Today's tip stems from a conversation between two of our more prolific commentators on the blog, Neil Halden, a.k.a. Neil of Oz, and Robert Fleck.
Neil, who actually hails from Western Australia (and not Kansas), was asking for comments on how to keep his club head from going deep into the Sacred Burial Ground. From what he can tell, his hands are almost always in near-perfect position as he reaches the top of his backswing, but somehow the club head goes where no club head should ever go. Robert shot back a good answer that could possibly explain Neil's problem--over- rotation of the hands and forearm caused by not keeping the palms perpendicular all the way through the swing. I happen to think Robert is on to something with his long distance diagnosis and I expand on his premise in today's video.
We want to keep the club head and hands in alignment as we swing backwards and forwards. Over-rotating the hands and forearms will cause this alignment to breakdown and the club head will get laid off and head into the SBG. However, one thing to remember is that a bad BUS can often be saved by a great FUS. Just look at the swings of three of golf's legends, Nancy Lopez, Raymond Floyd and Hale Irwin. Each of them had backswings that took them way deep but they inherently knew how to get back on a vertical plane as they initiated their FUS. From where I sit, I would rather maintain the hand-club alignment I just talked about and stay out of trouble in the first place. When we do that we can reap the advantage of having a vertical club. As I have said many times, a vertical club is a light club which allows you to swing faster while maintaining control. And after all, don't you want to control your club and not let your club control you?
Keep it vertical!
The Surge