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When looking at the videos of all the greatest players past and present one thing stands out: there is an utter disregard for consistency when it comes to the beginning of the swing. What we call the “takeaway” encompasses everything that happens from the moment the clubhead makes its first movement away from the ball to the point where the shaft reaches parallel to the ground. As different as the actual movements of these players appear, it is surprising that their explanations of what they are feeling and trying to do are not that different at all. Most will describe a “one-piece” movement whereby the shoulders, arms, hands and club all move away from the ball together, while the triangle formed by the arms stays somewhat intact. Before the use of video analysis became widespread many players functioned off of an instruction to keep the clubhead “low and slow”, which resulted in a takeaway such as the young Jack Nicklaus, one most would describe as “inside”. Contrast this with the takeaway of Lee Trevino and you couldn’t find two more different methods.
Every teaching pro has (or should have) his or her “preferences” for every bit of technique in the golf swing. I prefer to have the entire club, meaning the grip all the way down to the clubhead, move away and remain on its original angle to the ground at address, or the “shaft plane”. My preferred motor is the upper body. I would like the lower body to respond to the rotation of the upper trunk around the spine, with the result being an increase in posture or spine angle while the head stays very close to still other than lowering slightly. If you are watching great players who appear to be doing none of this, remember that you are watching them because they are highly successful, which means that their particular takeaway has not gotten in the way of their success. More normal players cannot afford to get off to a bad start in the swing simply because they are not good enough to recover. This is one area of the swing that anyone can improve: the difficulty involved with improving it lies in the combinations of things that must happen nearly simultaneously. Thus, a more detailed picture of what is going on should be of great value to someone attempting to fix a goofy move away from the ball.
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