Having experienced pure or involuntary weight-shift, with the drill described, how best should a golfer convert it into a meaningful backswing which starts with both arms on the handle?
• Set up in your usual address position
• Then, without getting out of posture or turning the shoulders, move the arms sideways until the hands and clubshaft are shoulder-high (ear-high for the woods)
• Keep both elbows and both wrists as straight and as close to one another throughout the backswing as possible – while keeping both shoulders relaxed (the right elbow can have a minimal amount of ‘give’ in it, to prevent right shoulder tension)
• Do not make any extra body moves during the backswing – no twisting or turning, no bending the knees or moving the feet.
From this backswing, the golfer need only ‘exist’ in the downswing, or if a ‘feel’ is required, it would be of slapping the clubhead past the ball, once again with no extra body action.
An explanation for how and why the prescribed swing work:
The concept of keeping the right arm straight, especially at the wrist, might seem strange but is really vital for the creation of both more power and more trajectory. In fact, the right arm plays a bigger role in the golf swing than has ever been understood or studied:
1. It can be used as a tool to move the entire body into the desired position for creating weight shift without volition
2. It keeps the arms and body connected throughout the backswing. The arms and body disconnect immediately either the wrists or the elbows bend
3. The further away from the body the right arm is, the earlier the club sets into the correct path from which to approach the ball, increasing the margin for error To better conceptualise this, simply imagine slapping the left hand, extended out in front of your body, with the right hand
4. When the right arm is kept straight during the backswing, it creates a shallower backswing, allowing the club to return to the ball at an equally shallow angle, so that the ball may climb on the club’s grooves, for greater trajectory and therefore also greater ‘carry’ distance
Many golfers will be almost immediately able to keep the right arm fairly straight for most of the backswing, regardless of their set-up and posture.
However, there might be small pitfalls to that goal for others. If you do not instantly succeed with the recommended backswing, some further hints and tips for the most common ‘misconceptions’ which may occur will be included in future parts of this series
