SWINGING THE CLUB

John Merrihew
Perry Park Country Club, head professional

The club should swing on an arc around your body, because you are standing to the side of the ball. The club should be coming from the inside slightly on the downswing, with the clubhead in a closing motion. At impact the club is on the target line with the face square. After impact the club moves inside the target line again, and the clubhead continues to rotate.

The club starts back along the shaft angle at address. Because the body is rotating, arms and club will be inside the target line when parallel to the ground and the target line. The arms then rotate up, with the club parallel to - but not on - the original area determined by the shaft at address. The club comes down again parallel to the original plane, with the arms rotating to square the clubhead at impact. Thus the natural shot in golf should be a slight draw.

The majority of golfers we see have overly upright swings, meaning the club on the backswing gets above the original plane. When your downswing is too steep, you will hit a lot of shots off the toe of the club. You also might hit a slice because of an open clubface.

Try swinging the club with a baseball swing, with the clubhead traveling a foot or so above the ball. This will feel much flatter and you should be able to feel the clubhead rotating. Then try hitting the ball by bending from your hips, to get to the ball and still use your shallower swing plane.