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.