Take away...

[RichieWinch]

Following up from my other post about my swing, Neil said to take the club away with the butt of the club pointing at ure right thigh to get the club head outside the hands (instead of my hands being inside). I tried this and like the idea of it and I can feel the club becoming weightless half way up!

So should I work on the take away so the butt of the club points at my right thigh until about horizontal? Is this a a sign of a good one piece take away which should make the plane a little more upright?

Thanks Rich

[Neil18]

Re: Take away...

Rich,

If you keep the clubhead outside your hands in the first part of the take away you'll find that the rotation of the wrists that you already have will start to take over when it needs to. Don't think too hard about it. Once you get the first part right, the rest will become easier.

I know the photo shown on your posts is from your downswing, but use that angle that the clubshaft forms as a reference to the angle it should be on on the way back past half way (i.e. pointing at, or even slightly inside the ball is ok).

Neil

[RichieWinch]

Re: Take away...

So work on getting the club butt pointing at my right thigh on the take away and the rest should follow?

[Neil18]

Re: Take away...

Rich,

Yes indeedio. Once you've got the butt pointing at you thigh, as you turn you need to feel the club go through the point of weightlessness und up as if it were tracing a line over your right shoulder as you turn.

If you don't mind me asking, what's your height? Short/medium/tall?

Gonna see if I can find a swing Vid of a pro that may help you.

Neil

[RichieWinch]

Re: Take away...

im 5 ft 10, just under 11 stone

[Neil18]

Re: Take away...

OK Richie I've hunted high and low for an appropriate video of David Howell/Davis Love i.e. tall players but not too tall (5'10" - 6' range) and not had much success.

However, please find attached the one and only Monsieur E.Els.

Taller and bigger than both of us (I'm 5'11 and 11st 7 lb) but I use this as a model. His clubhead stays outside his hands and actually passes bang on though his hands as his wrists rotate. To get to the top he just keeps turning his torso so his hands go up and over his right shoulder, with the butt of the club pointing just inside the ball. Nice and high and on plane.

Keep your downswing as it is. The corrected backswing will match it and allow you to really pour on the power with the right side through impact. Not too early though! Get the "swish" going infront of the ball.

I'm sure this is a model you could put to any height of player.

http://www.golfswing.com/proswings/els.htm

Happy watchin.

Neil

[nickwbryant]

Re: Take away...

Neil and rich - this is very interesting thread to me - i am trying to get my club more on plane as well. One thing i seem to remember from rich's swing is that there isn't (or looked like there wasn't in those swings in the other thread) much wrist cock (like in my swing). Ernie has his wrists cocked when his left arm is horizontal. I have been trying this the last month or so and had some success but feel i get a bit narrow sometimes.

Neil do you actively set your wrists and look for this position? I like it because its an easy position to check on.

nick

[Neil18]

Re: Take away...

Nick,

In all honesty, I can't say that I'm aware of the point at which my wrists become fully hinged in my backswing. And it seems to vary from player to player.

I can see the benefit of having your wrists cocked by the time the halfway point is reached. As you say, it's a good checkpoint to see if the club is pointing at/inside the ball, plus all you then need to do is complete the turn.

I understand, however, the feeling that you may get narrow by doing this. There's a fine line between cocking your wrists earlier and making the mistake of picking the club up. I would say that if you like the feeling of the early wrist hinge, try and maybe feel like your left hand knuckles (right hander) are reaching for the floor in the first part of the backswing to maintain width.

Neil