Understand the Golf Swing
By Edward Sohn
Chapter 1: The directional aspect of the golf swing
A) The purpose of the golf swing
The purpose of the golf swing is of course to hit the golf ball straight and with power. The power is an important aspect of the golf swing but for now let’s concentrate on the directional aspect of the golf swing, for it is the directional aspect of the swing that will get you into more trouble than the power aspect and it’s easier to understand if we separate the two when talking about the golf swing.
B) The two factors that determine the direction of the ball flight
The ball will fly straight if these two factors are satisfied:
- The club head moves along the target line during the impact.
- The clubface is square at the impact. (The club face is said to be square if the club face lies perpendicular to the target line)
If the above two conditions are met, the ball will fly straight! I know you might have heard of this before, but I had to start with it because it is the goal that all golfers strive to achieve and if you have a clear sense of the goal, it gets easier to grasp the means to get there.
Now that we have broken down the directional aspect of the golf swing into two requirements for the straight ball flight, we zero down on the club head movement part and I will explain about ensuring the square club face later on.
C) Your back swing height dictates the swing path
How can we make the club head travel along the target line? If we can do that then we just have to keep the clubface square at the impact to hit the ball straight. Is it that simple? Yes, it’s that simple.
Now imagine this; if you put your club so high, to almost out in front of you and swing down at the ball, wouldn’t you swing outside in? (i.e, clubface start from the outside of target line and then travel to inside of the target line. “Out” means the opposite side of where the player stands in relation to the target line.) Conversely, if you swing back so low that the club almost touches the ground, and then swing at the ball, wouldn’t you swing inside out? Sure you will.
Now then, it becomes clear, the back swing height dictates the swing path and the correct backswing height lies somewhere between the two extremes I just talked about.
Now we have to find the correct backswing height.