There are two important connections in golf – the hands to the club and the feet to the ground. Get those correct and it’s easy to fill in the blanks.
Pivot advice such as pointing your belt buckle at the target at the finish or turning your hips on the downswing are common, but an effective pivot puts you in position to fire and create maximum velocity at the right time. The building block approach I’ve developed involves four components: load, store, fire and finish.
The downswing works from the ground up, so if your footwork foundation is good you’ll have more energy through your arms at impact. If you get the components of the pivot right you can start to understand the role of the hands and right arm and eliminate flaws such as casting and swinging over the top.
The big muscles of the legs and abdomen should control the swing while the hands monitor the club. If you’re an instinctive learner like me, it’s better to understand motion in a simple manner, such as throwing a ball. The sequential components of load, store, fire and finish can be felt with that down and forward throwing motion that requires all components to be linked for efficiency and power.
Throwing a ball as a drill requires using the ground and a good hip pivot to sling the arms. Great golf swings have a similar motion. As the weight of the club floats onto the right forefinger in the transition, the left foot plants to initiate the downswing. The bracing of the left leg and the firing of the pivot just prior to impact is the horsepower that slings the arms and ball toward the ball at maximum velocity.
By breaking the sequence into four chunks I’ve observed that most students need upgrades in the load and store phases of the swing. Those two phases provide the energy needed to fire at full force. Once you have an effective pivot and blend it with educated hands and an effective right arm motion, nice gains can be seen.
A powerful right arm is achieved by monitoring the weight of the club and floating it into transition as the momentum of the club loads onto the right forefinger; then the feet will initiate the on-plane move down to a loaded position. Now you can fire!
Integrating these components correctly has been an epiphany for many of my students, and the improvement in compression, speed, swing plane and ball flight is undeniable. When your hands and feet sync together you can achieve the flowing energy and kinematic sequencing that’s admired in players who have a swing that looks gentle and a blow that is heavy.
Geoff Murtha is an Australian PGA Class AAA instructor and director of The Specialized Golf Coaching Program at Dove Canyon Golf Club in Orange County.
FYI
Southland Golf readers who mention this article will receive a free 30-minute session on a FlightScope when buying a package of six or more lessons. To learn more, call (800) 279-0225; email Geoff Murtha at dovegolfcoach@gmail.com; or visit golfacademyonline.com.
