34 G O L F T I P S

Think Your WayTo ABetter Golf Swing NowBy Brady Riggs, PGA, With Mike Chwasky

Old-school golf instruction is full of imagery that was originally created to help players make what were perceived as the the proper moves in theswing. In those days, many of the technical aspects of the golf swing werentcompletely understood, largely due to the lack of video technology that existstoday. Instead, players mostly relied on feel, natural talent and repetition to honetheir technique and overall game. Not surprisingly, the average scores of recreational golfers barely ever improved significantly, other than what wasdelivered by technological advances in equipment and golf course conditioning.

Today, good golf instruction should combine an understanding of the proper mechanics of the swing with an emphasis on creating an athletic, natural motion. To help accomplish this task, Ive come up with some simple buteffective thoughts that can help your swing become more natural, athletic andrepetitive. Give them a try both during practice and when youre on the course. Aftera while, whatever mechanical swing thoughts you might have developed over theyears should be replaced with these simpler, more effective ones. Once your mind isfree from distraction, youll be surprised how much easier it is to make good swings.

SWINGTHOUGHTSTHAT REALLYWORK

Photos By Warren Keating Illustrations By Phil Frank

GRIPLIKEYOURE

HOLDING ABIRD Like

most golfers, Ive neverheld a small bird in my hands,

so this advice doesnt do muchfor me. I prefer thinking of the

tension youd apply when throwing a ballits more athletic, and makesmore sense. Think about itwhenyou throw a ball, you hold it tightlyenough so it doesnt fly out of yourhand when you cock your arm, butloosely enough to create speed.

HOLD THE TRAY The waiterposition is one to forgetyou dont want your palm facing directlyskyward at the top of the backswing.Instead, your palm should be on a45-degree angle to the ground, whichputs the clubface in a square positionand maintains the width of thebackswing for maximum swing arc.

OLD

SCH

OO

LSetupThe importance of a solidsetup position cannot bedeniedif you start outpoorly youll have littlechance of making a solid swing. Some keythoughts for a goodsetup are stay leveland be athletic. Many golfers handicapthemselves at the outset by making mistakeslike kicking in the right knee, dropping the rightshoulder or flaring only one of their feet. In the photo at right, notice how my shouldersremain nearly level, with the right only slightlylower than the left. My knees are bowed a bit outward and both feet are flared. This is a key for creating an athletic swingonethats rotational rather than a lateral, slidingmotion that stresses the back and leads to anineffective impact position. Equally important is the feeling of being bouncy in the legs, withflexed knees and relaxed muscles.

TO CREATE AMORE ATHLETICSETUP, IMAGINEYOUR SHOUL-DERS, HIPSAND KNEES INA LEVEL POSI-TION WITHYOUR WEIGHTSPREADBETWEEN YOURFEET EVENLY.

SHOULDERS POWER THE TAKEAWAY; ARMS MAINTAIN THEIR WIDTH

TakeawayA great thought for a solidtakeaway is all together.The takeaway becomes aproblem area when the arms, wrists or hands move independently of one another, forcing the club to move off plane andjeopardizing the squarealignment of the clubface.Instead, the arms, wrists and hands should all move

36 G O L F T I P S

At The TopThe obvious differences in theabove pictures are powerfulevidence of what can happen if the wrong swing thoughtoccupies the mind during thebackswing. At the left, Ive lostall the angles I set at addressand any chance to create aleveraged, dynamic attack intoimpact. Notice how much moreathletic I look in the picture on the right. Both knees areflexed, my core has droppedslightly lower and my body ispoised to spring into action.This position creates a directroute for my arms and club to the ball from the inside,encouraging a more rotationalmove with my body all the wayto the finish. The thought ofsquatting is key for creatingthis type of move.

I encourage my students tofeel athletic and balanced at the top of the swing. An importantpoint to remember is that thebackswing is designed to set upa powerful and consistent attackinto impact. When you think of squatting (butt toward theground), allow your knees topivot with your hips as yourotate your way to the top. A telltale sign of a strong,squatted pivot away from theball is the backside being closeto the ground and pointing at the target (see photo at right).When tension (stiff legs, rigidmuscles are evidence) ispresent, the body becomesweak, powerless and off-balance. Once the thoughtsturn to squatting correctly in the backswing, the entireswing becomes significantlymore powerful because youreable to use the ground to push against for maximumleverage. Remember, the top ofthe swing should feel heavyand ready, not light and tight.

THE GOLF SWINGIS AN ATHLETICMOTION THATMUST BE MADEWITH A DYNAMICBASE. RIGID LEGSCANT PROVIDETHE SAME ATH-LETIC PLATFORMAS THOSE THATARE FLEXED.

together as one unit. This unit should be powered bythe shoulders and back,making the takeaway feel like its happening through a coordinated effort of theentire body. When donecorrectly, the distance theelbows were apart at setupremains the same during thetakeaway, eliminating earlymistakes that will have to be compensated for later.

TransitionThe key thought for a good transition is bodyleading arms, and not vice versa. A commonmisconception is that the club should stay infront of the body during the swing. While thisis true on the backswing, its totally incorrecton the way down. In the photo at right, thebody is getting ahead of the arms and club on the downswing by moving firstits theengine thats driving the entire move. Thisdrops the arms, hands and club down withoutlosing any angle between the clubshaft andleft arm. If the sequence is incorrect and theclub moves first, the body is taken out of itsleadership role and the club is cast orthrown from the top (photo below). This leads to a huge loss in power and control over the clubs path intoimpact. Remember, you want theclub to be trailing the body up toand past impact. Leave it back inthe transition and youll keepthe proper sequence solidly

A PROPER TRAN-SITION OCCURSWHEN THE BODYDRAGS THEHANDS AND CLUBINTO THE DOWN-SWING. CASTINGAND A LOSS OFPOWER OCCURWHEN THE CLUBMOVES FIRST.

38 G O L F T I P S

SWING A RUBBER HOSEThis is a good thought for the start of the downswing because a steady

acceleration of the club on thedownswing produces a moreconsistent swing path andfacilitates solid impact. In contrast, grabbing orsnatching the club fromthe top in an attempt to hit at the ballalmost always leads to inconsistent ball-striking. Rememberto drag the clubfrom the top, andyour tempo willimprove as well.

OLDSCHOOL

intact. From this angleyou can clearly see howthe arms and club are leftback in a somewhat passivemanner as the pivot of thebody forces them down from thetop of the swing. The thoughtshould be turn and drag, nothit. Notice how my body remainsahead of the arms and club late intothe downswing. Its unnecessary tohelp the club catch up with my wristsand hands, as that would only createscooping and flipping through impact.Instead, the rotation of my hips pulls the leftleg straight, creating a post to hit against.Once the arms, hands and club cant bedragged any farther, they will releasethrough impact naturally and explosively, asnone of the stored energy on the downswingwas wasted by hitting at the ball.

IN A BODY-DRIVEN DOWN-SWING, THECLUB DROPS TOTHE INSIDE ANDIS POWERED BYTHE TURNING OFTHE BODY ANDSOFT, RELAXEDARMS THATLACK TENSION.

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 0 6 39

ImpactWithout a doubt, the worst swing thoughtrecreational golfers have is to hit at the ball. The desire to hit atinitiates the use of the handsduring the downswing,breaking down the propersequence of body first, club and arms second. In fact, hitting at the balleffectively changes the focusfrom swinging throughimpact and into the finish tostopping or quitting at theball. What many recreationalplayers dont realize is thataccomplished players dont think of the ballas the target, but often try to swing through a spot located several inches past the ball.With this as the goal, they actually get thefeeling of the club speeding up throughimpact (though this isnt really possible),instead of before impact. A great way toeliminate hitting at the ball is to focus on dragging your arms, hands and the clubpast the point of impact with the rotation of the body, all the way into the finish.

THE THOUGHT ATIMPACT SHOULDBE TO SQUEEZETHE BALL ON THE CLUBFACE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. THIS IS HOW GOODPLAYERS CREATECOMPRESSIONAND POWER.

40 G O L F T I P S

OLD

SCH

OO

L

HEAVE A BUCKET OF WATERThis is definitely a great thought forpromoting a solid pivot. In order toheave a bucket of water past yourbody, you must first get the bucketbehind your body (not above yourhead), which in turn promotes a more inside-out attack on theforwardswing. In addition, theimagery of heaving a bucket of watershould help trigger your lead leg topost or straighten as the hips rotate, acritical and often improperly executedelement of a powerful golf swing.

SKIP A STONE The sidearm feelingof skipping a stone is a good thoughtfor the start of the downswing, but a bad one through impact. Its truethat this image can help get the right shoulder to drop down on plane while the lower body rotatesout of the way, both of which aredesirable movements in the golfswing. However, the sidearm deliveryassociated with skipping a stone can also keep the right side down too long after impact, inhibiting therelease and overstressing the spine.

When it comes down to it, solid impact and quality ballstriking is what everygolfer really wants. Crisp contact that compresses the golf ball on the face of theclub leads to both power and accuracy, plus, this type of impact is what createsthe great whoosh sound that everyone likes to hear as the ball shoots off theclubface. While it might sound strange, a good thought for creating solid contactis squeeze the ball on the clubface for as long as possible. This will give youthe feeling of working the entire club, not just the clubhead, through impact andinto the finish. If you struggle with flippy impact and glancing blows that producelittle power, this is the right thought for you.

Simply put, thoughts like through, not to, impact can take your game toanother level. Remember that youre looking for a steady acceleration that keepsthe ball compressed against the clubface as its propelled to the finish. Anyattempt to overaccelerate or whip the club into the ball will produce a glancingblow. Conversely, steering or quitting through impact will never keep the ballagainst the clubface very long. To help facilitate this squeezed impact, yourbody must drive your arms, hands and club through theball. When done correctly, the relationship between yourtorso and the club should remain constant, as should thestructure of your arms and wrists. If you manage to keepthese relationships solid throughout the swing, you wontbe able to flip the club. Instead, youll discover whatquality ballstriking is all about, and your full shots andscores will improve dramatically.

THE RELATION-SHIP BETWEENTHE HANDS,WRISTS ANDCLUB SHOULDREMAIN STRUC-TURED AND CON-STANT THROUGHIMPACTDRAGTHE CLUB, DONTFLIP AT THE BALL.

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 0 6 41

FinishTake a close look at the two photos below. If the photo on the right looks likeyour finish, you dont have the right sensation of a proper finish, and Ill betyoure probably not hitting the ball as well as youd like. The reason theposition on the bottom right looks so hung back and incomplete is that thebody quit working the club too early in the downswing. Notice how far back myright shoulder is and how my left hip is closer to the target than my right. Theseare symptoms of a lateral, sliding type of swing that will produce nothing butglancing blows and generally poor impact.

In the photo on the bottom left, Im comfortably balanced, with my hips fully rotated and my right shoulder much closer to the target than my left. Thisposition indicates that Ive worked all the way through impact and continued topower my swing into the finish. Golfers who swing the club through the ballgenerally have this type of complete finish position. In contrast, players whohit at the ball very often resemble the photo on the bottom right becausethey basically stop the swing at the point of impact.

To develop a solid, balanced finish position (it isnt just for looksthe finishis often a reflection of the entire swing), your thought should be get the rightshoulder to the target. This image will force you to keep working past the balland will change your ultimate destination from the point of impact to wellbeyond it. This is how the pros do it; you should too.

MORE QUICK TIPS? Watch our favoritetips, drills and advicecome to life in aspecial video lessonon Golf Tips Flash-based Website,www.golftipscc.com.

PGA professional BradyRiggs is a Golf Tips seniorinstruction editor whocurrently works withnumerous top junior, collegeand professional players.Riggs utilizes state-of-the-art video technology whileteaching students atWoodley Lakes G.C. in Van Nuys, Calif.