Many swing faults start at the beginning! - Be the smartest golfer you know

Most students show up for lessons with a poor grip, set up, posture and alignment. We have discussed in previous e-mails how important it is to have these fundamentals at least functional before the start of the back swing. Once these are functional we need to focus on the first two feet of the back swing.

If you are playing well you probably aren’t thinking about anything in your back swing after the first two feet of moment. Most of us get off track right off the bat.

There is must debate weather the club should be set early or late. This can be viewed as a preference but most would agree that by the time the club is 75% of the way towards the end of the back swing or when the left arm is horizontal to the ground all arm and wrist hinging should be completed.

The average tour player swing takes between .9 and 1.1 seconds. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for corrections. There are a few common faults that most players make in the fist few feet of the back swing;

Moving the weight to the outside of the trail, or right foot put a player in a very difficult position to recover from. Make sure the weight never gets to the outside of the right or trail foot at any time during the back swing especially at the start of the swing.
Hip sway is similar to above where the right or trail hip moves away from the target. The trail hip actually should never move away from the target and should move slightly closer to the target on the back swing.
Moving the lead or left arm off the chest and then rotating the club is a very common error. Most slicers make this move. The lead arm should not start by moving away from the body and rotating. Keep the arm near the chest and the rotation to a minimum or zero.
Over rotation of the forearms, taking the club too far to the inside is a move you will need to find time to correct in the down swing, not good. When the golf club is horizontal to the ground on the back swing and down swing it should be pointing towards the target. On the back swing the face should closely match the spine angle and on the down swing the toe should point to the sky.