We have a question from Inner Circle member Cliff. Cliff says, “In watching the video of your and D.J.'s swings, it appears that your clubface stays 'looking' at the ball during most of the takeaway. Is this a good mental picture?”
Cliff, I don't think it is. Based on the definition of what a good takeaway is in the Peak Performance Golf Swing. First, we describe the Peak Performance Golf Swing as a limited turn, 3/4 length backswing. In the takeaway we describe the concept that when you start to swing you turn the square of your body and shoulders at the same time to set the clubhead moving, with the toe of the club moving first. It appears to be opening up because we rotate the turning of the body and the arms, and the toe is coming back, toe up into the catchers mitt, which is just slightly inside the aiming line, somewhere up in the air.
Starting the toe of the club first, when rotation of the forearms sets the club in motion, that club should have the appearance of looking like it's opening up a little bit, if you were standing behind it. If you were keeping the clubface square, the clubface is staying dead shut to the aiming line and you hands would be what I call under rotating. Your lower hand will be rotating where it's starting to go palm down rather than staying palms perpendicular to the ground.
So I don't think it's a good mental picture of keeping the clubface looking at the ball longer. That's what a lot of the players do in the rotational swing. They keep it there longer, then and after that, this causes flipping the club and over rotating later in the swing. The more energy and the more movement the club and the arms have, the more the flip will be going up.
In all the terms in what we use, the images we use, lifting the club and putting into the catcher's mitt, toe up, the face should be appearing to open a little bit. That means the toe, and the leading edge with the toe opening, will be starting to move away from the line and not staying square to it.
Try to get a better picture of lifting the club into the catcher's mitt, toe up, and I think you're going to find your ball striking will improve because you'll be swinging your arms the way they were designed to move in the backswing.
The Surge!