Blanket key to perfect takeaway in golf swing

Kim Jeong-kyoo

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

Your entire in-swing move depends on how you take your club away from the ball for the first 18 inches. A golf swing comprises a series of actions and reflexes. Once you've started to move your club back, you can hardly control the moving club during the swing.

To enjoy solid, powerful shots, you need to start off well by moving your club back properly. A proper takeaway helps you set your club correctly at the top, moving it easily into the correct downswing path. Once you put your club onto the proper path, solid ball-striking is a piece of cake.

If starting your swing off poorly, however, you will end your swing in disappointment. You can rarely make a swing with a poor takeaway end in success. A wrong start of the swing compels you to adjust later only to struggle with poor contact.

If you grip your club correctly and set up properly, you will take your club back decently. However, here are several methods you'd better employ to further ensure you start swinging your club back correctly.

First, make sure your clubhead moves straight back for a foot or so, not inside or outside the target line. To this end, you need to keep your clubhead close to the ground as you begin your backswing at a leisurely pace.

To go back “low and slow” you need to use big muscles which helps you avoid snatching the club back. Make sure you start to take your club back using your torso, chest or shoulders rather than your hands, wrists or arms.

Similarly, to let your clubhead travel back low, you need to keep your hands low. This will help you keep your clubhead correctly in the path between your hands and the ball roughly hip high. Also, you will swing your hands slightly inside the hand line, swinging your club back on the proper course, no matter what club you hit with.

Second, let your shoulders turn 60 degrees and your hips roughly 30 degrees when your hands reach waist height. This will help you turn your body fully, allowing you to swing the club on the proper plane. Typically, your club shaft rests horizontally and parallel to the target line when you reach waist height.

Thirdly, ensure your left elbow points at the target line during your takeaway until your left arm is parallel to the ground. This will simplify your backswing, guaranteeing the proper path and plane. Letting your elbows work properly as you go back and come down, you will enjoy long, straight shots. (As you start your downswing, let your right elbow look at the target line until your right arm becomes parallel to the ground.)

Fourth, let the leading edge of the clubface stay parallel to the forward bend of your upper body or spine angle roughly waist-high. That says you've kept your clubface square to the arc of your swing. This helps you square the clubface effortlessly when your club meets the ball.

Employing one of these four approaches correctly, you will easily carry out your takeaway successfully. Eventually, you will arrive at an ideal backswing top, putting you in position ready to set up your downswing properly and enjoy pleasing ball strikes.

Still, to ensure you take your club back flawlessly, you'd best make a no-takeaway backswing.

Moe Norman, one of the all-time greatest ball-strikers placed the club a foot behind the ball at address. That way he cut out his takeaway or rather ensured a perfect takeaway, which made for great ball-striking. In other words, he finished the first and the most critical part of his swing correctly before initiating his swing.

He commented, “How can it be any lower and slower than that?” “There are four things I can't do (by placing the clubhead one foot behind and away from the ball). I can't take it outside, I can't pick the club up, my right shoulder is already into my turn and I eliminate 1ft from my backswing.”

You can make a bunch of faulty moves during the takeaway. You can hinge your wrists too early, wrongly open the clubface or mistakenly snatch the club too much inside or outside. Also, you can wrongly swing your arms only, neglecting to turn your shoulders and hips.

Employing the no-takeaway backswing, however, you can purge your swing of diverse errors you could commit during the takeaway.

Emulate Moe Norman, and you will enjoy a simple, compact swing easy to repeat. This blanket tip will work on golfers of all levels, from high handicappers to advanced players.