Brian Manzella
Administrator
Get in position to play your best.
The sole reason for setting up to the ball in a certain manner, is to put yourself in a position to hit the ball properly. On standard shots ‘properly’ is hitting the inside-back of the ball, on the way down, with the face slightly open. That's the reason for setting up a particular way. It's not to "line up at the target." It's not to get you in an "athletic position," or any of the other clichéd axioms. You can 'line up' 30 yards left like Lee Trevino in his prime or 30 yards right like Bobby Locke did and still be a world-class player. You can look hunched over like Allen Doyle or have your legs wide, wide apart like Moe Norman. But, on a basic shot, you have to put yourself in a position to create a downward blow and hit the right part of the ball.
You can accomplish these imperative functions with a less than classic looking setup. You could try to follow the (in my opinion) incorrect notions of modern pop instruction's idea of correct form at the address position. But, if you follow the following guidelines, you will have a better setup than Tiger Woods—for you.
For brevity's sake we will assume you have the classic neutral grip we described in September 2003's AutoSuccess article.
The first step is creating what I call "golf arms." After most golfers grip the club, even if they have a good grip, their arms are in less than ideal position for executing a golf swing. They often have elbows pointing outward, their right arm is 'on top' of his left, and their right arm is straighter than his left. All are less than ideal.
The proper positioning of the elbows is more downward than outward. From here the golfer can turn his left arm AND wrist 90º during the backswing for a classic top-of-the-backswing position. If the left elbow is turned outward he can only turn the wrist that amount to get to the same destination. The right arm should bend straight up and down during the backswing, which is only possible from the elbow down condition at address. Otherwise the golfer must also rotate the right arm as it bends on the backswing. It is also easier to put the right forearm at address more closely on the plane it will be on during the last moment before impact (Pic below yellow line).
Posture is often overlooked by golfers as important and often taught incorrectly by well meaning but misinformed teachers. In 1954 author H.A. Murray, in his book "THE GOLF SECRET,” talked about the common outline to the neck and shoulder area of the champion golfers of the day. His extensive research reveled that these outlines showed a definite roundness to the upper back and neck area compared to 'average' players. This upper body posture, allowed the golfer's to look straight at the ball as opposed to the duffer’s propensity for looking down their nose. This posture includes the neck being nearly parallel to the ground at address. This trait is shared—at least at impact—with nearly 100% of the great players from Vardon to Woods.
Because most poor players don't bend over at the hips nearly enough, teachers started to notice how straight the lower backs of the champions were. What they missed, was that the ‘straight-ness’ ended in the upper backs of players like Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead.
So, today, many modern players carry the straight back to the extreme which includes the upper back and the ‘head up-look down’ that Murray saw as a poor player’s fault (PICTURE POSTED SOON). The better players who start ‘head up’ almost always return the neck to near parallel with the ground to look straight at the ball and have the better clubface control that comes with the proper neck position.
To get into the proper posture and position at address, use a mid-iron and stand erect with the proper grip and golf arms holding the club out in front of you. Separate your feet until the middle of your feet are as wide as the outsides of your shoulders. Your right foot should point straight ahead and your left foot should be turned very slightly outward. Your toes should both be touching the same parallel line. Using your right hand, extended wide from little finger to thumb, put the thumb on your belt buckle (ladies approx. two inches below your belly button) and your pinkie on the butt of the club. Keeping these contact points together, bend from the hip sockets—with your back straight—until the club contacts the ground. Then, relax your upper back and neck and look straight out of your eye sockets just in front of the clubhead where the ball would be (Pic below).
There are two schools of thought on ball position: constant and multiple. I have taught it both ways. In my opinion the best way is a constant ball position just inside the left shoulder socket for all shot off of the ground and right under the socket for teed drivers.
This inside the shoulder position generally falls about 2 inches inside the golfer’s left heel. Just move the club up the parallel to the foot line that it is on and place the ball so it is on that line and slightly toward the toe-end of the clubhead. (PICTURE POSTED SOON)
Adjusting for shorter and longer clubs is easy. For shorter irons the stance becomes narrower, until with a wedge the outsides of the feet line up with the outsides of the shoulders. With longer clubs than the mid-iron, the stance gets wider, until with a driver the insides of the feet line up with the outsides of the shoulders. For a driver off of the tee, place the ball more toward the toe of the club and position the ball on the left heel.
Looking at yourself in a mirror or on video, here are some checkpoints to look at (pic above). First the face-on view: Two-inches-inside-low-point ball position; stance width (this with a six-iron), elbows facing forward, butt of club at the belt buckle, arms ‘unit’ appears centered to body, head behind the ball, and head no ‘cocked’ left or right leaning.
Rear view: (Piv above) Lower back straight, upper back rounded enough for parallel-to-the-ground neck position, butt of the club at belt line, left arm barely visible above right arm, arms hanging from shoulder sockets, eyes looking straight out at the ball.
For a standard straight shot, lines across the toes, knees, thighs, hips, shoulders and eyes should all be on lines parallel to the ball-to-target line. Of course the ball only knows what the club is doing, so you could line up at Mars and make a hole-in-one on Venus, but this is a great starting point.
The sole reason for setting up to the ball in a certain manner, is to put yourself in a position to hit the ball properly. On standard shots ‘properly’ is hitting the inside-back of the ball, on the way down, with the face slightly open. That's the reason for setting up a particular way. It's not to "line up at the target." It's not to get you in an "athletic position," or any of the other clichéd axioms. You can 'line up' 30 yards left like Lee Trevino in his prime or 30 yards right like Bobby Locke did and still be a world-class player. You can look hunched over like Allen Doyle or have your legs wide, wide apart like Moe Norman. But, on a basic shot, you have to put yourself in a position to create a downward blow and hit the right part of the ball.
You can accomplish these imperative functions with a less than classic looking setup. You could try to follow the (in my opinion) incorrect notions of modern pop instruction's idea of correct form at the address position. But, if you follow the following guidelines, you will have a better setup than Tiger Woods—for you.
For brevity's sake we will assume you have the classic neutral grip we described in September 2003's AutoSuccess article.
The first step is creating what I call "golf arms." After most golfers grip the club, even if they have a good grip, their arms are in less than ideal position for executing a golf swing. They often have elbows pointing outward, their right arm is 'on top' of his left, and their right arm is straighter than his left. All are less than ideal.
The proper positioning of the elbows is more downward than outward. From here the golfer can turn his left arm AND wrist 90º during the backswing for a classic top-of-the-backswing position. If the left elbow is turned outward he can only turn the wrist that amount to get to the same destination. The right arm should bend straight up and down during the backswing, which is only possible from the elbow down condition at address. Otherwise the golfer must also rotate the right arm as it bends on the backswing. It is also easier to put the right forearm at address more closely on the plane it will be on during the last moment before impact (Pic below yellow line).
Posture is often overlooked by golfers as important and often taught incorrectly by well meaning but misinformed teachers. In 1954 author H.A. Murray, in his book "THE GOLF SECRET,” talked about the common outline to the neck and shoulder area of the champion golfers of the day. His extensive research reveled that these outlines showed a definite roundness to the upper back and neck area compared to 'average' players. This upper body posture, allowed the golfer's to look straight at the ball as opposed to the duffer’s propensity for looking down their nose. This posture includes the neck being nearly parallel to the ground at address. This trait is shared—at least at impact—with nearly 100% of the great players from Vardon to Woods.
Because most poor players don't bend over at the hips nearly enough, teachers started to notice how straight the lower backs of the champions were. What they missed, was that the ‘straight-ness’ ended in the upper backs of players like Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead.
So, today, many modern players carry the straight back to the extreme which includes the upper back and the ‘head up-look down’ that Murray saw as a poor player’s fault (PICTURE POSTED SOON). The better players who start ‘head up’ almost always return the neck to near parallel with the ground to look straight at the ball and have the better clubface control that comes with the proper neck position.
To get into the proper posture and position at address, use a mid-iron and stand erect with the proper grip and golf arms holding the club out in front of you. Separate your feet until the middle of your feet are as wide as the outsides of your shoulders. Your right foot should point straight ahead and your left foot should be turned very slightly outward. Your toes should both be touching the same parallel line. Using your right hand, extended wide from little finger to thumb, put the thumb on your belt buckle (ladies approx. two inches below your belly button) and your pinkie on the butt of the club. Keeping these contact points together, bend from the hip sockets—with your back straight—until the club contacts the ground. Then, relax your upper back and neck and look straight out of your eye sockets just in front of the clubhead where the ball would be (Pic below).
There are two schools of thought on ball position: constant and multiple. I have taught it both ways. In my opinion the best way is a constant ball position just inside the left shoulder socket for all shot off of the ground and right under the socket for teed drivers.
This inside the shoulder position generally falls about 2 inches inside the golfer’s left heel. Just move the club up the parallel to the foot line that it is on and place the ball so it is on that line and slightly toward the toe-end of the clubhead. (PICTURE POSTED SOON)
Adjusting for shorter and longer clubs is easy. For shorter irons the stance becomes narrower, until with a wedge the outsides of the feet line up with the outsides of the shoulders. With longer clubs than the mid-iron, the stance gets wider, until with a driver the insides of the feet line up with the outsides of the shoulders. For a driver off of the tee, place the ball more toward the toe of the club and position the ball on the left heel.
Looking at yourself in a mirror or on video, here are some checkpoints to look at (pic above). First the face-on view: Two-inches-inside-low-point ball position; stance width (this with a six-iron), elbows facing forward, butt of club at the belt buckle, arms ‘unit’ appears centered to body, head behind the ball, and head no ‘cocked’ left or right leaning.
Rear view: (Piv above) Lower back straight, upper back rounded enough for parallel-to-the-ground neck position, butt of the club at belt line, left arm barely visible above right arm, arms hanging from shoulder sockets, eyes looking straight out at the ball.
For a standard straight shot, lines across the toes, knees, thighs, hips, shoulders and eyes should all be on lines parallel to the ball-to-target line. Of course the ball only knows what the club is doing, so you could line up at Mars and make a hole-in-one on Venus, but this is a great starting point.
), is that Ben went so dar is to say "Brian, maybe you should shorten your swing." In other words, he can teach a little by-the-way, has given me 100's of hours of his time, and HE GIVES UP on this. But...HE LOVES the way I MASH it!