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Chuck is a member of my new club, and he came to me as a frustrated golfer who felt he had ability but no concept of what is was with his swing that wouldn’t allow him to improve. Analyzing his first batch of swings I knew that to help Chuck I was going to have to give him a better understanding of what his swing was doing and why, and then work on changing the pattern he had created over time. The first few lessons were devoted mostly to set up and takeaway, and as many of you know changing posture from one that sits back in the heels where it feels most relaxed and natural to an athletic stance that positions the weight more out over the balls of the feet with the pelvis tilted and the back straighter can be difficult, as even a small change feels quite radical. Chuck’s takeaway moved well away from his body, which you might expect given his butt-under posture, but with the new setup, ball position (more forward) and square clubface (as opposed to wide open) we can try to get the arms to move more inward with a steeper shoulder turn while we deepen the right hip. We also addressed Chuck’s grip, as he was not creating a pressure point between his right index finger and thumb, and had his left thumb well over to the left of the grip. After 3 or 4 lessons we talked about the role of the right arm, and he understood right away that he had been purposefully overusing the right shoulder to extend his backswing and make his “turn” bigger. Chuck has great sequence and thus excellent clubhead lag, but his tendency to drop his upper body back and swing from in to out causes him to run out of right arm and shorten his follow through to where the left arm looks “chicken-winged” and the finish is cut short. Learning to see the swing as a sidearm throwing motion where the right arm moves in front of the chest in the forward swing as the entire body opens to the left and the club naturally exits around to the left on the plane is our next item to focus on.
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