Basic Steps to Perfect Golf. -- Prime Link to Lesson 4 - The Down Swing

Prime Link.

=Lesson 4//"whipping action"

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"whipping action" -ds02 -( Changed - 18/05/2003)

To develop the technique and the timing that is required to be able to accelerate the clubhead into the contact area, begin with this simple exercise:-

Begin by taking your normal stance position, with the torso and the shoulders in the "Square to the Ball" Position.

Place a tee peg in the ground, in a position just slightly left of the centre of your stance -- This will give you a point on which to focus the movement.

For this exercise we will be using an eight iron, for the simple fact that it is easier to use a short iron to practice this movement, rather than a longer shafted club.

Grip the club and hold it at a 90` angle to your body so that as you look down at the the arms and the golf club the shape forms a true "Y" shape.

THE ADDRESS POSITION.

Continued

During this first part of the practice exercise, stand perfectly still, and make the muscles of the chest,the shoulders and the arms into a taut condition so that as the shoulders rotates the arms will follow the movement instantly, therefore as you carry out this exercise, keep both arms perfectly straight and carry out the movement in slow motion.

Whilst holding the shoulders and the arms in the now familiar, compact, one piece unit, slowly rotate the shoulders into a quarter of a back swing movement and simultaneously flex the wrist joints and roll the hands in a clockwise motion, to create an angle of the golf club.

You will note that as you rotate the shoulders into the back swing movement, immediately the shoulders begins to move, exaggerate the flexing of the wrist joints so that by the time you reach the end of the short back swing, the angle of the golf club is such, that the shaft is pointing towards the sky -- (Not directly upwards but above the horizontal position.)

Slowly rotate the shoulders back to the address position and whilst stopping the hands from moving past the original address position, bring the club head back to the original address position.

As you stand at this moment the body is in the exact position that it was at the original address position.

From this position and whilst maintaining the muscles in a taut condition, make an identical movement to the other side of the body, so that you create a mirror image of the back swing movement.

This is done by exaggerating the flexing the wrists and rolling the hand in an anti-clockwise motion, as soon as the shoulders begins to rotate towards the target

At the end of this simple follow through movement, the angle of the club is such, that the shaft is now pointing towards the sky- (Not directly upwards but above the horizontal position)

The one key to remember is that the both arms must be held as straight as possible, you carry out this exercise.

The key to the success of this exercise is as soon the hands have returned to the central position, the hands must "frozen" in this position, until the club head has gone past the original address position.

Once the club head has gone past the original address position, the hands slowly follows the movement of the golf club.

Repeat this movement over and over again, but as the hands returns to the original address position, you must remember to hold the hands back so that they remain adjacent with the tee peg position, until the clubhead has gone past the original address position.

PRACTICE FOR THE FLAYING ACTION

In these photographs I have tried to show in graphic form, an exaggerated version of how to practice the golf swing.

In the first photograph I have cocked the wrists whilst holding the hands in the address position, and the next stage of the back swing movement ( which is not shown ) is to continue to rotate the shoulders whilst maintaining the angle of the golf club, into a short back swing.

When I have reached the end of the short back swing movement, I will then reverse the movement, by rotating the shoulders back to the original address position.

At the precise moment that the hands return to the original set up position, the "inertia effect" dictates that golf club will still be unfolding. So as soon as the shoulders returns to the original address position, stop the movement of the shoulders so that the hands can return to the original address position, whilst the clubhead returns to the original address position.

During the full swing the whole body would turn to face the target-- But for the purposes of this exercise, as the hands returns to the original address position, stop the hands from passing this point, whilst the clubhead continues to move on past the original address position, as in the second photograph.

The next stage that the golf swing take from the view in the second photograph, ( not shown) is to allow the hand to follow the movement.

As you continue to practice this movement, gradually begin to exaggerate the rolling of the wrists so that the clubface begins to "open" as soon as you begin the back swing movement and similarly, exaggerate the rolling of the wrists club face begins to "close" as soon as the clubhead goes past the original address position.

As you become more aware of the correct movement, as the hands returns to the original address position gradually begin to introduce the "Key Movement" into the action.

Once you have mastered this movement of rolling the wrists during the back swing movement and reversing the movement during the down swing movement and as long as you carry out the "Key Movement" -- you will be able to hit the ball a lot further and much straighter than your golfing friends.

During the actual swing, the body movements are slightly different, but this gives a preview of the actual swing movements that the professional golfers carry out, in order to hit the ball such tremendous distances.

Move the mouse over the picture, to see a very basic version of the practice movement.

You have to visualise the golf club making a smooth movement from the start of the movement, all the way to the completion of the movement.

This is basically the flaying movement that you will carry out during the full swing.

Slowly build up this action, so that you can incorporate the "Key Movement" into the swing movement, but make sure that as you carry out the "Key Movement" -- that the head remains slightly behind the ball and that you continue to rotate the shoulder.

Slowly build in the rolling of the wrists into the movement, so that as you take the golf club back the clubface opens and reverse the action of the rolling of the wrists as you return the hands back to the central position.

The "Key Movement" will hold the clubface "Square to the Target Line" for the duration of time it takes to carry out the "Key Movement" and once you have completed the "Key Movement" the wrist will continue to roll the wrists as you move into the follow through movement.

To go a step further towards advancing your skills, as you return the shoulders back to the original address position, imagine that you are flinging the hands back to the original address position.

Once the hands reach the original address position, hold them in place as the club head unfolds -- Then as soon as the club head strikes the ball, carry out the "Key Movement" and once that is completed, allow the whole upper body to turn to face the target area ( but remember to hold the head in the "Fixed Frontal" position and retain the upper body angle.)

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