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