When you  are standing erect, do you know where your center of gravity lies? How about when you lean over?  While the answer to these questions may be in the realm of physics, it is of paramount importance to the golf setup.

What happens to your center of gravity when you place a 300 gram weight in your hands?

As you place a golf club in your hands, your center of gravity shifts forward a little (you are adding a significant MASS directly ahead of you). Your body responds to this by tightening the upper body (just as if you were about to lift a heavy weight). This tightening is not the best thing for your golf swing – as it engages the upper body muscles – to the exclusion of the lower body.  Which means – when you start your backswing – you will be mostly arms  and hands – and a little bit of chest. You will tend to ‘whip’ the club back.

How do you avoid getting into this situation (tightening of upper body)?

Let us revisit how we got into this situation – we got here because we engaged our upper body (solely) when placing the club behind the ball. If we try to bend from the hips – keeping our weight along our hip line – we can resist the tightening of the upper body. In other words, think of LIFTING the club with the hip muscles (I know it sounds a little unconventional) instead of the upper body muscles. If you engage your lower body muscles as you lift this 300 gram weight, you can avoid the upper body getting involved.

Summary

As you place the club behind the ball, ensure that you first bend from the hips . This will automatically shift you center of gravity LOWER (towards the hips). This is exactly where you want it to stay for the entire golf swing. Try to imagine a plane table – pushing your hips back (the plane image should suggest LEVEL hips). And try to maintain this hip-line throughout your swing. This will ensure that you do not overpower your takeaway with the upper body (do not get too handsy) – and will ensure a proper downswing plane as well.

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However, there are other muscle groups that are equally capable of helping with this aspect of the golf swing. The most notable one, IMO, is the lower back. A strong lower back can serve the same purpose as a strong core – keep the swing grounded – and keep the golfer from swaying or losing his/her balance.

Fortunately, building lower back strength, is a little easier (again, based on my own experience) than building a strong core. The key exercise for the golfer’s lower back is the SQUAT.   With roughly 5 minutes of squats every day, you can be on your way to a strong lower back.

Now that you have identified an appropriate grounding ELEMENT (the lower back), how exactly do you incorporate that into your setup and swing?

INCORPORATING the LOWER back into your SETUP

The final backswing position should be the lateral wrist break. How you get to this wrist break will depend upon you – some people break their wrists early (Johnny Miller was a huge proponent of this), others break it late. Regardless of an early  or late wrist break, two fundamentals about the wrist  break :

1. It is an effect, not a direct goal – in other words , do not TRY to break your wrists, LET your wrists break due to the arms being carried up by the body.
2. The wrist break HAS to be lateral. There is not a single good golfer who gets away with an overly ‘un-flat’ wrist break. Right at the top of their backswings, their left forearm is parallel to the golf clubface. This is a lateral wrist break – also sometimes known as a ‘flat’ wrist on top.

Again, regardless of an early or late wrist break, the end result (at the top of the backswing) is the same for all pro golfers.

Now that we have identified WHAT we need our backswing to do (end in a flat wrist), how exactly do we get there?

Start by supporting your stance on your lower back muscle. Bend slightly from the ‘lower back part of your hips’ – if that makes sense. After this bend, the rest of your back stays flat (in line with the bend). Watch Rory’s golf setup position to get an idea of what this looks like.

Once you have this GROUNDING element in place, you are ready to use your upper body to SWING your arms. You do not directly SWING your arms – you let the upper body muscles carry the arms and throw them back. The feeling is analogous to throwing a sack of flour backwards (you would use your upper body strength to throw the sack back, the arms would just go along for the ride).

If you can attain this SWINGING of the arms with the support of the upper body, your wrists will break automatically. You will not need to force a break. This is the natural wrist hinge in golf – and is central to generating any kind of power in the hitting zone. No wrist break (hinge), no power! It is the RELEASE of the wrists (through impact) that sends the golf ball flying. All this while, your swing is being supported by your lower back. It is your lower back that keeps you from losing your balance.

Summary

Most amateurs sway or lose their balance – either on the backswing, the downswing or both. To keep your balance in check, your swing needs a GROUNDING element – a group of muscles that keeps the body grounded while you swing your club back. The lower back can serve as this grounding element.

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As long as you make a good SWING, the straightness will take care of itself.

Once you have a swing you can trust, all you do is try to repeat that swing. This involves reproducing the same ‘feel’ over and over again.

This simple idea cannot be carried too far. Instead of going to the range to ‘hit a bunch of balls’, go with the idea of ‘making a bunch of swings’. I know it sounds trivial but it is an important psychological shift.

Summary

Most of us, do not work on reproducing a ‘feel’. We work on reproducing certain ‘positions’ –  both during the backswing and during our through swing.  This is incorrect – and will not result in a repeatable swing. Only a correct pre-swing feel results in a repeatable swing.

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On the Driving Range

Instead of practicing technical positions (flat wrist on bacskwing etc…), you would be much better served by practicing a certain feel – i.e. trying to reproduce a certain feel. While certain checkpoints can be helpful, you only need checkpoints if your swing is not based on feel. In other words, if your feel is correct (see below),. your swing will automatically hit the right positions on the back (and down) swing.

What FEEL should I work on?

The correct feel should allow you to ‘throw’ your weight back – catch it with your right side – and throw it forward again – catching it with your left side.

If you hold a sack of flour in your palms – and practice throwing that back – and through again – you will get close to the feel needed for the golf swing. Try and stay glued to the ground – i.e. – try and not lose your footing while you practice this throwing motion.

Summary

If you simply practice the throwing motion described above, you will learn to set up to the ball with just that motion in mind. Your body will be primed for the ‘throw’. This priming of the body is the right ‘feel’ – it is hard to have a better setup position than this.  It will provide a full weight shift going back – and a full weight transfer going forward.  In the actual golf swing , think about throwing out to the right, instead of straight down the line. The golf arc is such that , if you start rightwards (right field), the clubface will square up at the bottom of the swing!

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a) What I said – Body Clearance

Months ago, I made a quick analysis of Rory’s swing. The first thing that struck me about his swing was his SETUP position. How much CLEARANCE (body clearance) he had.

a) What Rory said – Body Clearance

Rory also points this out in his first tip – how to get into an active address position. He talks  about having enough ‘clearance’ for the arms to swing freely. Of course, a pre-requisite for that is to have your arms hanging freely at setup

b) What I said – bend from the hips, so your upper body can turn freely

b) What Rory said – Flat back – bend from the hips (Activate your address position)

There are some more similarities between the post I wrote long before Rory provided his own analysis of his golf setup. However, the main takeaway is the body clearance concept. With Rory’s setup, it is the most telling and most obvious element. His whole body is already ‘out of his way’ – for him to freely swing his arms. From here, as long as he keeps his balance on his backswing – he is bound to get the club back in the correct slot – and be able to swing down freely, with all his might.

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The Importance of keeping the spine angle constant throughout the swing is emphasized almost universally by golf instructors. The trouble is –  how do you know you are doing it correctly? Coaches talk about maintaining this angle throughout the golf swing – but offer little insight into how to accomplish this.

What the heck is my SPINE angle?

I don’t know about you, but I am unable to SEE my spine. Not the base of my spine, not the top – nor the middle. So – it is a little hard to visualize the STRAIGHTNESS of my spine – or it’s tilt angle (as measured from a level ground).

The COLLAR BONE angle

Enter the collarbone. While I find it difficult to visualize my spine, I can (practically) SEE – and FEEL my collarbone. Armed with this insight, I discovered something interesting:

If my collarbone retains its angle, so does my spine !

It was really as simple as that. Shifting your attention away from the spine  – and toward the collarbone  – will help you maintain a constant spine angle throughout your swing.  It will also force you to RAISE your chin – so that your shoulders can turn under it (this was something that Tiger himself struggled with – and needed correction from time to time).

Summary

The (unassuming) COLLARBONE provides a simple and effective way to MAINTAIN your spine angle throughout the swing.  Keeping this angle fixed prevents your head from bobbing up and down (as well as your hips from sinking) – and achieves the objective of maintaining the spine angle. Let us know what you think – if this works for you or not.  If you have a better suggestion for maintaining the spine angle, please feel free to share.

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Rory’s SETUP (Lot of Body Clearance)

I like to imagine two VERTICAL WOOD PANELS – one touching my forehead – and the other touching my butt. The entire body fits between these  two panels.  The FRONT panel (the one touching my forehead) – needs to be a certain distance from the ball. This distance is what gives the ARMS , the CLEARANCE they need to swing freely. Most amateurs have their BODY somewhere in the way of their downswing – thereby, interfering with this CLEARANCE.

As seen below, Rory keeps a LOT of clearance between the tip of his body (forehead) and the ball. This is what allows him to swing FAST and FEARLESSLY.

Rory’s TEMPO

Rory’s backswing is SO fast, that it almost feels like a  YANK away. Lots of instructors spend hours emphasizing a SLOW and METICULOUS takeaway, which IMO, is completely flawed. Thankfully, fast swingers like Rory and Tiger have proven that a SLOOOOOW takeaway is not only unnecessary, but probably detrimental to your overall swing tempo.  When you take your tennis racquet back, you do not meticulously plan out its path – and then swing back. You just swing back. Super fast. That’s how it should be with the golf club.

The only pre-requisite is that with golf, you need to be correctly SETUP – to swing back in this speedy fashion. The SETUP actually has to allow for a lot of CLEARANCE – both going back – and coming back down.

Once Rory finishes his fast backswing, he has the illusion of a momentary PAUSE on the top. From here, he UNLEASHES his downswing.

The TEMPO  here is – fast backswing, (short) PAUSE and fast downswing. This is Rory’s tempo. This is the tempo of ANY non-golf sport (tennis, table tennis, baseball, cricket….).   Shouldn’t it be your golf swing tempo as well?

Summary

Rory has one of the most uncomplicated swings of all the pros. This makes it possible to dissect his swing and possibly try and emulate it.

Two pre-requisites  for emulating his swing are :

1. Setup with a LOT of BODY CLEARANCE.
2. Swing with a FAST tempo.

Another pre-requisite is – Work out your upper and lower body – especially your LOWER body and CORE. This makes the powerful stance possible – and makes it possible to swing FAST without losing your balance.

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Diet

Too often have I rushed over to the first tee, fully caffeinated  – and ready to swing out of my shoes. Or having eaten a large meal – to sustain myself through the upcoming 18 holes. Here is what I have discovered regarding what to eat and how much to eat prior to a golf round.

Eat as much as you want – as long as it is a RAW diet. RAW foods have an unbelievable way of sustaining energy levels –better than all the caffeine and sweets that you can pour down your throat. My suggestion:

Hit the salad bar before your golf round.

Eat LOTS of the raw veggies – as much as you like. A sweet here and there (like a small muffin or a small chocolate bar) will not hurt – as long as the main meal is the RAW salad.  If you are unable to find a salad bar, raw fruits and nuts will work  – although not as well as raw veggies.

Clothing

T-Shirts and Shorts – two simple clothing items – that golfers seem to overcomplicate.

T-Shirts: Part of the problem arises  from the insistence of golf clubs on collared T-Shirts. Purely by accident, I played in a plain cotton T shirt one day – one that fit snugly over my body frame. And I swung better than ever before. Part of it had to do with my T-Shirt collar (or sleeves) not interfering with my swing. I know it may sound like a trivial thing, but if you have the opportunity, try it. Just a plain, soft cotton TShirt – one that fits you snugly – not too loose. And see how different your swing feels.

Shorts: I prefer the lightest of light – maybe pure polyester or silk – but some fabric that is moisture resistant as well.

Summary

Instead of fine tuning your swing, sometimes simple things affect your golf swing more than you realize. These are simple preparatory steps you can take to enable yourself to swing freely (wear the right clothing) and stay energized (eat a RAW diet) throughout your next round of golf.

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Positioning the clubhead first (may interfere with the hip bend)

While positioning the club behind the ball is an important part of the setup, it is not THE FIRST thing that you ought to do. The first thing, should be the hip bend. In fact, if you start with the clubhead positioning, chances are you will move your shoulders in a way that will then interfere with your subsequent hip bend. So, just take care of this all important , hip bend first.

Once this is correctly done, you should FEEL enough SPACE to turn your upper body in front of you. Without sufficient hip bend, you will NOT feel this spaciousness in front of you.

Now that you have enough AREA (space) in front of your body – to execute your upper body turn, you can PLACE the clubhead behind the ball. Your hand should be close to your left thigh – for all clubs – including the driver. Too many beginners do not pay attention to their HAND position relative to their body. In fact, this position DOES NOT CHANGE – no matter what club you are using. Yes – your hand will move slightly further away from your left thigh – as the club gets longer – but this will occur naturally. The thing you have to keep in mind is whether the CLUBHEAD is resting SQUARELY behind the ball. If it is doing that, your hand should be close to your left thigh – that is just how the golf club is designed. If your hand were anywhere else (more towards the center of your legs, for example) – the clubhead would not rest SQUARELY behind the ball.

Lack of Lower Body Stability

Even if you do always remember to correctly bend first – before positioning the clubhead, there is still a reason your hip bend may not be correct. And this is simply, due to a lack of hip joint strength (and/or supporting leg strength). Total lower body strength – especially, hips and thighs (hamstrings, quads)  – is critical to staying balanced AND LEVEL throughout the full swing. The SQUAT is an excellent exercise for all round lower body strength. One of the things that starts happening – in a long round of golf – is that the legs start getting tired. This leads to a loss of stability – and ‘swaying’ among other things – that effectively ruin the swing plane. If you find your scores climbing as you play the last few holes, chances are you may be suffering from this lower body fatigue. There is only one way to conquer this demon – do the dreaded squats.

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Open , Closed and Square Stances

There are three FOOT stances when addressing the ball.  OPEN, SQUARE and CLOSED – which are typically described by the left foot’s position. However, this is slightly misleading – as what is REALLY opening (or closing) with the left foot – is your left hip and left shoulder. In fact, all ALIGNMENT in golf – is shoulder based. The ball will go where your SHOULDERS finish (line up at the end of the swing) – not WHERE your feet or hips end up. It is as simple as that.

SHOULDERS dictate alignment

Shirt Button Technique (courtesy Jack Nicklaus)

One of Nicklaus’s golden tips talks about the alignment of shirt buttons relative to the Target line. If the shirt buttons are SQUARE – the shot will go straight  – if they are to the left (open), the ball will fade, if they are to the right (CLOSED ), the ball will draw. These SHIRT button positions are doing nothing except aligning your shoulders. Shoulders SQUARE  -ball goes straight, Shoulders OPEN – ball goes left, Shoulders CLOSED – ball goes right. However, I am 100% in favor of visualizing SHIRT BUTTONS over SHOULDERS. As you will discover, SHOULDERS are TRICKY to get right. Shirt buttons are a lot easier.

How NOT to ALIGN

I see several people using a golf club on the ground to line their feet up. This is the standard practice – and standard teaching instruction for golf alignment. However, you can line up your feet WITHOUT correctly lining up your HIPS or your SHOULDERS. Try it – it is EASY to ROTATE your hips even when your feet are square to the target line. The rotation may be minute – but it can (and does) happen. Same with the shoulders. I believe lining up with the FEET is the absolutely most error prone way to try lining up for a golf swing.

Reading List

My Golden Lessons: 100-Plus Ways to Improve Your Shots, Lower Your Scores and Enjoy Golf Much, Much More eBook: Jack Nicklaus, Jim McQueen, Ken Bowden: Kindle StoreASIN: B0033DDIPK

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