This simple drill will teach you how to sequence your golf swing correctly, using your big muscles for effortless power and amazing club head speed.
You’ll quickly learn how to generate a tremendous amount of club head speed where it really matters – at impact!
There’s nothing mystical about the sequence of the golf swing, it’s really just a natural throwing motion, and yet sequencing is the key differentiator between the high handicap golfer and a leading Tour professional.
Most amateurs instinctively use their upper bodies to drive the golf swing, “heaving” the golf club from the top of the swing – this seems to make sense, since, intuitively, your hands and arms are in direct control of the golf club, and the club itself is very light, so this motion just feels right. But this “intuitive truth” is the exact opposite of the sequencing required to generate Tour-standard club head speed, and this misunderstanding creates most of the problems faced by amateur golfers.
Unwinding your shoulders from the top, “heaving” the club, feels very powerful, but it throws your arms and the club outwards, away from your body, causing the club to release early, “casting” it and losing “lag”, and thus throwing away club head speed. It will likely make your swing too steep, cause you to strike the ground before the ball, or swing “over the top” to hit a big slice. It takes your powerful lower body and core out of the kinetic chain. Rather than driving the swing as it should, your lower body is just playing catch-up in order to keep your balance.
For a great golf swing, you need to first use the power of your lower body and then the big muscles in your core, building energy that can easily be transferred to (released into) the golf club later in the swing to maximise club head speed through impact.
The correct golf swing sequence will generate far more club head speed, stability and consistency.
For more details of the correct golf swing sequencing, and how it works, see the Golf Biomechanics section of this site.
The Drill
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…you will find that you can swing the club much faster, with much less effort. You’ll also be more stable and more consistent, and the bottom of your swing arc will move forwards naturally for far better ball striking.
You can develop your strength and explosiveness in this swing sequence, and thus significantly increase your distance, by working on the exercises in the Golf Loopy Train like a Champion System – especially the throwing exercises. Each of the Golf Loopy Golf Performance Programme workouts has a section devoted to developing your power.
Coming next: you’ll learn how to use your lower body to initiate the correct downswing sequence in the golf swing, in Golf Swing Drill 506b – Downswing: Drive the Golf Swing with Your Lower Body.
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