Maximum Speed Swing

Many golfers make less than full shots because they do not match the length of his backswing to the distance the ball must travel. Sometimes an over abbreviated backswing leads to a hurried, jerky downswing in a last second effort to generate the missing power. Most golfers over swing going back, then decelerates coming down. The key is to smoothly accelerate the club from the highest point in the backswing through the ball and follow through. Nicklaus describes how he tries to keep the same tempo when swinging; "I try to maintain the same slow tempo and smooth sweeping rhythm I use for the longer shots with the longer clubs" (Nicklaus, 210). The key to maximum speed when swinging a club is to sweep low on your target line and slowly accelerate on your downswing.

 If you tilt your head to the right, you can see that in my backswing I am sweeping my club and keeping a smooth path and pace.

Why do you think it is important to keep a smooth

pace when swinging?

The Full-Shot Swing: Starting Back

The backswing alignment of any golf swing is very important to what kind of shot you will see a golfer hit. According to most golfers, and personal experience, when the clubshaft is parallel to the target line, it results in a great straight shot. What does it mean when the clubshaft becomes parallel to the target line? In short, it is keeping the arc of the clubhead in a constant relationship to the target line back and through your swing. You always want to swing the clubshaft to a horizontal position at the top of the backswing to maximize the perfect hit. Many golfers, including myself, have a hard time keeping the club parallel to my line, instead many golfers point their club to the right or left of the target at the top of their swing which causes problems "because the forward-swinging path reciprocates the backswing path and delivers the clubhead across not along the target line during impact" (Nicklaus, 102).

If you tilt your head to the right, you can see that I am demonstrating a swing where my clubshaft is is parallel to my target line at the top of my backswing (it is hard to see at this angle).

If you tilt your head to the right, you can see that I am demonstrating a swing where my clubshaft is pointing to the left of my target at the top of my backswing (it is hard to see at this angle). Because it has the slight point to the left it will cause me to hit away from my target line. This type of swing is not recommended.

Why do you think not being parallel to the ball on the backswing

affects the path the ball travels?

Ball Position For Each Club

Many experienced golfers know that for a different type of club you should stand and position your feet a certain distance from the ball, but what really is the rule? The answer is that there really isn't an official rule but it is actually based somewhat on your personal preference. "A number of fine golfers vary the ball's position in relation to the feet, depending on the club being used" (Nicklaus, 88). Nicklaus is basically explaining that based on the specific club a golfer is hitting, they change where the place the ball in their stance and how wide their feet are. When hitting any wedge, your feet want to be positioned closer together to get more control (because you are not taking a full swing) and you want the ball to sit far back in your stance. When hitting any type of middle iron your feet should be about shoulder width apart and you want the ball to sit a little further back than the middle point of your stance. When hitting long irons you want your feet to be slightly wider than shoulder width apart and you want the ball to be a little past the middle line in your stance. When hitting woods or drivers, you want your feet to be either slightly wider than shoulder width or a step larger than that (all based on preference) and you want the ball resting right of the line of your front toe. Of course all of these positions are all preferences based, but if you stick to these general lines, you are guaranteed to get the best shot possible from the club you choose to hit.

As you can see here, I am hitting with one of my wedges so my feet are a little less than shoulder width apart and the ball is positioned far back in my stance.

Here I am hitting a middle ion and my feet are shoulder width apart and the ball is positioned a little right of the center line in my stance.

In this picture I am demonstrating my alignment for a long iron; my stance is a little larger than shoulder width and the ball is slightly left of the center line in my stance.

Here I am hitting a wood and my feet are large than shoulder width apart and the ball is sitting right off my top foot.

What do you think would be the hardest shot to hit when thinking about the alignment 

and placement of the ball?

The Truth About Your Plane

The ideal way to play golf would be to swing the club in a vertical plane-like a pendulum. That way your club would never deviate from your target line, adn assuming you could also devise a way to keep the clubface square to the target. With the perfect vertical plane you are bound to hit every shot straight! One of the most important parts of a golfer's swing is the plane that their swing follows. There are two main planes golfers tend to hit; flat and upright. An upright plane gives the golfer his best chance of swinging the club along the target line at impact. It is easiest to think of an upright plane as hitting in a hulla hoop, following the hulla hoop ring as you swing back and forwards. A flat plane shot tends to look like a golfer is swinging a baseball bat as the golfer's arms and hands are more horizontal to the ball and their ball. Nicklaus shows what plane he prefers as he says, "I prefer an upright swing plane because it seems to me the less I move the club off the target line, the better my chance of swinging the clubhead along the target line at impact by using the upright plane" (34). 

If you tilt your head to the right, you can see that I am swinging applying the upright plane. My body is more up and my arms are almost vertical in my backswing

If you tilt your head to the right, you can see that I am now swinging applying the flat plane. My arms are more horizontal and flat in my backswing. 

I found that I was most successful at getting the best accuracy at keeping my ball on my target line using the upright plane just like most golfers prefer. 

Why do you think these different planes effect a golfers target line?

Clubface Alignment

As a golfer, the way your clubface is aligned and the way it contacts the ball is essential to the direction the ball will go and the type of shot it will create. As Jack Nicklaus says in his book,
"The easy way to play golf is with a swing in which the clubface starts square to the ball, gradually closes (turns clockwise) as it goes back, and gradually closes (turns clockwise) as it returns, until at impact it is again square to the ball" (18). This turn in the clubface comes from the the slight turn in the body in the backswing and the hinging of the wrists. There are two different ways that the clubface can turn; the open-to-close pattern where the clubface opens during the backswing then squares to the ball and closes on the downswing of the ball. The other clubface alignment is closed-to-open where it is the opposite, closed on the backswing and opens on the downswing. I found that the open-to-close clubface alignment creates the most accurate hit on the ball for me. Many golfers such as Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, and Jack Nicklaus were open-to-close players.

In this picture I am using the open-to-close method (as you can see my clubface is a little more open as it is coming into contact with the ball).

In this picture I am demonstrating what it would be like if you were to hit the ball with the close-to-open method (as you can see the clubface is a lot more square and closed to the ball).

If you were to hit a golf ball, what clubface alignment would you think would work best for you?

Golf My Way: Instructional Classic

My book for the IRP reading focuses on golf and I will be reading Golf My Way: Instructional Classic by Jack Nicklaus. This book centers around the techniques and physical and mental aspects of the game of golf. I am reading this book in hopes that I will learn some tips on how to improve my game of golf and tips about how to improve my swing. This book is helpful for this project because I will be able to learn how to play a better game of golf and hopefully lower my score next time I step foot on the course!



Nicklaus, Jack, and Ken Bowden. Golf My Way: The Instructional Classic, Revised and Updated. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. Print.