Once you’ve established yourself in a good setup position to the golf ball, the first move back away from the ball is probably the most important move in the swing, because it really sets the tone for the rest of the swing that’s going to happen. We need to make sure the take away happens at the right speed, at the right time, the club travels on the right line and the face stays pointing in the right direction. So there’s a lot going on in that first movement. It isn’t just, “Well I’ll the get swing going now.” It needs to work really nice and really smoothly back away from the ball. And you do need to have quite a lot of discipline in your action.

And the movements I’m going to work on you with now is going to be called the one-piece takeaway. And simply put, everything moves away from the ball, in one piece, in one unit. So we get nicely settled to the golf ball here. I’ve got this hand and arm triangle and a good body position. And then everything moves away from the ball in one piece. Now the one-piece takeaway there, that drill is driven by my left shoulder. My left shoulder as the right hand would go from my left shoulder will work round under my chin. My left shoulder comes around under my chin here and everything stays in one piece. And it stays there to about hip level. From my hips upwards I now have a break here. My arms break, my wrist break, the club breaks away.

So we don’t want to keep this one-piece all the way back here that get’s a bit difficult to do physically as well. So we’re going to have this one-piece movement taking it to around about hip level. So if I’m down the line, you can see how that one piece works again. I’m going to bring the club straight back and it actually sits directly on top of the line that the camera is looking at me. So if I was to replace the camera view with a mirror, I could go to the driving range or even just swing the club in the house, if I’ve got a mirror I can see myself. I can swing that back as one piece, look in the mirror and I’d like the club head to sit directly on top of my hands.

If I was to lift the club up there, that’s an awkward take away, that’s outside the line, that isn’t one piece. And if I was to swing it back in here as well, that’s the club swinging too far behind me, too much in the side, that isn’t one piece either. So a nice one-piece takeaway right on top of the line there then the club could move up. It also generally found that a one-piece takeaway will be a little bit smooth, a little bit slower. Simply that if the hands are working on their own that can be quite quick and quit. And if the body is working, that can be a bit too sway as well. But if we isolate the main body movement and just use the shoulders, the shoulders turn the body away nicely here.

That would generally encourage the club to be moving away more smoothly, slightly slower and keeping the golf club low to the ground on the takeaway. So if you find that you’re in a good startup position but you’re struggling to take the golf club away and to start your swing nicely, consider adopting a one-piece takeaway movement. Use your front shoulder to push around underneath your chin keep, it to club – keep the club to hip level then check in the mirror that that’s on the right position, in the right angle pointing the right direction. And that one-piece takeaway will improve your game.