Ways to help speed up your clubhead
By Kim Jeong-kyoo
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Korea Times Golf Columnist
There are diverse ways to help you speed up your clubhead and hit your tee shot like a missile. You can, for instance, turn your body more on the backswing or use the ground on the downswing. Still, of supreme importance is swinging your club on a plane. Unless you swing your club on the correct path, you cannot hit your ball its full potential distance.
Swing your club back on plane
You cannot hit your ball as far as you want unless you swing your club on a plane. Imagine a dotted line drawn from your ball, along the club shaft and up past the handle of your club. That is your swing plane line. As you draw your club away from your ball, you need to keep your club on the same plane angle until the shaft is parallel to the ground. About waist-high, your club moves slightly above the dotted line as you swing it to the top of your backswing.
To learn the correct swing plane, grip down on the shaft of a short iron, so the butt end of the club almost touches your navel. As you swing back, preserve the triangle formed by your arms and shoulders. Critically, make sure you keep the butt end of your club pointing toward your belly until the clubhead is just outside your right foot.
Too early a body turn or wrist break will destroy the triangle, causing your club to drift under the swing plane. If you keep your club handle pointed at your belly and your triangle intact, your clubface will remain square and on plane. Make sure that your clubhead rests outside your hands, your right arm sitting above your left. That further ensures you swing your club back on plane.
As you start the downswing, drop your arms so the butt end of your club points toward your ball or slightly behind it. That is your correct delivery position. Your clubhead will swing on plane, approaching your ball from inside the target line. Now, you can speed up your club to the full through your shot, hitting your ball far to your satisfaction.
Incidentally, swinging your club back off plane, you’ll throw the clubhead outside the target line from the top. Then, the butt end of your club will point to your navel. That is the exact opposite of what you need to do. From that position, you’ll slice, pull or top your ball.
Think of a high jumper
The popular theory dictates that you must keep your head down and preserve your spine angle throughout your swing. This can help you hit your ball solidly. However, it can also play havoc with your ability to turn your body fully in the backswing. You’ll rarely hit your ball as far as you want if you don’t pivot properly.
To achieve your full shoulder rotation and proper hip turn, you should extend your spine in the backswing. To this end, imagine you’re a high jumper. Feel as if you're extending backward over the high bar as you swing your club back.
Thinking of a high jumper allows you to cock up your wrists correctly on the backswing. You will swing your club back on the plane and on the correct path. At the top of your backswing, you will be in position ready to slot your club into a downswing path.
Critically, that encourages you to start your downswing with your lower body. That also prevents your head from wobbling ahead of your ball.
Just picture that you’re a high jumper before your tee shot, and you’ll hit your ball farther and straighter. Complete your backswing by extending your spine backward the way you would do when you chop down a tree.
Start your downswing by simply turning your belly to the left toward the target.
Straighten your left leg
To outdrive your competitors, extend your left leg just before you hit your ball. That can help you gain extra yards. Straightening your left leg means pushing your left leg into the ground. That helps you create more power. Extending your left leg also increases the speed of your hip turn. This helps you speed up your club through your shot.
To straighten your left leg effectively, keep your left knee flexed for as long as possible. To speed up your club to the full, you need to straighten your left knee as fast as you can. Importantly, you need to do this a split second before you hit the ball. Straightening your left leg after you hit the ball, you're too late.
Stay in your address posture
To hit the ball pure and far, you need to preserve your address posture at impact. If you rise, you must move down to hit your ball in the center of your clubface. When you set up to your ball, you bend forward from your hips. To hit solid shots, you need to preserve the forward tilt of your spine through your shot.
To this end, you need to avoid standing up straight, damaging your address posture. Also, you need to avoid turning your shoulders on too flat a plane. Too level a shoulder turn can cause you to swing your arms and club too far to the inside. When that happens, you’ll have trouble swinging your club down on the correct path. You’ll throw your club outside the target line at the start of your downswing, hitting pulls or pull-slices.
To avoid this fault, you need to feel you’re turning your left shoulder under your right. That will help you keep your clubhead outside your hands during the takeaway and swing your club on plane. Swinging your club on the correct path, you’ll hit your ball far and straight to the best of your ability.