swing. Some days are different than others. The big key is to keep turning whether it’s right or not. Eventually it will feel natural and you’ll start developing feelings of your own.

Remember, to acquire the correct feelings for your golf swing you must first have a sound grip, aim and set up. If you want to work on correcting any part of your swing you must have these three things correct or you will be giving yourself a false sense of feelings. Also remember that when you practice swinging a couple of feet up in the air you’re swinging around your spine angle. When you set up to the ball your spine angle has changed. You want to keep that angle back and through. If you change it during the backswing it will be difficult to get the club to the top correctly. The best place to practice these things is in front of a mirror. Look at yourself doing the things you want and eventually you’ll feel them while you’re watching yourself do them. Then it will be easy to take to the range or course because you’ll know where the club is and especially you’ll feel where it is.

Weight Shift

The Weight Shift:

The weight shift is something that has caused golfers to loose their balance for years.

The reason for that is that most golfers don’t understand what muscles make the weight shift.

I’ll give you an example. How many of you are athletes? Have you ever thrown a ball or hit a tennis ball?

That simple motion can and should be carried over to your golf swing.

When you throw or hit a ball what you don’t realize is that your allowing your big muscles to do all the work. Your creating a chain reaction.

The most important phrase I could ever tell you is that the inside moves the outside in most sports including golf. What I mean is when your chest moves, your arms have to follow, that’s a natural reaction. Not a forced action!

Most golfers however have taken to heart the phrase taught for years, “keep your head down and your left arm straight.”

Do you think you could throw a ball very far with your head in your chest and your right arm straight?

I don’t think so! In other words get your head out of your chest and relax your arms. This will allow your head to move, yes I said move with your body not fight it. Think about it, if your head stays still you will reverse weight shift which is left to right. Try doing another sport that way!

You won’t!

The next time you go out and practice look at yourself in front of a mirror or window so you can see yourself swing.

Make the first backswing with your head completely still. When you get to the top, stop and look at yourself and feel where your weight is. It’s on your left side isn’t it.

Next make a swing and look at yourself as you swing. As the arms go back and you make your initial turn allow your head to go with your body. You should be on your right side.

Remember that the chest is making the weight shift.

The first few swings, try to allow your head to move to the right a foot. When you get used to this motion your head probably won’t move this much, but it will be free to move back as much as your body tells it to.

Then your natural weight shift will happen automatically.

Trapped

Feel Trapped!

There are so many ways to feel trapped in the golf swing. My particular nemesis has always been keeping the clubface shut or closed on the way back. Part of the problem is being 6’4″ tall. People told me that being tall was a disadvantage, but just the opposite is the truth. Being tall is a tremendous advantage, but learning to harness the energy created by a big arc is difficult.

When I was younger I was taught to take the club away with the arms, drive the hips through the ball and release the club with the hands winding up in this beautiful reverse “C” position, which was one of the reasons I eventually had back surgery. Remember what Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus looked like in their lean years. What I wasn’t taught, was to swing at my own height. I was taught to swing like every other player, keeping his or her head still while trying to make an athletic motion. Impossible right? Well, what I didn’t realize was happening at the time was my arms staying stiff and not moving with my body, that is opening and closing. I was always taught it was my hands that were doing the opening and closing thus my arms would stay stiff as a board trying to create a natural move.

Well, your arms are connected to your hands, so if your arms turn with the body on the backswing so do the hands, thus making it able to create a no hands “feeling” swing while allowing the club to open and close. But if the arms do not open with the body, the hands will move more, making it a flippy feeling swing. If your arms are stiff, what muscles do you think will break down first? That’s right, your hands. What do you think makes your arms stiff? That’s right, tension! The #1 killer of a good or natural golf swing. This same tension is the one that is a big contributor to the reverse weight shift, along with keeping your head stationary.

Next time you practice, before you hit each shot, take two practice swings with the club up in the air a couple of feet off the ground. As your taking these practice swings feel the club go around the body on a flat plane. Also feel what wants to happen naturally to the clubface, hands and arms. They open and close all by themselves. Next put the club behind the ball and allow the same thing to happen, naturally. Don’t keep your head still, let it move back with the body, as your arms give you the feeling that they are rolling. As you allow this to happen you will feel a natural weight shift that matches your body type, no matter how tall you are. Check yourself periodically half way back to see whether the clubface if square. If it is open, you’re making the arms to roll too much.

Next time you’re watching golf on TV, look at how the Tour players allow this to happen, which takes the club around the body naturally without any restriction whatsoever and lets the club work on a more inside out path on the way through. The taller you get the more you will have to feel this on the backswing, thus making it an advantage to be tall, not a disadvantage. No matter how tall you are swinging with less restriction will give you more enjoyment and bring you lower your scores all by itself.