The Basic Steps to Perfect Golf.

By Philip A Gorfett.

www.playperfectgolf.co.uk

Home Page
Introduction
Directory
Basic Principles
 
Set Up
Lower Body
Upper Body
Back Swing
Down Swing
Follow Through
Chip & Pitching
Putting
 
Fading the Ball
Drawing the Ball

 

Introduction. (Changed - 15/12/2012)


I have played golf for many years and like many other golfers I gradually learnt to play a half decent game of golf by trial and error.

Over the years I have studied the technique of top class golfers, read countless golf magazines and digested all of the information that was offered to try to find out how the top golfers are able to consistently strike the ball with a high degree of accuracy in both direction and distance.

Unfortunately the Professional Golfers and the Golf Instructors who contribute to the various golfing magazines offer all sorts of advice about the golf swing but they do not clarify the absolute basic principles of the golf swing.
Therefore about ten years ago I began to research the workings of the golf swing and have been quite surprised at the simplicity of the golf swing.

T
he information that I have gained by this extensive research has dramatically improved the quality of my golf -- and it can do the same for you as long learn the basic principles and the basic movements of the golf.

Therefore I have developed this website so that anyone who is prepared to learn these basic principles will begin to play much better golf, much quicker, rather than learn it by trial and error as I did.


I have learnt that the down swing movement is all about using the movement of the hips as they rotate towards the target area, to force a totally passive upper body unit to follow the movement of the hips all the way through to the very end of the golf swing movement.

However to be successful, the upper body unit must remain firmly held together as a very compact unit throughout the complete golf swing movement.
In addition to being held together as a very compact unit, the upper body unit must also remain absolutely and totally passive to the rotational movement of the hips - from the moment the down swing movement begins right through to the very end of the golf swing movement.

I must stress that the hips are the driving force of the golf swing from the moment the down swing begins, whilst the upper body unit remains in a totally passive condition.


How do you generate power if the upper body unit remains in a passive condition I hear you ask?

The muscles of the upper body unit are held in a very firm condition and the elbows are held as close together as is physically possible thus creating a triangular shape of the shoulders and the arms thus ensuring that the hands are held as far away from the body as is possible.

Therefore as the upper body rotates around the central core of the spine, the hands are moving on a wide swing arc and when you add the length of a golf club you can see that the swing arc of the club head at its highest point can be up to 10 foot above the ground.

Therefore the power is achieved by utilising this wide swing arc coupled with the manipulation of the wrist joint to flay the club head into the contact area, thus creating a high velocity of the club head.

I can assure you that you do not need use the muscles of the upper body or the arms to generate power, simply use the rotational movement of the hips to force the compact upper body unit to follow the movement of the hips.


Exercise.

The swing I teach will enable you to hit the ball in the direction you desire and in order to give you an idea of how this can be achieved - perform the following exercise.

Take your normal stance and address the ball.
Whilst keeping the lower part of the body very still, make a very short back swing movement whilst keeping the upper body firmly held together as a very compact unit.

Now hold the body in the fully twisted condition and simply use the rotation of the hips to force the whole twisted unit o rotate about its axis thus rotating the passive upper body unit back to the address position and you will note that the club head returns back to the original address position of being square to the target line.

Gradually increase the back swing and you will note that as long as the hip movement totally controls the upper body unit during the down swing, the club head always returns to the ball square to the target line.

Therefore it is the skill of the individual to be able to perform a full back swing then perform the down swing in this fashion that will enable the golfer to hit accurate shots.


In addition, the top golfers possess an ability to watch the ball right up to the precise moment the club head makes contact , an action that also greatly assists in keeping the head positioned behind the ball at all times.
However, the very top class golfers also see the ball move away from its resting place and it is the ability to do this on every shot that enables them to stay at the top of their profession.

To give you an idea of why I say this, you will notice that very good snooker players/tennis players/ footballers and cricketers often make very good golfers because they know that the ball must be watched until it is struck, regardless of what game they play.

If you do not have this natural ability, you need to develop this skill if you wish to improve your golfing technique.

 

However there are other basic principal that must be adhered, such as not to allow the hips to sway away from the original address position as they rotate into the back swing and also to resist the swaying action of the hips to the best of your ability during the down swing/follow through movements.

To give some idea of what I am trying to teach you have a look at the video of the full golf swing as performed by Rickard Strongert and produced by Video Jug which literally illustrates most of the points that I make in my lessons.

Although this video is a very good example of how the golf swing should be performed, it still fails to explain the importance of the finer details of the golf swing such as watching the ball until the precise moment the club head strikes the ball , and many more details that I cover in my lessons.


This is not a "quick fix" course of lessons.
All of the movements that I describe will individually enhance the quality of your golf, but it important to understand that you have to practice each movement until it becomes embodied into the subconscious mind before you can hope to achieve any benefit on the golf course -
So do not expect too much, too soon.

I have listed the lessons in logical order so that the golfer can learn the correct movement of each part of the body by way of practice. Therefore it is important that the instructions of each lesson are practised thoroughly before moving on to the next lesson.


Failure to understand this principle of gradual change to your golf swing will only cause the mind to become confused, so practice one movement very thoroughly before moving on to the next.
It will take many months of learning these new movements before you will see any significant improvement.
However if you can discipline yourself to thoroughly learn each lesson before moving on to the next lesson you will achieve the maximum benefit from my lessons.

However, whether you swing the golf club at a fast speed or a slow speed there is one single item that applies:- " The mechanical movements of the golf swing remain the same"


© ® This website is my copyright and I reserve the right to upgrade the information on a regular basis.


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