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If you have been watching these lesson videos it should be apparent by now just how important the takeaway is to the overall pattern of a golf swing. The more I see the right arm lock up and stay overly straight in the first few feet of the swing the easier it is to predict the resulting pattern that emerges, ending with an approach to impact that can be both high and in-to-out with the either the driver or the irons. Ray is another classic example of such a pattern.
The good news is that Ray has an excellent transition in terms of his sequencing, one of the most difficult things to teach when it is not already present. The other good news is that the more I see Ray’s pattern the more I am convinced that the suggestions I make regarding the takeaway, and then as the swing progresses, are to the point and can lead to significant and desirable change. How fast the change can be incorporated is unknown. I have seen almost immediate transformations in the takeaway, followed by a lengthier struggle with the transition, but I have also seen where the change in the takeaway didn’t come easily at all, which can be quite frustrating to say the least. Certainly, the eventual goal of swinging left through impact while keeping the hips in the box is entirely counter (indeed almost opposite) to the out-from-under, in-to-out movement that presently exists.
The first priority is to change the way the swing starts. It must be more of a pivot oriented initial movement, with the hands trailing the body and the left wrist remaining bent, or cupped. The move should be on the shaft plane angle or more inward, especially for someone like Ray who has been moving the hands fairly radically away from the body. There needs to be more “carry”, or width, in the arms as they move the club back, and from the face on view there should be 3-6 inches of space between the hands and the edge of the right thigh when the shaft is parallel to the ground. Pressure should be increasing under the right heel, and the right hip should feel like it is moving upward and rearward along the initial angle of the pelvis at address. The left arm will move against the chest, and the position of the hands at left arm parallel will be both wider and deeper. Attaining this takeaway is imperative for someone with Ray’s pattern, and mastering it will open up all kinds of possibilities for further improvement in the rest of the swing, all the way to impact where the hands will have to be reeducated almost completely. It is a challenging task, but necessary if the swing is truly going to be improved.
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