Posted by Dexter Francois
| Posted in
Mike Southern,
Video Instruction
| Posted on Friday, March 25, 2011
If you have been reading this blog, you know that Mike Southern, my virtual swing coach, has been helping me to improve and understand the mechanics of my swing. I was telling him that he is becoming somewhat of a mentor of mine both on and off the golf course.
For example, he gave me a entire tutorial on how the copyright laws work in America, so that I am protected as I publish this blog and other projects I may undertake. He is a published author with his own publishing company, so I understand why he takes this issue so seriously.
The most valuable lesson he gave me as far as my swing is concerned is on how to make a proper one-piece takeaway(The picture above is from this post). Before I met Mike, my takeaway was way to the inside, causing a severe coming over the top move, which robbed me of a lot of distance and accuracy. My swing has definitely improved as a result of his efforts.
I am always on youtube searching for tips, which sometimes is a problem, because I am getting so much information from different teachers with their own philosophies. It is easy to get confused when you have too many swing thoughts floating around the brain while standing over a golf ball.
I like simple, and when I came across this video explanation of the one-piece takeaway by Paul Wilson at Peak Performance Golf Swing, I was eager to try it out. Coupled with what Mike has taught me, I think I'm on the right track to making my swing even better.
I don't want to try and explain the drill as I am not a PGA Teaching Professional. Remember these are just the drills that I find that are working for me, so I like to share my progress. You should always visit your local Head Pro to get proper instruction.
I'll just say that what is taught in this video, is very easy to understand and implement right away. I saw the video last night and was able to take it to the range today. Take a look at the video and see if it helps you. Then get back to me with your thoughts. Until then, have a great round and always hit your target.
Photo courtesy of the Ruthless Golf Blog.
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This is why you're getting better, Dex. You're starting to really understand how the parts of your swing interrelate.
Although one of the basic ideas in my blog is that you create your full swing by "stretching" your putting stroke out, I wouldn't just tell most people that the one-piece takeaway and their putting stroke are the same move. THEY ARE -- you're entirely correct on that -- but if I just told them that, they'd tend to either make a stiff one-piece takeaway or lose the flow of their putting. By gradually making their putting stroke longer and adding wrist cock and such when necessary, they would eventually recogniize the relationship between the two and avoid the error.
Since you figured this out yourself, you probably won't make either mistake. Some truths in this game have to be discovered (rather than taught) in order to be applied properly. And that's why you're improving. ;-)
And just as an aside... that's why Tiger is finally getting back to his old putting stroke. Everyone is shocked that he's making short game and putting changes while he makes full game changes, and the media asked him about it. Tiger responded that his old putting stroke matches the new moves in his full swing. Or, to put it another way, his putting stroke and his takeaway are related.
I did a variation of Paul's drill. Instead of holding the 7-iron at the end of the shaft, and making the putting stroke. I gripped down to the metal and did the same move. I noticed two things when I did this.
1.It made hinging the wrist seem very natural. Because I was holding the shaft near the middle, it was almost impossible not to hinge my wrist as I took my practice swings. When I hit shots, I now had the feeling of a proper wrist hinge. It felt more natural.
2.I started to hit a baby draw. I believe it's because of rehearsing the putting stroke. With the 7-iron I noticed that there was a slight arc during the takeaway and then back through. As I took the club up to the top on that arc, it seemed natural to come back down on a line to complete the arc through impact. Swinging more from the inside. If that makes sense to you. In any case, it was pretty exciting, because I never hit a draw.
Obviously I can't see exactly what you're doing, but I think I can tell you why it works. Both Mike Hunt and I told you that you were twisting your forearms on the backswing. When you putt, you don't twist them.
When you incorporate that relaxed putting motion into your takeaway, you stop twisting and instead get the proper amount of forearm motion, which causes you to square the clubface. Understand?
Just a note about the video: Paul talks about straightening the arms to make the putting motion / one-piece takeaway work with the longer clubs. I don't have to... but then again, I'm not having to overcome those overactive forearms that most players have.
If you look at the Basic Principles posts I've done for each aspect of the game, from putting to driving, you'll see that the First Principle is always:
"The clubface should remain square to the stroke path; the forearms should NOT rotate during the execution of the stroke."
That never changes... but I suspect it causes most of the problems golfers struggle with.
Maybe I'll make a video demonstrating what I'm talking about.
I noticed that all of this has improved my chipping as well. I spent the afternoon on the chipping green. Without the "twist", my shots were a lot more accurate. So I am really beginning to understand what you mean by "stretching your putting stroke out."
Thanks to you for for writing this helpful post.I also search for tips on internet. Its really helpful for me.
Thanks for visiting Golftowels. Feel free to share any tips that you think the readers might find helpful.