How To Push The Golf Club Head Into A “Toe-up” Position
The result of the golf swing can be determined within the first few inches of the backswing. The movement indicates very quickly whether positions established at address will promote coordination unique to the golf swing and whether positions will have time to coordinate by the speed of the swing when it starts.
Established positions at address are of critical importance to the overall swing. Good or bad, correct or incorrect, positions start to coordinate the movement when the backswing starts, and positions determine the sequence of motion between the body and the clubhead that determines the rest of the swing.
For accuracy through the swing, the clubhead starts away from the ball headed towards a “toe up” position. The position is a reliable checkpoint, indicating that the body is turning away from the ball with the clubface square and with the clubhead on the right swing plane.
A 4-Step Process
Pushing into and through the toe-up position is a 4-step mechanical process for learning: first by establishing accurate positions, second - pushing into the position, third - “breaking the wrists”, and finally - pushing the clubhead onto the top of the swing.
Once you have developed the procedure and practice, you can easily coordinate positions and movements into its smooth backswing. Let us go into more detail:
* Use a waggling motion to reestablish positions. Roll your elbows toward each other, with the right elbow lower than the left. Confirm your grip. Keep your head steady and use a forward press.
* Almost simultaneously, deliberately push the clubhead away from the ball by pushing your left shoulder forward and extending your firm left arm. Let your weight shift to the right, against your right foot, but keep your knees were they are to prevent excessive movement
* Although the clubhead starts on the line of flight, it swings up and onto the directional line as your shoulders turn. Keep your arms together and let your right arm fold with the elbows pointing down as your left arm extends. Push the clubhead away until the shaft is parallel to the ground, on the directional line, with the toe the clubhead pointing straight up.
* The address position of the hands, wrists, left arm, and shaft – moving with the shoulder turn – remains unchanged, so the angle of the left arm and shaft will be bent.
Proper Clubface Alignment Can Make Or Break Your Golf Swing.
Do one thing correctly in your golf swing and it will produce correctness in other areas as well. Do something incorrectly and this error will create incorrectness elsewhere in your swing. In that sense, golf is defined as a reaction game. Keep this in your mind at all times during your practice and playtime on the course.
In this regard, the alignment of the clubface is the most important factor in determining the behavior of every shot you make. Clubface alignment is critical because if the face of the club looks to the left or to the right of your target as you make impact with the ball, your instinctive reactions to the ball’s flight will create errors in your swing path and angle of attack, while also impairing your clubhead speed.
When The Clubface Faces The Right Of The Target
Delivering the clubface looking to the right of the target at impact (“open” in golf terminology) promotes swinging the clubhead from outside to inside across the target line in an instinctive attempt to prevent shots from finishing to the right.
Swinging across the target line from out-to-in can create either a too steep (downward) or a too shallow (upward) hit. This incorrect angle of attack results in both fat or thin shots.
Third, the awkwardness resulting from a sense of incorrect angles inhibits free and forceful swinging, which also reduces the clubhead speed.
When The Clubface Faces The Left Of The Target
Delivering the clubface looking left of the target when impact occurs (“closed” in golf terms) promotes swinging the clubhead across from the inside-to-outside of the target line in an instinctive attempt to prevent shots from finishing to the left.
Swinging the clubhead in excess from in-to-out will flatten the angle of the clubhead’s attack, frequently to the point where it strikes the ground before the ball, or has begun traveling upward at impact, again producing either a fat or thin shot.
When The Clubface Looks Directly At The Target
Delivering the clubface to the ball looking directly at the target (“square” in golf terms) promotes instinctively swinging the clubhead ‘momentarily along’ rather than across the target line when impact occurs.
When the swing path momentarily matches the target line at impact, the clubhead arrives at the ball at the proper angle, not too steep nor too shallow, and delivers the entire force of the blow directly forward.