3 keys to proper takeaway

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

There is a plethora of keys to power but your number-one focus needs to be how to take the club away from the ball. The takeaway sets up everything that follows during the backswing, greatly dictating the downswing and impact. Here are three keys to proper takeaway, smooth downswing and solid impact.

Swing the clubhead first

It's the clubhead that travels farther than the hands, arms, shoulders and hips from address to the top of the backswing. This makes it necessary to swing the clubhed first with a subtle clockwise rotation of your left forearm without moving your hands from their address position. No doubt, you need to allow your wrists to cock.

One-piece takeaway tends to cause the body to turn prematurely, forcing you to stop and wait for the arms and club to catch up. When that happens, you are liable to tilt toward the target and lift the club. That way you will lose most of your power and distance, plus accuracy unless you make a compensatory movement.

A simple, natural move to get your swing in sync is taking the clubhead away from the ball first. Push down on the end of the grip with the heel pad of your left hand as you swing the club back. The butt end of the club needs to point straight down just after the end of the takeaway when your hands are past the outside of your right thigh.

That allows the club, arms and body to reach the top all at once, facilitating returning the club to the ball on a proper path and plane without superfluous movements.

Retain the flex in the right leg

Even top-notch golfers make poor shots when they lose the flex in the right leg or stiffen it during the backswing. When that happens, your body tilts out of balance. On some occasions you may hit a decent shot but it's hard to make a good swing that repeats on a consistent basis. It's hard to re-bend the knee the right amount at impact on a constant basis.

Not to lose the flex in the right leg, imagine a reverse K formed by the body and maintain it throughout the swing. After all, the K is formed automatically when you establish an athletic, ready-to-move setup with a proper knee bend that approximates to the forward tilt of the spine.

Ensuring the maintenance of the K during the backswing helps unlock the hips so they’re free to rotate. However, failure to retain the K by straightening the right leg at the knee makes the right hip freeze, forcing the body to tilt rather than turn.

Kick the right knee toward the target

Once you've finished your backswing, all you have to do to whack the ball far and accurately is kick your right knee toward the target with the K still in its shape. Doing this correctly, you will find both arms staying straight just after impact with the clubhead below the hands and the butt end of the club pointing toward the center of your body.

Importantly, it's impossible to maintain the K unless you retain your spine angle established at address. The spine angle and right-knee bend are closely related and it’s hard to maintain the flex in your right leg without maintaining the forward tilt of your spine, and vice versa.

In a good golf swing the left hip shifts laterally forward toward the target at the initial stage of downswing and moves upward to straighten your left leg through impact so that it stays higher than the right at impact. This happens automatically if you think of kicking the right knee toward the target at the start of the downswing.