Cristie and Inbee's Swings... The Physical Side 1

So far I've done a post about Cristie Kerr and Inbee Park's swings, which I've decided to nickname the Hammer Swing because it uses movements that are similar to driving a nail with a hammer.

I've also accomplished a put up about the attitude you want to apply this swing effectively.

Today we get all the way down to the physical act of creating the Hammer Swing.

I'm dividing the instruction about the physical side of the swing into two parts. Today I'll give you the basic swing -- which, btw, you can team up with the material in my Accurate Iron Play Quick Guide to become much more accurate with your distance control on your approach shots. Tomorrow I'll cover the "extra" wrist move because there's more than one way to do it and, if you know your options, you can choose the one that works best for you.

Inbee's swing probable amazes most of you as a lot as it does GC's Tripp Isenhour, who often remarks that he truly would not see in which she creates her clubhead pace. That's because we do not recognize all the angles that are created during a golfing swing. After all, we cock our wrists, we bend our trailing elbow, we twist our shoulders, we drive our legs, etc. -- and we don't apprehend the cumulative impact.

Clubhead speed is NOT created by wrist cock alone. Let me give you a better appreciation for just how much you're doing without even trying. Here's Inbee at setup. When she actually hits the ball, the club shaft will be in line with her lead arm. I've added a white line to demonstrate how much wrist cock she gets just by setting up.

As you can see, she already has some wrist cock to start her backswing. Everybody gets some wrist cock at the start. It's natural and automatic.

You also get a lot of "cock" from bending your trailing elbow. If Inbee were to do that in her setup position -- without turning her shoulders, which adds speed in its own way -- the shaft of her club would point somewhere between straight up and back over her shoulder. That's important because your trailing elbow doesn't straighten out until just before impact, which gives it a major effect on how much effective wrist cock you have in the impact zone. We'll come back to that in a moment.

Your shoulder turn and natural leg actions also create clubhead velocity. That can be tough to visualize, so just be privy to it. You'll additionally observe that Cristie and Inbee have very upright swing planes -- Inbee's is extraordinarily upright -- but that helps them create greater speed because it's less difficult to apply gravity that way. My factor is which you have plenty of natural "wrist cock" for your swing to begin with.

Bear in mind that we want to stay as relaxed as we can when we swing. Relaxed muscles can move more quickly -- that's something any martial artist or track and field athlete can tell you -- and ultimately we're interested in creating speed here, not the "grunt" effort we equate with power.

Which brings us to acceleration. Most of you think acceleration means starting your downswing by jerking the club up-to-speed as quickly as possible. But think about this for a moment. Let's say you manage to create your maximum swing speed with that move (and without jerking the club off-plane). If you're already at max speed, how can you accelerate during your downswing? All you can do is slow down.

To accelerate the clubhead, you need to begin down slowly -- which facilitates keep you on-aircraft -- and accelerate as you get closer to the ball. To do that, you need to preserve that herbal wrist cock as long as possible. How do you do that?

By keeping your trailing elbow bent as long as possible. Here's another quote from the Jeff Flagg article I mentioned in the last post:

WHAT AM I THINKING ABOUT WHEN I SWING? My only actual concept is, Right hand and arm power the swing. That's it. I'm actually seeking to make a sidearm throwing motion?Like a 3-6-3 double play in baseball. If more golfers swung with the same movement, as if they were skipping stones, that they had pound the ball.

Since Flagg is a rightie, his right arm is his trailing arm. And this is his key thought for developing speed. Why?

If you take your setup position -- with both arms straight -- and then bend your trailing elbow while keeping your lead arm straight, your wrists will cock. Straighten your trailing elbow and your wrists will uncock. Your wrist cock is controlled by the bend in your trailing elbow.

So if you want to create greater clubhead speed, you want to preserve your trailing elbow bent till you attain the effect sector. And you want to use your palms and palms so one can do that.

Here, test Cristie and Inbee at impact, taken from the films in my authentic submit. Cristie's elbow would not look quite as bent but that is as it's bent extra closer to the camera while Inbee's is bent greater closer to the target. Everything approximately Inbee's swing appears a bit unusual, would not it?

To create this move, your trailing elbow has to move slightly in front of your chest during your downswing. If you have trouble, I bet it's because you're trying to keep your elbow ahead of your trailing hand. DON'T! Look at both Cristie and Inbee -- their trailing hands are AHEAD of their elbows! Practice moving your hand and elbow together, so that if you stand in front of a mirror it looks like your hand is on a straight line between the mirror and your elbow. Here's another pic of Cristie and Inbee during the downswing, just as their shoulders turn square to the ball. See how their hands are even with their trailing elbows?

Just to make certain you recognize wherein their trailing elbows are on the subject of their our bodies... From this photograph angle their elbows appear like they're laying against their our bodies, however the ones elbows are truely prolonged towards the digicam. You should see that from a down-the-line view; it's not that distinct from their setup positions.

The easiest way to practice this is to get your arms up to the top of your backswing -- lead arm straight, trail arm bent -- and practice swinging your hands down to waist high without altering their positions. That includes keeping your elbows the same distance apart as they swing down. Don't turn your shoulders when you first try this! It will feel as if you're swinging your hands in a diagonal line from above your trail shoulder to your belly button -- almost like a slashing move with a sword. When you actually swing a club and your whole body is turning, this move will look like an arc.

One other thing to notice here. See how the upper part of Cristie and Inbee's leading arms are pressed against the side of their chests? This is connection, and Hogan wasn't the first to teach it; I've found it taught in a Harry Vardon book from 1907. You don't twist your forearms to square the club; you roll your lead shoulder. Here's how to learn what that feels like:

Stand up and straighten your lead arm in opposition to your aspect like you're status at attention. Then bend your lead elbow ninety? So your forearm factors instantly in advance of you. Now, while you hold your top arm against the aspect of your chest, make a sweeping movement together with your lead forearm to and fro throughout your chest from left to right to left to proper -- , like you are backhanding some thing.

Once you get used to that, straighten your lead arm again and make the same movement however along with your hand swinging up and down as your top body turns "away from after which in the direction of the goal." Your higher arm "rolls" up your chest for your backswing, then "rolls" down your chest at some stage in your downswing and separates at some point of your end. (That rolling motion helps square the clubface at some point of your downswing.) This is how your shoulder ought to experience as you swing the club through the impact quarter.

It's much simpler to do than to explain. Combine that diagonal arm move with the shoulder roll and do them together as you make your shoulder coil; the result should feel pretty natural. The diagonal arm move won't "swing parallel" to your toe line until you combine it with the shoulder turn -- by itself, your hands will move out away from you at first, then in toward your lead hip as you near "impact." But if you get comfortable with the diagonal move first you'll find it's very easy to square your hands at the impact position when you add the shoulder turn.

And you will surprise why it seems a lot easier this manner, so I'll let you know. Because you haven't introduced any wrist cock besides what occurs obviously, squaring the again of your lead hand at impact also happens more evidently.

Because you're using your arms so much, you can use shafts that are a little softer. Exactly how much softer depends on how strong you are, of course, but back before Hogan became "the guy," most folks turned to a book called How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time by the legendary Tommy Armour, aka the Silver Scot. (He taught Babe Didrikson Zaharias, among others.) And one of the things that Armour advised his students was to get shafts that were a bit softer than they thought they needed because it would help their feel and rhythm. You can certainly play with stiffer shafts, but that's worth knowing.

Okay, there is lots greater I may want to write -- perhaps I'll do a Quick Guide approximately it -- however this ought to be sufficient to get you began. This is a very herbal way to swing, once you discover ways to believe your sense, and you may find that an appropriate manner for you is usually the way that feels exceptional.

Tomorrow I'll teach you some of the ways you can add that little "downcock" move that adds some extra zing to your shots.