a video golf lesson with the shark.
If you would like more information on how you can have
our one-on-one with Greg Norman van
appear at your next golf tournament,
please call 1-888-NORMAN-1.
Enjoy your lesson with Greg, and while you're watching,
think of what a memorable gift this lesson would be
at your next event.
I hope you find it effective, and if you have questions,
please write it on the comments section.
Great.
Congratulations, you're about to get the golf lesson of your life.
An opportunity to work on your swing the same way we on the tour work on ours.
If there's one thing I've learned in all my years as a PGA Tour professional, it's this.
Feel and real are two different things.
But when I'm working on my swing on the practice tee, I don't trust my feel completely.
I like to have a second set of eyes around to spot things I'm not feeling.
Sometimes those eyes belong to my coach, but since he can't be with me all the time, I
also rely heavily on video.
Videotaping my swing gives me a permanent record of what I'm doing.
I can break it down piece by piece and identify the necessary adjustments that originally
I may not be aware of.
Without video, practicing is just a guessing game.
Now ask yourself a question.
When you play poorly, do you know why?
When you play well, do you know what you're doing right?
Or are you just playing a guessing game?
Wouldn't it be great to have a second set of eyes so you could know for sure?
Well in your one on one video golf lesson, we're going one step further.
Not only do you get this videotape of your swing to study and analyze, but I'm going
to be your coach, helping you identify where your problems may be and how we can work together
to correct them.
It's a lesson personalized to fit you and your swing.
During your personalized lesson, we'll use two different camera angles to videotape your
swing.
This face on view allows us to observe your weight shift, check your head position, and
see how you turn your torso.
Since this is likely to be your first look at your swing, take a few moments to watch
and get used to seeing yourself on video.
From our down range camera, we get a great view of your swing relative to the target.
From here, we'll take a close look at your posture, alignment, and swing path.
Watch a few more swings and then I'll show you something really special.
What really makes our one on one lesson unique is that you'll have my swing right next to
yours as a reference.
At each of the critical checkpoints in the swing, you'll be able to identify what's
working in your swing and where you need to make adjustments to solidify your fundamentals.
And you'll have the benefit of our one on one computer graphics to show you where your
body and club should be in certain key positions relative to mine.
It's like having your own personal telestrater, just like on TV, so we can really be precise
about positioning at every point during the swing.
But before we get started, I'd like to think it's important to emphasize one key issue
about your lesson.
We are not going to try and get you to copy my swing.
No two bodies are the same and no two swings should be either.
Take Fuzzy Zoller and Davis Love.
They're both very successful golfers, but certainly don't swing alike.
The bodies wouldn't allow it, so what we're going to do is match your technique to your
physique.
We're going to use a teaching method we call the laws of golf.
Though golf instructors may give this teaching technique their own name, many of the finest
PGA professionals are now teaching this way because it recognizes that there isn't one
lesson that works for all golfers.
A one on one representative has already given you a simple test that helps me personalize
your videotape to suit your physique.
If you're someone with average build and flexibility, we'll call you a leverage player like David
Frost or Nick Price.
I'm a leverage player.
If you're long-limbed and extra flexible, we'll categorize you as an arc player like
Davis Love or Phil Mickelson.
And if you have less flexibility and more upper body strength, we'll classify you as
a width player like Peter Jacobson or Tom Lehman.
And although some golfers fall into more than one laws category, we'll focus on the category
that dominates your swing.
Remember, we're going to match your technique to your physique.
But don't forget, no matter who you are, no matter what your body looks like, male, female,
young or old, high or low handicapper, there are a number of fundamentals inherent in all
good golf swings.
And they're going to be our first priority in your lesson.
Master these fundamentals and then you'll improve your golf game dramatically.
With this one-on-one lesson, I'll show you the key fundamentals and help you identify
where your game needs work.
But when it comes to implementing them into your game, that's up to you.
I suggest you work closely with your local PGA professional and practice, practice, practice.
This tape gives you a place to begin.
So let's get started.
Let's face it, practicing this setup isn't as glamorous as whacking a bunch of balls.
But as the late Harvey Pennick, one of the greatest golf instructors ever, once said,
most mistakes are made before you swing the club.
Wise words, the setup is the foundation of the golf swing.
Only if it's solid can you build a consistent, repeatable swing.
And it's easy to learn, no matter who you are, and it requires no athletic ability.
So there's no excuse not to set up properly.
Let's look at the five parts to make up a good setup.
Grip, stance, posture, ball position, and alignment.
Because your hands are the only connection to the golf club, mastering the grip is a
crucial part of developing a repeatable swing.
For this reason, we've included an extensive lesson on the grip at the end of this tape.
Since we know you're anxious to look at it and to begin to analyze your swing, we're
going to get started with the stance and posture.
And don't forget to watch the grip segment at the end of this tape.
It's a very important part of any golf swing.
When I stand up to my ball, I want to take an athletic position, the same way a quarterback
gets poised to take a snap, or a tennis player waits to return a serve, or a basketball player
guards another with the ball.
They're all in the same athletic position.
They prepare the body to respond.
By an athletic position, I mean, knees slightly flexed, you're bending over from the hips,
and your weight of your body is somewhere about 70% on your heels, 30% on the balls
of your feet.
Your stance is just wide enough to keep stable.
From this position here, without a golf club, I let my arms hang naturally.
As I put my hands together, that's where you want to take the grip.
From this position here, my arms are not too far from my body, and they're not too close
from my body.
From here, I can rotate my body, and my arms will swing naturally.
And the more natural they swing, the more club head speed you'll generate.
This is the correct position.
Before we talk about ball position, I want you to notice three things about my stance.
First, I set up with the inside of my feet at shoulder width.
However, your feet should never be narrower than your hip width, or much wider than shoulder
width.
Second, both feet should be flared out slightly.
And third, my right hand is lower than my left hand on the golf club, so my right shoulder
should be slightly lower than my left by the same amount.
A slight tilt in the shoulders is proper.
Don't try to keep them level or exaggerate the tilt.
You'll throw your swing off balance.
Now let's talk about ball position.
We have 14 clubs in the bag, excluding the part that we have 13 clubs to work with.
Each club has a different loft and a different length.
I'm a strong believer in keeping repetition in the game of golf, understanding how far
you hit each club.
So with a 7-9, you've got the loft to work with that.
With a driver, you have the loft of a driver to work with.
What I'm trying to get across here, let's keep the ball position in the same place for
every full swing.
Understandably, you might want to change your ball position if you want to flight the ball
a little higher or a little lower.
But what I want to try and do is enforce into you is create repetition.
So let's try and keep the ball position somewhere around the left heel.
And if you do that, you just keep it inside by an inch.
If obviously you're a left-hander, you want to move the ball somewhere just inside your
right heel.
So in this position here, we keep the ball just a fraction inside our left heel.
As I look down now from my address position, that ball should be sitting somewhere about
here.
Consistent ball position creates consistent shots.
Consistent shots creates good scores.
Leveraged players will probably find my ball position suitable for them.
Arc players may find it helpful to move the ball slightly forward in their stance, somewhere
around the arch of your foot.
Width players will benefit by moving the ball back in the stance maybe an inch or two, moving
it an inch further inside your heel.
We'll take a closer look at it when we look at your swing in a few minutes.
I also want you to pay close attention to where my head is in relation to the ball.
As you can see, I set up with my head solidly behind the ball, and I expected to stay there
until after impact.
We're going to keep a close eye on where your head is in relation to the ball throughout
the swing.
The last aspect of the setup, alignment, is perhaps the most important.
Ironically, most golfers don't spend nearly enough time ensuring that they're properly
aligned.
Just a few inches of error in aligning your club face or body will result in your ball
being a handful of yards offline.
And if there's rough like we've always experienced at the U.S. Open, you don't want to be just
a few inches offline.
Therefore, I use a very precise method to align myself, and I recommend it to you.
As I stand here and talk to you, I don't stand here with my body perpendicular to you.
I stand and talk to you, facing you directly.
This is the way I like to align myself to my target.
As I stand back here and I look at my target, I'm not going to stand here with my eyes over
my left shoulder.
I'm going to stand and face the target.
So as I address the ball, I put my club face behind the ball to ensure my club face is
square to the target, and it means that the edge of the club face is perpendicular to
the line running from the ball to the target.
If the club head isn't square at impact, you're guaranteed a hook, slice, push, or a pull.
I align my feet parallel to the target line, and my knees, hips, shoulders parallel to
my feet.
To visualize this, picture a set of railway tracks.
The outer track is the target line, the direct line from the ball to the target.
The inner track is the line of the body running parallel to the target line.
So alignment is a crucial part of hitting the ball straight.
Posture, stance, ball position, and alignment.
There's no excuse not to do it right.
Now let's take a look at your setup.
Since I'm a leverage player, your stance should look a lot like mine.
Your athletic stance keeps the inside of your feet at shoulder width.
Check your stance.
As you can see, your feet are in good position, making it easy to turn your torso and maintain
your balance.
Now let's look at your posture.
Let's start by looking at your knees.
Check to see if they're slightly flexed.
Your knee flex looks good.
This slight flex readies your body for action, just like a tennis player waiting to return
a serve.
Nice work.
Now let's look at your upper body, which I said before should tilt forward from the hips,
with the spine as straight as possible.
If your back is rounded, you're restricting the amount of turn you can make.
Now let's take a look at your arms.
If they're hanging naturally from your shoulders, there should be about a hand's width of space
between the end of the grip and your legs.
Check to make sure you're not lined up too close or too far from the ball.
As you can see, your arms and hands are well positioned.
This gives you the opportunity to swing freely back and through.
Now let's look at your ball position.
As I demonstrated earlier, make sure there's a slight tilt to your shoulders and position
your head just behind the ball, where it should remain until after impact.
This is a crucial point.
Only if your head is behind the ball can you expect to hit solid, straight shots.
Are you lined up behind the ball?
You should see that your head is in the right place.
Every professional golfer has a head in this position, so you're off to a good start.
A little movement is okay, but the head should always be behind the ball.
Now let's look at your ball position relative to your feet.
As a leverage player, like me, the ideal ball position is just inside the left heel, which
should line up with the inside of the left armpit.
Check to make sure you've got it.
Now remember, I recommend you use this position for all clubs.
Be sure to check yourself with your fairway woods and irons as well.
Now let's see if you're aligned properly and if your railroad tracks are parallel.
Remember your feet should be parallel to the target line, or outer track, and your knees,
hips and shoulders should be parallel to your feet.
Draw an imaginary line through your toes and another from the ball to the target.
Do your lines match mine?
Excellent.
Your feet and body are parallel to the target line.
That's a square stance.
Before we move on to the backswing, let's summarize our lesson on the proper setup.
Remember, take an athletic stance with the inside of the feet at shoulder width, the
knees slightly flexed and a tilt forward from the hips.
Keep your head behind the ball.
Let your arms hang naturally from the shoulders and allow your back shoulder to tilt slightly
lower than the front shoulder.
Work with one ball position for simplicity and align your club face squarely to the target
before aligning your body.
Remember the railway tracks to visualize what a properly aligned setup looks like.
Be sure to watch the grip sequence of your lesson at the end of the tape.
Now let's move on to the backswing.
While it may be true that you hit the ball with the downswing, believe me, a faulty backswing
will make it nearly impossible to make a downswing that results in straight, solid shots.
So it's crucial that you pay close attention to this segment.
Without your golf club, just let your arms hang like we're talking about in the stance.
Put your hands together.
Now from this position, you take your front elbow and push it back.
As you push it back, your hands stay together.
They don't move inside.
They don't move outside.
They're staying together.
And as you do that, as you get your hands to waist high, you notice one important factor.
Your triangle between your hands and your shoulders has stayed the same.
The reason why this has stayed the same is that first 18 inches, you've pushed it back
with your front elbow.
The further you push it back with that elbow, the more your hands stay together.
Now from this position, you just rotate your body.
You rotate your shoulders, rotate your hips, and from there, you're in a perfect position
for the downswing, and from here, you should hit it straight and solid.
As I take the club head back to first 18 inches, you notice the club head stays low to the
ground and maybe just a fraction on the inside of the target line.
This is crucial because from this point here, you just keep the club going on the same arc
up and away.
Now remember, the first 18 inches dictates how straight you're going to hit the shot.
So take that back with your forward elbow, low and slow, without any wrist break, and
you're going to hit it good.
A great little drill that I use many, many times, and you can find it anywhere on any
golf course, is a golf club and a bench.
I want you to stand on one side of the bench, taking your normal stance.
On the other side, put the golf club, allowing the shot to the golf club to rest on the outside
of the bench.
After taking a normal grip and stance and setup, take your club away from the ball and
allowing the shot to brush along the outside of the bench.
You notice by doing this, you'll find it very difficult and impossible to pull the club
on the inside of the line.
If you take the club on the outside of the line, you'll see the difference because the
shot leaves the bench.
So take the club head back and slide along the bench.
Now as you get waist high, you notice where the club head is pointed, it's pointed directly
away from your target.
The other thing I want you to notice too is the toe of the club, when your hands are waist
high, should be pointing to the sky.
What this allows you to do is to develop a very deep and long backswing.
Now remember, the further the club head travels, the more club head speed you can generate,
because that club head's got to come down somehow on the downswing.
And again, the further it travels, the faster it's going to go.
And the faster it goes, the further and the straighter you're going to hit it.
So remember, stand on one side of the bench, take your normal address position, allow the
shot to rest on the bench, and take your takeaway.
Push that club head away from the ball and allow for a good deep extension.
And in doing this, one other thing you'll notice.
By creating a good deep extension, I have a triangle between my grip and my two shoulders.
This triangle is formed by the arms.
By what the bench does, it maintains that triangle for a long period of time.
And that creates great extension.
After the takeaway, I continue my backswing by rotating my torso.
Instead of the arms lifting the club, they follow my torso as it turns.
As I do this, a few things begin to happen.
The back elbow begins to fold.
My weight starts shifting to my back leg.
As my hips turn, my front knee moves ever so slightly inward.
By the time my hands have reached hip height, the club shaft is parallel to the ground.
My back elbow is slightly bent.
My back leg is slightly flexed, supporting the turn of my torso.
And my front knee is directly above the ball.
From down range, you'll notice that my hands, the club shaft, and the club head pretty much
form a straight line that points down the target line and is parallel to the ground
at hip height, indicating that I've taken the club straight back.
The fact that the club head looks like it's directly over the balls of my feet means that
my hands and wrists are doing very little as my turn controls the swing.
Think of calling your body on the backswing and un-calling it on the follow through.
If it doesn't coil going back, it can't un-coil coming through, and you'll lose all your power.
Make sure that your backswing is being controlled by your torso turning, not your hands and
arms lifting the club.
My goal at the top of the swing is to make a fuller turn as possible.
It is said that the great Ben Hogan used to wear out the shoulders of his golf shirts
because the fabric rubbed under his chin every time he swung.
And many female professionals who wear makeup often have makeup on their shoulders of their
shirts for the same reason.
My front shoulder is passed under my chin, and my shoulders have turned well over 90
degrees to the target line.
My weight has shifted fully to the inside of my back foot, and my front knee is now
just inside the ball.
My front foot has rolled slightly to the inside without the heel lifting.
Notice my head has shifted slightly with it, so it's over the inside of my back knee.
My front arm is virtually straight, and my wrists are fully cocked.
Now from our downrange camera, let's take a look at the position of our hands at the
top of the swing.
I'm pretty much a leverage player, and by leverage player I mean at the top of my swing
my hands are about over my back shoulder.
If you're an arc player, like a Davis Love for example, his hands at the top of his swing
are between his back shoulder and his head.
If you're a width player, and there's many of those out there who play the game as they
are arc players or leverage players, your hands at the top of the swing are a little
behind your shoulder, which gives you a lot of width between your torso and your hands.
There's various ways to have your hands at the top of the swing, so let's go out there
and see what suits you.
Let's start by looking at your extension position to check whether your arms, shoulders, and
hands have formed a triangle.
Remember to start your backswing in one piece, you must maintain the triangle for the first
18 inches or so.
Think about moving your front elbow back.
Check the position of your head as well.
No major movement should have occurred.
As you can see, that's a good triangle.
You've succeeded in the most important part of the swing.
Now let's take a look from our downrange camera.
Remember what I said earlier, when you're in the extension position, your club head
should still be even with the target line or just a hair inside the line.
This will create the widest arc possible.
Let's look at where your club is.
Nice work.
You are moving the hands, arms, shoulders, and torso together.
It's all in one piece.
Your takeaway is correct.
Always remember to take the club straight back along the target line as long as possible
without breaking the triangle formed by your arms, hands, and shoulders.
Let's move on.
At the halfway point in the backswing, we're looking for three things.
Your right elbow should begin to fold.
Your weight should be shifting onto a slightly flexed right leg, and there should be a slight
inward movement of your left knee.
Too much and you'll lose stability.
Also, the club shaft should be basically parallel to the ground, indicating that the hands and
wrists have remained quiet so far.
Pause your video here and review these four checkpoints.
From our downrange camera, let's take a look at the position of the club head.
It should be directly over the balls of your feet.
If it is, it means you have controlled the backswing by turning your torso in one piece
without unnecessary manipulation from the hands or arms.
If the line of your club head is significantly to the left or right of the balls of your
feet, your hands and arms are overactive during the backswing.
Let's move on and look at the top of your swing.
Here are the checkpoints you should look out for.
First, check to see if you have made as full a turn as possible, where the front shoulder
passes under the chin and the shoulders rotate about 90 degrees to the target line.
Remember Ben Hogan's shirt.
Second, your weight should be firmly centered on the inside of your back leg, which remains
slightly flexed.
As a leverage player, your front arm should be fairly straight with your wrist fully cocked
to create power.
You should look like me.
Third and finally, be sure that your head is still behind the ball.
If it has moved slightly away from the ball, that's okay.
If it's moved toward the ball, you can bet your weight hasn't shifted and your turn isn't
as full as it could be.
From our downrange view, let's take a look at the position of your hands relative to
your shoulders.
As a leverage player, your hands should be directly above your back shoulder.
Check this positioning and take a look at the position of your club as well.
Is your club shaft positioned properly?
Before we move on to the downswing, let's summarize our lesson in the backswing.
Remember, start the backswing in one piece by maintaining the triangle formed by the
hands, arms, and chest for the first 18 inches.
Think about moving your front elbow back.
Extend the club straight down the target line for the widest, most powerful arc possible.
Control the backswing by turning the torso around a firmly flexed back leg.
Keep your weight on the inside of the back foot.
Be sure the toe of the club head points upward at the halfway back position and make as full
a turn as possible.
Make sure your hands are in the proper position relative to your shoulder and point the club
at the target at the top of the swing.
Now let's take a look at your downswing.
The downswing.
There's a great old saying I say to myself every time I play the game, you swing from
the ground up.
Once I reach the top of my swing, it might be strange to you, but my club head actually
doesn't start first.
What starts my downswing is the rotation or the uncoiling of my body.
Remember we coil to get up there, now we have to uncoil to get it down.
So to start with, I start with my hips.
I want a little uncoiling of my hips.
They go forward towards the target.
Notice what happens then.
The club head starts coming down the line of what you took it back on.
And by pulling that club down the line and rotating your torso, you're going to generate
a perfect downswing.
Because that club comes down, the angle of the shaft is going to stay on the same angle
as you had going back.
And this way here, you can get back to a perfect position.
Now remember I told you with the triangle going back, that's the triangle we want to
return to at impact.
So to generate that triangle to the same position, we have to uncoil our body.
You don't go laterally this way because if you go laterally or slide, your triangle comes
underneath and you're going to block it out to the right.
If you spin too quickly and throw from the top, like a lot of people do out there, your
triangle comes over the top and the ball's going to go low left.
So what we do is we do a little rotating of the hips and the torso.
The triangle returns back to a square position and the follow through is a product of how
good your downswing is.
So remember, the downswing starts from the ground up.
Do not throw it from the top.
This photo should show you exactly what I mean.
By impact, my hips have rotated about 35 degrees past the target line while my shoulders are
basically parallel to the target line.
My hips are clearing out so my upper body can unwind.
So don't ever let anyone tell you that address and impact are the same position because clearly
they're not.
What is similar about address and impact, however, is the position of your head and
the club.
If we look at these two photos, we can see that the angle of the club shaft at impact
is very close to the angle at address.
A common mistake you see in most amateurs is that the shaft is too vertical at impact,
the result of an overly steep angle of attack.
The same can be said if we look from face on.
Your hands are even with the ball at address, so they should be in the same position at
impact.
If the club shaft is angled forward, it's almost impossible to square the club face.
It's also vital that your head be behind the ball at impact, just as it was at address
and throughout the backswing.
Although much of my weight has transferred to the downrange side by now, keeping your
head behind the ball enables you to return the club to its original position and make
solid contact.
If your head moves ahead of the ball, so does your body, and you'll be lucky to make contact
at all.
Now let's take a look at another key fundamental I want you to look for.
When I told you how crucial the first 18 inches are on the backswing, well to me, they're
just as important on the follow through.
The 18 inches going back, what happens is the club is pointing away from the target.
Now on the follow through and after impact, what you want to do is have the club head
point towards the target that you're hitting at.
A good key way of doing this is put two golf balls down there, one 18 inches in front of
the ball.
So as you hit that ball, you're trying to make the club head hit the other ball on your
follow through.
You won't do it because your natural extension of the club is coming up, but put the ball
in front of you and pretend you're going to reach for the other ball on the follow through.
That will give you a nice deep extension on the way through.
So remember, the product of the follow through is how good your backswing is.
So your first 18 inches back is going to dictate how good the backswing is, and then your first
18 inches past the impact is going to dictate how good your follow through is.
Of course, the downswing doesn't happen in pieces.
It's an extremely fast, continuous motion.
Swinging the club creates momentum, and that momentum should carry you through impact into
a full, balanced, finished position.
My weight transfers completely to my front side, bringing my back foot up onto the toe.
And because my shoulders are still rotating, they swing my arms and club slightly around
my body.
Once my shoulder passes under my chin on the follow through, I allow my head to lift and
move forward so I can finish in an erect, comfortable position.
I'm in perfect position to watch what is hopefully a pretty good shot.
Now, let's take a look at your downswing.
In the move from the top of your swing to halfway down, the most dramatic move should
be made with your front knee.
By now, your front knee should be bowed slightly out towards the target, and your front hip
should be rotating.
Also, you should be able to see that my arms have dropped and my wrists remain fully cocked.
But my shoulders are still wound up.
It's an indication that the downswing has started from the ground up.
Are your shoulders already unwound?
As you can see, your downswing is starting from the ground up.
First the knee, then the hips, then the torso.
The shoulders are the last to unwind.
This allows the arms to swing freely and deliver the club head straight down the target line.
Good job.
Now let's look at impact.
Okay, the moment of truth.
Here's what you're looking for in impact.
Much of your weight should be transferred to your front side, but your back foot should
still be on the ground.
Your hips should be rotated open about 35 degrees, and your shoulders should point down the target
line.
Your front arm and club shaft should form a straight line hanging straight down from
the shoulder.
And your head should still be solidly behind the ball.
You should see that your head is too far forward relative to the ball.
This usually results in an open club face at impact and a slice.
From our downrange view, you should be able to get a better look at the angle of your
hips relative to the angle of your shoulders.
At impact, you should be able to see most of your rear end while your shoulders should
point down the target line.
And let's also take a look at the angle of your club shaft.
It should basically match the angle you had at address.
Does it?
A common mistake is to have the shaft too vertical at this point.
Notice the position of your shaft.
It's too vertical, which means you're probably sliding your upper body ahead of the ball,
and the club head is making an overly steep angle of attack.
Work on keeping your head behind the ball and starting the downswing from the ground
up.
Let's take a look at the beginning of your follow through.
You should note that my shoulders and hips continue rotating in the follow through as
they have throughout the downswing.
Now my head is finally allowed to move.
It rotates up towards the target as my back shoulder passes under my chin.
Also notice that the position of my back foot only after impact does it begin to roll in
and up onto the toe as my weight shifts to the outside of my front foot.
Check your back foot.
You should be able to see that your back foot is already all the way up on the toe and flops
over.
That means your legs are a bit overactive and your hips are sliding towards the target
instead of turning.
Work on keeping the back foot flat on the ground all the way through and past impact.
Now let's take a look at your finish.
Finish is a great indicator of how good your swing was.
If you've made a smooth, balanced move that swings the club down the target line, you should
finish with 95% of your weight on your front side and your back foot should rotate completely
up onto the toe.
Full rotation through impact and into the follow through means that your belt buckle
should face the target.
Your back should be fairly straight and you should be able to follow the flight of your
ball comfortably.
From the down range view, notice where my hands are at the finish, over my left shoulder.
Because my hands and arms follow the rotation of my shoulders and hips, they must swing
left after impact and into the follow through.
I extend through the ball but the right arm eventually swings across my chest and my left
arm folds and stays close to my side.
The club shop therefore runs across my back at the finish instead of hanging horizontally.
Check to see if you have reached a similar position.
Let's summarize our downswing lesson.
Remember the downswing starts from the ground up with the knee pulling the hips and the
hips pulling the shoulders which pull the arms, hands and club.
At impact, the hips should be rotated about 35 degrees open while the shoulders should
be square.
The angle of the club shaft at impact should resemble the angle of the club shaft at address.
Extension through impact into the follow through is crucial for straight, powerful shots.
At the finish, 95% of the weight should be transferred to the front side and the arms
and club should swing around the body.
And there you have it, the golf swing from A to Z. Hopefully you now have a pretty good
idea of where your swing is in good shape and where it needs work.
Don't forget to take a close look at the comprehensive grip lesson at the end of this tape.
The next step is to take what you've learned to a PGA professional and work out a plan
to make the necessary changes and don't forget to practice.
Nothing good comes without hard work.
Now that you've had your one on one lesson, you know that incorporating video into your
practice session is a smart move.
We can help you make it a habit and if you're ready to learn some of golf swing's finer
points, our one on one lesson, the next step is the perfect way to do it.
But most of all, make sure you're having fun as you progress with your game because golf
is something you can work on and have fun with your entire life.
And that's why it's the greatest game of all.
See you next time and good golfing.
As promised, we're now going to take a close look at the grip.
So you're sure, last in no way means least.
In fact, many of the swing problems we have identified earlier in this lesson can be traced
to some fault in the way you grip the club.
A poor grip can dramatically change your swing path, trajectory, distance and balance.
Learning to grip the club properly doesn't guarantee good shots, but a poor grip virtually
ensures a bad one.
Before I get into showing you the types of grips we have here on the golf club, let's
just look at the way Mother Nature built us.
When we stand there with our arms hanging to our sides, take notice where the back of
your left hand is pointing.
It's basically pointing to the target.
The palm of your right hand is also basically pointing out.
So when we put our hands on the club, like I said to you before, it's the only contact
point between your body and the golf club.
We want them to sit the most natural possible way we can.
To do that, we want the back of the left hand to face the target.
We want the palm of the right hand to face the target.
So when we position our left hand on the golf club, the back of the left hand is facing the
target and when we close our fingers up and wrap our hand around it, my eye line now looks
down and I see two knuckles.
This knuckle here and the second knuckle.
We've seen many players on the tour and Paul Azinger is one who has an extremely strong
grip, which is four knuckles.
One, two, three, four as you look down to your grip.
I'm not saying this is wrong, but this is what Paul Azinger finds works the best for
him.
And then let's go to the other way with Jose Maria Lathabel.
He's got a very weak grip where he turns his palm more to the sky and you do not see any
knuckles.
This is his choice as well.
Now when you go to put the right hand on the golf club, the same theory works.
We want the palm of the hand to point to the target.
Now we have the middle two fingers of our right hand and the grip running through the
base of those fingers.
We close it up.
As we close it up, the palm Mother Nature gave us something in our right hand called
a little groove there.
If you put your left thumb into that groove, naturally it sits there perfectly.
Now when you put that position on the golf club or even without a golf club and you close
it up, you'll notice my first finger and my thumb on my right hand, when they touch, there's
a V. That V should point somewhere between your right shoulder and your chin.
Now if you get that V too far to the right or below your right shoulder, that means your
grip is too strong.
If you get that V too far over or your palm is pointing to the ground, that is too weak.
So what we want to do is get our two hands together, not fighting each other.
So we want the back of the left hand with two knuckles showing.
We want the palm of the right hand facing the target with our V in our right finger
pointing to somewhere between our chin and our shoulder and put them together and that
position there, they can work as a one as you take them away.
You do not want to have any separation or any movement where the right hand wants to
pull away from the left or you do not want to have the left hand where it's so strong
that it pushes the club away like that.
So again, it's controlling the club head by having a nice compact and comfortable grip
that suits you.
What type of grip you use should be determined by the type of swing is most suited to you.
The grip used by leveraged and arc players are similar, both requiring fundamentally
neutral grips.
The width player however may find it useful to make a few adjustments to encourage extra
hand action.
Let me show you what I mean.
This is the neutral position where you can see two to two and a half knuckles.
This is suitable for the leverage or the arc player.
By positioning the thumb slightly off center, the leverage player can encourage the natural
hinging of the wrist needed to maximize power.
Maintaining a more restrictive shorter thumb position is a good idea for the long, smooth
swinging arc player who can lose control with too much hand action.
On the other hand, the width player who needs to encourage hand action to counter their
lack of flexibility.
The best way to do this is to extend the thumb down the shaft in the long position and assume
a stronger grip where two and a half to three knuckles are visible.
How your fingers fit together is totally up to you.
My fingers, because I've got very short stubby fingers, I had to come up with my own invention
called the mesh grip where I put my fingers together like that and then close it up.
So this finger, the first finger on my left hand and my little finger very seldom touch
the golf club.
So they float.
The reason why I do that and the reason why we need to get a grip as comfortable as we
can is to get our hands to work together as a one.
We don't want our hands separated because if we have our right hand fighting our left
hand, we lose control of the club.
By bringing our hands together, we get them to work together as a one.
Now whether you have an interlocking grip, which is this grip here with the little finger
and the forefinger of the left hand interlock, that's up to you.
Whether you have a varn or overlapping grip like this, where the little finger sits on
top of the left, first finger of your left hand, that's up to you.
Whether you like to have a baseball grip with all ten fingers on the golf club and the grip
at the same time, again that's up to you.
Or whether you go with my grip, which I call the mesh grip, again that's up to you.
But whatever you do, find something that's most comfortable for you and it works for
you.
We need to control the club head and the only way we can control the club head is with a
good solid grip.
One thing you must not overlook when talking about the grip is grip pressure.
To me there are only five fingers of all the ten fingers you have on the golf club that
really control the club.
The three fingers of your left hand, which are these, and the middle two fingers of your
right hand, which are these.
These are the ones that control the pressure.
When you're driving a car to work in the morning or coming home and you're a little frustrating,
or tense, or you're very relaxed driving along, think about your grip pressure.
I bet you when you're in traffic, rush hour traffic and you want to get home, you're grabbing
that steering wheel a little bit tight.
You get tight in the forearms, you get tight in your shoulders, you get tight in the back
of your neck.
Same with the golf swing.
If you grip the golf club in a tight fashion, everything else tenses up.
To think about it, put your club in your left hand and lift the club off the ground parallel
to the ground.
The three fingers I'm talking about, these three fingers of the left hand, control the
pressure of the golf club or where the golf club is going to sit at the top.
From that point there, I can feel the pressure right underneath my forearm here.
If I squeeze tight, then my entire forearm gets tight and now my biceps are starting
getting tight.
What I want to do is just get enough pressure there where I have enough tension in the grip
on the golf club that I keep control of it.
The same with the right hand.
I just put the right hand up there like this and my two fingers there control the pressure
of my right hand on the golf club.
Now a different tension.
Now I feel the tension in the top of my right forearm instead of underneath.
This is an important thing to know because your left arm controls the club differently
at the top than the right arm.
So as I get to the top of the golf club, my golf swing, if I decide to let go, if my tension
is too tight because of the motion of my golf club, my little finger lets go.
With my little finger lets go, the club wants to drop.
So you got to maintain a constant and even pressure in your left three fingers to keep
control of the golf club.
After that, on your way down, your muscles are ready to unleash to hit that ball long
and straight.
So remember, grip pressure.
When you're driving to the golf course in the morning, think about the grip pressure
on the steering wheel.
I did that in the 1993 British Open on the last day driving to the golf course on Sunday.
I kept on telling myself, think of the grip pressure in the steering wheel.
In the light I gripped the steering wheel, but I still kept control of the car the more
relaxed I became.
And the more relaxed I became, I was ready to go play that final round.
Let's review the basics of our grip lesson.
Remember, a proper grip is essential for a good golf swing.
It's better to have a stronger grip than a weak one.
The club rests diagonally under the heel pad of your left hand to the base of your index
finger.
Hold the club with the middle two fingers of the right hand and experiment to find where
you're most comfortable putting the right pinky.
The V of both hands should point to a spot roughly between the chin and the right shoulder
and maintain a firm, even grip pressure.
Not too tight, not too loose.
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products to improve your game.
One-on-one, the next step, takes an in-depth look at an important golf concept, the swing
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See you on the practice team.