 |
Clubs down can help show the correct path |
 |
The body rotates through the ball to a full finish |
How to get on path and in plane - Part three
By Jim Christine
In plane
As the body unwinds, the arms and the club approach impact from the inside and the club-face is square to the target only momentarily at impact. Shaft angle is in plane - back to where it was at the set-up.
On path
Your swing is on path when the clubshaft is again parallel with the target line as you turn and release it. Note the hands, arms and shoulders have retained the relationship created at the set-up. Toe-up confirms a neutral clubface.
Developing the shape of your swing with these checkpoints gets the path and plane under control. And if you have a decent grip, the clubface will be relatively sqaure and you will hit the ball in the right direction.
Rotation is the key to correct on-line release
Too many golfers get "target-orientated" coming through the ball, as a result of which they often end up trying to steer the club straight down the target line.
We've all been guilty of that from time to time, and it's a horrible feeling, as you are failing to release the club at your maximum speed.
The idea of me placing these clubs on the ground - and I hope you try this when you next have the opportunity to practise - is that you learn to understand that the golf swing is a rotary motion controlled largely by the turning of the body and that the clubhead traces a natural arc.
The clubface is on line for just a fraction of a second through impact - long enough to strike the ball towards the target - before the rotation of the body swings the hands, arms and the club itself inside once again on the way to the finish.
Think of it this way. A good swing is a mirror image: the hands, arms and the club are encouraged to swing up and around the body on the way back, returning to square momentarily at impact before swinging around and up again into the follow-through, the hands this time heading up and over the left shoulder.
People mistakenly talk of the release as being all about hand action, but the correct release does not involve any "flipping" of the wrists through the ball. It is a natural release of the centrifugal forces that have been generated by the body, the energy that is stored in the wrists finally released on the ball as the body unwinds towards the target. The right hand and forearm cannot help but overtake their left-side counterparts, finally doing so at about waist high as the club shaft once again swings up on a good plane. The clubface is at all times neutral to your body turn - the same as it was to start with.
Site Map | Affiliates | Igntion UK - Web design in Surrey