Stage 1
When building a strong repeatable golf swing its always best to start with short swing first as this is the best way to monitor this motion visually.
Compression is the aim for all buddy golfers but if you can't compress a golf ball with a small swing it makes no logical sense to try with a bigger swing. This unfortunately is so often not the case, golfers are trying to run before they can walk which only leads to frustration. So often I see golfers investing so much money and time on their games at the driving range, buying golf equipment & playing on the golf course with little if any improvement other than the odd good round. This is devastating to the golfer but also to me as a golf coach as I would like to see all players benefit from their investments wether it's time or money spent.
It's my aim to provide and help players develop their games as fast as they can by gaining correct insights to help structure and maintain their development. I am going to present vital insights to help educate golfers in reference to building correct movements as well as give them relevant check points to monitor this development. The only way to improve with any lasting progress is to have a clear understanding of what you're trying to create plus have a way to check and monitor what you are attempting otherwise it's just swinging at the ball.
As we have discussed previously in the concept part of this website we have learned that when swinging the golf club we have to adhere to its design. A quick recap, the golf club is designed to sit at a specific angle from the ground. When the golf club is being used its been designed to have the shaft forward of the club head at impact. These 2 points are so valuable when learning or trying to improve on your current motion. There are certain imperatives that have to adhered too when playing golf-
- The Flat Left Wrist
- Straight Plane Line
- Club head Lag Pressure Point.
Lets tackle the Flat Left Wrist First. At impact the left wrist has to be flat to have control over the direction and elevation of your golf shot. This is assuming that you have the left hand positioned on the golf correctly at address. See the foundations page to recap the position of the left hand. The left wrist is primarily going to influence the direction of the club face throughout the golf swing so it's vital that you pay attention to the left wrist.
Straight Plane Line highlights how the club relates to the baseline of your golf swing. Imagine a line that starts at your target and comes straight back through the golf ball and continues back for as long as you like, we are going to this line the ball to target line. The shaft of the golf club points to that line at address, as it moves backwards in an arc like fashion the shaft will still be pointing to the ball to target line. When the shaft reaches a point where it's parallel to the ground the shaft will also be parallel to the ball to target line you drew at the start. So whenever the shaft is parallel to the ground it will also be parallel to the line otherwise either end of the shaft should be pointing at the ball to target line. This is what we call an on plane golf swing, even though the golf swing is in an arc it maintains it relationship to a straight line.
Club Head Lag Pressure Point concerns the maintenance of pressure being applied to the shaft throughout the golf swing. It monitors the amount of energy being driven into the impact interval. Too often I see golfers arriving at their impact position with not enough energy for the shot in hand. I would like to give you an example here, place the golf club on the floor and tilt the shaft forwards towards your left leg if you're right handed. Now see how the shaft is what we call forward leaning of the club head, this is what we are trying to create when we play a normal golf shot. The amount of forward lean will depend on where the ball is positioned in your stance, ie the more your ball is positioned to the right foot the more the forward lean will be visible yet the closer the ball is to your left foot the less the forward lean will be visible.
When building a golf swing starting small first while adhering to these ground rules will give you a much better chance of developing a strong dependable motion. Having the knowledge of what you're trying to create makes the process so much easier to monitor thus empowering the player to make real progress fast. Educating golfers is the best way to see long term progress rather than telling them of lots positions they should arrive at. The golf swing is not a stop start movement it should have Rhythm, acceleration and timing and this can only be achieved when the student has the education of what he/she is trying to create rather than a bunch of positions to try to get into.