! Scigolf presents Scott Hazledine Answers Your Golfing Questions On Your Golf Game.

Question 39

Scott,
I have been struggling with the Natural Golf System for about a year and have had moderate success.
I have a few questions, if you could please answer them it will save me a lot of guessing on the way Natural Golf does things and the way Moe did them in his 30's.

Thanks,
Jon

Dear Jon,

It is no wonder that you are struggling with natural golf. Moe did things considerably different from what natural golf currently teaches. If you have not gotten my IMA Way video I suggest that you do so, and end the confusion and the guessing by attending a golf school either in Naples or Minneapolis.

Now for your first question -

"The Grip. I understand the right hand position from your Ask Scott archives, but I didn't understand the position of the left hand. Is it on top of the club(strong)?"

The left hand grip is placed underneath the heel pad and across the palm resting on the first knuckle of the index finger and at an angle where if you were laying your palm face down on a table and placed a golf club in to the grip as you wrapped the fingers around the handle the golf shaft would point to a position we will call three o'clock. Your left thumb being on top of the grip would also be pointing toward three o'clock> From your shoulder down your arm to your knuckles would be pointing at 12 o'clock, The angle between the club shaft and the left hand knuckles would such that the knuckles line would be pointing toward 3:20, with approximately a 20 degree angle between the club shaft and the knuckle line. It may be as small an angle as 15 degrees but never more than 20.

Holding this position, now find an open space where you can allow the golf club to swing freely and with your left hand only raise the club to shoulder height. The toe to heel relationship should be directly on the plane of the swing. Now let the arm swing down freely. What you will find is that as the arm swings through, the golf shaft and face will square up without any manipulation of your arm, forearm, or wrist. If the club face does not become square before your left shoulder then your grip is too weak, if the golf club squares up before you reach your sternum your golf grip is to strong.

Remember that the left arm is a rod and the right arm is the piston that keeps the golf club square for the longest period of time. It is not the left arm, but the single axis grip of the right arm piston that keeps the club square.

Your second question is -

"This one is a little hard to explain: When I swing the club I hold the club VERY firm the left hand and loose in the right. On the downswing I swing down with the right elbow with my head over my right knee. Is this correct? What is the first move in the downswing? Left knee towards left big toe or right elbow in front of the right hip? If it is the left knee, do the arms just fall down into the ball?"

It is very acceptable to grip the left hand firmly and the right hand loosely. I am very glad that you are asking this question, as so many people think that the start of the down swing is an uncoiling or a reflex motion that starts with something on the left side of the body. You will now be armed with the correct start of the down swing and probably know more than you need after reading this.

The correct movement in the down swing is a simultaneous contraction of two major muscle groups. You do have some slight leeway with which muscle group starts first, but it's best if they work together. The down swing begins with the contraction of the muscles that originate both in the front and back of the upper chest and attach near the end of your humerus bone close to your shoulder.

Specifically, these are the pectoralis major and the coracobrachialis on the fromt, and the latissimus, subscapularis and teres major muscles on the back.

These are the muscles that lift, raise and rotate the humerus so that the elbow can move down and in front of the hip. When your arms are at the top of the backswing these muscles contract and pull your arms down and then forward across your body to the ball.

The three muscles that are responsible for the lateral movement of the lower body during the start of the golf swing are the gluteus medius, gluteus minimus and the tensor fasciae latae. The contractions of these muscles move the lower body to the left side and allow for the drop into the left knee bend. Beware of the gastrocnemius muscle - it raises the heel, which lifts the body. If this muscle activates during the down swing you will inevitably spin to the left and hit pull shots. This is why on my video I say that it is mandatory to keep the right heel either on the ground, rolled inward, or if raised it must be closer to the left foot than the toe.

Now that I have had my fun; in layman's terms the start of the down swing is moving your arms and hands on plane to the golf ball while maintaining your extension of the wrist, and moving your right elbow in front of your right hip. You make a lateral shift from your right side to your left, forward side bending into the left knee as you move laterally. Your shoulders will now rotate down on plane and your nose will drop over the right knee. Make these movement happen simultaneously and you will have a killer first move down to the ball. Please forgive my sarcasm, but No Virginia there are no falling, coiling, uncoiling, rebounding, elastic snapping, twisting and untwisting that happens on the downswing!