Down with "down"...45
How one word has ruined so many swings
A Game of Targets
Golf is a game of sending a ball to a target. Apparent to every golfer is that from the tee the target is a place in the fairway, from the fairway it is a place on the green, and on the green the target is the hole. Targets are always “forward” never “down”.
Controlling Direction
Ask golfers what controls the direction of their ball flight and you’ll get explanations like these: alignment of the stance, alignment of the shoulders, alignment of hips, club position, finishing facing the target, and a host of other ideas. These factors and many others attributed to ball flight direction are peripheral at best and irrelevant at worst. Ball flight direction is exclusively the result of only two factors: 1)clubface angle at impact and 2)swing path.
Slicing Pandemic
A recognizable form of golf has been played for over 500 years during with a pandemic of slicing has consistently plagued golfers. The slice is golfers’ most common directional nemesis and is almost always partially if not completely the result of swing path.
Pandemic Explained
Why are golfers not fully vaccinated against this disease? My thousands of lessons have pointed to two problems accounting for the endurance of this problem: setup alignment and creating a downward force.
· Observe any group of recreational golfers and you will find seven out of ten align 30 degrees right of target (left of target for left-handers). In order to “hit” the ball to the target from this alignment, the swing path must be outside-in and thereby create the ball slicing to the right.
· The golf swing is commonly described as being composed of a backswing and a downswing. Along with this idea of a downswing, the player is taught to “hit down” on the ball. The implication of “down” is the second problem
o In order to swing “down”, the backswing must take the club upwards. In so doing the club is above the swing plane dictated by the club at address and thereby directing the club over-the-top which again enables an outside-in swing path and the resulting slice.
o Hitting “down” on the ball has only one directional mandate—down. The player can hit down making the ball go to extreme right, extreme left and every direction between the two.
o The force imparted to the ball is from a centrifugal force. The swing is circular and has an “around” but has no “down”.
The Fix
Misalignment at address and creating down during the swing are the two widespread but widely unrecognized swing path causes of slicing. The swing path can be resolved by correct alignment at address.
Next, replace the idea of a downswing with the idea of a forward swing. Replace the idea of “hitting down” with the idea of “swinging” forward (i.e. in the direction of the target). Rid your swing of any notion of “down”.
Each Thursday we’ll bring you a helpful insight.
Swing to the target,
Ed
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