Golf Mechanics are Laughably Simple.

Once you understand the mechanical movements that are necessary for producing power and accuracy, golf mechanics become laughably simple. I have talked in previous articles about what does not happen during a golf stroke. Now, I will write about what does happen and what you need to practice to develop a simple and repeating golf stroke.

Basic Principles:

• The right hand grip should be in the life-line and never, never, never in the fingers.

• 85% of club head speed comes from the arms. Approximately 75% of that is produced by the trailing arm.

• The 15% that comes from the body will happen with no thought given to it.

• The golf stroke is a right handed underhand tossing motion (The Kuykendall Toss).

Look at the upper body (shoulders and arms) in the downstroke of all current tour professionals and all great players from the past. You will see the exact same sequence of motions. The hands move backward and downward away from the right shoulder. The right shoulder will be on plane and the left shoulder will be moving almost laterally at first and then up on plane just after impact. The club head will come from behind the body into impact.

There will be great disparity in their lower body movement. Many face the ball at impact. Many have their belt buckle facing the target at impact. The scientific observation to make here is that the lower body has no effect on the golf stroke except to make it more difficult and to produce back pain.

The effect it has on the outcome of a shot is a major problem with amateurs. Joe Norwood stated it best - Rotation causes 90% of the errors in golf. If you spin your lower body out from under your upper body at the start of the downstroke, every imaginable fault in golf can and does happen.

Perform the following simple movements and watch how fast you will improve your golf game.

• At the top of the backstroke, bend your left arm and keep the same angle between your hands that you had at address.

• Your hands should feel totally passive during the stroke. You should have no sensation of wrist action.

• As you start the downstroke, sit down about 2 inches. As you sit down move your hands away from the target and downward.

• There is no rotation of the lower or upper body toward the target. If you get this far you are home free.

• When the right hand reaches waist high in the downstroke feel like you are tossing the grip at the target.

• Do not restrict any motion of the lower body to support the tossing motion of the right hand. If you do it correctly, you should be facing the ball at impact with both feet flat on the ground. You should be in balance and have no torque on any part of your body.

Forget everything you have heard or read about the body producing power. Every statement is incorrect. Golf is a simple right handed underhand tossing motion supported by the body.

© Scigolf.com Company 2002