Instruction
Swing in Pictures: The Top
Over the next several weeks, Tom Stickney will be presenting a series called, “The Swing In Pictures” on GolfWRX.
Each Monday a different swing position will be coupled with thoughts you (as the player) should pay attention to based on your current handicap level. I would suggest printing each of these articles out and placing them in a binder, as the series will take you from address through the finish from the front and down the line views.
Click here to view Tom’s previous articles.
PLEASE NOTE:
This article is meant to be used as a general reference for the most common swing model used in today’s game. As with any golf swing, there are personal idiosyncrasies that will alter the look and/or actions of the club shaft and body motions back and through so there will always be exceptions. Please keep this in mind as you read each section. As Homer Kelley identifies in ‘The Golfing Machine,’ there are 446 quad-trillion stroke patterns, or ways to swing the club. You only need to find the one that works best for you.
The Top (Front View)
The top of the backswing is where the backswing stops and the forward motion of the body and clubshaft begins. This is the position that will allow the downswing to begin without any radical manipulation.
For the Beginning Player:
- The shoulders have turned about twice as much as the hips.
- There is a noticeable separation between the legs as if you were holding a beach ball between your knees.
- The arms are extended away from the head with a left arm that is relatively straight but not rigid.
- The rear knee is solid and has not swayed laterally; thus, the weight is centralized on the inside of the rear foot and the forward foot is on the ground or very close.
- The head should remain relatively stable on the way to the top, it can move slightly laterally towards the rear foot.
For the Intermediate Player:
- Focusing on lower body control is a must — the knees must remain separated and the forward foot must not be allowed to leave the ground haphazardly.
- The head should be directly over the rear foot so you can be “behind the ball” or “loaded up” at the top — this is a necessity for power and control.
- Maintain the “L” created by the rear arm at the top for added width — do not let it collapse beyond 90 degrees.
- Rear knee control will create a more controlled hip turn to the top and a better foundation for the transition.
For the Advanced Player:
- Halting the swing “from the feet” is advisable whereas your feet do not leave the ground and the weight stays on the inside of the rear foot at the top.
- There is a noticeable “lean over the rear leg” at the top which was created by the lateral side bending at address; if your lower body is out of control or over-rotates then you will lose this angle.
- It is here we desire a medium hip turn, a maximum shoulder turn, and a slight “lean over the rear leg.
For the Professional Player:
- Notice the high X-Factor — the torque created between the differing upper and lower body turns. The shoulders will be turned around 90 degrees and the hips around 45, this torque allows the hips to lead and power the downswing without thought and in the proper sequence.
- The angle of the rear biceps and rear forearm must be as wide as possible to create a short arms swing coupled with a big shoulder turn.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
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.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
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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David
Mar 8, 2013 at 9:25 am
Excited to see the transition!
tom stickney
Mar 3, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Semantics can me misconstrued; thanks for the note…
David
Mar 8, 2013 at 9:25 am
Tom i’ve been reading all of these posts. They are awesome.
Walt
Mar 2, 2013 at 1:33 pm
That wasn’t that great of an answer to the fact your instruction says explicitly to get the head directly over the right foot.
I think what you mean to say here is just to position your head comfortably atop your shoulders.
Pointing out head over right foot is too generic as some people might take that to mean oh I need to lean my head backwards, or I need to lean my upper body backwards more to get my head over my shoe.
It might be better to say move your left shoulder somewhat in line with your right instep. Flexibility of the individual dictates how much they can accomplish this action.
Head directly over shoulder is just inviting a bad backwards sway into the swing.
tom stickney
Feb 27, 2013 at 5:38 pm
Simon–Remember that in the beginning levels there are many things that they need to worry about that the better players do not…secondly, the amount of lateral spinal bending at address controls the amount of lean over the right leg and subsequent head position at the top. If you read the first part of each of my articles in this series you would also see that these tips and photos are very general…there are great players in all types of positions at the top. Try to look beyond what you see as “exact” in the photos and you will find ideas that just might help you improve. There is no one way to swing…
simon
Feb 26, 2013 at 4:56 am
“The head should be directly over the rear foot so you can be “behind the ball” or “loaded up” at the top — this is a necessity for power and control”…. not really… contradicts the point about how the head can move laterally a little bit in the beginners section as well….
how many good players do you see move their head directly over the rear foot?
William Wilson
Feb 25, 2013 at 3:09 pm
I love the b/w image at the top of the article – almost looks like Hogan. What is definitely noticeable is the weight on the inside of the ‘golf shoes’ – a classic ‘Hogan Fundamental’… Nice one!