The Golf Swing
Once one has established the fundamentals of grip, stance, alignment, ball position and posture it is time to swing the golf club. Here are the parts of the swing from start to finish:
Pre-Shot Routine: Prior to initiating the golf swing, top players will use with a pre-shot routine. The golfer chooses the proper club for the upcoming shot, stands behind the ball, selects a target, approaches the ball from behind, checks the grip, assumes the stance, aligns his body and takes an athletic posture.
The Takeaway: The takeaway starts the motion of the swing when the upper body begins to turn to the right with the arms and club moving along with it. On the backswing the upper body will rotate twice as much as the hips. The arms should remain in front of the chest. Many amateurs bring the club to the inside too soon getting the club and hands too far behind them. At thigh height, the shaft should be parallel to the body line with the toe of the club pointing up.
From thigh height to the top of the backswing: From here the wrists begin to hinge in an upward direction and the right arm begins to fold, as the upper body continues to turn. At the top of the backswing, the upper body should be rotated approximately ninety degrees, hips forty-five degrees, left arm straight, right arm folded ninety degrees with the shaft parallel to your target line. As we begin the swing, the left knee kicks slightly in toward the right knee. The right knee virtually does not move. At the top you should have about seventy-five per cent of your weight on the right side with the knees still flexed. The weight should be on a flat-footed right foot, not to the outside of the right foot. The swing is supported by the right leg at the top.
Downswing: The backswing is predominantly an upper body motion beginning with the turn of the body, the hinging of the wrists and the folding of the right arm while the downswing is primarily controlled by the lower body. The left hip and knee begin by moving them toward the target. The upper body and the club follow. Many amateurs fail to use their lower body enough and begin the downswing with their hands and the club. The downswing is actually narrower than the backswing because the lower body moves left and the wrists retain their hinge on the downswing. Many amateurs fail to use their lower body, un-cock their wrists too soon, loose a great deal of power and tend to hit behind the ball. Top players approach the ball from inside the target line. At impact our hips should be open to the target line with the shoulders square. The hands should be leading the club head into impact. The club head slowly squares on the downswing. At impact your head should be slightly behind the ball with weight behind impact to create power.
Follow-through: After impact the club-head continues down when hitting a ball on the ground and moves slightly upward when hitting a driver with the ball on a tee. The body continues to rotate after impact with the weight moving to the left side. The right side of the body, namely right shoulder and hip, moves well past where the ball was positioned. The golf club is “released” which means that the right arm rolls over the left, the club face is in a toe-up position at waist level and at the full finish the right shoulder is closer to the target than the left. The left leg supports the weight on the follow through.
