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Re: Expert opinions required (non experts also welcome !)
I agree: excellent question. The question indicates
we are on the same page. My opinion is there is
no more important area of interest than the
backswing and the elements that can be discussed
about it.
I can't give you a better answer than Teaching Pro
gave you. Still, if you will allow, I'll comment
The position we usually start discussing is the
shaft parallel, or the normally considered "end of
takeaway." We have heard some comment that
"power is beginning to be stored in the takeaway."
I disagree. There is leverage gained, yes, but not
much power stored in the takeaway. In the last
analysis, golf is about the big muscles of the legs
and back, how they coordinate to drive the arms
and hands. The takeaway achieves getting us in
position to crank up the big muscles.
If we subscribe to the theory that the relative
positions of arms, hands, shoulders, and club, are
essentially unchanged through the takeaway,
then the hands are about waist high at the end
of the takeaway, and the club is parallel to the
ground. The "L" (what my school of thought calls
the "alpha angle") is retained to that position.
Now, you are asking, what about at arms parallel
to ground?
By the time the arms reach that point, they are
halfway to the top and pointing to about 10:30
on that clock the golfer is standing on. At the
top of the backswing, John Daley has his arms
pointing to 12:00. Most of the rest of us reach
maybe 11:30. Hey, that's enough to get us well
to the inside.
Yes, the alpha angle is retained throughout the
swing. But, at the top of the swing, with the
wrists fully cocked, that L angle has shrunk from
its about 160 degrees at address position to
as skinny as the golfer either chooses or is
able to make it. The key, as Hogan so aptly
pointed out, is not the degree of that angle,
but the fact that the hands never break the
plane as that angle unhinges on the way down.
Simple, eh?
One final thought: teaching positions is exactly
that, teaching and learning. The finished product
flows as one smooth motion.
I agree: excellent question. The question indicates
we are on the same page. My opinion is there is
no more important area of interest than the
backswing and the elements that can be discussed
about it.
I can't give you a better answer than Teaching Pro
gave you. Still, if you will allow, I'll comment
The position we usually start discussing is the
shaft parallel, or the normally considered "end of
takeaway." We have heard some comment that
"power is beginning to be stored in the takeaway."
I disagree. There is leverage gained, yes, but not
much power stored in the takeaway. In the last
analysis, golf is about the big muscles of the legs
and back, how they coordinate to drive the arms
and hands. The takeaway achieves getting us in
position to crank up the big muscles.
If we subscribe to the theory that the relative
positions of arms, hands, shoulders, and club, are
essentially unchanged through the takeaway,
then the hands are about waist high at the end
of the takeaway, and the club is parallel to the
ground. The "L" (what my school of thought calls
the "alpha angle") is retained to that position.
Now, you are asking, what about at arms parallel
to ground?
By the time the arms reach that point, they are
halfway to the top and pointing to about 10:30
on that clock the golfer is standing on. At the
top of the backswing, John Daley has his arms
pointing to 12:00. Most of the rest of us reach
maybe 11:30. Hey, that's enough to get us well
to the inside.
Yes, the alpha angle is retained throughout the
swing. But, at the top of the swing, with the
wrists fully cocked, that L angle has shrunk from
its about 160 degrees at address position to
as skinny as the golfer either chooses or is
able to make it. The key, as Hogan so aptly
pointed out, is not the degree of that angle,
but the fact that the hands never break the
plane as that angle unhinges on the way down.
Simple, eh?
One final thought: teaching positions is exactly
that, teaching and learning. The finished product
flows as one smooth motion.
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