IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME

Shaft upside the head

improves timing

Go to the practice tee at any PGA Tour event and you’ll often see caddies holding a shaft to their players’ heads. The idea is to reinforce the importance of keeping the hub of your swing stable (but not rigid), if you’re supple enough keep the head back while the hips slide out from under it.

The drill the caddies and players are using teaches a “stay-then-go” sequence: First, anchor the head (except for its rotation), then, as part of the release, allow the head to catch up to the spine during the follow-through until, at the finish, it sits in the middle of your vertical spine like a pumpkin on a spike.

Just knowing the general principle that some motions start and stop while others rise to take their place is helpful in understanding the key role of timing. If the swing were all stay or all go, the importance of timing would diminish, but in the last analysis, it is much harder to master the correct “when” than it is the correct “what.”

Wizards who teach only whats are ersatz wizards. In fact, the vast majority of mistakes made in the golf swing involve whens. If you ever meet a wizard in your journey through golf, and are allowed just one wish, ask for the gift of timing ― when to do the what.

The caddy’s shaft is a reminder that keeps tour player Eric Axley from drifting. When you slide forward, you disrupt the swing arc. The caddie should remove the shaft at this point to allow Axley’s head and torso to go erect.

By stabilizing his hub, Axley creates a perfect approach angle. The sequence is to rotate the body around the hub into impact, then release the spine/head into a vertical finish. Note how the shaft points at the target line — it’s on a perfect plane.