Playing Tips
A turn for the better
Correct - club syncronised with turn
I gave the sort of lesson the other day that makes me really glad I teach golf for a living. My client was Alan - a thirteen handicapper who could hit the ball well off the tee but had trouble striking crisp iron shots. My first observation of his swing made me think that he was potentially much better than a thirteen handicap. I could see he had obviously put quite a lot of work into his basic fundamentals.
He had a solid looking set up, good weight shift back and through, but was frustrated with his iron shots; his timing appeared to be a little out.
Incorrect - too much turn
I observed that his body was working towards the target before he finished his back swing. The body being too far ahead on the downswing was forcing an early release of the hands and the odd heavy hit.
I complimented Alan on his swing and advised that his swing problem was one of synchronization.
I asked him what he had worked on in the past. He told me that he always works on a one piece takeaway, making sure that the arms and body turn together away from the ball. I felt that he had overdone a good thing - his body was fully turned by the time he was half way back. When his arms reached the top of the back swing, his top half was moving back towards the target - a trap that a lot of golfers fall into.
Correct - coil with weight on right side
If you study the swings of great golfers you will notice that club and shoulders are always synchronized, which leads to consistency. One that springs to mind is Freddie Couples; Fred swings the club away fairly briskly with very little turn but arrives at the top with a massive coil. No wonder his timing always looks superb.
To illustrate the problem to Alan I videoed his swing, loaded it onto my computer and compared it to a well known golfer - he could see the difference straight away.
Incorrect - overturn with weight on left side
He understood that he had to get the club head swinging freely away from the ball. The drill I gave him made the club feel that it was half way back before his body had time to move. In fact it wasn’t - it just seemed that way because of what he was used to. Pretty soon the swing looked very dynamic; he was effortlessly hitting really powerful iron shots. It was a pleasure to see the look of sheer joy on his face.
Seeing the shots rip away gave Alan the confidence of knowing we were on the right track. Old habits die hard and it will take a fair bit of practice before the new swing becomes natural - but Alan could see his dream of achieving a single figure handicap was possible.
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