|
Golf Swing Starting the
backswing from the address position
One of the many difficulties that a beginner golfer discovers when
first learning to play golf is the unpleasant realisation that one has
to start the sbackwing from a static address position. That creates an
enormous problem for certain golfers who have great difficulty
initiating a smooth swing from a static position. They often initiate
the backswing in a jerky, uncoordinated manner, which ruins their
swing from the get-go. I have personally never been severely plagued
by this particular problem, so I cannot offer a beginner golfer
full-proof advice. I am aware that certain golfers adopt certain
mannerisms/movements to break through the barrier of static inertia
that is an incontrovertible feature of the golf swing's static
starting position. Some golfers rock their body from side-to-side, or
twist their torso, to break up tension in their legs and torso muscles
just before starting the backswing. Some golfers bounce up-and-down on
their knees to release tension in their legs. Some golfers waggle
their club slowly back-and-forth before starting the backswing. Some
golfers press the club into the ground just behind the ball before
starting the backswing, hoping that it will create a small
counterforce reaction that will enable the backswing to start in a
smooth, coordinated manner. If initiating the backswing in a smooth
coordinated fashion from a static position is a problem for a golfer,
the golfer should try and experiment with different techniques
recommended by fellow golfers. It's very important that a golfer
initiate the first part of the backswing - the takeaway - in a very
smooth and very coordinated manner.
The Takeaway
The takeaway is the first part of the backswing that starts at the
address position, and ends when the club is parallel to the ground,
and the hands are at about mid/upper thigh level (8 o'clock position
of the left arm). The major body movements that occur during the
takeaway is the rotation and lifting of the arms while the shoulders
start to rotate around the spinal axis. There is very little wrist
movement during the takeaway, and only a small amount of body shift.
This is a photo of the end position of the takeaway. You can readily
see that the back of the left hand is nearly parallel to the
ball-target line, which means that the hands must have rotated nearly
90 degrees (partly due to shoulder rotation around the spine, and
partly due to left forearm rotation). You can see that the clubshaft
is no longer in line with the left arm, which means that the left
wrist must have cocked up and the right wrist hinged back to a very
small degree (see the glossary of wrists movements to understand the
difference between the terms "cocking" and "hinging").
It is stunning to realise how many errors can occur during the
takeaway. For example, a beginner golfer may move his arms too far
from the body, or too close to the body. Or, the beginner golfer may
move his arms along a too-inside swingpath or a too-outside swingpath.
Or the beginner golfer may lift the arms while tilting, rather than
rotating, the shoulders. A beginner golfer may also incorrectly rotate
his hands and thereby open the clubface during the takeaway, instead
of keeping the hands in a neutral position during the takeaway. All
these problems, in various combinations, can ruin the backswing,
because if a beginner golfer gets into the incorrect position at the
end of the takeaway, then it is extremely difficult to recover from
that incorrect position during the rest of the backswing.
How should one start the takeaway?
The key element that underlies a good takeaway move is the concept of
the one-piece takeaway.
The following photo will demonstrate what's meant by the term
one-piece takeaway.
Takeaway triangle - from reference number [1]
The takeaway triangle consists of the two arms and the shoulders.
During the takeaway, one must move the two arms and the left shoulder
at the same speed so that the dimensions of the triangle remain
essentially unchanged. That explains the term "one-piece". One should
think of the shoulder rotation, and movement of the two arms, as the
movement of a SINGLE unit, which will move as a perfectly coordinated
unitary structure in space. The takeaway starts with the simultaneous
movement of the arms and left shoulder (which moves downwards and
backwards away from the target). One should not start the takeaway
with the arms alone, or the shoulders alone. They must move
synchronously together. Some beginner golfers start the takeaway with
a wrist/hand movement, and that is a major error. The wrists and hands
should be totally passive during the early takeaway, and a golfer
should imagine his wrists/hands being encased in a plaster cast, so
that there is virtually no independent wrist/hand movements during the
initial takeaway.
Another way of thiking of the one piece takeaway is to think of taking
the entire club away as a single unit, so that the butt end of the
club and the clubhead move away at the same speed.
Here
Another important feature of the correct takeaway is the fact that the
clubhead remains low to the ground during the first 12" of travel. Why
does this happen naturally in a well-executed takeaway move?
Consider the following photo of the takeaway triangle as it evolves
sequentially in time.
Takeaway triangles - from reference number [1]
The red triangle represents the address position. Notice that the left
upper apex of the triangle is higher than the right upper apex of the
triangle - due to the spinal tilt to the right that should exist at
address. The white triangle represents the one piece takeaway after
the clubhead has moved approximately 12" in space. Notice that the
upper left hand corner of the triangle is down and to the right (due
to the rotation of the left shoulder, down-and-to-the-right, around
the centralised spinal axis) and that the top of the triangle is
roughly parallel to the ground. Notice that the bottom apex point of
the white triangle is even closer to the ground than the bottom apex
point of the red triangle. That means that the clubhead must be be
very close to the ground during its first 12" of backswing travel. If
the clubhead is high off the ground at this point in the takeaway, it
either indicates that the golfer has flexed the arms (instead of
keeping them straight), and/or hinged the wrists (instead of keeping
them neutral), and/or tilted the upper spine to the left (called a
reverse pivot move). The blue triangle represents the present
position, and one can see that the clubhead has climbed up to a
position approximately 8" from the ground by this point in time.
In the following photo from his golf instructional book [3], David
Leadbetter advises a golfer to keep the clubhead low to the ground
during the takeaway in order to create width in the backswing.
Low takeaway - from reference number [3]
Note three points. First of all, note that Leadbetter's arms are still
straight, and that he has kept the takeaway triangle intact. Secondly,
note that his right upper arm is no longer closely applied to his
chest wall (as it normally is at address) and that there is small
degree of seperation between the right upper arm and the chest wall.
Thirdly, note that the distance between the butt end of the club and
the belt buckle at this point in time is slightly greater than the
butt end-belt buckle distance that existed at address (left photo).
That is a normal phenomenon in the takeaway and it indicates that one
should gradually move the butt end of the club a few inches further
away from the body during the takeaway move. This widening movement is
a very gradual move that helps to widen the backswing arc during the
takeaway, and a golfer needs to avoid a too-narrow, body-hugging
backswing arc - note that the right elbow has moved away fom the body
and that it doesn't tightly hug the right side of the body. Some high
handicapper, beginner golfers incorrectly keep the right elbow too
tightly close to the torso during the takeaway, and they should be
encouraged to allow the right upper arm to seperate slightly from the
torso during the takeaway.
In this photo of Leadbetter, it would appear that there is no lateral
shift of the hips or thighs during the takeaway. However, that is not
true, and a small amount of right lateral shift of the thighs should
occur during the takeaway, which indicates that the golfer is starting
to shift his weight to the right side.
In the following photo, the SLAP authors demonstrate that a small
amount of shift of the thighs to the right should occur during the
early backswing (blue image is the body at address).
Shift of the thighs and hips during the early backswing - from
reference number [3]
The amount of shift varies between different players, and you can see
that Aaron Baddeley has very little shift in the following photo (red
lines represent the outer thigh positions at address).
Body shift to the right in the early backswing - from reference number
[1]
In the modern, total golf swing, a golfer tries to avoid any swaying
of the right thigh to the right by "locking" the flexed right knee.
However, a very small amount of lateral shift is necessary to get the
body moving to the right side, so that the upper torso can finally end
up in a position where the centre of gravity of the upper torso is
centered over a point that is just inside the right foot.
From the above photo, you can see that the clubshaft is parallel to
the ground. However, how far back around the body (towards the tush
line) has the clubshaft moved? The answer to that question requires
that one see a down-the-line view of the end-takeaway position.
Consider this down-the-line view of the end-takeaway position.
End-takeaway position
First of all, and most importantly, note that the clubshaft is not
only parallel to the ground at the end of the takeaway - it is also
parallel to the ball-target line and directly over the toe line.
That's a perfect end-takeaway position.
Note that the clubhead's toe is pointing up, but that the clubface
appears slightly closed (tilted marginally towards the ground). A
neutral or slightly closed clubface at this end-takeaway position
indicates that Aaron Baddeley has not actively manipulated the club
with his hands while rotating his shoulders around the spinal axis. If
the clubface is too closed in this position, then it either means that
the golfer has tilted his upper spine to the left, and/or he has
actively manipulated the club with his hands and/or he has a grip
problem that severely limits clockwise rotation of the left forearm
during the takeaway (eg. very weak grip or "deep" interlocking grip).
Many beginner golfers have the opposite problem, and they allow the
left forearm to over-rotate clockwise during the takeaway and this
causes the clubhead to move inside too quick, and it ends up behind
the toe line by the time the hands reach the 8 o'clock position - from
a down-the-line view, the clubhead would be superimposed over the
thighs, or even worse, be behind the thighs. A "bad" clubhead position
(behind the thighs) is often associated with a flaring open of the
clubface, due to over-rotation of the left forearm, and the clubface
will appear to be open at the end-takeaway position. It is important
to ensure that the clubshaft is parallel, or near-parallel, to the
ball-target line, and in line with the toes, at this point in the
backswing.
Most importantly, note (on the face-on view) that the right forearm is
higher than the left forearm. If any part of the right forearm is
visible below the left forearm at this point in the backswing, then it
suggests that the takeaway was either too-inside the line, and/or that
the left forearm was allowed to over-rotate during the takeaway.
In the address position, the hands were a few inches in front of the
toe-line. So, did he pull his hands inwards during the takeaway to get
to this position? The answer is "no". The hands get to this marginally
inside position (relative to their position at address) as a result of
the shoulder rotation. Note that the left shoulder has moved down
towards the ball-target line, while the right shoulder has moved back
(towards the tush-line). That small degree of rotation of the
shoulders around the bent-over spine causes the hands to move slightly
inwards. There should be no deliberate attempt to move the hands
inwards in the initial takeaway by rotating the left forearm
clockwise. The key move, in the takeaway, is to rotate the shoulders
(turn the shoulders perpendicularly around the spine) while thinking
of moving the back of the right hand straight back. A golfer should
imagine that there is a baseball catcher standing directly behind him,
and he should think that he is trying to place the clubhead in the
catcher's mitt - by simultaneously i) rotating, and not tilting, the
shoulders and ii) moving the hands straight back. Of course, the hands
do not actually move straight back, because of the rotation of the
shoulders around the bent-over spine, and the hands should end up in
line with the toe-line at the end of the takeaway.
When taking the hands straight back, it is often very advantageous to
think of pushing back with the left hand, rather than pulling back
with the right hand. If one pulls back with the right hand, there is a
greater likelihood of pulling the hands too inside, and seperating the
arms from the body. If one thinks of pushing back with the left hand,
it is more likely that the clubshaft will remain in the correct plane,
and it is more likely that the left shoulder will move at the same
speed as the arms, so that one maintains an one piece takeaway.
Also, note that the left upper arm is still lightly connected to the
pectoral area of the left chest wall without being tightly connected
to the chest wall. If the left arm is tightly connected to the chest
wall during the takeaway move so that the chest and left arm move as a
single unit, then this will cause the left arm to move inwards and the
hands could end up behind the toe-line, and be closer to the tush-line,
at the end of the takeaway. That inside hand position is undesirable,
and should be avoided. Likewise, if the left upper arm completely
loses its connection to the chest wall (and one can see "air" between
the left upper arm and the chest wall), then it means that the arms
have moved away from the rotating upper torso, and the left arm-body
seperation will cause the hands to end up outside the toe-line and
closer to the ball-target line (by the time the left arm reaches the 8
o'clock position). That outside hand position is also undesirable, and
should be avoided.
|
