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Key Movement.
( Changed - 01/12/2011)
The Key Movement
is an interaction of the arms
that begins very gradually during the down
swing movement but becomes an explosive action at the precise moment
the club head strikes the ball.
This is the one important technique of the golf
swing that you must be aware of if you wish
to play consistent and accurate golf.
( See Video - notice
how the shoulders remain fairly static in relation to the speed
of the arms whilst the left arm pull the club head through the contact
area.)
To perform this movement correctly you must judge the down swing
movement so that the left arm begins to cause the right arm to straighten
at the precise moment the club head strikes the ball.
(It is important to understand
that whilst the upper body unit rotates into the down swing movement,
you have to judge the moment when to add extra power to the left
arm in order to pull the club head through the contact area at speed,
thus automatically pulling the right arm into the fully straightened
position.) (Top
class golfers physically force the right arm into the fully straightened
position, but for now simply allow this happen automatically.)
From the precise moment the ball is struck, regardless
of what position the hips and the shoulders are, the extra power
that was applied to the left arm prior to the club head being struck,
is used to pull the club head through the contact area at speed
thus forcing the right arm into the fully straightened position
- until both
arms are fully extended and thereby completing
the Key Movement.
Please note - If you are performing this left arm
action correctly, you will feel the muscles on the left side of
your body being stretched.
Most golfers do not know about
the technique of increasing the speed of the left arm in order to
cause the arms to interact. Therefore if you learn to perform this
movement correctly, you will have the ability to hit the ball long
and straight.
Practice Routine.
Here is a practice routine that you can carry
out whilst in your own home:-
The purpose of this exercise is to slowly repeat
the movement of the arms from the moment the club head makes contact
with the ball -- to just after the ball has been struck - (For the
purpose of this exercise, the shoulders must remain static throughout.)
Place a golf ball on the ground to the left
of centre of your stance and then adopt your normal
address position.
Form the shoulders and the arms into the compact
upper body unit by holding the arms so that the elbows
are held as close together as is physically possible.
As you stand at this moment the shoulders and
the arms have been formed into a compact, one piece, triangular
shape unit, with the left shoulder slightly higher than the right
shoulder, with the left arm straight, but with the right arm slightly
bent.
Hold the shoulders very firmly in the address
position (and by that I mean that the shoulders must remain
firmly in the frontal facing position - i.e., held on the Parallel
to the Target Line) -- In addition, the
head must be positioned so that the left eye is well behind
the ball and the head is firmly held in the Fixed
Frontal condition.
Place the club head directly behind the ball
and whilst continuing to hold the shoulders in the frontal facing
position and with your head positioned so that the left eye is well
behind the ball, simply use the left arm in conjunction with the
passive right arm, to pull club head past the ball position, thus
forcing the arms to move across in front of your body.
Keep pulling with the left arm until the right arm is in the fully
straightened position, but importantly, whilst keeping the shoulders
firmly held in the frontal facing position, the elbows held as close
together as possible and also keeping the left arm in a perfectly
straight condition.
( Remember you must keep the shoulders
fully facing the frontal facing position throughout this exercise.)
Obviously there will be a point when the club
face no longer remains Square
to the Target Line, but this exercise shows that it is possible
to extend the distance that the club face remains square to the
target line as the club head swing
through the contact area.
In order to perform this exercise correctly,
the head must remain firmly positioned so that the left eye remains
slightly behind the ball throughout the movement and the upper
body angles must be maintained.
This is the very basic movement of what I call
the "Key Movement" and once you are aware of it and how
it is performed you can begin to expand the movement.
However I must point out again that
it is absolutely vital to the success of this movement that you
keep the head positioned
so that the left eye remains slightly behind the ball position and
maintain the upper
body angles as you carry out the Key Movement.
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