You
Hi everybody, I'm Jim Nance and welcome to Golf Digest videos
We're here at the spectacular Innisbrook Hilton Resort near Tampa to talk about a subject dear to every golfer's heart
Mine included and that's hitting the golf ball longer since
1971 Golf Digest instructors have worked with
33,000 golfers like yourself
amateurs and professionals
Nearly every one of them said distance was their top priority in coming to a school
Here are the lessons that got them to do it here are six proven steps to generating more power in your swing
Real power with control no gimmicks. No shortcuts if you apply these techniques and stick with it
I guarantee you that you will hit it longer and straighter
Now let me introduce you to the instructors and tell you what they'll be covering
Scott Davenport will teach a setup which allows power to build in your swing
Jack Lumpkin will get you swinging on plane a key to both distance and accuracy
Mike Labov will cover clubhead rotation through the hitting area
Hank Johnson the elements of a power producing pivot
Tom Ness will tell you how to deliver the power you've generated to the golf ball and
Finally John Elliott will teach you to make it happen on the golf course
Six steps to distance with accuracy. Let's get started now here is Scott Davenport to talk about proper grip
Posture and setup the foundation on which everything else builds
Easy huh? No, not easy it is not easy to do but knowing what to do is fairly easy
To hit long straight shots we need the club looking and swinging toward the target as
Fast as possible. Now, how do we do that? Well, it starts with your swing
How do we do that? Well, it starts with your swing
If you have a proper grip
posture aim
You've got an awfully good chance of being successful
Let's start with your grip the left hand is positioned on the club first
But before we do notice how the left arm hangs at the side
The palm is turned inward
Three knuckles one, two three are easily showing on the left hand and the left one points in at about a forty-five-degree angle
angle. If zero degrees, it's straight out. This is the same position we want the club
in when we take our address position. Free checks to ensure that you have it correctly
would be that the heel pad, this fatty part of your hand, is on top of the club. The left
thumb is to the right of center, so the V formed by your thumb and forefinger point
over your right shoulder. And then finally, hold with the last three fingers of your left
hand against the heel pad to ensure pressure all the way through the motion. If you can
get your left hand on the club correctly, the right hand becomes a piece of cake. The
key positions are right palm, lifeline against the left thumb, not on top, not under, against
the left thumb. Close the fingers around the club, letting the little finger overlap the
index finger of the left hand. Close the gap between your thumb and forefinger, and the
index finger of the right hand is slightly down the shaft, something like a trigger finger
on a gun. Folks, if you can get your hands on the club correctly, you've got an awfully
good chance of hitting it as far and straight as you'd like. Alright, bring the club up
in front to check for squareness. The leading edge should be vertical, and then position
it behind the ball. As you do this, you're also starting to form your posture and also
finding the proper distance from the ball. The distance from the ball is determined by
the length and lie of the golf club, your posture, and your arm hang. Now, when we bend
to the ball, we bend from the hips. The head stays up, the chest stays up, the arms are
hanging. Now, let's set up to the ball. Again, we step in with the right foot. When we position
the left foot, the left heel should be positioned in line with the ball. We vary the stance
depending on the club we're using. For a driver, we use a shoulder width stance. With a short
iron, we move the ball position inside the left heel, about a ball and a half, and there
the stance, so much so that the ball now appears to be in the center of the stance. Let's get
back to the original idea of hitting the ball as far and straight as possible. Here are
four key checks to ensure that you're set up correctly to do that. It starts with your
left hand grip. Take your grip position at your side. You'll have the best chance of
properly positioning the left hand. Secondly, position the club squarely behind the ball
first. Third, as you do that, bend from the hips. Flex the knees slightly for the proper
posture. And then finally, position the left foot so the left heel is against the ball
position line. This will give you the best chance of producing maximum distance and direction.
Swing plane. From Ben Hogan to Hank Haney, golfers have devoted their careers to mastering
the swing plane, but most amateurs, myself included, have a difficult time grasping its
relevance to power. Senior Golf Digest instructor Jack Lumpkin will explain how it all works.
Whether you need distance or direction, you must learn to control your golf ball. To learn
to control your golf ball, you must first learn to control your club. For our purposes,
the club has three parts. The club face, Mike Labov will show you how to square the club
face for solid contact. The club weight or the mass, Tom Ness will show you how to deliver
the club head for powerful impacts. And the golf shaft, if you want to learn to control
both of these two, you must also learn to control the shaft. The golf shaft extends
from the ball toward the player on an angle. I'm standing beside the ball. This rope represents
my target line. My golf club is pointing to the target line. Now all I have to do to keep
it in plane is to have this club shaft point to that target line throughout the swing except
when it's parallel. Let me demonstrate in slow motion. The shaft is pointing to, pointing
to, pointing to until it's parallel. Continuing on, it keeps pointing to the line throughout
the motion unless it's parallel. I'd like to demonstrate.
Remember, learn to swing your golf club on plane. And I want to show you some drills
that will help speed this process up. This is a plane board. We use these at the Golf
Digest School to help teach swing plane. It's a four by eight sheet of plywood with a thirty
inch arc cut out of the center. At present it's adjusted for a five iron. It could sit
at any angle, the angle of a driver or a wedge, and the swing plane would adjust according
to the club. Let's examine what a five iron does as I swing. The shaft is resting on the
plane board and stays on the plane board below the waist. As the right arm folds, the shaft
is higher than the plane board, but the end of the club is still pointing to the base
of the plane board or to the target line. As I come down, as the right arm lowers, the
club gets back on the plane board. As I turn through, it remains on the plane board to
well into the finish. A very useful training aid to help learn swing plane. I have another
drill that will be very helpful to you that doesn't require any special equipment. Let
me show you that one. Here's a great drill for plane. I've placed seven balls in a row
here, and that represents my target line. First thing I want to do is turn the club
upside down. Point the golf shaft at each of the balls throughout a short swing. You
can do it one ball at a time to get used to tracing it, and as you get comfortable, let
your motion be more like your golf swing. As you feel more comfortable, turn your club
upside down, but hold the club head well short of the ball, still feeling the shaft pointing
at the target line, holding your finish to check it, and looking at your ball while doing
so. Then you're ready to hit a shot. Remember to hold your finish, let the shaft point at
the line. Let me turn around and play one back in the other direction so you can see
how it looks looking down from the target. Remember to hold your finish, make sure the
shaft is pointing at the line. If you can keep your club in plane on a short swing,
you're well on your way to learning to do it in a full swing. I have another drill I'd
like to show you that you can do at home that's very helpful on plane. Do it a few weeks and
you'll be surprised how much better you get. If you have a full length mirror at home or
even a sliding glass patio door, you can use that to monitor your plane. Put a piece of
tape on the angle of one of your clubs, making sure that you sit your club flat on the ground,
run the tape up. Then position yourself out in front of the mirror in your normal setup
so that you can see the shaft running right up the tape. Then make some small swings moving
the club precisely up the tape and just monitor your takeaway. When you're comfortable with
this, make a few slow motion backswings so that the club gets up above your shoulder
and then returns down right on the tape to the proper impact. This is a great drill.
You can do this at home and 15 minutes a night would make a major difference in your swing
plane in just a month's time. Simply put, if you're off plane, you miss hit your golf
ball. So learn to get your club on plane. Now when you're practicing, if your club gets
too steep and gets coming too much from out to in, you're going to make some ugly divots
on the ground. You're also going to put white marks on the top of your club because you'll
hit a lot of pop-ups. Probably your ball will be pulled and you'll just miss hit it a lot.
So monitor that and get in front of the mirror and check it out. The same would be true if
you find your ball getting too far back in your stance and your ball starting too far
to the right, maybe hitting thin shots or drop kicking it, you're off plane too much
from the inside. So monitor those. Those are very, very good keys for your practice. Learn
to get your golf club on plane. Even if you're getting it on plane at the very end, you may
be losing power because you're having to slow down and manipulate. So work hard to get your
golf club pointing to the line throughout the swing unless it's parallel.
If power can't happen without a correct setup and a downswing that's on plane, instructor
Mike LeBauve will show you why it also can't happen without square contact. That means
not only a square club face at impact, but also proper rotation of the face through the
hitting area. Things really good golfers work on over and over. Here's Mike to explain how
that's accomplished.
Once you've got the swing on plane, you've got the battle half-licked. I say half-licked
because you have to make the club face arrive at the ball in a square position. If the club
face at impact is looking anywhere other than the target, you're going to get plenty of
curves and compensations to go along with that and a tremendous loss of distance. As
Jack pointed out, when we hit golf balls, we stand alongside the ball. And because of
the way we swing the golf club and the way the golf club is constructed, the club face
is only looking at the target two times during the swing. At address and at impact. The rest
of the swing, the club face is turning and rotating. The better players tend to work
through six specific positions. Let's talk about address first. I first aim the club
face square to my target line. I've got my arms hanging down from my shoulders with the
club in a neutral position. And as you can see, I've got a small cupped left wrist, small
angle in my left wrist. From here, the club face rotates naturally with the body to checkpoint
number two. In this position, the club is parallel to the ground and parallel to the
target line. And what I'm looking for at this point is that my left hand is in a vertical
position or in a handshake position and in line with my left arm. From here, the club
swings up to the top as the body continues to rotate. My checkpoint here is to see that
the leading edge of the face is matching the back of the left hand and the left forearm.
This is a square position. The downswing is the same, only in reverse. When I get halfway
down, the club once again is parallel to the ground and parallel to the target line. My
checkpoint is to see that the left hand is vertical to the ground and once again in a
handshake position. It's also in line with the left forearm. From here, the club face
continues to rotate in the impact in the same square position that I established at address.
The only difference being, now the shaft is in line with the left arm. From here, the
club face continues to rotate until it reaches parallel, parallel again and frees it at the
finish position to make sure that the shaft is once again in line with the left arm and
the hand is in a handshake position. Let me demonstrate for you with a few shots. Let's
see that again. That one was sweet. I have a few drills that will help you ingrain the
sense of squaring the club face to the ball. The most common problems that we see is that
when the club is taken back, either the shaft is not in line with the left forearm or the
club is over rotated with the left hand or under rotated with the left hand and remember
my checkpoint is that my left hand is vertical to the ground or in a position where I could
shake someone's hand. I'd also like to see that my left hand is in line with my left
arm. A good way to learn this technique is with a tennis racket. Place the racket in
your lead hand or my left hand so that the racket is in line with the left arm. As I
swing back, I'd like to have the racket vertical to the ground along with my left hand in a
handshake position. From here I'd like to square the racket back to impact so that the
racket is vertical and the left hand is vertical once again in line with the left arm. From
here I continue rotating with the body so that the racket is parallel to the target
line, the racket is vertical to the ground and so is my left hand in a handshake position.
If you don't have a tennis racket, just practice this move at home with no golf club. With
your left arm hanging right in front of you, turn with your body into a handshake position.
From here, rotate with your body back into the impact position. Once again I'm handshaking
with my left hand. Continue rotating with the body until you reach the handshake position
again on the target side. Swing back and through. Let the arm follow the rotation of the body.
To handshake position. Then grab a golf club. Make a series of mini swings. Back and through.
Checking to see that number one, the shaft is in line and the left hand is in a handshake
position. Swing through to the finish and freeze it. Make sure that your shaft here
is in line with the left arm and once again a handshake position. Once you get confident
with this move, then it's time to try a few golf shots. Checking to make sure that it's
in line with the left arm. Let's try that again. Once again, I want to look at my finish
and make sure my left hand is in a handshake position. My last drill is a practice drill.
Take two of your clubs and create a practice station for yourself. Set one club down that
would indicate your target line just to the right of your golf ball. Set another club
down for your feet. Make sure that they're parallel. Walk down your target line to make
sure that they're perfect. Then hit a few shots. Let your golf ball tell you whether
your club face is square or not. If the ball is curving to the left, that would indicate
that my club face is closed at impact. If the ball is curving to the right, that would
indicate that my club face is open at impact. Now if you get balls that are going straight
right and straight left, that would indicate a plane problem as Jack Lumpkin talked about.
But if your ball is curving, that's a club face problem. Get your club face square, you'll
hit the ball farther and more consistent. If you're looking for distance and power,
get in tune with the club face. It's got to be square. Check your handshake position,
both on the backswing and the forward swing. And read the ball flight. Let the ball tell
you whether your club face was square or if you need a tiny adjustment. Focus in on the
club face. Make it square through proper use of the hands and rotation of the body. By
practicing these fundamentals, you will eliminate the compensations which rob you of distance
and power. If your swing is on the correct plane and you're delivering the club face
squarely to the ball, what's missing then? Well according to Hank Johnson, it may be
the order in which your swing unfolds, a poor pivot. More than anything else, he says that's
what siphons power from amateur swings. The pivot is the power generator of the golf swing.
It does all the work. The definition of a pivot is a rotary motion around a fixed point
or center. Now the rotary or circular motion of your pivot creates centrifugal force that
is eventually used to power the club head through the ball. A good pivot is essential
for distance. You can't push something faster than you can run and you can't swing faster
than you can turn. When you think of your pivot, think of your body, your shoulders,
knees, and feet. So that you can see the pivot better, I'm going to eliminate the club in
my arms. I'm going to substitute a padded bar to go across the top of my shoulders.
Now the shoulders rotate around the top of the spine. The point on your spine below your
shirt label represents the center of the shoulder rotation. I'm going to place this bar across
my shoulders and lay it on that point. Now it's very important for that point to stay
steady as you rotate your shoulders. Your hips rotate around the bottom of your spine
and stay centered between your feet. The rotation of your hips pulls inward on your knees and
your feet. The left knee and foot coming in for the backswing, the right knee and foot
coming in for the forward swing. Now your shoulders rotate around the top of your spine.
The bar is laying across the top of my spine so I'll know that that point needs to stay
steady as I make my motion. The shoulders begin the pivot for the backswing. You want
to wind up from the top down. The shoulders rotate to the right, pulling the hips around.
The hips tug on the left knee. The right knee stays steady to hold the pivot in place. Now
your left foot should stay flat on the ground unless it's pulled up by the pivot and that
will depend on your individual flexibility. At the top of your swing, you're wound behind
the ball and the power is stored in your right hip. Now you're ready to use your forward
swing to develop power and distance. Now the sequence for the forward swing reverses. You
want to unwind from the ground up. The forces that have built up in your feet shift the
body back to the left and start to rotate the left hip away from the ball. The shoulders
lag back as this is taking place and that lowers the right shoulder and allows it to
come around on plane. Your hips continue to pull and accelerate your shoulders to a full
balance finish. And at the finish, your left leg should be straight, your knees together,
your right shoulder lower than your left and closer to the target than your left. If you
use that forward swing sequence, it will add significantly to the power of your swing and
the distance that you can produce. Now let's talk about some practice drills that you can
use to develop a good pivot. Some players try to create power in their swing improperly
by sliding their hips toward the target. A great drill to use to monitor this is to put
the golf bag beside your left hip. Then you can practice your pivot and if you slide forward,
it will knock the golf bag over. A proper pivot where the left hip is turning away from
the golf ball will allow you to turn to a full balance finish without disturbing the
golf bag at all. Another common pivot error is sliding the hips to the right on the backswing.
A great drill for this problem is to rest the club against the back of your hips and
the base of your spine. Put the bar across your shoulders and practice your pivot with
the goal of letting the club leaning on your hips land on the back of your right leg at
the finish of your swing. This will help you gain maximum power with a good pivot sequence.
One of the tough things about practicing golf is that you can't see yourself. But here's
a way you can use your shadow to watch your windup. I've got the sun behind me and therefore
my shadow is directly in front of me and I've put three golf balls on the ground. Two golf
balls at the sides of my hips and one golf ball at the point where the turn bar intersects
the top of my spine. If I make a proper windup, my hips will stay inside the golf balls on
the ground and the top of my spine will stay right on the golf ball at the intersection
of the spine and the turn bar. This will give me maximum windup into my right hip and maximum
power for my forward swing. Now the great thing about all of these drills is that they
can be done at home. You don't have to be at the golf course or hit balls to work on
your pivot. And the pivot is the power generator of your swing. It's the motor and it does
all the work. Now remember the three key points as far as your pivot is concerned. Keep the
top of your spine steady, windup from the top down and unwind from the ground up. That'll
give you maximum power and that extra distance. Our next segment may be the most important
in this tape. What the instructors have done so far is to help you make your swing more
efficient. Hank Johnson just showed you how to build and retain power as you pivot. The
challenge is to deliver that energy to the golf ball. Ever wonder why some beautiful
swings have no zip and others just murder the ball? Tom Ness is going to tell you why.
We've covered a lot of ground and we've given you a lot to think about. How to grip the
golf club, how to posture your body to the ball, how to make the club face return squarely
and how to get the shaft to swing straight. We've shown you how the pivot generates the
power for a golf swing and now it's time to show you how to transfer that power into
the ball. The sequence of motion for all sports is body, arms, hands. The quarterback when
he throws the football, it's body, arms, hands. The baseball batter when he swings at a pitch,
it's the same. Body, arms, hands. It's the same in golf. So let's take a quick look at
impact and see what all long hitters do that we probably don't. This is where the tour
players are when they hit the ball. You may already know how to do this. When
we play baseball, we hit the ball off the barrel of the bat, not off the end. When we
hit a golf ball, we need to learn to hit the ball with the whole shaft. Actually, the left
arm in the shaft. If you haven't played baseball, perhaps you've used an axe. If you were going
to chop down a tree, you certainly wouldn't do it like this. You'd use the same sequence
of motion, body, arms, hands. We're not only hitting this ball with our left side, we're
going to take the whole right forearm and shaft to impact. If this is so natural, why
don't we do it for golf? The answer can be found right here on the practice tee. There
are four very good reasons for being out of sequence. The first one is we're just plain
afraid we're going to miss the ball. In that case, the player as he approaches the ball
takes the club head to the ball with his hands. If he pushes the head of the club at the ball,
the handle backs up, misaligning the shaft and mishitting the ball. Another reason would
be the player trying to lift the ball into the air. In this case, the same thing occurs.
As he approaches the ball, his attempt to get underneath the ball throws the shaft past
the arm and scoops the ball in the air. Again, a misalignment. Many of us slice the ball
going to the right. Very common. That player has a tendency to try and steer the ball back
over to the left. When he does so, he throws the club head past the hands and once again,
the shaft is past the arm. Another power loss. And finally, some of us just plain don't understand
how the hands are released in the golf swing. Some of us think that it's very common that
we think that the club should come down and then the hands flick the club through the
release. When in fact, what happens is the natural rotation of the body brings the club
around the square and through to the finish. So the hands get released by the pivot. As
my left shoulder goes down, the club goes back. As my left shoulder goes up, the club
comes down. And as my left shoulder goes back, the club goes through. To show you the correct
alignment for impact, I'm going to address this tee marker with a long stick. Notice
how my hands are at mid-body. We can see the stick between my arms. From the down the line
view, you can also see the stick underneath the right forearm. I'm going to stress it
by using my pivot. Notice how it lines up with the left arm. The left wrist is now flat.
Notice from the down the line view how it's in line with the right forearm. This is the
correct position for impact. Notice the difference between address. I'm now going to swing the
club back and show you what most of us do that causes our loss of power. We return the
club to the ball with the shaft pointing back of perpendicular. The better players towards
the mid-body and the tour players even more forward. The best way to train yourself is
to hit some short shots where the shaft travels from eight o'clock to four o'clock. As we
do this, hold your finish. Check your alignment at four o'clock position. The shaft should
be in line with the left arm. If it is, your left wrist will be flat. There'll be a slight
bend at the back of your right wrist. Do it again. We need to continue to do this until
we get it right. We need to get it right in the small shots before we can move on.
All right, folks. The trick now is to take what you've learned to the golf course. Being
a driving range long hitter means nothing if when you get to the golf course, you hit
nothing but pop flies. John Elliott is as fine a player as he is a teacher. His is the
last lesson, how to pull the trigger.
What is your pre-swing routine? Well, it's everything that my fellow instructors have
been talking to you about thus far on the tape. It breaks down into five different steps,
and I'd like to show you those five steps if I may. Step one in the routine has to do
with the placement of your left hand upon the golf club. What we prefer is for you to
let your left hand and arm hang by your left side and then literally let your right hand
give the club to your left hand, placing the left hand on the club in its most natural
manner. When your left hand and arm hangs from your side, it turns inward toward your
leg. It doesn't turn outward, it turns inward. So let the club go into the hand in that position.
Step two in the routine has to do with the right hand joining the left hand here in front
of you. We'd prefer to see it at approximately belt height so that you can keep an eye on
the head of the club while you're placing the right hand on the club joining your left.
Step three in the routine has to do with the lowering of the club to the ground. We lower
the club to the ground through the bending of our hips. Now, while the hips are bending,
we prefer that you keep your chin up so that your spine remains relatively straight. The
most common error that we see in setting up is this one. A lot of arch in the back, a
lot of bending in the neck as a result of very crooked posture. We want a relatively
straight spine. So here's step one, two, three. Now, while in step three, we're aligning the
club. You look down at the name on the head and the face and you look right through the
golf ball down a target line. In my case, using an intermediate target to help me aim.
Everybody doesn't need one. Some of you do, some of you don't. If you have an alignment
problem, I would highly recommend an intermediate target. I've used one the last 15 years. It's
helped me tremendously. The intermediate target is something out in front of you, three to
eight feet in front, literally, and it's something that stands out amongst all of the other grains
of grass. I'm now aiming the club over the intermediate, letting my eyes go right on
out to my target. I'm now ready to position my left foot. The left foot is positioned just
to the left of the ball position line and then the right foot is swung to my right to
establish the width of my stance. The feet do not, please remember this, do not stay
the same width for all clubs. Please do not have the same stance for all shots. Here are
all five steps of the routine, starting with step one. If there's a sixth step, it would
be for you to stay in your finish position to watch your golf ball so that you can identify
the direction from that finish position because when you watch the ball from the finish position,
your eyes are in an angle as you see mine. If you allow yourself to break out of that
finish and your head and your eyes gets into a horizontal position, regretfully, you'll
see the whole world. Golf is not a worldwide game. It's one in which you need to hit it
down a fairway. You'll see the fairway much better from here than you will from there.
Now I'd like to demonstrate that routine for you again. On this beautiful par five, which
first works over water and then over a hill, it doesn't set up for my normal ball flight.
I prefer to play a little bit of a fade. So what I want to do from back here is make my
decisions as to where I'm going to aim, the type of shot I'm going to play, the club that
I'm going to use to play those shots, but all of this occurs before the pre-swing routine
ever starts to occur. So the key here for me is to get myself set up correctly. What
I've done is teed the ball on the right side of the tee marker, which sets me up perfectly
to aim the ball at the right corner of that left bunker and then let the ball work into
the fairway, like this.
Ironically, that ball went the same place as the previous one. You know why? Because
the routine was the same. Now I didn't learn that routine here on the golf course. I learned
it on the practice tee and I used visual aids on the practice tee to help me learn the routine.
When I'm at home on the practice tee, I practice with clubs on the ground to acquaint me with
where I'm trying to go, also to help me monitor my ball position. On the other hand, when
I come out here to the golf course, I forget the clubs, I forget the positions, I forget
the routine because I've learned it, it's become a habit, and now all I'm doing is I'm
walking through it with an absolute no-brainer attitude. In fact, speaking of a no-brainer,
I'd like you to imagine this if you would please. The ball's on the tee. You're back
away from that golf ball on the practice tee to begin your routine. On the golf course,
we begin our routine back here, but here we are preparing ourselves to hit a golf shot.
Imagine there's a line here on the ground. When you're standing away from the ball on
the side of the line that I'm currently occupying, you are in a mode mentally, if you will, where
you can think of anything that you want to. On the golf course, I'm going to be thinking
of my target. I'm going to be thinking of the conditions. I'm going to be looking at,
reflecting on the lie of the golf ball. I'm going to be aware of my club selection. Certainly
I am. I'm going to control that club selection. My point is, all of the things I think about
out on the golf course have to do with hitting the shot to the target. Whereas on the practice
tee, when I'm practicing, I'm working on my positions. Right now, the no-brainer line.
When I cross that line, I leave my brain on this side. My muscles have learned how to
set up to the golf ball so well that all I'm doing is walking in, looking where I want
to go, reflecting on my target, and then trusting my routine and my swing to produce the desired
result. Here's the routine once again.
The pre-swing routine has so much to do with your ability to produce the type of shot and
the frequency of shot that you're looking for. Please get good at those five steps.
In fact, if you have a hard time learning the steps without feeling like you're too
mechanical, turn on some music. Because in the final analysis, the routine is a rhythm.
It's something that occurs time after time with no thought. What we want to try to do
is let that rhythm work without you thinking about it working. So let's have some fun with
that pre-swing routine.