Instruction
How to actually stay down through the shot
Most serious golfers have seen slow-motion video of Tiger Woods or some other tour pro who moves his or her body down in the moments before impact. Those players actually lower what is called their “center,” or upper body on the downswing. But rarely, if ever, do amateurs make the same move.
In fact, many amateurs rise up during the same portion of the swing. And when they do, some well-meaning friend will often tell them to “stay down through the shot.” It’s good advice, but it almost always falls on deaf ears.
Above: What it looks like when a golfer “rises up” at impact
Why? Well, because staying in your posture, or moving down is much easier said than done. Professionals do it because they are in a position to do it. By that, I mean that they have the golf club moving on an angle that allows them to stay down. At the top of the swing, most professionals “re-plane” the golf club. That is, they lower the club onto their original shaft plane position (or close to it), which allows them to move aggressively through the ball.
The reason most amateurs stand up or “bail out” as I call it, is because they usually have the club at an angle that is too steep. If you have seen your swing on video and the grip end of the golf club is pointing at the ground during the transition, you have little to no chance of “staying down.” That’s because if you do, you will stick the club straight into the ground.
Above: This steep angle of the club shaft created by an improper transition is the cause for several impact flaws.
To avoid this steep angle of attack you do the sensible thing, bailing out as you approach impact. Almost EVERYONE finds a way to avoid hitting the ground, and if the club transitions very steeply bailing out is a good way to do it. And that’s a fine fix until some well-meaning member of your group tells you to “stay down, man.”
The other fix is to “back up,” which is the common fix for more experienced players. Golfers always hear about “turning through, getting to their left side and following through,” etc. But if the club starts down too vertical, a golfer only has two choices: to bail out or back up. Backing up is a term I have for when a golfer tilts his or her upper body away for the ball. It shallows out the shaft plane and helps them avoid hitting the ground. But it is an ineffective form of bailing out because it does not allow a golfer to apply as much force to the golf club.
So how can you get the golf club on a angle that will allow you to swing aggressively through the ball, really going down and “getting it” like tour players? Well, when you get to the top of the swing and begin your downswing, the golf club has to get lower or shallower. Players have different keys for doing this, and you have to find your own. But one you may see at the top of the swing is players doing is this:
Your right (or rear) elbow has to move forward, more toward the target line. And you can’t move the whole unit, just the rear elbow (get up right now and try that, because it’s harder than it sounds). Go to the top of your swing, and move the elbow in front of you. If you did it right, you will see the right wrist flex and the left wrist flatten. That means you have just put the golf club in a position from where you can “stay down” through the shot.
When many golfers first put this move into practice, they often hit some topped shots. This is because these golfers have flattened the plane of the shaft, but they are still bailing out of the shot, a leftover behavior. But when they stay with it, they soon start to feel what turning through the shot and keeping their posture feels like.
A good check point might be this: If you see yourself on video, you may want to have the grip end of the club pointed at or slightly outside the golf ball at the halfway-down point. Your attack angle will shallow and you’ll be hitting it like the big boys, moving down through the shot.
As always, feel free to send a swing video to my Facebook page and I will do my best to give you my feedback.
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My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Dennis
Jan 4, 2016 at 8:07 pm
What about weight shift to left side first?
David
Dec 31, 2015 at 2:42 am
A very thoughtful piece of instruction. My ball striking is good at times but goes “off” when I get too vertical and commence “backing up” or “standing up”. A variety of undesired consequences can follow. I am going to try this rear elbow movement. Hopefully more bang for my buck. Keep you posted. Happy New Year!
Sayan
Jul 8, 2015 at 10:39 am
This move has helped me a lot. I tried to get into the position of the Tiger pic by moving my right shoulder down to the ball and the left shoulder in the opposite direction (rotate the shoulders around the spine). The club head would lag and then release. This worked but is a more vertical swing so the margin of error is small – if my spine angle changed. With laying the club back first with the elbow move, I simply turn my left hip away and keep the head behind using the left neck muscles (otherwise there is a danger of spinning out). This is giving me more margin for error and the contact is much less dependent on timing.
Two small problems: This tends to produce a little more draw and the ball starts out a little more to the right (hit a few trees that force you to fade). With the vertical swing I could start the ball along the line. Also I seem to lose a little distance. However, this allows me to be much more consistent. Thank you.
Matty D
May 19, 2015 at 9:00 am
Hello Dennis Clark
I resently started starting making this move and it’s been night and day for my golf swing. It’s really really coming around. With good balance I can hit skiing short irons. With great distance.
My only question is my Driver (I’m 6’3″ 190lbs)
My slice came back, the end of the club was about 6-10inchs away from my waist.
After moving the end of the club father away from my waist I was able to straighten the driver again.
I’m kinda puzzled by this one? Do you or anyone else on here have an opinion on this?
Or dose this sounds like a case of different stroks for different folks?
Matty D
May 19, 2015 at 8:33 am
I agree this is great and Yes this is how “the big boys do it”
Tony P
Feb 13, 2015 at 9:00 am
Dennis recently analyzed my swing via his email system and it was awesome. It clearly showed my swing doing the exact things mentioned in this article ( maybe I was the inspiration? ) In any event, I’ve been working really hard to not rise up and shallow out my angle of attack during my downswing. The tips mentioned here are invaluable and nothing but high praise for Mr. Clark. Keep the tips coming sir.
Cottora
Dec 5, 2014 at 12:30 pm
This is a really good article that helped me visualize an issue I have. One thought that seems to work for me.
When you get to the top of the backswing pretend you are holding a Frisbee with your right index and thumb. Now, how can you sling the Frisbee to the target? You must drive the inside of your right elbow hard towards the target before and while releasing which will flatten or lay down your arm.
Dmitri
Mar 14, 2014 at 7:50 am
Nice article! I also would like to add that the steep angle of attack/over the top is many times caused by poor lower body movement and initiation in the transition, causing what is called “early extension” where the hips thrust towards the ball, resulting in the upper body rising up and going backwards like Dennis explained. Getting physically screened, like a TPI golf screen, could be very beneficial in discovering what your body can or can’t physically do.
cydtazz
Jan 3, 2014 at 10:20 pm
Great article Dennis!
Sadly some will never get it.
Mark
Dec 23, 2013 at 10:18 am
Isn’t this elbow move the same “Magic Move” that Harvey Penick talked about in his Little Red Book almost 20 years ago now?
Dennis Clark
Dec 30, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Actually 21 years, there is a 20th anniversary edition out in fact. Mr Penick taught for many years in Austin, Tex. He loved a flat swing that produced a low draw shot because that was the preferred ball flight of Texas players. So the club getting stuck to steeply would have ben a cardinal sin-particularly in that part of the world. Many kids who turn pro from that area have to learn to hit the ball higher when they tour.
Yea
Dec 13, 2013 at 1:02 pm
I like to stamp down like the old fashioned way. The lifting of the front foot on the backswing will make you stamp down and attack the ball at through the hit. It works.
Martin
Dec 2, 2013 at 7:56 pm
Great article. Now I can tell my friend why he sometimes “bail out” :)In “The Slot Swing” Jim Mclean gives this “magic move” a very understandable explanation. In short: when you push your left hip forward a few inches from a good at the top of the swing position the club shaft will automatically fall into a more flat and inside angle, making it easier to find “the slot”, ie a good impact. I dont know if Dave is with me on this, but it works well for me (most of the time :))
Dennis Clark
Dec 3, 2013 at 4:10 pm
Who is Dave?
Jeff
Oct 4, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Dave is Dave Dennis. You answer the question “who is Dave?” And you’ll have found the holy grail of golf secrets.
Dennis Clark
Oct 4, 2014 at 9:04 pm
I can’t remember why I asked about Dave whoever he may be…my 50 year holy grail quest led me back to the earth. Everything else is show biz as they say. ????
JP Sartre
Dec 16, 2015 at 8:37 pm
The burning existential question is not so much “who” is Dave, as “why” is Dave?
Joe
Nov 26, 2013 at 1:28 pm
It doesnt matter what dennis myers says
Jack
Nov 26, 2013 at 12:29 am
For me the difference is feeling like I am maintaining my spine angle. That keeps me down and through. The scrunching down feel works too. But down forget the forward weight shift or its chunk city like a prior poster said.
k
Nov 24, 2013 at 5:21 am
Never listen to a man with stock shafts…
ZC
Nov 22, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Just watched the sacho Mckenzie video on you tube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuJaSM7Kexw
Really interesting stuff, strikes me as one of the keys in generating ‘whip-like’ yet relaxed club head speed. and more importantly for me, an easier way to square the clubface using natural torque and not forcing it with forearm muscles
ZC
Nov 22, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Thanks for this article Dennis – I have noticed tour pros ‘re-plane- the club at transition but though this move is done actively using the wrists. It seems much more simple if you just move the elbow as you transition down as this will position the hands and club for you?
I also come out of posture and have been trying for months to not early extend…hope this tip will help, although I also think my left hip rotation could be better (also doing rehab exercises for it) which is why I don’t stay down ands though it as well as I’d like.
Will give this tip a good go though!
ZC
Nov 22, 2013 at 2:20 pm
Sorry, I meant ‘but thought this move was done…’
Michael
Nov 22, 2013 at 8:42 am
I am not understanding elbow forward. Is Dennis saying that the elbow is supposed to be ahead of the club handle on the downswing? Confused.
Dennis Clark
Nov 22, 2013 at 10:17 am
The center of mass of the golf club should fall below the plane of the hand path. Ala Sergio Garcia. Research Sasho Mackenzie. Great golf research scientist from Canada.
TheLegend
Nov 22, 2013 at 12:37 am
You actually cant stay down. Thats not how the body works. You can however shrink like tiger or jack while rotating. When David Duval was in his prime he would not even be looking at the ball at the moment of impact. Saying stay down is very bad advice.
Dan
Nov 22, 2013 at 12:58 am
As oposed to coming up out of the shot. Did you even read this?
naflack
Nov 22, 2013 at 2:20 am
Staying down equals chunk city for me, ironically my swing looks allot like the Annika/Duval move. I’m guessing this applies more to those who literally come out of the shot.
bainz69
Nov 21, 2013 at 4:02 pm
Why did no-one tell me this when I first took up golf?? Is this move of the elbow really the ‘magic move’ us amateurs have been looking for (for a long time in my case)??
Dennis Clark
Nov 21, 2013 at 7:45 pm
Depends. Remember that one plane swings have the club into the delivery position at the top and in the transition. Those who swing it up more need to “replane” in transition hence more need for the elbow forward bit.
bainz69
Nov 22, 2013 at 8:04 pm
So hackers have club above hand plane and chop down at the ball, whereas good golfers get it underneath hand plane and spin the clubhead out at the ball creating more speed and consistent hits??
Dennis Clark
Nov 24, 2013 at 1:17 pm
I would be more kind…”Average golfers” can struggle with club face squaring due the problem I discussed. When you can get the center of mass of the club under the hand plane (laid off)it is easier to square it. Squaring can achieved more “passively”.
Troy Vayanos
Nov 21, 2013 at 2:39 pm
Well explained Dennis,
This is something all Amateur golfers can work on.
Cheers
Vince
Nov 21, 2013 at 9:49 am
I’m gonna try this. Great article Dennis.
Philip
Nov 21, 2013 at 6:10 am
It is always amazing if you recognize your swing flaw and get an explanation why you do this and how to fix it.
The “bail-out” is my current problem and thanks to this article I have an idea what I have to correct.
Good job, thank you!