Lesson 2. - The Upper Body. - ( Changed - 05/05/2008)

The golf swing is basically all keeping the shoulders and the arms firmly held as a very compact unit as it rotates back and forth.
Therefore it is the ability to maintain the shoulders and the arms in this condition by keeping the elbows held as close together 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 keep the elbows held as close together as is physically possible thus maintaining the shoulders and the arms as a compact one piece unit during the entire golf swing movement.

However what is not obvious to the onlooker is that throughout the back swing movement, the left shoulder remain in total control of the movement shoulder/arms-unit as the rotational movement of the shoulders literally push the passive arms with an upwards motion to the end of the back swing movement and importantly, the forearms are not consciously rotated throughout the back swing movement..

However as soon as the left foot is pressed to the ground, the hips are forced to quickly rotate/pivot/sway towards the target area which forces the whole twisted body unit to rotate about its axis and as long as the hips continue to rotate/pivot/sway towards the target area, the shoulder/arms-unit will automatically back to the original address position and into the follow through movement..

However as the shoulder/arms-unit automatically rotate back to the original address position, 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 and the follow through movement.

However as the shoulders get very close to the original address position, the golfer must begin to slow down the rotational movement of the hips, which automatically slows the movement of the shoulder/arms-unit, so that the energy that was built up within the shoulder region can be released, thus allowing the passive arms/golf club to catch 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, 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, you must immediately begin to force the passive arms to interact, which causes the movement of the shoulders to slow down quite significantly. However as soon as the both arms are straight, the shoulder/arms-unit resumes its normal rotational movement whilst 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 thus holding the shoulder/arms-unit remain firmly held together as a very compact unit - without exception - even as the passive arms interact.

The golf swing movement will feel very mechanical and wooden when first performed whilst the shoulder/arms-unit is held in this very compact condition and with the arms kept fully extended, but you will soon adapt to it.

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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