By Kim Jeong-kyoo
It's not good to get overly position-conscious during the swing as it thwarts a fluid swing. But here are some key moves at crucial points of the swing that you'd better be aware of to perfect your ball-striking ability.
It's impossible to move your body as gracefully as you want unless you start your swing in balance. For a solid setup your bodyweight needs to be distributed on the balls of your feet and your knees flexed only slightly so your elbows, kneecaps and the balls of your feet line up vertically.
It's important to start fairly tall at the address with your chin away from your chest. Burying your chin in your chest during the setup restricts your shoulder turn and weight shift. Failure to keep your head up also makes it hard to move and swing freely. You can easily imagine that an athlete would have difficulty clearing a hurdle with the chin tucked between the shoulders.
Be sure that you push your hips back before flexing your knees so your behind sticks out behind your heel line.
Also crucial for a smooth, balanced swing is to make certain that your right knee, hip and shoulder are all lower than their opposite parts on the left. Apart from many other benefits, that allows you to take the club away from the ball low to the ground.
Start the clubhead first, then your hands, arms, shoulders and hips so the takeaway mirrors the impact. Avoid pushing yourself into making a straight-back takeaway. At the end of the takeaway when your left hand is about to pass your right leg or an instant before the shaft gets parallel to the ball-target line, start shifting your weight to the right and cock your wrists upward.
When your left arm is parallel to the ground and slightly higher than your right, the clubshaft intersects your right shoulder, the clubshaft and your left arm forming a 90-degree angle.
Then, the club starts to move around your body, your shoulders rotating around your right knee and starting to pull your hips. Your bodyweight is loaded on the right side.
At the top of the backswing the leading edge of the clubface is parallel to your left forearm, which means you have not manipulated the swing with your wrists and hands. That also means the clubface is square.
In a good backswing your hips are turned only half as far as the shoulders. Your left arm remains straight, your right elbow pointing to the ground. Your hands and arms are under the club, supporting its weight. Your right hip and knee feel taut and ready to spring toward the target.
Also important is to maintain the flex in your right knee created at address. A good way of attaining this is to sit down a bit on your right leg, swinging the club back. It's necessary to maintain your hip bend as it's almost impossible to keep the flex in your right leg constant without keeping your hip angle stable.
The flex in your right leg needs to be maintained during the backswing to avoid shifting your bodyweight overly to the right or swaying too far to the right. Maintenance of the flex in the right leg is also required for a tighter body coil at the top, which enables you to fire into the ball with more power and speed just like loading and releasing a spring.
Of equal importance is to create a top-of-the-backswing position that allows you to swing readily toward the target. At the top you need to be in position, ready to hit the ball toward the target.