Keep the shaft and left arm in line for a wide takeaway, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Keep the shaft and left arm in line for a wide takeaway, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

Taking the golf club back away from the golf ball can be one of the most important or fundamental parts of a good solid swing, after you’ve got yourself in a good address position that is. So you get yourself in a nice set up position. You should notice how the left arm's nice and strong and straight, the shaft forms a nice straight line down to the golf ball and that’s a good position, the right arm then sits nice and soft and creates almost a triangle with the arms. And it's important we keep that triangle, and we keep that left arm line for quite a long way into the backswing. What we'd want to avoid doing here is lifting the golf club up purely with the hands first because you can see that nothing has happened with my chest and my body. We really want to feel like the body is dominating the golf swing in the first half, so we turn across with the shoulders; the left arm stays in quite the straight line. The right arm's not playing a massive role here, the right arm's staying quite soft and just flex into position but is not pulling the golf club back, breaking this position, likewise not bending at left elbow, taking the golf club back here because again, that doesn’t involve any shoulder rotation.

So work hard on turning the shoulders back away from the golf ball, getting the chest around to target the left arm, and the shaft line would stay straight to start with then they hinge up to the top. Then likewise again, into the downswing position, the left arm and shaft line should come into a straight line for impact, maintaining a little bit of that straight line through impact before the right hand rolls the club over, then that left arm line would break down. But you're triangling your arm is still maintained. So we've got the triangle to start with, the triangle in your arms is maintained, and through the golf ball, we still have the same triangle. You have to be really careful you don’t break that triangle. Again bending the elbows, getting yourself stuck in and pulled in through the golf ball, very common, and very bad position, particularly the people that slide the golf ball coming over the top, pulling in this way, jamming the ball open with an open face. We want to come through, keeping that triangle, extending through, and releasing around through a big finish. And if you can set the good address position, and set the staff to the golf swing with that left arm straight line back, maintaining your triangle, you should be a better ball striker, hitting the ball straighter and further.

2013-01-15

Taking the golf club back away from the golf ball can be one of the most important or fundamental parts of a good solid swing, after you’ve got yourself in a good address position that is. So you get yourself in a nice set up position. You should notice how the left arm's nice and strong and straight, the shaft forms a nice straight line down to the golf ball and that’s a good position, the right arm then sits nice and soft and creates almost a triangle with the arms. And it's important we keep that triangle, and we keep that left arm line for quite a long way into the backswing. What we'd want to avoid doing here is lifting the golf club up purely with the hands first because you can see that nothing has happened with my chest and my body. We really want to feel like the body is dominating the golf swing in the first half, so we turn across with the shoulders; the left arm stays in quite the straight line. The right arm's not playing a massive role here, the right arm's staying quite soft and just flex into position but is not pulling the golf club back, breaking this position, likewise not bending at left elbow, taking the golf club back here because again, that doesn’t involve any shoulder rotation.

So work hard on turning the shoulders back away from the golf ball, getting the chest around to target the left arm, and the shaft line would stay straight to start with then they hinge up to the top. Then likewise again, into the downswing position, the left arm and shaft line should come into a straight line for impact, maintaining a little bit of that straight line through impact before the right hand rolls the club over, then that left arm line would break down. But you're triangling your arm is still maintained. So we've got the triangle to start with, the triangle in your arms is maintained, and through the golf ball, we still have the same triangle. You have to be really careful you don’t break that triangle. Again bending the elbows, getting yourself stuck in and pulled in through the golf ball, very common, and very bad position, particularly the people that slide the golf ball coming over the top, pulling in this way, jamming the ball open with an open face. We want to come through, keeping that triangle, extending through, and releasing around through a big finish. And if you can set the good address position, and set the staff to the golf swing with that left arm straight line back, maintaining your triangle, you should be a better ball striker, hitting the ball straighter and further.