Important concepts to improve your golf - 1/3
Our conscious and subconscious beliefs shape our behaviours and movements.
That is why it is crucial to have a good concept of how the golf club ideally works, and how best to move our bodies and the club during the swing.
Poor concepts in these areas will lead to poor swing movements, which eventually lead to poor impact and potentially injuries.
Below is part 1 of 3 of key concepts that golfers have either not known or have miss understood that influence golf swings.
Part 1. Start with a good concept of impact and how to get there.
A clear concept of how an iron is ideally delivered at impact is essential. This good understanding shapes the way a golfer sets-up, how they use the golf club and how they move their body.
When an elite amateur and tour player deliver the club, the shaft is ‘leaning forward’ towards the target with the club de-lofted. Click to see an example. According to DST Golf, who have carried out its own independent research, this de-lofting on tour is at an average of 11 degrees.
A common reason for golfers poor quality of shots, can be traced back to a club ‘leaning away’ from the target at impact. Click to see an example here.
A common misconception that promotes a club ‘leaning away’ from the target, is the belief the golfer needs to manipulate the club in order to lift the ball. This concept leads to poor body positions, poor swing sequencing and poor impact positions. The knowledge that in fact the loft lifts the ball, means the golfer can move better and use the club with greater effect.
However, as useful this knowledge is, a good concept of how the club reaches this ideal impact position is just as important. In pursuit of good impact, a common answer for the golfer is to ‘position’ or ‘hold’ the club back during the swing with rigid arms and wrists. This approach however blocks the body and compromises ideal movement. As a result there is a poor swing sequence and the club head has no choice but to eventually be thrown ‘out’ away from the golfer and finish in an undesirable ‘leaning away’ position at impact.
Another poor prescription is to start ‘pulling’ on the club or ‘dragging’ it towards the ball at the start of the down-swing. These approaches affect how the hands work during the swing and again typically throw the club head out away from the golfer and impact is likely to be ‘leaning away’ from the target.
When a golf club is ideally ‘leaning forward’ at impact, it is a product of a good swing sequence and good hand movements.
Swing Sequence
The order and peak speeds in which the body and the club move, is called the swing sequence. The swing sequence can be defined as the parts of the body that are moving fastest at different time intervals. A simple way of picturing the ideal down-swing sequence, is to think of throwing an object. An ideal throwing action would start with the lower body moving fastest, then the upper body, the arms and finally the hands and the club. You can think of this as a relay team passing a baton along the different parts of the body.
The ideal golf swing sequence is the same as the throwing sequence.
Solutions:
Below I has suggested some solutions to encourage an ideal swing sequence to create a good club delivery.
Practice the swing sequence
1. Start by standing upright and hold the club waist height - ideally do this in-front of a window or a reflective object 2. Let the hands fall naturally just below the level of the club-head 3. Move slowly and make baseball style swings all the way to a finish position 4. Without ‘holding back’ or manipulating the club, continue to make swings and use your swing sequence to encourage the shaft to align in a ‘forward position’ at the impact with the club-face square to the target. Don’t stop at impact; Make sure the swing continues all the way to the follow through position. 5. Pay attention and start to notice how your body moves to align the shaft at the desired impact position 6. Incrementally move faster and again start to notice if there is a part of your body that is dominating the swing, throwing the swing out of sequence 7. If you find you are moving out of sequence, think of the throwing action and start again with slower moves
Applying the swing sequence
1. Draw a line on the ground 2. Set-up to the line and start to make slow swings. Use the previous base ball style swings all the way to a finish position. 3. As you swing, notice where the club is falling during the impact area. Is it in a forward position or in a leaning away from the target at impact? A good guide is that the club-head is striking the ground after the line. If the club-head is striking the ground before the line there is a good chance the shaft is leaning away from the target. 5. Be aware not to ‘chase’ striking the left side of the line or having the shaft forward at impact by excessively moving the body or ‘manipulating’ the club 6. Incrementally add speed and reduce speed if needed to regain a good impact position
Summary
Key points
Concepts and beliefs are very powerful in determining the way we move
The club ideally ‘leans forward’ at impact, but it gets there through good swing sequence and hand movements - not through forcing the club into this position
A good swing sequence is the different body segments reaching peak speed in the right order and at the right time. Think of throwing an object
‘Holding back’ the club or ‘pulling’ the club into an ideal position will only throw the club out of position and produce a poor impact
Use a baseball style swing to become aware and to develop the ideal movements to create a good impact position