By Seán Hawker
Generate, transmit and deliver the power
Learning how to generate power is one of the hardest things amateurs struggle to get.
Let’s try and put it really simple: imagine a generating station located on the outskirts of your town. Here, the big turbines generate the power that is transmitted via power lines and dumped to the end user.
In the golf swing, the turbines are the large muscles of your hips, back and legs. Your shoulders, arms and clubshaft are the transmission lines, where levers acting like transformers ratchet up the power until finally the energy is dumped to the end user – the golf ball.
So the power begins at the source, if you fail to coil, the amount of power available for transfer is reduced dramatically and you will struggle to generate power.
Don’t play with a hunch
While it feels powerful to reach for the ball at address, it actually costs you power because it decreases the amount of coil you can produce. When you reach for the ball, your upper back hunches and for every one degree of hunch, you lose two degrees of coil.
So to try and help you to have a correct setup, try to touch your shoulder blades at address and make sure to bend from your hips rather than your waist. If you bend from your waist, you’ll hunch your back and that’s going to be bad for your back and can create back problems.
Under swing or Over swing
When you “under swing,” your arms move too slowly during the downswing and can’t keep up with your body turn. When this happens your club becomes trapped and the ball flies to the right. When you “over swing” (mostly men) you tend to swing your arms too quickly, invariably in an attempt to produce more power. The problem with overswinging is that when you try to hit the ball too hard, you hit too soon from the top, which loops the club out toward the target line, resulting in a pull or a pull slice.
The solution is simple: If your shots are starting to the right of target, select one less club than you’d normally hit (a 7- vs. a 6-iron) and speed up your arms. If you’re pulling the ball, choose one more club and slow down your arms.
Seán Hawker is a bilingual PGA professional available all across the Algarve. He is available for golf tuition for players of all levels, from complete beginners to tour winners.
969 188 981 | [email protected]
