Let your body and arms do their own jobs

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

You have two ways to take your address posture in golf ― an upright posture and bent posture. You will naturally stand over your ball in an erect or bent posture. Typically, the shape and size of your body influence what address posture you will take.

Feeling it natural to scoop your ball off the turf, you’d probably better stand in an upright posture. If you take an erect posture, each front of your shoulder will sit in line with your toe line. Your spine will rest bent forward toward the ball by no more than 20 degrees. Shorter golfers will stand slightly more erect than taller players.

If you take a bent posture, each top of your shoulder will rest an inch or two outside your toe line. Your spine will bend over toward the ball from your hips about 35 to 45 degrees. Taller golfers will bend from the hips slightly more than shorter players. Typically, feeling it natural to swing around your body and hit down into the ball, you’ll address your ball in a bent posture.

You must remember golf swing consists of two moves blended into one if you’re taking an upright posture. You need to get your club to move sideways by rotating your shoulders and hips. Similarly, you need to let your club work vertically by swinging your arms up and down. For a perfect golf swing, you need to blend these two moves into one. Doing this correctly, you’ll swing your club on plane, speeding it up to the full through your shot. You will put you in position to hit your ball far and accurately to your satisfaction.

You need to swing your arms straight up as you turn your shoulders and hips during the backswing. On the downswing, you need to turn your body as you swing your arms down.

You need to make sure your left arm and club move slightly inside the target line during the takeaway. But you don’t need to force the inside takeaway. Your shoulder turn at the start of your backswing will let it happen naturally. You’ve taken your club back correctly if your club shaft is over your toe line about hip-high. If you swing your club back properly about hip-high, your club shaft gets horizontal and parallel to the target line. If your club shaft rests over your insteps at that stage, you’ve snatched your club back too far inside.

If you complete your backswing correctly, your arms will stay in front of your torso at the top. Importantly, you’ll feel your handle end pointing toward the target line, your club shaft parallel to the target line.

Avoid trying to take your club back low to the ground with your arms and hands. You need to do this solely with your hips and shoulders turning. Similarly, avoid trying to raise your club over your right shoulder with your hips and shoulders. You need to do this with your arms and hands swinging straight up.

Avoid letting your hips and shoulders do the business of your arms and hands. That can straighten your body during the backswing, pushing you to drop it down during the forward swing. That inhibits you from preserving your spine angle created at address. Unless you keep your spine angle intact, you cannot enjoy solid, clean contact on the sweet spot of the clubface. You are apt to hit fat or thin shots.

Similarly, avoid letting your arms and hands do what your shoulders and hips have to do. That can allow your arms and hands to follow your shoulders on the backswing, causing too flat a backswing. This positions your hands too low and too far behind you at the top of your backswing. When that happens, you have to throw your right shoulder out toward your ball as you begin your downswing. Otherwise, you cannot get your club back to your ball and square its face when you hit your ball.

Eventually, you will throw your club outside the target line and spin your torso, having an over-the-top move thrust on you. Typically, an over-the-top swing inflicts pulls, pull-slices or pull-hooks on you.

Remember your wrists and arms do nothing but moving your club ‘up and down’, your body letting your club swing ‘sideways’.

This holds equally true when you hit your ball. You’d better focus on turning your body through your shot rather than whacking your ball with your hands, using brute force. Ball-striking calls for more sweeping, circular move of your club, not much up-and-down move.

Incidentally, you may allow your spine angle to rise slightly during your backswing as you need to swing your arms up. Still, you need to keep your head from moving up more than two inches.

Also, you can allow your head and upper body to tilt slightly to the right as you turn your shoulders for full driver shots. That helps you increase your swing width, allowing you to get your upper body behind your ball. But you’d better keep your head and upper body staying centered over your ball when you’re hitting irons.

Similarly, you may let your left heel come off the turf at the top. If you are supple enough, however, you may complete your backswing with your left heel turned inward to the right. Still, you need to turn your upper body fully behind your ball, with your weight on your right side.

You’d better keep your head and upper body centered directly over your ball, however, if you set up in a bent posture.