Different body type calls for different swing style

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

There are three spaces that can be used in swinging a golf club: the area above you, the area behind you and the two areas beside you. Doubtlessly, you must use all three spaces, but for a more efficient swing you need to use a particular space more than others depending on your physique.

Using an unsuitable or inappropriate space causes your swing to become less efficient, hampering your ability to maximize both distance and direction. That prevents you from swinging the club on plane, leaving you with very little chance of hitting the ball in the centre of the clubface. That also makes it hard to build momentum to the best of your ability.

Golfers with a big chest and relatively short arms are those built for strength rather than speed. If you have a thick body and little flexibility, you will likely set up in a bent posture. Your dominant space needs to be the areas at your sides.

You'd better not strive for a big, high swing. You need to keep your hands low or rather as near to the ground as possible. Your major swing key needs to be swinging the club away from the body.

Take a neutral or a tad strong grip and extend your left thumb as far as possible down the grip. That promotes an early and full hinging of the wrist on the backswing, allowing you to maximize clubhead speed to the full through impact.

With a thicker upper body and limited flexibility, you have difficulty getting power from lower-body movement or unhinging levers. You need to rely on a big shoulder turn and wide arc, which calls for a wide stance for stability.

Stand a bit farther from the ball and take a closed stance with the ball positioned back, off the logo of your shirt when you hit the ball off the tee with the driver. As the clubhead makes a shorter journey when it comes from the side, you need to place the ball a little bit backward toward the right foot.

Flare the right foot out away from the target, squaring the left foot. Flaring the right foot facilitates body rotation on the backswing; squaring the left foot promotes quick release through impact. That encourages power and distance from a shorter backswing.

Naturally, you will place your left arm low under the shoulder line at the top of the backswing. Getting your hands high above your shoulder at the top is a contrived or forced motion. Keep your backswing short, only halfway back so the left arm is just past parallel to the ground. Too high a hand position damages the body angles created at address and thus inhibits you from producing solid, powerful impact.

You are better focusing on turning your left shoulder behind the ball and extending your arms and hands as far away from the target as possible rather than try to swing your arms high.

To initiate the downswing tuck your right elbow into the side with the upper body and head staying steady where they were at the top of the backswing. At impact you must have your hips completely cleared and to this end, you need to start rotating your hips at the early stage of the downswing. You require minimal hip slide and almost immediate hip rotation.

Namely, even at the top of the backswing your arms are still below your shoulder line, which means that your hands travel a very short distance. Therefore, your hip turn should happen as soon as possible. You'd better think of starting to rotate your hips when you make your transition from backswing to downswing.

Equally crucial is to rotate your upper body. After all, your dominant movement on the downswing should be the turning of your left shoulder toward the target. That allows the clubface to properly rotate counterclockwise and makes enough of weight transfer to the left at the start of the downswing.