What Does it Mean to Set the Golf Club at the Top - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
What Does it Mean to Set the Golf Club at the Top - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

I often refer to setting the golf club in the backswing and making sure we set it in the right position at the top of the swing. Some people might be a bit confused by that terminology so if we just break it down we'll have a look at exactly what setting the club means. It's basically the fourth position at the top of the backswing. Needs to be very defined, but also needs to be very disciplined, so it happens consistently so it can come down consistently. So we have a good set of position, turning it through to the top. And then we have the set position before we start to pull down and it should pull then freeze frame for a split second at the top before it transitions.

Now a couple of important points with that set position. We're turning back will lift the golf to a good position, but it's not quite finished yet. It turns to the top, it sets and changes direction. Two areas I see people get wrong with this point. They over flex their wrists in the transitional phase because as the club comes back, it builds momentum. As you change direction, that momentum can start to pull down on the golf club. The shaft and the head get heavy, it pulls. If my wrist isn’t strong enough and the back of my left wrist as a right-handed golfer, that dips at the top and it starts to wobble. Then if I have a faster swing, it wobbles more. A slower swing it wobbles less. It's too inconsistent for you to control because everything you do here, you have to undo here to hit the ball straight. So we don't want that wobbly left wrist position. We definitely don't want the club to drop below the parallel or the horizontal line. So we take it nicely to the top, set it and pull it back down again. Strong left wrist at the top. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any hinge. Just means it doesn’t add more hinge at the top.

The other area for a good strong set position is feeling how the chest, the hands and the arms all stop at the same time before they change direction, so everything comes up nicely, stops and comes down nicely. What I'm going to do is unsynchronize that area so if I turn to the top, my body stops, the hands keep going, then my arms stop, then my hands finish. Everything is just out of order. We'll sometimes see that then we get a little jerky while at peak position at the top where you want to up, stop, down. Everything goes up and down in the same timing, rather than a bit long and a bit loose and bit wobbly. So just have a practice at home, just looking at yourself in the mirror if you can do, or videoing yourself if you've got the facility, turning to the top, make sure there's a freeze frame at the time where you change between that's my backswing, that's my downswing and we don't have a [inaudible 00:02:46] loose transitional phase. So that's your set position before you start your downswing. Get this to be more consistent, get this to be more consistent with your shots as well.

 2013-01-16

I often refer to setting the golf club in the backswing and making sure we set it in the right position at the top of the swing. Some people might be a bit confused by that terminology so if we just break it down we'll have a look at exactly what setting the club means. It's basically the fourth position at the top of the backswing. Needs to be very defined, but also needs to be very disciplined, so it happens consistently so it can come down consistently. So we have a good set of position, turning it through to the top. And then we have the set position before we start to pull down and it should pull then freeze frame for a split second at the top before it transitions.

Now a couple of important points with that set position. We're turning back will lift the golf to a good position, but it's not quite finished yet. It turns to the top, it sets and changes direction. Two areas I see people get wrong with this point. They over flex their wrists in the transitional phase because as the club comes back, it builds momentum. As you change direction, that momentum can start to pull down on the golf club. The shaft and the head get heavy, it pulls. If my wrist isn’t strong enough and the back of my left wrist as a right-handed golfer, that dips at the top and it starts to wobble. Then if I have a faster swing, it wobbles more. A slower swing it wobbles less. It's too inconsistent for you to control because everything you do here, you have to undo here to hit the ball straight. So we don't want that wobbly left wrist position. We definitely don't want the club to drop below the parallel or the horizontal line. So we take it nicely to the top, set it and pull it back down again. Strong left wrist at the top. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any hinge. Just means it doesn’t add more hinge at the top.

The other area for a good strong set position is feeling how the chest, the hands and the arms all stop at the same time before they change direction, so everything comes up nicely, stops and comes down nicely. What I'm going to do is unsynchronize that area so if I turn to the top, my body stops, the hands keep going, then my arms stop, then my hands finish. Everything is just out of order. We'll sometimes see that then we get a little jerky while at peak position at the top where you want to up, stop, down. Everything goes up and down in the same timing, rather than a bit long and a bit loose and bit wobbly. So just have a practice at home, just looking at yourself in the mirror if you can do, or videoing yourself if you've got the facility, turning to the top, make sure there's a freeze frame at the time where you change between that's my backswing, that's my downswing and we don't have a [inaudible 00:02:46] loose transitional phase. So that's your set position before you start your downswing. Get this to be more consistent, get this to be more consistent with your shots as well.