PERFECTSTROKE™ - GOLF INSTRUCTION

Written by Mark Officer
Australian PGA Member

TRAINING PROGRAM

1. The Grip
2. Alignment
3. Set Up
4. Power Sources
5. The Full Swing
6. Shaping Shots
7. Ball Flight Laws
8. Putting
9. Chipping
10. Pitching
11. Bunker Shots
12. Video Analysis
13. Analysis & Performance
14. SAM PuttLab

Section 4 - Power Sources

CLUBFACE
ASSISTANT™


Training System

Golf Australia DVD

SAM PuttLab


Swing Analysis

There are three main power sources, which are involved in generating club head speed in the golf swing.  The primary power source is the turning of the body. The upper body, the shoulders, the trunk and the hips need to turn on the back swing to develop coil and then they need to unwind on the down and through swing.

At the same time that the body is turning, the arms need to swing up in the back swing.  The left arm, or lead arm for a right hander, should stay fairly nearly straight as this has a bearing on the size of the swing arc. If the left arm softens at all in the back swing, the arc is going to be smaller than if the left arm is able to remain straight. 

In the down and through swing the left arm will remain straight and both arms are going to be straight just after impact. Then the right extends fully on the through swing.  At the same time as the body is turning and the arms are swinging up and down and up, the wrists need to be cocking, un-cocking and then re-cocking. 

The lower body should provide a stable base during the swing, as it is difficult to generate any power and be able to transfer any energy from the feet, the knees and the legs into the club shaft.

Too much pushing or driving with the feet, the knees or the legs can very easily push you out of position and make it more difficult to swing the club in the right direction. 

Being able to turn the body fast, swing the arms down fast and uncock the wrists at the correct time in the down swing, is very important in being able to generate club head speed at the right time in the swing, which is in the hitting area.

BODY TURN
As we bend forward from the hips when you have good posture in the address position, this is going to help determine the shoulder plane during the swing. The shoulders should turn on an inclined plane during the swing, not too steep and not too flat. While the shoulders are turning on this plane the trunk should be rotating around the spine. So it’s pretty much a turning action both back and through, although there will be some slight lateral movement on the downswing.

The hips should also be turning in both the backswing and downswing and here also a small amount of lateral movement toward the target is acceptable. At times it’s a fine line between correct turn of shoulders, trunk and hips and a destructive tilt or swaying motion.

One of the best ways to look upon body turn is as being a level turn. And to help to get used to this level turn you at first need to learn how to turn your body while standing upright and not in a golf posture.

In this exercise you would place a golf club or similar behind your head resting on your shoulders with hands outstretched on either end of the club and arms in a comfortable position with some symmetry. Feet position as normal and with everything parallel aligned and looking straight ahead at the horizon. Turn to the right for a right handed player but keep the eye focus straight ahead. You should be able to turn the shoulders somewhere near 90 degrees in the backswing and you should find that the shaft of the club on your shoulders has remained horizontal. This indicates a level turn. The trunk will have been pulled around and so too the hips will probably have rotated between 30 and 45 degrees. Turn back to the starting position with the shaft remaining horizontal and now allow your head to rotate to the left as you keep turning your body to the left. The shaft should have stayed horizontal throughout the motion and now your hips should be facing 90 degrees left of the start position. In other words, facing towards your target. This body turn should have pulled the right foot up off the ground and at the finish of the exercise you should be right up onto the toes of your right foot with only about 5% of you weight remaining there.

The shoulders will have turned on a horizontal plane, you will have turned your trunk around your spine and your hips will have turned back and through.

This is the basis for your body turn during your golf swing. Doing this exercise will help develop and train your body to feel the correct body motion and of course it will help to develop or maintain flexibility.

After having learned to turn the body correctly while standing upright then we need to move into a golf posture and again practice a level turn. When doing this exercise standing upright the horizon is your reference for plane. Now when bending  forward in your golf posture you need another reference to ensure correct shoulder plane.

It is suggested that you use a straight line or something similar about 5 or 6 metres in front of you to reference. Of course the bend from the hips for different clubs changes so this has an effect on the shoulder plane but we are just trying to establish a middle of the road plane to work with. 

The shaft on your shoulders should now point down along the reference line in the backswing and also well into the follow through. The trunk is rotating and the hips should be turning back and through. There is no need to have any spine tilt while doing this exercise and firstly it is recommended that you do full turn backswings and three quarter turn follow throughs. This will ensure that you have kept your spine angle until well after you have hit the ball. Your head should be allowed to rotate to the left as your body turns to the left so keeping your head down is not necessary.

If you do keep your head down it may actually slow down your body turn and prevent a weight transfer. Trying to keep your eyes on the ball is a better thought than keeping your head down as most top line players never lose sight of the ball when they are hitting it. 

After doing three quarter through swings in this exercise you should then practice turning into a full follow through with weight almost totally on the left side at the finish and facing towards the target and in balance.  The people in golf who hit the ball a long way and consistently have good body turns, they can turn fast and they are able to remain in balance during the swing.

ARM SWING
The second power source comes from the arms swinging up, down and up again as the body turns. The arm swing has a big influence on the size of the arc during the swing and therefore the amount of club head speed developed.

In a normal address position the left arm is straight and the shaft almost seems to be an extension of the left arm.

During the backswing if the left or lead arm can remain straight it will ensure the arc is wide and maximum to potential club head speed can be developed. If the left arm is allowed to soften it may not have any influence on direction but it will cost some club head speed through loss of arc. If the left arm can remain straight also throughout the downswing and into the early part of the follow through it will also be an effective constant helping solid ball striking and centred hits. The right arm will become extended and straight just after impact and then be straight through the majority of the rest of the swing. Left arm straight on the backswing and right arm straight on the through swing sounds simple and has actually been taught for well over a hundred years. It also has a major affect on the weight transfer during the swing.

There have been many good players over the years who have allowed the arms to soften in the backswing but they all have the left arm straightening or straight at impact. All good players have arm extension after contact as well as the swing does not just finish at impact. So if a players’ left arm does bend on the backswing it may not have an effect on direction but it will certainly cost some club head speed.

One of the most common problems for handicap golfers is the left arm softening on the backswing and then never straightening out on the downswing. It is very difficult to be able to get the arms to then rotate to help square up the clubface when this lead arm is bent. If the clubface is left open the ball will go to the right consistently. Pretty soon with this clubface remaining open through impact the swing path will start to go to the left to compensate and then you will start to get more of a glancing blow. This cutting across/glancing type of action will make the ball go much shorter than with a solid strike and the problem in most cases goes back to the arms. So at the same time as the arms are swinging up, down and up they also need to be rotating perhaps a quarter of a turn on the backswing and again on the through swing. It is much easier to get the arms to rotate naturally when they are straight.

WRIST COCK
The third part of your body that contributes to developing club head speed is the hands or the wrists.  When the wrists can cock up on the backswing as the arms swing up and as the body turns it will set you up for a powerful downswing.

As the body turns and the arms swing down the wrists should begin to uncock.  If they can uncock from near when the left arm is at horizontal then the club head will probably be travelling at it’s fastest in the hitting area.  This is sometimes known as the late hit and is desirable.  Most players can develop a 90 degree angle between the left or lead arm and the club shaft during the backswing and downswing.  When to have the wrists cock in the backswing is a preference and instruction will vary however it is recommended to develop an early cock so that the hand action is happening at the same time on the backswing and downswing. 

It is also benefit to have this early wrist cock for a number of other reasons. Firstly it is helpful when trying to build or rebuild your swing that you can use some references which are easier to monitor when using your hands in the bottom part of the swing.

The second reason is that you can learn to play half shots, three quarter shots and full shots with the same hand action but with less body and arm swing.  This means that in windy conditions or when you want to vary the trajectory of the ball flight you can simply lengthen or shorten your swing.

One of the most important things to do with wrist cock however is not when to use it but how to do it. A good grip is most important in ensuring that the wrist action is one that helps to add extra club head speed but does not have an effect on the clubface control. The hold on the club should not only ensure the club is in control but also it should be one that encourages an up and down cocking action.  So the angles that are formed between the back of the left wrist and the forearm, and the back of the right wrist and forearm should basically stay the same during the swing.

This can happen when the wrists are cocking in the correct manner. If there is a bowing of the left wrist in the backswing that will close the clubface and usually lead to hooked shots and if there is a cupping of this wrist it will open up the clubface during the swing and normally lead to sliced shots. So to help to hit straight shots it is important that the wrists work in this manner.