– Once you've established a great address position to the ball you might consider the next bit is the most important bit. And I'm inclined to agree with you. The first movement of the club, back from the golf ball, pretty much sets the tone for
the rest of the golf swing. As we know as golfers, we want to try and deliver this club as consistently as possible, down to the ball to produce
nice consistent golf shots. It is therefore important
that the backswing is really good, stable, and consistent. So as we address the golf ball, we need to get this club moving. So it's a case of what moves first.
Does the hands move it? Do the legs move it? Do the shoulders move it? Well it's important that the
shoulders start this motion. So from a good address position, I'd like you to feel
that your lead shoulder pushes round underneath your chin. So it goes here. So it starts with the upper
body and the shoulders. You can see the legs in this
motion are quite passive. They don't really do that much. And the hands are quite passive and the club is moved
back into a good position. And here we're going to stop our takeaway. And we're gonna start
to just use a checkpoint to make sure you're in the right position.
So from the golf ball to here
is the golf swing takeaway. And in this position, I can look back into
where the camera would be. And hopefully the club head is effectively covering my hands. So the camera can't really
see much of my hands. If the club was here, you can see my hands. If the club was here, you could see my hands. And both of these positions, I suggest would be incorrect. I'd like to see the club
go into this position. So when the shaft is
horizontal to the ground, the club face pretty much blocked
the view from that camera. Now if that was a mirror or a patio door, that might be something
you can practice at home. Swing the club back, make sure it's horizontal to the ground. And the club head covers my hands. One further checkpoint here, just to make this a
little bit more detailed, is to also check the
position of the club face. I might be able to swing the club back. I could say well yeah, the club head blocks my hands, but look at the position of this.
This is not in the right place. Likewise, this is not in the right place. So what is the right place? Here. Not quite vertical,
just slightly turned in. And the great checkpoint
is the leading edge here should match my spine angle. So as I tilt forward to the golf ball I have good spine angle. As I bring the club back, I make sure the club head sits parallel to my spine angle, covering my hands in the rear view. And actually you can also check the shaft points at my intended target line.
So if it was swinging
at what I would class as inside the line, the shaft doesn't point on my target line and the camera can see my hands too much. Outside the target line, shaft doesn't point at target. And again, the camera can see my hands. Open face, closed face. So you can see lots of
different things could happen in that very early
part of the takeaway. If I don't get that right, I'm going to struggle
in the rest of my swing.
Quick look from the front on now. Good address position and shoulder rotation. The lead shoulder pushes
round under the chin as I start to take the club away. It isn't flicked away with the hands, it's not excessively done with the legs. So use a mirror where I've got my camera, turn and have a little look, make sure it's dominated by the shoulder. And the club gets into the right position.
And if we put all that together, the takeaway should start to go into a nice flowing golf swing. On line, to produce good, straight,
high flying golf shots. Get your takeaway right. It sets you up nicely for
the rest of your golf swing..