Turn your right hip joint toward the target

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

For a graceful swing, you need to move your clubhead first. Forget about the one-piece takeaway. To reach your backswing top, your clubhead travels farther than your hands, arms, shoulders and hips do. This calls for moving your clubhead first as you swing your club back.

Also, to swing your club back properly, you need to create and use centrifugal force. To this end, you need to swing your clubhead first, gripping your club as lightly as possible. Equally important is preserving the light but firm grip pressure during your entire swing. To increase your swing speed to your maximum, you need to feel your hands and arms staying soft throughout your swing. Otherwise, you cannot sling your club through full tilt.

If you squeeze or choke your grip, your hands become a bottleneck. This prevents you from unleashing your power fully into the ball. The bottleneck deprives you of every chance to let your power flow freely to your clubhead.

Using centrifugal force, you will swing your club back on the proper plane, letting your club and your body work in sync. Your club, arms and body will reach the top of your backswing at once. This helps you slot your club into the correct downswing path without any extra effort.

More importantly, you need to keep the lump at the nape of the neck still throughout your swing. Allowing the top of your spine to move sideways or up and down, you cannot swing your club on the proper plane. For a great swing, you need to make sure your spine works as the axis around which your shoulders turn.

Incidentally, don’t try to leave your head staying dead still. You need to let your head turn right going back and turn left coming down. That helps you make a fluid swing, hitting your ball longer and more accurately. Let your head turn freely, but make sure you keep the lump at the nape of your neck rock-steady.

Letting the lump at your neck move wrongly forward toward the target on the downswing, you will suffer pulls and slices. To hit your ball longer and straighter, you must keep the lump at your neck steady as you start your downswing.

When you hit your tee shots, picture yourself hitting a high draw as you go through your pre-shot routine. Hitting soft draws, you will send your ball farther than when you hit fades or straight shots.

Shift your weight to your right foot as you start your backswing, fixing the lump at the nape of your neck steady. Shifting your weight to your right side gives you more chances of increasing your power and distance. However, you’d better avoid shifting your weight to your right side when you swing your short irons and wedges. When you hit your short irons and wedges, accuracy outweighs distance.

Critically, swing your club back using your two hands. Your golf swing is a two-handed motion.

Start your downswing by rotating your right inside hip joint or right hip socket briskly toward your target. That way you will fire your right side fully, hitting your ball with a square clubface. You will increase your swing speed way faster than when you use brute strength to hit your ball hard.

Undoubtedly, you need to keep the lump at your neck steady as you start your downswing. This helps you increase your swing speed to your maximum, encouraging you to hit your ball at a timely moment. Also, it ensures you send your ball toward your target with pinpoint accuracy. Allowing the lump at your neck to wobble, you will suffer wayward, erratic shots.

Equally important is controlling your club with two hands on the downswing as you did on the backswing. Put differently, you need to hit your ball using two hands.

Avoid standing up too early before you hit your ball. That prevents you from correctly keeping your right shoulder lower than your left armpit through your shot.

Granted, to increase your distance and accuracy, you need to address your ball properly. You need to stay in balance with your arms connected to your chest. Make sure your elbows point at your hips at address. You need to leave your elbows pointed down.

Play your ball off the tip of your left shoulder when you hit your driver shots off the tee. Your stance needs to be much wider than your shoulder width. If you take an extra-wide stance, the lump at the nape of your neck will rarely wobble during the backswing. A wide stance encourages you to swing your club full tilt without losing your balance.

Place roughly 70 percent of your weight on your right foot. Tilt your spine to your right side to lower your right hip and shoulder. This helps you hit your ball with an upward blow. With irons, put roughly 60 percent of your weight on your left foot.

At finish, let your left arm and your club shaft form an open rectangle. Or, just stay in balance, with your right shoulder resting closer to the target than your left shoulder.