HOW TO PERFECT THE TAKEAWAY GOLF SWING BASICS

First biggest problem I see with backswing so as people take that club away so that first few stages of their backswing is people working on things that don’t actually affect delivery so don’t actually affect how the club is delivered to the ball so people who say film themselves they take a picture themselves and they look a bit too much behind with the cardboard bit too much in front they feel they’ve got too much wrist or some of the other folks that I’m actually just about to talk about they’re thinking they’re doing that wrong.

Yes even though it doesn’t look technically what you might see like the best players in the world doing even they’re quirky actually what they’re working on isn’t changing their delivery so the biggest thing I would stress for most people if you are going to think about how you’re taking that club away and you know how to try and improve your golf with improving your take away you’ve got to make sure first thing it does is it improves your delivery to the ball so some patterns of mistakes that I see that do reflect on delivery back to my first point not for everybody but for lots of people so I don’t like seeing too much angle in in the takeaway so don’t like people putting in a lot of angle straight away so feeling like they’re using their wrist picking that club up more than the handle is.

I like the people to try and feel that there or people’s to feel that the club head and the handle is moving away almost together a little bit more at the beginning so keeping some kind of sync between this end and this end so as soon as you start adding big angles in it adds a bit of leverage it can get you set in the club up behind you and get you in some good-looking positions at the top of the backswing but lots of that angle has to come out for you to deliver the ball and people who set that angling at the start a lot so excessively in the takeaway these kind of movements as they take the club back often struggle to deliver that clubface anywhere in relationship to the path of the club.

We get big cuts to the right sometimes big blocks to the right as well so really feel when you take that club away first portal call for lots of golfers I like them to time really feel like they are in that hand and that club moving together simple little ideas for this is as you put it back just feel like the club head it was like a little laser beam coming out the top of the grip here it would just kind of stay pointing at my tummy till about kind of halfway into the takeaway before it then starts shooting down the fairway a little bit more connection people can’t control face to path strike it and it shoots off curves off to the right often gets people a little bit more in sync  putting in loads of twists and turns what this will do in your takeaway is it will start adding oftaking loft off and then in turn make it very hard to control the angle of the face to the path as you deliver that club.

So to give you an idea that if I was to put the club just on the floor down in front of me here and I’m just going to turn to the side and then I’m just gonna pick that club back up so you can see now that club is pretty much pointing straight up to the sky so in effect I’ve put no twist on that I’ve literally just turned it around itself and this is what would be class for lots of people as a pretty good takeaway I actually like to see the face a little bit more turn down to the ground so you are actually putting a little bit of tooth twisting almost down to the ground slightly with the face so when I take that club back when I get to first parallel to club parallel to the ground here ideally I’d like to see this lead 9 somewhere in line with my spine angle of the club or anywhere up to the sky.

I don’t like face pointing up to the sky you’re gonna get it wrong face pointing down to the ground is a bit stronger any big twists about that shaft around the axis of the shaft it’s really going to affect the height of your shots and then in turn the curvature that you put on it simple little check point first parallel try and get that face parallel in line with your posture line of your back or if anything toe to the sky at the worst anywhere in that kind of playing field going to give you a good control of delivery a better chance of lining that face up the path finding a few fairway.

But people do worry about the speed of their takeaway as well now if you pull the club fast away from the book or quite often I see people going very deliberately slow it’s just another thing for you to worry about it’s another thing for you to try and manage it’s another thing that might not feel natural people tend to have their own speeds their own tempos in life in golf it reflects through so having that really deliberate slow takeaway for lots of people.

When they overthink this movement when they over push this movement when they play with the speed of it strike just goes to pot because you take that natural ability to strike away because they’re thinking so much about their tempo in their speed so I don’t care if you’re fast or quick I care more about the twists and angles that you put in to try not to get too bogged down in the speed I’ve had students over years and years pulled that away too quickly and going like so deliberately slow that it becomes a little bit painful to watch give yourself a bit of chance for a bit of rhythm you’re gonna need to go at your natural speed and in the last one this is a really common one so your textbook takeaway oh you want to take the club back the first power now and if that club is somewhere along the lines have you bit feet parallel to the lines of your feet that’s classed as a textbook a good takeaway now not for everyone but for lots of people if you set different themes to your backswing so as you take that club away.

So if you’re someone who brings it back so it gets behind you early and that does push your clubface too far to the right or your so many tends to pick the club out to the right which would be called outside and then you do swing to the left so your club path is dictated by the theme of your takeaway if that is the case then hitting that first parallel down so the lines of your feet is a great drill a great set point to try and hit each time if you’re not back to the original point it all comes in full circle would take away whenever you’ve got someone thinking about their backswing take away asking me questions about that move I always say to them how does it affect delivery so the theme of your swing can be dictated by the way you pull this club back from the ball and remember I can get this perfect takeaway and I could still go anywhere from there to get any path any deliveries but if you want to give yourself that better chance hitting that first parallel where that Club is more parallel to your feet line if that’s what you’re after then absolutely give that a practice but remember you can still manipulate the path of your club if you are this player by playing with these themes coming more inside coming more outside the real skill in this takeaway.