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Golf

2011-12-27 09:37:25

Ask the pro - series

A: Thus far in this series, with help from several sources, we have talked about the things that one must do to first to get in the position to begin the swing. They have been the grip, the alignment and the stance. The swing is broken down into two parts. The backswing…and the downswing. Last month, we talked about the backswing. This month, we talk about the downswing. With it we uncover the most common and at the same time most devastating flaws in golf. The golf swing itself is probably the most difficult and certainly the most elusive action in all athletics. The peak of frustration is reached here because, no matter what has gone before it, this one move can make a greater difference in the result of the swing and the shot than any other. We can have a perfect grip, start back from the ball properly, reach the top in faultless position — and then ruin it all by the next move we make. Not only can the swing be ruined by this move, it is ruined about 95 per cent of the time with amateurs…but it doesn’t have to be. The deadly moves, the most fatal flaws in the golf downswing are these: 1. Spinning the hips without moving the weight laterally, 2. With this spinning motion turning the right shoulder high toward the ball and 3. Trying to move the club head or slowing down the hands. These moves bring quick disaster by causing two things: 1.They make us hit too soon and they make us hit from the outside in. 2. The first robs us of distance, the second of direction — and what else do we want from a full shot? Because we hit too soon, the drive that might have gone 220 yards goes only 190, and into that trap that juts out into the fairway. Because we hit from the outside instead of from the inside, the ball is pulled and, if the face of the club is not square, it will be hooked, sliced, smothered or even shanked. The best we can hope for is that we will slice it only a little and that, after starting to the left, it will curve back into the fairway. Even if we are that lucky, we will know we have hit a weak shot. These are the actions and these are the shots that we see on every private course in the country, every public course and on most mats of every driving range. It can truthfully be said that this is the natural way to hit a golf ball – with the Sunday duffer spin. It is also the principal reason that the scores of our millions of players remain so high. These actions in this one area of the swing produce bad shots in such astronomical volume that the short game, no matter how good it is, can’t take up more than a little of the slack. We will say without fear of contradiction that a player who makes these moves and still gets around in 86 on a good day would cut ten strokes from his score if he made the right moves. So, what are the golf downswing magic moves? There are 3 moves: (1) Move the hips laterally to the left while (2) keeping the head back and (3) making no effort whatever to move the golf club. For a perfect golf downswing, you must move your hips laterally, and not in a turning motion. There are 3 reasons for this. First, when you move your hips laterally to the left from the top of the swing, they carry the weight (which has been mostly on the right leg) along. They move it toward the approximately equal distribution, at least, which you must have at impact. Second, since you are twisted and wound up tightly at the top, any turning movement of your hips turns your shoulders too. It turns your right shoulder around high and toward the ball. Hence, when you bring the club down, you have to bring it from the outside in. The hips will turn if they are moved laterally, but they are very liable not to move laterally if they are merely turned. You can prove this to yourself by standing up and moving your hips to the left as far as they will go. Make no mistake about it, the hips are what move the shoulders and club and start the downswing. As they near the limit of extension, they will turn and you cannot stop them. At the top of the swing, of course, the hips are turned somewhat to the right, maybe 45 degrees, and as you move them laterally they will quickly begin to turn back to the left. The trick is get them going to the left, laterally, before they turn too much. If you ask how much is too much, you become hopelessly involved. You might as well ask how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. You don’t have to worry about that. Just be sure you get your hips going laterally, and that you don’t try to turn them. The third reason for the lateral slide of the hips is that this is the movement which starts the club down toward the ball, by causing the shoulders to rock slightly as they turn. That movement of the hips — and nothing else — provides the first impetus for the downswing. Make no mistake about it, the hips are what move the shoulders and club and start the downswing. Next month, we will talk about the 2nd move, that of keeping the head back, and the 3rd move, that of making no effort to move the golf club.