Doug C from Ontario, Canada, on his way to Florida, stopped by Birkdale Golf Club in Hendersonville NC, to take a lesson. I'd never met Doug, but when I walked up to the range I was sure who he was because he was easy to spot, hitting balls on the end of the range. He had the trademark flared feet and wide knees of the PPGS setup, and was swinging to a 3/4 basckswing length. The only critique I would have, from that first glance, was that the shaft was not vertical at 12 but closer to 11, which is the low side of acceptable for vertical.
We loaded up your cart and drove to the back tee on the range to do the lesson. Starting with a bio and golf background, Doug revealed he is retired, loves to practice and now plays quite often. What Doug wanted from his swing was consistency for more solid contact, eliminating the occasional heavy/chunk shots with his iron. For his driver, his goal was getting rid of a weak push fade.
With the qualifying session complete, I started Doug off with a wedge to warm up, then to his 7 iron and we finished with his driver. All the while I was filling out my diagnosis form. It didn't take long to find the problem. On his first swing it jumped out at me like a blinking Neon sign. When we looked at the video of his swing from down the line, Doug also saw it on the first swing.
Right from the start, it was his first move in the takeaway. Doug was pushing his club outside of the aiming line, missing the catcher's mitt, and then was looping it back to the toe line when he started lifting it up to the top of the backswing. The next problem was that he overturned his shoulders and got his left/forward arm inside and past his toe line deep into the 'Sacred Burial Ground.' The good news is he was ¾ and fairly vertical at around 11:00 o'clock. There were a few other issues I would have to fix, but this takeaway was the first I had to correct because it was the root cause of the rest.
The prescription for Doug was first to get the club going straight back down the aiming line, with more arm rotation lifting the club up and into the mitt toe up. The problem was he was sort of pushing or just keeping his right arm too straight in the initial first foot back. I demonstrated that his right arm had to move inward as the hips and shoulders started turning as compared to pushing outward. I even went so far as to say the right arm may even feel like it is also pulling a little as his left is pushing, extending back in the takeaway. I explained that the right hip and shoulder pulls to start the takeaway and the left side actively follows. Motion starts from the hips because the center of gravity of the body is between the hips. The key is to feel like the club head, specifically the toe, moves first, flaring open because of the rotation of the arms and hands along with the turning torso.
I scratched a line in the grass and had him address a ball with the club head centered on the line. I had him do his takeaway so he could see his club move relative to the line. A correct takeaway has the club immediately sweeping up and inside. With the shoulder turn and arm rotation, the clubface is also rotating. Some call it fanning the face open, which it would be if the face was rotated past perpendicular to the ground. Because of this rotation with the toe leading, the club must move inside to where within 12 to 15 inches of backswing, the toe has already cleared and is inside of the line. Instead, Doug's club had the heel crossing the outside of the line.
I gave Doug two drills for mastering this takeaway move. Naturally, the first was practicing takeaways on the line as he had just done. In a house, basement, garage or office you can use a door jam or edge of any carpet or a ruler. The second is what I call takeaways against a wall. You set the toe of the club touching against the floor molding of a wall. Proper takeaway with the torso turning and rotation of the arms, the club will easily slide, and within an inch or less already be off the wall. Pushing the right arm, it will not be able to move because you have pushed it into the wall.
A third drill I forgot to give Doug, so if he is reading this he will now also have it, is put the club grip on the belt with the club head touching the wall. You stand erect and place your club grip end touching your belt, holding the club straight out. Grip it with your normal arm extension, which will have both hands on the shaft, and then touch the head to the wall. Now, make your backswing torso turn and the toe of the club will immediately, in less than an inch, be off the wall. With this drill you can really feel extra well what we call the one piece takeaway. That is the connection of the torso and triangle of the arm and club moving together in unison, with the club head leading the way up and into the mitt, toe up.
Takeaway is important. It sets up the rest of the swing. These 3 takeaway drills will have you making a smooth and correct one piece takeaway into the mitt, toe up.
The Surge!