Spring Warm-up

Now that spring is upon us and the warm weather will be returning to our area it is that time of year to dust off the clubs and get back onto the practice area and rehearse those fundamentals. Fundamentals are perhaps the most important area of the golf swing for beginners and are even more important for the tour pro’s. Remember the word GAP. Those are our fundamentals. It stands for Grip, Alignment, and Posture.

The most important factor when it comes to grip is that the left hand is holding the club in the fingers. Too often I see amateurs that have their grip too much in the palm of the left hand. This will rob the player of distance and control. To get the proper left hand grip place the club off your left foot with the grip behind your body. When you let your hand hold the club from this position you will notice that you will be holding the grip in the fingers of your left hand. Now you can bring the club in front of you and place your right hand on the club. Make sure that the life line of your right hand sits comfortably over your left thumb. You should also notice that the v’s formed by your thumb and forefinger are pointing at your right shoulder. Now that you know how to grip the club correctly your posture will be extremely important for allowing your body to turn correctly and produce a lot of power. To set up with the proper posture follow these steps:

1. Stand straight up with your arms and club extended in front of you

2. Look down between your arms and bend your knees until you can’t see your shoelaces

3. Drop your arms to your chest. The club should be a foot or so off the ground

4. Keeping your back straight, bend from the hips until the club touches the ground.

You have now set your body up in the proper position to allow it to turn correctly in the swing.

Finally, it is important to set up your body aimed at the target. Not very often do I see our tour players practice without a club laying on the ground to aid in their alignment. Very rarely in fact do I see amateurs use this drill to aid them in their practice. First, understand that we will lay a club aimed directly at our target. Next place a club parallel to that club but more along your feet line. Set up in this position and double check that your hips and shoulders are parallel with the club on the ground. You can now remove the first club and be confident that your alignment will be aimed square to the target.

Fundamentals are the most important areas of the golf swing and setup is crucial to being consistent. Do not forget about the word GAP and use it on the practice tee. Starting with the proper fundamentals will allow your swing to happen more naturally and will allow you to be ahead of your playing partners on the weekend.

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15 Comments

Ian McNeil Says:

It`s the beginning of the season here in france and because of the bad weather we have not been able to play since last november.However i have a tournament in one month over 3 days.i practised today and cannot find a rhythm.I swing with my arms and cannot find the time to make the weight transfer on to my left.How do i find that precious rhythm.Oh by the way , normally i play to 6.
Many thanks,
ian
March 14th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Philip Says:

Hey Ian,
Finding the rhythm is easy.

Get a piece of string and tie a weight to one end. Now make a pendulum about the length of a 5 iron by fastening the other end so it will swing it freely.

Now set it to swinging back and forth. Take a club, set up and go back and forth keeping up with the pendulum. No matter how long the pendulum arc is it ALWAYS takes the same amount of time to swiing from one extreme to the other.

It works the same for your golf shots. A full drive takes as long as a chip shot and every shot takes as long as the pendulum I told you to make.
March 14th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Clinton Says:

Please see my e-mail sent today. Thanbks
March 14th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Clinton Says:

The e-mail was sent to Tim. Thanks
March 14th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Frank Says:

This comment was inspired by your webcast the other evening. It might very well be described in detail in your Power Secrets course. If so, this would be a coincidence, although perhaps you conveyed more in that webcast than was immediately obvious.

The comment is that, because we generally are built differently, maybe a logical development of one of your webcast pointers would be a better method for developing a proper body forward bending angle in the setup.

Specifically, spread and bend your legs as in your regular stance but start with your upper body vertical. Now cross your arms over your chest so that your palms rest on the opposite shoulders. Then bend forward at different angles and take your regular swing while keeping your arms crossed as above. Find the forward bend angle that enables you to make the largest turn back and forth. That’s the best angle for you.
March 14th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Bill Power Says:

I enjoyed your webinar the other day and I do have a question not addresssed. I recently attended a ball fitting clinic. During the clinic (by Bridgestone and they recommended an e5 ball) the pro at the golf shop told me he could lengthen my drive by 20 yards or more if he fixed my casting technique as I was striking my driver. I researched casting and was unable to find anything on-line (relevant to golf). Can you tell me what it is and how to corrected it?

Thanks and have a great day,
Bill Power
March 14th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Bobby Says:

I am right handed. My divots are correct, however my divots are deep on the toe end of the blade. Am I casting or coming over the top?
March 14th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Mark Says:

Where can I get a speed chain? Can I make this myself?
March 14th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Mark Says:

Where I can I get a speed chain?
March 14th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Delmar Says:

CJ;
I tried to watch your webinar the other night and couldn’t get it to run. The next day you played a recording back so I started it. Well I am on dail up and this is very slow. After 8 hours of trying to watch it and it had just started to work with the swing, I finally shutt it down, you couldn’t get anything from it. So is there anyway I could a printed verstion of it.

Thanks, Delmar
March 14th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
CJ Says:

Bobby,
If you are coming over the top the divots would be aiming to the left when you are finished. Inspect the divots and that will tell you if you are coming over the top. In regards to the divots being deep on the toe end that would tell me your clubs are too flat and would cause you to hit the ball to the right. Most golf courses can do a simple and quick check on a lie board and can tell you if your clubs lie is correct.
Keep em long and Straight,
CJ
March 15th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
CJ Says:

Bill,
Basically a Cast is when you get to the top of your swing and the wrists either do not create lag, store the lag, or literally dump or throw the club from the top. To create lag there is a process. first make sure your grip is in your fingers. Second, I would recommend the L to L drill to ensure that you are loading your wrists during the backswing. If you are doing that correct then the reason your casting is probably body motion related. You must make sure your body motion is correct and that you are loading your right side during the backswing and then transferring your weight to the left during the transition. There are hundreds of drills to help this. I would recommend the pump drill where you swing up to the top and pause. From here let your arms drop to the point where your right elbow is in front of your right hip, and you have maintained as much wrist hinge as possible. Wind back up and down a couple of times and on the third pump I want you to hit the ball softly but try to re-create the feeling of what you were working on with the pump drills. Let me know if you understand this and good luck.
Keep em Long and Straight,
cj
March 15th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
CJ Says:

Frank,
Thank you for your comment. I would be cautious with this as the body will be able to turn more when the body is standing straight up and down and obviously that would not work for a golf swing. I do like your drill and it addresses the idea of keeping the spine straight at setup and that is the key. I have a couple of posture drills I use and I hope those help you find the proper setup. thanks for your help and your comments and your support of Performaxgolf.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
March 15th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Ian Says:

Hi CJ,

I get a lot of height at the cost of distance with my driver even if I use a low tee. I have a 10.5 degree loft 460cc driver. I can normally hit my 3 wood further. Any deas on how I can fix this

Cheers

Ian
March 16th, 2010 at 6:19 am
CJ Says:

Ian,
Thanks for your comments and I empathize with you. Please write back and let me know if you were fitted or have been fitted for your driver using a launch monitor. It sounds like you haven’t lately as this would probably not be happening. Keep me informed.
Keep em Long and Straight,
cj
March 18th, 2010 at 1:53 am