Lesson of the Week: Marc Shapiro: Fixing Overly Inside Takeaway has Huge Benefits

Marc has recently seen deteriorating ball striking, which led him to Osprey to have me take a look.  Watching Marc’s swing I saw that he was doing a nice job at some of the most difficult things to teach, sequence and transition.  However, his takeaway was too close to the ground and behind him with the additional problem of standing up, and as a result his entire right side was overturning with too much hip turn and his right arm getting well behind him at the top.  By using a shaft to keep the clubhead outside of his hands in the takeaway and trying to keep the right arm more in front of him at the top we saw a totally changed look for the better at the end of the backswing,  which translated all the way down to an improved, less flippy impact.  The only thought we tried in the downswing was for him to clear hips aggressively, and when he went out to play a few days later he did much better with the two thoughts of wide backswing with the club outside of his hands and P2 and a hard rotation of his hips through impact.  I’m sure you will agree that the side by side of the before and after is substantial after only an hour lesson.