THE SWING EXERCISE. (Article 1)
One of the best methods I have found of developing a smooth, consistent swing is an exercise most golfers use when they warm up before playing a round of golf. It is a simple little manoeuver designed to train a golfer to ingrain in his swing the use of only his arms and body instead of his hands. Begin by assuming the address position, and make sure that you are comfortable and relaxed. Then, with the upper part of your arms and elbows in close to your chest, turn your body back so that the arms are about belt high. The left shoulder and left arm are highly instrumental in this turning movement, with both the shoulder and the arm forming a pushing-back type of action.
Next thing to do is swing the arms forward until they are about belt high in front of you, making certain that the lower part of the body, the left hip and left leg start the forward swing, as the arms are swung out toward an imaginary target. The right hand also turns over the left hand as the arms are swung forward. Perform this swing back and forth for a few moments, letting your left knee and right elbow become flexed on the backswing and then your right knee and left elbow on the follow-through. You will soon get the feeling that you are swinging with your legs and hips and that your body is swinging the club. This creates the feeling of the one-piece swing that all of the top players have and the one us amateurs are searching for.
This swing exercise also gives a feeling that you should have when performing a full swing: that of having your body generating the power and your hands applying it, at the last possible second, with a whiplike action of the wrists and hands. If you have intrusted your swing movements to your body and arms, the hands will automatically lash out and whip the clubhead through the ball with terrific accelerating speed. This is what ultimately creates the power and therefore the distance
The average golfer, however, courts disaster if he becomes too conscious of his hand action through the ball. That is why this swing exercise is so important, because it will teach you every fundamental movement in the swing without too much of a mental effort on your part.
If you will practice this swing—the right way—for five or ten minutes a day for six months, you will be surprised at your progress in developing a fundamentally sound swing.
Another reason it is so important to you is that it makes the swing perform automatically. After a while, your swing becomes less and less a conscious effort and your reflexes take over. The great players of today swing almost totally by masterfully controlled reflex actions in which they do their shot planning behind the ball; then they step up and hit it without thinking too much, because they have committed their swing to "muscle memory." In the long run, the closer you can come to making your swing a reflex action, the better player you will become.
My advice in this regard is to make a thorough and search for a swing that is completely natural for you and which embraces the fundamentals. Then stick with it.
THE PLANE OF THE GOLF SWING. (Article 2)
Only the very good players and top pros fully understand and appreciate this concept of the swing, yet it is tremendously important in the over-all development of a repeating swing. The swing plane encompasses both the backswing and the downswing. However, the angle is slightly different going back and up from when it is coming down and through the ball. The backswing plane is determined by your height, your arms, and the distance you stand from the ball at address. Visualize, if you will, a line running from the ball to the top of your shoulders. The pitch, or angle of this line, is the plane along which the backswing operates.
The plane for the downswing is not as steeply inclined, and it projects slightly outward (inside out) through the ball. To insure that you swing up and down on this swing plane, the body, arms, and hand movement must work in perfect harmony throughout the swing. The movements, particularly the first part of the backswing and the start of the downswing, must function smoothly and correctly so that one part of the swing, for example, the arm movements, does not work separately from the body movements. To stay on the backswing plane, simply swing back in a one-piece action as described previously. Getting on the downswing plane is a little more difficult, however. This movement is more difficult to master, which is one of the prime reasons why many golfers suffer the despair of complete frustration when they attempt to move into the downswing correctly. Actually, the golfer changes planes without thinking about it when he initiates the downswing by turning his hips to the left and toward the target. This moves the body to the left and lowers the right shoulder— this latter movement is a potential swing-wrecker if the shoulder is permitted to rush around ahead of the hips. Always remember, the right shoulder works behind and then under your chin, not around and over it.
You can check your swing plane in another way if you have a large mirror. Take a club and swing it to the top of the backswing. If your arms and hands are at a point between your shoulders and head, you are too upright. Conversely, your swing is too flat if your hands and arms are below your shoulder. The desired position is with your hands directly to the right, or behind your right shoulder at the top of the swing, if you are a right-handed player.
The plane helps form what is known as a "grooved swing." By swinging up and down in this slot position, your swing will take on a consistency that will not only give you confidence but will free you of the mental strain and worry about whether your swing will hold up under pressure. It almost has to, for the movements of the body, arms, and hands are performed almost instinctively during the backswing and downswing.
At the risk of getting ahead of myself, and putting the cart before the horse, there is one more important function of the swing that I would like to discuss here very briefly It concerns developing a rhythm for swinging, sometimes referred to as "timing."
TIMING THE GOLF SWING (Article 3)
After you have reached a point where you feel that you have mastered the mechanics of the swing, you should begin to develop a rhythm for swinging. This is generally referred to as timing. Very little is ever written on timing the swing, compared to the fundamentals of the swing, but I feel it will merit your close attention sooner or later.
Learning to time the swing is like learning to dance or play a musical instrument. You have a certain rhythm or "beat" which you must swing into—and so must you when playing golf. Some players have a fast swing tempo, others a slow one; it all depends upon their physical makeup and habit patterns.
By experimenting and trying different speeds, I have developed a set rhythm of swinging the club. I try to maintain this rhythm with every club, trying not to change the tempo of my swing when I change clubs. Naturally, I am swinging faster with certain clubs, say with the long irons and woods, because I take a fuller body turn with these clubs. Thus, the speed of the clubhead increases with the longer-shafted clubs, owing to a fuller clubhead arc, but the tempo of the swing remains the same. This is an important thing to remember at all times.
THE ADDRESS AND GOLF STANCES (Article 4)
Squaring up of the ball is an important feature of a good golfer's swing, and it simply means your feet, hips, and shoulders should be square, or parallel to the line of flight. It is a basic tenet of golf that if you are out of position at the address you will be out of position during the swing. It is important, therefore, to practice setting up to the ball properly so that it becomes an automatic procedure. You will then be able to concentrate fully on hitting the shot without having to worry about where it is going.
THE SQUARE STANCE.
Although there are 14 different positions for the feet, or as many as there are clubs in the bag, there are only three basic stances: the square, open, and closed. In the square stance the feet are positioned on a line which should run parallel to the intended line of flight. The ball is between the feet and on a line slightly left of center. The weight is equally distributed. The hands are positioned ahead of the ball so that the shaft of the club and the inside line of the left arm form a straight line from the shoulder to the clubface.
The square position permits a free, full shoulder turn and is recommended for hitting the medium irons, the four, five, and six. The only modification I make in each iron is in the position of my right foot. For a five-iron, my feet are about the width of my shoulders. I widen my right foot for a four-iron about an inch, and narrow it an inch for the six-iron in relation to my five-iron stance.
Whatever stance you take, always remember to be comfortable, yet firmly set up over the ball.
THE OPEN STANCE. In the open stance (Fig. 16), your left foot is withdrawn slightly from the line of flight. This tends to "open" the entire left side toward the hole, particularly the hips, which initiate the downswing. The weight is about 60 per cent on the left side and 40 per cent on the right side. This allows the weight to become more centered on the back-swing rather than on the right side as in fuller shots. Less physical effort is thus required in shifting the weight to the left side on the downswing. In setting up on the ball, position the hands so they are ahead of the ball, which is centered midway between the feet. This stance is recommended for the short irons and all pitch shots and chip shots.
THE CLOSED STANCE.
This is the power stance used for hitting the long irons and wood shots. In this stance, the right foot is withdrawn from the line of flight permitting a fuller body turn than the other stances. The ball is positioned about two inches inside the left heel, and the hands are directly over the ball. Weight is evenly distributed between the feet. carefully, and then practice setting up shots in different directions using the three basic stances.
POSITIONING THE FEET
In the over-all concept of the swing, the importance of good footwork is sometimes neglected. If a golfer can learn the basic position of the feet early in his career, this important facet of the swing will give him little trouble in later years. At the outset, he will learn that a perfectly balanced and coordinated swing can only be achieved through proper footwork. It is possible to become a fair golfer with a swing that looks good from the waist up, but you cannot become an accomplished, consistent player unless you are properly balanced from the waist down. And that means good footwork.
While we mentioned earlier that there are three different stances, the basic position of the feet in relation to one another does not change.
LINING UP THE SHOT (Article 5)
Golf fans are often amazed at the ability of a professional to hit the ball straight and far down the fairway. The accurate drives and pinpoint placements on approach shots are seemingly magical feats which the average golfer believes to be beyond his capabilities.
This, of course, isn't true. A golfer, if he has some working knowledge of the swing, can learn to hit the ball fairly straight, provided he has aligned himself properly to the ball. Actually, lining up a shot is a simple little procedure, and it pays great dividends to those who work to perfect it.
As an example, consider the shot which Arnold Palmer hit to the seventy-second hole of the 1960 Masters tournament. He had just birdied the seventy-first hole with a curling 30 footer and needed only a par on the last hole to tie Ken Venturi, who was already in with a 283 score. But Palmer went for a birdie and got it by hitting one of the greatest clutch shots I have ever seen. It was a six-iron second shot which nearly carried into the hole on the fly—hitting inches away from the cup and spinning to a stop about 4 feet away. He then knocked the putt in to win his second Masters title, and went on to his most successful year as a professional.
TAKING AIM
Hitting the ball so close to the hole under such pressing circumstances was no mistake. Palmer planned it that way. He aimed the ball at the hole, and it took off like a guided missile homing in on target. There was more than good judgment and a good swing behind that shot; there was a golfer taking aim at a target and firing away. It took precision planning and precision alignment to hit such a perfect shot. If his body or his clubface had been just a fraction out of alignment, particularly at the address, the shot would not have landed so close to the hole. Palmer has hit hundreds of shots like the one described above, but my reason for calling your attention to it here is to point out the importance of proper shot alignment.
ALIGNING THE LEFT FOOT. The left, or front, foot is always turned out slightly to the left. With the foot in this position, a player can transfer his weight to the left side more easily and quickly on the downswing. He can also hit through the ball with greater power and comfort because the directional force of the swing is toward where the left foot is aiming, to the left. You can test this yourself by purposely positioning your left foot perpendicular to the line of flight and swinging a club. There is no noticeable discomfort or awkwardness on the backswing, but as you move into the downswing you should be able to feel the strain and restriction of power in the left side, particularly the left leg.
ALIGNING THE RIGHT FOOT. Position the right foot so that it points almost straight ahead. A common mistake is to address the ball with both feet pointed out , whereas only the left foot should be in that position.