BRUSH UP WITH BRETT
POSTURE and balance is critical in making the swing consistent, effective and effortless.
You must try to allow your arms and hands to be effective in a golf swing and to accomplish this they must have a base to swing from.
That base is the rest of your body — your shoulders, hips, legs and feet. Your body then becomes a platform from which you swing your arms and hands. To be effective, your base or platform must be in balance, allowing your arms and hands the opportunity to swing freely without excess tension, thus minimising the need for many of the compensating moves that develop from a lack of balance and poor posture.
The result of poor posture and bad balance is a lot of unnecessary moves that materialise instinctively while trying to strike a ball.
Occasionally, you can pull off a good shot through extraordinary eye and hand co-ordination, but it becomes very difficult to achieve good results consistently.
Let’s move on to a problem that afflicts many golfers — “hitting from the top”, and it comes from the effort of using too much force while just trying to clobber the ball.
It seems like a powerful move but it’s absolutely not.
The problem with this action is that it immediately initiates the uncocking of your wrists, while throwing your arms away from your body.
The result is an over-the-top, outsidein swing, with most of the power spent long before you get to the ball. By keeping your right elbow tucked into your right side, you’ll automatically swing down on the correct path, and you’ll maintain most of your wrist cock until the last second. Take your time on the downswing, swing hard but let it progress.
Your first move should be a little drop motion as your right elbow pulls down or, alternatively, feel that you’re pulling down slightly a couple of inches with your left arm.
Now you are in the rare and soughtafter position described in all those golf books and magazines: ‘in the slot’, ‘in the groove’ or ‘on plane’.
Get ready to release the hands and rotate hard through impact and feel the resulting power.
If you’ve never hit a shot from anywhere near this position, you’re in for a treat.
Mick was just about to play his seventh to the eighth when he stopped and said to his playing partner Paddy: “I hear Murphy died, was he ill long?” “No,” said Paddy, “he died in the best of health.”
BRETT BRASIER IS A PGA PROFESSIONAL AT CURLEWIS