Swinging a golf club, from the putter to the woods, can be more efficient and effective when you allow the club to do the work. Here’s how you can put this concept into practice for different clubs in your bag:
Putter: Speed through Freedom:
Address the ball with a still body, only allowing for spinal (shoulder) rotation.
Start by taking the putter back a certain distance to find your ideal pendulum motion.
Focus on allowing your arms to swing freely, using the weight of the club for acceleration.
Practice by aiming at the fringe of the putting green instead of the hole, concentrating on finding the right backswing length for different distances.
Stay still, and you’ll notice that the freer your arms, the faster the putter moves. The speed comes from the weight of the club.
Wedges: Consistent Speed:
For short distances, set up with your feet closer together and the lower body open to the target.
Use your shoulders, not your hands, to take the club back. The resistance from your legs should bring the club down as the hips rotate toward the target.
Experiment with choking down on the club for very short distances.
As you practice, you’ll develop a feel for how far each wedge will hit the ball by allowing the club to gather speed.
Irons and Woods: Harnessing the Club’s Power:
In a full swing, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Allow your arms to hang from the shoulders, maintaining a still lower body without swaying to the right.
Heave the club back and finish a full rotation in the backswing.
By changing direction from right to the left side while staying tensionless in your hands and arms, the club will be pulled through for an accelerated swing.
Focus on feeling the weight of the golf club accelerating, and avoid trying to control it.
Practice this approach by:
Discovering how far your club goes without adding additional force. You may be surprised to find that you gain distance and consistency by allowing the club to swing freely.
Experimenting with different club lengths, setups, and practice swings to develop a sense of how your clubs work.
By letting your golf clubs do the work and harnessing the club’s weight and speed, you can improve your overall golf performance and enjoy a smoother, more effective swing from the tee to the green.
How to let your golf clubs do the work in your golf swing
It all starts with your putter. It has been established that in putting the most important element is speed. Swinging a putter is often referred to as a pendulum. It’s assumed a pendulum starts from a very still position. In putting, your whole body has to be completely still and the only thing that moves should be spinal rotation, often referred to as shoulder rotation. Decide how far back to take a putter in order to allow it to swing through. The speed comes from allowing. the arms to swing freely, as you allow the weight of the club to create its own acceleration. The weight of the club doesn’t change. The weight to the club is always the same unless you make the putter shorter or longer, adding or subtracting weight. The more you leaN how much force comes from the putter the better you will putt.
Putting into practice:
Go to your putting green. Aim for the fringe of the putting green not to a hole. Start with an uphill putt, think of how far back you need to take it and let the putter swing. Try to get as close as possible to the edge of the fringe. Now do the same exercise with a downhill putt. Again selecting the fringe as your target. Putting to the fringe edge allows your arms to swing freely and you wil quickly begin to judge the length of your backswing. The more you stay still, the freer your arms are the faster the putter moves.
Next are your wedges, knowing and understanding how to create consistent speed is paramount to getting up and down inside of 100 yards.
The stance you create with wedges is going to be very different from the putter stance. Since the task is to create shorter swings your feet will be much closer together and the lower body open to the target. The body weight will be on the lead foot. Your arms will be hanging from the shoulders. For very short distances, choke down on the club. Use your shoulders not your hands to take the club back. The resistance created with your legs will bring the club back down by allowing the hips to rotate towards the target. Within a very short amount of time you will understand exactly how far a wedge will hit the ball as we transition. Allowing the club to gather speed is very different from just swinging the arms. When you just swing the arms your mind has to calculate the distance of the swing and the amount of force needed to create it When you rotate your shoulders back, hold your legs together, the setup dictates how far back the club goes and the hips create the downswing.
Put this into practice by selecting targets at 20, 40 and 60 yards. Your goal is to keep things simple. You will use more or less of the club when taking the club back allowing the club to do all of the work.
Lastly irons and woods in the full swing.
In a full swing, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and allow your arms to hang from the shoulders. The lower body must remain extremely still (meaning no sway right) as you rotate and heave the club back and finish a full rotation in the backswing. In the process of having taken the club back you have created enough body coil to change direction. Moving from right to left side will promote a pulling of the golf club as long as you remain tensionless in your hands and arms. The idea is to constantly feel the weight of the golf club accelerating. As long as you don’t try to control it the club will function at its best.
Put this into practice:
First thing you want to find out is how far your club goes when you don’t add any additional force. Most people are amazed that they actually pick up distance because the club has more freedom.
Want to put what you learned into practice?
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