Hitting the Big Time -2

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

You could ask all of the top coaches in the world and I don’t think they would guess what it is.

The position that we see at the top of the swing is simply classic. Henrik is now fully loaded, his shoulders having turned through a full 90 degrees, the club nowparallel with the ball-to-target line. And yet, as he arrives here, he is already in the process of starting the reverse-coil back down.

Look at the action of the left leg between frames 3 and 4; it is stronger as he reaches the top in readiness to support the transition and shifting of weight back into the left side.

Again, the reverse coil starts from the ground up. This is something you can improve in your own swing with basic body pivot exercises. As you unwind, you should get a sense that your belt buckle is re-rotating back towards the target.

As Henrik reverses momentum, we can see that his left arm and right leg fall nicely are in line - and these, incidentally, are great lines for power delivery. The quality of this body action is what helps him to retain the lag betwen his left arm and the shaft, and that spells one thing: power.

This power line is again evident at the moment of impact, as the left arm and left leg 'match up’. He is retaining what I term the 'pressure line’; his body is in the process of turning and opening to stabilise the impact (and when you hit it as hard as he does, you need stable impact!).

Through the ball, he displays a strong left side and good extension - a continuation of the previous frame and simply the result of one good move leading to another, a reaction to a particular action.

The finish is simply the conclusion to a series of great moves, and though we’re looking at a static frame, it hints at the wonderful balance that typifies Henrik’s entire action. One thing you have to understand to properly learn and develop a golf swing is that power is not purely about speed.

I believe there are four power sources to draw on - speed, pressure, rotation and leverage - and the longest hitters out there use all four. Henrik achieves a high percentage in each category, which is why he is long and straight. One of my favourite quotes is 'the road to success is always under construction’.

Those of you who are serious about taking your game to a higher level need to work on improving your body action - the body is the engine room, the arms and club are the steering wheel.

If you’ve got a good engine, it’s easy to steer. And Henrik’s firing on all cylinders.

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Hitting the Big Time

Look at any world-class player, a powerful player, and one of the things that strikes you is the way in which they are able to turn on the heat and draw on extra power as and when they need to - it’s as if it’s on tap.

The initial four frames in both of these views of Henrik’s swing with a driver give you a very strong impression of just how much power he has at his disposal, as he demonstrates a wonderful body action that provides the 'engine’ to the swing. Following on from that, the immediate start to the downswing is a terrific example to all golfers of the way in which players of this calibre then retain that power for impact.

As ever, it all starts at the set-up, and Henrik uses his full height to create a consistent position with his own 'dynamic balance’. At 6’ 1", he is a lot taller than most people, and yet he doesn’t need quite the knee flex that some might suggest.

Looking down the line, pay attention to the fact that the arms are allowed to hang 'free’ from the shoulders - there is no stress or tension in the arms or shoulders.

All the lines are square and on line. Henrik’s initial coil starts from the ground upwards - as it must. With a terrific body action, he is rotating and gradually coiling up his swing. I particularly like the way in which he achieves great hand, arm and club balance - and everything is in perfect plane.

From that first move, Henrik simply continues the coiling motion and at the same time retains the angle between his left arm and the clubshaft. As you can see, he cocks his wrists a little later than most, and this reflects the fact that he is so strong and engineers his swing with such a terrific body action (not dissimilar to Tiger).

Oh, and here’s a challenge for all you wannabe swing sleuths out there: for my money, golf’s socalled 'secret move’ is right here, in frame 3 looking the line.

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If You Slice-2

Simultaneously, you must encourage your wrists to hinge freely and 'set' the club up on plane, the shaft in a much better and more playable angle (not rolled flat behind your body). It's a good idea to rehearse this in slow motion. Feel that the butt-end points down to the ground as you hinge the right wrist back on itself. It will feel as though your hands are directly under the clubhead, while the club itself should feel much lighter in your hands at this stage.

This is a move that habitual slicers of the ball will feel very uncomfortable with. I get asked 'Isn't this picking the club up?' No. It's swinging the club up, setting the shaft at the right angle and putting it in a good position on its way to the top.

Once you have negotiated this initial movement away from the ball, completing the shoulder turn rewards you with a perfectly on-line backswing, the right side turned out of the way, hands and arms swinging up and over the right shoulder. The key is that from here, unwinding your body towards the target naturally clears the way for the arms to fall into a position from where you are poised to attack the ball from the inside.

Look at the way the right elbow now works down towards the right hip - a new and totally different feeling altogether.

The key is that over-exaggerating this series of movements will, in time, gradually reverse the habit of throwing the right shoulder forward and 'over the top', replacing it with a wonderful feeling of settling your body in the transition, shallowing the club as you start down (right) and thus enabling you to maximise the leverage of the swing for maximum speed at impact.

Feel the natural path with right hand only

Let me round this lesson off with another good exercise that will further help to replace bad habits and feelings with good ones. Swinging with your right hand only on the grip leads to a series of good natural positions for the simple reason that you are not able to over-control the weight of the clubhead. With one hand on the grip, a real sense of swing takes over.

When I'm teaching, I will occasionally hit shots like this to illustrate just how effective a smooth rhythmic swing can be with one hand, but I'm not suggesting that you need to be quite that ambitious. You don't need to hit balls (although if you do feel up to it, make sure the ball is teed-up invitingly).

Swinging a mid-iron with the right hand only will develop your sense of a naturally correct swing, the weight of the clubhead hingeing your right wrist on the way to the top. As you unwind, the key then is that the club shallows as it begins its downward journey- i.e. it falls on the inside track. Once in this slot, the tennis players among you will understand when I say the release through impact is like a powerful forehand, rotating the club to the finish.

Right foot back gets loaded' behind the ball

In conjunction with thoughts of reversing the loop, and using the exaggerated feelings I described previously, try swinging with your right foot pulled back until the toe of your right shoe is level with the left heel, as I am doing here.

With your right side effectively out of the way (or at least partly out of the way), this helps you to develop a better rotation or turning motion of the upper body, which is vital in the process of eliminating the slice.

This is key: for solid ball-striking, you have to give yourself a chance to swing the club towards the ball from inside the target line. The purpose of the pivot motion is to coil your body and generate some power, certainly, but also to get your upper body properly stacked behind the ball (right).

Only by doing that do you give yourself the room that you need to swing the arms back down from the inside. So use this exercise when you practise. Pull your right foot back, as I have, and give yourself all this space to swing down on the inside. When you achieve this, I guarantee that you'll experience a totally new feeling of freedom as you unwind and drop your arms and the club into this slot.

Compare this to the 'over-the-top' move on the opening spread: a world of difference as the right shoulder remains passive through the change of direction, perfectly poised now to unwind the arms and the clubhead at speed through impact.

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If You Slice

A mistaken notion of swinging from the inside usually results in the exact opposite - an 'over-the-top' move that sees the right shoulder throw the club outside the play line, the classic cause of the slice. If that sounds and looks familiar, let me explain how to reverse the loop.

A lot of golfers have heard about the importance of swinging on an inside path, but they mistakenly believe that to achieve this they have to whip the club way inside the line at the very start of the backswing. just look at this first move away from the ball.

The hands and arms roll the club way inside the line, getting it too flat and too much behind the body. And when you make this mistake, you're left with no option but to lift the arms and club upwards to reach the top of the backswing.

There's no cocking or hingeing of the wrists to set the club up on plane. There's no 'loading' of the clubshaft, no real attempt to turn the upper body away from the target to get the left shoulder fully behind the ball.

No weight shift, no coil. No power.

Looking at this face-on, the upper body hasn't turned at all and the right hip has not moved out of the way. In short, no sign of any rotation. That lifting motion of the arms sees the club way across the line, and the momentum of that move forces the right shoulder to move forward starting down.

It's the classic OTT move - the clubhead on track to cut weakly across the ball. With the help of a couple of easy drills, let me show you how to reverse this sequence of events - and use the rotation of your body effectively.

How to Reverse the Loop

How to find the inside path

In the sequence you see here, I have exaggerated key moves to illustrate the sensations that you need to identify with in order to reverse the loop in your swing and get the club falling naturally into this inside slot as it re-routes in the downswing (right).

From the set-up, your overriding thought must be to take the club back outside the play line (i.e. the ball-to-target line). To achieve this, you will want to feel that the club is much more out in front of your body as you move it away from the ball.

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In the Line of Fire

Confidence in your alignment is essential when you set-up to fire an iron shot to a par-three.

As a guide, look for an old divot mark on the teeing ground that points in the direction you want to hit the ball. That doesn't necessarily mean at the flag.

A more prudent shot may be one fired towards the fat of the green, away from trouble.

Tee up your ball behind that divot and immediately you give yourself a positive mental image that will help you to release the clubhead on line towards your target.

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Matter of Timing-2

Drills for a better motion

For high-handicappers, a lack of timing is usually the result of a lack of differential in the speeds between the club, hands and body. Typically, the movement is too jerky and has no 'core' balance. This is normally due to an excess of tension and a desire to over-use the hands and hit 'at' the ball. To replace this with a free-wheeling motion, try the following drills:

Narrow stance drill

With a 7- or 8-iron, stand with your feet something like four to five inches apart and hit some shots. The secret to this exercise is that you concentrate on allowing the clubhead to swing freely, your feet 'quiet' throughout for balance.

Two-club flow drill

Take two clubs of similar length (i.e. 5- and 6-iron) and, with a good set-up, grip them as normally as possible. To start, extend the clubhead's a few feet into the follow-through, then let them fall and use their momentum to help you on your way to a full backswing and finish.

Closed-stance drill

Once you have created a good athletic posture at the set-up you want your legs to remain fairly stable in the course of making your swing. The flex in the right knee and thigh is retained to provide resistance on the way back and then contains the dynamic of your swing through the transition before adding to the thrust and momentum of the release through the ball. Hitting balls from a closed stance -illustrated here by one of the game's great ball-strikers, Nick Price - can seriously help to give you the sensation of a 'quiet' lower body and thus highlight the winding and unwinding of the torso. Give all these drills a go next time you play and see if better timing doesn't help you to hit more solid shots.

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Matter of Timing

Identifying some of the elements common in the swings of some of the world's best golfers - and copying them - is a sure way to synchronise your own motion for more power and less effort.

The concept of 'timing' in relation to the golf swing is something that is difficult to communicate (particularly to someone new to the game), and yet it's very obvious when a player witnesses at first hand the effortless power that good players seem able to generate with a smooth, flowing swing.

To grasp exactly what good timing involves, you have to understand how three key moving parts in the swing work in relation to one another - the three specific points of reference being the clubhead, the hands and the torso.

Once these elements are assembled in order at the set-up, the key is that they travel in the same general direction but at varying speeds in order to create an efficient swing and deliver the clubhead squarely to the ball at impact.

The Grip - A Good Swing Hinges on it

No matter how good your body action may be, unless you have a grip that allows the wrists to hinge freely you will never fully enjoy the sensation of swinging the clubhead and generating the speeds of which you are capable.

One of the biggest faults among amateur players is running the grip too high in the palm of the hand which effectively destroys its mobility, so check the position of your left hand. When you practise, hold the club at this 45-degree angle in readiness to fit the left hand.

This makes it easier to run the grip diagonally through the first joint on the forefinger all the way through to a point just below the base of the little finger.

With the hand correctly in position, you should then find that you are able to support the club with your fingers curled. When it comes to making your swing, the left will hinge naturally, allowing you to create a flowing motion

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How to Maximize Your Drive -3

The dynamics of a good transition naturally lower the plane of the swing as the left side pulls and the right side‘holds’, the right arm and right shoulder falling into powerful hitting position

DON’T ‘FLIP’ THE HANDS THROUGH IMPACT

You will enjoy the most efficient delivery of speed with the clubface square to the path along which it is travelling

Complementing perfectly the shape and the rhythm of Danielle’s swing, the way in which she releases the club through the ball with a very passive hand action is key to her accuracy. There is no manipulation of the clubhead whatsoever through the ball – there doesn’t need to be as she maintains a neutral clubface throughout. The ball itself is ‘collected’ as she unwinds and accelerates the clubhead. There is no physical determination to hit ‘at’ the ball, rather a flowing delivery of speed. The hands will, of course, cross over naturally as Danielle continues on to a finish, somewhere at around hip-high. What you don’t ever want is a feeling of ‘flipping’ the hands through impact (as illustrated above).

DON’T STOP! TURN ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE SHOT TO A FULL, BALANCED FINISH

Full rotation of the body in the through-swing is vital to the conclusion– hips again play a leading role

Assuming the target is as 12 o’clock, with me standing at around 10 o’clock, Danielle should be able to complete her through-swing and have her upper body look straight at me

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How to Maximize Your Drive -2

At first glance this position above looks pretty good – full shoulder turn, head behind the ball and so on. But because Danielle has failed to involve her hips to any real extent, she has not transferred her weight fully into her right side and as a result the recoil will not be as dynamic and powerful as it would be from the excellent position on the left. The point to appreciate is that the lower body initiates the downswing sequence from the ground up, triggering the re-rotation of the hips towards the target that generates so much of your arm and clubhead speed. And of course, in order to maximise the potential of that dynamic you must first activate the hips in the backswing.

‘WAIT FOR IT’ FROM THE TOP

The one certain way to ruin a good backswing is to rush into the downswing, to hurry the transition and to lose touch with the chain-reaction of events that characterises a flowing swing. This is where Danielle displays excellent poise and if there is a single lesson you take away from this article then take my advice and focus on this transition from backswing to downswing – rehearse it in front of a mirror and get the sensation of the left side reversing momentum and rerotating back towards the target while the right side holds back for a split-second. That’s all it takes for you to reverse the gears and give yourself the opportunity to then enjoy a sequenced unwinding of your whole body through impact (as you see Danielle demonstrating in this mini sequence below).

A sensation of the left hip re-rotating back to the target while the left shoulder holds is the key to initiating the donswing sequence

Above all, resist the temptation to throw the right shoulder forward – that is the killer move that leads to an out-to-in swingpath and a slice across the ball. Having turned and rotated fully into your right side, try to rehearse instead the sequence of movements initiated in the lower body as the left knee, left thigh and left hip work back towards the target. That automatically lowers the right side, placing the right arm and right shoulder in the perfect position from which you are then free to unwind and plant the maximum force on the back of the ball.

TRANSITION SHALLOWS PLANE

Here’s a great exercise to appreciate the sensation of shallowing out the plane of your swing via a good transition. Have a friend stand behind you and grab the clubhead at the top of the backswing. Against that resistance, you then initiate your downswing move from the ground up, and feel the power in your middle as your ‘core’ – the engine of your golf swing – rotates towards the target.

As Danielle completes here backswing I am simply holding on to the clubhead to create a resistance

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How to Maximize Your Drive?

Following a terrific amateur career, 25-year-old Danielle Masters from the Chart Hills Club, in Kent, is one of up and coming young stars on the Ladies European Tour. We have been working together for several years now, and the foundation of her success is built on the basic idea of building a swing that flows as a chain reaction from a good set-up position in which the quality of the body angles are paramount. Off the tee, Danielle may not be the longest of hitters, averaging around 250 yards, but she is certainly one of the straightest, and over the following pages I hope to share with you some of the lessons and ideas we work on to create a solid, repeating swing. I have always believed that the majority of amateur golfers stand to learn a lot more from the top women players than they can ever learn from the men, and there are some very pertinent lessons in here that can give every player some positives to focus on out on the course.

THINK ‘RIGHT POCKET BACK’ FOR A FULL TURN

Being naturally more supply and flexible than men, you often see women golfers who are able to make a fairly full turn of the shoulders without the assistance of much in the way of hip turn. Impressive, certainly, but when it comes to making a good backswing movement I always like to see the hips turn to at least 30 degrees or so. This is something I have to continually remind Danielle about, as she is one of those players who is capable of turning her shoulders without moving the hips – but who makes a much better backswing when she does involve them.

As a youngster I always liked one of Greg Norman’s favourite swing thoughts ‘Right Pocket Back’. That idea of turning the right pocket out of the way in the backswing effortlessly paved the way for a full turning of the torso, which is what you need in order to get fully behind the ball and onto your right side with the longer clubs in the bag, and particularly the driver.

A simple checkpoint: the zip on Danielle’s jacket top provides the easiest of references when it comes to setting the clubshaft in the ideal position at the set-up with a driver. With the ball off the left instep, we look for the shaft to run in line with the zip – i.e. the upper spine tilts gently away from the target to give Danielle the perfect posture

 

 

If you are one of those players with a lazy hip turn, have a friend grab hold of your belt loops and physically rotate you into the position – and then go after that same sensation when left to your own devices.

WHY THE HIPS MUST PLAY A ROLE IN A TRUE DYNAMIC ACTION

  

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More Distance

Next time you work on your long game, think about controlling your swing with the rotation of your upper body.

To do this you first need to get yourself a solid base at the set-up, from which you are then able to wind and unwind your torso. Improving the efficiency of this body action is the key to maximising the forces that accelerate your arms, hands and -ultimately-the clubhead through the ball.

Learn to 'free-wheel' through the ball, hitting hard with the right hand

The analogy of spinning a weight on the end of a piece of string is one that has really helped me to understand the way the body rotates as the 'hub' to generate the centrifugal forces that accelerate the arms, hands and clubhead.

Basically, the more efficiently you rotate the 'hub' (i.e. your hand when swinging the weight on the end of a string, your body 'core' when swinging a golf club), the more centrifugal force you generate.

Add a repeating rhythm, and the result is a flowing arm-swing and maximum possible acceleration through the ball. The full release sees the right hand cross over the left as the wrists hinge up to the finish.

Hovering the driver at the set-up is a popular habit, and one that encourages a low, slow and wide move away from the ball - ideal to get you 'loaded' at the top of the backswing.

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Move Over... Then Hit It -2

Going nowhere...

The reverse pivot is one of the most common and destructive faults in golf. Invariably, it kills all hope you might have of creating a good back swing coil and hitting solid shots.

When your weight lingers on your left side as you reach the top of your back swing, not only do you destroy the fluency of your motion but you create a situation which, inevitably, will result in your, weight traveling away from the target as you unwind back to the ball.

In other words, if you are susceptible to a reverse pivot, your weight transfer is fighting the direction (and the logic) of your swing. The result? A weak and choppy attack on the ball, poor distance, poor accuracy.

Turn, and get on to your right side

Don't be afraid to move off the ball and really get behind it when you make your back swing. You simply must get across and on to your right side if you want to give yourself any chance of releasing the club head at speed through impact.

Many people worry about moving the head during the swing. Don't. Watch the best players in the world and you will notice they move their head a little to the right to facilitate a full shoulder turn and thus encourage a full wind-up.

Shifting your weight in harmony with the direction of the swing is particularly important for women when it comes to creating power. As a swing key, think about getting your left shoulder across to a position above your right knee. Achieve that, and you will be in good shape.

As the body turns, the arms swing... freely

I feel that my swing is more or less controlled by the turning (rotary) motion of my upper body. But at the same time I do like to focus on swinging my hands up high to achieve a good position at the top, the club parallel with the ball-to-target line.

In this position, my weight is supported on my right side, and from here I am aware of a great sense of 'unwinding the spring' as I accelerate freely into the back of the ball. The conclusion to all this is that I 'free¬wheel' to finish with the majority of my weight now on my left side, my body having turned completely through the shot.

The thoughts contained within this article suit my game and help me to play consistent golf. If you can spend a little time to put these ideas into action, I guarantee you will hit better and longer shots.

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Move Over... Then Hit It

Shifting your weight in harmony with the direction of your swing is essential for maintaining rhythm and creating maximum power.

A smart address

A pre-shot routine is designed to prepare both your body and your mind to make your best swing. This is something you have to work on when you practise. Thinking clearly about the shot you intend to play - specifically the details of your alignment - is part and parcel of that process.

On the range, I generally place a couple of clubs on the ground to keep my alignment in good order. The club between my feet works as a T-Square and helps me to monitor the ball position. With the mid- to short irons (here I am using a 6-iron), I like the ball to be towards the middle of my stance, moving it slightly further forward for the longer irons and woods.

But not too far forward. There's not much deviation. And remember, the ball position relative to your stance is not measured from your toes (which are turned out) but from the inside of the heels.

Pre-empt your move

Rehearsing the first move away from the ball (or even swinging the club all the way to the top) helps me to get a good sense of the feelings that I want to achieve with my real swing. I find that moving the club back a couple of times also helps to keep the muscles in my hands and arms - and upper body generally - relaxed, which is particularly important in terms of establishing a good rhythm.

Whether you are a scratch player or a novice to the game, a positive waggle of the club head should feature in your pre-shot routine. Once you are nicely set up to the shot, rehearse your move away with a full waggle, keeping the hands and wrists supple and relaxed. Do this as you take a last look at your target.

At the same.time, try to sense that your weight is preparing to move across to your right side. I am aware of a slight 'bump' across to my right side as I waggle the club. This helps to guarantee that my weight does move away from the target when it's finally time to go.

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How to get On Path in Plane -2

Shape, not length, is key

The length of the backswing is not of great importance to me; it's the shape that I am most concerned with. And as you can see, if you can get into a good position at halfway back, with the club on a decent plane, you have more or less cracked the code as far as attaining a good backswing position.

That the hands arrive above the tip of the right shoulder is not only a good swing thought but a useful checkpoint to look for as you reach the top. A little daylight should be visible, but don't worry if you are unable to extend high into a Davis Love-like position - few players can. A compact three-quarter length arm swing, with a good wrist set, makes for a very solid and playable position.

It all depends on body shape and athletic ability. Let's not kid ourselves that we all have the talent of a Tiger Woods.

I teach a lot of mid- and higher handicap golfers who cannot physically get back any further than this but shape is good and they still return club to the ball effectively.

Rotation is the key to a correct on-line release

Too many golfers get 'target-orientated' coming through the ball, as a result of which they often end up trying to steer the club straight down the target line. We've all been guilty of that from time to time, and it's a horrible feeling, as you know that you are failing to release the club at your maximum speed.

The idea of me placing these clubs on the ground -and I hope you try this when you next have the opportunity to practise - is that you learn to understand that the golf swing is a rotary motion controlled largely by the turning of the body and that the clubhead traces a natural arc. The clubface is on line for just a fraction of a second through impact - long enough to strike the ball towards the target - before the rotation of the body swings the hands, arms and the club itself inside once again on the way to the finish.

Think of it this way. A good swing is a mirror image: the hands, arms and the club are encouraged to swing up and around the body on the way back, returning to square momentarily at impact before swinging around and up again into the follow-through, the hands this time heading up and over the left shoulder.

The swing is a rotary motion, the clubface on line for just a fraction of a second before the continuing rotation of the body pulls the arms, hands and the club to a finish.

People mistakenly talk of the release as being all about hand action, but the correct release does not involve any 'flipping' of the wrists through the ball. It is a natural release of the centrifugal forces that have been generated by the body, the energy that is stored in the wrists finally released on the ball as the body unwinds towards the target. The right hand and fore-arm cannot help but overtake their left-side counter-parts, finally doing so at about waist high as the club shaft once again swings up on a good plane. The clubface is at all times neutral to your body turn - the same as it was to start with.

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How to get On Path in Plane

From the moment you set-up to the ball, golf is all about swinging the club along a natural path and keeping it on a good 'plane' (or angle) as the wrists cock and un-cock to translate that movement into clubhead speed.

As a coach, the challenge is getting this message across as simply as possible, and the clubs that you see placed here on the ground make for a series of very useful checkpoints.

The fact is, while the golf swing is by definition a rotary motion controlled by the turning of the body, parallel lines relating to the target confirm some of the vital checkpoints that we look for along the way.

Get the club on plane and swing in the right direction and you will find that you match a number of those parallel lines with the clubshaft - hence the value of placing clubs on the ground when you practise.

Let me take you through the key checkpoints to look for.

Use these early checkpoints to get your swing started on track

From the set-up, the first move away from the ball is one that gets the unit of the club, hands, arms and shoulders moving 'together' to create some early momentum.

You don't want any independent movement here, which is why this exercise is so beneficial, because with the club fed up through your hands until the butt-end of the shaft rests in your middle, you get a real sense of turning everything away together.

Create your set-up, and simply work on grooving this move -the club, hands, arms and torso turning as one.

Repeat that moveaway exercise for a couple of minutes, then return to a regular stance, regular grip, and take things a stage further. As you build on that early momentum - and at about the time the hands reach the right foot - the right elbow and wrist begin to fold and 'set'.

The checkpoint we are looking for here is that as the shaft reaches horizontal with the ground, it is also parallel to the ball-to-target line (as confirmed by the clubs we have laid on the ground).

Setting the wrist on a safe plane

Moving up to the three-quarter position, the idea is that the shaft has got to look like it is giving you a reasonable opportunity to get back to the ball.

If it is pointing straight down to the ground, or over the top of the ball (for me the least desirable of all), then your swing is out of plane and you are going to struggle to return it with any sort of consistency in the downswing.

Ideally, you want to get the butt-end of the club pointing into this safe zone that we have shaded here. And you do have some room to play with. Anywhere between the ball-to-target line and a point midway between the ball and your feet is perfectly OK.

Some players are more naturally inclined to swing on a more upright plane, others swing a little flatter. That's all down to a play-er's height and build and natural instinct. But anywhere within this shaded area and you are swinging the club on a good plane.

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Outdrive Your Man

Even though I'm a professional golfer and play this game for a living, male playing partners in pro-ams are always surprised when I launch a drive that flies 20 or 30 yards past their best effort. And the funny thing is, the more those guys then try to 'muscle' the ball off the tee, the greater the distance they find themselves behind me in the fairway.

A few gentle reminders that brute force is not the name of the game are usually enough to have them hitting their best drives ever by the end of the round. The No. 1 lesson in driving is to allow the quality of your technique to produce the power for you, and in this article I'll show you how to do exactly that.

Most amateur golfers think that holding the club tightly will enable them to really give the ball a good clout but, of course, the opposite is true. Increasing your grip pressure creates tension in your hands and forearms that eventually finds its way into your arms and shoulders, too, making it very difficult to produce a free-flowing and relaxed swing. The key is to grip the club as softly as you can without losing control. As a reminder, waggle the club in your hands before hitting each shot so that you shake the tension out of your golf swing.

Accurate alignment helps you to sneak a few extra yards

Although good alignment is important on every shot, with the driver it’s absolutely crucial. While you may get away with the odd flaw in your set-up with your wedges or even a mid-iron, the driver (being the longest and least forgiving of all clubs) will magnify any glitches and ruthlessly expose them. So you need to pay even more attention to your basics if you want to use it to its full potential, and that’s where a pre-shot routine can help (see left). Start by standing behind the ball to pick out your intended target in the fairway (and make it a specific target). Then walk into the shot and carefully aim the clubface at an intermediate target, perhaps three or four feet ahead of the ball.

Now complete your stance, making sure that you position your feet and your body square to the leading edge of the clubface. Confident that you are perfectly aligned, you can then go ahead and make an uninhibited and free-flowing swing.

Look like you mean business at address!

More than anything else, you need a stable base to your swing. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and play the ball opposite your left instep. I also like to set fractionally more weight on my right side - say 55:45 - to help me get fully behind the ball on the backswing.

Notice also how my left arm and the clubshaft form a straight line. Not only does this allow me to create maximum leverage in my swing, it feels powerful.

As for your alignment, you want to create this parallel relationship between your body and the target-line. You also want to think in terms of creating an 'athletic’ posture at address, so get your weight centred between the heels and toes for perfect balance. Try to stand up tall while still creating a nice angle in the lower back.

The first move away from the ball pretty much sets the tone for the swing. Think about keeping your left arm comfortably straight as you start back, and you will create and enjoy similar width in the backswing.

As I mentioned earlier, I like to set-up so that my left arm and the club shaft form a straight line at address. This creates a lever that will apply maximum pressure to the ball at the point of impact. To help me achieve this, I think about keeping my left arm gently extended throughout my whole swing - back and through. The key word to remember in that last sentence is 'gently'. Don't jam your left arm into a rigid position - that will actually reduce the distance you hit the ball. There has to be a little softness at the elbow.

It's impossible to release power through the ball if you don't first of all create it on the backswing. One of my main swing thoughts with the driver is to get my left shoulder behind the ball at the top of my swing while keeping my right knee flexed (left). In fact, the greater the distance between your left shoulder and the ball, while resisting the coiling motion with your lower body, the farther you will hit the ball.

The leading American coach, Jim MacLean, calls this the 'Y' factor, illustrated here with a graphic. The key here, however, is to avoid swaying to the right, as that is a false way of getting behind the ball and it doesn't generate power. You have to learn to turn your shoulders and coil into the right side while keeping your right knee flexed and as steady as possible. Once you are able to do that, you will enjoy the true sensation of 'coil and release' - creating and harnessing real dynamic power that is translated into clubhead speed. 

Look to reach maximum swing speed just after impact

One of the main reasons why most amateur golfers don't hit the ball as far as they should is that they deliver the power at the wrong stage in their swing. In most cases, the average club golfer generates the power too early - at the start of the downswing in an effort to lunge at the ball with the upper body. However, by the time the clubhead then reaches impact it is slowing down and therefore transmits very little power to the ball. On the contrary, I'm looking to achieve my maximum swing speed just after impact. That way, I am certain that the clubhead will be accelerating as it passes through the hitting area.

Quick tip: Hover the clubhead at address for a clean takeaway

A smooth tempo is one of the most important keys to generating a powerful backswing. I like to hover the clubhead just above the ground at address so that I can sweep the club back away from the ball without any fear of it snagging the grass and disrupting my rhythm.

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