Lesson 2. - The Upper Body. - ( Changed - 03/07/2008)

Exercise.
To get an idea of how the shoulders move in relation to the hips during the back swing movement , perform this exercise whilst you are sitting in the chair reading this website.

Raise your arms to shoulder height, hold them out in front of you , pull the elbows close together and simply use the muscles of the left shoulder and the upper arm to push the arms into a back swing movement thus causing the shoulder to make a full back swing movement. You will note that you can only push the arms so far without the lower part of the body wanting to follow the movement of the shoulders, but if you really force the arms to move even further, the lower part of the body is forced to follow the movement of the upper body unit.

If you observe most of the top class golfers you will note that during the back swing, the down swing and the follow through movement, the shoulders rotate around the central core of the body, whilst the upper body angles are strictly maintained and the head remains firmly held held in the original address position.
This is what differentiates a low handicapped golfer from a high handicapped golfer - so watch and learn from the professional`s golf swing.

However in order to play very good golf it is absolutely vital that the elbows are held as close together at all times - this means that the shoulders will immediately react to any movement of the arms. ( The only slight exception to this rule is that as the shoulders begin to rotate back to the original address position, the inertia effect will cause the arms to lag slightly behind the movement of the shoulders, but this lagging effect is practically undetectable.)

However the most important point to make is that once the elbows have been pulled as close together as is physically possible, the arms must must remain in this condition throughout the complete golf swing movement, especially as the club head swings through the contact area.

Therefore it is the ability to maintain the arms in this at all times, but especially as the club head swings into and through the contact area, that will improve your golf.

The golf swing performed by the professional golfer appears to be very loose and fluid. However if you look very carefully at their swing you will notice that they maintain the shoulders and the arms as a compact one piece unit during the entire golf swing movement.

Therefore although a combination of the muscles of the left shoulder and the left upper arm push the passive arms to the end of the back swing movement, it is absolutely vital that you forcibly rotate the shoulders around the central core of the spine, thus ensuring that the upper body unit rotates into the back swing movement as a compact one piece unit, but importantly, whilst keeping the left arm perfectly straight and without consciously allowing the forearms to rotate.

At the end of the back swing movement the whole body will adopt a fully twisted condition.

As soon as the left foot is pressed to the ground, the hips are forced to rotate/pivot/sway towards the target area which forces the twisted body unit to rotate about its axis.
Therefore as the movement of the hips force the twisted body unit to rotate about its axis, the shoulders will automatically rotate back to the original address position.

As the twisted body unit begins to rotate about its axis, the passive arms/golf club are unable to immediately follow the movement of the shoulders due to the inertia effect- ( this delay is minuscule but nevertheless it occurs) - and therefore the passive arms/golf club begins to lag slightly further behind the movement of the shoulders thus storing up a large amount of torsion/energy within the shoulder region which will be released during the later stages of the down swing.

As the shoulders get close to the original address position, the energy that was built up within the muscles of the shoulder region during the back swing and the early stages of the down swing cannot be contained any longer and the passive arms are forced to be released thus accelerating the passive arms/golf club into the contact area and therefore catching up with the shoulders at the impact position.

Therefore it is the skill of the golfer to judge the whole movement so that the club head makes contact with the ball at the precise moment the shoulders return to the original address position.

At the precise moment the club head makes contact with the ball, the shoulders must be in the original address position of being parallel to the target line, the head must be positioned so that the left eye is slightly behind the ball, the hands must not be ahead of the original address position and the weight of the body predominantly over the left leg.

However as soon as the shoulder/arms-unit return to the original address position and simultaneously the club head makes contact with the golf ball, the left shoulder muscles begin to pull the arms through the contact area, thus performing the Key Movement and most importantly, the right shoulder is forced to rotate under the chin.

As soon as the both arms are straight, the whole body pivots on the left leg and quickly turns to fully face the target area.

Therefore throughout the back swing, the down swing and the follow through movement, it is absolutely vital that the elbows remain held as close together as is physically possible, without exception - especially as the passive arms interact.

The golf swing movement will feel very mechanical and wooden when first performed whilst the elbows are held in this manner and with the arms kept fully extended, but you will soon adapt to it.

Hold the elbows close together whilst you simply use the movement of the hips to force the twisted body unit to rotate about its axis but keep the head fixed so that the shoulders swing the arms as a pendulum into and through the contact area whilst the club face is square to the target line, but importantly, at the precise moment the club head makes contact with the ball, you must force the right shoulder to rotate under the chin whilst the upper body angles are maintained and the head remains firmly held in the original address position.

Golf grip.

Before we go on to the next lesson it is worthwhile giving some guidance on the gripping of the golf club.

Please Note.

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