Minimal practice of specific actions results in maximal playing. This installment: Consistent address position
Golf is unfortunately both an addiction and a source of psychological pain for many of us amateurs, but my success story at becoming a sub-10 handicapper without being a superior athlete argues that there is way to transform this love-hate relationship into a purely positive one.
There was a certain sequence to my improvement in the sport. In this seven-part series of golf lessons, I've outlined practice excercises that will help your game. Too many hours are spent at the practice range that are, in effect, wasted – we only get better at golf by playing.
For those who haven’t read the prior installments, click here.
Once acquainted with the proper posture for a successful golf swing, refresh your muscle memory by doing the twenty repetitions of the posture exercise. This will be the pattern for each successive day – performing the exercises from the day prior before going to the next step. For this second practice, you will use a five-iron that will be held reversed, with your hands under the clubface and the grip pointing at the ground. Find an open space where you can swing freely without hitting walls or other objects within a three-foot radius. Pick a spot on the floor, imagine a ball there, and then lower the tip of the grip by flexing your knees even more until the end of the grip is somewhere between 6-12 inches above it. The height you reach is determined by this – when you feel resistance from your body to going any lower. This is an important point to determine not only for this practice but for every shot you will ever hit correctly. For some it may be just a few inches, whereas others may comfortable with a deeper flex. The lowering of the body through this knee flex should be a slow process until the “stop point” becomes familiar.
Check yourself for tension at this point before proceeding. You should feel as though you could stay at that spot for a good amount of time without distress. It’s not much different than standing, which is a natural or at least completely trained posture that we feel comfortable in. That’s why the golf swing is so hard at first – it puts us in an unnatural or unfamiliar position.
The next step in this exercise is to then lower the body and shaft to the ball by hinging the hips. The emphasis here is critical, because from my observations over time this will correct the most prevalent flaw in poor golf swings. Bad swings begin with bad posture, and most 100-plus golfers have this in common: they lower their body to the ball by bending their back, which is the fulcrum of the lever arm that generates the power in the swing. The back must be established and kept at a consistent angle, which is what these first two exercises do, and the hip joints are the physical structure that we must use to get down to the ball instead of breaking the angle that the spine needs to maintain. .
When you hinge your hips properly, it feels as though you are making a “V” with your body. The stop point for the hinging comes when the tip of the five-iron is one inch above the ground. It’s important that the club is not grounded, as will be explained in future lessons. It would be helpful if you had someone photograph you so that you can get the visual feedback that you are in correct position. Your body is now in the position you see watching PGA Tour pros (Davis Love is a great example) on TV when they are at address: knees flexed to the degree of comfort unique to your body, spine at a consistent angle with no rolling in of the upper back; club shaft creating a “V” appearance when looking at it and your back as line vectors, and club face hovering slightly above and behind the spot where the ball lies. That’s all I want you to do today, repeated 20 times. For our next day of work, we will work toward swinging through the spot in space that the ball occupies. Be enthused -only five more days of work until you get to see the results on a course!
Next: Swinging in Rhythm
Prev: Posture is King
